#empire cls

[jfk-airport-transportation]

Empire CLS- 700 million dollar company, how did they enter the limo business?

Empire CLS today is a limo company headquartered in New Jersey under the holding company GTS Holdings Inc. GTS Holdings was created in February 2005, when equity investment partners purchased CLS Transportation and merged Empire Transport services under  a single company Empire CLS.

The term CLS was attached to Empire, creating Empire CLS to safeguard the CLS brand name. The CLS brand name was reputable brand among Hollywood, 5-star properties and private chartered centers, brokers, FBO’s and affluent corporate executives. Charlie Horky started CLS back in 1981 with a single black stretch limousine in Beverly Hills Hollywood. Charles grew the modern-day Empire CLS from transporting Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and the entire Hollywood entourage. Even throughout the 1990’s CLS aka Empire CLS continued to grow themselves into newer cities.

                Charlie Horky opened a branch in San Francisco, CLS branch in Brooklyn New York, a CLS branch office in Vail Colorado. Mr. Horky was savy businessman, entrepreneur and a charming salesman who even opened up an office in Las Vegas Nevada. The CLS brand truly became an empire under Charlie Horky, so big that managing it all became a challenge to personal life and liberty. CLS used to subcontract trips out trip to Empire Transport services in New Jersey. Empire was founded by David Seelinger around the early 1980’s. Slowly, the idea came to surface about merging CLS with Empire, and yet Charlie would still operate his Las Vegas Branch independently.

                Mr. David Seelinger managed the Empire CLS brands well, so the board decided to keep him running the Empire CLS brand in New Jersey and Los Angeles. Empire CLS continued to grow with new technology, new travel agencies and a new booking platform known as Be Transported. Be Transported was a booking reservation management system created under David Seelinger exclusively for Empire CLS. Even with the Corona Virus lockdown, David Seelinger implemented plans to survive the industry.

                In 2023, Praesidian Capital has invested 10 million of senior secured debt into Empire CLS. Praesidian Capital. This investment allowed Empire CLS to add newer vehicles, upgraded buildings, and remarket itself into newer opportunities as group and bus travel networks.

                Charlie Horky closed Las Vegas CLS due to some financial hardships. However Charlie Horky has married, and lives a healthy stressless life. Charlie Horky operates a limo service known as SLADE.

                The legendary Empire CLS built by the legendary Charlie Horky and continued growth with David Seelinger.

[defness]

💛 Daedalus 💛

[green-alm0nd]

hiiiii ! I love your writing :) I was wondering if I could request a echo x reader where it’s sorta like long distance so they only saw each other when they came to pabu or the finale, and if you could make it a hug scene like the ones he shared with omega (like the whole running and jumping blah blah blah) sorry if it’s extensive, thank you ! 🫶

[Echo x gn!reader]: Come back to you

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Summary:

Emerie and Echo left Pabu a few weeks after the events on Tantiss. You haven't heard from him ever since and you hope he comes back.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: TBB S3 FINALE SPOILERS, fluff, kissing, a bit suggestive, a bit of angst. Not proofread.

Enjoy!

----

Since the attack on the beautiful island you settled in, you didn't hear anything else from Echo. Pabu had always managed to rebuild itself, adapt and go back to living normally.

Before the Empire found the small island, you and Echo had been in touch for a while, either from commlink calls or messages. After the events that made Tantiss burn to ashes, Echo came back. But, only for a short time. He left with the doctor, Emerie Karr, to try find safe homes for the remaining clones.

It made you angry, yes. But then again, it was Echo. He'd do anything for his brothers.

----

It had been a few weeks since clouds showed up in Pabu and released the water inside of them. Maybe it was the weight of the Empire on the Universe that made the rain stronger, and the mood seemed to be less...heavy.

You were standing inside your shared apartment, looking at the droplets of water falling. It had always brought a sense of comfort to you.

You had asked Hunter several times if he had any news, to which he'd always shake his head. It made you even more depressed.

If it weren't for the rest of the Batch, you'd be alone. Wrecker always forced you to go out, since he knew you wouldn't do it on your own unless it had to do with news about the rebellion, Rex, or your boyfriend.

You sighed. You truly missed him.

Suddenly, your commlink beeped, and got up. You grabbed your comm, and nervously spoke up. It wasn't the commlink that you and the Bad Batch used, it was a private 'channel' you had with Echo.

"Echo?" You whispered, nervously.

You heard a small hum and chuckle.

"Hey."

Adrenaline shot through your veins at the sound of his voice.

"Wh- What? How? Where are you? Are you okay?" You asked, a thousand questions running through your head.

Though you could only hear his voice, a wave of relief washed your body.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I'm currently in Coruscant, in Rex's Underground level base. We're trying to collect all the remaining stuff before he leaves. I'm helping him out." He explained.

You sighed in relief.

"I'm so happy to hear your voice. Why haven't you said anything for the past three week until now?" You asked.

"I've been very busy. We're still trying to find out anything about the nameless clones. I haven't been...that close to my commlink, either." He said, mumbling the last part.

"It's...fine." You replied.

Echo seemed to pick up your tiredness and your sadness, maybe disappointment even, in your voice.

"How... about you? Are you doing alright?" He softly asked.

"Yeah, I just really miss you." You answered, with a small sigh.

Echo let out a small chuckle.

"I miss you too."

You considered telling about how you felt.

"I'm actually not doing great. It's been a rough few weeks and I really needed you but I'm not sure you were free and I didn't want to bother you and-" You stopped, closing your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose.

"I just wish you were here."

Silence came over the comm channel, before Echo finally spoke up.

"I'm coming over." He suddenly said.

Your eyes widened.

"Wha- no! You can't. You're a thousand clicks away-" he cut you off.

"I'm coming over. That's final, okay?"

You sighed. Your boyfriend was stubborn.

"Okay. I'll wait for you." You replied, before he left the comm channel.

...

A few hours later, the dark night sunk into Pabu. Not that it was super visible, as the clouded skies still let the rain fall.

It was endearing to see how much Echo cared for you, even though he was busy most of the time.

You decided to get dressed, and wait for him on the side of the landing platform, below a huge tree root that provided you shelter from the pouring rain.

Your heart sped up, and your knees slightly trembled at the sight of a ship, most likely Echo's, approaching the landing platform.

The big shuttle eventually landed on the island, and you took a step forward. The rain didn't matter anymore, not even when it was soaking your clothes and body.

The ramp lowered, and butterflies filled your stomach, taking your breath away.

And there he was, the guy that had stolen your hard the second you saw him walking inside your coffee shop all those months ago; the man that had swore to you loyalty, even if your relationship was distant; your boyfriend. Echo.

He came down the ramp. Just when his feet touched the ground, you ran towards him and hugged him.

Echo hugged back, burying his nose on your neck.

"Hey." He said.

You smiled.

"Hey."

You two stayed there for a long time, not caring about the rain, not caring about anything at all. What mattered was that Echo was there. Your Echo. He was real. It wasn't a dream.

"I missed you so much." You mumbled, bringing your lips close to his.

"I missed you too." He answered, finally pulling you into the kiss you were desperately yearning for for a long time now.

You kissed back, bringing your hands to his hips, as his hand rested on your cheek.

However, his hand lowered to your butt, giving it a light squeeze: enough to make you squeak and let his tongue explore your mouth.

It had been such a long time since you felt him so close to you it almost felt like a dream.

He pulled away.

"We better go home, seems like rain won't be stopping for a while." He suggested smiling.

You nodded.

"Let's go."

Echo had finally come back home.

----

🗣️❗🎵 PARTY WALKERS IN THE YAAARD TONIIIIGHT🎵❗🗣️ (iykyk)

Currently have that cover from sbg in my head

(I am currently in my last two weeks of final exams so requests might take a while)

(Reblogs are highly appreciated <3)

[geemyfirstluvstory]

"Oh! oh! oh! oh!, 오빠를 사랑해"

blue lock boys as boyfriends + playlist (can y'all tell i listen to too much kpop), fem reader, i'm feeling sad and depressed rn let me be a little angsty but i can't stand sad endings

michael kaiser: melancholy at it's finest but not in a sad way, but definitely in a more nostalgic way. he's a red flag at best and a long gone man at worst. but as a boyfriend he does his best to make you feel good about yourself, mostly via spoiling you rotten. diamonds, clothes, the best food, anything. maybe he doesn't actually like you maybe he just likes the idea of you. but he will eventually come to love you and when he does it's like a dream, he has a resting bitch face and cocky attitude but when he does open up to you it's completely serious.

playlist- chill kill (red velvet), no blueberries (dpr ian ft dpr live + cl), baby (dj roots ft camo + 정진형), love story (indilla), flower (jisoo), siren (taeyeon), anoko complex (=LOVE), monochrome kiss (SID), diary of jane (breaking benjamin)

oliver aiku: yeah girl you're not dating him...he's definitely an ex as i write this. this man is, despite how nice he is, a player at heart and girl you can't change that. but he does keep you in mind. perhaps you're his favourite special lady. he kind of pops in and out of your life, big dick though so it's okay. he knows how to treat a lady though so it's not bad but you have to be careful or you'll catch too many feelings. maybe some time passes and you're eventually end game.

playlist- rsvp (koala ft. jessi), GAL (ohayo), mommae (jay park ft ugly duck), party (chris brown ft tyga), boom (dpr live ft dpr ian), thnks fr th mmrs (fall out boy), gamez (bei maejor ft keri hilson)

don lorenzo: girl why? girl, bye. the least you could do is make sure he had real teeth...but oh well we all slip up sometimes. he's addicted to you completely, day and night he thinks about you. y'all know homeboy loves money you likely met him at a club or party. somewhere in that territory and don has no problem with spending loads of cash on you. probably wooed you over with a condo in florence since y'know his little honey in his hometown. but his biggest flaw is definitely his obsession over money

playlist- ayo (chris brown), royals (lorde), ps5 (salem ilese ft txt), i got a boy (girl's generation), swalla (jason derulo), hula hoops (dpr live ft beenzino + hwasa), empire (wengie ft minnie), red lipstick (lee hi ft yoon mirae), best friend (saweetie ft doja cat), nobody's better (Z ft fetty wap)

[melissa-kenobi]

THRONE

Bo-Katan Kryze x Reader

A/N: Sorry guys, I'm in a Bo-Katan phase... I just love her even tho she's an asshole and has done bad shit. Also, I know this is a bit late, but I had it in my drafts for a long time and totally forgot about it :(

Warnings: The Mandalorian S3 spoilers, smut, idek what else.

"Goodbye Din Djarin."

The monotone voice of your lover swept through the large hall as she watched Din walk away, twiddling her thumbs in annoyance. Walking past the Mandalorian, you gave him a small nod of best wishes before making his way to Mandalore with his green child.

Making your way over to the redhead, you held a glass of water, offering it to her. "Your majesty."

Bo-Katan simply rolled her eyes, taking a large gulp of the drink before placing it on the side, gesturing for you to come closer. "I thought you might have been parched after that long conversation, my lady. It seemed interesting. Did you not take up Djarin's offer?"

She doesn't answer. Simply stares out the glass windows with a lost look in her eyes. Your Bo-Katan is a tough woman, a woman with a purpose - to reclaim Mandalore, but without the Darksaber, she couldn't. Her forces are all gone but you. But there was only so much two women could do, she has you, but no matter how strong you were, she needed her people.

As much as she despised the planet now, deep down, she wanted it back. It's her home, your home - the only home you'd ever known until the Empire had ruined it.

Sighing deeply, you stood beside her, reaching over to touch her hand. "Bo-

"If you're going to give me advice about how I should be helping Din Djarin on his ridiculous mission, you'd better leave." Bo-Katan huffed as she slipped her hand from yours and swung her legs back onto the side of the chair. "I want nothing to do with that man."

Maker, she was still being stroppy about the Darksaber. Din had won it, fair and square, and to be fair, you're pretty sure he has zero clue about what to do with it or what it means. But Din is a worthy warrior to wield the saber, and that's what makes Bo-Katan pissed.

"I wasn't." You rolled your eyes as you pushed her legs down and sat down on her thighs, your legs placed on either side of them as you moved your hands to her waist, gently holding her hips. "I was going to suggest something else."

The woman turned her head towards your face, a smirk etched onto her face as she took in your position and where your hands were. "Oh? And what might that be?

Smirking back, you pushed her against the back of the chair before slowly removing her armour. "A massage."

"I'm not in the mood for a massage, sweetheart." Bo-Katan rolled her eyes but let you proceed to remove her armour, piece by piece as you placed it gently on the floor. "You don't have to be so careful with it."

"I know." You hummed. "But it's your armour, and I know how much it means to you."

Your words hit deep within the woman. Yes, it was her armour. But what use was it now? When she has no one to lead, no-one to follow her. Bo thought, perhaps she should hang up her armour and settle down on a nice planet with you. You'd follow her, right?

After stripping her of her armour, you removed her trousers, slipping them down her long legs before making your way back up, caressing her thighs as she moaned your name softly. Her hands were coming to hold your shoulders and keep you between her legs, but you were persistent, pushing back against her hold and seeping up to kiss her lips.

"Off now." You commanded, pointedly looking at her covered breasts. The redhead smirked as she slowly stripped off her layers, leaving you growling as she took her sweet time. "You want this massage or not, your Majesty?

"Is that how you talk to your Queen?" Bo gasped in mock horror, finally having taken off her top, leaving her breasts bare and ready for you. "I should have your mouth cleaned for that."

"I'll have you moaning my name in a few. Let's see how mouthy you'll be then." You muttered before shufifng closer on her lap and placing your lips on her buds. The action making Bo let out a loud moan as she gripped your hips, your tongue swirling around her buds, making her gasp every time.

"Fuck- cyar'ika-"

You moved your hand to the other, gently caressing it before squeezing the bud as it grew erect. Underneath your legs, you could feel Bo getting wet, the way her hips were unintentionally thrusting up against yours, the way her hands were gripping your hips ever so tight as she tried to get off.

"Ah ah no." You pulled off her bud, teeth leaving a small bite as you took her hands off your waist and placed them above her head, and with a small click they were locked in place against the chair. "No touching."

Bo growled but kept them in place, instead using her eyes to follow your movements as you slid down her body, becoming eye level with her pussy. Her hips unintentionally trusted upwards, trying to get closer to your mouth but your hands pushed them down roughly.

"Stop moving." You growled, looking back up at her with fire and lust in your eyes. Bo swore the sight of you between her legs would have made her cum right there if you hadn't placed your lips on her clit. The ginger let out a loud moan, hands wanting to move down to pull you closer but remained where they were. "Good girl."

Bo was in agony. Her moans only became louder as she watched your mouth tease her with soft kisses before you moved south, wrapping those luscious lips around her clit and sucked hard making her hips thrust upwards. Her hands immediately came down to your hair as she pulled on it, pressing your face closer to her cunt as she grinded on you.

"Fuck-" You moaned against her wet cunt not bothered about her ignoring your instructions. Using your free hand, you slid two fingers into her, pumping fast. "Use me baby- I want my face to be soake-"

You never got to finish your sentence as Bo let out a load moan of your name, hands tugging on your hair, as she came and gushed all over your face, leaving a wet trial. You watched from below as Bo's eyes rolled back in pleasure, her hands gently coming away from your hair as she reached for your waist and pulled your body up against her.

She smiled softly as she wiped a finger across your face, sticking it into your mouth before pulling out and reaching down between your bodies. "Fuck- you're soaked cyare."

"Let me return the favour." Bo grinned as she swiftly placed her lips on yours, cleaning the mess she had made on your face.

***

"That was one hell of a massage." Bo laughed, the smile gently returning to her face.

"I know what you're thinking."

"Pray, do tell my princess." Bo gasped as you pressed your body against hers once more, breasts touching hers.

"You're wondering if you should hang up the mantle."

Bo's eyes slipped to yours, sighing in sadness. You always knew what was on her mind. It was something that attracted you to her. "Maybe I should. It's - Mandalore will never be ours again."

"Stop." You pressed a finger to her lips, instantly shushing her. "You are Mandalore. You always have been."

"You're the only one who has ever worked so hard to gain her planet back. I know you've done bad things, but they were all in the name of Mandalore to save our planet. I know you're the only one who can save us. It has to be you. So yes, maybe you should join Din on his ridiculous mission. It would be a start. We could gather members of his covert and restar-"

"No." Bo stopped you. "I can't, its- it's too much. Every single time we try something, it's like we take 5 steps back, and we never end up anywhere. I can't have you doing that again, not with me."

"Bo-" You warned, already knowing where she was heading with this.

"Maybe you should leave too. Everyone else has. Perhaps you'd have a better life." Bo continued, wanting to slowly push you off her but not wanting to lose you either. If this was all she had left, then she would rather savour it for however long she had with you.

"Maybe I should."

In an instant, Bo's head snapped to yours, not expecting you to agree. The shock evident on her face, deep down she believed you would always stay with her, as those in the outer rim would say 'Till death do us part'. But it would seem not, you'd go your own ways and she'd be left alone, again.

Without you.

"But I won't." Grabbing her hands, you placed them on your beating heart. Bo's green eyes filled with salty tears as she tried her hardest not to break down, despite you saying you wouldn't leave her.

"I'd follow you to the end of the galaxy if it meant I could stay by your side, Bo." You spoke gently. The love laced within your words was what made her crack. The tears finally slipped out as she realised you weren't leaving her, the only person who ever believed in her, who stood by her side while she made plans to regain Mandalore. Who swore that she would always love Bo, no matter how much of an asshole she was.

You. Bo's sweet princess was staying.

"Thank you, cyare." Bo sniffed as she pulled you close, placing her forehead against yours as she silently accepted your love. Her hands gently came to hold your face in her palms as she softly spoke her next words. "I do love you, you know that, right? More than I can express."

"I know, Bo." You smiled gently, placing your hands over hers.

***

*beep beep*

"Your majesty." The droid slowly swept in, the skidding noises disrupting your soft moment with Bo. "An unscheduled visitor."

Your lover sighed, gently placing you on her throne as she got up to look out the window, only to spot Din Djarin's N1 flying through the atmosphere. With a determined face, she gave you a nod before announcing, "Let's get rid of him once and for all."

"Bo-

"Fine. We'll see what he wants." Bo rolled her eyes, watching you sat on the throne and made something twirl inside her. "You coming with?"

The loaded question Bo had asked has several answers, but yours? It would always be the same.

"Always."

***

[bigasswritingmagnet]

Zeetha, Daughter of Klaus Ch 1/3

Fandom: Girl Genius Summary: Twenty years ago, Queen Zantabraxus gave birth to twins. Twenty years ago, Klaus had a choice to make. Twenty years ago, Klaus brought one of his children with him when he fled back to Europa.

In one universe, he took his son.

In this one, he took his daughter.

A very brief look at what happens when you have to play a part that wasn't written for you, trapped in a narrative that belongs to someone else.

AO3 Link Ch 2 Ch 3

Klaus Wulfenbach could not have made a more dramatic entrance if he’d planned it. The only reason Agatha felt he hadn’t was because she couldn’t think why he would waste it on such an unimportant audience.

The Baron strode into the room with his hands behind his back, his face a mask that managed to be both emotionless and displeased at the same time. Four massive war clanks, gleaming in the overhead lights, formed a protective square around the Baron and his entourage, led by a fearsome Jägermonster. Walking just behind Klaus on his right was a four-armed man scribbling industriously into a notebook. On his left, a girl about Agatha’s age, dressed in a charcoal grey suit and an embroidered waistcoat.

Being Agatha's height and only slightly broader in the shoulders, she should have been dwarfed by the Baron, but she exuded a proud, boisterous air that refused to be ignored; emphasized by her large brown eyes and wide mouth, both bright with barely-concealed amusement. Agatha was sure that she would have made as striking a presence as the Baron...if it wasn't for the hair. 

Dull, coarse, mousey brown, worn short in an unflattering bob, it was all the more eye-catching for how out of place it was on a person otherwise so sleek. Surely, Agatha thought, she had to know. Color and texture, one could only do so much, but haircuts were on purpose.

Suddenly the girl met Agatha’s eyes and grinned, revealing very sharp canines. Agatha, realizing she'd been caught staring, gave her a tight smile and looked instead at Beetle, who was fluttering around Klaus like a nervous butterfly, insisting that they could have this conversation elsewhere, there was no need to bother the professors.

“Damn it all, Klaus, this is my university!”

“In my town. In my empire. These are the ones I asked for?” he continued, nodding to the doctors before Beetle could say more. The Tyrant, red in the face, gritted his teeth.

“Dr Silas Merlot, my second in command and Dr Hugo Glassvitch, my chief of research.” Absentmindedly he waved a hand at Agatha. “And my lab assistant Miss Cl—”

Beetle whipped around to look at Agatha, his expression one of frantic horror that Agatha thought was far too dramatic.

“Miss Clay! Where is your locket?”

“I was robbed on my way here,” Agatha said, twisting her fingers together. “There was some sort of electrical anomaly, and I was trying to get away from it when I was…”

Beetle was barely listening.

“In my city? I’ll have the watch commander’s head for this!” He grabbed her arm and began to hustle her towards the door. “You must go home, my dear, you are clearly shaken--”

“Actually I feel much bett—”

“Nononono, I’ll not hear it, you must—”

A heavy hand landed on Agatha’s shoulder.

“Wait. This event—you saw it?” The Baron leaned over her, practically blocking out the light, fixing her with an intense, piercing gaze that made Agatha feel like a specimen under a microscope.

“Yes, sir. I was right there.”

“Stay. I have questions—but they must wait for later.”

“I can do it.” This was the mystery girl, stepping in closer to Agatha—who was starting to feel penned in. “I’ll take her home. It may be easier to interview her in a more comfortable setting. Besides—you don’t need me here for this.”

“That’s really not nec—” Agatha began.

“I would prefer you be here for this,” the Baron snapped, turning his focus from Agatha to his associate, who did not seem at all bothered by the laser glare.

“But you don’t need me,” the girl insisted. “And have you considered, Father, that you may not want her here for this?”

Father? This was—this was the Baron’s daughter? Agatha had heard the rumors about Zeetha Wulfenbach, everyone had, although the rumors couldn’t agree on much besides the fact that the Baron had announced her out of nowhere only a few months ago.

Then the rest of the girl’s statement hit her, and Agatha’s face went red. She must have heard about Agatha’s... problem from someone in the university—and very few people would have been kind about it. They probably told her she broke everything she touched, and Zeetha wanted her out of the way where she couldn’t do any damage.

“ I said I’m fine !” Agatha snapped. Everyone stared, and Agatha cleared her throat as her cheeks went red. “ Thank you . I appreciate everyone’s concern, but I’m. Fine.”

“There,” the Baron said. “The matter is finished. We can attend to business.”

He turned away, wandering towards the machine in the center of the room. Zeetha caught Agatha’s eye and, to Agatha’s amazement, winked at her. With a small, approving smile touching her lips, Zeetha followed her father.

She didn’t have any more time to think about it, because the Baron said:

“The real reason I wanted to meet here today, Beetle, is because I am here about the hive engine.”

“ What?” Agatha yelped. No one noticed her. Instead, the Baron advanced slowly on Beetle, who backed away.

“Hive engine, what—what are you talking about?” Beetle stammered.

“The hive engine. The on the field team stumbled across two weeks ago. The one you had moved into the university for study. The one you have been testing. The one that, based on changes in laboratory schedules and chemical requisitions, is in this room.”

The Baron was very good at looming, and he did so now, staring down at Beetle with contempt.

“ That hive engine.”

“Preposterous!” Beetle blustered, drawing himself up. “Where could I possibly be hiding a hive engine?”

Zeetha had begun to meander towards the storage closet. Agatha noticed—as Zeetha had—that the rivets were straining, the wood of the door bulging as it gradually weakened against internal pressure.

“You’re certainly hiding something in here,” Zeetha said, casually.

“No, wait—!” Agatha cried.

“I don’t think I will,” Zeetha said, almost playfully, and turned the handle.

“ Nooooo!”

A wave of paperwork, lab equipment, and anything else Agatha had found that wasn’t nailed down or too heavy to carry, erupted from the storage closet. Agatha cringed, squeezing her eyes shut at the cacophony of her work being undone. When it stopped and she dared open her eyes, Zeetha was standing untouched beside the pile, having neatly stepped to the side upon opening the door.

She was holding a goldfish bowl in one hand, its occupant swimming in frantic circles as the water sloshed back and forth but did not spill a drop.

“Oh.”

“Hive engines are slightly bigger than that,” the Baron said, icily.

“ I know that ,” Zeetha snapped, her cheeks going slightly pink. “I thought it might have been something guarding the mechanism to open that false wall back there.”

Wordlessly, Klaus crossed the room towards the back wall and pulled a large lever. He kept his eyes on Zeetha, who turned a brighter pink as the far wall trembled and mechanisms hummed. A section of the wall slid neatly into the floor to reveal--

To reveal the most horrible thing Agatha had ever seen in her life. A massive orb of metal and glass, full of black liquid that swirled, rose, fell, tendrils sliding over the glass as if looking for a way out. And there were...things. Shapeless things moving in the dark, and Agatha could see glimpses of teeth or eyes or terrible, terrible faces.

“One rule, Beetle. I made one rule: report all unusual discoveries, and immediately turn over any devices of the Other. You agreed to this rule.”

“I had no choice!” Beetle shouted. “You had me over a barrel! It was you or let the city starve!”

“So that was it? You kept it in the middle of the city—in the middle of the university ,” Zeetha spat, “and put your people at risk of the worst fate imaginable, so you could get one over on the Baron? I should—”

Her right hand flew to her left hip and closed around empty air. Zeetha growled in frustration and lunged forward, only for the Baron to grab her by the collar and pull her back.

“And yet,” Klaus said, as if there had been no interruption, “you signed the agreement. Which means—”

“It meant nothing then, and it means nothing now! I don’t need you or your empire now! So you can just get out!”

“Just like that?” Klaus asked, dryly.

Overhead there was a crack, a splintering of wood, groaning of timbers, and a metal gun the size of a large tractor leveled itself at the Baron.

“DO NOT MOVE,” boomed Professor Tock.

“Just like that,” Beetle confirmed, smugly, and cackled.

There was a pause as the Wulfenbachs considered their situation.

“Are you stupid?” Zeetha asked, finally. Beetle let out a squawk of outrage.

“How dare you!”

“Zeetha, do not antagonize the man with the large gun pointing at us,” Klaus said, wearily.

“Listen to your father, girl ,” Beetle sneered.

“He doesn’t have a large gun," Zeetha argued. "His clank has a big gun.”

“Which is still pointed directly at you,” Beetle said, “so if I were you I would hold my tongue!”

“If you were me, you’d know better than to think this would be a successful method of stopping us. See, that’s the problem with Sparks like you—you only think about the size of the gun and how much firepower you can give it. You never think about the downside!”

“...what downside?” Beetle asked, taking a slow, nervous step back.

“Things that are big…”

The air blurred. Agatha blinked, and Zeetha was standing directly behind Beetle, one arm around his throat, her free hand holding a knife beside his face.

“...are slow.”

It took several seconds for Tok’s head to turn all the way to see where she’d gone; even longer for the gun to ponderously swing towards Zeetha and Beetle. It paused halfway as Tok’s mechanism finished calculating the risk to its creator, and swung back towards the Baron.

Zeetha nodded to Agatha. “You might want to put that somewhere out of the way.”

Agatha looked down and realized she was holding the goldfish bowl. She looked back up at Zeetha in amazement. She’d never known anyone who could move that fast who wasn’t a construct.

“Now,” Zeetha said, smugly, and panic hit Agatha’s heart like a misfired lightning bolt.

“Don’t!” she cried, putting the fishbowl on the table so she could reach out imploringly. “Don’t kill him, please! We...we need him.”

“You need him?” Zeetha exclaimed. “You need a man who was one minor accident away from wasping your city? And what about that gun? You’re right within shrapnel range—if it shoots now, you could be hurt, maybe even killed! People keep telling me that the Tyrant keeps them safe, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of safety in this room right now.”

Agatha didn’t know what to say to that. She was saved from having to answer by Beetle himself piping up.

“Don’t worry, Miss Clay. She can’t kill me.” Beetle was pale and sweating, but he was also sneering. “The moment she does, Tok will open fire, and the Baron will have to be buried in a matchbox—Hgk!”

He choked as Zeetha’s grip tightened, her forearm pressing down against his windpipe.

“That’s true,” Zeetha said. “We’re in a proper standoff. Neither of us can make a move. But here’s the thing—I’m still going to win, because I’ve got something you never even considered for yourself.”

“And what is that?” Beetle asked, his nerves once more beginning to show.

Zeetha grinned, a wolf-sharp grin of victory. She leaned in and spoke in a stage whisper.

“ Backup.”

The side of Tock’s head exploded. The clank rocked sideways, its gun swinging up and out, flailing as it tried to keep itself from falling. A squad of airships, guns drawn and aimed at the oversized clank, drifted into view. Zeetha’s lip curled and Beetle cried out in dismay as another salvo struck Tok. This time the great clank stumbled back, losing its grip on the roof of the building, which slammed back into place with a crash that cracked the plaster on the walls.

A few seconds later, an even bigger impact shook the ground under their feet.

“We arrived here in a massive airship surrounded by lots of other airships, all of which are equipped to shoot very large targets—what did you think was going to happen? Were you going to hope no one would notice?”

“Guar--!” Beetle began to scream and again was cut off as Zeetha tightened her grip.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re done and you know it. The only reason you’re alive right now is my father thinks you’re more useful to us that way. But you would be equally useful as a head in a jar. Which would you prefer?”

Very slowly, without a word, Beetle raised his hands in surrender. Zeetha smirked and released him. Twirling the knife neatly over her fingers, she sauntered back to the others.

“I told you not to bring weapons,” Klaus said.

“You told me not to bring my sword ,” Zeetha said, unrepentant. “You didn’t say anything about knives.”

Agatha couldn’t take her eyes off of Beetle. He looked so small, standing alone in the middle of the room. He stared at the floor, his hands repeatedly smoothing over his jacket and waistcoat.

“Useful,” he mumbled. “Oh yes. I know what use you would have for me, Klaus.”

The Baron looked sharply at Beetle.

“What was that?”

“Useful,” Beetle murmured again. His signet ring snagged on one of the beetle broaches on his jacket and it popped off into his hand. Beetle stared at it, blankly. “You want me to be useful.”

Zeetha shifted her weight, uneasily.

“Tarsus,” Klaus said, carefully. “Whatever it is you believe I intend—”

Beetle suddenly looked up. His eyes were wild and his lips were bared in a horrible grimace; his grip was white-knuckled on the broach.

“I will show you useful. ”

And flung out his hand.

Wings snapped open and the beetle shot towards them, zigzagging wildly but with unerring aim.

Agatha was frozen in place. The Jägermonster began to run towards them, but everything had slowed to a crawl—everything but the beetle.

And Zeetha.

Who grabbed the fishbowl off the table, caught the goldfish, removed her hand from the water, swung the bowl like a butterfly net and neatly scooped the bomb out of the air.

Electricity crackled through the water, the beetle flashing brightly once before fizzling. It bobbed to the surface , a thin stream of smoke escaping from its carapace.

Setting the fishbowl back down, Zeetha grabbed the beetle by one mechanical leg and drew it out of the water before dropping the fish back inside.

“You should probably change the water,” Zeetha told Agatha, smiling smugly. “No idea what’s in these.”

Beetle slowly sank to his knees. Agatha felt tears rise to her eyes at the look on his face—that of a man who has been utterly broken.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby ,” Zeetha scoffed. “You’re going to be fine. Here. You can even have your little toy back.”

As if she were flipping a coin, Zeetha lazily tossed the tiny clank at Beetle’s feet.

It exploded.

Agatha felt heat on her face, and then she was landing on the ground, hard. Strong arms pinned her in place, practically crushing her to the body curled protectively around her. The noise rattled Agatha’s eardrums; she could feel it vibrating in her bones.

Then it was gone, leaving an audial aftershock of hissing smoke and tinkling glass. Carefully, Zeetha unfolded from around Agatha, releasing her from her unexpectedly vice-like grip, sitting back and staring at the destruction before her.

“But...” she said. “No, but--! But I neutralized it!”

“You neutralized the machinery that allowed the bomb to move ,” the Baron said, coldly. “You did not neutralize the elements that made the bomb explode.”

“ What? That’s ridiculous! You can’t half-neutralize something!”

Agatha stared in horror at the blackened remains of Doctor Tarsus Beetle, charred beyond all recognition.

“No,” Agatha whispered. Beside her, Zeetha flinched. “No! Dr Beetle!”

“His head,” the Baron said, sharply. “How is—”

Dr Glassvitch shook his head, his expression grief-stricken.

“ Damn it all.”

“You killed him,” Agatha whispered.

“Not on purpose!” Zeetha exclaimed, embarrassed.

“Perhaps next time,” the Baron said, “you will engage in confrontations with a little more care, and a little less showboating.”

Zeetha’s eyes narrow.

“Oh yes , Herr Baron,” she said, getting up off the floor. “How foolish of me. Next time someone throws a bomb at me, I’ll be sure to stand there and let it hit me.”

“Dun vorry, Mizz Zeetha,” the Jäger said, jovially, holding up some unidentifiable organ. “Hy dun tink he vould haff been verr useful anyvay—Hy izn’t findink a whole lot of brains in diz mess.”

“Herr Baron, may we leave now?” At last, the Baron’s secretary spoke, his voice tinged equally with exasperation and irritation. “My feet are sticking to the floor.”

Agatha erupted to her feet.

“How dare you!” she screamed, breathless with anger—though not so breathless she could not find her voice. Everyone—even the Baron—drew back in alarm. And that felt good, it felt. . .it felt right. They should be cowering before her! They should be filled with dread for invoking her wrath! How dare they come into her place like this!

“Is this some kind of a joke to everyone? Doctor Beetle is dead! The greatest ruler this city has ever seen was killed, and you’re complaining about your shoes? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? The people of this city will never stand for this! They will rise up and they will —”

Agony, lightning and knives and fire, burst in Agatha’s head with such ferocity she felt it halfway down her spine. She collapsed to her knees, clutching her head as tears of pain and frustration poured down her cheeks.

Worse than the pain was the loss—that ferocious sense of surety and strength melted away in the rising swell of humiliation. She did not need to open her eyes to know the look the others would now be giving her. Whatever Dr Glassvitch said was muffled and unintelligible.

The Baron’s murmured “Pathetic ” was loud and clear.

But both Agatha and the Baron missed the expressions that flitted over Zeetha and the Jägermonster’s faces—her, a flinch, hurt that wanted to be anger but wasn’t; him, bitter disappointment not quite managing to snuff out desperate hope.

“She just watched her mentor explode ,” Zeetha said. “I think this is a pretty understandable reaction.”

“Hmm. She was right. The people may cause a problem if this is not handled delicately.”

“That’s not what I—”

“It may not be such an issue, Herr Baron,” Merlot said, helpfully. “Very few people actually saw Dr Beetle on a reg—”

“ Silence.” Klaus’ voice was as cold as death and nailed everyone in the room in place. “Do not imagine me ignorant of your complicity, doctor. You both knew about the hive engine; you both helped Beetle hide it. The only reason you two are not in a transport headed for Castle Heterodyne this moment is that I am aware neither of you were in a position to resist the orders of the Tyrant if you did want to.

“As Doctor Beetle’s second in command, I leave the running of the town in your hands, Dr Merlot. Dr Glassvitch will be responsible for the university.”

Glassvitch went pale.

“I—but, but I’m not qualified—”

The Baron loomed.

“I recommend you acquire qualification with speed , because t he moment either of you give me cause to so much as suspect your involvement was willing, there will be... consequences.”

“I...But…”

The Baron turned away, waving a hand.

“I want all of the existing notes on the hive engine collated and sent to me by the end of the day. Boris will tell your assistant where to bring them.”

But Merlot’s eyes had locked onto Agatha, who had already braced herself for the inevitable.

“I have no need for an assistant as useless as this one. Miss Clay, you are dismissed.”

“Yes, doctor,” Agatha murmured, eyes downcast. “When I come to class tomorrow, I’ll get my things.”

She felt it. There was no sound, she could not see him react, but she felt Glassvitch’s guilt like heat from a fire. She turned her head. Her eyes met his. He did not need to say it.

“No,” she whispered.

“Agatha—”

“ No, you can’t—”

“ Please understand,” Glassvitch begged. “I am not Beetle; I do not have the kind of sway he did. I will not have the time or the power to protect you here—”

“So you’re just, just going to throw me out?”

Zeetha grabbed her father’s arm.

“ Do something!” she hissed. He raised an eyebrow at her. “Stop him!”

“It is his university.”

“Only because you gave it to him! This is only happening to her because of us! ”

“Us? Or you?”

Zeetha went rigid and released her father as if he had burned her.

“You were my friend ,” Agatha said, tears once more streaming down her cheeks.

“I am ,” Glassvitch said. His expression was agonized. Agatha did not care. “I promise, when things have settled, I will come visit you—”

She jerked away when he tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t bother,” she spat. With all the dignity she had, she turned on her heel and left the room with her head held high.

Glassvitch shut his eyes and rubbed his face.

“Herr Baron, please allow me to send someone with her to walk her home. I fear she may have another attack—”

Zeetha shoved him aside and stormed towards the door, following Agatha.

“Zeetha!” Klaus said, sharply.

“ I’ll get her home safe,” Zeetha snapped over her shoulder. Under her breath, she added, “I owe her that much, at least.”

[her-ethereal-royalty]

So!!! Now th-^-t everyfin’s cl-^-mmed down, I c-^-n fin-^-lly m-^-ke th-^-t -^-nnouncement I w-^-s t-^-lking -^-bo-^-t.

I’ve been thinking -^-bo-^-t the current -^-lterni-^-n fl-^-g, -^-nd honestly? It’s not th-^-t gre-^-t. It’s just red white -^-nd bl-^-ck with no fl-^-vor. So, -^-s -^- repl-^-cement, I’ve come up with this.

The violet under fuchsi-^- bec-^-use they’re se-^-dwellers, the fuchsi-^- trident bec-^-use fuchsi-^-s rule the pl-^-net. The three colors gold bec-^-use they power our ships, j-^-de bec-^-use they help bring new wrigglers to the empire, -^-nd te-^-l bec-^-use they legisl-^-cer-^-te. -^-nd of course, the other c-^-stes next to them.

So. Expecting reedb-^-ck.

Current fl-^-g under the cut.

[dailydragon08]

At Ease

Pairing: Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader Warnings: none, just fluff and Luke being an awkward lil bean who thought he’d be better at talking to pretty girls after becoming a Jedi Knight, but he’s not. A/N: "Remnants" is a series of Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader one shots in no particular order about the budding relationship between you and Luke as he trains you in the ways of the Force. Reader has long, naturally curly hair in this one (because I'm just feeling self-indulgent). Summary: Luke has a little trouble functioning after seeing you fully relaxed with your natural, curly hair for the first time. Read here on AO3

Luke sighed as he held C3PO’s detached foot in his hand. The droids had joined Leia and Han on an afternoon walk around Endor that was now possible six months post-battle. The Empire was becoming more scattered and unorganized by the day, but their work was far from finished, especially with Leia and the other diplomats beginning to plan how the New Republic would function. But still, they were starting to get more free time than they had previously.

“I’m so sorry, Master Luke!” 3PO cried in dismay from the table. “R2 pushed me over a log and my foot got stuck.”

R2 whistled in protest next to Luke, who sat at a table in the mess with his tools, attempting to put the droid back together.

“Oh, you did too, you insolent—”

“Calm down, 3PO, we’ll get you fixed up.” Luke turned to his sister and shook his head in amusement as she withheld her laugh from where she stood behind him. “Where’s Han?”

“He went off with Chewie and Lando somewhere,” his sister replied. “Something about maintenance on the Falcon. I tried to listen, but someone was very distraught.”

“Oh, yes,” 3PO said, “as you should be, R2!”

R2 beeped and shook slightly.

“They mean me?!”

“What happened?” a familiar voice asked just as Luke began lining up the droid’s foot and leg to re-bolt it.

“Hi, Y/N,” he heard his sister say behind him. He wished he could turn to give you a smile, but 3PO’s foot was being more stubborn than anticipated. He’d been training you as a Jedi for about four months now and the two of you were becoming fast friends. He enjoyed getting to know you and wasn’t sure how you had time for sleep with Jedi training and still helping at your old job in med bay. “3PO tripped and lost his foot.”

“I was pushed!”

“Oh boy,” you laughed behind him. “Hi, Luke.”

“Hey, Y/N. Sorry, I’m having to concentrate here.”

“Oh, it’s all good. I just wanted to ask—”

“Wait, is that your natural hair?” Leia asked in surprise.

“Oh—um, yeah. I just usually have it up when I’m working, but had a bit of a headache today and had some free time, so…” You trailed off, but Luke smiled at the vivid picture of your usual shrug.

“It’s gorgeous!”

“Oh, thanks,” you laughed nervously.

Curious, Luke paused in his work and turned to you only to do a double take at the natural, bouncy curls that fell down your shoulder and back. He had no idea your hair was curly—come to think of it, he’d never even seen it out of its usual updo. He felt his mouth open in a small “o” of its own accord but couldn’t seem to shut it.

Not that he’d ever thought you unattractive—far from it—but he almost hadn’t realized how attractive you were until now. He’d never had time to think about it before, with the remaining Imperials to deal with, mourning his father, and training you (not that you needed much; you were already proficient in the ways of the Force thanks to secret practice from the last few years). But now that he looked at you—really looked at you—he could see why many of the Resistance pilots practically drooled when you walked by.

Oh, he thought to himself, continuing to screw 3PO’s foot on while not paying a lick of attention. Oh no.

You met his eyes several times as you continued to talk with Leia, your conversation completely lost to him. You began to fidget with your clothes before turning to see what Leia was pointing at. With her other hand, his sister reached over and gently closed his mouth with her forefinger. Luke snapped back to reality and turned back to the droid in front of him, screwing the last bolt in place.

“Um,” he cleared his throat, “t-there you go, 3PO.”

“Oh, um…” the droid paused. “Master Luke, I hate to embarrass you, but my foot appears to be on backward.”

Luke thanked whoever was listening that he had his back to you as he felt the heat crawl up his neck onto his face. As hard as she tried, he could hear Leia fail to stifle her laugh behind him as you quietly asked her if he was okay.

“He’s fine, he just was apparently a bit distracted.”

“Oh, should I go?” you asked, completely oblivious to your effect on him.

“No!” Luke answered a little too quickly, turning to look at you and laughing nervously. Realizing his face was probably still red, he whipped back around, not expecting 3PO to have leaned forward to inspect his foot. He smacked his head against the droid’s with a hollow thunk, biting back a curse as he brought a hand to his throbbing head. “Noooo,” Luke groaned. “You can stay…ugh…”

Leia was now laughing so hard, he could see her double over in his peripheral vision. He turned to throw her a glare, but now you were also trying to hold back a laugh.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry!” 3PO said. “Are you all right?”

R2 let out a series of beeps that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before whistling at his companion.

“Um, yes, I think that would be a good idea. Master Luke, R2 has suggested perhaps he completes the repair?”

Still holding his head, Luke slowly slid down the bench to give the astromech room to work. “Uh-huh, yep. Go ahead.”

A hand on his shoulder made him look up to see you looking down at him, amused but still concerned. “Do you want ice?”

“I’ll go get it,” Leia replied before he could respond and left suspiciously quickly.

His attention returned to you as you gently moved his hand out of the way. “I’m fine, I promise. Just a little…uh…”

“Distracted?” you teased, a smile threatening your lips.

He chuckled. “Uh, yeah, I guess…”

“You don’t feel concussed, do you?”

“I promise, I’m fine. I don’t need doctor mode Y/N, but thank you,” he said with a smile, grabbing your hand to move it away from his head.

“You sure?”

Your E/C eyes bored into his, filled with genuine concern and for a moment, he couldn’t help but stare. He’d never really admired the color before, but they were striking. Especially framed with your curls, it made his stomach do somersaults and he could only give a quiet “yeah” in response.

You nodded, looking over his face just as intensely before clearing your throat. “Um…Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I…have my hand back?”

He blinked, realizing he was not only still holding your hand, but gently rubbing back and forth with his thumb. “Oh! Yeah, sorry, sorry.”

You smiled and Luke felt his heart sink unexpectedly as you were called away. “I’ll see you for training later?”

Not trusting himself to speak, Luke simply nodded, sneaking a glance at you as you walked away. Leia returned just as you left with Han in tow, snickering when she realized what her brother was staring at. She laughed and shook her head as she gently pressed the ice pack to Luke’s forehead.

“Weeellll,” Han began, “from what I heard, you sound like you’re super smooth, kid. I’m impressed. And here I thought I would have to give you some pointers.”

“You’re never gonna let me forget this, are you?” Luke groaned.

Leia and Han smiled at each other before simultaneously answering, “No.”

[yukipri]

The grind is FINALLY over!!!!

Ngl Empire is not my department in SW, and prior to playing SWGOH I would not have been able to name the Executor or Admiral Piett etc etc. However, my desire to remain sitting at No. 2 in my fleet shard won out, and made the Executor my priority farm😂

It does help that most of the farm were bounty hunters, including Boba and Bossk, who I wanted to level up anyway.

Anyway, I know it'll still take a few months of collecting shards to max it (I paid enough crystals to get it to 5* no more💀), but for now, Satisfaction!

My next big goal is going to be GAS, which I've about finished collecting shards of all requirements for. But it'll take me a while to get them up to relics, and before that, I want to prioritize beefing up my CLS team. They're all 7*s but I wasn't giving them much love.

(I also desperately want to relic up my clones, who are currently sitting at G12, but I feel like I should prioritize at least getting GAS, since I know he takes a while to collect shards afterwards...)

I feel like I should also go back and get the Revans, but I'm kinda wary bc I feel like they're prime targets for the next Lightspeed Bundles. Which. I've been getting them, and they're a great deal and useful, but. Makes putting the time and effort into some things feel stupid.

Anyway, roughly half a year? maybe? since starting SWGOH and here we are lmao

[sapphic-book-tournament]

The Priory of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon-

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

The Unbroken by CL Clark-

Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.

Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet's edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.

Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren't for sale

[spell-cleaver]

AU where luke overhears owen and beru talking about how his father is darth vader. luke, who is still kinda ignorant about how bad the empire is but knows they're evil, sets out to save his father. A few months later, Darth Vader is kidnapped by an Imperial engineer :)

Read it on AO3 or on FFN instead!

Vader knew the stowaway was there before he even got onto the shuttle. The troops who were meant to accompany him on his diplomatic mission to Tatooine stood to attention when he strode into the hangar and didn’t dare to question him when he waved them away. They could take a different shuttle.

He was bored. He was angry. If he had to spend the afternoon negotiating with Jabba rather than simply rolling into Hutt Space with the Imperial Navy and taking what he wanted, then he would at least spend the morning finding out what pathetic sort of trap this was and crushing it. The presence on board was clearly Force-sensitive: was this an attempt by the dregs of the Jedi to assassinate him? He would enjoy putting it—and the stowaway—to rest.

So, pretending not to have noticed the presence, he sat down in the pilot’s seat and smoothly took off from the hangar, feeling his troopers’ baffled stares after him. They would follow in a transport soon after. He wanted to have this chance, first. The presence sparked with joy and excitement when they took off: the Jedi must think their plan was succeeding.

It wasn’t long before the trap he was waiting for was sprung. The controls of the shuttle started to wobble, and their trajectory pitched to the right. Vader growled. Their current course would take them away from Mos Eisley, towards the Jundland Wastes and towards…

His mother’s grave.

The autopilot was engaged. That was exactly where they were taking him, when he checked: the programme had been fed coordinates that Vader well-remembered inputting once before, in another life. When he made to override it, the navicomputer beeped at him angrily.

Passcode protected. Vader spent a scant thirty seconds trying to break through, but the Jedi’s tech skills were at least passable. He could work at it harder and correct their course, but first he wanted to see what plan they had shoved into actions.

He stood from the pilot’s seat and looked behind him. In a lambda shuttle, there should be nowhere to hide. There was the cockpit, the engine room, and the hold, where both cargo and troopers would be stored. Nowhere else should be large enough to hide a humanoid.

The cockpit was empty other than for him, and to enter he had had to come through the cargo hold. That left the engine room—but at a first glance, that was empty too.

A challenge then. And one with a time limit, before they reached his mother’s grave and whatever nefarious plot this was came to full fruition. He let rage soak his chest, lit his lightsaber, and stalked forwards.

“I know you are here, Jedi,” he boomed. “What game do you think this is?”

A flicker in the Force—almost like a giggle. Vader snapped his gaze around the engine room and peered behind the engine itself. Wires tangled in and out of his peripheral vision, tubes interlocked throughout like a grid, but the Force saw clearly. The Jedi was directly behind—

He stopped. He’d reached the back of the room. There was only a metal wall.

He reached out to rap his fist against the wall.

The resounding echo was hollow. The Force betrayed the wince and discomfort from the Jedi, but more importantly, his own ears betrayed the moment when they started scrambling through this vent they’d found to hide in and ran.

Darth Vader was never going to let his prey escape. He drove his lightsaber into the rigid metal like it was water and slashed down. The Jedi screamed. Vader slashed along the other side, uncaring as to whether he amputated a limb, or a head, or a torso, and the metal buckled and bent as he seized the Force in his fist and flung it backwards.

The panel slammed past him, into one of the metal tubes throughout the engine room, and clattered to the ground in a twisted, charred mess. The Jedi tumbled out of the vent in the wall to land at Vader’s feet. He didn’t have the time to lift his chin before the edge of Vader’s blade lingered at his throat.

The Jedi was a boy. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen, so the Imperial engineer’s uniform he was wearing was laughable: it was several sizes too large for him, and it horrified Vader to think that his men could have let such an obvious imposter infiltrate the Devastator without noticing. Heads would roll for their incompetence. The boy’s hair was long and shaggy, as sun-bleached and yellowed as bones forgotten in a desert. His pale eyes moved slowly along the length of Vader’s lightsaber, from one line of smoke that snaked up from his uniform collar where the blade was at his throat, to the other line of smoke that rose from where the tip of the blade punctured the floor.

“What did you hope to achieve by this, Jedi?” Vader spat. “Why are you taking me here?”

The boy swallowed, set his jaw, and glanced up at Vader. “To bring you home,” he said earnestly.

Vader extinguished his lightsaber. The boy didn’t have time to telegraph his relief on his face before Vader telegraphed his rage on his face instead. Feeling cartilage crunch under his durasteel fists was a satisfying sort of violence, second only to seeing someone squirm in mid air as they realised how fragile their grip on oxygen was. Vader lowered his fist, and the boy’s knees rammed into the floor. He spluttered blood.

“What?” he asked. “I—”

Vader seized him by the throat. The boy stopped talking. His nose twisted in on itself like an ingrown jogun, and his cheekbone didn’t exactly look straight, either. He audibly gulped—for air, perhaps, as the blood blocked up the access through his nose, though his terror was a sudden bright, sharp thing.

It cut Vader to the bone in an instant. He didn’t know why. He didn’t want to.

“This,” Vader hissed, his fury crashing like cymbals through his helmet, through the Force, until the boy looked dazed from the experience of it, “is not my home.”

“But—”

Vader threw him. In the engine room, there were many things to hit, and he hit at least three of them. His head slammed into a pipe, his spine into another one, and his foot even crunched with unpleasant finality against the thrumming engine itself. He lay limp on the floor. Consciousness flickered out for him for a moment—but only for a moment. Vader reached out to seize him and drag him back to the waking world with an ease that surprised even him.

He was not yet finished.

“What do you know?” he demanded, stalking forwards. The boy jerked sluggishly upright, staring blearily at him—then scrambled backwards as fast as he could. “Where did you find out—”

The boy got to his feet and made a run for the door, back to the corridor. Vader indulged him: he made it to the doorway of the cockpit before Vader seized his neck with the Force and yanked him into the air, kicking and lashing out. A hand gouged deep scratches in his throat, as if he could unpick Vader’s grip on him, Vader’s grip on the Force, Vader’s grip on reality and the truth of how he had lived for nearly sixteen years. It did nothing. A strangled cry was all that escaped Vader’s chokehold.

Vader stopped in front of him and quieted himself to speak almost calmly. “Where,” he said, voice still with promise, “did you find out about this place?”

The shuttle set down with a resounding thud. They had landed. Vader didn’t bother glancing out of the viewport: it would be the same desert, the same worthless farm, and nothing of import would ever be found there again.

The boy was trying to speak. Vader gritted his teeth—if he did not control his frustration, he would kill him and lose any chance of discovering what the Jedi knew about Skywalker’s past—and loosened his grip.

Tears streamed down the boy’s face. They cut through the mangled mess of blood left behind from Vader’s attack. White bone gleamed in his cheek.

“I…” he got out. “Live here.”

That was unexpected—and insulting.

“Why?” he demanded. “Why would the Jedi settle here?” His mother had remarried, had she not? Perhaps whatever farmers had dared to monopolise her affection had decided to throw in their lot with random Jedi, in memorial to the Jedi who had failed to save her from her fate…

“Not. A Jedi.”

“Not a Jedi?” Vader tightened his grip again, and the boy’s cry was near-silent. “Your presence is unmistakeable. Who are you, what do you know, and what do you intend by bringing me here?”

He loosened the grip to let him speak.

“Skywalker,” the boy said.

Vader threw him into the viewport. The whipcrack of his skull against transparisteel was also satisfying. He slid down onto the console, several functions of the ship whirring into action as he landed on them.

A cool breeze blew through the cockpit—increased circulation. He’d opened the vents, and the eddies blew his hair back from his face, so that his eyes were clear and uncovered when he locked them on Vader’s mask and finished, “Luke Skywalker.”

Vader’s fist froze halfway to closing.

“I’m—not a Jedi.” He coughed; Vader could see the muscles in his throat spasming from here. “Don’t know what that is.”

Vader lifted a finger. “You—”

“Thought you were my father.” Luke’s eyes spilled fresh tears down his cheek. Down his soft, ruined cheek. “Must’ve been wrong.”

When Vader reached out to connect to that Force presence, as powerful as any Jedi’s but—now—blaringly obviously untrained, he felt it settle somewhere in his chest. Pain followed. Pain, he was used to, but not this pain.

“You are Anakin Skywalker’s son,” Vader said.

“Overheard my aunt and uncle saying you were… him. Empire’s evil. Like Hutts. Thought you’d be… a slave again.” His head lolled, the effort of keeping it up clearly gargantuan. “Didn’t realise you’d be a Hutt.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vader snapped. Luke flinched. “I am here to negotiate with Jabba, to destroy him if necessary—”

“I came to save you,” Luke muttered. “Didn’t—didn’t even let me explain…”

“You were a stowaway on my ship! What sort of naïve, ignorant child are you? Have you no concept of danger? Of violence?”

“Didn’t expect a Hutt,” Luke muttered again. “Seen them get violent, but—”

“I am not a Hutt!”

Luke didn’t respond—because he didn’t want to, or because he couldn’t, Vader didn’t know. He just kept looking up at Vader through pale lashes, head lolling without the strength to be lifted.

“Thought you were my father,” he said.

“I am your father.”

Luke closed his eyes, then. A thin wisp of a sigh wheezed from his lips. “Oh.”

Vader stormed up and towered over him. “You are a fool,” he hissed. His finger sprang out to jab in his face. “You—”

Luke flinched and turned his face away.

Vader’s tirade stumbled to a halt.

“Maybe,” Luke mumbled. “Dunno what I was thinking.”

But Vader knew what Luke was thinking. It was written into Luke’s thoughts, projected into his mind like a slide-by-slide presentation. It was something that Vader would never, ever have considered. He had never thought he’d get away without being caught. He’d just trusted his father, a man he loved without knowing him, not to hurt him.

He'd had no idea how capable his father was of violence. Now, though…

Now he knew it intimately.

“You require medical assistance,” Vader said awkwardly.

Luke coughed. “Probably can’t afford it.”

“I will provide it.”

“You don’t have to. I…” His heart was audibly breaking. “I get it.”

“You most certainly do not.”

“I—”

“You do not have a choice.” Vader moved for the comlink set into the console and typed in the frequency for his personal medic on the Devastator. “You will require urgent attention if you are to be saved.”

Luke snorted. “I came here… to save you.”

“You cannot save me, Luke,” Vader said. “What was done to me, and what I have done, is written in blood. Anakin Skywalker is dead. You are not.”

Luke cracked his eye open to peer at Vader for a moment, just as his personal medic responded. “No,” he said, almost with amusement. “I’m not.”

Vader wouldn’t realise what that meant until later.

Later, when they returned to the Devastator, and Vader realised a few minutes into Luke’s surgery that he had to get painkillers or anaesthetics for Luke, because Vader’s own droids were not equipped to provide them. He ran for the first time in over a decade, because he could not interrupt the surgery, but Luke was screaming, screaming, screaming, and the sound tattooed itself on his eardrums. He heard it even as he sat in the chair beside Luke in the medbay and watched his sleeping son.

Anakin Skywalker was dead. He had long since been exposed to the violence of the galaxy, the betrayal it was capable of, and he had returned it tenfold.

But because of him, Luke Skywalker was not.

Vader had long since lost any innocence. He had torn it from the hearts of civilians in his campaigns. He had beaten a lot of Luke’s out of him, as well. But not all of it.

Protecting someone had never been something Vader cared about. Even the Empire was not something Vader protected; it was something he served. But after all he had done, Vader would crawl through another universe of torment to sit at his son’s bedside and listen to the beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor assure him that he still lived.

Luke had wanted to bring him home. He had succeeded in that, at least.

[genma-support-group]

Book 1: Into The Unknown, Chapter 1: Men Like Us

Into The Unknown is a part of a two-part series, called Trouble in the Pine. The series is on AO3. Link above. ^

Rating: Explicit, 18 +, Minors Don't Interact

Summary: Elon, a green planet untouched by the war, and the former Republic—now Empire. A place for a man to start over, if that was possible for someone who didn’t have a say in regard to his birth. Will Crosshair, a man of regrets be able to move forward and start a new?

Tags: Western, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Starting Over, Friendship, Canon-Typical Violence, Animal Death, Bandits & Outlaws, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Angst and Feels, Action & Romance, Friends to Lovers

First chapter is below cut.

“Jaa, do you see this?” A man says over the comms, as Jaa steps out of the cantina just outside of the dirt road that cuts through the small town surrounded by tall trees.

His dark eyes narrow as the bright light flickers in the setting sun. “Yeah.” He replies, jumping onto his speeder and taking off without a real word to say.

The roar of the speeder's engine echoes throughout the forest as a ball of fire races across the sky, earning a frown from Jaa who wore a silver star on his chest. His grip tightens as he turns to the right moving through the woods that are filled with giant trees. The hum of the bike fills his ears until a sudden boom overtakes the sound, and the ball of smoke fills the air—forcing the man on the speeder to press the bike to go faster until he arrives at the crash site. A semi-large ship had crashed on the hill of the mountain and in one quick motion, Jaa jumped off of the bike, sliding down the crater that was made by the impact.

Scanning the ship with his eyes, he coughs at the amount of smoke coming off the ship's back end with pockets of fire dancing in the wind. Climbing up the hill as he made his way to the front of the ship that was half buried in the hill, which allowed him to climb and walk on the nose of the ship. Finding that the window was cracked, he took a second to think of his next move, ultimately deciding to break through the glass. Stomping on it until he was able to make a boot-size hole before pulling back the glass, creating a large enough hole for not only himself but for anyone else he might find inside. Coughing some more as the wind changed, causing the smoke of the ship to be pushed towards him.

Laying on his chest, Jaa sticks his head into what was once a cockpit, his eyes squint as he tries to see through the dark space that had a red light flicking on and off. His eyes stop at an odd figure that he can’t quite see, as he pushes himself off the ground and waves a hand in front of his face. As the smoke continues to blow in his direction, he slides down to get some air before deciding what to do. His hands were on his hips, as he headed for his bike when he heard the roar of more speeders, and for a moment his attention shifted from the ship to those approaching him. A hand on his blaster pistol that he wore on his hip, as his eyes squint to make them out.

Making out the details of the two persons that were approaching, his hand moved from the handle of his weapon and into a wave. The first to arrive was the doctor of the small town, Gavals Finnall was his name and one of the few older members of the community. He was followed closely by Brinna Horne, the only daughter of Jaa Horne. The two came to a rolling stop, as they hurried off their speeders, Gavals held the rope as well as a headlamp for Jaa to use. Brinna sets up the cot attached to her speeder, turning on the heels of her boots as her father stands with his hands on his hips.

“I saw at least one body in the cockpit, I might need to get in and look for anyone else,” Jaa says as he grabs the headlamp from Gravals who simply nods. “I have a strong feeling that nothing good will come out of this, I swear it.” He finished as the two looked at him.

The three climb the hill, tying one end of the rope to a tree, before tying the other end around Jaa who then slides down to the nose of the ship. Followed close behind by Brinna and Gavals, who were now standing close to the hole Jaa had made, the two that followed covered their noses, and mouths before Jaa spoke. “Gaval hold tight, I don’t want this to go badly,” Jaa started as he rolled his hands into a fist before carrying on. “Brinna, check the body for anything that might help us find out what happened here.” Brinna nods, knowing her father well enough.

Slowly Jaa moves through the broken glass and carefully enters the cockpit turning the headlamp on as he scans the room. The light catches the figure of a man in a grayish blue outfit, with a scar on the right side of its head. The closer Jaa moved the clearer the being was, a human male with a crosshair tattooed over his right eye. Earning him a curious stare before he nudged the male that lay against the wall next to the door that led to the rest of the ship. Reaching out to check the male's pulse, sighing with relief as the male was alive but surely knocked out.

Untying himself from the rope to tie it around the male that lay limp in front of him. “I found one, he appears to be knocked out or something, but I’ll send him up,” Jaa shouts as the two above watch, yelling out a simple okay in return. “Alright, pull!” He shouts, and they do as told.

Guiding the body up and then holding it slightly as the two above carefully move the male through the hole and out into the open. As the rope is thrown back into the hole, where Jaa shouts that he is going to be looking through the rest of the ship. He was met with pushback by his daughter—Brinna—who wanted her father to return to the outside. As the fire grew worse, and the smoke grew darker as seconds passed. Of course, he ignored her words and pushed forward, leaving the two to look after the unresponsive male who lay next to the hole in the windshield.

“Damn that fool, he’s going to die if he keeps acting like this,” Brinna says under her breath as her brown eyes scan the male that lay still. “But what to do with you, stranger.” She says as she notices the faded tattoo on his right eye.

“He has a few cuts here and there, but I am not sure if anything is broken,” Gavals states as he looks over the body. “But he’ll have one hell of a headache when he wakes up.”

Brinna nods, though her mind is elsewhere.

For what felt like hours, the rope is tugged on, catching the two's attention, forcing their gaze off the body and back to the hole. Jaa stood with one leg on the chair and the other on the dashboard as he slowly made his way towards the whole. As the pair help him wiggle through the hole, Jaa curses under his breath, before finally making it out. Sitting with his legs in the hole, with black smoke filling the air, Jaa’s attention shifts to the only body he found in the whole ship. His brown eyes which his daughter shares with him, before looking towards the body and thinking, Just who are you?

“No time to stare, papa, we need to get out of here, and make sure this man is okay,” Brinna states as her attention shifts to the body as Gavals stands carefully on the nose of the ship, and carefully moves the body.

“Right,” Jaa says as he helps move the body. “He barely weighs a thing.” He adds as they lower the male down, while Brinna moves her speeder closer to the ship.

Resting the male's head on the cot first, his body followed after, it wasn’t long after the awkward silence that Brinna spoke first. “I have a feeling that something ain’t right about this…”

“Well, we aren’t going to leave someone who needs our help out to dry,” Jaa states as he climbs onto his speeder. “Now let's get going while we can, let the ship burn out and we’ll come back to see what's left.”

Twisting the grips on the speeder, Jaa, along with the other two took off for town that was two miles away. As they flew through the forest, Brinna couldn’t help but look at the oddly lean man whose features were unique and uncommon on Elon. Shifting her gaze back to what was in front of her, Brinna eased up on the speed and followed loosely behind Gavals who was right next to her father. Neck and neck as they entered the town, coming to a slow stop in front of the office in which Gavals works out of, and shares a wall with the General Store. It didn’t take long for a Twi’Lek boy who was no older than eighteen to rush out of the shop, down the steps, and beside the cot, as he looked over the male that lay nearly lifeless.

“Is he dead?” The Twi’Lek asked, his tone filled with curiosity.

“No, I assumed he hit his head on something and simply knocked himself out,” Gavals says with a tone that showed concern. “Help us get him in the office, the sooner I can get him in, the better off he’ll be.”

“Right away!”

Jaa, the boy, and Gavals lift and carry the male into the office while Brinna stands just before the steps that lead to a porch that runs down on either side connecting other shops.

“What’s happened? Who was that?” A voice calls out from the crowd that had poured out of the cantina.

Turning around to face them, Brinna could not tell the town folk what had happened for a moment. “A ship crash landed and it carried only one person, but who they are, is a mystery.” She finished with narrowing eyes before she climbed the steps and entered the office herself as the crowd lingered for a while longer.

The evening turned into night, and then night to morning, as the light from the sun seeps through the single window that was half covered by the curtain. A light tapping from Jaa’s index finger on the metal desk that sat across from the three full beds, that line the shared wall. It is the only thing that keeps him awake throughout the night, while Gavals disappears to get something to eat at the cantina that acts as both a bar and a restaurant. A light knock drew Jaa’s attention, forcing him out of the old wooden chair, and walking across the wooden floor. Opening it, to the sight of the Twi’Lek boy’s mother, who held a basket full of bread.

“I was told that Kocas was here all night,” The Twi’Lek woman says as she looks over to the three beds, her smile warm though a look of confusion soon replaces it. “Who is that man?” She gestures with her head.

“We don’t know yet, but we are hoping he wakes up soon, Caali,” Jaa says as he reaches out for a piece of bread.

“He looks like trouble to me, are you sure you should have him here?” Caali asks, her words circling in Jaa’s head as he takes a bite out of the soft food that he holds in his dirty hands. “I heard he came from a crash, and that he was half alive, and by the looks of him, he might as well be dead.”

“A lot to say for a farmer's wife,” Jaa’s words were rough, they had always been rough. Some whisper that his wife hadn’t died when the outlaws came in to rough up the towns folks, but she had left him for another man. “We wait until he wakes up, and if God willing, he’ll have all his memory.”

“Hmph, well tell Kocas to come home, his father is looking for him.”

“Of course, I’ll tell him when he stops faking sleeping.”

The pair stared as Kocas threw the blanket off of himself, his blue skin matched his mother's, while his clothing was more or less mirrored after Jaa’s attire. A black t-shirt, brown leather jacket, dark gray pants, and rough-looking boots that had seen better days. Something Caali had frowned upon, hoping her only child would find a better role model than that of Jaa Horne. The Sheriff of the small town had its share of problems, between the outlaws that come and go between this town and the next settlement. Where only those running away from their past come to settle, to start something that gives their life more meaning than their previous lives.

“What does the old man want with me anyway,” Kocas pouted like a child before going on. “I thought I wasn’t allowed on the farm, since I am a deputy now!”

“No deputy talks to their mother, or parents like that, go, see what your father wants,” Jaa says with a tired tone. “Then consider applying again to be a part of my deputies when you mature enough.”

Kocas looks away from Jaa before moving off the bed, leaving it a mess as he walks out of the office with his mother. Leaving Jaa alone with his thoughts, which soon shift to his daughter who lay sleeping in the bed that was pushed up against the wall. Running his hands in his short black hair that had stricks of gray on the sides, showing his age. As he sits back down behind the desk, the door opens again, this time with Gavals with a bag full of food. Sitting the bag of food on the desk away from his papers, and the only datapad that kept all the townspeople's health records.

“About time, what took you so long,” Jaa asked, as he opened the bag of food, pausing as he heard his daughter stirring away at the scent of food. “Hurry up and wake up, or else I’ll eat it all.”

She groaned at her father's words before doing as told.

As they were about to dig in, a groan filled the office, causing the three to quickly turn their heads to the bed that sat between the two others.

“Where…Where am I?” The male says as he attempts to lean on his elbows.

The male scanned the space, his eyes were fuzzy, and his head hurt more than he could handle, as his head fell back onto the firm pillow. Gavals was the first to approach, as he had scanned the man hours previously for anything broken or any damage to his organs. Tests that came back clear with a quick scan, though his voice was raspier than they had expected. Making Brinna a winner in the bet they had made out of boredom, but as Gaval checks the male out, Jaa and Brinna watch from the desk. Though Brinna didn’t stay long, she was quick to move to the other side of the bed.

“What’s your name?” She asked, where she was met with another groan as the male rubbed his head.

“There is a chance that he might not remember or worse lie to us,” Gavals says bluntly, though a part of him had the sense to know that this man was different. “At least that’s what I assume for now.”

“The name’s Crosshair,” The man says through another groan. “Don’t talk like I am not here.”

“Well, Crosshair, what are you doing here? Are there more coming? Why did you pick Elon?” Jaa was quick to interrogate Crosshair who only huffed as Gavals hushed the Sheriff.

“Leave him be for now, he needs to rest,” Gavals says as he pushes Jaa away from Crosshair. “Brinna and I can take it from here, go home or the Sheriff's office, and get some sleep.”

Jaa frowns, grabbing the bag of food before leaving the office where he is met with a small group of women that were in their late thirties.

“Who is the man in the doctor's office?” One asked.

“I am not ready to say just yet,” He looks back at the slightly open door, but it is soon closed by someone in the office. “We haven’t gotten a chance to question him, due to medical reasons.”

The women nodded though it was clear that their trust was shaken.

Tag: @n0vqni @daisies-daydreams @rexxdjarin @carodealmeidaira

If you want to be added to future works, please let me know!

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for stealing an energy source?

i ( 120-something, M ) am the king of an empire that's unfortunately had years upon years of hardship due to the lack of energy we have. for context, we lost a war while i was still in my youth as king, and we were cast underground. there was next to nothing down there for us, aside from a few old human settlements, of which we decided to take for ourselves seeing as how pretty much all the humans are dead.

now, this all happened a couple years back. i decided to finally take what our enemies had stolen from my people, and steal their greatest source of energy. my people finally began to prosper, and everything looked good! until an old friend of mine, C( 120-something, M ) and their newest " apprentice " or whatever T( 14 at the time, NB ) began to take our energy! as you can imagine i was pretty upset, so i kidnapped C, and decided T would have to face me to get him back.

... T won that fight. i'm admittedly still kinda salty about it.

so then i did it again but this time i also decided to rope a famous idol, CL ( 19 at the time, F ) into it as well. good news, C wasn't around since he was off doing whatever with T, so no one was gonna stop me! bad news, CL's cousin, M( 19 at the time, F ) found someone else to help save her, F. ( 14? 16? honestly i dunno, NB ) with CL's help i thought i'd be fine.

... i lost again. yeah.

again this was a few years ago now, C's retired and T's taken his place, my people are starting to integrate into T's society, and everything's getting... better, i guess?

but yeah, uh, AITA?

[metacrisisdoctor]

tentoorose makes more sense when you stop thinking of tentoo as a cl*ne and just understand that he and ten are the same person with different opportunities. essentially, after the dalek shoots ten and he starts to regenerate he starts existing in two different timelines. tentoo is a regeneration who has a separate body, even moffat has said that tentoo took the doctor an entire regeneration cycle and that is how he is described in the comics. this makes him an alternate version of the doctor, not a copy.

it’s no different to how pete and alt pete are still both pete. they just made different choice and therefore are slightly different people, but neither of them is fake. it’s sad that pete died in our universe, but pete still living in the other universe does not diminish that.

for ten, the “right” timeline is the one he lives with rose in pete’s world and that is why him watching them kiss is the beginning of his descent into madness in the specials. it’s also why he has to regenerate. he cannot be living two lives. he has to change because he is meant to be with rose, and when he changes there is only one tenth doctor left which then ties back into empire of the wolf as well.

[wingardiumiku]

ɞ 𝐦𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐚 | wmmap/jennette x oc

headcanons

summary : it all started when claude de alger obelia got a little paranoid about his daughter's safety, as felix robane—his personal knight—could hardly fare with guarding the emperor and his sole heir alone. the church was notified and then came a paladin, uprooting her entire life to settle into the imperial residence, bearing the same face that his majesty knew all too well. little did avalon know the mighty bumps that laid on the path ahead.

➶ avalon de luna agrece is the youngest and amongst the handful of female church paladins of obelia. whether she is of noble lineage or not is unclear but she has a large mana reserve.

➶ she was left in the great temple of eden faith, the only remaining religion in the empire after the revolution, and was raised by the high saintess gabriella.

➶ the name 'avalon' means island of apples. it is also said to be the place where the sword excalibur was crafted.

➶ claude recognizes avalon due to her uncanny resemblance to her maternal aunt—astaria campbell—who used to serve the fourth legion of imperial knights, the strongest among the fifteen legions.

➶ avalon is a reserved girl with an air of confidence around her and a knack for manipulating others to have things her way. it had become a second nature, growing up in a world of savagery and do-or-die policy.

➶ avalon was reluctant to serve the emperor in fear of becoming a mere footsoldier before achieving her dreams but she agreed immediately upon receiving a direct letter from felix robane, her idol.

➶ her first meeting with athanasia was quite eventful, all things considered. avalon had sucker punched the creep lording over the princess causing said imperial to go on a laughing spree and the magician of the black tower bleeding profusely from his nose. the girls became besties from the get-go.

➶ despite their rocky start, lucas and avalon share a sibling-like bond. they tease each other as if it is a ritual but also respect each other majorly. safe to say lucas never wants to be on the receiving side of her punches ever again.

➶ avalon first met jennette at the debutant ball where she escorted the brunette away from athanasia and co. after she returned the princess' bow.

➶ avalon felt the butterflies residing in her stomach go crazy, something she had only read about in those cheesy novels her charge read. it was perhaps love at first sight for her.

➶ it took longer coming to terms with her crush rather than the initial falling part. avalon went through several stages of emotions—denial, disgust at herself, anger toward people's one-track mindset and, finally, acceptance.

➶ it wasn't easy knowing she fancied girls in a patriarchal society. it was even harder knowing people expected her to fall for a man, something that seemed impossible for her.

➶ their second meeting was when avalon stumbled upon the emperor staring down jennette like predator at his prey. the paladin steered the lady towards the garden, momentarily calming claude with a reminder of official matters left unattended.

➶ they properly conversed during athy's tea party when avalon was roped into the young ladies' conversation. they expressed curiosity, seeing her dressed in trousers and a fitted suit and soon started arguing about the viability of her position in accordance to her gender.

➶ before she could manage a witty retort, jennette came to her defense. "it shouldn't matter if miss avalon is a girl. she was chosen by his majesty to protect the princess due to her capability as a knight. we should respect that."

➶ yeah, avalon just short-circuited right then and there. athy wore a teasing smile as she nudged the knight with her elbow. with a hasty bow and a short notice of departure, avalon ran from the gardens.

➶ that night she found a thank-you letter from the margarita girl, saying she discovered avalon's address from the too-eager-to-provide princess.

➶ from then on, they became pen pals and wrote to each other on a daily basis.

➶ she had caught claude's eye during her initiation ceremony into the twelfth legion. one chess match over tea and savory snacks turned into weekly meetings and elaborate discussions about the game and, to everyone's surprise, books.

➶ it took a while for jennette to accept that she did indeed harbor feelings towards the lovely paladin. she had tried distracting herself with her fate to marry ezekiel but that didn't work...at all.

➶ jennette margarita was wooed by avalon de luna and that realization alone made hot blood rush to her face. she found herself awaiting avalon's letters every night and preserving each piece of penmanship with the utmost care.

➶ she felt like a little girl in a store full of sugary goodies every time the knight's name came up. to the point where the invitations for tea from the princess became a getaway to meet her knight in shining armor.

➶ ejekiel probably picked up on jennette's crush but reassured her that he wouldn't think of her any different from before nor would he reveal this fact to others.

➶ anastacius most likely spied on avalon, partly due to her strong mana and partly due to 'who dares to capture my daughter's heart!'

➶ he reluctantly approved of their budding relationship after witnessing the genuine smile jennette wore whenever she was near the young knight.

➶ avalon was the first to reveal her feelings shortly after athy's disappearance. during that time, it was being decided if she would be shifted and stationed in one of the scouting legions, considering her advanced swordsmanship.

➶ she didn't want to leave without getting those meddling feelings out of her mind, knowing the possibility of her making it back from the battlefield was slim to none.

➶ she was being bold, too bold perhaps, but jennette had clutched onto avalon's dress shirt, yanking the taller girl down to eye level before she pressed her lips to the ravenette's.

➶ for the time being, they were content with being two nearly-adults, madly and hopelessly in love.

[aplpaca]

Hey hi howdy hi if you have like a list of queer fantasy books you liked would it be alright if you shared them? i’m so low on spoons but would love to read some happy stuff if you’ve got any recs, all good if not! was just curious!

OK so I've got a couple things, but depending on what you mean by "happy", some might count and some might not, so I'm gonna group them by like "Happy/Feelgood" for the really sweet stuff vs "I wouldn't say they're "Feelgood' kind of warm-fuzzy, or at least they aren't entirely that, but they're def Hopeful at their core". (i tend to lean more towards things that have Angst even if the core is hopeful. i could list a lot more in the Mixed But Hopeful section, but i tried to stick to ones that felt more 'energetic' in tone, if that makes sense)

Feelgood

House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Lonely man gets assigned to assess the "safety" of a boarding house for kids with supernatural powers and learns to enjoy life along the way.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Trans latino boy performs a magic ritual to prove himself to his family and ends up having to help a ghost move to the afterlife. This one is YA, so might not be your thing but I thought it was really cute and fun. Does include some elements of transphobia, but the overall tone of the story is cute and heartfelt, and the transphobia bits are resolved positively. Lots of emphasis on self acceptance and family.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. Orc woman retires from fighting and opens a coffeeshop. This one didn't particularly do it for me, but I know a lot of people like it so you might also.

Hopeful at their Core

Witchmark by CL Polk. Mage who works as a doctor meets a mysterious man and ends up investigating a murder while trying to help his patients suffering from a mysterious illness. Deals with abusive family backgrounds but is overall pretty lighthearted/energetic.

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. Arranged marriage in an intergalactic empire gets complicated when half of the pair's previous relationships and potential criminal activity come to light. Feels pretty fanfic-y (i say as someone who doesnt really read fanfic, so take with a grain of salt) in a fun way. Deals with past relationship abuse, but isnt graphic and is overall pretty lighthearted and fun

The Last Sun by KD Edwards. Disgraced Atlantean noble and his life companion/best friend/bodyguard get hired to search for a missing person, only to get entangled with a legendary monster connected to the fall of said noble's court 15 years prior. YMMV with this one cause it deals with a lot of heavy stuff like abuse and sexual assault and gets pretty dark at points, but at the same time the series is really funny, the banter is so good, and it has some of the best and most fun found family dynamics going on in like anything I've read or watched. Like those 2012 avengers fanfics where all the characters live in the same house and do shenanigans except its actually canon and also they can say the fuck word.

True Love Bites by Joy Demorra. Disabled werewolf captain takes a job on an island and grows close to a vampire nobleman. Things get complicated when a mysterious woman shows up with news that the world's magical wells are dying. There's an explicit version and a fade to black version depending on which youd prefer. Explicit version has a red cover and the fade to black has a blue cover (I personally read the blue cover version). I want to gnaw on the characters (esp vlad) like a dog with a cocaine chew toy