#hyperspace stories 5

[jewishcissiekj]

I need to post about some of my favorite canon Asajj content because I keep shitting on TCW Asajj but some of the non-TCW content FUCKS (/pos) and is easily accessible to anyone who knows her from TCW and/or doesn't wanna get into legends

[chucksnerdthoughts]

Star Wars Hyperspace Stories #5

I bought this just because it’s an Asajj story. I love her. But I didn’t understand this comic. What was that ending? Why doesn’t she want to do tasks for Dooku?? Was the Sith artifact a wookie teddy bear?!? Why were Anakin and Obi-Wan on Naboo???? It has to be set during the Clone Wars because of the clones, but Anakin looks and is acting real young. I’m so confused. Also, why didn’t we see her take that outpost? That could have been a fun action set piece. 

-Chuck

[sudden-stops-kill]

ghost agents . 'Jump back into Hyperspace Stories and find your allies when Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents #1 (of 5) lands in comic shops on January 15, 2025. '

[stinalotte]

Happy 19th Birthday, Stargate Atlantis!

On July 16th, 2004, the pilot aired. Here's a handy little primer for anyone who doesn't know what the heckity heck this show is about. Everything is totally accurate, 100% true and very, very serious.

So.

This is the lost city of the Ancients, Atlantis, in the Pegasus galaxy, about 3 million light years from Earth. (The Ancients can go fuck themselves. Long story.) Atlantis is a city/spaceship approximately the size of Manhattan. She's semi-sentient, but not really, except actually yes, maybe, sometimes, totally. The whole city can go underwater or into hyperspace. Loves her humans. Home. Declaration of independence imminent.

The Atlantis expedition consists of civilians and military from at least 34 countries (in later seasons, the original expedition was just over a dozen). In no particular order:

Dr. Elizabeth Weir. The first leader of the expedition. The only adult. Sometimes. Okay, not very often. Is not above a little war crime for the good of the galaxy—or at least, for the good of Atlantis. Left a boyfriend and a dog on Earth, but we all miss the dog more than the boyfriend. Eats UN representatives for breakfast. Is terribly awkward on dates and really good at solitaire. Loves her chaos children. Which are:

Lt. Colonel Suicide Mission John Sheppard. Walked through the Gate and Atlantis said, "dibs". Thinks people who don't want to fly are crazy. Not good with emotional stuff. (He's getting better.) Loves his found space family and would die for them, often literally. Stop that. Also loves Ferris wheels, things that go fast, and Rodney McKay. And no, we don't know how he gets his hair to go like that.

Dr. Meredith Rodney McKay. Four degrees, two of which are PhDs, none of which are in social skills. Smartest man in two galaxies. Used to be an asshole, but got himself some friends who loved him such a stupid amount that he had no choice but to change. Still a work in progress. We love to see it. Blew up three quarters five sixths of a solar system. (It was uninhabited.) (Mostly.) Deathly allergic to citrus. Loves fully charged ZPMs, arguing with Dr. Zelenka, MREs, and John Sheppard.

Lieutenant Aiden Ford. Went ass first through the Gate with a grin and a whoop on his very first trip. One of the youngest members of the expedition. Is not allowed to name anything, ever. Mild case of hero worship when it comes to his commanding officer, which is totally understandable. A cautionary tale of how addiction messes up not only you, but the people around you.

Ronon Dex. Used to be hunted by the Wraith, lost his people in a terrible war, and is now a member of Sheppard's team where he gets to shoot things and beat up bad guys. Doesn't talk much, but when he does, he has something to say. Good friend. Excellent hugs, but have Carson check you out for any cracked ribs after. Is one bottle of Athosian wine away from staging an intervention regarding the Sheppard/McKay situation.

Teyla Emmagan. In possession of the team's one brain cell. Leader of the Athosian people. Will rock a baby to sleep and then go outside where a Wraith is dangling from the highest tower of the city and stomp on his hands until he falls 800 feet. Can either beat you up in the gym or force you to meditate on your problem, your choice. Has the aforementioned bottle of wine ready and loaded.

Dr. Radek Zelenka. Keeps the science team sane because Rodney sure as hell doesn't. Loves pigeons, cursing in Czech, and overseeing the thriving black market underground economy that has developed in the city. (Thanks @shaddyr for that lovely headcanon). Zachránil všechny naše zadky víc než jednou.

Chuck the Technician. Aggressively Canadian. Doesn't have a last name, doesn't need one. Is ALWAYS in the control room, seriously man, when do you sleep? Reads trashy sci fi novels on night shifts and organized a betting pool in 5 different currencies when Ronon was fighting Teal'c. Needs to share his eyelash routine because we're jealous.

Dr. Carson Beckett. The most Scottish Scot to ever Scot. Brilliant medical doctor who is not above the occasional unethical unorthodox treatment method. Sweet cinnamon roll of a man. Beloved by all. Loves his mom and wee baby turtles. Someone should take him fishing soon. 🥹

Colonel Samantha Carter. Member of SG-1. Legend. Awesome. Boss. Absolute BAMF. Punched a Goa'uld system lord in the face once. We all have a crush on her.

Dr. Jennifer Keller. Is very doctor-y, for better and for worse. Was all of us when she freaked out being on an alien planet for the first time, like a normal person would. Should totally have gone on a date with Captain Vega in that one deleted scene. [WE COULD HAVE HAD IT AAAAALL]

Jeannie Miller. Rodney's sister. Gave up a career in science to be a mom. Solved Rodney's math problem in her spare time, with finger paints. Loves her brother even when he's being an idiot. Fanfic canon says: her house is always open for him and certain Air Force Colonels to crash in. Don't you dare get a hotel room. Yes, the guest room has Only One Bed, Mer, what's your point?

Major Evan Lorne. If you are a moron and get yourself captured and imprisoned off world, he will swing by real quick with a couple Marines and bust you out. Co-parents Atlantis with Dr. Weir. Is actually a really talented painter. Needs a raise, a holiday, and a drink.

Colonel Steven Caldwell. Grumpy. Has to deal with Elizabeth's chaos children on a regular basis. Will make the enemy ship go away with a big boom and save your sorry ass in space. AGAIN.

Richard Woolsey. Used to be a New York City lawyer, one of the most ruthless creatures in the universe. His wife got the Yorkie in the divorce. Broke his heart. Is actually pretty cool if you let him do his thing (like get you out of an intergalactic war crimes trial by bribing the judges).

I know some characters and all the villains are missing, but this post is already longer than a trip on the Daedalus, so there you have it.

Stargate Atlantis. A show about wormholes, life-sucking aliens, ancient civilisations, space battles—and family, friendship, allowing yourself to love and be loved, and what it means to be home.

Happy birthday, fam.

[djarrex]

got you under my skin

ND-5 x f!reader

read on ao3 (more warnings here too) | masterlist

in Outlaws I crash the ship into things on purpose just to hear ND scold me. yeah I'm a robofucker now. can't help it. minors be gone.

The Trailblazer had just landed on the landing pad, the engines whirring as they powered down, when Kay came up behind you where you were tinkering with your blaster at the workbench. Nix jumped onto the table from her shoulder and chirped at you. 

“You good to hang back with ND?” she asked, even though she knew the question was pointless – and it was more of a taunt, no less. You tossed her a sideways glance, rolling your eyes at her knowing grin. 

“We’ll be fine,” you assured her as you ran a cloth along the barrel of your blaster. “We’ll get started on mapping out the next locations.” You paused, setting down your blaster to pet the merqaal, who beamed at you with those large eyes and wide smile of his.

“He can’t hate me forever.”

“ND doesn’t hate you!” She chuckled at that, and opened the side gangway door as Nix jumped back to her shoulders. “I already told you that it just takes him a while to warm up to people. Especially if those people needed their lives saved right out the gate.” Kay winked at you, and you remembered how Kay’s initial relationship with the old commando droid had been rocky as well.

You partially followed Kay as she started to head down the gangway. “I need you to work together on this. I should be back in a few hours,” she called back to you. With a smirk, she then added: “Try to get along until then.”

The gangway door shut and you could almost laugh out of pure disbelief, a heavy sigh blowing out between your clenched teeth. Kay knew just how much ND got under your skin, and if ND had skin, you were positive the feeling would be reciprocated. The droid and you hadn’t been able to get along ever since he’d been forced to save your life just after you’d joined their crew. Months ago now, Kay had run into you on Renpalli Station. You’d been on the run from your former employer and were trying to secure a ride out of the sector. She’d been nice enough to offer you a ticket to freedom, but after those several hours of hyperspace travel–including multiple games of Sabacc, drinks, and shared stories–Kay had offered you a place with their crew. You had certain skills that could be put to use, and Kay had known that, which is what she argued with when reasoning with her droid partner that you would be a useful addition. ND-5 was hesitant, but trusted Kay’s judgment, just as he always had. 

From that moment–the way he’d shaken his head at you while reluctantly agreeing with his partner–you were able to tell it would take a while to prove yourself to the droid. But getting into trouble with the Empire a couple days later really sealed the fate of your relationship with him. Every little thing you did since then had been attempt after attempt to prove yourself to ND-5, that you were worthy of his trust and you were not a liability to the crew, but it still wasn't enough. The dismissive attitude toward you and his overall demeanor when it came to you eventually turned into a sour taste in your mouth, and now, you were just plain bitter. The only friendly interaction you had on the Trailblazer was with Kay or little Nix, but she was always out and about doing her thing with her small companion by her side; which was fine, because she was good at what she did. You were more comfortable hanging back, even if that meant sharing the space with the droid who so blatantly disliked you. You were always able to keep yourself busy, and really the only times you needed to interact with ND-5 was when Kay requested it. Like now. 

“She is still at the workbench,” you heard ND-5’s deep, modulated voice come from the cockpit. He may be a droid, but he sure as hell learned to cadence his speech to appropriately deliver what he was trying to relay. You shook your head and took a centering breath before you made your way into the cockpit. ND was still seated in the co-pilot's seat, as he always was, as he spoke with Kay on the comm. His head slightly turned upon hearing you enter. 

“I’m here, Kay,” you call out, rolling your eyes at the back of the droid’s head. You took a seat in the pilot’s chair, and kicked up your legs, resting them up against the console. “Didn’t you just leave? ND bothering you already?”

“I have narrowed down a few systems that–” ND-5 paused, his head turned in your direction. “Get off of the console.”

“ND,” came Kay’s mock scolding voice. You could picture her facial expression. “Be nice. Now, what were you saying about those systems?”

You tucked your legs onto the seat instead, holding your knees close to your chest and spun back and forth as the conversation carried on. ND and Kay went back and forth about the systems that he’d mapped out without you, and you remained silent for the most part, biting your tongue. Kay disconnected a couple minutes later, but not after tossing out another reminder to get along with one another. 

“So,” you started, dropping your boots into the ground with a thud and resting your elbows against your knees. “I know we told Kay we’d work together on that, but it looks like you already went ahead and did everything yourself instead.”

“Yes,” he told you flatly, clicking away on the datapad held in his long, metal fingers. While you were busy playing with your blaster, I got to work on what was requested.”

“That’s not– Kay had just left!” You practically shouted, but ND didn’t spare you a glance. You sat up straighter. “I know we don’t see eye to eye, and we don’t exactly get along the way crewmates should.” You sighed, trying to calm yourself down. “But I pull my weight, and Kay likes having me here. I made one mistake months ago and I have been trying to prove myself to you but you won’t even let me do that!

ND-5 visibly froze as you stood up, but didn't bother to look toward you. You stepped over to where he was sitting, more words buzzing on your tongue. “And if all this animosity toward me is your way of trying to get me to leave, then you may just get what you wanted. I don’t know what your problem with me is.”

None of the anger died with those last words, but you decided to save your breath and go back to what you’d been doing before – but before you could make it all the way out of the cockpit, ND’s voice arrested you in place.

“Do you really want to know?”

The way it sounded so genuine sobered you, and when you turned around, ND was actually looking at you. It was your turn to be frozen as he stood up, his imposing height towering over you. You felt like shrinking, your chest tightening at the mere way ND was looking down at you. Anxiously, you awaited his next words as you could practically see the gears turning and springs bouncing in his head.

It dawned on you that you’d never stood this close to him before. Strange, you thought, because you do live on the same ship.

“You… are a distraction.”

You narrow your eyes, and swallow hard. “What is that supposed to mean?”

He looked away.

“...Nevermind.”

“ND-5, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” You huffed in frustration. “You know what? You’re distracting me from “playing” with my blaster,” you tossed out his own words back at him. “Fuck this.”

You turned to leave the cockpit, but ND’s metal fingers found their place wrapped around your arm. He didn’t yank you, or apply serious pressure as you know he probably could have without even realizing, but the gesture definitely stopped you in your tracks. He had never touched you before, not even with the fabric of his trench coat whenever he would walk by. You couldn’t face ND, too concerned with the way your face heated up at the contact of the cool metal against your skin.

He spoke your name, quietly, and the sound of it made your heart skip a beat.

“I can hear a lot,” he started to elaborate. “My audio sensors can pick up what organic hearing sometimes cannot.” 

You finally turned around, feeling even smaller than before with how close he was to you. ND could probably sense how heated your skin was. You were embarrassed now, too – flames kindling all over your body. Never would you have ever predicted that you’d feel this heated from something other than anger and frustration with ND. A new feeling emerged from somewhere deep within you – a lust that must have crawled its way out. 

Your throat felt dry. This was new. 

“...And?”

“I cannot get the sounds you made out of my memory banks.”

You were in shock. ND-5 could hear you – late at night in the semi-privacy of your little alcove bunk. As quiet as you always were–something you’d always take precautions with–proved to be futile when in the proximity of a droid, one who was actually able to speak to you about it – a droid who was apparently making you feel… desire. 

“I did resent having to save you from those Imps,” he continued. “But I have, unexpectedly, found myself intrigued by you.”

You raised a brow and instinctually bit your lip.

“Oh? Is that the case?”

“Yes. I have often calculated how I could pull those sounds from you myself. That is why you are a distraction.” 

You were still in shock, even more so than before. You could say it all made sense now – why ND kept you at such a distance, why he shut you down with disapproving comments and taking it upon himself to complete tasks solo, rather than working alongside you. You could say it made sense, and maybe this was your way to bridge things with ND, to make things amicable with him for the first time. 

This was never something you’d consider before. There never was an attraction until now and it’s growing rapidly, beyond your control. You figure that all the resentment you harbored for him in retaliation was the catalyst – and now you need to fuck it all out of your system. He’s a droid… but maybe that was a good thing.

“Tell me,” you cautiously prodded. Nerves and the newfound desire fought for the reins. “What, um, calculations have you made?”

He was so close that for the first time you could hear the faintest of whirs in even the smallest of his movements. “This is a surprise,” ND noted with a cadence in his tone to match. “I never calculated that you would inquire about this.”

“Well.” The drive took over, and with the newfound confidence, your palm rested on his cool metal chest, just below the jagged scar. You glanced up. “I am.”

ND froze, as if he were computing his next move. 

Maybe you were making a fool of yourself. It wasn’t like you woke up this morning already pining for the droid, and even now, you weren’t even sure how it would work – but something in the back of your head screamed at you, that ND knew exactly how it would all play out – and that tempted you to your detriment.

“Good,” he said quietly and in a way that meant no backing out now. Raising his arm, ND dragged a finger down your cheek and cradled your jaw. Your heartbeat thundered in your ears. “Get against the console.”

You blinked at him. “I thought you didn’t like it when I–” The wordless stare you were leveled with was enough to jolt you with the realization. A devious, knowing smile grew on your lips. “–Oh.”

“If you are going to be a brat–” His hold on your chin tightened. “–Then this will not continue.”

“C’mon, ND. Admit it.” You sauntered over to the console when he released you, arching your back and presenting yourself. It was cheap, and you felt a little embarrassed by it, but you’d tossed all caution to the wind. “You like it when I talk back, don’t you?”

ND-5 shook his head. “Tell yourself whatever you would like.” 

The sounds that came from his metal feet hitting the ship’s floor never sounded so loud and imposing until now. Each thud against the floor flooded you with more and more anticipation, and if you could really focus, it almost seemed like he was purposefully taking his time making his way over to you. Maybe that was part of it, part of his calculations. Whatever it was, it was working. Your cunt clenched around nothing, and you felt your underwear dampen.

You held your breath until you felt his hands on you, then everything came to a halt. He spoke your name again – entirely too soft and genuine and a huge contrast to the way he’d say your name before today. Your heart skipped another beat, and you turned your head over your shoulder. 

“Are… you sure you want this,” he asked. A check-in. A final confirmation. You could not recall any other time when you’d been asked something like this. You were filled with gratitude, and it blindsided you. You weren’t sure how to respond, but your defensive instinct to rub ND the wrong way was prominent, and it kicked in quickly.

After all, you were pretty good at it. 

“Who knew you could be so considerate?” you teased.

An audible sigh came from behind you. “What did I say about being a brat?”

“Fine.” With a deep breath, and with everything within you screaming for you to give in to this, you nodded your head. “I want this.” You took another breath, and offered up just a little more. “I… need this.”

“Yes, you do.”

From the right you saw him toggle a switch, and the viewport’s transparisteel tinted before your eyes. The outside light still filtered into the cockpit, however the privacy settling ensured nobody on the outside could see in.

ND’s hands were on you again, the length of his fingers closing around your hips. He gripped them, offering up more pressure than he had on your arm before. His hands don’t stay in place long; soon the fingers were sliding down and around your front, pausing again where you were practically throbbing.

“If I alternate between rubbing and applying pressure on and off right… here–” ND told you, his fingers having somehow found your clit even from over your pants, “–You will be making those same noises for me in a matter of moments.”

You grin to yourself. “Try it, then.”

A thoughtful hum is what he offered in response, and just as it was spoken, ND started to slide a single finger between your legs, adding pressure to right where your clit was, and repeated the motions. You were so worked up that it didn’t take long for you to start letting your moans fall freely, giving in to exactly what he had calculated. Even though it was so much, it still somehow wasn't enough, and you couldn't help but start to rock your hips against him, dragging your ass against the cool metal of his body that was caging you in as his hand remained cradled between your legs. 

“You really did need it. Look at you,” he praised. “Keep going. Take it.”

Never had you ever considered just how lethal ND-5’s voice could be. The rich, modulated sound of it shot straight through you. You felt like an exposed nerve, and every little sound and touch was electrifying. It had been far too long since you’d gotten off with a partner – but this – this was something else entirely. You started to sweat from the exertion, and the entirety of your body being clothed became too much. 

“ND,” you breathed out his name and paused your movements, pathetically tugging on your shirt. “Get this off of me.”

“Not yet,” he countered, much to your chagrin. You sighed in frustration and started to undress yourself, but he gripped you tighter. “You were close, weren’t you? Finish first, then I will comply with your request.”

You were much too worked up to argue, but he was right – you were close. Relinquishing yourself again to ND’s process quickly built you right back up to where you’d been before, and with shaky legs, you practically collapsed with the intensity of it all. It was barely several seconds later when his hands disappeared and his heavy footfalls moved from behind you, and when you picked yourself up off the console and turned your head, you saw ND sat right back in his seat, spun to face out. The trench coat he wore was pushed back behind him, giving you clear access to those metal legs. Realization dawned on you once again, and you were partially ashamed to admit to yourself just how eager you’d become. 

“Over here.”

Still clearing the stars from your eyes, you slowly made your way over to him, awaiting instruction. 

“What would you like me to remove?”

“All of it,” you told him in a voice far too breathy. ND cocked his head at that, but obliged. You kicked off your boots, unclasped your holster, and shrugged off your jacket, but ND handled the rest, carefully peeling off your shirt then your pants and tossed them over to the other chair. You stood there in only your bra and underwear, mentally batting away the sudden shyness that threatened to creep up and out. You knew there was a huge wet patch staining your underwear, and ND visibly took note. 

“Very good,” ND praised. It was simple, but enough, and it brought your confidence back. He patted his lap. “Sit.”

That one word turned you into a picture of obedience. You straddled his leg, your sticky and heated skin pleasantly bitten by the metal.  

“What else did you calculate?” You took off your bra then, and threw it to join the rest of your clothes.

“That you would be able to reach orgasm just like this.”

“Like how?” you asked coyly. 

“Hold on to me here,” ND instructed. He directed your hands to rest on his shoulders, the rough material of the trench coat beneath your palms. “Yes. Good.”

“Then?”

ND said your name in warning. You couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“You think this is funny,” ND commented flatly. He pinched your nipple, and it hurt. You yelped in surprise, and he shook his head – displeased. 

“Now take it, or get off of me. We don’t have all day.”

Your jaw dropped at his words, but your grip on him strengthened. “Fuck, okay.”

“You have the mouth of a pirate,” he added.

Leaned back in the seat, ND rested his hands on your hips and kept them there as you dragged your soaked pussy against the hard metal of his leg. You could hold on to ND as hard as you could and you’d break your own fingers before he’d feel a thing, so you used that to your advantage, riding his leg quick and rough while clinging to his shoulders for purchase. His bulk and solid weight made it so that he barely budged while you moved, but the seat squeaked rapidly, and it echoed throughout the cockpit along with your heavy breaths.

“Touch me, ND.”

It was almost comical how he looked down at where his hands were grabbing your rocking hips, then back up at you, like a huge question mark hung in the air above his head.

“Touch me here,” you clarified, guiding his hand to your chest. “Like what you did before, but not so hard.”

“Understood.”

ND took over then, your breasts held within his large fingers. You looked down, savoring the sight of his metal digits bending at the joints as he groped you. You kept rocking against his leg, your clit catching against the fabric of your underwear. Moans and whimpers fell freely from between your lips, and ND just sat there taking it all in as you continued to inch your way toward another orgasm. 

“You’re close again,” ND noted matter-of-factly. “I can tell. The sounds you make get breathier, and higher in pitch.” 

You were too far gone to make any type of comment back, sarcastic or otherwise, but he was right once again. You felt it in your toes, a tingle that shot all the way up your legs and to your chest where his fingers started to experimentally twist and pull at your nipples. It felt so good that you could cry, and after another few moments of the same repeated motions, you did. Tears of pleasure started to stream down your cheeks, and your pussy started to clench uncontrollably against his leg. Your legs quivered and your chest rapidly flexed with your breaths. Almost as if you’d forgotten who you were with, your head fell forward and you rested your cheek against the unscarred surface of his chest as you caught your breath.

ND spoke your name, and you shot up. 

“Sorry– I–”

“It’s all right,” he offered. “That was intense for you.”

Smug.

You ignored the comment and made it on your feet, but felt a huge wave of embarrassment come over you as you looked down to ND’s leg, where streaks of your release had made it through your underwear and ended up stained on the metal.

“Let me, uh, get that.” 

Despite your weak legs, you quickly redressed and ran over to the kitchen for a rag. Rather than heading right back to the cockpit, you took a moment to stand there in the daunting silence, a million thoughts bouncing around in your head. Did this actually fix anything? Or did this ruin everything? As if you’d been doused in ice-cold water, all of the pleasure you’d experienced and the thrum of adrenaline was gone in seconds, insead replaced with regret and concern. Everything came rushing back to the forefront of your mind, and mixed emotions with it all. ND-5 didn’t want you as part of the crew. He never did. He put up with you living on the Trailblazer and working the jobs with them because he trusted Kay, but that was it. You were a distraction, and now, arguably, you were an even bigger one. 

You didn’t want to take too long. When you finally came back, ND’s head followed your every move, and he continued to stare as you wiped him off. He couldn’t read your mind, but you knew how analytical he was. Calculating. Always assessing. It made you tense. 

Breaking the palpable silence, ND said your name for the fourth time. Not that you were keeping count.

“I don’t hate you.”

Caught by surprise, and suddenly a little irritable now, you backed away from him as if you'd been burned. You would have been angry before. Now, you felt lost. 

“It doesn’t matter.”

You tossed the rag to the side, somewhere you’d be able to remember to grab it to dispose of later.

“You are part of the crew,” he reminded you. “It does matter.”

You didn’t have anything else to say. In fact, you were so overwhelmed with too many emotions and feelings alike, that you just wanted to retreat to the semi-privacy of your bunk and wait it out until Kay came back to naturally break this newly uncovered tension.

“Come back here,” ND called after you. “We need to talk.”

You stopped in your tracks and whipped around to face him. After all these months, now he wants to talk? You were more confused now than anything, and didn’t really have the energy to be angry, but your defensive instinct to start swinging quickly took over.

“About what, ND? You say you don’t hate me, but you sure as hell don’t want me here.”

“It’s not that I don’t want you here. You are a dis–”

“A distraction, yes, you’ve said that. Message received, ND.” You shook your head dismissively, waving your hands in the air. “There isn’t much more to discuss.”

“I’m sorry.”

That was the first time you’d heard ND apologize to you for anything, and some of the stronger feelings diffused. ND’s heavy footfalls came toward you, and he said your name again, only this time, you truly listened.

“I meant it when I said that I resented saving you,” he began. “But you are here for a reason. I trust Kay, and she trusts you. That is enough for me.” 

“I see.” You look down at your boots. Your face felt hot again as you recalled what had started all of this. “And I didn’t intend for you to, uh, hear me.”

“I know that, and you cannot control how distracting you are.”

You shook your head, unable to hide the grin that grew on your lips. You plopped down into the pilot’s seat and looked up at ND. “Well, what now?”

“We work together to do our job,” he supplied, and took his place in his seat once again. A holomap appeared in a brilliant blue light, illuminating the cockpit. A few planets were at the forefront, the ones that ND had picked out. “Let’s get to work.”

You pulled up the same holomap on your end, but kept your eyes on your crewmate. “So, will you make it easier for me now?”

“Only if you stop being a brat.”

You chuckle. “I can’t make any promises.” 

ND audibly sighs, conceding with a head shake. “I didn't expect anything less.”

[kuwdora]

Saturday Morning Vid Recs - Space and Robots

@tafkarfanfic asked me for vid recs that are similar to the following vids:

Data’s Dream by GayleF (Gayle) and TasheryS which premiered at Escapade in 1994 - made on a VCR!! - and was remastered by morgandawn in 2004. Definitely check out the Fanlore page about Data’s Dream. Star Trek + multi-source.

Starships by bironic. Multi-source. The history of Starships on Fanlore.

These two vids are iconic. Please check them out and learn about their history from the Fanlore page, it's a great look at some vidding history and culture. Amazing vids, do love. As for some recs. I love this kind of prompt. More vids like [this vid] is so much fun. I dug deep into my vid rec archives and brain and bookmarks. I’ve also crowdsourced some recs from the vidding discord. Thank you to @rukbat3, @sandalwoodbox, @fairestcat, @monkeyswithjetpacks, @grammarwoman for the reccing help! And everyone else I might have forgotten.

From Land to Sky - and kicking ass while you're there!

Landsailor by @singlecrow/raven. Multi-source. Swades (We, The People); Master and Commander; 3 Idiots; The Dish; The West Wing; Parks and Recreation; Flight of the Phoenix; NASA archive footage; Apollo 13. ❤️ We're gonna need a bigger boat. Come O’ Eclipse by melodytree. Tenchi: The Samurai Astronomer. Calendar-making! Math puzzles! Astronomy! Politics! Eclipses! Oh my! Galaxyrise by starlady. Multi-source. Apollo 13 (1995), Interstellar (2014), Gravity (2013), Europa Report (2013), Contact (1997), The Martian (2015). This vid is full of so much wonder! The sky calls to us/If we do not destroy ourselves/We will one day venture to the stars. Going through space with the world by bironic. Space Exploration RPF. ❤️❤️❤️ From "day in the life of an astronaut" videos to international stardom; or, Chris Hadfield and his adorable mustache. Monsters of the Cosmos by CherryIce. Thor/MCU. Jane Foster/Science.Cherry’s editing is goddamn incredible. In the last century, black holes have gone from being mathematical curiosities to real objects in the cosmos. This is a vid about Jane Foster and her one true love, Science. Also, Thor is there. Toxic by JinkyO. The Planets (TV - 2019). Humanity/The Solar System. This vid is so fucking brilliant and makes me cackle in love and awe so much. It's dangerous, I'm loving it. Sci-Fi Friday in a Blender by Luminosity. Multi-source. Farscape, Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. So much happening in this vid. This is among one of the earliest vids I remember watching and became obsessed with back in the day. Supernova Girl by @usuallyhats. Multifandom. Doctor Who, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Steven Universe, Andromeda, Farscape, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Mass Effect, Stargate. So many wonderful brilliant amazing EXCELLENT supernova women and girls. Zoom, zoom, zoom. Space Girl by @aurumcalendula. Multi-source scifi. Inspired by Charmax’s Space Girl vid and Bironic’s The Greatest. This vid has a great selection of newer tv shows and films and it’s fun to play spot that character. But also this vid will grab you by the heart, too. Utterly brilliant, perfection. A must watch!! 'I've been as far in hyperspace as anybody can.' One Girl Revolution by bessyboo. Star Wars, original and prequel. Padme and Leia!! Seeing these two focused on in one Star Wars vid is an adventurous kickass ride. I'll be everything that I want to be. Space Girl by charmax. Multi-source scifi. One of the most beautiful epic space vids out there! I know I’ve recced this before and I’ll rec it again and again and again. My momma told me I should never watch Sci-fi but I did, I did, I did.

Robots! More than wires.

If a Machine by caramarie, Multi-source. Robot narrative focusing on machine origin, intelligence, and interaction with humanity. And Human fallibility. An incredibly rewarding watch and rewatch. This is the story of cables and copper wirings. Electric Avenue by @monkeyswithjetpacks. Multi-source robots! Nate’s multi-vids are always so fun, especially when it’s showcasing classic cinema and all these excellent serials. Electric Avenue has source from 1919 to 2015. His editing is always on fucking point. Don’t miss this vid. We’re gonna rock down to electric avenue. Everybody by @kuwdora. Star Trek, the Borg. This vid was actually inspired by the Backstreet Boys original music video. I still have the vivid memory of watching or rewatching the original music video in @ars-amatoria ’s kitchen. And then at some point realizing it is perfect for the Borg. Am I original, am I the only one? Fembots by Grammarwoman. Multi-source. Sexy sharp editing and fun use of all the sources. The intersection of women and technology: a spectrum of clones, AIs, gynoids, cyborgs, and other artificial creations. On by @rhoboat77. Star Trek: Picard. A Soji fanvid. Rho has the sharpest editing skills this side of the Internet and this Soji vid is so fucking badass and worth 100 rewatches. Can’t hold me down cuz you know I’m a fighter. Que Sera Sera by @ohvienna. Star Trek Voyager and Picard. Seven of Nine.Nobody vids their Seven of Nine love like @ohvienna. You gotta watch this if you love Seven. Whatever will be, will be…"

Journey through Space.

To Touch the Face of God by destina. Multi-source. The Right Stuff (1983, )The Dream Is Alive, From the Earth to the Moon (TV).This is one of the most beautiful moving vids you will EVER, and I mean EVER see. From Chuck Yeager, to the Mercury 7, and on to Apollo and the Space Shuttle Program (STS) - a very human history of the triumphs, joys, and tragedies of the USA's journey into space. Doctor Who on Holiday by sisabet. Farscape, Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who. A mashup vid of Luminosity’s Sci-Fi Friday in a Blender. This vid inspired me so much. And I have 10 very intense ideas about how I would do my own remix of this vid if I were to make it right now. Fly Me To the Moon by thirdblindmouse. Multi-source. This vid has everything! Alien sex! Xenophilia! Zero-gravity sex! Mpreg!!! Because everyone knows this song is about space sex. Game Night in Space by garrideb. Multi-source. This vid!!!!! IS! SO! MUCH! FUN!! Game on! How are you going to spend those long nights on your starship? Play games, of course! Space poker, space chess, space Monopoly… this is a fanvid celebrating game night in space, set to Don't Stop Me Now by Queen. Starships (Monochromatic Remix) by @monkeyswithjetpacks. Multi-source. See the Fanlore page on the history of Starships (Monochromatic Remix). ALSO check out jetpack-monkey’s extensive notes and side-by-side comparison vid of the original vid and his vid!! He matched Starships shot-for-shot! Most brilliant work ever. The vid notes aren’t on the ao3 page so I HIGHLY recommend checking out the notes on his dreamwidth page! This vid is 10 million kinds of brilliant and technical prowess and perfection.

Vidshow Rec

Alien Invasion! - 30 vids curated and organized into a show by @tafadhali for VidUKon 2024. Featuring films and tv shows: Nope, Attack the Block, Pacific Rim, Venom, Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis, Star Trek, Prey, Smallville, Rowswell, Supergirl, Arrival, Starship Troopers and more.

Follow these tags to keep up with vid recs this summer:

#saturday morning vid recs

#kuwdora recs

A helpful guide I wrote:

How to Leave Feedback on Fanvids

[loth-creatures]

I’d love to hear your wall of text about the Sion’s voyage!

Aight, so if there's one thing I hated about the show it's that the journey to a whole ass new galaxy felt like it took 5 minutes. So in my star war it takes roughly 7 weeks and it fucking SUCKS

Disclaimer; this is just a huge mess from my head, nothing is set in stone, and I'm only really planning to comicify the last few parts ;)

Also cw for some implied self-harm ideation, terrible coping mechanisms, deteriorating mental health, violence and injuries (just mentioned, not in detail)

To set the scene, they're using the training/rec room as Sabine’s prison bc Wolfbine is too big for the actual brig lol. Much to the entire crew's irritation. The first week or two they just handcuff her in a corner at blasterpoint whenever they want to use it I guess, and find a closet to lock loose equipment in. At least she gets some entertainment. She probably also gets beat up a few times (you should see the other guy) for commenting on people's techniques. But eventually they decide she probably won't try anything and stop caring she's there, so she's left alone for the most part.

She spends a lot of time working out, bc otherwise she is strongly considering bashing her head into the wall. Having to sit alone as a human and pace in circles as a wolf for days on end with the weight of her decision and all kinds of fresh guilt is doing terrible things to her head...She is also spending a lot of time trying and failing not to sob and scream in the shower when no one's around. There is also a viewport in the rec room and Sabine spends an unhealthy amount of time staring into the rainbow swirl of hyperspace. She can't tell whether or not she's hallucinating the strange shapes that occasionally drift into view, singing strange songs that she can feel more than hear. It reminds her of the ocean and she shudders and dreams of drowning, being crushed by the depths. And she dreams of Ezra alone and lost in this void. There's no easy way to break free of such thoughts when she's essentially trapped in a fish bowl.

Meanwhile, Shin hates Sabine even more now for making her a Wolfwalker. She is not adjusting well to turning into a giant beast every time she tries to sleep and on a cramped vessel with little space to stretch those legs. Having been bitten only just before boarding the Sion, she hasn't had the chance to run wild for miles with the wind in her fur; all she knows is that the journey feels twice as long and horrid when she's consious 24/7. Baylan, on the other hand, is like DO YOU REALIZE HOW AWESOME THIS IS?! YOU SHOULD BE THANKING HER. He's not jealous persay, but. Well. Careful what you wish for...

Wolf Sabine and Shin are both getting major zoochosis smh. It's a miracle Shin hasn't killed a random crew member yet. Wolfbine behaves for maybe a week before she starts chewing up the flooring and howling and screaming husky style just to be a little shit. See how long it takes before someone threatens to shoot her, muzzle her, throw her out the airlock (not long). She can't afford to antagonize the crew too much bc there is only one person on the entire ship who wants her there and he has limited authority. Baylan is quick to remind her of this.

He also makes several attempts to talk to her and get on better terms, as he would like to learn more about the wolves. He tells her of the old fragments of stories of Wolfwalkers he found in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and his facsination with them and how chasing such tales lead to his other ambitions. Lowkey info-dumping about all the fairy-tales and mythalogical stuff that Shin never took an interest in. Sabine is deathly bored enough to tolerate it to extent, but she is not forgiving him for 'killing' Ahsoka, for digging in her head, for putting her in this situation, and she is absolutely kicking herself for having bitten Shin. For letting anyone affiliated with the Empire close to Lothal's secrets. Too her it's put a deep crack through her promise to protect Lothal, perhaps not as much as having given Thrawn a way home, but she's going to try her damnest to undo that one, and shoves that looming guilt aside as best she can, instead spiraling about the fact that she made Shin a Wolfwalker and short of killing her there is no undoing that. So most of her conversations with Baylan end with telling him to go fuck himself.

Just now realizing I've never gone into detail about why Sabine bit Shin. It was a complete accident. Split second reaction out of pain after taking another small slice from Shin’s lightsaber during their fight on Seatos, which she was able to heal herself but it slowed her down enough for Shin to escape. With a nasty little nip to the arm.

That all said Sabine does not want to kill Shin, in fact she's just starting to feel sorry for her. Shin might be all MY ARCH NEMESIS SABINE WREN, but from the beginning Sabine is just like ugh can this random chick stop making my life harder 🙄

And if she's this miserable as a wolf rn, she can imagine what Shin's going through as a first timer, which is all her fault :( plus the fact that as wolves they are instinctively drawn to other wolves and each of their suffering seems to exacerbate the other's. They are both so lonely. 2 weeks in and (human)Sabine is bored and desperate enough to try heckling Shin into sparring with her, on the rare occasion she passes by (Shin’s been avoiding that room). 3 weeks in and Shin's gotten bored and desperate enough to accept the invitation.

I hc that during a friendly match, most Force-users will refrain from using the Force against a non-Force-user for the most part. Shin is not interested in friendly and absolutely hammers Sabine unless Baylan is there to remind her to play nice. Sabine is fine with this. She wants Shin to use the Force (come at me bro). If anyone's gonna be holding back it's Sabine. She wants to get as familiar as possible with Shin's fighting skill and habits without revealing the full extent of her own, while also slowly learning to anticipate and work around Shin’s use of the Force. That way she'll have an advantage the next time they fight for reals. It's difficult to impossible to hold back though, while still presenting enough of a challenge to keep Shin coming back for more.

While Sabine is more experienced, with a wider range of techniques and more refined skill, Shin is still skilled and powerful and it's hardly a fair fight without her armor and gear. She gets her shit rocked.

Sabine is very rarely able to beat Shin when she's using the Force. But she can withstand her. Many of their fights don't end with a quick, decisive victory so much as Shin just wearing Sabine down until she physically can't fight anymore though she refuses to tap out or surrender. Because for one, it's pissing Shin off, which is fun. And for two, ending the fight means returning to the hell that is sitting alone and staring out that window until it makes her sick in the head. She would kill a man for a single can of paint.

While Shin is toying with Sabine and using her as a bunching bag on the basis that she asked for it, keeps asking for it, doesn't know when to give up, and totally deserves it 😤, she is no easy opponent and Shin is continuously shocked by Sabine's ability to survive her. She was supposed to be just another enemy to tear through, yet has survived two murder attempts, and Shin is now stuck with her on this godforsaken ship for some reason, and she doesn't even have the grace to admit when she's defeated. Unstoppable force has met unmovable object.

Shin simultaneously resents and admires her, though doesn't quite respect her yet. And she definitely fears her a little (though she would never admit that). I kinda get the vibe that Shin’s never really lost a fight, has never truly been left for dead at the end of a battle, and the thought terrifies her. Either she is invincible or she is dead. Meanwhile Sabine can be coughing up blood and she'll be like 'cool see you tmr'✌️😎 The fact that Shin probably deleted one of Sabine's kidneys on Lothal and she seems hardly intimidated is well. Intimidating. And annoying. And hot.

I feel like at some point Baylan would point out that Shin could probably learn a thing or two from Sabine if she would stop beating the shit out of her for two seconds. Shin is already aware of that but doesn't want to admit it.

Meanwhile Sabine just doesn't care anymore what happens to her as long as she lives long enough to get off this accursed vessel, doesn't care how hurt she gets, as long as it passes the time and distracts her from her spiraling thoughts. She's offered a medic multiple times and refuses each time. She doesn't want them seeing the full extent of her injuries and then finding out she can heal herself with the wolf-magic, bc the Empire doesn't need to know about that. She only heals the worst injuries and then gaslights Shin about it. 'You did not break any ribs lol I'm fine quit flattering yourself.' Shin’s like how the fuck are you still standing.

This routine of brutally taking out their frustrations on each other is gonna get old though, and is completely unsustainable. Eventually Shin’s convinced that Sabine is just using her for pain. Which isn't wrong even if it's not the only or even primary reason Sabine keeps asking. Sabine calls her out on fighting like a coward and enjoying hurting her anyway. Shin goes and sulks for a few days after that (not without punching Sabine in face first).

Ok time out. What the hell is Shin’s deal anyway. I have only some half-baked ideas about Baylan and Shin’s...thing. They're like the closest thing we've gotten to 'grey Jedi?' I guess? I've been operating under the assumption that that's what they're essentially trying to be (though it's not what they'd call themselves), something more than Jedi, Baylan says, and that 'more' is just chasing power. They will inevitably fall completely. Probably need to watch the show again to get a better read on them tbh but I would rather not. It will hurt my feelings again :( Baylan is like the mountain. He's calm, he's steady and the darkness erodes him slowly. He thinks he's successfully toeing the line with the dark side, but his faults are most evident in Shin's training. She is like a hurricane. The Force rips through her, chaotic and volatile and her control is iron yet brittle. She hasn't known inner peace a day in her life. She just taught herself restraint in the sense that she suppresses her power until she needs it to plow through her enemies. She will fall far more quickly than her master. Baylan's teachings follow the Jedi's to an extent but once the darkness is let in, those lessons become skewed and contradicted, and Shin is a mess because of it, only mirroring her master's control on the surface. Baylan isn't the worst teacher but he is not a good one. While Shin loves and trusts Baylan, she is getting tired and frustrated following his mysterious whispers of legends to an end he never explains clearly. And she is afraid.

ANYWAY, once Shin’s done sulking, one of these days her and Sabine are gonna have a genuine conversation or two and maybe agree to an actually friendly sparring match in which they agree to not just blindly pulverize each other. They take breaks and drink water and tend to their wounds like adults. And Sabine is like you know, we could just. Hang out. As wolves at least. It would suck sooo much less if you'd come play with me as a wolf xoxo. They slowly transition into a more definitive Truce.

Shin does start hanging out in the rec room as a wolf. Sabine still isn't volunteering info on the wolf magic but she does talk about what its like being wolfwalker in general. They tussel and chase each other around, often getting too rough but also loud enough that someone will come yell at them to stfu before they really hurt each other. It's much easier to take naps as wolves too after they've had a chance to burn some energy which makes the entire ship more peaceful.

However, you can't just be the first vessel in centuries to cross between galaxies and not have some kind of disaster right? Well it turns out the strange shapes out the viewport were not hallucinations. The Sion is essentially traveling through the cosmic deep ocean and there are bigger, older things than even the Purrgil out there. Nothing has an interest in attacking the Sion, but at some point something very large drifts close enough to jolt the Sion off course and shorts out the entire system. This ends up forcing them to drop out of hyperspace in the middle of absolute fucking nowhere.

It takes a few days to get the ship running again and recalculate the jump. And here's where Sabine gets to be a hero and earn some respect around here, bc most of their mechanics are droids which also shorted out and lost power. Seeing as they are at risk of losing life support, they let Sabine help with repairs and turns out she's one of the best mechanics on board, even considering the newer technology she doesn't have as much experience with. This also allows her to get more familar with the ship and find the best places to hide out when she eventually makes her escape, while simultaneously giving the crew more reason to let their guard down on her. Including Shin.

That first loss of power is the worst but there are several more blackouts along the way. Human Sabine and Shin are almost getting along now. They still don't like each other but they are hooking up (it does not fix them), and playing card games by flashlight and truth or dare. Maybe Shin even scrounges up some art supplies for Bean. Now she can pass the time hiding sharpie dicks all over the place. They are almost friends by the time there are three days left in the journey and Sabine is preparing to make her move.

Baylan was probably the one to initiate letting Sabine have her lightsaber to sparr occasionally. He wanted to test her metal as well. I think it would be interesting if they sparred a couple times. Baylan is much more chivalrous than Shin and also goes into teacher mode about sword fighting. Sabine isn't a novice anymore but he's still far more experienced. Shin is like no no no we are not adopting her Dad NO-

So anyway escape day comes, Sabine almost cronches Baylan to death, and Shin is beyond angry. Mostly at herself for letting her guard down enough to allow this to happen, she didn't really expect Sabine to not pull something like this in the end right? It's stupid to feel betrayed when it was so inevitable. She is still 100% gonna take it out on Sabine though, especially for almost killing her master.

Despite the escape attempt, Thrawn lets Sabine go as he does in the show, in the hope that she'll lead them to Ezra’s human body. He figures if anyone could find him, it would be a fellow wolfwalker who considers him dear enough to risk the fate of her entire galaxy. Everyone else is like you're just letting her go?? After all that??? And Thrawn's just like lol what did you expect from her? That's Sabine Wren. They probably do attempt to scan the ship for sabotage but it's so huge and her kyber bomb is so small and rudimentary that they don't find it.

At this point, Sabine is run utterly ragged. Bedraggled even. Having not slept in 2 days,(no room to wolf in the Sion's walls so she just had to stay awake 💀) suffered a heart attack at Baylan's hand, and got beat up by WolfShin again. She's visibly about to collapse and Thrawn's probably like 'do you...want to spend the night before you go? And a medic?' He knows he's most likely sending her to perish in the wilderness anyway, but was hoping to give her at least a chance at finding human Ezra for them. Sabine says hell no I'm getting out of here before you change your mind.

She rides until she actually does collapse, hides her body as best she can and continues as a wolf. She figures they let her go for a reason, and plans to run in erratic circles all night every night to hopefully throw them off, only later investigating any clues she finds as human for a few sporadic hours in the day. Thrawn does send Shin to track her at a distance. If she happens to find the trail of Wolf!Ezra first, kill her. This hunt through the wild will go on for several days at least, before there's any sign of Ezra.

[al-astakbar]

☆ The Gift -- Thrawn x reader ☆

> title ☆ The Gift ☆part 7/?

> summary ☆ As congratulations for his recent promotion to Grand Admiral, Emperor Palpatine gives Thrawn a gift -- a young woman who has been trained as a pleasure companion.

> pairing ☆  Thrawn x reader ☆ word count [2.2k] ☆ warnings for this part ☆ sex, mentions of bondage > series warnings ☆ dubious consent; sexual slavery; concubine/ sex slave AU; will add more warnings as more parts are posted

>series navigation ☆ part 1 ☆ part 2 ☆ part 3 ☆ part 4 ☆ part 5 ☆ part 6 ☆ part 7 ☆ part 8 ☆ part 9 ☆ part 10

> posted on ao3

author note!! To be very clear, in this story reader is a concubine against her will and is gifted to Thrawn, but there is at no point any noncon between Thrawn and reader. Reader is never noncon with anyone, either referenced or explicitly, and there is never any explicit noncon. However, this is a darker take on Thrawn and he doesn't really have many hangups about putting his gift to use...

When you get back to his quarters, he puts you over his desk and gives you a slow, thorough fucking. Compounded with how you had denied yourself the night before, he leaves you tender and aching with need. 

It need not be like this every time. 

He cleans you up again. Gentle attention that you think the schedule of a Grand Admiral should not have time for. He does it as intently as you’ve seen him do everything else, a lingering touch as he wipes his spend from your thighs. You can’t help a quiet moan nor the quiver that goes through you when he runs the cloth over your labia.

“Would you like to be alone?” His voice is low, soft, his expression knowing. 

Damn him, you almost--almost-- say yes. “No.”

/////

For you, the rest of the day is quiet. You stay in the small sitting area, reading on the datapad, or else looking at the art or out the viewport at the blue stream of hyperspace.

If this is a template for how your days will be aboard the Chimaera, you suppose you will have to get used to monotony and loneliness. In the time Thrawn is at his desk, he hardly acknowledges you. After a lunch without conversation (he eats nothing), he goes into another room of the suite that is locked to you and does not come out for several hours.

By dinner you are restless, and almost glad for his company.

Two serving droids bring the meal and lay out two place settings at the small dining area next to the huge viewport in his main cabin. 

When the meal is cleared away, Thrawn’s plate again untouched, he tells you that you may spend the rest of the evening reading. That is better, you suppose, than what was permitted during your training in the cloister on Coruscant, where you couldn’t access the holonet. Still, you miss having embroidery to work on, and nameless, faceless friends to whisper to while doing chores.

Several times, you glance up from the datapad to find Thrawn looking at you appraisingly, as if trying to decide what to do with you. 

/////

The rest of the trip to the Outer Rim passes in much the same way. You were expecting the passage of time in space to feel strange, after so long planet-side, but for the most part it doesn’t. The ship maintains its own day/night rhythm. The lights cycle on and off. The crew work in shifts, though there isn’t much to do yet, this early in a deployment. 

Thrawn wakes you at the same time every morning, you go to the bridge with him and observe silently from a corner. Ronan, to your frustration, continues to pretend like you don’t exist. 

You find little ways to annoy your new master: leaving your clothes all over the floor, blowing bubbles in your drinks, persistently asking him questions while he’s trying to work. More than once you push him too far and he strips you naked, ties you kneeling beside his desk. Sometimes a gag if he particularly wants quiet. Every time he does, you sit there fuming, petulant and humiliated, but you never fight him on it. Not really. You’d never admit it to him, or to anyone, but the restraint is almost calming.

Thoughts of your time on Coruscant linger in your mind most days, especially with little else to occupy you. The datapad, you’ve found after more searching and testing, has limited accesses, so you can’t get much new to read or watch. Thrawn’s art collection, while interesting at first, becomes familiar and mundane. By this point you think you could name each piece in order with your eyes closed. 

“I miss my friends,” you say aloud one evening. You don’t even really mean to say it to him, he’s just there, as always, reading quietly. 

He looks up. “Your friends on the city planet?”

You nod, suddenly a little shy. He actually sounds interested.

“The two who were with you at the ceremony did not seem friendly.” 

“Not the ones you saw. Mirri and Solis. They weren’t-- they weren’t nice. They were always there, they made sure we didn’t misbehave.”

Something flashes in Thrawn’s eyes-- perhaps he has something to say about the ineffectiveness of their methods when it comes to your own behavior. But instead he just asks more about what it was like, and you find no reason not to tell him. You were not supposed to use your own name, or anyone else’s. Your face was nearly always covered, so you had never really known what any of the others being trained looked like-- only brief glimpses. Shadowy impressions, a beautiful girl with light hair and eyes, a boy younger than you with curly brown hair and full lips, countless others.

None of you were supposed to acknowledge each other in any way that could remind you of your individuality, but you had still talked to them. Learned who they were by their voices and brief glimpses of exposed hands. You could tell a lot from that. From the skin tones and length and number of fingers. Not all were humans. You had seen other skin tones, like blue and green and yellow and orange, and some you could tell had to be Twi’leks from the way the hoods draped over their heads and lekku. Some wanted to be there, thought it would raise their social standing. Some were like you, unwilling and defiant. Some were broken, with no voice. 

They were all strangers, essentially. You had traded stories in hushed whispers, of others who had come before you, and their fates with cruel or kind masters. But most who left the cloister just disappeared. You would have no way of finding them again. 

“They were still my friends,” you add, a little defensive.

Until now, Thrawn has listened intently as you tell him all this, but offered no comment or reassurance. “I have no doubt,” he says softly.  

In his quarters, he fucks you efficiently and regularly, driving you closer to madness and relief every time. He knows what he is doing to you. He tells you he can feel how slick and tight you are, how good you feel, your lovely cunt takes my cock so well. He knows how his voice affects you, he feels you push your hips back to meet his when he murmurs obscene praise against your neck. He knows you still deny yourself pleasure, even as you moan his name and spread your legs to take him deeper.

At meals, you eat methodically while he watches you and eats nothing. Not even a sip of water, caf, nor the emerald wine served with supper, which is delicious. It makes you lightheaded, since you haven’t had alcohol since before arriving on Coruscant, over a year ago. The food is much richer than you’re used to as well. You mention both of these things to him one evening, instead of accusing him of being a creep for just sitting there staring at you. 

“It’s the standard meal served in the galley,” he explains. “Breakfast and lunch, too. Other than these accommodations and my pay, I claim few privileges. I eat the same as my crew does.”

You snort, taking a pointed sip of wine. Was that pronouncement supposed to win you over? “I’m sure the crew appreciates your humility and all the sacrifices you’ve made.”

“Perhaps.” 

“I’m willing to bet they don’t get a wine ration either.”

“They don’t,” he confirms. 

You have a moment to feel smug, having gotten him to admit some small hypocrisy. 

“You speak as if you’ve been in their position,” he says. “Have you served aboard a starship before? Prior military, perhaps? Or mercenary work.”

You freeze, glass halfway to your lips. For a moment, you consider denying it, but he misses nothing. Your reaction has already given it away. But if he guesses anything more specific-- it’s something you’d really rather not admit, especially to a Grand Admiral. “How’d you get that from wine rations and humility?” 

“You aren’t particularly… cordial… with officers. You know enough about ships to be impressed with the Chimaera-- on the approach the other day,” he specifies. 

“Anyone would be.”

“You have a sense of how ships function, how information flows among the crew-- “ he pauses with a slight frown. “My apologies. There is a word for it in my native tongue. I do not know its equivalent in Basic.”

“Gossip?” 

He shakes his head. “It is slang for the spread of rumors among the junior enlisted, as both an information network and a pastime.”

“How do you say it in your language?”

Thrawn hesitates. You think you might see some odd reluctance in his expression, but he masks it quickly, and answers. “Csarrob.” 

You try repeating it, but can’t quite form your lips and tongue to mimic the sounds. “The ships I was on called it the underground. Or the mafia, depending on what ship and what part of the galaxy.”

Thrawn goes quiet for a moment, the type of quiet you’ve come to recognize as the times he is thinking, and about to say something inconveniently perceptive. He sits back in his chair, one arm crossed over his chest, his other hand touching his chin. You’ve seen the same pose on the bridge-- with a dangerous edge to his usual even tone, he says one word that makes your heart drop. “Rebel.” 

There’s no way he could have known, nobody could have told him-- coming to the cloister, everyone’s identity was wiped clean. No one there had known, there were no records. You’d been given a new name, a new chain code. 

“You served on Rebel ships,” he presses.

You swallow a large gulp of wine and nod. 

His eyes seem to glow brighter. “And your position? Not very high, I would imagine, given that you’re here.”

Your mouth feels too dry. “Yeah, I was-- I was nothing, really. I was nobody. I served meals and mended uniforms. Fixed radios, cleaned blasters. Anything that needed to be done.” And though you’re loathe to admit it, your time so far with Thrawn has been luxurious compared to your short stint in the Rebellion. You had barely thought about it for so long, you’d almost forgotten. It had been buried, deep, and you’d never even thought to worry someone might find out.

“And you believed you needed to conceal this from me,” he says. “Explain your reasoning.”

“Other than…” you gesture at him. At his uniform. His rank. He gives you a level stare, as if to say ‘continue.’  “Fine. Well, I wasn’t trying to hide anything. It’s not a very exciting story. I was captured. Eventually sent through the ISB system. They interrogated me and then recommended me for the training.”

“So. You’ve been… domesticated.” He puts a sly twist on the word, suggestive in a way that makes arousal knife through you.

Your instinct is to glare at him, but you only manage to sound petulant. “Should I be kneeling at your feet during meals?”

“Perhaps. You might find that you enjoy it.”   

This sets your mind spinning, and it’s all you can think about the rest of the evening as you try to read on the datapad. He has unbalanced you so easily. The incisive deductions about your past -- ‘Rebel’ in his smooth, modulated voice replays in your mind over and over-- though he does not seem angry about it, or hateful, like you would expect of an Imperial. Only intrigued. 

As for the idea he’d put in your head… kneeling at his feet. During meals, or maybe while he’s working. He already makes you do it while restrained, but to settle there at his side by your own choice… Somehow the thought of it is calming, almost a fantasy. Sitting on the couch, you steal a glance at Thrawn, who is engrossed with something at his desk. You take a deep, slow breath. He might let you lean your head against his leg. Stroke your hair idly as he occasionally reads aloud from whatever he’s working on, his voice cool and soft. He seems to like your hair. He often touches it when he has you over his desk, brushing it off your face or combing his fingers through it as he fucks you and fills you over and over. 

Later, through the night and the following days and weeks, you try to keep yourself at a distance from him. It doesn’t really help. You find yourself unable to keep your eyes off him. Even in the privacy of your own thoughts, he holds this power over you.

You sit up attentively when you hear the hatch opening which signals his return. You listen when he speaks, though that isn’t often. He rarely chooses to share with you, and it only makes you more curious for information about him, his thoughts-- anything. In the meantime, you watch him, observing carefully, entranced by his quiet manner and his utter command over himself and his ship. 

Noticing that he was attractive before that was different, you rationalize. Anyone could see that. Just as anyone could pass a particularly attractive person on the street and notice them, but not spend the next month falling under their thrall. And each time you spread your legs for him, you tell yourself it’s because you agreed, because he convinced you that all the alternatives were worse. Not because you might, just a little, like his attention.

☆ link to part 8 ☆

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[tremendouskoalachild]

The Acolyte timeline

or, my attempt at figuring out over how many days the present day events take place.

we'll be looking at episodes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8, broken down by location. estimating elapsed time is quite tricky here, because the narrative takes us to many different places on various planets (which, if we want to get technical, won't have the same length days and be synced time-zone wise. for the purposes of this write-up i'll do as star wars does and ignore multiple timezones on a given planet, and assume 24-hour day-night cycles). the show also has several main characters whose stories don't necessarily happen concurrently in the order shown. the hyperspace travel routes, around 11 with some being traveled multiple times, appear to be quite short in the show.

Episode 1: Lost / Found

Ueda – at some point during the Uedan day, likely afternoon. takes place mostly in real time, with Mae’s trek from her ship to the bar shortened.

the Fallon – seemingly starts in the morning of ship time, as Osha wakes up at what seems to be a normal hour for her (the lights come on gently, and don’t seem connected to the alarm that sounds a little later). she gets dressed and asks her colleague what the emergency is, implying there was little to no time skipped. the jedi arrive a short time later, and presumably within 12 hours or so of the Ueda events, since those are “last night” relative to the ship’s time. they are directed to her room and wait there, seemingly just the time it takes her to get back from the ship’s exterior and change, though it is possible she has other work tasks that aren’t shown. there might be a larger skip between getting identified by the eye-witness and boarding the prison ship, but it doesn’t seem very likely. at most several hours pass between Osha waking up and being transferred to the prison ship, and it is conceivable that the events take place in less than an hour (the screentime is about 8 minutes, and most skips are for gearing up/walking from place to place).

Coruscant – starts with Sol’s youngling lesson, which takes place in mid- to late morning (he ends the lesson with “time for lunch”, and even though Vernestra’s arrival might end it ahead of schedule, that would be a weird thing to say at an entirely different time of day. this also suggests the Fallon is synced to Coruscant time). Vernestra informs him of Osha’s arrest, which she would have heard from Yord and Tasi, so it necessarily happens after the entirety of the Fallon scenes, presumably very shortly after (if it wasn’t time sensitive at all, Vernestra wouldn’t have needed to interrupt the lesson; if it is a matter of her availability, we know she has Mog or other padawans like Jecki to carry messages for her). later Vernestra calls Sol (still in the same room, reminiscing) to the detention level, after the other prisoners from the Palwick are captured. Sol obtains permission to go to the crash site on Carlac, gets changed into mission robes, gets Jecki plus Yord, and sets off. this presumably happens in quick succession, as it is both a rescue mission and apprehending an escaped prisoner.

the Palwick prison ship – appears to take place over hours at most, but likely far less. from what we see the ship is clearly intended for short transport trips. the attempted prison break starts with the other prisoners and Osha having what seems to be their first interaction after Osha’s transfer to the ship, including Osha first noticing the subdued criminal, and it would be somewhat odd to have an icebreaker conversation after several hours of sitting next to each other. we see the breakout in its entirety, and know Osha is knocked out in the crash. (this gives us extra information for the Coruscant timeline and travel times – the first temple scene happens while or shortly after Osha is transferred to the ship, and the second immediately after the attempted escapees get automatically transported to Coruscant. Yord gets back from his mission in the meanwhile.)

Carlac – Osha spends some undetermined time unconscious. she wakes up and sets off on foot. Sol, Jecki and Yord arrive a relatively short time after she leaves, examine the wreckage, and follow her. their travel time appears to have been relatively short, unless they only started discussing the mission minutes from their ETA (but hours at most, since Carlac has to be en route from the Fallon to Coruscant, and earlier Yord made the trip in a short time, in a starfighter; Jecki appears to have had the time to read through Osha’s file, although this could have happened earlier). the team catches up to Osha and takes her to their ship. the hike there and back, plus Osha’s unconscious period, was likely short, since she doesn’t seem to have experienced hypothermia in her clothing unsuited for cold weather (even completely ignoring the weather aspect, it was clearly hours at most). we can assume she got to the ship, was given medical treatment and food/water, and possibly went to sleep for a short while – the next time we see the characters, they are discussing her situation for the first time with her onboard.

Unknown Planet – the scene only contains Mae arriving at the Stranger’s hideout, presumably at a prearranged time for a debriefing after her first assassination mission. it takes place after Mae’s departure from Ueda and before her departure for Olega, where she presumably heads together with “Qimir” after this scene. it is the closing scene but definitely doesn't take place after all of the episode's events, since the episode 2 scene taking place shortly after Osha's arrival to the ship references Mae's actions on Olega.

estimated time from Indara's death to Osha being taken onboard the Polan: 24 hours or less, but certainly more than 12. the time spent on Carlac is the biggest variable here. to simplify, i'd argue the episode's events take place over one day, morning to evening, with the cold open happening in the evening of the previous day.

Episode 2: Revenge / Justice

Carlac – the scene starts with Osha resting, possibly waking up from shallow sleep. she had a get-to-know-you conversation with Jecki, and Sol and Yord discuss Osha’s situation for the first time since she was brought onboard. Sol contacts Vernestra for the first time since apprehending Osha, all suggesting the scene takes place shortly after the team’s arrival back to the Polan. Vernestra informs him of Mae’s break-in on Olega, which has to have happened after Sol’s team finds Osha for Osha to have a clear alibi, as Vernestra says. the team departs for Olega.

the Polan – the travel from Carlac to Olega is unspecified but appears to be one of the longer ones in the show. Osha is in the middle of working when she is interrupted by Sol and they have a heart-to-heart. they arrive during Olegan day, and they departed after receiving recent news of an event that happened the previous evening/night on Olega.

Olega – starts sometime during Olegan night, but early enough that people are still out, the Jedi in the temple are walking in the hallways conversing, and it isn’t seen as suspicious for a child to be playing on the street. we see Mae’s first assassination attempt in full, assuming she didn’t spend a very long unseen time prowling through the temple. she leaves the premises and returns to Qimir the next day – at a time late enough that it is odd for him to still be asleep, and the street outside is bustling with activity. he makes her a short-lived poison on the spot, and she immediately sets off to use it. Sol’s team arrives concurrently to this, since they have a quick chat with local Jedi on the street, get taken directly to Torbin, and find him already dead. it is highly unlikely he has been like that any longer than several minutes, if that – he is in an easily accessible open space with several entry points, the temple is on alert after a break-in the previous night, and both Osha and Sol react to Force sensations relating to the situation in progress.

the Jedi team regroups on the temple’s balcony with view of the street, presumably right away, since they are investigating a crime that just took place. they make a plan to investigate the apothecary and execute it right away, but agree to wait for that night, as Qimir convinces them Mae will come then. she does appear as promised, some time after dark but while main streets are still somewhat busy, and escapes again. Sol informs Vernestra, hoping to follow Mae’s trail immediately, but she recalls the team to Coruscant. the local Jedi keep watching the building into the next day, when Mae confronts Qimir there, and the pair make for their ship together (it is unclear what time of day this happens, but i'd assume morning).

estimated time from Mae's first assassination attempt on Torbin to Mae and Qimir escaping Olega: around 36 hours, assuming the closing scene does take place in the morning: two nights and one day.

Episode 4 and 5: Day and Night

Coruscant – starts at some point during the day at the Jedi temple, late enough that the temple corridors and hangar are busy with Jedi and outsiders alike. since episode 2, the team has arrived back at Coruscant, Sol went to debrief with Vernestra’s council, Osha got Pip serviced, and Jecki went to a lesson with her peers. Sol finishes his briefing and obtains permission to lead a team headed for Mae’s next target. he catches up with Osha about to leave Coruscant, persuades her to join the mission, assembles the rest of the team and they set off, most likely quickly as they assume time is of the essence.

the Polan – the travel time is unspecified. we see only a snippet of the journey, seemingly towards its beginning, as it includes an introduction to Yord’s briefing and Osha getting to know a fellow traveler on the transport for the first time.

Khofar – Mae and Qimir arrive, with the implication that it is their first stop from Olega, while the Jedi team took a detour through Coruscant (though the duo left the day after Mae’s escape from her confrontation with Sol, while Sol and his team likely departed immediately and left the locals to watch out in case she remains on planet. i find it quite likely Mae and Qimir got there later). they land in an area not commonly used as a spaceport, with three hours of sunlight left, and spend the whole time hiking towards their destination, with Qimir knowing the direct route. Mae arrives at Kelnacca's shelter the very moment the sun’s last rays disappear.

the Jedi team arrive at some point during the day, land in a designated landing site with a local presence, and spend the rest of the daylight hours on foot, searching for Kelnacca. they have a vague direction from the locals, Sol’s senses, and their professional tracker’s information, though they lose sight of him for a while. they arrive at Kelnacca’s shelter at the same time as Mae, at sunset. the Stranger arrives and knocks Osha out, starting the fight.

the next episode starts right after the previous one ended, with Osha waking up after being unconscious for a presumably short time (the Jedi are engaged in combat with the Stranger a short distance away as she comes to, one man down already). the bulk of the episode’s action – various chases and confrontations between different characters – takes up the entirety of the night, and doesn’t stray too far from Kelnacca’s shelter. at dawn, Mae and Osha reunite and Osha is knocked unconscious. at this time, Sol is still stunned by a blaster shot and the Stranger fighting off an umbramoth swarm in the air, possibly with Bazil trailing him.

Mae takes some time to disguise herself as Osha and finds Sol a short distance away as he comes to. assuming she didn’t re-stun him in the meantime, this is likely shortly after he went down the first time – Mae herself gets stunned earlier and wakes by the end of the same uninterrupted scene to shoot Sol with the same weapon. they immediately set off for the Polan, several hours away on foot, but likely with a better idea of direction than the previous day. the Stranger finishes fighting off the swarm and lands somewhere relatively nearby – Bazil appears and collects Pip’s head before heading for the ship, where he arrives shortly after Mae and Sol. the Stranger unhurriedly collects his items and a still unconscious Osha.

estimated time from the team arriving on Coruscant to Sol and disguised Mae returning to the ship: 24 hours. one full night, a morning the next day, and at the very least hours of the previous day.

Episode 6: Teach / Corrupt

Unknown Planet – Osha wakes up, examines her surroundings, and gets dressed before leaving the cave. during her unconsciousness she was at the very least carried to the Stranger’s ship (roughly 3 hours away on foot), transported to the planet, and carried into the cave. her wound was treated at some point, though this could have taken place during hyperspace travel. after arrival the Stranger also arranged Mae’s clothes for her to find, made food, and took off for a bath, likely intentionally shortly before she woke up. it isn't clear how much time has passed since their arrival on the planet, but i'd guess it hasn't been long.

the Stranger ends a scene by asking if Osha is hungry and the conversation continues in their next scene arriving back at the cave, presumably minutes later, and later resumes after another scene break with Osha eating soup, implying little time has passed. the episode ends with Osha putting on the cortosis helmet shortly after.

Coruscant – the Jedi temple receives Sol’s unclear message and Mog passes it on to Vernestra, who orders him to quickly dispatch a team to Khofar. she gets changed and prepares to depart with them within minutes.

Khofar – Sol and Mae’s storyline resumes immediately after the previous episode’s events, with them and Bazil taking off in their ship after Sol sends a message to Coruscant. their conversations and Mae’s encounter with Bazil and Pip appear to take several minutes, then she is stunned and restrained by Sol, who pilots the ship away from Khofar. the jedi rescue team arrives immediately after, implying the travel time between Khofar and Coruscant is within minutes with their transport, and that the Coruscant scenes take a very short amount of time. Vernestra’s team talk to locals and head into the forest. they arrive at Kelnacca’s shelter presumably hours later, without Bazil’s help but guided by Vernestra’s Force connection, and investigate the site. they prepare the corpses for burial, return to their ship, and depart the planet.

estimated time elapsed during the episode: several hours, less than a day. the Sol/Mae storyline appears to take place almost in real time, and the unknown amount of time Mae has been unconscious after Sol stuns her allows it to catch up to the other plotlines. Osha's scenes seem to happen fairly quickly, with several short timeskips covering walking from place to place, but she too spends an unknown amount of time unconscious at the start of the episode. the Vernestra storyline is the most demanding one time-wise, because it necessarily includes the on-foot trek through the forest, twice, and however long it took to prepare the bodies.

Episode 8: The Acolyte

Unknown Planet – Osha experiences a Force vision after putting on the helmet in the final scene of episode 6, and the Stranger finds her a short time later. they decide to go to Brendok together and depart shortly afterwards, changed into more appropriate outfits and with their gear.

Coruscant – Vernestra gets back from Khofar (still wearing her mission robes) and immediately gets pulled into a meeting with Rayencourt. she tries to get in touch with Yoda before Mog informs her Sol has turned his beacon back on, and is currently on Brendok. she immediately makes preparations to depart with a team of Jedi once more.

Brendok – Mae interrupts Sol’s explanation and escapes the Polan, now orbiting Brendok. Sol chases her through Brendok’s moons’ rings and Mae’s escape craft crashes on the planet, in relative vicinity of the abandoned fortress. Sol lands nearby, activates the beacon, and sets off for the fortress, while Bazil stays on the ship. Osha and the Stranger arrive a short while later, while Sol is entering the courtyard, and land nearby. Mae finishes climbing up the fortress’ pit and heads for her childhood bedroom, where Osha finds her shortly after and the two talk before breaking into a fight. Sol is concurrently confronted by the Stranger.

both duels are interrupted by the arrival of Vernestra’s ship, which lands a short distance away from the fortress. Mae joins the fight between the Stranger and Sol, before Osha arrives and executes Sol. the Jedi team disembarks right afterwards, joined by Bazil and led by Vernestra to the fortress. Mae and Osha escape the fortress and stop at the bunta tree – quite a trek through the forests, as we’ve seen in episode 3. Vernestra finds Sol’s body and sends Jedi with Bazil after the sisters, while the Stranger observes her and disappears to catch up with them. the sisters say goodbye and Osha departs with the Stranger right before the Jedi team catch up. meanwhile, Vernestra apologizes to Sol and gives him a burial.

Coruscant, again – after the Brendok mission Vernestra attends a Senate tribunal before (or possibly right after) talking with an amnesiac Mae and enlisting her help. she then makes contact with Yoda. Mae appears to have been brought to Vernestra from the transport, by the Jedi who apprehended her, so it likely hasn't been long since their return.

Unknown Planet, again – Osha and the Stranger, still in the clothes they wore on Brendok, hold hands dramatically, likely right after returning to the planet.

estimated time elapsed on Brendok: hours at most. the plotlines are lined-up in this episode, and apart from the epilogue post-Mae's arrest most timeskips are fairly short, allowing characters to reach the fortress/bunta tree. the epilogue skips forward a little bit, but appears to take place during the same day.

tldr: there's no way to know for sure, but we can make a (very) rough estimate based on the sequence of events and storylines influencing each other, day/night cycle of two planets, and the assumption that characters aren't sitting around wasting time (almost) at any point. the first arc (episodes 1 and 2) takes place over around 2 days, 3 at most. the second arc (episodes 4 and 5) lasts a bit over a day. the final arc (episodes 6 and 8) happens quickly, most events definitely unfolding within a day.

[wannab-urs]

Written in the Stars - Got So Much to Lose

Summary: The Mandalorian turns in the bounty, then feels guilty about it.

Series Summary: The Mandalorian takes a job unlike any he’s ever had before. Driven by his guilt over working for the Empire, even indirectly, and the strange bond he formed with the man, Din rescues his bounty. What follows is not something either of them ever expected.

Warnings: The Mandalorian/Prospect crossover AU, canon-typical violence, season 1 rewrite, eventual smut, slow burn, eventual romance, GUILT, Din caring about another human being, this one is really similar to the actual episode but I added some (hopefully) interesting little bits from Ezra’s POV.  WC: 2.9k

A/N: I'm seriously losing steam on this story. I have a couple more chapters already written, but I'm stuck on chapter 5. Rest assured there's plenty more chapters coming before we get there.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with this story. I hope y'all like my take on this episode of The Mandalorian <3

Ezra Masterlist | Din Djarin Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | AO3 | Kofi

Hyperspace, Outer Rim

“So where are we going?”

Mando doesn’t answer. Ezra has gotten pretty used to Mando not answering his questions… or responding to his stories… or saying anything, really. It doesn’t deter him from speaking.

Ezra fills the silence of hyperspace with stories. “At the tender age of 12, I piloted an escape pod through the dangers of Wild Space and eventually I happened upon this desert planet the locals called Ursu. I–”

“Wait, you piloted a kriffing escape pod through uncharted space at 12 years old?” Mando interrupts.

“Ah, now he speaks.”

“I am not going to sit here and let you lie to me. What other lies have you told me?”

“I speak the truth, Mando. Speaking of which, is that your real name?”

“No.”

“And have I not earned the right to know the name of my captor, my very own Charon, guiding me to the afterlife?”

“No.”

“At least tell me why Mando.”

“Have you not heard of the Mandalorians?”

“Errrr no. Not that I can remember.”

“We are a warrior people. Weapons and armor are part of our religion.”

“Why have I never heard of you?”

“The Empire destroyed our home planet. We are few in number and very scattered.”

“And now you’re working for them.”

Din doesn’t respond. Typical, when presented with a difficult or uncomfortable question. Ezra thinks he feels a smidge of guilt from the man.

“Why don’t you ever remove it? The armor, I mean.”

“We swear a creed when we come of age. The Creed dictates that we never remove our helmet in front of another living thing.”

“Sounds… lonely.”

“This is the Way.”

Later, lying in the Mandalorian’s bunk, Ezra contemplates their conversation. To don armor when you come of age and to never again remove it in front of another person… it’s unfathomable. Ezra cannot imagine shielding himself that way, and he hid from the entire galaxy for the majority of his life.

It fills him with a profound sadness, a shockingly empty desolation, and he goes to sleep to avoid his spiraling thoughts.

As Nevarro comes into view, a holo transmission light flickers on the dashboard. Mando presses a button and a man dressed to the nines in a fancy robe appears on the console.

“Mando. I've received your transmission.” Ezra notes that the man has a deep, jovial voice. He sounds very familiar with Mando, and Ezra wonders if perhaps they are friends. “Wonderful news. Upon your return, deliver the quarry directly to the client.” The man chuckles. “I have no idea if he wants to kill him or torture him, but he's very antsy. Safe passage! You know where to find me.”

Ezra hopes they are not in fact friends. He sees Mando tense up at the man’s blunt words. “Dammit, Karga,” Mando breathes.

“So you’re turning me in huh? The rescue didn’t put me in your good graces?”

“If it hadn’t, you would have been in carbonite.”

“I’m not in carbonite because it would have killed me and you’re worried about your reward. I saved you and you’re carting me off to my death,” Ezra spits. Any taunting previously in his tone now wrapped in ice.

“I would have had it without your help. And I’m just doing my job.”

“Sure, Mando.”

Ezra snatches the silver ball out of the air and drops it in his seat before storming off to the cargo hold.

Nevarro

Din knocks on the door of the Client’s building and the droid scanner pops out. He shows his chit and the door opens. Din steps in, pulling Ezra along behind him.

Two stormtroopers appear from the shadows and grab Ezra roughly, dragging him toward the office.

“Easy with him,” Din grunts as he follows them, feeling guilty.

“You take it easy,” one of the troopers retorts.

“It’s fine, Mando,” Ezra grumbles.

The doctor – Pershing, Din remembers – immediately begins examining Ezra. He scans him with a handheld medisensor.

“I’m assuming the arm was lost before you located him?” Pershing addresses Mando.

“Cut it off myself!” Ezra offers.

“Otherwise he is healthy.”

“Your reputation was not unwarranted,” the Client states in his strange accent.

“How many fobs did you give out?”

“This asset was of extreme importance to me. I had to ensure its delivery. But to the winner…” He takes out a camtono and opens it to reveal stacks of Beskar.

Mando eyes the largest cache of Beskar he’s ever seen in his life before turning his attention to Ezra being taken to another room by Pershing. Ezra meets his eyes through the visor and Din feels another pang of guilt stab at his chest.

“What are your plans for him?”

“How uncharacteristic of one of your reputation. You have taken both commission and payment. Is it not the code of the Guild that these events are now forgotten?”

Din stiffens, but doesn’t react.

“That Beskar is enough to make a handsome replacement for your armor. Unfortunately, finding a Mandalorian in these trying times is more difficult than finding the steel.” The Client clearly expects the payment to shut Din’s questions down. The second statement is likely a threat, though not one Din takes particularly seriously.

With the delivery complete, if weighing heavily on his heart, Din heads to the covert to deliver the reward to his Alor.

The Armorer is a striking presence. Her gold horned helmet and fur cowl set her apart from the other mandos in a way that is quite rare among Mandalorians.

Din sets the camtono in front of her and unlocks it. The Armorer picks up a stack of Beskar and inspects it as a group of mandos close in to see what Din brought in.

“This amount can be shaped many ways.”

“My armor has lost its integrity. I may need to begin again.”

“Indeed. I can form a full cuirass. This would be in order for your station.”

“That would be a great honor.”

“I must warn you, it will draw many eyes.”

Paz Vizla comes over and picks up an ingot of Beskar.

“These were cast in an Imperial smelter. These are the spoils of the Great Purge. The reason that we live hidden like sand rats.”

Paz throws the ingot back onto the workbench. He is angry, and his anger only fuels Din’s guilt over working for the Empire – over turning Ezra in to those monsters.

“Our secrecy is our survival. Our survival is our strength,” the Armorer says.

“Our strength was once in our numbers. Now we live in the shadows and only come above ground one at a time. Our world was shattered by the empire with whom this coward shares tables.”

Paz grabs Din’s helmet, jerking him to his feet. Din breaks his hold and draws his blade, attacking Paz. When they each have their vibroblades at each other's throats, the Armorer steps in.

“The empire is no longer and the Beskar has returned. When one chooses to walk the way of the mandalore, you are both hunter and prey. How can one be a coward if one chooses this way of life? Have you ever removed your helmet?

“No.”

“Has it ever been removed by others?”

“Never.”

“This is the Way.”

Din and Paz slowly lower their blades.

“This is the Way,” the mandos say in unison.

Din comes to stand in front of the Armorer again.

“What caused this damage?”

“A mudhorn”

“Then you have earned the mudhorn as your signet. I shall craft it.”

“I can't accept. It wasn't a noble kill.” Din cannot imagine the guilt he would feel, carrying the signet of a beast Ezra helped him take down. “I was helped by an enemy.”

“Why would an enemy help you in battle?”

Was Ezra his enemy? No, not truly. But Din had been his.

“He did not know he was my enemy.”

“Since you forego a signet, I shall use the excess to forge whistling birds.” Small guided missiles housed in his vambrace would be extremely useful.

“Whistling birds will do well. Reserve some for the foundlings.”

“As it should always be. The foundlings are the future. This is the Way.”

“This is the Way.”

The Cantina

Din visits Karga wearing his new armor, every scrap of muddy red now replaced with pure silver Beskar. His heart clenches as he wonders what Ezra would think now. He’d certainly never stop calling him a tin can.

Din asks Karga who else had a fob and learns that everyone in the guild had a fob, but Din won. He doesn’t feel the pride that Karga insists he should. Doing work for the Empire, work that could somehow further their interests, has left him feeling wrong. And at the expense of Ezra. He feels like his new armor doesn’t quite fit right.

Din’s jaw twitches at the sight of a Beskar ingot in Karga’s hand. Beskar belongs with the Mandalorians. He asks for his next job to cover up his irritation and to get the taste out of this last job out of his mouth.

Before he leaves to track down the bail jumper, he pauses. “Any idea what they're gonna do with him?”

“With who?” He knows damn well who.

“The bounty.”

“I didn't ask. It's against the Guild Code.”

“They work for the Empire. What are they doing here?” Paz really got under his skin. He’s no hut'tuun (coward) but he does feel like he did the wrong thing. He should have brought Ezra somewhere safe and claimed he could not catch him.

“The Empire is gone, Mando. All that are left are mercenaries and warlords. But if it bothers you, just go back to the Core and report them to the New Republic.”

“That's a joke.”

“Mando, enjoy your rewards. Buy a camtono of spice. By the time you come out of hyperdrive, you will have forgotten all about it.”

Mando storms out of the cantina and back to his ship. He goes through the preflight checks on autopilot, until he reaches the lever with the silver ball. It’s still not screwed on where it belongs.

Din turns in his seat and finds the makeshift fidget toy in Ezra’s– in the jumpseat. He picks it up and screws it back on where it belongs before powering down the ship and going to rescue his new friend.

“I need you to cooperate with me, Ezra, or Gideon will become upset with me.”

“Please do inform me why I would care if this Gideon is ‘upset’ with you?”

“Because he will kill us both.”

Ezra grumbles but lays down in the scanner as he was told.

“Now please levitate the object.”

Ezra doesn’t so much find it difficult to use the Force while strapped to the machine as he finds it extremely irritating, but he cooperates. He lifts the small durasteel cube into the air and launches it at Pershing’s head.

He has a brief flash of pain, thinking about Mando. He really thought they’d formed a bond. Ezra chattered and Din listened and only complained occasionally. Ezra had saved his life, for kriff’s sake. Ingrate.

Then he feels a real, physical flash of pain as Pershing sends jolts of electricity through his body.

“I didn’t want to have to do this, Ezra, but you give me no choice.”

Din perches on the roof of a building across from where Ezra is being held. He tunes in with his helmet and hears the Client tell Pershing to kill Ezra. He drops to the dirt and stalks across the alley. He knocks on the door and breaks the chit scanner, causing two guards to head to the front of the building. Din dips around the side and uses his charges to blow his way in.

He takes out two troopers with his blaster in rapid succession. Then he moves up on a third and shoots him too. They’re making this too easy. Mando sneaks up on the fourth stormtrooper and pulls him to him with his grappling hook and knifes him in the throat.

He shoots the last trooper and then aims his blaster at Pershing.

“No! Please don’t hurt him. He’s important!”

“I’m not here to hurt him.”

Ezra is lying unconscious, strapped to some sort of scanner. His blood is being slowly drained through various tubes. Din sees red and nearly kills the man on the spot. But he needs to know what state Ezra will be in.

“What did you do to him? What did you do to him?”

Pershing cowers in the face of Din’s rage. “I-I protected him. I protected him. If it wasn't for me, he would already be dead! Please! Please. Please.”

“It doesn’t look like you’re protecting him,” Din growls, but he leaves Pershing alive.

Din pulls Ezra into his arms and holds his blaster out from beneath the man’s legs. He’s out cold. Din leaves the room and comes up on three more troopers. He takes out two before the third one can get a shot on him. It pings off the wall next to him. Not even close. Din takes out the third with little issue.

He moves into another room and blaster fire opens up. Din dives, leaving Ezra on the ground and pops back up, firing a shot at one trooper and taking out another with his flamethrower.

He goes to retrieve Ezra, picking him up and turning around to find himself cornered by four troopers.

“Drop the blaster!”

“Wait. He’s very valuable. Here.” Din gently shuffles Ezra out of his arms and onto the floor. He sets down his blaster next to Ezra.

“Now turn and face me”

Din slowly stands, activating his whistling birds as he does and taking them all out at once. He picks Ezra and his blaster back up.

When Din exits the building, he notices that every single bounty he passes has a tracking fob that lights up.

Din starts whispering to Ez that he’s gotta wake up, they’re being hunted. He can’t fight them off if he’s carrying dead weight. Karga pops out, blaster drawn, from around the corner of a building just as Ezra starts to stir.

“Welcome back, Mando! Now put the bounty down.”

Din sets Ezra on his feet, but keeps his arm wrapped around his waist, holding him up. He aims his blaster at Karga.

“Step aside. I'm going to my ship.”

“You put the bounty down and perhaps I'll let you pass.”

“He’s coming with me.”

“If you truly care about him, then you'll put him on the speeder and we'll discuss terms.” Care about him? Is that why he’s doing this?

“How do I know I can trust you”

“Because I’m your only hope.”

Mando elbows Ezra in the gut, waking him up. “When I say run, you run. Got it?” he whispers.

Ezra nods and Mando leads him to the speeder, pauses, then throws him on it and jumps on himself, firing his blaster as he goes.

“Change of plans!” he yells. He orders the droid to drive, hiding behind cargo boxes. “Take cover!”

Din takes out several hunters before Karga shoots the droid driving the speeder and it crashes into a pillar. They’re completely surrounded and Ezra is still pretty out of it. Din starts sniping people with the amban rifle from behind the speeder.

“That's one impressive weapon!,” Karga shouts.

“Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna walk to my ship with the bounty and you're gonna let it happen.” That’s definitely not going to work, but it’s worth a shot.

“No. How about this? We take the bounty, and if you try to stop us, we kill you and we strip your body for parts.” That’s not going to work either.

One of the bounty hunters attacks Din from behind, running at him with a vibroblade. Din hits him with the shock baton part of his rifle and knocks him out. He’s pretty pinned down, but he still has a few tricks. He uses his flamethrower to take out several of the hunters, but runs out of fuel.

Din is close to giving up. He’s nearly out of options. He looks over to Ezra, whose gaze pierces his straight through the visor. Din feels a surge of protective instinct, a desire to make sure the man is okay.

He lifts his blaster, ready to fight to the death for this man he’s just met. Just to spite the Empire. That’s why he’s fighting so hard.

Suddenly, the sky is filled with Mandalorians. His brothers and sisters have arrived on jetpacks to come to his aid. They start taking out hunters, outnumbered but certainly not outgunned. Paz has a rotary blaster cannon and is obliterating every enemy in sight.

“Get out of here! We'll hold them off!" Paz yells.

"You're going to have to relocate the covert.” Add that to the list of things he feels guilty about.

“This is the Way,” Paz states.

“This is the Way.” Din returns.

He grabs Ezra by the hand and drags him back to the ship. Just as he’s about to lift the ramp, Karga corners him.

“Hold it, Mando. I didn't want it to come to this. But then you broke the Code.”

Din shoots his grappling hook at a gas canister, vapor filling the cargo hold, and escapes deeper into the ship. He shoots Karga in the chest and the man flies out of the ship. He slams the ramp shut and rushes to the cockpit, taking off and setting a random course to get out of the atmosphere as quickly as possible.

He goes back down to get Ezra, helping him into the cockpit. He puts Ezra in his chair and resets his course for Sargon, another Outer Rim planet.

Paz flies up next to the ship before it exits the atmosphere and salutes them.

“You gotta get one of those,” Ezra says, levitating the metal ball into his hand. “And I like the new armor, Tin Can.”

header graphic by @atinylittlepain // other graphics by @saradika-graphics

[jewishcissiekj]

Tooka

Tooka! it's literally her omg

[nanairoarts]

Excerpt from Cowboy Bebop: The Jazz Messenger - History (translation below)

Planets テラフォーミング 地球以の惑星を人類が住めるよう "地球化" してしまう技術である。 その実現にはケタ違いの資材、 ケタ違いの作業時間が必要とされ、とても現実的なものではなかった。 しかし位相差空間ゲートが開発されたことで資材の運搬が容易となり、 その実現はさほど困難ではなくなった。また、位相差空間ゲートに太陽光線を通過させることで光源を確保できることになり、より地球から遠い惑星にも移住が可能になったのである。 以下の惑星/衛星は、 テラフォーミング技術の成果で人類が移住可能となった星々である。

Planets

Terraforming is a technology to transform planets other than the Earth into environments similar to Earth so that humans can live on them. The use of such technology requires an inordinate amount of material and time, and, therefore, very unrealistic. However, the development of the hyperspace gate made the transportation of materials easier, and thus the application of such technology much less difficult. Moreover, by sending sunlight through the hyperspace gate, a reliable source of light was secured, making it possible for humans to migrate to planets farther away from the Earth.

The following planets/satellites are now inhabited by humans because of terraforming technology.

Venus 金星 都市から砂漠地帯まで惑星全土にわたって居住可能。 人口約5億。 2~3気圧・気温31~35度。空中に浮遊しているのはテラフォーミングのためにつくられた巨大植物プラント。【「ワルツ・フォー・ヴィーナス」のラストで出てくる街並みは、渡辺監督の意向で中近東風のものになったそう。また、設定では「ビバップ」世界の言語は英語と中華系が中心なのだが、 各惑星ごとに微妙にかたよりがあり、 金星ではアラビア語が多い】

Venus

Every part of the planet is inhabitable, from its deserts to its cities. Venus has a population of 500 million, atmospheric pressure of 2 to 3, and temperatures that range from 31 to 35 degrees Celsius. Floating in the sky is a giant plant that was created to terraform the planet. (The cityscape that appears at the end of Waltz for Venus was designed according to Watanabe’s personal vision of a Middle Eastern city. Additionally, the world language in the story setting for Bebop is mainly English and Chinese, but there are slight variations on every planet with the inhabitants of Venus usually speaking Arabic.)

Notes: I'm not entirely sure about the translation for the atmospheric pressure of Venus, but there is no unit in the Japanese text, so it's just been translated as is.

[femmefighter]

From A Droid's Point Of View

For Sapphic Ahsoka Tano Week, Day 5 - Master; Sokabine. Amazing gifsets done by the dearest @halepo - thank you so much for these, ori'vod, and for being my first mate in keeping this tugboat sailing.

The surreal, multicoloured blur of hyperspace peeked through the teeth of the purrgil as the T-6 was parked on the space whale's tongue. Huyang had finished his story from his archives, having chosen the story of when the first Nightsister had managed to tame and ride the purrgil from one planet to the next. The ronin Jedi in the pilot seat was a surly quiet, and Huyang’s instruments told him through the Togruta’s heat signature, heart rate, and eye movement pattern, that she was preoccupied with other thoughts.

Huyang replayed the memories in his circuits to himself, going over the last few days’ events that led them to their current predicament, and Ahsoka Tano’s current mood.

The benefit of being a droid, his interactions were all data that he could record and store. Every once in a while, he’d cypher through the millennia of memories he had, download the ones he found were no longer of use, and would store them on chips he kept in his office. He never got rid of any data permanently; experience had taught him that with the ebbs and flows of the galaxy over time, priorities change, and so do the lessons that need revisiting.

He replayed the first night that he and the Lady Tano had spent in Lothal, when Lady Wren had been injured. It was not standard operating procedure for Lady Wren to contact the droid for combat support anymore, but he had supposed it was because she and the Lady Tano hadn’t mended their bond yet.

Besides, Lady Tano was deep in conversation with General Syndulla at the time, a discussion the latter had asked for some private from the droid. Lady Tano, like all masterful Jedi, was often very stoic in times of pressure and stress, however Huyang had noticed the slight widening of the Togruta's eyes, the tone of her voice revealing an inner turmoil she was wrestling with, and the bio-readings his thermal scanners picked up showed that the Jedi's fight response had kicked in.

When they'd reached the comms tower, Lady Tano had raced straight to the unconscious Lady Wren’s side instead of giving chase to the other Force user and her HK droid. That decision had not come as a surprise to the professor droid. What did surprise Huyang, however, was the sullen response Lady Tano was having to Sabine's decision to hand over the star map.

The decision for Ahsoka to take Sabine Wren on as a padawan had always puzzled Huyang. The Togruta and Mandalorian's relationship was as close and intense as any master and padawan relationship Huyang had ever witnessed, but he presumed that it was born from a mutual personal affection neither women knew how to process properly.

They didn't need to assume the roles of teacher and apprentice to have an excuse to spend time together.

But the two women were determined to make it work, and their commitment to their duties and each other was admirable.

Until that day when it had all come crashing down...

Huyang had stopped trying to replay and assess that day on Endor, when he'd come out of his office because he'd heard shouting, to see an utterly devastated Lady Wren flee the ship, tears streaming down her face and her breath a sobbing wail, and finding a similarly distraught Lady Tano having locked herself in the cockpit, curled up in a corner on the floor by the door. He had never seen the Jedi so controlled by her emotions before, overwhelmed and inconsolable. It had taken days before the droid could coax what had happened out of the clearly heartbroken Ahsoka Tano, and even then she had given him a very brief summary of the event. He had agreed with Lady Tano's decision to distance herself from training Lady Wren for fear of the Mandalorian's wellbeing, with Sabine being so caught up in her anger and her grief, but even Huyang's programmed emotions had been saddened by their separation. Although he and the Lady Wren often misunderstood or frustrated each other, he had enjoyed her presence aboard the ship, and appreciated that she was a capable warrior and an effective Fulcrum agent.

What he had missed about her most, though, was how happy she had made the Jedi. 

"You are still agitated," Huyang finally broken the silence. Ahsoka turned her head sharply towards him, a clearly vexed yet confused expression on her face. 

"Your mind still troubles itself over Lady Wren's decision," he prompted.

Ahsoka sighed audibly through her nose. "How can I not be? She gambled the fate of the galaxy away with a selfish decision." The Togruta fell quiet again for a few moments, and just as Huyang was about to pry further, she continued. "You say for her, it might have been the only decision. But it wasn't. Her intellect fiercely outstrips anyone I know, she could have thought of another way. What this decision suggests of her state of mind, to her current way of thinking, it concerns me."

"You cannot criticise her too harshly, considering you own recent decision," Huyang spoke up in the Mandalorian's defence, and the Togruta turned to look at him again, her wides wide in bewilderment. "Explain," she ordered tersely. Blinking his amber, robotic eyes at the Jedi, he elaborated. "Only days ago, you also gambled the fate of the galaxy for the sake of one person, when you ran to Lady Wren's aid outside of the communications tower, instead of pursuing the mercenary and the droid. You knew they were escaping with the map."

The Jedi straightened in her seat, no doubt miffed at the droid's observations. "I had no other choice, Sabine was gravely injured!" Emotion was creeping into the Togruta's voice, with even the mention of that night triggering a release of distress. "You had options," Huyang countered firmly. "You could have given chase to the enemy, and you would have caught up to them. A single HK droid and the dark sider apprentice would have not been a match for you. You would have recovered the map and we would have regained the initiative of the situation, rather than being on the back foot and still giving chase. I could have attended to Lady Wren in the meantime. It would have only delayed getting her medical attention by a few minutes, and due to the location and cauterising nature of her wound, she had those minutes to spare."

Ahsoka stared at the droid, her face slack with shock. "I know you feel there was no other choice, because your programming would not allow you to choose any differently. The same can be said for Lady Wren's decision on Seatos," he finished off, satisfied with his logic.

The Jedi held the droid's gaze for a few moments, before turning to look out the windshield again. Her voice crept out again, this time quiet and raw and wholly vulnerable, as she stared unseeingly through her reflection. 

"I love her, Huyang," Ahsoka finally admitted.

"I couldn't leave her there... I love her..." 

I know, Huyang thought. "Have you told her that?' 

Again, lekku flicked around as Ahsoka snapped her head back at him, staring at his question. Her blue eyes were watering, and after a few quiet moments, a couple of tears crept down the Togruta's face. Her gaze began to dart around as she searched her own memories, wanting to find an affirmative answer to his query, her mouth starting to drop open as she couldn't. "I..." she gave a false start, a small sob escaping her lips before she tried again. "Not in those exact words, but..."

"Those exact words are what Lady Wren would need to hear," Huyang bluntly cut her off. "You show your care through your actions. Lady Wren shows it through her words, and with who she gives her time to. You have not spoken to her in years, nor given her any of your time." Ahsoka had sunk into her seat, looking smaller in stature and energy. "I think about her all the time," she confessed, her voice just as defeated as her posture. "She is my first thought when I wake, and the last one I cling to when I fall asleep. I've tried so many times to cast her from my mind, but I can't. I cannot let go of my attachment to her. This is why I'm a failed Jedi. What hope did Sabine even have when her own master couldn't practice such a critical component of Jedi teaching?"

At last, Huyang had gotten Ahsoka to expose the underlying fear she carried. It made perfect sense, considering what had happened to her master. Ahsoka would not have grown up with the best examples as to how relationships grounded in love should be handled. Her own master formed unhealthy attachments with his love, squeezing his attachments so tightly in fear of losing them that it consumed him.

Ahsoka was misunderstanding the Jedi meaning of attachments and love. To love was to connect, whilst to become attached was to try and deny the flow of the Force through control. 

"You are not your master, Lady Tano. Through all the pieces of his story we've collected over the years, we know Anakin Skywalker could not let go of his attachment to his secret wife, which led to his fall. In comparison, you pushed Lady Wren away for the greater good at the cost of your relationship and happiness. Selflessly you let her go, knowing the pain it would bring you. You are allowed to miss her. And now, the Force has brought you back together. My suggestion is - don't fight it. You two are better together. The only thing you need to let go of is your fear of your own failure."

Silence tears were now flowing unchecked down the Togruta's face, and she sat curled in on herself for a long while, processing Huyang's words and sniffing back her running eyes and nose. Huyang sat with her, staring out into the darkness of the purrgil's mouth. When her breathing had calmed and her face mostly dried, Huyang spoke up again, this time making sure his voice offered more kindness rather than matter-of-factness. "You should go rest. You're still recovering from your prolonged time in the Seatos ocean, and you'll need your strength for when we reach our destination." A nod accompanied a sigh, and the Togruta slowly rose from her seat. "I think I'll run through some forms first, and then I'll get some sleep." She let a hand linger on the droid's shoulder - her typical gesture of appreciation the droid had gotten used to, before she walked with heavy energy out of the cockpit. 

Huyang knew, however long their purrgil-enabled journey would be, that his Jedi companion would spend most of it releasing years of pent up emotional trauma into the Force through movement and meditation. Ahsoka was finally healing, and hopefully she would be recovered enough to mend the bond between her and her beloved padawan.

In lieu of having lips to smile with, the droid's wires sparkled with hope.

He was looking forward to having the Lady Wren back again.

[abbonation]

Lost Apprentice, Chapter I: Get Clean

Admitting you have a problem is the hardest part.

Explicit, 18+ content ~1.9k words

A/N: Welcome one, welcome all to the first full length fic of mine that isn't only smut! Blame it on the anti-depressants, blame it on the times but a bitch is needing some story goddamnit. Something with some bite to it. Which is something I've honestly never written before; that being said- feedback is welcomed and encouraged! This first chapter is shorter but I have the next few started and will hopefully update a couple times a week as I have time between work and school :)

CWs: accidental voyeurism; like 1 (one) horny thought?? It's light asf this chapter but let me know if you notice other necessary warnings I didn't include!!

Chapter I: Get Clean

A loud sight of relief escapes you upon stepping over the threshold of the combination bar and inn located— where the fuck are we? Eriadu? Ahh right, a small town on Eriadu. The jungle planet known only for its proximity to both the Hydian Way and Rimma trade route.

It had been nineteen, yes, nineteen full day cycles since your last shower, and technically you didn’t start feeling really nasty until about the seventh cycle mark, seeing as the first three were spent in hyperspace, but still. Over two full galactic weeks. No shower. And of course the Crest didn’t have even a sonic shower, yet Mando wondered why you seemed to be feeling stressed. Certainly it had nothing to do with the utter stink that was surely wafting off your body at this point, knowing full well he had the credits to install a complete fresher on the ship.

But, you were here now, a few warn down buildings, most covered in moss, but civilization nonetheless, where Mando had said We’ll refuel and rest up- then I’ll take you home.

He approached the bar where a Trandoshan man stands, wiping the counter. 

“Are your bathing stalls private?” Mando asks, hands on his utility belt. 

“Well, there are no bath stalls, but we have a bath house; it’s 5 credits a person, you get an hour. It’s public but there ain’ been a soul in there all day, so it’s all yours.” He smiles and you nod in thanks.

Mando turns to you, you can almost see the raised eyebrows on his face through the visor.

“I don’t mind sharing, I mean, if you’re okay with it.” you throw your hands up, honestly you’d wash in a mud puddle at this point if it meant feeling any less dirty than you are right now. 

He turns back to the bartender, passing him 10 credits and walking where he points, they’re just down the stairs and behind the double doors. Enjoy. You glare at his smirk.

—

“I don’t, uh, want to make you wait so you can go first,” Mando stumbles out, holding his towels. 

“Nah, it’s okay, you are the captain and all,” you respond- even if what you’d like to say is ‘Sounds great, if I have to smell like hot garbage for even one more minute I may implode.” 

“No really, I insist, it’s my fault we’re late getting back anyway.” He looks down at the tiled floor.

You think about how he insisted you stay by the treeline as the group of criminals passed by. There was no bounty catching or murdering scheduled for this trip, you were just supposed to be helping him find a pre-galactic war era ruin that was rumored to be in the jungle on this planet. Yet, there they were, and there he went. You had ended up intervening, shouting some shit like, “Oh no Mando! I’m so scared!” Trying to distract the attackers. Four armed men looked like they should’ve been a struggle, but he handled it no problem, especially with your distraction. They turned and two began running towards you, and Mando had to duck and weave between the other two to reach them. You had your dagger out and at the ready, slicing at one of them when he got you up against a tree. When he lunged towards your neck, you dropped your weight, stabbing the dagger into the meat of his thigh and pulling up, slicing through his flesh. He shrieked and fell in pain, blood dripping down your arms. You quickly removed the dagger, turning to run from him, when you looked back to see Mando stomping on his face. You swallow and stare at the boot shaped hole he was making, growling in effort, the other three men lay surrounding Mando. You hold the knife out again when he turns towards you, an unintentional move following what you just bared witness to. 

He stepped forward, “Why did you do that?” He’s angry. 

“I-I’m sorry I was trying-” you sound weak, and you hate it.

“I don’t care about ‘trying to help’. You could’ve been killed. Or worse, and you know it.” He’s closer now, still angry, but less yelling in your face.

“I thought I could help.” You say to the ground. 

He releases a breath and turns, resuming the trek back out of the forest towards the Crest. 

—

And after the small amount of back and forth, here you are. Sharing the deep stone bath, overflowing with steamy lavender and salt scented water, the stained glass inlaid in the ceiling casts a spectacular light on the room and a thin divider made of spindly, vine-like woven reed material separates you and Mando. 

You’re sure he won’t take the helmet off, that’s his prerogative, though. For now you let the hot water loosen your tight muscles and bones, cramped from the lack of moving room on the ship. There’s a tense silence between you, save for the trickling water and distant sounds of the bar beyond the doors.

“Listen, uh, about the jungle,” You hear his voice, and confirm that he still has the helmet on from the tune of his vocoder, and peek over to your right to see his blurred outline through the divider. 

“It’s.. nothing. Let’s not mention it.” You don’t want to think anymore about his over-protection despite your barely being what you might consider ‘friends’. Or the fact that you liked watching him kill the person who meant to hurt you.

“I just- don’t want to be the reason you get killed. That’s all.”

The water splashes when he puts his arms back down.

“Why did you ask me to come if you didn’t want all the help I can offer, Mando?”

“You know I didn’t ask you to come to be my bodyguard. You’re better at the, y’know, the smart stuff. And I’m better at the.. Killing stuff. They weren’t going to get the chance to mug us.”  You laugh at him then, he’s right. 

Silence overtakes you both again and you can’t seem to keep the anger at his actions at surface level when the water feels this good and he doesn’t seem to be holding a grudge.

You brush your fingertips over your scalp and down the front of your chest, brushing over your nipples and shivering when the chilly air hardens them. Too risky for now, though you are keyed up from the last couple weeks. You sink down until just your nose and the top of your head rests above the water, and blow bubbles on the surface.

“What’s that?” His voice turns towards you.

“Blowin’ some bubbles,” you hope he hears your smile, this really is a luxurious place, even if it came after a lot of suffering. “So, where to after this?”

You start to shampoo your hair, working the suds over your head.

“Like I said, I’m taking you back to Obroa-Skai.” 

“No pit stops this time, Mando?”

You’re rinsing your hair and smoothing in the conditioner now. 

“Well- I actually did calculate in a stop on Nevarro for some bounties, if that’s okay?” 

“Yeah, it’s on our way right? I don’t mind, nothing to do back at home except examine more rocks,” you laugh and lean towards the divider to grab the bar of soap when you inadvertently get a glimpse to his side of the bath through the divider.

His bare thighs with wet hair slicked to them stick out of the water, he’s leaned back on the same wall you were. His sun kissed stomach slopes down to a delicious happy trail, and you breathe out, blinking hard to snap out of your trance. “Sorry what?” 

“I asked if you like your job.”

“Yeah, um, I mean, as much as anyone likes their job, I guess. It’s nice to enjoy what you do even just a little bit.” You lather the bar against the sponge and begin washing your feet and legs, up towards your thighs.

“Why haven’t you been bounty hunting recently?” You knew there had to be a reason he needed your help on this trip, he hadn’t divulged it yet. 

The water sloshes on his side, he’s washing himself now too.

“Remember the uh, the kid I had with me last time we stopped on your planet?” 

“Sure, the green baby? That was a bounty though, right?” 

“Yeah, he was, he sort of became more than that though. I ended up.. keeping him.” 

Your scrubbing comes to a halt and you turn to the divider, “Wait, you what?”

“I kept him. He’s my ad’ika, my son.” 

Your eyes close and you shake your head, trying to make sense of things. “So you just kept this child? And whoever put the bounty out let you?”

“Not exactly, it’s a long story. I’ll explain eventually, but I asked because you helped me a lot- finding this remnant, it would be nice to have your help more readily available in the future… and I’m looking for him, I need to know he’s safe.” 

“So someone took him?” 

“No, just.. Okay. He’s a Jedi and he’s training with his master. I gave him over willingly, but I don’t know where he is now.”

“Mando you’re fucking crazy.” You have to laugh at the situation. 

“Excuse me?” He sounds wounded almost.

“I mean, not to be mean but we don’t talk, or see each other for like what? A year and a half? And you’ve had this crazy life changing journey, a child, new armor, new everything! It’s just.. wild. How do I know it’s even you under there? And now you want me to do what? Quit my job and surf the stars with you?” 

He’s quiet. 

“You’re- you’re right. It’s foolish of me.” 

You hear him start to get out of the water, splashing as he covers up in a towel. 

Fuck. That’s not what was supposed to happen. You stand up too, quickly reach to wrap up in your towel, and run-walk as quick as possible to meet him where he’s headed for the doors back to the changing room.

“Wait, Mando, that’s, that’s not what I meant.” You stop, and place your hand on his bare shoulder to turn him to face you. The T of his visor tilts down to look at your face, and where your hand rests on his skin. 

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of your search for your son. It’s just crazy how much has changed since we last saw each other, y’know?” 

You look up at him and notice his adam’s apple bob as he swallows and nods. 

“I didn’t say no. Or that I don’t want to, it's just.. insane, but that doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.” You smile and look down at his chest. 

The gentle trickle of the water spouts is the only sound, and the steamy heat of the room must be getting to your head when you move your hand down his clavicle to skate just your fingertips over the hair on his chest. He shivers. “I think I might want to. Just lemme think about it.” You move just your eyes up to meet the helmet and he clears his throat before he answers, nodding “Okay.”

[kaminocasey]

Loverboy Part 6

Summary: Echo insists he helps you find out about your past, Hunter is still unsure about you.

Pairing: (F) Former Sith!Reader x Echo

Warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI; Smut, Rough Sex, Rough Oral (M receiving), Dominant!Echo, Unprotected sex between partners (Wrap it up, friends), Angst

WC: 3.4K

A/N: I know it's been a few months, but I'm still as excited about this story as the day I posted Part One! DEFINITELY looking forward to Part 7!

Part 5 ︱ Playlist ︱ Bad Batch Masterlist ︱TAGLIST FORM

The first hour of the ride back to Ord Mantell is relatively quiet. You’re deep in thought of your family and of the things you learned from Ventress. It’s been just you and yourself the last two years. But now… you find yourself looking at Echo, wanting to tell him these things. Would he view you differently? 

“Dooku was my great uncle…” You murmur, looking out the windows at the dancing blue hues of hyperspace, afraid to look at Echo.

“Oh.” Echo’s brows furrow, thinking it over.

After a moment, you look at him. Is he angry with you?

“I didn’t know… If that’s what you’re wondering.” You tell him. 

He lets out a soft sigh, his brows still furrowed with frustration as he looks at the floor. “Ventress was back on Dothomir wasn’t she?”

You nod. “She was.”

“You keep lying to me, cyare.” He looks up at you and your chest clenches with anxiety.

“That’s the last one.” You promise him. “Ventress saved my life… I just couldn’t- I’m… sorry.” 

He doesn’t really have any reason to believe you, but after rubbing his flesh hand down his face, he nods to you. So you decide now is the time to tell him what you’ve learned about yourself.

“My grandmother was Jenza Dooku…” You begin. 

And then you tell him what Ventress told you about your history. Unfortunately, the pieces that are missing will never be known. Can you learn to be okay with that?

“You know, a while back, we visited Castle Serenno. We were sent there to retrieve some war chests for Cid… it didn’t turn out well.” Echo tells you. 

It’s strange to think of Echo in the same halls that you used to walk down. 

“I take it that the Imperials came for the Dooku fortune?” You guess. Echo nods. You’d not really given the chests much thought. It was no secret that Dooku was, for a lack of a better term, loaded. Your guess is that he exploited millions of Serennians and countless other planets to make that much. The war chests should’ve been given back to Serenno at the very least.

Oh… That’s it. 

“I need to go back to Serenno.” You tell Echo. 

“For the war chests?” He quirks an eyebrow at you, confused.

You roll your eyes. “No. For information. Surely I can get into Dooku’s old systems and find out about my family… There’s so much I don’t know.” 

You can tell Echo’s not fond of the idea of returning to Serenno. Clearly whatever happened there wasn’t good. He turns around and dials in a comm channel and then faces the holotable. 

“Echo.” Hunter’s voice fills your cockpit. 

Hunter’s holoform throws you a suspicious glance. 

“Tell them what you told me.” Echo squeezes your hand. 

Hunter crosses his arms, looking between the two of you. “What is it?” 

You look at Hunter. “I know you have no reason to believe me… but I just found out my grandmother was Count Dooku’s sister. I’d like to return to Castle Serenno to try to find out more about my past.” “What does that have to do with us?” Hunter’s brows furrow.

“She needs our help, Hunter.” Omega’s sweet, excited voice speaks up from behind him.

He shakes his head. “Do you not remember what happened the last time we were there?” 

“The Imperials are probably gone, though. It’s been a while.” Omega tells him. 

“I’m going with her, no matter what.” Echo tells Hunter. 

“I want to go.” Omega tells Hunter. 

“The systems are more than likely wiped now.” Tech tells you.

“You could bring them back.” Echo speaks up. “Couldn’t you, Tech?”

Tech looks at Hunter briefly before looking back at Echo. “I could.”

Hunter is clearly not happy about being outnumbered. 

“I say we go.” Wrecker’s voice from somewhere in their ship chimes in.

Hunter sighs. “This could end very badly. We almost didn’t get away last time.” 

“And we learned from our mistakes, right?” Omega grins. 

Hunter rolls his eyes, running a hand down his face, obviously unable to tell Omega no.

“We’ll do a recon. If I think it’s too risky, we don’t go.” Hunter tells you and Echo. “Got it?”

“Thank you.” You tell him, sincerely.

It’s no secret that Hunter isn’t your biggest fan, nor are you really his. But, you’ve made peace with those facts. If Echo wants his brothers’ help, then maybe it’s time to try to make nice. 

Hunter nods and then clicks off. You smile at Echo, who smiles right back and then sets the course for Serenno. 

“Do you want to kill some time?” You fall back into the chair and put your foot up in between his mechanical thighs, teasing his length. 

His eyes fall to your foot and then run all the way back up the length of your body until they reach your own eyes. Need hangs in the very air between the two of you. Need, and something else… Desperation? Love? 

“We do have some making up to do.” He grins as pushes your foot to the floor and pulls you up to your feet, letting you guide him back toward your bunk. 

“I’ve never had make up sex before.” You tease. 

“Never had a reason to.” He continues to smirk, glancing at your lips.

“I’d say that’s a good thing.” You crush your lips to his, desperation laced all over your tongue.

He presses you up against the durasteel wall outside your bunk, chuckling against your lips, his metal limb pressing between your legs, up against your warmth and you grind yourself against the cool metal. His lips find your neck and your head loll’s to the side allowing him access. When he bites softly, you gasp and his flesh hand falls to the edge of your pants. He’s waiting for you to give him permission and your chest clenches.

“Please Echo.” You whimper, softly. 

“I’ll never get over the way you say my name.” He murmurs, kissing his way back up to your lips. “The first time you ever said it, all I wanted was to hear it from these lips… For the rest of my days.”

His fingers slip past the edge of the band of your pants, toward your warmth. Your legs fall open for him automatically. He doesn’t ever have to ask. 

“Always so eager for me, aren’t you?” He grins, leaning his scomp arm against the wall above your head. 

You nod, looking up at him, into those lust blown brown eyes. The very eyes that you could get lost in forever. 

“Fucking perfect.” He kisses you again, swallowing your moan as his fingers slip into you making you moan into his mouth. “Never fucked against a wall, have we?” 

You shake your head, whimpering as his fingers tease your cunt. 

“Although, I think you’ll fall apart if I remove my fingers right now, won’t you?” He makes a mocking pouty face and you gasp as his fingers curl against that spongy part inside of you.

“Echo, please…” You moan, clenching around his fingers. “Pleasepleaseplease…”

He chuckles. “Take your pants off then, cyare.” 

You quickly kick off your boots and attempt to remove your pants, rather clumsily. But Echo’s fingers somehow never leave your soaked warmth. 

“For someone so commanding, you sure are needy.” He hums, teasingly.

“Yeah, but you love it.” You laugh as you reach to unbutton his pants, releasing his hardened length. 

You’ll never get over the sight of him, you think to yourself. He tilts your chin back up toward him again and presses a sweet kiss to your lips. You sigh, contentedly against his mouth. 

“Now…” He pulls away and gives you a mischievous smile. “Take the rest of your clothes off.”

You follow the order and unclip your cape, dropping it to the floor, then pull your shirt off along with your binder. His eyes follow your breasts as they hang there in the cool recycled air, your nipples becoming hard. He looks like he’s really trying to restrain himself from touching you. 

“Good girl.” He grins and you clench around nothing, missing the feeling of him filling you. 

Before you can say as much, he grabs you and spins you so you’re facing the wall. He pushes you up against it, kicking your feet apart slightly. This shouldn’t be so hot, right? You, just naked out in the open in your ship? Thank the Maker you don’t have any crew to worry about. 

“I promise you when we get back to your place, I’ll be so gentle and kind with you, cyare. I’ll make love to you the way a lady deserves… But now… I can’t be… I’m sorry. Are you alright with that?” He teases his length against your dripping entrance and you let out a whimper. “Use your words, cyar’ika.” 

“Yes… please.” You groan. 

He chuckles. “That’s what I thought.” 

He pushes just the tip of his cock into you and you instinctively try to back up against him but his scomp arm keeps you in place. The cool durasteel pressing against your pert nipples, is definitely not helping the situation. 

Echo groans as he pulls back out. “Feels so fucking good…” 

He rests his forehead on the back of your shoulder as he pushes back in and your needy whimper spurs him on. He pushes in the rest of the way and your hands clench into fists against the wall as he fills you so perfectly. 

“Feel good for you?” His murmur is strangled.

“Perfect.” You gasp, appreciating the stretch.

He nods and then starts thrusting more consistently. The first snap of his hips against your ass pulls you back to the moment and your eyes nearly roll back in your head. Echo’s lips find your neck again. 

“Missed you.” He whispers. “So much.” 

“We weren’t… apart that long.” You chuckle.

“Doesn’t matter.” He pushes into you deeply this time so that your cunt flutters around him. “Never wanna be apart like that again.”

His flesh hand snake around you, down to your warmth, his fingers finding your clit expertly. 

“Oh fuck…” You look at him and he smirks, crushing his lips to yours. 

You whimper pathetically against his lips as he rubs your clit, threatening to send you over the edge. The need to cum is almost too great right now… too much… You suppose you have plenty of time until you reach Serenno… 

“Come on, baby…” He whispers, hotly in your ear. “Don’t hold back on me, now.” 

You clench around his cock again and he grins. 

“That’s right.” He kisses you again. “Let go. Cum for me, please.”

His “please” is what sends you over your edge and you moan loudly against his own mouth as he smirks proudly. You cum harder than you have in days and nearly drop to the metal floor. Echo keeps you upright though. 

“Such a good girl for me, aren’t you?” He murmurs as he guides you over to your bunk that’s not been used in some time. 

He pushes you on all fours down to the broken down mattress. “Aren’t you?”

You nod, shuddering around him as he starts thrusting into you again. “Y-yes…” 

His hand travels up to your hair, gripping tightly as he fucks you even harder. Your hand presses into the wall to keep you steady for your loverboy. He’s never fucked you this hard, this… relentlessly. And you can feel yourself becoming addicted to the thrust of his hips against your ass. Is that possible? Fuck… You don’t want it to end. 

“Please…” You whine. “M-more.” 

“More?” He looks down at you, his eyebrow quirking up as if it’s some sort of challenge.

With a nod, you look back at him. “Please…” 

You think you just need him to… use you… And you think he knows that too. He swallows and gives you a nod. 

You think you can see the switch in his brain, at least behind his eyes… He suddenly grabs you, pulling you to your knees on the floor. 

“Open.” He taps your lips and your mouth automatically falls open for him as you look up at him, completely doe eyed. 

Echo bites his lip and pushes his cock into your mouth, his eyes rolling back in his head at the heat of your mouth. You hum around him and take him as far back to your throat as you can. He’s just so… big, your eyes can’t help but water. He opens his eyes and looks down at you. 

“Oh, sweet girl.” He smiles down at you, wiping the tears at the corners of your eyes. “So pretty like this. You like being on your knees for me?” 

You nod slightly, swirling your tongue over the head of his cock again before bobbing your head over his length. His hand finds your hair again and grips tightly as he guides you up and down on his cock. His pace starts to quicken and you brace your hands against his cool metal limbs. 

His soft moans and sharp gasps have you dripping onto the floor and you clench around nothing again, already missing the full feeling. You wish there was a way to be filled in both holes… 

“E-Echo…” You gasp around his cock, patting his hip. 

He pulls you off his cock and drops to his knees to look you in the face. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you? I’m sor-” 

“I’m fine, I promise.” You smile, cupping his face. “I just… I have this… need? To be filled more?” 

You feel like you’re not getting your point across and you’re afraid to ask for what you really need. But before you can say anything else, he pulls you into his lap, lining himself up with you again, pushing into you, making you groan. He smiles kindly before sliding two of his fingers into your mouth, the taste of yourself so sweet against your tastebuds.

“Is this what you need, cyar’ika?” He asks, his voice so soft with consideration. 

You nod around his fingers, your eyes never leaving each other as you grind your dripping cunt over his still hard cock. He grins as his eyes switch between your naked body and your eyes, clearly blown with lust for your partner. 

“Fuck, you’re so perfect.” He groans, thrusting his firm fingers in and out of your mouth. “Keep going. Use me.”

He continues praising you as you use his cock and his fingers to get off again. It feels like you’re right there. So so close. 

“Still having trouble?” He teases.

You nod, tears in your eyes. He nods, understanding. He pulls you off his cock but before you can cry at the empty feeling, he flips you back over onto your front, pushing you into the floor with his body, his fingers never leaving your mouth as he roughly pushes his cock deep inside of you, his thrusts relentless and sharp, making the air leave your lungs as you gasp around his fingers. He pushes his fingers as far back as he can until your drool is hitting the floor. 

“Maker, you’re soaked.” He gasps as he starts to empty himself inside of you, his cum painting your drenched walls. 

He groans as his fingers leave your mouth and trail down to your throat, pressing in enough that you finally reach that edge, falling over it in the most blissful way as you scream into the empty bunkroom. 

Coming together… that’s what you needed. You should’ve known.

As Echo pulls out of you, falling over on his back, he pulls you to his chest, kissing you between gasps for air. The both of you can’t help but laugh. 

“That was…” He struggles for words.

“It was…” You let out a soft giggle. “Think I nearly reached the ‘light side’ finally.”

Echo lets out a boisterous laugh and your chest tightens at the sound. 

“I love you.” You look up at him, resting your chin on the back of your hand on his chest. 

He looks at you, eyes wide, full of love and then grins widely. “I love you.” 

Right in this very moment, you can see yourself living out the rest of your days with this man. Days you never gave much thought to until you met him. 

Echo helps you up to your feet but you sit down on the bunk. 

“I can’t walk yet.” You laugh softly.

He smirks down at you and kisses you before trailing off to the fresher, coming back with a warm wet cloth. As he gently lays you down on your bunk, he cleans you up and pulls the blanket over you with a kiss on the forehead. 

“Where are you going?” You ask him.

“Someone has to stay awake and be on watch just in case. You get some rest.” He smiles, softly. 

You nod and turn over on your side, letting sleep consume you immediately. 

The halls of Castle Serenno are even colder than you remember. Not that there was any warmth to them before. 

“Master? Ventress?” You call out into the dark, unforgiving palace. 

No answer. Where is everyone? 

“Hello, darling.” You hear behind you. 

You turn around, finding a woman with gray hair. Jenza. You’d never met her, but you’d know her anywhere, you think. She has kind warm brown eyes and an inviting smile. You can’t help but smile back as you give her a slight wave. 

“You’re so grown up.” She steps closer to you, looking you in the eyes, searching. 

With a lump in your throat, you nod. She looks into one of the rooms and you follow her gaze, finding Echo smiling as he looks out of the ship’s window, the blue hyperspace hues lighting up his face in a most beautiful way. You smile at him, softly.

“He’s handsome.” Jenza teases you. 

“He is.” You grin. 

“He’s good for you.” She pats you on the arm and starts walking down the hall again. 

You give Echo one last glance before following your grandmother down the halls that now seem warmer somehow. The two of you stop at your old quarters. 

“This used to be my room.” She tells you. 

“It was mine too.” You lean in the doorway as she enters, looking around until she reaches the window that looks over the mountain range. 

“You loved this window seat.” She grins. 

How did she know that? 

This isn’t a dream… 

“It’s not.” She confirms as if she could read your thoughts. “The Force is connecting us right now.” 

You go sit next to her, looking at her confused. “Why?” 

“To tell you that when you go looking for your past in this place, you’re going to come across some dark things… Things that will make you angry. And things that could push back toward the Dark Side…” She cups your face with one hand. “You will find peace in the light, darling.” 

The two of you look in the doorway, feeling a light presence. Echo. He’s smiling at you and you can’t help but smile back.

When you wake up, you sit straight up and find Echo sitting on the edge of the bunk, wiping your wet cheeks. You’d been crying and you didn’t even know it.

“You’re alright. I’ve got you.” He cups your face, kissing your forehead. “You’re okay.” 

You wrap your arms around his broad frame, pulling him toward you, burying your face in his neck. 

“Did you have a bad dream?” He asks you, quietly.

You shake your head with a soft laugh, suddenly feeling silly for crying. “Opposite, actually.” 

“I’m here if you want to talk about it.” He brushes his thumb across your cheek in a soothing motion and your chest clenches in the way it does when he’s gentle with you.

“Thank you.” You brush your lips over his and he pats your leg.

“We’re here, by the way.” He murmurs. 

“Oh. Good.” You sigh. 

“Just remember, I’m with you every step of the way.” He promises you, and you fully believe him when he says it. 

Now, it’s time to uncover your past and hopefully find something worth all the mess and trouble you’ve gone through to get here. 

What happens if you find nothing? Or even worse… What happens if you find something? Something… that you really don’t like?

TAGS: @twistedstitcher27 @misogirl828 @rebel-finn @rexandechosandwich @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @brynhildrmimi @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @zoeykallus @maulslittlemeowmeow @littlemousedroid @arctrooper69 @rexxdjarin @padawancat97 @hated-by-me @sleepingsun501 @idledreams @redheadgirl @themcuwriter @ashotofspotchka @sunshinesdaydream @crosshairsimp73 @ariadnes-red-thread @rosmariner @heyitsaloy @starstofillmydream @high-ct5555 @echos-girlfriend @sleepywych @nekotaetae @justanothersadperson93 @aconstructofamind @book-of-baba-fett @chopper-base @palliateclaw @501st-rexster @dead-poolz @nahoney22 @where-is-my-mind-tho @jediknightjana @erishimoon @witching3 @queen-of-many-fandoms @wizardofrozz  @burningfieldof-clover

[bailey41]

Wolfwren Week 2023: Day 5 Band/Musician AU

I was thinking about the cover for Dua's new single, "Houdini," but that tongue thing was gonna be hard! In its place are parts Beck Hyperspace, and one Steely Dan album, cuz the title was irresistible. Colored and marbled 180gm LPs and EPs only, pls.

So Sabine got into a little substance abuse in high school, and musicianship and voice lessons helped with her recovery. Shin, the love of Sabine's life (obv), tinkered with guitars, her dad's Roland, and marinated in a vat of co-dependency until one of them had to leave for college.

They both grew up, glowed up and signed a 2-album deal with Universal after Shin graduated. They now live happily in Provincetown when they aren't on tour, and have a saluki, a husky and a tabby named Murley. Shin is still obsessed with DJ Spooky and developed an Hermès habit when the royalties kicked in. (She is the very proud owner of two Kellys, a Birkin in ostrich, and a vintage, oversized canvas one she got in Antwerp for 650 EUR after a gig. That's the story she gave Sabine anyway—and the price goes down with every telling.)

The also share a shrink, a Dr Huyang, who was born in British Hong Kong. He drives out from Boston once a month.

Photographer: Sylve Colless for the NLB image.