#i couldn't get a straight answer on how ships are supposed to do ship things so have this

[stargazer-liz]

Serendipity (Poe Dameron x Original Female Character) Chapter IV: A Reminder of the Past

Masterlist

The planet D'Qar, Outer Rim, 34 ABY

"You're alive. I can't believe it, you're alive."

Yeah, she was. Obviously. Why wouldn't she be?

"Finn buddy, I think you need to sit down. Did you hit your head or something?" Poe pointed to an empty seat at their table, feeling genuine concern for his friend. The pilot had no idea what was going on but neither did Finn, he thought. At least that's what it looked like. 

That seemed to shake him out of his shock and the former stormtrooper hurried towards them, not caring about his abandoned tray. Once he had sat down, the cafeteria went back to minding their own business, sensing that this was personal. 

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Sora asked, not meaning to sound rude. Pure confusion was all she felt as she tried to remember where she had seen him before. Despite her efforts, nothing came to mind.

Finn looked her up and down, searching for something only he knew. As if sensing it made her uncomfortable, he cleared his throat and locked eyes with her. There was a warmth in his brown eyes she had never seen before and she briefly wondered how this person could have ever been a stormtrooper to begin with. "I'm sorry," he quickly said. "You probably won't remember me. You know, with the white helmet and armor."

"You have to be a bit more specific. I've seen many stormtroopers in my life." 

"Right, of course." Clearing his throat once again, he leaned forwards, lowering his voice. "It's just that the last time I saw you, I used every last bacta patch we had on you. Still, I had no idea whether it was going to be enough. You were basically dead already."

Suddenly, something clicked in her head. The pieces fit together perfectly. Her mouth fell open slightly and she blinked at Finn, taking time to process this revelation. "It was you. You saved me. But...how?"

None of her friends dared to speak. They were all much too engrossed in the conversation between the smuggler and the newest member of the Resistance. "It wasn't easy. Had to hide you with our cargo to get you onto the ship. I knew the escape pods were the only place no one would bother checking, so I healed you there as best as I could. When we were over Jakku, I tricked the systems, so that your escape pod could leave undetected," Finn explained, sparing Poe a quick glance. The pilot had been listening intently, gazing at him with a proud smile. "I wasn't sure you had made it safely. Not until now."

Sora didn't know how to answer. She was rendered speechless. The smuggler knew she had to thank him but couldn't find the right words. 

It was Revan's turn to speak. He crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing Finn with an unknown emotion. "So you were there. On Atrisia. Why did you choose to go back for her?"

"I suppose the same reason why you deserted. Because I was sick of the blood on my hands."

Revan nodded, easily believing the answer. "You did the right thing."

Poe smacked Finn's shoulder, grinning widely. "Completing my mission and saving Sora's life? You're awesome, buddy."

Finn appreciated the compliment, albeit a bit unsurely. Sora could see that he wasn't convinced. The way he was bouncing his knee and his fingers fumbled with his jacket told her that he didn't feel comfortable at all. Like he was only waiting for an opportunity to jump to his feet and sprint out of here. 

Clearly, something was bothering him.

"Thank you Finn. Without you I wouldn't be here. I won't forget that." And she meant it. She would forever be in his debt. 

The group was interrupted by See-Threepio. The golden protocol droid came rushing straight for their table, a great urgency in his every step. "Master Dameron, Team Phoenix and Master Finn, the General wishes to see you immediately. You will have to follow me, please."

The group shared a worried look with each other but instantly complied, hurrying after the droid who was surprisingly quiet on the whole way. He led them into the conference room where the members of the Resistance' inner circle were already waiting. Guess that meant her team was important now as well.

They huddled around an unfamiliar hologram which caused dread to rise in Sora. Out of the corner of her eyes, she barely recognized Han Solo, the most famous smuggler in the galaxy. Right, BeeBee-Ate had shortly mentioned him as well this morning. She'd seen him before, in Mos Eisley, but the encounter had been so brief she doubted he remembered her.

"Starkiller base," Poe explained, his arm brushing against hers. "The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's report."

Sora tried to soak in all of the new information, biting her bottom lip in concentration.

A middle aged man wearing the familiar orange pilot suit spoke up. The brown curls on his head bounced as he nodded at Poe. According to the tag on his vest, his name was Temmin Wexley, or 'Snap' Poe had called him, and he was a member of the Blue Squadron. "They've somehow created a hyper lightspeed weapon built within the planet itself."

"A laser cannon?" A male officer called Brance asked.

Sora thought it looked much more frightening than a laser cannon. No, this was surely something bigger.

Snap shared her thoughts. "We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale."

"Another Death Star?" Someone mumbled, causing the atmosphere to darken instantly. This was not good. Not good at all. When Sora meant she was looking for an adventure, this was certainly not what she had imagined. Not that it mattered anymore. She was in for good now anyways. 

Next to her, Poe let out a sigh, angling his body closer to hers, purely out of instinct. "I wish that were the case, Major Ematt." He hit a control button and a wireframe of the Death Star appeared before them. "This was the Death Star." The pilot hit another button and the gargantuan space station shrunk and shrunk, growing smaller until it was nothing but a tiny satellite of a huge planet. "This is Starkiller Base."

The news left everyone stunned. Sora exhaled deeply, the somber atmosphere beginning to affect her. How much had been sacrificed before they were able to destroy the Death Star, many years ago? She vaguely remembered her mother telling her tales of the Rebellion, of Rogue One. Tales of the brave Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor who, along with their small crew, had willingly sacrificed their lives for a slice of hope. 

This thing, however, was so much bigger. And right now, it was slowly draining any hope they had left.

The deep voice of Han Solo broke the silence, the famous smuggler appearing very nonchalant. "So it's big." 

"How is it possible to power a weapon of this size?" Admiral Ackbar dared to ask what so many of them were thinking.

On her other side, Revan's posture tensed. She supposed that given his past, he likely knew more than they did and could only assume it was nothing pleasant. But it was Finn who opened his mouth first. "It uses the power of the sun. As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears."

A weapon using the whole power of one sun? Yeah, they were screwed. 

She felt Revan's hot breath tickle her ear as he leaned down to whisper. "I'd heard the rumors but never knew they were actually building it. They could destroy entire systems with this."

Sora hummed but said nothing. There was nothing to be said that made this any better.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and an officer made a beeline for Leia who had been a silent observer so far. He handed her a data card and her face consorted in worry as she read it. "The First Order. They're charging the weapon again, now." A pause, then everyone's heart sank to the floor. "Our system is the next target." 

"Oh my, without the Republic Fleet, we're doomed," See-Threepio stated the obvious.

It was foolish to think they could stand a chance against a weapon this size. Sora knew the Resistance didn't have enough members, enough firepower to go against the First Order. Not in this case. But there had to be something they could do. Anything. 

It occurred to her then, that it was very much possible Kylo Ren had brought Rey to Starkiller Base. Very likely, actually. Which meant that one way or another, it would be her next destination as well. Why not blow the whole thing up during the process as well? Surely, if they could sneak on base, they could find a way to destroy it from the inside. Every weapon had a weakness, just like the Death Star had one, thanks to Galen Erso.

Poe glanced towards her, his eyes momentarily stuck on the lip between her teeth. He could practically see the gears working in her head. There was no doubt she was planning something. Much like him, she didn't seem like to type to give up. "You alright, princess?" He whispered, leaning down to her ear. 

But Sora was deep in thoughts and only nodded, not quite registering his words. 

Did she have to bite her lip like that? It was incredibly tempting to raise his thumb and gently...no, this wasn't the time for this. Instead, he told himself he just didn't want her hurting herself. Yeah, that was it. One hundred percent.

A tiny spark against his calf shook him out of his thoughts and Poe hissed softly. One look down and BeeBee-Ate stared back at him, tilting his dome head as if scolding him.

"Okay, how do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that." Typical Han Solo thoughts. Poe liked it. Sora agreed as well.

She hoped Revan might have an idea but he stayed silent and shared an unsure look with Finn instead. The smuggler realized that Finn's knowledge vastly surpassed her crewmate's. After all, Revan had left the First Order a couple of years ago. Years in which they had improved their military devices by a lot.

Surprisingly, it was Leia who openly agreed with her husband, catching even him off guard. "Han's right."

"In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base would need some kind of thermal oscillator," Revan voiced his thoughts, his gaze darting back to Finn in question.

Said man nodded in agreement, fingers already working on the hologram. He zoomed in on something and a giant hexagonal structure appeared. "There is one. Precinct 47. Here. If we can destroy that oscillator, it might de-stabilize the core and cripple the weapon." 

"Maybe even the planet...," Nyra mumbled lowly but everyone heard her nonetheless.

Poe liked where this was going. They had hope again, even if it was small. "So we'll go in there and we'll hit that oscillator with everything we got." He snuck a look at Sora, silently hoping to get her on board. 

The woman in question felt his stare and turned her head in his direction, their brown eyes locking. Shivers crawled across his skin, her warm breath fanning against his face. He found the answer he wanted instantly. Sora wasn't a fan of many words, that much he had gathered already. Lips pulling into an excited smile, she quickly sent him a nod. Sora liked his idea. He couldn't deny that it boosted his ego. Even though it was the only idea they had anyways.

"They have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate," Admiral Ackbar objected.

Han was quick to defend the plan. "We disable the shields." He turned to Finn. "Kid, you worked there. What do you got?"

He missed a single beat. Then: "I can do it."

But Sora still noticed him squirming. He wanted to go to Starkiller Base, she was sure. But she knew when someone was hiding something. After all, it was part of her job.

Han grinned, happy with his reply. "I like this guy."

But Finn wasn't done talking yet. "I can disable the shields. But I have to be there, on the planet."

Sora had to seize the opportunity. It was her only chance to save Rey.

"We'll get you there." Han and her said simultaneously and their gazes instantly snapped towards each other. Calculations were done in their heads before they silently came to an agreement. He wouldn't undermine her. They were both smugglers and they would need more people on the ground anyways.

Nyra and Revan stepped closer towards her, their own way of showing everyone they would follow Sora's command. 

Leia was sceptical, doubts clouding her mind. "Han, how?"

Sora had an idea but so far, she only knew that it worked in theory. As the more experienced smuggler, she hoped Han had practical experience. And it seemed like she was right. "If I told you, you wouldn't like it."

Poe clapped his hands, already moving the plan into motion inside his head. "Great. So we disable the shields, take out the oscillator and blow up their big gun. All right. Let's go!"

*****

The Millennium Falcon was old and had obviously seen its best days. Yet, Sora admired the freighter, almost feeling the stories it told. It truly was a legendary ship and she had only ever dreamed of being on board. Any young smuggler had. Now, her dreams were about to become true.

"Chewie, check that donal capitator. C'mon, let's go." Han watched the wookie disappear inside the ship. They were preparing for take-off, making sure they had everything they would need for their daring mission. "Finn, be careful with those. They're explosives."

Finn who had been busy filling their storage with the tiny but, unbeknownst to him, deadly devices, flinched, almost loosing hold of them. "Now you tell me?" He asked incredulously.

"Here, let me help you," Sora offered, carefully picking up some of the explosives as well. Finn thanked her, staring at her a bit longer than necessary. Now was her time to ask what had been nagging at her. Nyra and Revan were busy doing some last minute repairs whilst Han had walked off to talk to Leia. They were alone, out of earshot. "You're not doing this for the Resistance, aren't you?" It wasn't a question but a statement.

Finn knew lying was useless. "No. I'm doing this for Rey."

Now, that did surprise her. Or did it really? It was no secret Finn had accompanied Rey for a few days. Had they grown closer during that time? Whatever they had gone through, it had clearly left a lasting impression on him. 

"Then we have at least one common goal," she pointed out, safely putting the explosives into some crates on board, making sure they were tightly secured. 

"You and Rey are friends?" Finn was confused, raising his eyebrows. 

"She was the one who found me on Jakku. I owe her a lot."

"I understand. So can I count on you?" 

Sora tilted her head, giving him the 'are you serious' look. "Of course. But I'm doing this for the Resistance too. We need to destroy that weapon. Can I count on you as well?"

Finn hesitated a beat too long. "Yes."

If it came down to it, he would choose Rey over anything, she was sure of it. To some extent, she could even understand it. Rey had likely been the first person who had shown some kindness to him. Finn had a lot to learn about himself, a normal process for someone who, until recently, knew nothing but what the First Order had wanted him to. Sora thought that over time, he would become an independent person and would know exactly what he truly wanted do achieve in life. Who he would want to become.

"Hey!" The new voice greeted them as soon as they stepped outside. Poe came to a halt in front of them, wearing his bright orange pilot suit, BeeBee-Ate by his side. The droid needed to stay with him today, despite their bet. His X-Wing needed him. 

The pilot smiled at them, although it looked a bit strained. He clasped Finn's shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "Take care of yourself, buddy. I don't want anything to happen to my jacket." He winked at him and then let his hand fall against his side again. His smiled softened, growing more tender as he locked eyes with Sora. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Sora nodded, walking around the Falcon with Poe to isolate them as best they could. BeeBee-Ate stepped back, opting to confuse Finn with his chirping and beeping. 

They stopped just outside the jungle, the thicket of trees, bushes and other plants hiding them from curious eyes. Facing each other, they stood close enough so that Sora had to tilt her head backwards a little to look into his eyes.

"Be careful out there, okay?" There was a certain strictness in his expression she hadn't seen before. It was an order, she realized. 

She had the urge to soothe his apparant concern. "Don't worry. I'm a smuggler. Sneaking safely in and out of something is kinda what I do best." 

She knew there was very much a possibility of her not making it out alive. They were talking about entering a huge First Order base after all. A place not only guarded by hundreds of stormtroopers but also by Kylo Ren. The chances they wouldn't make it out alive were significantly higher than those for surviving.

Poe was all too aware of that as well. He too could fly his X-Wing one last time tonight. 

But they had to believe in themselves. In their abilities. The First Order couldn't take that away from them too. Both of them were too stubborn to let that happen.

The pilot watched her silently, contemplating what he wanted to say to her. He wasn't thinking about any famous last words because he was sure this wouldn't be their last conversation. At least, that's what he told himself. 

In the end, he simply allowed his mouth to say whatever it wanted. "You and me, princess. Tomorrow evening. Meet me here just after sunset."

Sora wasn't quite sure she had heard him correctly. Still, she went along, noticing the tiny jump her heart had made. "Are you asking me on a date, Poe Dameron?"

"Yes," he admitted shamelessly without hesitation. The pilot wanted to get to know her better. Wanted to know what she liked doing when she was not working. He wanted to know where she had grown up, how she had become a smuggler. 

Did she want this? Poe had been nothing but good to her since they had met. He had trusted her from the beginning, had shown that he cared about her. She had already admitted she liked talking and spending time with him. So, why not try and see where else this could lead to? Find out if they shared more than their love for flying and being free? Sora liked taking risks, so why not take this one?

"Okay." Confidence filled her voice and the smile on her lips was real and honest. "See you tomorrow then."

Poe grinned widely, clearly happy that she had agreed. Not that he had expected a different outcome, to be honest. "See you tomorrow."

*****

The planet Ilum, Unknown Regions, 34 ABY

"So, how are we getting in?"

The crew of the Falcon stared at Ilum, an ice planet in the Unknown Regions. Many years ago, this planet was mined for kyber crystals by the Empire. Now, it was the host of Starkiller Base. 

From up in space, the planet was a grey and white mass, cut in two halves by a giant trench the First Order had dug. Overall, it wasn't a very inviting place. 

Sora peeked over Chewie's shoulder, taking a look at the data shown on a little screen in the cockpit. She raised her brows, concluding what they were about to do in order to get past the planet's shields. "Their shields have a fractional refresh rate. Keeps anything traveling slower than lightspeed from getting through. Which leaves us with only one way to get this done."

From his pilot seat, Han sent her a dry smile. "Park here's right. You better strap in tight."

"We're gonna make our landing approach at lightspeed?!" Finn yelled, looking at them as if they were crazy. 

Indeed, it was a crazy maneuver. The ship could crash into anything before they would even see it coming. But they had no other choice.

"That's exactly what we'll do. Alright Chewie, get ready." Han pushed multiple buttons on the console, waiting for Chewie to prepare the Falcon for lightspeed. 

The cockpit was crammed with Nyra and Revan sharing a seat by the door and Sora and Finn sitting closely huddled together behind Chewie. Strapping the seatbelt proved to be an almost impossible task, with Finn's butt basically sitting on where she needed to secure it. But with a little help from each other, they managed to make do, their thighs tightly pressed together.

"And now!" 

Instantly, the light blue around them switched to planet atmosphere. Snowy, rocky ground appeared in front of them and a thick forest made out of tall pinewood trees threatened to swallow them whole. 

Adrenaline surged through her veins as Han yanked the steering back as far as it could go. "I'm pulling up!" He screams. She loved flying but she was glad she wasn't in his seat.

It was too late. The Falcon plowed through the trees, thick wooden branches smacking against the exterior. Alarms began to blare and multiple red lights blinked all over the consoles. Finn grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly as they were thrown around in their seats. Sora felt the strain the constant movement brought upon her still healing ribs and she groaned softly. Behind her, Revan whooped in ecstasy and Nyra slapped a hand over his mouth to stop him.

"I get any higher, they'll see us," Han explains and Chewie groans, clearly not liking this either.

Suddenly, the Falcon hurtled out of the forest and dove right onto a clearing. Before Han could steer it upwards, it slammed straight into the snow, digging through hundreds of yards of white. They were thrown against their seatbelts and multiple pained groans filled the cockpit. When the ship finally came to a stop, it was nearly completely buried in snow. 

Everyone needed a moment to clear their minds and slow down their heart rate. Finn sheepishly loosened his hold on her hand. "Sorry," he mumbled, clearing his throat. 

Sora only flexed her hand in response and wiped the sweat onto her pants. "S'okay."

Revan was the first back on his feet, stretching his arms into the air. "Well, that was fun. Think you can do that too, Sora? Could be a fun way to have a good time with the Phoenix."

The smuggler rolled her eyes and looked at him as if he was crazy. "Don't even think about doing that with my ship."

"Alright, party pooper, alright." He raised his hands in defeat, springing to the side to avoid Nyra's elbow which had been on direct route to his stomach. 

Han shared an annoyed look with Sora. "Is he always like that?"

"Unfortunately."

Chemie let out a series of groans she couldn't understand. But there was no need to, for he was already shoving a fur-lined jacket into her arms. A sign that they had wasted enough time and needed to leave.

Only minutes later, they stomped through the snow, jackets zipped up straight to their chins. It was freezing and Sora wished she had put on a sweater underneath her jacket. Even the fur couldn't fully prevent the cold from reaching her skin.

"This is the first time I'm seeing snow," Nyra said, rubbing her hands together. "I hate it."

Revan snorted, throwing his arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll warm you up when we're back." An indignant groan from Chewie was the answer. 

"Walkers ahead! Take cover," Han ordered, leading the group towards some sort of structure belonging to the base. 

"The flooding tunnels are over that ridge. We'll get in that way," Finn explained, letting his gaze wander across the various structures half buried in snow.

"What was your job when you were based here?" Han didn't seem convinced at all. Sora couldn't fault him. She knew Finn's sole goal was to get Rey and she highly doubted he had any plan about their actual mission at all. He had just needed a way to get on planet. 

"Sanitation." 

Oh, she actually felt bad for him for a second.

Han was in disbelief. "Sanitation. Then how do you know how to disable the shields?"

"He doesn't," Sora said, leaning against the structure behind her. "He just wants to save Rey. Which I want as well, by the way. So we need to find a way to do both."

Finn nodded. "What she said."

The legendary smuggler didn't know whom he wanted to smack first, looking from Sora to Finn and back. "People are counting on us. The entire galaxy is counting on us-"

"Hey, we'll figure it out. We'll find a way to disable those shields first. But I'm not leaving my friend here. We're enough people , we'll make do."

"Shields first, then your friend," Revan agreed, voice hard and leaving no room for argument, as if stating the obvious. 

"Captain's orders." Nyra shrugged her shoulders, grinning at Sora.

I can definitely get used to this, she thought. This new team of hers.

Chewie's groans and moans interrupted their conversation. In disbelief, Han addressed him, being the only one in their group to understand Wookie language. "Oh really, you're cold?"

Well, if the Wookie with all of his hair was cold, then Sora was slowly turning into an ice block herself. The longer they didn't move, the slower their warm blood was pumped through their bodies. Moreover, her boots weren't exactly made for Ilum's environment, causing her to loose feelings her toes. 

Apparently, Finn felt the same. "C'mon, follow me. We need to go. Fast."

Wordlessly, the group of smugglers followed him, trudging through the snow. Behind them on the horizon, the laser siphon was shooting into the sky, slowly sucking the sun dry. Not much longer and the Starkiller would have gained all of its power.

It didn't take them long to enter the base. Before they knew it, they were sneaking through empty corridors with raised blasters, hoping to not encounter any enemies. Ahead of them, a door swooshed open, revealing a shocked stormtrooper. Chewie shot him before the shock could even fully register, dragging his dead body out of sight immediately. Sora doubted he was the last one they would cross paths with. How likely was it that they had cameras everywhere? Maybe more patrols were already on their way to them. She tried not to dwell on that.

Han shared her thoughts."The longer we're here, the less luck we're going to have. The shields?"

Suddenly, Finn perked up, a new plan through his mind. "I have an idea about that."

"Not sure I like that look on your face, man," Revan declared. "But whatever, I guess."

"Why, don't tell me you're never wanted to have Captain Phasma as your puppet?"

That name did elicit a reaction. Lips stretching into a smirk, Revan changed his opinion instantly. "Shiny chromehead? Oh, you should have started with that. Let's go, what are you waiting for."

Sora briefly remembered having heard that name on Atrisia two years ago. However, the Captain hadn't been actually present back then, so she had no idea whom they were about to walk into. 

But Finn and Revan were already setting their plan into motion, giving orders to the rest of the group. Han wasn't quite happy with it but for the sake of the mission, he went along without complaining.

Quietly, they headed down a narrow corridor. It ended in a cross section and they pressed themselves against the wall in a row, listening and waiting. Footsteps echoed through the corridor to their right. A single pair. Easy to overtake. 

Chewie got in position and mere moments later, he had his arms around a woman whose body was covered from head to toe in shiny chrome armor. 

"Remember me?" Finn asked with confidence and something akin to pride. 

"FN-2187," Captain Phasma answered, voice devoid of any emotion.

Shivers danced across Sora's skin. This time not because of the cold but entirely due to the woman in front of her. There was something off-putting about her. Like her presence alone could suck the life out of you. This one was worse than Hux, she decided then and there.

Speaking of him... she hadn't even thought about the fact that the General was most likely here somewhere as well. Maybe she would get another opportunity to sink her knives into him after all. 

"My name's Finn. And I'm in charge now, Phasma. I'm in charge." 

Sora had never seen Finn so self-assured, so sure of his abilities. Perhaps for the first time in his life, he had the upper hand. 

And he wasn't finished. "Remember Revan here? Yep, he's here too. And you're gonna follow our orders this time. Follow us."

Phasma reluctantly complied, having no choice but to lead the group straight to the control access point. Multiple pair of blasters were aimed at her head as her fingers worked on the controls. The young smuggler stayed back, guarding the door in case anyone decided to wander by. She tapped one boot against the floor in a steady rhythm. There wasn't much time left. They had to hurry and find Rey. Maker knew what Kylo Ren was doing to her at the very moment.

Behind her, Phasma was taking her sweet time. "You're making a big mistake."

"Do it. Now. Or I'll blast that bucket off your head," Finn threatened, stepping even closer, blaster pressing into the helmet.

A robotic voice sounded from the workstation. "Shields disabled."

Sora didn't dare to turn around. Instead, she gripped her blaster tighter. Surely, the message must have popped up in the main base control room as well. It was only a matter of time until someone would notice and send for them. "We can't waste anymore time if we want to find Rey," she reminded her teammates. Poe and his squadrons were likely already on their way to destroy the super weapon with all of their firepower.

It was Phasma who answered. "You can't be so stupid as to think this will be easy. My troops will storm this block and kill you all."

"We'll simply kill them first," the young woman replied, sparing her a quick glance over her shoulder. "What do we do with her?"

Han was reminded of the past. They needed something worse than immediate death. Something much more sinister. "Is there a garbage chute? Trash compactor?"

*****

"You guys do know she's probably gonna survive this." Nyra pointed out as they were approaching another corridor. Phasma had called them all sorts of names when they dumped her down a garbage chute. 

"Maybe. But her surrounded by all of that trash...," Finn began, motioning for them to wait by a door. It was locked from the other side. "It was worth it, no matter what happens."

"So we're gonna blast that door open?" Sora asked, glancing at the duffel bag filled with explosives Chewie was carrying. "Cause that's gonna draw attention. We could be overrun in a minute."

Finn nodded. "I'll go in and draw fire. But I'm gonna need you to cover me." 

The young smuggler saw it again. He was restless, eyes everywhere but on any of them. He definitely wasn't ready for his own plan. "Finn, let me do this," she offered, taking a step forwards, blaster raised.

"No. I'll go in and find Rey. The troopers'll be on our tail. We have to be ready for that. There's an access tunnel that'll lead-"

Recognition flashed through Han's eyes, catching Sora's attention. Curiously, she followed his gaze and was not disappointed by what she saw.

There, through the window behind Finn's back, a young woman was climbing up the wall. Her white and beige attire was all too familiar for the smuggler. The corners of her lips lifted into a smile, relief flooding her body. 

Rey was alive. And smart enough to have found her own escape. One less problem to worry about for the group. 

"Why are you doing that? Where are you looking at? I'm trying to come up with a plan here. Hey, Sora, I thought you wanted to find Rey too, what-"

Finally, Finn turned around, sick of Han constantly nodding his head. He could hardly believe what he saw, his mouth opening and closing quickly. Chewie groaned happily, all but punching the unfortunate Revan next to him against his back in the process. The latter coughed uncontrollably in response, wincing in pain. "Really, dude? Thanks a lot," he managed to squeeze out but accepted the moaned apology by the Wookie nevertheless.

Sora sighed, feeling one weight less on her shoulders. Sure, Rey wasn't quite safe yet but she was halfway there already. Suddenly, the ground shook almost unnoticeably. No doubt, the Resistance X-Wing pilots, including Poe, were doing their job. "Let's meet up with her."

Finn didn't have to be told twice. With him and Sora at the front, the group made their way up, reaching the corridor the scavenger had climbed up to. The base was surprisingly empty. Apparently, the First Order really thought no one was crazy enough to try to bypass their shields. 

Sora barely had time to stop herself from pulling the trigger when out of the blue, a blaster was pointing at her face. But when she locked eyes with Rey, both blasters were lowered immediately. 

"Sora?!" It was more of a question than an observation. The scavenger couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Anchoring her blaster in the holster around her hips, the smuggler pulled her into a quick hug which was happily returned. When they had let go of each other again, Sora checked her for injuries but thankfully couldn't find any. "Are you okay?"

Still speechless, Rey simply nodded, gaze traveling to her companions. It stopped on a certain former stormtrooper who was staring at her wide-eyed. "Finn. What are you guys doing here?"

"We came back for you," Finn answered and wanted nothing more than to hug her. However, he deemed it neither the right place nor time. 

"Long story short," Sora opted to elaborate. "We're with the Resistance and we're about to blow up this whole place. But how did you manage to escape Kylo Ren?"

There were tears in Rey's eyes, happy tears. Sora had never seen the scavenger express so many emotions at once. Suddenly, she was like an open book. Her longing for love was visible on her every pore. In this moment, right here, right now, Rey had realized that she didn't need her parents. That she had friends who were taking care of her. 

"I can't explain it. And you wouldn't believe it either." She smiled wholeheartedly. "Thank you."

The ground shook once again, this time much more noticeable. "No time for sentiments. Let's get out of here," Revan interrupted their reunion, cutting it short. 

"We'll talk later." Sora promised, squeezing Rey's hand before they retraced their steps, leaving the building and its endless grey behind. 

Yet, something felt wrong. Once they had stepped back outside, snow crunching underneath their boots, they saw just how terrible their mission was going. 

X-Wings were roaring across the sky, desperately dodging the brutal TIE-Fighter attacks. Missiles were fired, some hitting its mark others failing miserably. With dread and sadness, Sora noticed some starfighters were nowhere to be found. They were loosing, that much was obvious. The Starkiller Base had barely been damaged but their squadrons had already suffered too many losses. How much more could they take? She found herself exhaling softly when she spotted the familiar black X-Wing soaring up high on the horizon. 

The young woman felt a pair of eyes on her and turned towards the culprit. "They're in trouble. We can't leave," Han stated, waiting for her reaction. He knew they were thinking the same. 

Sora nodded, taking a peek at the duffel bag Chewie was carrying. "We're gonna make use of those explosives. We need to weaken the whole structure of the oscillator." Pointing at Nyra and Revan, she explained the plan. "You two, make sure the Falcon is ready to leave. Finn, Rey, you need to find a way to open the doors of the oscillator structure. Han, Chewie and I will place the explosives."

"Sure, Captain. Take care." Revan agreed, dragging Nyra along. The older woman gave her an encouraging smile. 

"Kick their asses, alright?" Rey said, winking at Sora before she too took off with Finn. 

"That's a promise," she managed to reply. It was good to have her back. 

Han and his Wookie companion took her straight to a maintenance hatch leading into the structure containing the oscillator. Three stormtroopers were approaching it as well but the three smugglers made quick work with them, each easily taking down one white-armored soldier. 

The hatch opened with a hissing sound, telling them Rey and Finn had done their job. No time was wasted and they barreled straight inside just as an alarm started blaring. "Not good," Sora grumbled. "We need to hurry. I'm going up, you take the lower levels. We meet back up here."

Dividing the explosives, the smugglers took off in different directions. The oscillator room was a huge cylindrical structure consisting of multiple levels from each of which you could look down onto a long catwalk in the middle, floating over a deep chasm. Darkness was everywhere, making seeing particularly hard. 

Sora carefully placed the explosives on every second column on her level. Every now and then, she heard Chewie groaning whenever he had successfully placed one as well. Nothing was suspicious, until a shout echoed through the room. "Ben!" It was Han. 

The young smuggler didn't have time to peek over the railing and see what was going on. Who Ben was. For there was another voice and it was much too close for her liking. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood up and a wave of anger surged through her. 

"I should have known you aren't dead."

Even before she turned around, she knew who was behind her by the voice alone. Hux hadn't changed since she had last seen him. The red haired General was still sporting his black robes and his ever present sneer on his face. 

Sora smirked, shrugging her shoulders. Whilst she had been kind of looking forwards to this moment, now really wasn't a good time. "I guess this means you need to train your troopers to approve their aim."

Hux scoffed, blaster aimed at her. "Well I can promise you I won't miss." 

He fired. 

But Sora was faster, having anticipated it. Villains never understood that less talking is the way to victory. Moving her body out of the line of fire, she too used her blaster, effectively shooting the weapon out of his hands. It flew straight over the railing, vanishing into the darkness below. 

"Oh would you look at that. You missed. And I really don't have time for you right now." 

Pure rage flared in Hux's eyes. Within the blink of an eye, the blaster in her hands was kicked away by his leg, the shot she had fired last minute hitting one of the columns instead. "You missed," he mocked her. 

A few levels below them, someone screams. Then, a roar full of devastation. 

Sora huffed, dodging another kick. His foot hitting the air instead, he fell forwards just a little bit. Enough to kick her knee straight into his abdomen. "It must hurt to know one of your own men saved me. How can you even be a General when you can't control your troops?"

She knew she had hit a soft spot. Maybe it was wrong to want to rile him up but he simply made it so easy for her. She could literally feel his blood boiling as his fist made contact with her side. The smuggler had managed to angle her body, preventing the hit from reaching her stomach. Unfortunately, that meant it hit her ribs which instantly flared in pain. 

Blaster fire erupted multiple levels down but the fighting duo ignored it. 

It was a petty feud going on between them and they both knew it. After all, they could have killed each other already if they had truly wanted to. The opportunities had been there and blatantly so. 

Sora caught his fist before it punched against her nose. Using her free hand, she formed a fist of her own and let it barrel against his cheek. The General's head snapped to the side and he stumbled back a step. Blood slowly ran down a small cut on the pale skin. He wiped it away with his hand. "I know you can do better than that."

"Oh I could," she said, grinning as she tilted her head to the side. "But where would be the fun in that?" Another leg kick was dodged and she quickly grabbed a knife out of her holster. 

Hux moved back before she could use the weapon. They were dancing around each other, waiting and accessing but never quite ready to make the first move. "You call this fun? You're nothing but an annoyance. Resistance scum now, apparently. Maybe I should congratulate you. After all this time, you're finally no longer a nobody. Tell me, how is Elijah? Is he with you too?"

The ground underneath their feet rumbled, vibrating through their bodies. The first explosion caused the whole structure to shake and she used it as a distraction to throw the knife, watching it lodge into his thigh, just like two years ago. She hadn't aimed to kill, only to slow down. And to piss him off. Actually, mainly for that reason. His comment had hit home, much more than she liked to admit.

"Till next time, Armitage," she yelled over the noise, walking backwards to watch him struggle to stand until she finally turned around and ran for the door. Hux was close, she could hear him limping behind her back. Not chasing her but simply trying to escape as well. 

More explosions sounded and just as she felt the freezing air hit her skin again, she heard Hux scream at her one last time. "Till next time, Sora!"

She hadn't heard him say that name in many years. 

Sprinting through the snow as fast as she could, Sora felt herself growing out of breath quickly, her ribs aching as if Hux's punch had erased the bacta effects. She had no idea whether the others had made it to the Falcon by now. The ground continued to shake and she had to avoid getting hit by falling trees and snow avalanches. Stumbling a couple of times, she managed to somehow catch herself, never forgetting that her timer was running out. 

Poe and his squadron had been successful. The Resistance had won this battle. Now, all that's left to do was escape from Ilum before it would combust. Easier said than done. 

Suddenly, the ground directly in front of her split into two and she threw herself back to not fall to her death. Rocks and trees broke free, falling into the deep unknown. Kriff, this was not good at all. Sora calculated she had a maximum of sixty seconds until the planet would burst into flames completely, turning into a hot, blazing sun.

The snow stuck to her clothes as she shuffled to her feet. Jumping across the gap would be impossible but she knew that the Falcon was on the other side. Her only way off this planet. She needed to come up with a plan. Fast. Comms wouldn't work down here, thanks to the signal blockers the First Order had installed. Surely, the crew was looking for her. If they had even made it this far. 

Engine noises disrupted the deafening sounds of the planet splitting into pieces. Hopeful, Sora looked to the sky and saw a familiar freighter soaring across the ground, barreling through the thick forest. 

And it was heading straight at her.

"C'mon Sora, you need to jump! We don't have time to land!" Revan screamed as he stood on the lowered ramp, one hand holding on tight, the other waiting to catch her.

The Falcon hovered above the trench, getting as close to her as possible. Sora risked a peek into the deep, hot chasm below, swallowing harshly as debris broke underneath the tip of her toes. She knew she could make the jump. Not like she had any other choice if she wanted to live. Carefully taking a couple steps back, she took a deep breath, getting ready to make a run for it. 

"Now, Sora!"

She jumped, feeling nothing but cold air around her. Her breath hitched, the ramp suddenly seeming so much further away than it had just seconds ago. Gravity hit her hard but Revan was there to catch her, just like he had promised. His hand gripped hers, pulling her safely onto the Falcon's ramp. "I've got you." 

Sora stumbled into his chest and the two of them fell backwards, landing on the hard ground of the ship. Revan took most of the fall, still holding onto her tightly, and he groaned in pain. From where her head laid on his chest, Sora watched the ground slowly growing distant as the Falcon rose higher and higher, the destruction from the explosions continuing. The ramp closed just before a wave of fire hit the Falcon and then the ship jumped into hyperspace.

"Let's not do this again," Revan grumbled.

Sora freed herself, laying back on the cold ground to catch her breath. The last traces of adrenaline were beginning to leave her system and the full details about what had just occurred were kicking in. "Agreed."

"But to be honest...it was kinda fun."

Sitting up slowly, the young smuggler glanced at him, unable to stop her lips from pulling into a smile. "Just a tiny bit."

Revan helped her to her feet, pulling her up by her hand, and dusted off some snowflakes which had clung to her jacket. "We were beginning to worry though. When Chewie came back to the Falcon alone, we thought the worst. But then we'd found Rey and Finn and then luckily, you as well."

Sora furrowed her brows, dread seeping into her bones. "What about Han?"

The ex-trooper shook his head, a somber expression on his face. "Killed by Kylo Ren."

Remembering screams and devastated Wookie groans, she put the pieces together. She could only imagine the grief Chewie was experiencing after the loss of his best friend. The mourning him and Leia were about to go through. A true legend was dead, killed by the First Order. And it was just the beginning. "What about Finn and Rey, how are they?"

Revan seemed hesitant to answer. A sign that more bad news were about to follow. "Rey is the Falcon's new pilot. Finn, however...He got a nasty cut from Kylo Ren's lightsaber. The two of them had a little quarrel with him in the forest." 

He motioned for her to follow him and together they entered the Falcon's sleeping quarters. An anxious looking Nyra kneeled in front of the bed, pressing a bloodied rag against Finn's spine. The injured man was laying on his stomach on top of the blankets, his eyes closed with deep dark circles shadowing them and sweat running down his forehead.

"How bad is it?" Sora asked, leaning against the doorframe. 

Nyra shook her head, worry etching across her face. "Very. He needs a bacta suit soon. The wound is pretty deep and I'm not sure if it damaged his spine. He won't wake up either."

The young smuggler bit her cheek in concern. "We'll better comm the base and have them prepare the medical equipment. I'll go do it."

When she entered the cockpit, her first instinct was to lay a hand atop of Chewie's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "I'm sorry for your loss. If you ever need someone to vent your feelings to, I'll be there." 

The Wookie groaned painfully, mourning his loss but showing appreciation at her comment. 

"Sora, what happened? We thought you'd already left but the we couldn't find you. I'm sorry that we didn't make sure you-"

"Hey Rey, it's fine. I'm okay, no need to worry about the past," she tried to calm her down. Whenever the scavenger was anxious, she tended to talk waterfalls. It had been her job to stop Rey from spiraling down that hole ever since they got to know each other. 

Rey smiled apologetically and went back to concentrate on piloting the Falcon. 

"How long until we'll land on D'Qar?"

"Approximately two hours."

Sora bit her lip. Too long. She wasn't sure Finn would survive the journey. "Chewie, can you get me on line with D'Qar's communications tower?"

The Wookie groaned in agreement and got to work instantly. The Resistance used a secret communication channel and thankfully, the Falcon had access to it. Only seconds passed until the channel crackled to life. "Falcon to Base, we have an important matter."

The female voice she had heard on the Phoenix as well answered. "It's nice to hear from you, Falcon. What do you need?"

"We need to have a bacta suit prepared and medics waiting for us on the landing bay. It's a serious lightsaber wound. We'll approach the planet in two hours."

"I'll report it to the General. Have a safe journey." The line went dead again. Everything else had to be discussed on ground. 

Sora sighed, plopping down on the seat behind Chewie. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. A quick nap couldn't hurt. Perhaps it would even stop the stabbing pain of her ribs again. She doubted they were fully broken again, but the fresh hit had definitely slowed down the bacta healing process. 

"Sora, what happened to you at the oscillator?"

"Had a little chat with a certain General." A faked nonchalance.

Fast as lightening, Rey turned in her seat, staring at her with wide eyes. "You're not talking about him, are you?"

"Yes, him. And I let him get away again," she whispered, still loud enough for both the co-pilot and the pilot to hear.

Whilst Chewie groaned in confusion, not understanding a single thing, Rey clicked her tongue. "I did tell you that would happen. You're not a murderer. Not like that at least. Besides, he let you go too."

"He did."

"It's a pretty strange game you two have going on for....for how long now?"

Sora replied without hesitation. "Nine years."

"That's a long time." Knowing this conversation had already lasted longer than her friend liked, Rey put her focus on navigating the ship again. "You know, don't feel guilty for not killing him, despite of what he's part of. Think about who he is to you. Who he was to you. That's all that matters here."

Sora appreciated her advice a lot. Kriff, she had truly missed Rey. Neither the scavenger nor her were fond of 'girl talk', yet it was nice to have someone to vent your feelings to. Someone who knew all about you, maybe even better than you know yourself. 

"Care to tell me how you managed your grand escape?" The smuggler probed carefully, diverting the conversation to another important topic. In front of her, Chewie sat up straighter, seemingly wanting to know the answer as well.

Rey hesitated, trying to find the right words. "It's...I don't even understand it either. Kylo Ren, he was in my head. I was strapped into this chair but when he left me alone with that stormtrooper, I...I was able to manipulate him. I made him free my restraints with my mind. With...the Force."

To say Sora was shocked was an understatement. Rey was force-sensitive. Had been all of her life and never noticed it. "Whoa, that's...impressive actually. I bet with the proper training, you could accomplish great things. Maybe even become a Jedi." Being force-sensitive didn't mean you'd automatically have to be a Jedi. But Sora could definitely see her friend as one. Rey was strong, full of light and determined. 

"But who could train me? There's no Jedi left alive."

"You know there is," Sora looked at her pointedly. "And we have one half of the map to find him already. Luke Skywalker."

At the mention of that name, Chewie visibly perked up. So did Rey. But the conversation was over. There was a lot the scavenger had to come to terms with and she had to do it on her own. So the cockpit was engulfed in silence once again, with Chewie mourning in peace and the two women deep in their thoughts. One was lost somewhere in the past, the other in the future.

Sora must have fallen asleep. As the ship jumped out of hyperspace, her eyes blinked open again. Ahead of them, the now familiar green planet of D'Qar rotated slowly. 

"Hey sleepyhead, we're about to land," Rey said, sending her a quick smile before she started the landing process. 

The young smuggler nodded, watching the Resistance base grow closer through the window. Rey was a great pilot, all thanks to her flight simulator back on Jakku. Therefore, the Falcon landed without any disturbances and the trio was up and about in a matter of seconds. They met up with Nyra and Revan and waited patiently as the ship's ramp was lowered to the ground. 

Warm sunlight welcomed the group, a much appreciated change compared to the ice planet Ilum. As promised, a team of medics with a stretcher rushed towards them and Nyra and Revan made it their job to help them transporting Finn to the makeshift hospital. His heart hadn't stopped beating which was a good sign.

A teary eyed Rey jogged straight towards Leia who had been standing by the Falcon, smiling sadly at them. She tried hard to hide her grief but anyone who knew how much Han truly meant to her could see right through her facade. 

However, it did confuse her when she sought comfort in Rey instead of in Chewie. He clearly needed a hug, specifically from Leia, his now closest friend. And wasn't this the first time her scavenger friend and the General were meeting each other? Was this sudden connection a force thing? Anyways, Sora felt sad for the gentle Wookie who, at the sight of the two women hugging, disappeared back into the Falcon. The thought of following flashed through her mind briefly, but she knew he wasn't seeking her comfort. After all, they barely knew each other. Maybe some alone time was exactly what he needed now.

Happy beeps caught her attention and her eyes moved past Leia and Rey to follow the sound. A small astromech was moving straight at her, going on maximum speed. "Whoa, slow down buddy." The droid came crashing into her shins as soon as she had finished her sentence, mindful enough to slow down so it wouldn't hurt her. 

Sora crouched down, affectionally stroking his dome head. "I'm happy to see you too, BeeBee-Ate. Did everything go down well?"

More exciting chirps followed and then the droid got lost in his tale, explaining every little detail about what had occurred up in the air. Sora took in as much as she could, listening intently and making sure to make a comment every now and then. 

"Hey BeeBee-Ate, don't hog her. I want Sora-time too."

At the sound of his voice, Sora looked up instantly. Poe was grinning from ear to ear, his arms stretched to both sides. He was waiting for her to move with a raised eyebrow. She scoffed, chuckling at his antics but accepted his invite nevertheless. The pilot pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her, swaying their bodies from side to side. Kriff, she hadn't even known she needed this hug until now.

Sora pressed her ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It was definitely faster than it should be, she noticed. Poe felt incredibly warm and the memories of snow and ice melted away. She didn't care that he was sweaty and in need of a shower. His hand tingled inside her waves, loosening the knots in slow, gentle strokes. 

"I'm glad you're okay, princess," he whispered. This little moment was meant just for them. Anyone else around them was busy celebrating their win against the First Order. 

"Yeah, me too." Her reply was just as quiet. Eyes closing in relaxation, she put more of her weight against him and Poe wordlessly accepted it, tightening his hold around her. They basked in each others embrace for a while, enjoying the silence. 

But it wasn't long before the pilot initiated conversation again, seeking answers. "What happened down there?"

Sora hummed softly. "The usual. Lots of sneaking, lots of fighting. Trash chutes. Which are very useful by the way, for all kinds of trash. Explosions. And lots of snow."

Poe chuckled, the vibrations of it tickling her ear. "Sounds fun. Any injuries I should know about?"

"Just some sore ribs. And my toes are all tingly, so I might have frostbite, who knows."

"Well, we can't have that now, can we?" Poe mumbled, loosening the hug to look into her eyes instead. He smiled at her and delicately lifted his finger, letting it glide over the smooth skin of her cheek to push a strand of hair out of her face. "Let's get you inside then. A hot shower solves everything, right."

She smiled and found herself liking the proximity. "You know, BeeBee-Ate told me everything. You did well. Guess you really are the best pilot in the Resistance."

"Of course I am. But I'm happy you finally accepted the truth. Now, c'mon." Poe put his arm over her shoulders, leading her down into the base. They didn't linger to talk to people, making a beeline for the sleeping quarters. 

The unspoken rule of not mentioning their losses and near-losses today wasn't broken. Neither of them wanted to dwell on the sadness, so they buried it for now.

The duo stopped in front of the door to Sora's room and she was quick to type in the four digits to open it. Poe followed her inside but kept standing close to the door, watching her taking off the heavy jacket. "There's a meeting in about an hour. Think you'll be all warmed up by then? You know, I happen to know a method that could be very helpful...," he joked and grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Sora rolled her eyes playfully, stepping out of her wet boots. "Then we'd definitely miss the meeting. Now, out you go."

"You're right. We'd miss the whole day," Poe stated, the grin never leaving his face. He lifted his finger, pointing it at her accusingly. "Don't forget we have a date tonight, princess." The pilot was gone before she could reply. 

As if she would ever forget that. 

A hot shower, a pair of fresh black leggings and a white cropped long sleeved sweatshirt later, Sora entered the conference room. The most important Resistance members had gathered around the round hologram table in the middle and were already deep in discussion. Wordlessly, Sora tip toed towards Revan and Nyra who had opted to keep to the shadows. 

Nyra threw an arm over her shoulder, pulling her body into her side. "I'm bored. Why do we have to be here?" She whispered, making sure no one else would hear them.

"I'm not a fan either. But let's get this done with."

An R2-series astromech droid she hadn't noticed until now projected a hologram for them to see. It was a navigational map with a specific piece missing. Could this be the second half of the map leading to Luke Skywalker? So the droid was Artoo-Detoo then, she concluded. 

BeeBee-Ate's reaction confirmed it. He chirped excitedly, motioning for Poe to assist him. "Yeah alright, buddy, hold one." Sora watched as he removed an ancient data device from one of the computers and inserted it back inside of his little droid. A second later, another hologram map appeared and the two astromechs moved slightly to unite them.

"Oh! The map! It's complete," See-Threepio announced gleefully.

"Luke...," Leia mumbled, putting her hand on her chest, directly above her heart.

The reaction was immediate. The room erupted in cheers and hugs were shared all around them. Revan pulled the two women next to him into his chest, squeezing them harder than necessary. "Great news. Really, awesome. But do you think they celebrate with booze here? Preferably strong one?"

Nyra slapped his chest lightly. "No booze for you this time! Remember what happened last time?"

Revan grimaced, shaking his head as if that would help him get rid of the memories. "Maybe you're right. No booze. I'm still forbidden from entering the kitchen," he nodded.

Sora wasn't sure she wanted to know any details about what had happened. Better to keep those imagines far away from her.

Thankfully, Rey was there to save her. With a big smile on her face, the scavenger gave her a quick hug before she motioned for Sora to follow her into the empty corridor outside the room. 

They walked a small distance until they stopped in a random corner. "Do you think I should do it?"

The smuggler instantly knew what she was talking about. Although it pained her to see Rey go once again, she knew it was necessary. Besides, they would see each other again soon. "I think there is no-one more suited for this than you, Rey. You need to learn how to handle your new abilities. Luke Skywalker is the only one who can help you. And you're the only one capable of bringing him back." 

Rey seemed to ponder over her response, shifting on her feet as if nervous. Then, she took a deep breath. "You're right. I have to do this," she said, sounding much more confident than before. "Thanks, Sora. You know I love you, right?"

"Aw, I love you too, Rey," the smuggler laughed, giving her one last quick hug. "Just be careful."

"You too, alright? Oh, and Doctor Kalonia wants to talk to you. Said it's urgent."

"Well, I'll better go then." They shared a last meaningful look before each took off into a different direction.

Confusion laced her features as she pushed open the doors to the infirmary. The kind doctor was already waiting for her, smiling kindly. "Miss Park, I have good news."

"Go ahead," she said, leaning against a table. 

"I've talked to General Organa about our dwindling medical supplies. She agrees that it would be wise to send your Team to aquire more," Doctor Kalonia explained and handed her a data pad. On it was a detailed list of supplies they desperately needed. "However, seeing as our budget is very low, we need to do this your way."

Lips pulling into a smile, Sora already felt excitement running through her veins. "So, permission to steal from a First Order base?"

The female doctor chuckled. "Yes, Miss Park. But don't take this mission lightly. It's dangerous and requires lots of planning ahead of it. The General trusts you with this."

"Oh, sounds like an everyday job to me. There's nothing to worry about." Holding up the data pad, she nodded towards the door. "I'll better get to work then."

She was already halfway through the door when a thought occurred to her, causing her to stop in her tracks and look back. "How is Finn? Will he be okay?"

"He is in a coma. We don't know when he will wake up," Doctor Kalonia explained lowly, a look of concern flashing over her face. "If he will wake up at all. I'm sorry."

A wave of sadness hit her hard. The brave stormtrooper who had defied everything he had known to save her and Poe. Who had given up his life in order to find a new one. No, she was sure he would survive this. Finn was a lot stronger than that.

The doors closed behind her. Now, it was time to prepare their next mission. Oh, and her date, of course.

[dojae-huh]

https://youtu.be/qvd6Qbnd41s?si=YbMhy0U98nRcT550

21:53

Doyoung: I have seen jungwoo passing out in the middle of watching film exhuma!!

He was saying it like he have seen it through his eyes, not from some group chat......

First of I don't want to fight....but I couldn't ignore it huh nim.... Like that anon said it like so adamant, like no matter what I refuse to believe they 3 we're tgthr... That kind of mindset... Like dy must have get it from group chat? Omg.... Really.... If am not a jaedo shipper, but there is a possibility of them being tgthr for some place, I don't think there is any chance to deny it.... Like if one ship is really shipping, that 2 pll can't go with any other?? What's logic is that? Nd am not saying doyoung imalways says the truth.... But he is good at hiding info especially about jaedo.... But look here.... Jaewoo went to see the movie, it's the fact, then y would he say it like he have seen it??? Nd given his character, even if he sees it , he would say it like he got the info from somewhere else.... Isn't it right huh nim?? Nd that doyoung announcing it openely he have seen it woo passing out, for the movie where actually jaewoo went tgthr...??? BULLSHIT...... IT'S WHAT WE CALL IT AS THE SLIPPERY OF THE TOUNGUE...... nd it's the truth.... Nd the staff didn't cut it, coz it was funny nd entertaining for the woo fans..... Nd there is nothing to get afraid to be... So they just keep it.... If they knw we are fighting over a single dialogue, even after the 2 days of it's broadcast, they would be like calling a meeting..... Haha.....

I can just ignore this,....nd am not here to proove anything abt the movie night....but what I don't get is, doesn't matter if u r a shipper or not, why can't they accept the things as it is....its a straight confession, why u need to make alot of definition over this?? I don't get by proving this what do they get actually....

All I want to say is, if u see everything through the shippers eyes, you will lose a lot of precious moments..... Shopping is there, but also frndship, brotherhood, colleagues etc....evrything can make moments nd memories.... Don't miss it......coz that's also beautiful tooo.....

Link

I suppose it comes from different look on things and different feelings.

You, anon, thought you caught Doyoung on a slip up and added a new detail to an old information. You were happy because it meant JaeDo watched a movie and wrote to a JaeDo shipper blog to spread the news and tell about a shippery moment.

(first version) Jaehyun and Jungwoo watched Exhuma -> (updated) Jaehyun and Jungwoo and Doyoung watched Exhuma -> (a possible even fuller picture of the event) Jaehyun and Jungwoo and Doyoung and Jungwoo's sister/17's member watched Exhuma

As we can see, other fans interpret same news differently. For example, "those delulu JaeDo shippers need to make everything about their ship discounting wholesome JaeWoo time, stealing from JaeWoo shippers" or "those shippers are ready to call pure Jungwoo a lier just to turn everything into JaeDo conspiracy". There could be a feeling of jealousy (from a JaeWoo shipper), a feeling of irritation/hurt (from a Jungwoo stan), or a feeling of "I know better, don't try to change my belief in how events unfolded" (from a "I saw on the internet and you are wrong"). I'll stop, but there can be other possible reactions. It's not like DJJ watching a movie is unbelievable on it's own, it's that there is resistance to accept it happening (the way I have doubts about JaeWoo as movie buddies, doesn't mean I'm right, I'm in the middle of collecting more info, it's pending for me).

Now, to answer your question about the moment. Thanks for the timestamp, I've analysed it.

Doyoung didn't say he "saw", in Korean he said "it happened" (or, rather, "Woo did it"). Therefore, it is possible Jaehyun told him about it as a funny story, or Jungwoo told himself.

Doyoung looked at Jaehyun to laugh together after the words. And normally people bring up moments like that when they themselves were witnesses, when it left an impression. Other members didn't react (so it wasn't in a group chat like that anon suggested), Mark even asked Doyoung for a clarification (21:55).

In conclusion. Heh, it's still 50/50. Do's smile directed at Jae was huge, which can mean he was present (and thus his excitement was bigger, he was affected more by the scene seeing it in person). However, he didn't say "I saw". Other members didn't know about Woo passing (look at Mark questioning, Tae and Yuta not reacting, Johnny showing a surprised look), which means that if Doyoung didn't go to the cinema, then Jaehyun told the funny detail only to him.

[life-in-the-monster-haus]

We’re all pretty aware of your feelings towards gill. But how do you feel about Finn? Do you like him? How do you feel about him seemingly replacing Gill in G3?

My feelings about Gil can be summed up as him at the gallows about to be hung and me standing up in the audience going "What crime has he committed!?" and everyone, including the executioner all looking at each other and shrugging.

Apparently I'm just not hip to what the cool kids are doing because allegedly it's a meme to pick on Gil. I found this TikTok on Twitter of Gil being taken out of context and all the comments are shitting on Gil. I've asked several people why they hate Gil and they all kinda seem to pussyfoot around the answer, say something I can't argue with ("hes ugly") or say he's racist. Now, if you follow me on here you know Gil isn't racist, I'm on part 3 of my "In Defense of Gillington "Gil" Webber" series and there is no racism to be found and I am looking extra hard for it.

Someone told me it's just a meme to shit on Gil now here's the thing: Memes are supposed to be funny. This whole "Gil is racist and a shitty boyfriend" thing, isn't funny, it just makes the poster look like they know nothing about Monster High. Because if you know the lore then you know it's not true. Why outing yourself as a fake fan has become a meme? I have no idea. Back in my day Memes had to be funny, you couldn't just spout wrong information and call it a meme, That was just plain ole being wrong.

Sorry I kinda went off topic, but you knew what you were in for when you sent me an ask, brevity is not something I'm good at.

anyways FINN! let's chat.

Finn's intro Episode "Ready. Wheeling and Able" is a great Episode and I'm honestly kinda shocked Monster High touched this topic, but I'm glad they did because it's lesson of not babying the disabled is an excellent message that we could all stand to learn from.

This kid is great, daredevil, thrill seeker, adrenaline junkie. I've watched my fair share of paralympics and a lot of the athletes are just like this kid. They don't let the hand they were dealt slow them down, another excellent message for all ages! I like him a lot and I think he woulda been an excellent addition to the Manster squad but he unfortunately didn't get that much screen time, we don't see him say much until "Decomposition Class" but then he got a doll so...yay?

I also liked his nickname of "Rider" better than Finn. Rider says something about him! he's a daredevil going for a wild ride! or he's riding the edge! but then Mattel backpedaled and called him Finn which is yet another generic merman name, Not to mention we already had a character named Finn, Lorna's (ex?) Boyfriend was named Finn.

So not only did they give him a generic merman name, they gave him a recycled generic merman name.

but Finnegan Wake is what they went with so that's what we gotta call him. But I loved him! I thought he was great! I thought it was super cute he has a crush on Gigi and it's heavily implied he's bisexual.

If you're in a music video with Lady Gaga and they cover you in glitter, you're not straight, I'm sorry I don't make the rules.

As an aside, my dear friend @peppapigvevo turned me on to their fan ship of Jinafire and Finnegan aka wakefire and I just love everything about it, they compliment each other so well.

But I'm sure you're not asking me about G1 Finn. I'm assuming you want to know my thoughts on G3 Finn since hes going to be in the show and it looks like he's gonna have a decent sized role. And well... I don't know, they took away a lot of the things I liked about G1 Finn.

His design is cool! a marked improvement! I love his stripes, his colors, his black claws and his more proportionate body, his bean shaped head bothered the heck out of me... But it rubs me the wrong way that he's a musician now... it's fine if he plays guitar and sings because he's related to sirens but both of these are stationary activities when G1 Finn was anything but stationary. His exact words were "I'm not a sit around type of dude!" so to me this goes against the very core of what made his character unique. Love the deign, hate the direction his hobbies are going in. I hope music is just something he does for fun and he's still passionate about being a daredevil but somehow I doubt it, the entire point of this episode "Portrait of a Monster" was to show the school your true self via a picture and Finns plan here was to pose with his guitar "Sally", meaning that he views his true self as a musician and not a daredevil.

I don't like that they took thrill seeking away from the only guy in a wheelchair to give him a safer hobby like playing the guitar... Not cool Mattel.

As for Finn replacing Gil?... I doubt it. if G1 can have 3 mermen, 2 of them named Finn... then we can have 2 mermen in the same show. Plus Gil was in G2 so we know his doll sold well and they are hinting at him coming back in this picture inside of Lagoona's locker.

We know that hand doesn't belong to Finn, Finn does not have webbed fingers and he has black claws. I suppose it could be Lagoona's dad, congratulating her after a swim meet but Wade is green... or at least Wade was green, G3 loves to remind us it can play color roulette at any time.

This picture is all I have to hang on to that Gil is coming back, don't take this from me.

TL;DR: I like Finn, I don't like what they did to his character, I don't think he's going to be replacing Gil as our resident merman. But I do hope we get to see more of him and I REALLY hope his daredevil ways aren't just a thing of the past.

[jedi-lothwolf]

A Month of Whump Day 2: Captivity

Fandom: Star Wars Rebels

Summary: Ezra is captured by the empire and tortured. Kallus stands in the room wondering what his next move is.

  The imperial inquisitor stood in front of Ezra and agent Kallus stood in the back corner of the room. "I need the location of the rebels you were with" the inquisitor hissed

    Injuries covered the boy's body. Since the interrogator couldn't get any information from him they decided on a different approach. "I'll never" he breathed, "tell you."

    Angrily the inquisitor slammed the hilt of their lightsaber on Ezra's head. With a pained yell he fell to the floor. When Ezra looked up the inquisitor stood menaceing before him. His eyes drifted to the corner to see Kallus slightly closer to him with a consurned look plastered on his face. Before the dark side user could see he stiffened up again and erased the emotion from his physical appearance.

    The room was spinning. Blood escaped from Ezra's head, dripping on the floor. Moving the boy brought his knees to his chest and held the injury. All the pain in the rest of his body became insignificant. He couldn't think straight.

    Kneeling down the inquisitor grabbed Ezra's face and forced him to look at them. "Tell me where they are street rat." Hate laced their words.

    "No." The Jedi spoke strongly. He leaned back into the wall, never letting go of his knees. Hot blood slowly trickled down his face.

    Alexander watched the inquisitor continue to interrogate the boy. His screams angered and consurned Kallus. When everything was finally over Ezra was slammed into the furthest wall and sliped unconscious.

    "Take care of this rat." With that they left. Kallus stood there. What did he do now? Only one thing came to mind, take him home. Would this risk everything he worked for in the empire? Yes. But Alexander didn't care about the empire, he cared about the people who the empire was supposed to help, to protect. That and he cared about the Ghost crew. More and for longer then he would like to admit.

    Carefully he pick up Ezra. How did he get through the building without being noticed? Though it was a grim plan the soldier decided if asked he carried the boy to the morgue out of spite. After all the trouble the rebel had caused made him want to see this through. But what about the injuries? Something had to be done. Walking out the door Kallus decided his room was first.

    Arriving at the room and opening the door Kallus entered for the last time. Quickly he wrapped Ezra's bigger wounds. The bandage job was terrible but the traitor didn't have the time to make them pretty. The glowing yellow rock sat beside his bed. Grabbing it he stuffed it into the small shoulder bag he owned. After that he grabbed the Jedi once more and set off.

    No one asked at first. It was only when the inquisitor had discovered Ezra was missing that there was any suspicion. In the last stretch of the last hallway stormtroopers did their best to stop Alexander. They failed and he was able to board a small ship and take off.

    When he finally found the Ghost he carefully but swiftly made his way to bring the boy home. Hera sat outside with Kanan beside her. As the two spotted him they stood and ran to meet him. "Agent Kallus?" Hera asked.

    "We can talk about it later." The three made their way back to the Ghost where Ezra would be taken care of.

    Ezra shifted. He was in his bed? Wait that wasn't right, he had been locked in an imperial cell. It had been a week since the padawan was in his own bed. He sat up slowly and looked around. Kanan sat nervously next to the bed. "Kanan? What happened?"

    Kanan looked up from the floor quickly. Not that he could see."Ezra how are you feeling?" He asked.

    "My head hurts" he answered bluntly. "How did I get here?"

    "Kallus brought you."

    "Agent Kallus?"

    "Agent Kallus."

    "Oh. Okay."

    A while later Kallus and Zeb came to check on the teen. The ex-imperial explained everything that had happened during the escape.

    "Hey Kallus?" Ezra got his attention.

    "Yes?"

    "Thank you."

    Alexander smiled "I'm just glad you're home kid."

[dreamofthe-wild]

20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by @faelynny (nerd) 1. How many works do you have on AO3? 33 as of this post. 2. What's your total AO3 word count? 35,905, it seems low for the amount of works i've posted, but I have some old 100-300 word drabble challenges posted and a few crack fics.

3. What fandoms do you write for? I used to write for Linked Universe (LOZ), but I don't anymore. Right now I am writing actively for Genshin Impact and I have some unposted Fire Emblem Three Houses fics in the works.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? - some things can't be solved by being cut with a sword (376) - you probably couldn't see for the lights but you were staring straight at me (234) - if i had a boy (207) - mighty pumpkin soup for the soul (194) - pouring out a cold one for your homie (170) (all are Linked Universe)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to when I can, if I can come up with an answer then 9 times out of ten I will respond. Sometimes I even just comment to thank them for reading. I won't be holding conversation threads much though.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? There are definitely angstier ones that haven't been posted, but I'd say probably you mean nothing to me, it has an ending where essentially one of the characters sacrifices himself to bring back the rest of his team from the dead and wishes he had never met them to spare him the heartache, it ends with him dying alone and with regrets.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? It's not posted yet, but my Genshin Fic "Our Converging Paths", after a tense battle, the characters end up bonding on their way back home.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have before, but no one can hate my fics as much as I do /hj/jk I just kinda delete the comments and block, because if my fic is causing them that much distress that they need to comment that, then maybe it's for the best that they can't interact with it anymore. /lh

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do not, but the closest I've gotten is writing a crack fic about how a character's ass jiggles.

10. Do you write crossovers? I may have one or two in the works but they aren't my favorite, I generally like to write things that could be plausible in canon, where canon has left things unfortunately empty.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yes but it was way before my ao3 account, on wattpad someone was stealing my fic and I ended up just deleting my account lol.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but I wouldn't say no.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, but none have ever been finished or posted.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? I don't ship things very often, and can probably count my ships across all fandoms on just my two hands, but right now my all-time favorite ship would have to be Dimitri/Claude (fire emblem)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I was working on a fic about the First Link and Hylia and it turned into a cool medieval political drama with heavy fantasy elements, but I don't think it will ever get done.

16. What are your writing strengths? I have been told I'm really good at dialogue and banter.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Finishing fics lol/hj I'd say seriously that being descriptive of the environment is very hard, I can describe a wound or a situation fairly decently, but trying to make the world exist and not make it feel like this is happening in some dark void is difficult.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I never have, because I only know English, but if it is done well and not just some random google translated phrases thrown into a fic at random, I think it can add a lot to a story.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically my first fanfiction was about Hetalia. But, I've basically wiped my old fanfics' existence from history, so now I suppose I could say Linked Universe.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? It is still in progress, I have a story about Dimitri that will come out eventually, but I haven't been able to work on it recently, I don't know who to tag lol I don't use tumblr really that often.

[400legends]

File Recovery (Day 179)

EDI's voice was just overhead: "In addition, the acidic soil on Awindid Tan-graw allows for Coffea arabica to grow wild along the slopes of the Vellen Mountain Range."

"Wow," I said, interrupting her flow. "And you said this is the captain's favorite book? It's just an alphabetical list of coffee growing planets."

"Just the first 15 hours. After that there is a section on the history of the plant and a separate section on Cichorium intybus - also known as 'false java.' The captain has listened to this book 8 times."

"How much more time on your file retrieval?" EDI was attempting to recover a file from my drives that predated my own existence.

"Uncertain, Doctor Quinn. My best estimate is between 30 minutes and 3 hours. Should I resume the audiobook?"

I was tethered to the workbench console to make EDI's access easier, so I couldn't go anywhere until she was done. "Sure."

Later, as EDI was relaying the fact that the planet Burahe is the 18th largest producer of coffee (due to its fresh water lakes and tropical weather), she broke off and said, "Recovery complete. Would you like to view the file?"

I sat up straight and nodded. The screen in front of me showed static. A sound like howling wind hissed from the speaker. The view jolted, and a hairy arm came into view. A voice said, "Trak, buddy, watch yourself. I want you in one piece when we get there."

A second voice - my voice - said, "I'm fine. Just hit an icy patch." And I realized that I wasn't seeing the static of a corrupted file but the snow of a blizzard.

A Glabrau came into view, a smile across his face. "Raath is one big ice patch. Just -- we're almost there, OK? So be careful. We don't want to be late. The Advocates of Freedom seem like a jumpy bunch."

The camera showed a long upward slope with a dark hole near the top. A cave?

At the top, the Glabrau paused and turned to Trak. "You ready for this?" The view bobbed as Trak nodded her head.

They stepped into the cave, and I saw a ship just like the one that took Nexus and Iota away. A Saguarin and an Ezonite stepped from the shadows. Neither of those cultures would build a ship like that, let alone fly one.

Trak's Glabravian companion said, "Who are y'all? We're supposed to be meeting wireborn here." A rustling noise and then a blaster appeared in his hand.

"Easy," said the Ezonite. "You want to find Refuge? That's why you're here?"

"How do you know that?" asked the Glabrau.

The Ezonite took two steps closer. "You're not as sneaky as you thought."

The view shifted again as Trak seemed to lean to one side. Beside her, the Glabrau said, "Better start talking plain, or I'll put a hole in you."

Before the Ezonite could answer, the Saguarin stepped up beside his companion. "Everyone, be calm. We're simply refugees looking for a home. Just like your friends. We want the same things, surely. No harm can come between like-minded folk. So everyone just relax."

At the corner of the screen, I could see the Glabrau's weapon begin to lower, but just then Trak's arm came into view as an object left her hand. A blur and muffled sound as we suddenly got a close up of Glabravian fur. Trak was falling with the Glabrau as an explosion sounded.

The file playback stopped on a view that was part fur, part cavelight, part flames.

I typed a few commands and let the clip play again. As it ended once more, with fur and flame, I said, "EDI, is that-- I mean do you see any activity after-- I mean--"

"This is not where Trak died, Doctor. Although Trak's eye camera stopped recording, her vitals were strong."

"We need to go to Raath. I need to show this to Cosmic Peanut." I pushed away from the console and rushed toward the cockpit.

[mauserfrau]

Eyeshine, Part 1 - Bordertober

HEY KIDS WHO WANTS TO SEE THE TWINS ON THEIR SHIP HEADED TO PANDORA.

IT’S REALLY TINY.

AND THEY’RE HAVING ENGINE TROUBLE.

...or are they?

Lots of Tyreen eating and some other general nastiness from her.  Appreciably Claustrophobic.  

The jump brought them to a space so empty it didn’t even seem black.  No— darkness rested between other stars, far off and distant.  Here was a clear nothingness, out of reach of the rest of the universe.  

Tyreen drifted at his shoulder.  He could feel her fuming.

Neither of them had made much sound since they’d stopped.  The lights were low, the gravity still off and wherever they were now, it seemed like there hadn’t been a sound there since the galaxy formed.  A word from either of them would disturb this.

Besides, this wasn’t Pandora.  This wasn’t even the Pandoran system.  Or any system.  This was nothing.

“Stars move, you know,” Troy said, fumbling the silence apart.

“It’s only been like twenty years,” insisted Tyreen.  “They can’t move that fast.  We should at least be able to see it!”

He gestured a spiral with his hand.  Did she even care that the star cluster where Nekrotafeyo had grown spun opposite this one, that they were blue-shifting verses each other and that had choked the navigation system?  He decided to summarize.  “I think the computer’s a little off and umm...”

“Umm what?”

“I might have overcompensated for stellar drift since I ended up doing it manually.”

“Troy!” She made his name sound like she’d broken something.  He half-expected a slap.

“Look.” He forced calm into his voice and turned to face her as he spoke.  

She was livid, her whole body tense and her hair standing on end.  

“We can’t run out of power.  We jumped just fine.  We have water.  We have food.  We have a working toilet.”

“And where are we!”

“I’m gonna run an extrapolation and figure that out while the jump drive resets.”

“Can’t you math it in your head?”

“Um.” Sighing, Troy turned back to the view screen, focusing first on the blank reach where their ship rested, then letting his vision float to the stars.  The blackness lived between them, but in some strands there was no between, only points of light thick enough to make mist out of each other.  “I kinda don’t think so.”

Tyreen groaned and swam off towards the bed.

*

Tyreen moved better in zero g than he did.  Troy was always twisting around to his left to push, pull, founder.  Still, he hated to turn the gravity back on.  There was something about watching her float above the bed with the covers billowing around her.  She seemed so right like that, singular and and easy and in this case put out.  

Her Coeus reader was flickering lately.  She ended up groaning and setting it loose to float through the cabin where Troy caught it.

She also said— “Hey, turn the heavy back on.  I gotta piss.” 

“Alright.  On three.  Three.” Troy threw the switch.  His back crunched as weight returned to his spine through the seat at the command console.  His sister landed with a thump.  Their foodstores yelped and howled and shed feather-forms along the floor.  Tyreen caught herself with a huff and pulled herself into the water closet, giving the cage of spindly hexlings a sour look before she shut the door.  One of them shrieked after her.  Troy shushed it and went back to the console.

The keys pressed easier with weight back in his body.  He pulled up the extrapolation program.  Another likely set of coordinates failed a final round of testing and ticked away.  The system was working to match the spectrographic information of visible stars to known clusters as far as he could tell.  Color seemed such a tenuous way to determine place, but that might have been the emptiness intruding on his thoughts more than anything rational.  Besides, he kept thinking he had somehow spied the white supergiant that held Pandora out among all the other points of light.

Troy was tempted to ask his sister to try.  She was the siren.  She might be able to do it if she listened across all the dark matter between them and that place.

She was still in the water closet.  

Troy let the extrapolator run in the background and idly tabbed into the superstructure of the ship’s hard drive.  It had been made to be piloted by someone with little skill, all of the command icons in welcoming jelly style art with three to four clicks needed to access any functions more complicated than the gravity or the sublight engine speed.  He’d picked the interface up fast enough, but modifying the OS to accept a jump drive had been more hours of frustrated keystrokes than any actual handiwork.  

Every system responded in good order.  He’d done the same check once they’d cleared Nekrotafeyo’s gravity well and before the jump.  The only difference was thousands of light years to nowhere and the bottom falling out of his stomach halfway there, not more than a heartbeat.  

He even dug into the audio system.  If Tyreen asked, he wanted to be able to tell her literally everything was fine.

A handful of loose example recordings bothered the top folder.  Troy thought about moving them, but the system considered their poor placement de rigeur and complained when he tried.

Tempted to try, he clicked down the list, which was when he realized: one of them had a different date than the others.

He leaned over a speaker and hit play, curious what had been loaded on this particular sound test file.  Since that was probably it.

Instead, he heard Dad say, “Well, if it isn’t my favorite little minx.  Yeah, that’s a good girl.  Let me see those eyes shine.  I love it when you...”

He slammed stop.

There was somebody else on the file too.  They were laughing that bubbly way he knew happened, but he barely remembered as something he’d experienced in his own life.

Troy stared at the file.  He breathed again.

A thump sounded behind him and Tyreen came tripping out of the water closet, pants around her ankles and her underwear yanked up in her fist.  “What the hell was that?”

“Ah, system check.  Since we’re here, you know.”

She growled and she sat down right where she was and in the puddle of her pants.  “Warn me next time.”

“Your intuition didn’t tip you off?”

Those words didn’t even merit an answer.  She closed her eyes and turned her back to him.

The ship was so small he only would have had to lean out of the chair and he could have had his hand on her.  She wasn’t in the mood though, not about that, not about anything to do with Dad and definitely not about playing siren anytime before they made planetfall.

And well, then she wouldn’t be playing anymore, would she?

*

Maybe that fact had settled funny someplace in her stomach.  Troy just knew that after a while she stole her Coeus back and stood in the corner, smacking the screen.  The extrapolation program ticked off another hundred coordinates that didn’t suit, approaching 50% complete at a crawl.

Tyreen peered over his shoulder, but said nothing about the progress bar.

It looked like half of their chances for finding themselves had been spent.  Troy thought it was more of a best match situation.

He wondered what he would do if he was wrong.

The jump drive ticked down to usable quiescence.  Tyreen swore and started to get back into bed.  Instead she kicked her pants off and stretched out belly-down on the floor which was chalky with the bookmarks of the night they’d left.

It had only been two days.  He thought.  The active time on the sublight engine monitor was somewhat misleading.  Startup had taken so long, but he’d been fumbling all over himself, movements thick with the shock of what he was about to do.

What Tyreen said they were doing.

Like, she just… dragged him.  Now?

Now there his sister lay, looking like she’d melted into the ground.

“What’re you staring at?” she muttered without looking up from the well of her arms.

“Mm.  Nothing,” Troy murmured.  “I was thinking about when we were kids.  That game we’d play about not getting off the bed back when we only had the one and...” Well, he thought about that a lot, even though it hadn’t been bothering his mind in that moment.

Tyreen sat up, still hunched over.  Her Coeus rattled in her grasp.  Eventually, she tipped it into one of the charging slots.  “I’m eating now.  You want in?”

“Sure.”

Food was something to do anyway.  Troy hauled himself out of the chair and got himself into the cupboard after some of the stale rye bread they’d taken from the stores back at the homestead.  He checked it for mold and then also took a plum.

Tyreen picked over the cages with a tongs.  Did she want manta eggs? A hexling or two? A flush of air coral and sprat? One one of the lonesome baby Djira mewing in their own slime?

She took two eggs.  

The two of them hunched together on a sheet of tanned air algae.  Troy’s plum was sour, but he sucked the pit clean while Tyreen stared at him.  As he reached for the bread, Tyreen shoved one of the eggs at him.  “Open it for me.”

Troy sighed.  Speaking of games from when they were children— Tyreen could have eaten the egg regardless, but he’d gotten awfully good at spinning the tops off with his knife and one hand.  He smiled and he did this for her now, placing the egg on a spare sack so that his sister’s leavings would spread through the ship, get into the Instruments.  

The egg squished as she pressed her fingers inside.  It turned to dust and glass.  “Hmm.  That was fresher than I thought.”

“Good.  Want me to do the other one too?”

“Sure.”

So, he sliced again.  He was going to have to wash his hand before he finished his own super as much as the second egg leaked.

This time, his sister stared at her dirty knees.  “Are you sure you didn’t fuck everything up?”

“If I did,” Troy said softly.  “Then we’ll deal wi-...”

Tyreen sucked the other egg down, sloppy now, sand leaking between her toes.  She grabbed the piece of rye and stuck it in Troy’s mouth before burrowing into the bed and covering her head with the pillow.  

Troy chewed thoughtfully and then moved to clean up.  The baby Djira chortled in their cages as though night had fallen.  Well, it was that time by the engine clock.  

*

[obislittleone]

House Of Memories (36/?)

Obi-Wan Kenobi x Padawan!reader

Warnings: angst, darth maul (again, a warning in himself)

Summary: After the death of Satine, it is up to the rebelled team of rogue Death Watch members to help Obi-Wan escape, but there's just one problem... you're with Darth Maul.

A/n: i don't like this, like, at all... it is 5 am and i have so much to do tomorrow and i hate myself for staying up but i gotta stay on the HoM grind bc it makes me feel like I have at least the smallest bit of control over my life... anyways enjoy this disaster of an episode i'm gonna go sleep through Independence Day

also y'all if you like the story, maybe consider buying me a coffee :)

Words: 1.8k (yes, i'm disappointed in myself)

Obi-Wan never made it to a cell, his transfer was vastly interrupted by a group of rouge Mandalorians. They wore blue and white armor, and though he did not understand the significance of those colors, he was able to identify them as the cult called death watch. He'd had several run ins with them before, although now they seemed to be running to his aid. It was a stark contrast from his usual interactions with the group. Last time, if he remembers correctly, he was being shot at by three members, dodging the blasts and trying to get Satine to cover. She was always a stubborn one, Satine. He supposed now she was gone he may find himself missing it.

Over anyone else, he felt the most guilt, as a heavy weight on his shoulders. It tried to crush him, along with his anxiousness over your current situation. Satine had been killed, and you'd been left, alone nonetheless, with his arch nemesis, Darth Maul. He thought he was headed straight for a cell, but this coincidental clash of Mandalorians was perhaps in his favor after all.

A girl wearing the Convor markings on her helmet flew over, and when she landed on the platform, taking out a guard and ripping Obi-Wan's lightsaber, it became clear to him they this was not just a brush of the death watch, but a ploy to get him out.

She ripped her helmet away, revealing short, flaming red hair. She held a certain confidence about her that reminded him of you. You were always very sure of yourself in battle. She looked vaguely familiar, like someone he'd met before, but couldn't place.

She approached him with a sway in her hips, her smirk appearing as she inspected the lightsaber.

"I don't believe we've met; you are?" he questioned, watching as she ignited the lightsaber and helped him out of the restraints that he'd been placed in.

"I am Bo-Katan, I'm here to rescue you," she told him, taking a jetpack from her ally and holding in up to him. "That's all you need to know."

"As long as I can get out of here."

Obi-Wan turned and allowed for her to attach it to the armor he was wearing, tilting over upon receiving the weight.

"Do you know how to use this?" She inquired, raising a brow. He seemed like he was going to fall out of the sky, although he would try his hardest.

"In this case, I'll be a fast learner."

They all moved to leave, but there was a detail he was still not quite clear on. He held his hand up to grab their attention, accompanied by his words.

"Wait, we cannot leave yet," he explained, and all helmets turned to face him. Bo-Katan was confused, obviously, but stopped to listen to his reasoning. She had wanted to be in and out, close to boarding a ship by now, but Kenobi had other plans.

"Why not?" She asked, annoyed at yet another stint in her original plan. Her hands mounted her hips, as she stood by for his answer. He knew he probably wouldn't receive any help, but he wasn't leaving this planet without the thing that mattered most to him in the whole galaxy.

"My Padawan is still being held hostage in the palace. I need to find her."

He heard several modulated sounding sighs of exasperation, and he could practically feel the eyes being rolled beneath the hiding space of the helmets around him. This was a very unpopular idea, but he wasn't going to budge on it, and he doubted they would just leave him to fend for himself, since they'd risked their own lives to save him only moments ago.

"If she's in the palace, then she's with Maul."

She was contemplating it, that was evident, but her decision was made slower than anticipated. She knew about some Jedi traditions. A Padawan learner to their Jedi Master was the complete priority. She could see just by the look in his eyes that this learner of his meant even more to him than most would.

"I will not leave without her," he said firmly, and it was now she understood the extent of his devoutness. This learner of his was the only thing that mattered to him, this she could clearly see.

"Then you must find her. We can only take you so far, and though we can have an escape prepared, but the rest is up to you."

He sighed in relief, nodding his head and readying a plan in the battlefield on his mind.

"I will do what I must."

-

"You're a consular," Maul seemed intrigued, by igniting the saber that had been plucked from you upon capture. "The force made living, the wisest among the Jedi."

You had not spoken a word to him since you'd been separated from your Master. You knew that the more you spoke, the more you fed him to feast on. Your mind would not be manipulated again, and you were convinced that he wouldn't be taking any sensitive or otherwise private information pertaining to you, or Obi-Wan.

"You were wiser when the darkness filled you," he paused, and upon seeing a quick flash of fear in your eyes he chuckled darkly, realizing he had hit a nerve, but he wouldn't stop until he had severed it. "Oh yes, I can sense it... buried inside of you like you are its tomb."

You moved your eyes to the ground, refusing to show him any emotion henceforth, because as most force sensitive beings could, he saw more than most people did in even the slightest expression you wore.

"You keep it in a grave as if it is dead, but you know it is not. It waits for you to let it arise, to let it take control. It desires to give you all you've ever wanted and more, if you should only choose to accept its power. I know you've let it consume you before, don't think I missed the lovely streak in your saber blade. The markings of a healed crystal... it means that before it was there, you bled it."

He held his hand up in a fist, pulling you towards him in one swift motion. Now you stood, inches away from the Zabrak Sith, awaiting his next move. You needed to find a way out of here, this had gone on far enough and you only wished to be in the presence of one being this instant.

"Such a pretty face," he said, tracing a finger over the bridge of your nose and down to your bottom lip. He parted your mouth while watching with a narrow-eyed grin. "I can feel that the mind sitting behind it is far more interesting."

His hand moved to the side of your head, and he closed his eyes.

This was it; this was your escape. It was a half thought out plan, with very little confidence that it could actually work, but like most things you did, you refused to hesitate, not even once, before enacting it.

You opened your mind to him, giving him everything, or at least, everything you wanted him to see. Everything about Obi-Wan and the relationship you had with him, all the small details and memories you could fit into your thoughts at once.

You let him focus and dwell on those things, being so deep inside your mind that he'd forgotten all about the saber that was now only loosely clenched in his other hand. You pulled it to your hand in a moment of confidence, tearing yourself from his hold, and leaping back into a battle-ready stance. You knew you were foolish for this, and having figured out he'd been fooled, he seemed indifferent. Perhaps you'd let him see too much, things that were supposed to be for your mind only.

"I suppose I killed the wrong woman today," he reasoned, not even reaching for his saber, or the dark saber for that matter. "It seems you are the one his affections lie with..."

"How do you know those thoughts weren't just my diversion?" you were certain you could perhaps fool him again, but he was not a child, nor was he as brainless as your normal enemies. He laughed darkly, and did not even consider your suggestion, for he knew it was false.

"Oh, what a shame... Kenobi's young love shall be my dark apprentice, it will be my greatest revenge," he announced, sitting back in his throne with a shake of his head. "I've seen in your mind, he watched you cross paths with the darkness before. The pain, and the fear in his eyes was undeniable. When he sees you standing by my side, enraptured by the darkness, it will obliterate him."

"As long as he lives, my path is set. Nothing can derail me from his teachings," you stood strong, hoping to make him realize there was absolutely nothing he could do to persuade you. You didn't realize the real horror of what you had done until it was too late.

You gave Maul the most precious outlet for his vengeance, without even meaning to. You gave him yours and Obi-Wan's relationship. Now, he knew what Kenobi held dearest to him, he knew what would cause him the most pain and suffering. You were the key to it all. Even if you'd managed to escape today, he would never quit, never stop until he's satisfied himself on account of the man he hated so much.

He would have given a reply, had the glass of the roof not broken above him, falling on the ground around him as the Death Watch rebels flew in. You were thankful for the distraction and started running away to let the scene play out. They shot at him in a random pattern, giving him no time to think as he did his best to deflect the shots. You had almost reached the doors when you were grabbed from behind and lifted into the air.

You weren't afraid of heights, more so of falling, and it made you cling to your master as he took you out of the palace a moment after.

"You're late," you remarked, trying to avoid looking at the ground. It seemed irrational, considering you'd flown so many times before, however you entertained the fact that this was far different, as one sudden move could send you hurdling towards the planet's surface.

"You'll have to forgive me; I was a bit tied up."

As you saw the other members of the Death Watch follow behind you, you realized this was a set intention. They were there to help rescue you.

"I'm not very fond of this planet," you commented, turning to see the ship that could lead you off of it. This was a planned escape, and you thanked the Maker that there would be no more bumps in the road. You could not wait to be drifting in the abyss of space once again, as long as it meant you would be out of harm's way.

Obi-Wan cracked a smile at your statement, for he had just been thinking something along the lines of it.

"Trust me, I know."

-

@spencerrxids @sawendel @fandomstanner24 @i-shall-abide @officialjellydoughnut @whatshxrname @darkened-writer @superavengerpotter @cutiepoo16 @hypnoash @softlymellow @howlerwolfmax @mephistominion @honestlywtfisgoingon @anakinskywalkerog @mandiiellen @je--a-n @guyinachair27 @avenger5-a55emble @amelia-song-pond @kaminanii @the-abyss-of-fandoms @queenofnightdreamland @world-dominating-kitty @mandowhatnow @ella-error505 @annahalo @infinity-witch @beetlejuice-stuff @liueski @solarbxby @sirianisrock @lxdyred @endless-warrior-always-fighter @iloveinej @msjb2002 @shoochi @itsilvermorny @gingerrosecosplay @sebschicken @loversjoy @argentinemango @1-800-vader @house-of-kolchek @marierg @graciexmarvel @ttzamara @truly-madly-nerdy @molieux @majahu @dyzlks @pancakefancake

[notsuchacleverboyq]

My Favourite 007 Headcanons

Based on this Instagram post I posted a while ago.

1) 007 and 006

We all know Alec Trevelyan (even if I haven't watched this movie in more or less three years). He is the agent 006 who at some point happens to betray 007 in GoldenEye.

Some fans have started shipping Brosnan's 007 and Alec Trevelyan, making them the most lethal ship I've ever heard of.

I happened to read an exquisite Fanfiction in which Q always refused to introduce his family to James (who was his lover). Obviously, Bond got pretty mistrustful of the entire situation and decided to secretly follow Q when he went visiting his parents. Bond fell into a trap, literally speaking, and found himself in front of the former 007 (Pierce Brosnan) and Alec Trevelyan.

I have no idea about how the author dealt with Alec's betray, but that's not really important for the post anyway.

After a talk with Q and his family, Bond found out some things:

The former 007 and 006 were engaged (the ship I previously talked about);

Q 007's biological son and 006's stepson;

Q has a step sister, who's 006's biological daughter.

The best part of the Fanfiction was that no one in the family happened to be straight.

After this, I immediately loved the idea of 007 and 006 being engaged and raising Q together, mostly because it gave an explanation to the quartermaster's skills at dealing with Bond's daily shit and everything.

This is the Fanfiction.

2) Tanner and Q

I'm not actually sure whether I have a real position about this Headcanon, nor if I actually like it, but I suppose it could make sense.

I once happened to read a Fanfiction (again) in which they gave to understand that Q and Tanner had been in a relationship in the past.

I mean, why not?

According to this Headcanon, Q and Tanner used to be together when Q still wasn't working for MI6 or had not earned an high position yet; they eventually broke up due to professionalism matters or because they agreed the relationship couldn't have quite worked.

I have honestly never thought about Tanner as queer, I have thought for years that he always came home to his wife or girlfriend after the workshift was over; but I don't dislike the idea.

Furthermore, it's obvious how Q and Tanner get along really well.

3) Q is Trans

⚠️There might be a minor No Time to Die spoiler at this point but it has nothing to do with the plot itself⚠️

This is one of my favourites.

There are three main versions of this Headcanon:

Trans man;

Bigender;

Genderfluid.

Whatever your opinion is, Q spreads queer energy: it's undeniable and, most importantly, FINALLY CANON.

(He's not canonically trans, but you get what I mean).

Anyway, I'm really fond of this headcanon, I think I made it clear, and for one specific reason: Q is a role model for some trans fans (and cis) who use Q's character to cope with their body dysphoria.

I happen to fall in this category.

We find ourselves in a situation in which the relationship with our body can present as particularly difficult (whether we're talking about body dysphoria due to transition or having a "too thin" type of body, for example, even if the last example is about something different).

In this way, people find someone who's similar to them and has the same problems: they feel less alone in the struggle.

4) Bond is Rufus Sixsmith's Reincarnation

⚠️ALERT SPOILER⚠️

This needs to be explained meticulously.

I think it makes sense, but don't ask why because I don't know the correct answer to such a question.

Both Bond and Sixsmith are blond with grey/blue eyes. I think we can agree on it.

But the characters are completely different: Bond is an impulsive dickhead, while Sixsmith is considerably more patient and reflexive.

But why does this theory make sense?

They have one thing in common: Ben Whishaw.

Both of these characters interact with one of Whishaw's character in the movie: Robert Frobisher and Q.

It doesn't matter that Sixsmith was Robert's lover and Q, sadly, just Bond's colleague.

However, this Headcanon can be well understood only by explaining what happens in Cloud Atlas.

The book and the movie result different about the resurrection we're talking about:

The book: in the book the main character has always reborn as the main character. In fact, they all have an identical mark on the shoulder because they are the same person, just living a different life in a different body. And that's how Sixsmith recognises Robert in Luisa in the moment they meet in the lift; he literally asks: "Have we already met?".

The movie: the movie is a bit more controversial than the book. They decided to use the same actors to play different roles (so you could see an actor who's played a protagonist playing a side character). Because of this, my first interpretation of the movie was that every character reincarnates at some point and might happen to be a protagonist. In fact, the movie is mostly about karma and how someone who's been unlucky and mistreated by others will be in the opposite situation in the next life (and vice versa). Also, the characters keep interacting with eachother, meeting through time, as if they were naturally drawn forward eachother. Ben Whishaw's characters and James Darcy's ones are the only that never interact again after Robert's death. The problem is that, even in the movie, Sixsmith asks Luisa if they had already met: it might be because she's a journalist and he might have heard about her, or because he sensed the mark on her skin (?).

Following the movie theory (and cowardly avoiding the problem) the Headcanon can make sense.

If it's true that characters are drawn to eachother, Sixsmith and Robert can meet again while being respectively Bond and Q.

Also, Sixsmith dies in 1973 and it is acceptable for Bond to be born around that year. Furthermore, being Robert's reincarnation still alive at the time (meaning that he died later), this gives us the age difference we need for Bond and Q.

It's a good theory for 00Q fans because Robert and Sixsmith were lovers and 00Q has more chances to happen; for Cloud Atlas fans, it's good because, finally, Robert and sixsmith can meet again.

5) Q is a a Former 004

Still Fanfictions.

That said Fanfiction, was about Bond being assigned a mission together with 004, who turned out to be Q (who wasn't Q yet).

There was also a oneshot in which Q bursted in the field to help Bond and he reveals he used to be 004.

Why is this Headcanon good?

Because it gives us a character development which we could have gotten before if they hadn't decided to destroy the Spectre script.

Why did Q leave the field?

There are two opinions about it:

It wasn't for him: just like Moneypenny, at some point he decided to leave the field because he noticed he couldn't fit in such a profession;

An accident: there was a pretty rough accident during a mission that got Q leave the field as soon as possible (the accident can change).

There is also a theory about Q being a former MI5 agent but leaving the job due to a shooting in which he got hit.

6) Q is Vesper's brother

YES.

I have already made an entire post about Q and Vesper being ridiculously similar: the hair, the eyes, the way they interact with Bond, their temper... They're almost identical.

This lays out all of the needed elements for Q and Vesper to be siblings.

There are also interesting factors that could be used for Fanfictions related to this:

Bond being overprotective of Q;

Q not knowing for sure about what happened to Vesper and getting mad at Bond once he finds out;

Bond getting desperate once and if he falls for Q;

Ecc.

Also, if we consider the actors, both Ben Whishaw and Eva Green were born in the same year, which could make Q and Vesper twins, other than siblings.

7) Q's name

We know that this version of Q lacks of a personal identity: he doesn't have a name, while the previous versions did.

Fans have been forced to make up one by themselves. The most common choices are: Arthur, Andrew, Thomas, Daniel (London Spy fans ಥ‿ಥ), Ethan, Gabriel, Kian...

But there are also fans who follow a sort of Headcanon: making a quick research, internet would tell that every M in 007 movies (and books) had a surname that started with an M; these fans follow this logic.

Just like in M's case, they tend to use a name that starts with Q for the quartermaster: Quinn, Quincey, Quince...

I honestly love "Quincey", despite having used "Arthur" for a quite long period; just like for the trans!Q Headcanon, I'll start using "Quincey" and won't stop.

[bedeliainwonderland]

hi i was the person who sent the edit! i was wondering why you don't see bedelia as the other woman? i hope i dont sound rude im just curious because i think its clear that in the show bedelia was always the second choice. for example hannibal was supposed to take will and abigail, but when they couldn't make it he chose her, with her Bluebeard line she knew that she couldn't compete with will. i do think that she holds a special place in his heart.

so sorry if this sounds informal or rude, i do not intend for it to sound that way, english is not my native language. i would love to hear your thoughts though ! <3

Hello ❤️ sorry I’m only getting to answer this now. You’re not rude at all and your English is great (it’s not my first language either so no worries). I feel very protective of Bedelia and her relationship with Hannibal. The fandom had basically written her off as someone insignificant comparing to their uwu precious Will or straight up hated her for supposedly coming in between their ship and none of these things are correct.

First of all, “the other woman” is always someone who came in second and is less important and Bedelia is the exact opposite. She was never a second choice since she has always been first. When we meet them on the show, it is noted that Hannibal has been Bedelia’s patient for 7 years. That is an insane amount of time, considering who he is and how little people mean to him (he does not consider people as “people”, just meat). And then there’s Bedelia who has been in his life for all these years and possibly longer. It is clear that they have a history together, it is never explained and whether you think they knew each other from medical school (I am obsessed with this) or not, you cannot deny they shared something beyond the mere patient/doctor relationship. Hannibal feels something for her that he does not feel for anyone else and that’s respect. She is the only person he respects. His affection does not necessarily mean a good thing but respect does. I am not saying he has no other feelings for her because he does. He is clearly and utterly smitten by her. But he also treats her like his equal, and no one else. When he says he feel protective of her, he really means it. I always say that when he first met Bedelia, he might have seen her as another Misha replacement but that impression faded swiftly when he saw her for who she really was and she took a place of her own in his life. Now Will on the other hand was not that special not first one any way. Hannibal had many “projects” like that (Neal was one of the for sure), but it was the first time he took it too far. What made Will special in Hannibal’s eyes was his unfortunate gift of empathy. He was basically a clean slate Hannibal could projects himself onto. He did not care for Will as a person but he loved the mirror he could see himself in.

Hannibal had only made his plans to flee with his doomed “family” when Bedelia left and he really went off the tracks. (She truly was a grounding force on his life and boy, was he a disaster without her). It was poorly thought and would never last (but that’s another discussion). Him leaving with Bedelia wasn’t a lesser choice; I have always seen Hannibal having a fake passport ready for Bedelia for years. He would have left with her in a heartbeat at any point, given a chance.

Now for the Bluebeard comment (my favourite thing to rant about haha). First of all, the exchange itself is not nearly as important as the fandom made it out to be. In the original script, this conversation happened between Bedelia and Dimmond, so it was more about Fuller loving his pretentious dialogue than the significance of it. Basically, it does not mean Will is the specialest boi. Second of all, the comment has been grossly misinterpreted by the fandom. I thought everyone knew how the fairy tales goes and who the last wife is. The last wife is not the one the husband (aka Hannibal in this scenario) loves most that is why she is the last one, but the one who survived. Her survival had nothing to do with the husband’s affection (and very little with her own actions too in most versions where she simply gets rescued in time; we all know Bedelia does not need anyone to rescue her!). I do love any Bluebeard references and I do think they could work wonders for bedannibal in right context. I could go on but I believe I’ve rambled enough haha. Thank you for giving me a chance to talk about them! 😘❤️

[221bshrlocked]

masked in desperation

Pairing: Din Djarin x Fem!Reader

Word count: 6044

Warnings: Verbal Degradation. Physical Humiliation involving Din making reader wet herself. Dirty Talk. Penetrative, Non-Protective Sex (wrap the shlong before you king kong por favor). Rough then Soft Din. Don't worry, this is consensual and there is aftercare involved.

No summary because I don't even know what to call this? All you guys need to know is that this fic is based on/inspired by the following asks [x] [x] [x] [x]

A/N: Uhhh this is new for me so I'm sorry if I didn't get the dynamic involved with a humiliation kink right. Please let me know how I could correct anything should there be something off. This was supposed to be rougher...but I turned soft midway because nervous Din makes me warm. I hope you like it nonetheless though. Comments are hella appreciated. And you can add yourself to the taglist here. Enjoy and please don't @ me once you finish this fic. And I apologize that it took long, this semester was hell.

It was an act of crazed desire concealed beneath irritation and anger, irritation with you for managing to claw yourself into his heart and anger at himself for allowing you to do so freely. He couldn't deny his feelings anymore, not if he wanted to retain whatever sanity he had left around you. What started out as nothing but stress relief and a way to help with the pain left behind by Grogu leaving turned into Din wishing he could stake his claim on you every moment of every day so you wouldn't seek anyone else out. Not that he genuinely believed you would. Still...

And it wasn't like this was any different from what the two of you usually do. At least that's what he says to excuse his twisted behavior, to not dwell too much on his sick, possessive fantasies.

It was driving him mad. He wanted to mark you up, always did during those passionate nights, loved watching as you tried, and failed, to cover up his love bites and handprints from the guild members. But he also craved to feel the same way. He wanted to bear traces of you on him so people knew how much he cared for you, perhaps even recognized the hold you have on him. The only problem was, no one would ever see the angry nail scratches and bite marks you left every night on his skin because of his beskar. So this, this would do the trick, even if it was barely noticeable, even if it would be gone when he washed his beskar, even if the two of you would be the only ones who knew what happened behind closed doors.

The weird thing was, he doesn't even know how he got to this point. Well, that's not true. He can actually trace his way to this moment, but he feels ashamed to do so? Reluctant maybe. It didn't matter what he was feeling at this point. All he knew was that he needed to watch you as you humiliated yourself in front of him, and had no power to do anything about it. Perhaps it was because, deep down, he wanted to show you that he'd accept you no matter what. He wanted to prove to you that he may just be worthy of having you in his arms. He wanted to assure you that he would be committed to you until his dying breath. And this, in some way, was the solution.

Before he can reevaluate and dwell too much on his decision, he fills a cup with water and heads towards you, ignoring the Marshal's glances as he approaches you and taps on your shoulders.

"Yeah?" You turn around, and Din forces himself to stand his ground when he sees your smile growing wider as you take the water from his hand. "Oh aren't you sweet. Careful, or else they'll think you're growing soft." You tease him as you down the cup of water and hand it back to him before returning to fixing the ship. He says nothing as he walks back towards the cantina, and resumes his quiet meditation.

And that's how it goes for the next couple of hours. He brings you a cup of water every so often, murmuring something or other about how he doesn't have time to take care of you if you suffered from a heat stroke before leaving immediately. Din quietly thanks the maker for your discomfort with public refreshers, because this plan wouldn't have worked if you decided to go to the cantina or elsewhere to relieve yourself. He's locked his ship's refresher and made sure to not be anywhere in sight when you sought him out to ask about the issue with the door.

He feels himself grow harder when he notices you squirming as you work on the ship, softly palming himself through his pants when you halt your movements every couple of minutes to either cross your legs or push your hand between your thighs to attempt and alleviate some of that pain. A part of him feels horrible for putting you through this, but something tells him it will be worth it in the end. Din Djarin isn't a man of prayer, but he pleads to whatever higher power that created you that this wouldn't backfire and make you leave him.

As the twin suns slowly set beneath the sky, Din moves away from where he's been hiding and heads towards the ship, making sure he is in your line of sight as he walks up the ramp and towards his armory. He quickly takes out the durasteel cuffs from where he's set them, hiding them behind his back as he pretends to head towards the cockpit.

However, he stops when he sees you rushing past him and setting all of your tools aside. You're mumbling angrily beneath your breath when things begin to fall over, growling when you try to fix them a couple of more times, and they continue to fall.

"Motherfucking shit," Din hears you swear as you carelessly try to set the box again and it falls over. Shaking your head, you turn around and sprint past him again towards the refresher. His eyes never leave your shaking form as you push on the refresher button numerous times and nothing happens.

"Pfassk! Din, how angry would you be if I broke this fucking door right now?" You try to grab the gun on his holster but he is quicker than you, slamming his hand on your own to prevent you from taking it.

"Extremely." His answer is short and straight to the point, mostly because he can't trust himself to respond to you without giving himself away.

"God please I- I need..." You hesitate and try to remove your hand from him, only to feel his hold tighten around your wrist. He thought you'd break and confess what you needed to do due to your desperation, but you don't, holding your tongue and looking up at him quizzically when he removes your wrist and clasps one side of the cuff on them.

"Din, what- what're you doing?" You look down and watch as he clasps the cuffs on your other wrist and ensures that they aren't too tight around your wrists before he locks them. Before you can ask him again, Din drags you across the ship and into the cockpit, ignoring your annoyed murmurs as he sits down and pulls you onto his lap.

You squirm around and try to get up but Din’s hold on your waist tightens and he slides you against his beskar until you fall into his chest. He says nothing as you push away and try to maneuver yourself so your legs aren’t wide open. He chuckles lowly when he sees how much you’re struggling, finally allowing you to put some space between the two of you. You rest your back against the controls board and take a few deep breaths before you stare at him.

“Can you please let me go?” You ask patiently, and hope he sees how genuine and serious you’re being. When he sits back but keeps his hold on you, you know he isn’t going to make this easy.

“Why?”

“Because I- I need to take care of something,” you look away when you respond and Din feels his cock twitch in his pants at the sudden shyness taking over.

“How about you let me take care of you?” He takes his gloves off and throws them aside, smiling to himself when he sees you shiver as he moves his hands up and down your body. You watch him like a hawk and you feel yourself growing wet for a moment, but you realize this reaction is the last thing you want to experience in his presence right now.

“Wait Din- just...it’s not like that.” You bite your lower lip and stifle a moan when he cups your tits and softly flicks at your hardened nipples.

“No? And yet here you are melting at my touch...your body knows me mesh’la, it’s blooming for me and I’ve barely touched you. Sweet girl, don’t you want me to make you feel good? I’ve been thinking about you all day long, about kissing you until you’re breathless...and biting you until you have my mark everywhere. Don’t you want me to show you just how much I’ve missed you?” Din knows he’s not being fair but the way your eyes are glowing with lust is enough to ground him so he could carry out his plan.

“I- I do...fuck, Din- I really do. I barely think of anything else...but I really need to-” You shut your eyes and groan as soon as you feel Din’s hand descend down your chest and rest on your lower stomach. He supports your back as he slowly begins to push against your navel, watching with fascination as your face contorts from pain and pleasure the harder he pushes on your muscles. You’re not sure what’s happening for a few seconds until you manage to open your eyes and look at him. His visor prevents you from seeing what he’s thinking but none of it matters when you feel him shift underneath you before he eases up. You sigh in relief but Din repeats his actions, only this time, he’s becoming a little more aggressive with his touches.

"N-no wait please I-"

"What's the matter mesh'la? You're usually fucking me like a loth-cat in heat by now, begging for me to have my way with you...take what I want until you feel properly fucked and filled with my cum." Din leans forward, never once easing up as he begins to move you over his beskar-clad thigh. There’s not much you can do due to the cuffs and how much advantage Din has over you in terms of muscle and size so you do the only thing that’s left.

You beg.

"Please, please Din I- I just...I need to-" It takes every ounce of control not to let go of your body’s function and you realize you’re not making much sense when Din cuts you off again and asks you what you want.

"Need to what? Go on sweet girl, tell me. What do you need?" His motions become more rough as he alternates between shoving his hand against your bladder and moving your clothed heat across his thigh. Din wants nothing more than to push you to the floor and fuck you until you can’t remember anything but him, but he tries his best to keep himself in check until he gets what he wants.

"I'll do anything Din just...need the- the refresher. I'm so- so...maker, please wait-" The controls dig into your back the more you lay on them but you can’t find it in yourself to care because a different kind of pain shoots down your spine when Din brings you closer to him and hikes your shirt up. His palms are warm against your skin and you hate how good they feel because this was not how you saw the day going with him.

"You know the safeword. Say it if you want me to let you go and I will." His tone shifts and you throw all caution aside as you confess to him why you need to leave.

"Din please...I really need to pee. I- I'll come back right away but I- oh it's too much, t-too much." You think he’s going to apologize and let you go when you tell him but all your admission does is cause him to momentarily stop before he wraps his arms around you and stands up. He’s pushing you up against the wall, not caring for what you just said to him or how rough he’s being as he nudges his leg in between your thighs and resumes his antics from before.

"I know."

The curt response washes over you like ice and your eyes begin to water as soon as Din takes off his helmet and you see him smiling down at you. You don’t know that you’re shaking in his arms but he leans down and nuzzles into the crook of your neck to commit the moment to memory. He loves the effect he’s having on you and although a small part of him feels bad, he doesn’t bother or care to hold back as he brings himself flush against you, the action causing his beskar to push deeper against your navel and have his desired effect.

"Din?" He thinks your whimpers might make him cum right then and there but he takes a deep breath before he pulls away and looks down at you. He’s sure that his eyes don’t convey an ounce of guilt at the moment, the opposite actually, and it only brightens his smile as he pulls down your tank top strap far enough to give him access to the top of your breasts. Din moves closer to you and lays lazy kisses across your heated skin, all the while attempting to grab your attention so he could tell you what he wanted.

"Why do you think I kept handing you water all day ner ka'rta?"

"W-wha-?" Your sniffles pull at his heart but he knows that you’re not in any physical danger and that all you need to do is whisper your safeword and he’d let you go. When a tear drop trails down your chin and hits his forehead, Din has to pull away to take a better look at you. He hates how much he loves the way you’re looking at him right now, like he’s simultaneously a villain and a savior to your predicament.

"And who do you think locked the refresher? Sweet girl… I thought you were smarter than that." Your surprised gasp adds more to the innocence he’s seeing in you and it’s the last straw before he holds onto your waist and begins to move you across his thigh again.

"You what?"

“Go on pretty, I know how much you’re trying to hold it in. ‘m not letting you go any time soon,” Din talks down at you and if you weren’t trying to prevent yourself from embarrassing yourself in front of him, you’d think it was the sexiest tone he’s had with you yet. But it’s getting more difficult to control your bladder and even though you get the sense that he will probably win in the end, you still try to hold off as much as possible.

“Look at you trying so hard...prettiest fucking sight in the galaxy. And do you know what makes it even better? I can smell how much you want me...this tight, wet cunt is begging for my cock. You can have me sweetheart, you can have me right now if you want. But you know what you have to do.” You’re shaking in his arms and plead pathetically when he applies more pressure on your navel. You try to ask him why again but you can’t find the words and resume moaning his name as he uses you.

And that’s what he’s doing. He’s using you. Like he owns you. Like he has the right to control every muscle in your body. You’re not sure what it is that made him act like this all of a sudden and you know it ultimately doesn’t matter because like he said, he won’t be stopping any time soon. It’s just strange that he wants this. He wants you to embarrass yourself. He’s practically helping your body let loose so you could wet yourself. You try to convince yourself that nothing about this should be turning you on, but the way his eyes are hazed with lust and desperation makes you reevaluate your thoughts and you manage to look up at him as he begins to speak again.

“It’s okay mesh’la, you can let go. Let go, now! Make a mess sweetheart. Make a mess of me, I won’t fuck you till you ruin my beskar and make this ship dirty. Go on. Or do you want me to help you again?” Din isn’t sure what’s come over him but he doesn’t hold back anymore, slipping his hand underneath your pants and pushing hard on your bladder until he feels your thighs squeeze around him.

“D-din fuck...oh- my...maker I- I can’t-” You throw your head back as you fist your hands into his cowl, holding on to that last bit of self control before you’re no longer able to. As he lifts his hand and pushes again, the thread breaks and tears slowly roll down your cheeks as you frown up at Din when your bladder gives out. Din looks into your eyes one last time before his attention moves south and his jaw clenches tightly when he notices the material of your pants grow darker the more you relieve yourself.

He doesn’t bother to stop, continuing to apply pressure on your lower stomach as a day’s worth of water floods down your legs and onto his beskar. He watches with fascination as his pants grow wet as well before he hears the faint sound of droplets falling onto his ship. You follow his line of sight and whimper in embarrassment when you notice just how big of a mess you made. There’s a small puddle forming where the two of you are standing and your nervousness only grows when you see how wet Din’s pants are.

When there’s nothing left and your shaking subsides a little, Din removes his hand from you and returns it to your waist, squeezing the skin he has access to so he wouldn’t strip you and fuck you in the middle of your mess. Every time he moves his foot, he can hear the soft splashing sound of the puddle underneath him and it only makes him harder. When he finally looks at you, he’s met with the most vulnerable expression he’s ever seen on you and although he wants nothing more than to kiss you and apologize, he allows himself to go just a little further until he sees you’re no longer able to put up with him.

“D-din...you- you made me, I-”

“Oh sweet girl, I made you do nothing.” The look of shock on your face is worth the hassle and he watches as you pout your lower lip before more tears leave your gorgeous eyes.

“You’re just a filthy girl, wetting yourself in the middle of my ship and not caring how dirty you’ve become...you really couldn’t hold it in cyar’ika? Look at this, look at the mess you made of my armor. You know how valuable beskar is and yet you pissed all over it. And my ship!? Didn’t we just clean this ship pretty?” Din could feel you melting into him with every word that passes through his lips and when you look away from him, his smile falls and he quickly grabs your neck, turning it straightforward so he could look into your eyes.

“No, you don’t get to look away from me when you’ve just pissed all over yourself and me. Maybe I should change your name, call you ad’ika from now on.” He has to hold back from smiling when he sees the moment you recognize the word. He’s only ever used that word whenever he talked with Grogu and you knew exactly why he was bringing it up now. “You’re my little girl aren’t you? My filthy, pretty little ad’ika who can’t fucking control herself and marked me up like she has the right...like she owns me.” Din watches as your expression softens a bit at his last admission and he trails his gaze down your nose until he is only focusing on your lips.

You can’t help but also stare at his lips and Din uses the brief moment of distraction to unbutton your pants and slip his hand into your panties, humming in approval when he feels the wet fabric scratch deliciously at his knuckles. You gasp when you feel his fingers softly rubbing your slit and as you look into his dark brown eyes, Din slips two fingers into your wet cunt and stops.

“Fuck, you’re so wet ad’ika, so warm and wet and ready for me.” He nudges his fingers deeper into he finds the spot that makes you see stars. You know immediately what he wants to do and reach for his arms as he grows closer to you. When they begin to get in the way, Din takes hold of the cuffs and raises them high above your head until the cuffs are glued to the wall. He can’t stop from smiling down at you, all stretched out and ready to be thoroughly fucked. But he doesn’t give in just yet.

“Din it’s...you’ll get dirty. I- I don’t want you to-”

“I don’t fucking care,” he growls as he leans down and bites shoulder again, moaning against your skin when he feels your cunt clench around him. “That’s it, open up for me...let me make you feel good. I- I want you to scream my name sweetheart, scream my name as you make a mess of me. Please...I need it, need- maker...need you to drench me again.” His words twist something inside of you and you lean back as he moves his thick fingers in and out of you until you feel that familiar pressure all over again.

“Oh Din...your fingers f-feel so- so good.”

“That’s right ad’ika, only I get to touch you. Only I get to watch you come undone...only I get to wear your scent, your beautiful fucking wet scent. I- I won’t wash this armor sweet girl, not when you’ve marked it...marked me, this much. Go on, be a good girl and make a mess of me. Let me walk around with the smell of you etched on my fucking beskar.” You whimper at the filthy whispers Din breathes against you and just as you’re about to come, Din grabs your pants along with your damp panties and pushes them as far down as he could. You bite into your lower lip as he tries to push his digits deeper into you, and when you finally manage to turn and look at him, you hold your breath as you see the way he’s looking at you, into you.

“Cum for me. Now.”

The quiet order, along with the pace of his touches, breaks you and you force yourself to not shut your eyes as your pussy throbs around his fingers, a wave of euphoria washing over you so swiftly you think you’ll faint. Din momentarily turns his attention to your heat once again and he hisses when he feels you coming on his hand just as you squirt on his beskar and the floor of the ship. You’re unable to form a coherent sentence as Din refuses to slow down and your eyes water again when the hold he has on your waist becomes more painful than before.

“Maker...you’re perfect.” Din kisses your neck as he finally decides to slow down but the way he continues to rub your clit with his palm does little to calm your nerves and you don’t realize how much you’re shaking until everything quiets down and all that you can hear is the sound of Din’s heavy breathing and your own heaving and sniffling. You wince when he fully removes his hand from you and helps you out of your pants and shoes. He takes a step back and groans when he sees how spent and ruined you look as you stand on your tiptoes and try to calm down.

As you try to catch your breath, Din unlocks both cuffs and throws them aside, reaching down and grabbing your ass so he could support your weight against him. You jump on instinct and moan when you feel the cold beskar against your skin as Din grinds into your soaked heat. He doesn’t waste another moment, diving in and claiming your lips until he could feel your teeth nipping at his tongue. He makes sure he has a good grip on you before he moves to the refresher and as soon as the two of you are standing in front of it, he pushes a code into the pad and unlocks the door. You pull away for a moment to look into his eyes, the silence of your gaze knocking the breath out of him as you hide into his neck. It takes but a second for Din to realize that he shouldn’t try to push your limits any further for the night.

His touches grow softer as he carefully sets you down on the floor of the refresher. Din can see you’re shivering from the cold room and makes quick work of his clothes and armor, choosing to leave his boxer briefs on so you wouldn’t think of anything else. He leans down and taps twice on your shoulders so you could raise them above your head. As you do, you look everywhere else but him and the gesture is a little too raw for Din because as he strips you down to nothing, he’s leaning down and kissing your forehead until he feels you relax in his arms.

When he’s satisfied with your slowing heart rate, he stands up and turns on the water, making sure to stand in front of you and block you from the cold water until it turns warm. Even though he doesn’t particularly enjoy it, he turns the hot water just a little further, knowing how much you preferred it when it struck your skin.

Grabbing the bar of soap you bought from the last hunt, Din sits down and rests his back against the cold metal of the wall before pulling you towards him.

“Come to me mesh’la.” His voice is much more controlled and mellow than minutes before and you melt back into him as soon as his skin comes into contact with yours. You rest your back against his shoulder and sigh heavily when his hands begin to massage your arms. The scent of flowers hits your nostrils in seconds, making you relax even more as the soap washes away any trace of what you and Din had just done.

Din kisses your shoulder and neck as he rubs the soap on your chest and stomach, keeping his touches as appropriate as possible to distract himself from the hardening issue he was struggling with. Although he prefers you all sweaty and dirty, he makes sure to wash every inch of you, knowing that you probably needed to feel clean after...after what he’s done.

He pushes your back until you’re leaning forward far enough for him to wash your back as well. His breath hitches when he sees evidence of his touches on your skin from previous nights. Some of them have turned a light blue color while others were still purple.

Fuck. He didn’t know his grip was this harsh. He was a little guilty for bruising your skin, your lovely, beautiful, gorgeous skin. But the more he saw as he rubbed the soap over your back, the more pride he felt in his chest at the knowledge that he was the only one allowed to mark you.

“D-din…” You moan his name when he pulls you back into his chest and you feel his hands descend lower to wash your thighs. You think that he’s going to touch you where you ache for him but when he focuses on your thighs, you realize that he wasn’t going to go anywhere near your throbbing cunt.

“I’m here sweet girl, let me take care of you.” His whispers are laced with promises and affection and you’re not sure what to make of it. He’s never been this intense, this touch-starved, even this controlling. There’s something about the events of the night that tug at your heart and you wish you could ask him what has changed all of a sudden. But you don’t, instead repeating his words from earlier over and over again as he continues to wash you.

He told you, although indirectly, that you had the right to...to mark him, to own him. He begged you to drench him so everyone would know that he’s yours. That you’re his.

“Din please,” overcome with emotions, you slap the bar of soap away from him and use his surprise to your advantage, quickly turning around and holding onto his broad shoulders as you straddled his thighs.

“Ner ka'rta, we don’t have t-” Din keeps his hands to himself as he feels you rub yourself on his clothed cock. You instantly cut him off, molding your lips with his in a bruising kiss until his arms wrapped around your back. When you knew you had him, you pulled away and laid kisses across his handsome features. He was a moaning mess in no time and when you took hold of his chin and pushed it back, Din felt like he was travelling through the stars, the rough nips you were leaving across the jugular of his neck making him notice just how needy you were.

The hot water cascaded down your back as you assaulted Din’s skin and when you felt him grab your waist and begin to move you across of him, you knew he wasn’t going to deny you from what you wanted. Needed. Craved.

“I need you...now, please Din. I need to feel you inside me.”

“But-”

“Please? Oh maker, I- you said...you said you’d give me your cock if I wanted. And I do. I want you, I want your cock. I- you promised. I- I’ll do anything.” The sound of your desperate pleas sends a shiver down his spine and Din nods frantically just before you pull him out of his briefs.

“You- you’ve done enough for me cyar’ika. So so much. And I- I...oh-” Din throws his head back and shuts his eyes as soon as you lower yourself on his hard cock. He thinks he’s going to cum right then and there, but then you’re moving on top of him and squeezing him so tightly and he realizes that he needed to feel more of you. You cry out his name over and over again as he twitches against your tight walls, and when his eyes snap wide open and look at you, you can’t help but lean forward and bite into his shoulder to keep some semblance of control.

“S-sweet girl...lovely girl, tell me you’re mine.”

The short request causes you to falter in your pace but Din decides to take over again, wrapping his arms around you as he begins to move you on top of him.

“I- I’m yours Din, I’m yours. No one else can fuck me like you, n-no one can kiss me and touch me and take care of me like you...gods, you’re amazing. And you’re mine,” Din groans when he hears the last of your words and he nuzzles into the crook of your neck as you continue to whisper sweet things to him.

“You hear that Din...you’re mine. You- you belong to me, you touch only me...you, oh maker, you fuck only me. This cunt is yours baby and your cock was made for it. Made for me. You l-love only me. Right Din? P-please I’m...already so close. Tell me Din because you know...know that I love you. I love you. No one else. J-just you-”

Din is sure he might be suffocating you with how hard he’s hugging you right now but he doesn’t seem to notice because all he can hear is your declarations of love and commitment. Neither of you have ever come close to being this intimate but his earlier actions apparently unlocked something in the two of you.

You loved him. Even though he could be kinder, and was definitely too broken. You still loved him.

“Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum. P-pfassk...I love you mesh’la. Only you...always you.” Din comes with a cry when he feels your nails digging into his back and he growls as his cock throbs inside you until he’s filled you with his cum. But he doesn’t stop, instead maintaining his pace just to see you fall apart one last time. It’s all too much and not enough, and he’s already oversensitive from coming but he has only himself to blame considering how much he edged himself the entire day. When he hears your gasps turn quieter, he knows you’re close and slithers his hand between your bodies to flick your clit. You moan into his shoulder as you quickly peak one last time, the touch of his fingers reminding you of what he’s done earlier and in a matter of seconds, you’re clenching around him so hard to the point where you’re not sure if you’re experiencing pain or pleasure.

Neither of you say anything as you slowly return to yourselves. When Din moves to try and turn the water off, you accidentally dig your nails deeper into his shoulder and make him hiss.

“S-sorry.” The small apology does something to Din and he decides that he needs to do this now and not when the two of you are in his cot. Twisting his hand into your hair, Din pulls it back until you’re forced to look at him. You stare at each other for what feels like hours before you lean forward and kiss him. It’s much slower and kinder than the earlier kisses and you smile when Din unintentionally thrusts into you. He pulls away and returns your expression when he sees how genuine it is.

“I think I should be the one apologizing ad’ika.”

You know what he’s referring to and you think that perhaps he’s beginning to feel more guilt at what he’s done but you brush it aside with a joke so he knew there was nothing of concern.

“Not sure what you’re talking about Din,” you leave a quick peck on his nose as you rest your cheek on his chest and hug him tightly. He recognizes what you’re doing right away and decides to not fight you, instead maneuvering you off of him to shut the water off. You try to stand but your legs give out immediately. Forutrantly for you, Din is there to catch you and he ignores your complaints as he carries you out of the refresher and into his room. You watch as he brings two towels and proceeds to dry you off, handing you the other one to dry your hair. You giggle when he almost stubs his toe as he comes back with a set of new clothes.

Din ignores your comments when you ask him why he was handing you one of his long sleeve shirts instead of your own, quickly putting on a pair of boxers before throwing the towels back into the refresher. When he comes back, you’re already comfortable and warm in his bed, the sight of you sniffing his pillows causing him to think of a multitude of thoughts. He brushes them all aside when you make room for him and ask him to come to you.

As he slithers underneath the covers, you waste no time and move closer to him until you’re sure you’re touching every inch of his skin.

“Are you okay mesh’la?” Although you know what he’s referring to by that question, you don’t bring up the topic, instead nuzzling into his chest. The sigh of content you hear tells you that he’s not overthinking what happened too much, and it signals for you to do the same because even though you never expected the day’s events, you can’t help but admit to yourself that one thing which you know Din will bring up when the two of you have properly rested.

As strange and sudden as it was, Din’s treatment of you turned you on.

Translations:

Mesh'la - beautiful

Cyar'ika - beloved

Ad'ika - little one

Ner ka'rta - my heart or my soul

Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum - I love you

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Pedro Pascal (and any of his characters):

@pastel-0-princess @feelmyroarrrr @libbymouse @its--fandom--darling @spideysimpossiblegirl @princess76179 @cheekygeek05 @miraclesoflove @purple-mango @freeshavocadoooo @metalarmsandmanbuns @acthenerd @greeneyedblondie44 @cannedsoupsucks @purplepascal042 @talesfromtheguild @f0rever15elf @vibin-hippie @onesmokinbabe @leaiorganas @words-way-of-life @kideyz @lovesickmadsadpoet @niall7inches @rosiefridayrogersunday @tati-adventures @sleep-tight1 @itsfreeekinbats @cybergroupie @marsplsstop @ezrasbirdie @diogodxlot @janebby @juletheghoul @bii-aan-ckaa @nohartandsole @djjarins @lamelyssher @giselatropicana @pescopadral @blackmarketmummy @laviipopii @ew-erin @fan-of-encouragement @melody13522 @clydesducktape @planetariumx @sambucky21 @thirddeadlysin @leannawithacapitala @fangirl-316 @thou-creature-of-the-deep

Din Djarin: @a--1--1--3 @tanzthompson @mrs-ghuleh @caitlynmarty

[babineni]

Uhhh here's a tiny, little something something, inspired by Aloth's +1 reputation convo in Deadfire but I also tried to make him sound more like he did at the very very very end of PoE 1. Emphasis on "tried".

Gaura was standing by the railing of her ship, enjoying the ocean breeze caressing her skin, when Aloth approached her. He rested his elbow on the railing and turned to her, his gaze roaming along her features as if they made up a piece of particularly engrossing text.

'Something on your mind?' The Watcher asked, causing the wizard to snap out of his daze.

'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. I am merely pondering your predicament,' he turned his gaze towards the horizon. His sharp features contorted into a frown so deep that not even the gentle sunlight could make it appear softer. 'It seems everyone who holds any sort of power in the Deadfire covets your allegiance,' he closed his eyes and let out a barely audible sigh. As he looked back at the Watcher, his expression was sympathetic and tender. 'That places you in a position of incredible influence.'

'You don't sound too pleased by that,' Gaura observed, drawing a scoff out of Aloth.

'Are you pleased by it?' He asked sarcastically. 'Forgive my pessimism, I'm... merely thinking back to Sun in Shadow, specifically to that moment after you killed Thaos,' he continued before the Watcher could answer his question. 'I'm experiencing that same sinking feeling that I did back then.'

He didn't need to say anything more. Gaura could clearly recall his words from five years before.

'You don't think I should wield this... What did you call it? The power to influence?'

'I don't think you should have to,' he corrected her. 'Not one person should. It just... doesn't seem fair to you or the nations you change perhaps fundamentally.'

'It's not like I have a choice.'

'I know that, I just...' Aloth shook his head. 'Forgive me, I'm not trying to sound like you are to blame here, I just...' he sighed. 'I didn't mean for this conversation to take such a depressing turn,' he chuckled a little uncomfortably. 'I suppose what I was trying to say is... I feel for you, in a way I haven't done so in a while. Truth be told throughout those years we spent apart I thought of you as this birlliant force of positive change. I thought of you as you ended the Legacy. I thought of you lighting up an entire city by just being there,' a wistful smile played at the corners of his lips. 'I thought of you leading me away from the Leaden Key. I remembered you always moving forward without hesitation and not even your regrets could slow you down.'

'Uhh... Thanks?' Gaura blinked at him, not quite sure what to make of his words. Aloth, however, merely let out a short and rueful laugh.

'I was hardly being fair to you. I clung to you as a source of inspiration throughout my hunt for the Leaden Key, and I did so in such a blind fashion, that it took me this long to get my perception of you right once more.'

The Watcher shrugged as she smoothed down a flame that fluttered somewhat flustered at the wizard's words.

'It hasn't been that long since we met again... So just to make things sure: how exactly do you see me now?'

Aloth squinted at her slightly. 'Apparently as someone who likes fishing for compliments,' he teased but couldn't keep a straight face seeing Gaura's grumpy expression. 'But also as the strongest and most gracious soul I know,' he added, his expression solemn.

'Don't forget the oldest,' the Watcher teased back, prompting Aloth to roll his eyes at her and turn away. But he couldn't hide his smile.

'You won't let me live that one down anytime soon, will you?'

'Not for a while, no... Engferth.'

Aloth groaned and turned to leave, enjoying the sound of the Watcher's laugh ringing in his ear. Just as he was about to make his way below decks, he turned back.

'If I may add one more thing,' he said, immediately catching Gaura's attention, 'the real you is much more admirable than I remembered.'

The Watcher merely stood stunned at his sudden display of adoration. Aloth's face turned a deep shade of red and he quickly disappeared behind the door leading below decks.

[delaber]

Can’t Have Your Cake and Another Cake Too

Rafael Casal x Reader

Note: Okay, I’ll stop breaking Rafa’s heart now... Last time, I swear! Thanks for the prompts to these lovely anons. Alhough this is not a prequel to Poetic Justice (Rafa x ER Nurse), poor Rafa’s facing some of the same issues. I very loosely based this story on J. Cole’s Kevin’s Heart (don’t know why I’m always incorporating J. Cole into my fics, but apparently he’s always lurking in the back of my mind) and Phlake’s So Faded. Let me know what you think!

Words: 4.7K

Warnings: Cocaine addiction! Does not have a happy ending (nobody ODs and nobody’s dying ...Only on the inside lol)

Tagging: No one! This might not be for everybody and I don’t want anybody to feel forced to read it 😌

It was supposed to be a great night out. The entire gang was there, and at the instigation of Diggs, Rafa was supposed to be on the prowl to get laid so he could take his mind off of his broken heart.

From his seat in the booth, Rafa had a fairly good view of the dance floor and he had already spotted a few honeys who likewise had acknowledged him by smiling and sending him a couple of long looks. One of them had even twirled her hair between her fingers while blowing him a kiss. He had the green light, all systems were go!

However, of all the things that could've thrown him off his game, Rafa would not have placed a single bet on a phone call. But the minute he pulled out his vibrating phone and checked the caller ID, both the group of honeys on the dance floor and his friends occupying the seats all around him were completely forgotten. Nothing else mattered anymore.

He stared at the screen for a while, reading the name over and over again. What the fuck was Morris calling him for? Rafa had told him to stop. Morris knew he was too weak to say no even though he had promised his girl that he'd stop for good.

...Or, you weren't his girl. Not anymore.

But Rafa was still determined to win you back no matter if you had stopped answering his phone calls or not, so he took a tough decision and pressed the decline button beneath Morris' name. He even contemplated putting his phone on flight-mode to remove all unwelcome temptations - he knew you'd never take him back if he fell back in - yet, for some reason taking himself off the grid was easier said than done, and before he had pulled himself together to actually press the little airplane button, a text from Morris had ticked in. It only consisted of two words but Rafa understood perfectly.

'New candy.'

Fuck... Rafa considered the pros and cons of accepting for a few milliseconds before he came to his senses. No, no, no. The only way he'd ever win you back would be by showing you that he could stay sober even after your break-up. Morris could fuck off! As if awaking from a trance, Rafa hurriedly put his phone back in his pocket and desperately tried to forget about Morris' enticing offer by telling himself that he was strong enough to shake it.

...although deep down, he was aware that it was already too late. That no matter what, he wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it now. And no matter how hard he tried to re-focus on the honeys on the dance floor and tell himself how stupid it was to hit Morris up, it was no use, the damage was done; he was desperate to get high!

Deeply, horribly ashamed of himself, Rafa texted Morris the address of the club and impatiently waited a couple of minutes before he walked outside with heavy footsteps. It felt as if he was walking to the gallows, the shame eating him up from the inside. You'd be so disappointed in him!

However, in order to make himself accept what he was about to do, he reminded himself that apparently, you didn't care if he was high or not. If you did, you would've returned his phone calls, and you would've reacted to the fact that he had been sober for three weeks now - but you hadn't. And with that in mind, Rafa managed to push away most of the shame as he laid eyes on Morris' sketchy Subaru parked by the curb on the other side of the road. He walked across the street with determined footsteps, carefully looking over his shoulder to check if anybody he knew were watching him approach what was clearly a dealer's car.

"What's up, bruh!" Morris called as he rolled down his window. He was wearing sunglasses, looking like an absolute turd in the dark night.

Rafa put his arms on the car's beltline and shot Morris a bro handshake through the open window, "what the fuck are you wearing sunglasses at night for? You look like a dick."

"Nah, man, it looks cool," Morris laughed, "do you like them? Hell, you should like them - you paid for them."

"What do you mean I paid for them?"

"With the amount of money you spend in my shop, I think it's safe to assume that you paid for these sunglasses and the rims on the ride too," Morris snorted.

"Yeah, about that," Rafa looked away, the embarrassment slowly creeping up his spine again, "you gotta stop calling me."

"You said that last time as well but look at you now," Morris laughed.

"Come on man, it's important that I stop."

"You don't wanna stop though."

Rafa let out a sigh, "look, I'm trying to prove something to my girlf- ...ex-girlfriend."

"A'ight, I respect that," Morris nodded slowly but then he quickly continued, "so did you just call me here to pin your lady troubles on me? Cause I have a customer waiting up on Seventh Ave."

Rafa blew out some air, embarrassed by the decision he was about to make.

"...Or do you wanna buy?" Morris continued as he read Rafa's body language.

"...you're not gonna tell Diggs are you?"

"Do I look like a fucking snitch?" Morris looked offended, "and you know me and Diggs don't talk no more."

"Yeah, alright. This stays between us, okay? If word gets out, I'm fucked."

"A'ight bruh," Morris laughed, "Now, how much do you need?"

"Just... just give me an eightball," Rafa mumbled.

Morris let out a small laugh, "an eightball? Man, you're not about to quit," he chuckled and handed Rafa a zip-lock bag with white powder in it.

"Shut up," Rafa mumbled and pocketed the baggie, "how much?"

"Rafa, you're my man, so I'mma give you a discount because I feel bad for you and your girl. Three hundo."

"Three hundred?! Last time it was two-eighty without the discount."

"Times are changing. I haven't seen you in three weeks, man. Plus, this is a good batch," Morris poked Rafa in the chest, "my contact got it shipped in directly from Medellín. Look, it got fish scale and everything!"

"You better not fuck me over," Rafa muttered and threw Morris three hundred-dollar bills before he turned away from him with an annoyed huff.

"Pleasure doing business as always, Casal! See you next weekend!" Morris yelled after Rafa with a small laugh, apparently not a care in the world for who knew about their illegal transaction.

"Fucking idiot," Rafa muttered to himself without turning around. He had more important things to do than to scold Morris about his indiscretion.

Rafa hurried to the restroom and carefully locked the door behind him before he frantically pulled out the zip-lock bag. He examined its contents and saw the pearl-like surface that Morris had talked about - Fuck it looked good! He opened the bag carefully but froze when he caught his own reflection in the bathroom mirror; the loving look he was sending the bag of coke was sickening. It made his stomach plummet. Had he really been reduced to snorting coke alone in a dirty bathroom of a sketchy club? He remembered when it had been a group activity. Before he couldn't control it.

Shake it off! He told himself. He had every intention of stopping after tonight. This would be the last time.

You said that last time as well, a small voice rang in the back of his head, but he ignored his guilty conscience and instead poured out a small pile of the pearl-like coke on top of the hand dryer. Quickly, he pulled out a random card from his wallet and used it to form two heavy lines. Before his guilty conscience could interfere again, he also grabbed a one-dollar bill that he neatly rolled into a small tube and put between his right nostril and one of the white lines, ready for the rush. His gaze, however, lingered on the random card he had used to break the coke into lines; it was his fucking rewards card for the small organic, artisan shit coffee house that you liked. What wouldn't you say if you knew what he was doing? In his mind's eye, he could see the disappointed look you always sent him whenever he'd come home all hyped up, rambling his mouth off. You never got angry with him and his love of coke, but somehow your disappointed demeanour was way worse. He would've taken screaming and yelling over the disappointed stare and the slow shake of your head any day.

Slowly, he removed the dollar-bill from his nostril, stood up straight and met his own eyes in the mirror again - and for a moment, he could truly see how pathetic he was. What the hell was he doing? He was throwing away his last shot at getting you back - and for what? A few hours of euphoria and confidence?

But she doesn't want you back, a small voice rang inside his head, you called, and you called, and you called. You declared yourself clean to her voicemail and she still didn't reach out. Fuck her!

"Yeah, fuck her," Rafa mumbled before he put the dollar-bill back to his nostril. Quickly, he snorted both lines of coke, shooting his head back afterwards, sniffling a bit as he cleaned his nose with the back of his hand. He knew he only had a couple of minutes before the euphoria kicked in, so he quickly brushed off the dollar-bill and the rewards card and tugged them both back in his wallet. The remainder of the coke was stowed away in his shirt's breast pocket for safe keeping.

Ready for the rush, Rafa was impatiently staring at himself in the mirror. He was thinking about how to avoid Diggs and his condescending looks for the duration of his high, when he was finally overwhelmed by the familiar fuzzy feeling. It came out of nowhere and started behind his eyeballs and continued all the way down to his toenails. It felt as if someone had pulled a large, fluffy blanket down over him, and it was slowly heating up his body, making him feel safe and secure. His pulse quickened in time with his breathing, and he had to close his eyes to get himself under control. He felt fucking powerful! Morris had not lied about this coming from a good batch. "Shit, Morris," he laughed.

There was a knock on the door, and Rafa remembered that he had occupied the men's room for a good five minutes now. He took a last look at his suddenly hazed eyes, aware that no matter how hard he tried to hide it, anyone could see that he was high as a kite. He contemplated riding out his high alone in the bathroom but also knew that with the amount of energy present in his body, he couldn't stay in the small restroom all night. He had to dance! To fuck! To fight!

With a suddenly confident bounce in his step, he opened the door, and sent the guy in line what he hoped was an apologetic nod before he confidently strode towards the honeys on the dance floor.

"Hey Rafa!" he heard someone yell behind him.

Hoping it was someone who wanted to fight, Rafa quickly turned around but was slightly disappointed to see Diggs coming towards him with a huge grin on his face. Shit! Rafa realised that he had to act nonchalant around his best friend. Diggs absolutely couldn't know about the coke in his breast pocket, or he'd be all up in Rafa's face about it.

"Diiiiiggs! My man!" Rafa yelled overly excited, clearly very, very high.

Diggs shot him a look at his weird behaviour before he continued, "where've you been, man? I've been looking for you everywhere."

"R-r-r-r-r-r-r-rrrrrrrestroom," Rafa laughed, he was too happy to pretend otherwise.

"Why are you saying it like th-" the huge grin was slowly slipping from Diggs' face, "...hey, Rafa - look at me," Diggs suddenly sounded all serious as he took Rafa's face in his hands, carefully examining his features, "Rafa, look at me."

Rafa let out a low chuckle, "Diggs, you know I think you're handsome and all that, but I don't like you that way," he joked.

"You're being weird," Diggs furrowed his eyebrows, "- and your pupils are huge. Have you been doing lines in the bathroom?"

"Maybe," Rafa laughed, unable to stop himself from revealing his dirty little secret, "why? You want some? I still have a few hits left," he padded his breast pocket.

"You know I don't do that shit anymore..." Diggs let go of Rafa with a sigh and looked away from him.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're a fucking saint now," Rafa said a bit more harshly than he had intended to. Ever since Diggs had met Emmy, he had been boring as hell.

Diggs chose not to comment on Rafa's low blow, and managed to keep his calm, "I thought you'd stopped, bruh."

"Morris made me an offer I couldn't refuse," Rafa laughed in an accent halfway between Tony Montana and Vito Corleone.

"Yeah well, I'm not the only one who thought you were done fucking around," Diggs said seriously. He was having none of Rafa's jokes, "I just saw your girl downstairs. She wants to talk to you."

It took a few seconds before Rafa understood, but when he finally grasped Diggs' words, he felt the blood drain from his face and his mouth run dry, "what? No, you're kidding me..."

"Nope," Diggs sighed, "I've been running around trying to find you for fifteen minutes..."

"Shit! What the fuck do I do?" Rafa said in a panicked voice, licking his lips frantically, "I told her I was sober! If she sees me like this, she'll never take me back."

"Yeah, well you better pray that you don't run into her."

Rafa ran his hand through his hair, "fuck I'm screwed. She's downstairs?"

"Was fifteen minutes ago."

"Alright, I'm jumping out this window. You stall her, tell her that I got sick or something."

"You can't jump out this window?" Diggs said incredulously, "we're 50 feet up, if you do that, you die! Just walk out the doo- ...oh shit, dude, we're blown. She's here. She's coming over."

"Fuck! Can I still bolt?"

"Of course not!"

"Well how do I look? Alright?"

"You look-" Diggs cut himself off, "...maybe just try and avoid her looking into your eyes, okay?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?"

"The light in here's paying you a favour but apart from that you're gonna have to pull yourself together. You brought this upon yourself," Diggs said harshly before his demeanour changed completely as his eyes interlocked with yours over Rafa's shoulder, "heeeeey," he smiled broadly, "look who I found."

Rafa slowly turned around and met you. Your stunning beauty - as always - immediately knocking him to the ground. He couldn't believe that it had been four weeks since the last time he'd seen you. He'd do anything to get you back!

"Rafa," you nodded formally with a stiff face. Rafa couldn't help but make a mental note on how weird it was to see you without a smile on your lips. You were normally always so happy. He had done this, he reminded himself.

"Hey baby," he whispered, the words weirdly familiar in his throat.

You briefly raised your eyebrows while looking away from him, clearly uncomfortable by the sound of your old pet name.

"Sorry," he continued, "force of habit. ...I'm just happy to see you."

Your gaze slowly found his face, and Rafa prayed that you couldn't see his coke-eyes from where you were standing.

"Well..." you said and clicked your tongue, "I'd like to talk to you."

"I'd like to talk to you too," Rafa said quietly.

"And you're sober? Like you said on my voicemail?"

"Yes," Rafa breathed, "completely sober," he lied thickly, hyper-aware of how awkward it was with Diggs shuffling nervously beside him. He was uncomfortably rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Good," you finally let out a small smile, "do you want to sit down?"

"Yeah," Rafa nodded.

"Yeah, I'll - uh - I'll leave you to it," Diggs cleared his throat and padded Rafa between the shoulder blades as a way of wishing him good luck.

"Thanks man," Rafa muttered before he followed you down to a vacant booth in the corner of the room. Instead of sitting down opposite you, he made sure to occupy the seat next to you, hoping that it would minimise the risk of you looking into his eyes. He just had to pretend that he was sober until the high quieted down. Fourty-five more minutes - Less if he was lucky.

"So, how've you been?" You said quietly as you were both overlooking the dance floor, avoiding looking directly at each other.

"Not good," Rafa said quietly, "like shit, actually... how about you?"

"Yeah, well I guess 'shit' sums it up neatly... How's sober life?"

"Oh, it's - yeah - it's - it's great!" He said, the lie thick in his throat, "I feel so much better now." He knew how much he had hurt you, and he knew how difficult it must be for you to face him after you'd said that you never wanted to see him again - which just really only made his lying so much worse. Fuck, how he hated himself for what he had done. What he was still doing.

Your eyes darted across his face before your gaze settled on a spot just below his chin. He was relieved that you weren't staring him square in the eyes. "I was so happy to hear your voicemail," you whispered, "you really flushed your stash?"

"Yes," he croaked.

"I'm glad that you're finally taking care of yourself," he couldn't make out your face in the dark but he could hear a hint of happiness to your voice that you were clearly trying to suppress. It made him feel horrible.

"Yeah, I want to stay sober for you," he said slowly. At least that wasn't a lie.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me," you said quietly, the happiness definitely shining through now.

Rafa's heart was fluttering in his chest, and he felt the coke-induced euphoria run amok in his brain, "...does that mean you'll forgive me?" All his senses were heightened.

"It's a step in the right direction" you said quietly, still not looking directly at him, "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too baby," Rafa said quietly and boldly took your hand in his.

Finally, you looked up at him, and to avoid you noticing his bloodshot eyes with the dilated pupils, he took a quick decision, leaned in and crashed his lips against yours.

Luckily, you mistook his desperation for passion and fiercely kissed him back, your hand releasing itself from his, and instead caressing his neck. In-between kisses you managed to mumble, "I'm still... mad... at you."

"I know," Rafa mumbled, enjoying the familiar feeling of your lips against his. Your hands switched to caressing his torso, and your small fingers travelled over his stomach and up his chest, coming to a halt over his heart. It was racing against his ribcage and he had no idea whether it was due to the coke or due to the heap of emotions he felt in his chest. He couldn't believe he was kissing you again. He had completely written it off no more than half an hour ago.

Your right hand moved away from his heart but came to a sudden halt when you felt a small bump in Rafa's breast pocket. Still kissing him, you ran your fingers over the bump a few times before you remembered that it was where he always kept his coke. Quickly, you pulled your lips away from his.

"Wait, no, don't take kissing away from me," he hummed, completely unaware of the discovery you'd just done.

You were looking at his euphoric face with the closed eyes and the swollen lips as you moved your hand over his breast pocket once more.

When Rafa realised what was going on his eyes flew open and he spluttered, "it isn't what you think!"

But he was too slow to react, and before he had had the chance to move away, your fingers went inside his breast pocket and grabbed the small bag from there. "You've got to be kidding me!" You said angrily as you held his coke between your fingertips.

"Baby, I can explain," Rafa said quickly while desperately grabbing your wrist.

"Rafa, you fucking idiot! Don't touch me!" You wrestled yourself out of his grip, got up from your seat, and fast-paced towards the door.

"Baby! Baby!" Rafa yelled out as he ran after you.

"Don't touch me!" You cried, attracting the attention of everyone in your path.

You stormed out the door, Rafa at your heel desperately clinging to every inch of you that he could reach. When you reached the curb outside, he finally managed to run up in front of you, stopping you in your tracks, "baby, I can explain!" He said desperately.

"You said you'd flushed it all!" You were screaming at him now, the tears running down your face.

"It was a mistake, baby, I swear I didn't mean to. I flushed it all, I promise. It's just a setback."

"When did you buy this, Rafa?" You said through gritted teeth, "how long did you manage to stay sober before you decided you wanted to throw it all away?"

Rafa looked away from you, he was so embarrassed by himself, "Morris called and I tried to say no, I really did! Baby, I tried so hard to resist it. But he was persistent."

"Well, did he force you to buy?" You hissed. You were having none of his excuses.

"...No." Rafa admitted.

"When did you buy it?" You emphasised every word, "before or after you called me last weekend?"

"After..."

"When? How long after? When did you have your setback?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes! I need to know if you did it because you were physically craving it, because you just felt like getting high, or if you did it because you’d thrown the thought of us away when I didn’t answer you.”

"I tried to fight it, I swear I tried to fight it," he was getting choked up.

"Rafa, tell me when you bought it."

He considered shooting you a lie but he didn't want to fuck up any more. "I bought it tonight..." he finally muttered under his breath, avoiding your gaze.

"You're not serious!! You bought it tonight?" You bellowed, "are you trying to tell me that you planned on throwing away your soberness tonight? That if I hadn't shown up, you'd be high as balls right now?"

Rafa didn't say anything, he just looked at you with huge eyes, the embarrassment evident on his face - and first then did you notice his blood-shot eyeballs with the abnormally large pupils that had taken over most of the green that was normally present.

"No..." you whispered when you realised, "no, no, no..." you groaned quietly, clutching your chest, "you're high right now?" The heartbreak was evident in your voice.

Rafa sent you a pained look. He fucking hated himself.

"You're high..." You stated in a whisper, the tears were streaming down your face, "you lied."

He had broken your heart. Again.

"I - I didn't mean to," he croaked, "I was just so happy to see you. I knew you wouldn't want to talk to me if I told you the truth."

"So you planned on telling me when?"

"I don't know," he croaked, "I didn't think it through. I've been sober for three weeks. Tonight's just a small setback. Baby, I swear, I'll block Morris and I'll flush this baggie right now if I can just get you back," Rafa was begging, “I’ll stop if you tell me to!”

"Rafa, how many times do I have to tell you," you cried, "You have to stop because you want to. Not because I tell you to stop! I don't care about the snorting! I don't care that you party and get high! You've done lines of my tits several times for God's sake! But I can't live with the constant lying that has become part of it!"

Fuck, Rafa knew what you were building to. His life's biggest mistake. He had it coming, he knew it. He deserved it. He was a fucking cheating coke-head and he hated it. "Please don't bring it up," he sobbed.

You didn't listen to him. You had to confront him with it because he clearly hadn't understood. "Rafa, you fucked another girl! And you were so high that you didn't even realise it! And when you woke up the next day and saw what you'd done, you lied about your whereabouts and the fact that you'd been high as fuck! I had to learn about it through her!" You were sobbing, "...and instead of staying home and comforting me, you lied about having to go to the studio, and you met up with Morris and you got high! Again! If knowing that you're breaking my heart with your constant lies doesn't make you want to quit, I'm not sure what will."

"I want to stop!" he sobbed. He had never felt so horrible before, "I love you, I want to be with you," he sniffled and took your hand, "please give me another chance! I'll stop snorting. I'll stop lying. I'll do anything for you."

It looked as if you were contemplating his words but the look in your eyes darkened suddenly and you let out a whisper, "no Rafa!" as you pulled your hand away from his.

"Baby, please!" He pleaded desperately, "I love you."

"You love coke more," you whispered.

"I have a problem," Rafa tried desperately, "I know. I can't stop. But I'll get help. I'll do whatever you want me to do!"

"Rafa, if you stop snorting because I tell you to stop, it will never last! You love getting high!"

"That's not true... it's pathetic," he cried.

"Rafa, honey,” you said quietly, “- ask yourself this; would you be throwing away this baggie and deleting Morris' number if I wasn't leaving you because of it?"

"Yes," he croaked immediately.

You took a deep breath of air, hurt written all over your face, "Love," you sighed desperately as a fresh wave of tears started streaming down your face, "you're lying again..." you sobbed, and put the baggie in the palm of his hand and folded his fingers around it.

"I'm flushing it," he croaked.

"Do whatever you want," you whispered and looked him in the eye, "We're not together anymore. I'm done - it's over,” you said as you slowly turned around and started walking away from him.

“No, no, no! Please come back!”

“No Rafa… This time I'm serious,” you said before you started walking again.

This time, Rafa didn't run after you. He just watched you walk further and further away from him as your hands dried the tears off of your face every two seconds. He imagined you stopping, imagined the hurt look you'd send him. How he'd run over to you and take you in his arms. Imagined how he'd apologise and you'd both hug and cry and kiss it out. But you didn't stop. You didn't send him any look at all. And he didn’t run to you, he was glued to the pavement.

He stood as if frozen in time and looked after you even long after you'd disappeared around the corner. Suddenly, however, he noticed that he was still clutching the baggie in his closed fist. Slowly, he opened the palm to reveal the beautiful mother-of-pearl-coloured powder. He contemplated dropping it down the gutter next to him. It would all be so easy.

But instead, he closed his fingers around it and pocketed it right above his broken heart. It would help relieve the terrible thunder that he felt rolling over him. It brought along a storm of emotions. A hurricane of regrets. And he was desperate to get high.

[eryiss]

Ship: Freed x Laxus

Rating: Matrue [Guns, Violence, Unnamed Character Deaths]

Prompt: Savage, Deadly

Summary: Perhaps having an affair with Russian spy in the middle of the cold war wasn't a good idea, particularly when Freed worked for the American Secret Service. But it was fine, America and Russia were never going to actually fight. Killing those they saw as traitors, however, was apparently a different story.

Notes: This is the forth Fraxus Week submission, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. This story has gunshots, death and description of blood, so be careful if those might affect you. If that's not something you worry about, I hope you enjoy it.

Links: Event Masterlist ||| Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction

A War to Be Ridiculed

Year: 1963

Location: Moscow, Russia

When their affair had started, Freed had been paranoid. He'd picked up the habit of looking over his shoulder, trying to see if another American agent might have discovered his behaviour and was trailing him to get evidence against him. At the time, the paranoia had seemed justified: an American secret service operative sleeping with a Russian secret service operative in the middle of an international stalemate between nuclear superpowers was hardly something that would be celebrated.

The paranoia had died out fairly quickly. Now Freed's main concern was how he'd spin his meeting in the quaint little café as a business expense.

Russian pasties were divine, but pricey.

His bosses would have a fit if they knew what he was doing. Hell: half of America would brand him a traitor if they knew he'd even thought about Laxus in that way. But America seemed to throw a fit over anything for the past few years. A Russian so much as coughing unexpectedly seemed to be enough provocation for an international incident.

Ridiculous, the lot of them. Freed was just thankful that he'd found a way to profit from them.

"What can I get for you, sir?" A waiter asked.

"Just a tea," Freed requested, leaning back in his chair. His Russian was perfect both in accent and in syntax. "I'm waiting for a guest; I expect we'll be eating when he arrives. He'll have a coffee when he gets here."

"Of course."

The man left, and Freed spared a glance towards the door. He had gotten there early, he knew that, but he was starting to get impatient. His job – when he chose to do it – was a stressful one. It was what he had signed up for, of course, and the thrill of it was truly exhilarating. But sometimes the pressure of it all got on top of him, and he had come to grown fond of these meetings in their infrequency.

It was a twisted situation, he supposed. He was sent to Russia on a two-year undercover operation, trying to uncover all information that the enemy forces had on their attack plans. For the first few months, Freed had been diligent in his actions, only to find that Russia had as much on them as they had on Russia. Nothing.

Propaganda was a fascinating thing. Everyone back home seemed to think the bombs would be dropping any moment. They wouldn't. Both sides were shit-scared of doing anything.

Once Freed had discovered this, he had reported back to his commanders and had been told to remain there for the rest of the mission and continue gathering intel. Three more months of gaining the respect and trust of Russian diplomats and governmental workers had led to nothing of interest. Both countries were entirely focused on their defensive measures in case the other country attacked, so nobody had any intention on actually attacking. It was a big, boring stalemate that would never actually come to blows.

It was getting rather tedious, and then Laxus came along. A thrilling, beautiful enemy with stunningly blue eyes and a sense of menace and distrust that drove Freed wild.

Their meeting had been a setup, it was obvious. Freed's rise in Russian society had been suspicious, and so the Russian government had wanted to better understand him and the threat he posed. Freed's alias had been a businessman wanting to help the government and in return get investments, Laxus' alias was that of a rich man wanting to invest money and get a return. Freed had known what Laxus was doing, and Laxus had known what Freed was doing.

Still, pretending he was in the dark about Laxus' true intentions was fun. They both spun lies, tried to catch the other out, and there was the constant reminder that they both had weapons concealed, and the person who slipped up first would end up dead where he stood.

The thrill was brilliant.

Their third meeting had been where Laxus had taken things further. He'd worn a suit so snug nothing could be hidden if you were determined to see it. Freed had gotten chills from the sight of it, and he couldn't remember if he was more excited by the curve of the man's ass or the outline of his gun against his chest. Laxus was silently proposing advancement in their roleplay: increase the danger and increase the pleasure.

Freed almost thought it might be an interrogation tactic, a way for Freed to spill his guts once sated. After their night together it was clear Laxus saw the war in the same way Freed did. Pointless, without risk, and something that should be mocked. He wanted Freed; he didn't want information.

You went submissive if you wanted intel. That night, Laxus had been anything but.

And so, their affair had begun. At first it was just sex, with the occasional meeting of their businessman and investor character to keep up their charade. Then, as time went on and they got more comfortable, their meetings became more public, and their facades dropped slightly. They could only meet once a month or so – they had to do their jobs, of course – but it was the most fun Freed had had in years.

Eventually, the quaint little bell above the door rang, and Freed looked to see the object of his affections walking in. Say what you want about Russia; they knew how to breed a handsome man. Broad shoulders, stern features, trim waists, and large thighs. What more could a man ask for?

Freed watched as Laxus spoke to the host of the café, before being guided to sit opposite him. Freed stood and shook his hand as if they were colleagues, and they underwent their normal childishly competitive hand squeezing ritual. Laxus relented first this time, taking a seat at the table after Freed motioned for him to do so. The host left them alone, and it took a moment for Laxus to break the silence.

"So," Laxus rumbled in his beautifully accented, deep voice. "You've not been murdered."

"I'm afraid so," Freed smirked. "Nor you, it seems. We should congratulate ourselves."

"We should," Laxus agreed, mirroring Freed's expression. "How so?"

"I'm sure we're both creative enough to think of something," Freed purred as he saw the waiter approaching with their drinks.

Under the cover of the tablecloth, he brought his foot to slowly glide against Laxus' calf. He raised it higher as the man placed the two drinks on the table and asked if they wanted anything else. Freed allowed Laxus to answer, putting pressure on the part of his thigh his foot found rested at. Laxus didn't stammer or blush at the action – he was a professional, after all – but Freed knew he was just a little bit more tense. He spoke calmly and dismissed the waiter, glaring at Freed once he was gone.

"You wanna get us caught?" He growled.

"If we got caught, it would be entirely your fault," Freed hummed. "Keeping a straight face is rather standard for what we do."

"I'll get you back for it," Laxus promised.

"I certainly hope so."

Freed raised his teacup to his lips, then halted.

He sniffed as subtly as he could, then slowly brought the teacup back down to the saucer.

Arsenic.

Someone wanted to poison him.

Instincts took over, and a list of questions needed to be answered. Who wanted to kill him? Who in the café was behind the attempt? Who outside of the café might be involved? Who had noticed he hadn't actually drunk anything? Where was the quickest way to safety? How quickly could he leave the country without anyone noticing? Was this anything to do with Laxus? Had Laxus been an informant, or was he in as much danger as Freed was?

As he watched Laxus raise his own drink to his lips, Freed quickly took a chance on the latter question. Before the drink could touch his lips, Freed pressed his foot firmly against Laxus'. The flirtatious teasing was now overpowered by strength, and Laxus paused. Freed glanced to the drink with only his eyes, then gave Laxus a meaningful look.

Laxus sniffed his own drink, then brought it back to the table without drinking.

Fuck. This was a setup for them both.

They had to assume everyone around them was involved. Freed had absently noticed how there was nobody younger than twenty in the café despite families milling around the square. He'd been placed at a table in the centre of the room as well, secluded and in the centre of attention. Likely everyone was an agent of some kind, and they all had been watching them from the moment he arrived. This was manageable.

"You must tell me about your sister's birthday," Laxus said, as if the revelation hadn't happened. "She's turning twelve, correct?"

Twelve. There were twelve agents in the room. That was passable, given some luck. But they needed to know the situation outside of the café as well.

"She is," Freed nodded, leaning back in his chair, casually glancing out of the window. He caught a glimpse of something reflective from atop the town hall, and sighed. "Her cousin is getting rather angry about it, apparently her mother couldn't afford the gift she wanted, and so they've been fighting. But you know how young girls are, always sniping at one another."

"I suppose so," Laxus agreed, body tensing slightly. "I don't know how I'd deal with them. I'd want to just leave the situation behind me, but sometimes even doing that means you'll get caught in the crossfire."

They agreed then. They couldn't just walk out.

"It is rather an impossible situation," Freed chuckled, idly toying with the teaspoon as if uncaring. "Sometimes it feels like you can't escape family, doesn't it?"

"Well I don't see any of my family here," Laxus laughed. He didn't recognise any agents.

"Nor do I," Freed agreed. "Thank heavens for small mercies."

They could be facing either Russian or American forces. They had to assume that, as they'd set up their assassination attempts when the two were meeting up, either side had come to know about the situation and saw them both as too big of a risk. Whoever wanted them dead, it would end up with them both on a most wanted list. This was bad.

Conversation without drinking could only last them so long. Eventually, any agents in the café would know their attempt had been discovered, and they'd act. No doubt they'd be armed to the teeth. A bloodbath was inevitable, they just needed to be smart, and they'd survive it.

"The food here is divine," Laxus commented, picking up his menu again. "The last time I ate here, I nearly congratulated the chef."

"Perhaps this time you will."

They'd be leaving through the kitchen then. The sniper was positioned so that he could shoot through the window, so probably they'd not be prepared for any kind of escape, certainly not one through the back alleys. So long as they could fight their way to the back, they should be able to outrun them and get somewhere safer. If even for a few moments, it was better than being in the jaws of their trap.

Just as Freed was about to continue the conversation, he caught something in the reflection of the window. A man tucked around the corner of the café's counter was looking directly at them both, hand scratching at his thigh where a gun most likely was hidden. Damn.

They hadn't finished a plan, and they were suspicious. But it was avoidable.

Freed, very slowly, wrapped a hand around his teacup and brought it up. Laxus watched, face unmoving but arms tensing. Freed tried to make his movements look loose and uncaring as he brought the teacup to his lips. He tipped it upwards, clenching his lips shut as tight as they could be. The hot tea bumped against his lips and stung – either from the arsenic of just the heat of the drink – and he swallowed as if drinking. He could only hope that had sated them.

"Good?" Laxus asked, voice a little stilted.

"Enough," Freed dismissed. "I do wish I'd ordered something a little stronger. Though I suppose it's a little early in the day for that." He casually looked over his shoulder to the clock, to see it was eleven fifty-eight. Perfect. "To think, in two minutes it would have been perfectly fine."

"It's a bastard, for sure," Laxus grinned, gently tapping his knuckle against the table in a sign of acknowledgement.

When the clock struck twelve, they'd go.

What followed was a tense minute and a half, where they attempted to fill the silence with general conversation. Neither man touched their drinks, but it seemed Freed pretending to drink his tea had been enough to convince them that their plan was working. They talked about nothing, though their eyes darted from place to place to make sure they wouldn't be attacked before they could move. The seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity.

Eventually, the bells of the grandfather clock rung, and they both spurted into movements.

They stood, chairs flying back as they reached for their weapons. Freed felt the wind of a bullet passing past him as he shunted himself to the left, and the back cushion of the chair exploded into feathers and dust. Nobody in the café screamed nor jolted; they'd been expecting it, meaning they were all agents sent to kill them. Good, no civilians made things simple.

Freed shot the man opposite him in the chest, a little to the left of his heart. The man staggered back, dropping his own gun as the sound filled the room. Freed quickly emptied another bullet into the man's skull. One down.

Laxus grabbed Freed's shoulders and shoved him back, banging him into a table. Freed watched slightly dazed as Laxus raised his own gun and emptied some shells into an elderly man and a young woman, who had been acting as a father and daughter. The man lurched back, falling against the window that had now been splattered in blood. The woman, who had been shot in the side rather than anywhere vital, tried to rush forward. She was holding a steak knife rather than a gun, and Freed quickly picked up a serving tray and struck her in the neck with it. He did so multiple times, before she stumbled to the ground, where Freed kicked her in the head enough times to knock her out. Either that or kill her.

Nine left.

When the window shattered again from another shot from the sniper's gun, both Freed and Laxus took refuse behind the counter. Wood splintered above them, and they could hear the sound of the other agents getting closer. Gunshots were near constant, blocking off their route to the kitchen and back entrance.

A lull in the shooting came, and Freed rose above the counter with his own gun in hand. He had expected that, with the number of agents involved, they wouldn't be as well trained as Freed and Laxus, and as such had to reload at the same time. Freed quickly shot the nearest agent, a woman in her fifties who was quickly spinning the barrel of her pistol. Freed's bullet landed between her eyes, and she staggered her final movements before falling to the ground in a lifeless pile.

Laxus, in an attempt to save bullets, picked up a sharp knife that had been put aside for cleaning, and threw it through the air. It struck a nearby agent in the cheek, and he stumbled back and grabbed at the deep, bleeding gash in his jaw. Not dead, nor incapacitated, but distracted.

Another agent shoved the bleeding man forward to get a better shot at Laxus and Freed, but Laxus acted faster. This time he did use his gun, and Freed almost winced as he saw the bullet slam into his face, eyeball exploding as the man screamed in pain. He fell to the ground, crumpling up and screaming as he rolled around the floor. Freed might have felt sorry for him, but he was an assassin, so mercy was the last thing on his mind.

An explosion of glass shattered behind Freed, and he winced as glass cut into his cheek. He grabbed Laxus' shoulder and dragged him down again.

There were seven agents unharmed and two badly injured. Feasibly they could kill them all, but it was a miracle they hadn't been hurt yet and their luck would run out. They had limited bullets available, and their impromptu weapons would progressively get less and less effective. They needed to leave and run, because if they didn't then logic dictated they would be killed. The kitchen staff seemed to have fled, so they were clearly not agents, meaning they had a clear escape route. They just needed to get across to the other side of the café without being killed.

"You go first," Laxus demanded. "I'll cover."

Freed nodded, and waited for another lull in the fighting. Knowing he needed to trust Laxus, he ran across the empty café without protection, ducking down to avoid the bullets flying towards him. He heard yelling and Laxus shooting, and hoped that Laxus was the cause rather than the victim. As he ran, he picked up the eyeball-less man's gun.

Once he was ducked behind the kitchen door, he tucked the agent's gun into his belt for later use and brandished his own gun. It was his turn to provide cover for Laxus, and he started by shooting at a woman with a pistol. She yelled and clutched her shoulder, though screamed when a bullet hit her forehead.

Freed shot as best he could as Laxus ran across the room and towards the kitchen. Freed only stopped when Laxus was inside, and the door had been slammed shut. Freed went to run, but Laxus placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What?"

"They'll pursue," Laxus grunted, moving a cabinet against the door.

"Yes, that's why we're running," Freed hissed.

"We need 'em dead. It's safer."

Rather than arguing, Freed decided that Laxus was right. They might not be top agents, but anyone left alive was a hazard to them. Three of them were completely unharmed and could track them. They needed to take any advantage they could get. Freed thought for a moment, before an idea hit him.

It took him a few seconds of routing through the kitchen to find what he needed: a gas canister for the kitchen's oven, and a blowtorch for their deserts. It was nasty and cheap, but it was a bomb. He removed his tie and quickly wrapped it around the handle of the blowtorch, holding down the trigger so that the flame would be constantly ignited. He then placed the gas canister against the barricaded door, which was being banged against by the other agents.

"The torch powerful enough?" Laxus asked.

"In time, it will be," Freed nodded, resting the lit blowtorch against the metal canister. "We need to go."

They did. They ran through the winding back alleys, utilising their maze-like qualities as best they could. They couldn't be sure who was following them and how close they were, so their paces didn't waver, and their determination kept firm. Freed felt his body aching but couldn't stop, not when stopping might mean their lives were over.

Faster than expected, they reached the edge of Moskva River. They couldn't see any bridges to cross it, and running along the river to find one was practically advertising their location. Going back into the alleys wasn't a possibility, and as such they could only do one thing. They climbed the barricade and jumped in.

The water was freeing cold, and it took Freed a moment for his muscles to acclimatise. He brought himself to the surface and saw Laxus had done the same. If nothing else, the quick submersion in the water had washed most of the blood off them both. They both began to swim to the other side of the river, Freed silently plotting how they'd hide now that they were both soaking wet. No plans came to mind, and Freed found himself hoping that Laxus had an idea.

"Boat," Laxus rasped, and nodded his head. "Look like yer struggling."

Freed didn't question the demand, and his practices swimming gave way to thrashing and panicking. He put on a façade of dread, deciding to yell when he knew the boat was getting closer. Laxus wrapped his arms around him as if trying and failing to save him. The two men in the boat noticed, and were rediverting their trajectory immediately.

When the boat was close, they climbed aboard it. The men peppered them with questions, asking what had happened and if they were alright. It took them a moment to see the injuries the two men had sustained, and their weapons.

Freed raised his gun and pointed it at them. It wouldn't work, but he felt like they didn't know that.

"We're going to need your boat I'm afraid," He demanded. Laxus raised his own weapon.

"And yer clothes," Laxus added; always thinking ahead. Two men in drenched suits might be somewhat conspicuous as they traversed the waterways. Two men in fishing apparel would be less so. "Quickly."

The men, fools that they were, took the threat at face value. With stumbling hands they began to strip and hand over their clothes. Within moments, Freed and Laxus looked like any fishermen that you might see on a river, and they'd given the poor men their suits in an act of mercy. They looked absurd and cold, of course, but it was better than finding themselves naked in the streets. Not once did Laxus or Freed remove their guns from their targets.

"You will tell the authorities you were drunk, fell into the river by mistake, and that you're incredibly sorry for causing a ruckus," Freed demanded, voice icy.

"And if you mention us, we'll kill ya," Laxus threatened.

Just as one of the men went to argue, an ear-splitting explosion shook the city. A plume of smoke burst upwards behind them, and the men watched in horror and fear. Freed and Laxus didn't react, and instead nudged their guns forward and looked at the men with feral grins as screams and shouting filled the city.

---

Year: 1970 Location: UNKNOWN

Freed woke to the sound of grunting, and the now familiar sound of an axe meeting wood. He padded to the window of the small cabin, opened it, and looked down to watch as Laxus split the firewood. The man really was a sight to behold; unbridled masculinity in all of its glory. His muscles flexed and the axe splintered the wood spectacularly, and even now Freed felt a twisted thrill at the knowledge of what that man could do when called upon.

He bathed himself in the cold tin bath, and dressed quickly. He attached his gun to his belt and walked to their shared kitchen. He placed a kettle over the fire and began boiling it, walking outside and into the forest where they now called home.

The gun was pointless, in reality. They were nowhere near either of their home countries, where no doubt they had been touted as traitors and been deemed as instant kill targets. They weren't on the same damn continent, but Freed had learned his lesson about becoming complacent. It didn't matter that they were tucked away in a Scandinavian Forest, with only a small town of people knowing of their existence; he would remain armed as to best protect himself and his lover.

Also, the gun was useful in killing the dear.

Laxus grinned at him as he approached, placing the axe down and running a hand over his sweat drenched face. Freed was undeterred, kissing the man he called husband slowly and smoothly. Laxus wrapped an arm around his waist and grinned.

"Sleepin' in again, huh?" Laxus teased, still speaking his mother-tongue in his beautifully harsh accent. "Because it was your turn to cut wood today, I think."

"It was," Freed agreed. "And yet you seem to be doing it."

"Maybe I'll find a way to make you do it."

"Maybe you'll have to."

Both men smirked, tight hand's grasped tighter, and Laxus pulled Freed into a brutally incredible kiss, one he greedily returned.

[absideon-ephemeral]

II - Roommates, Commanders, and Generals.

A/N: And they were roommates - I'm sorry. The next chapter will be a lot more interesting as we finally get into the plot. And just as a heads up, THERE WILL BE NO SMUT AT ALL. Idk how to write it and I don't want to make a complete fool of myself if I do so. If I ever learn I may add some.

Warnings: mild language, curse words.

METANOIA Masterlist

——————————

Who knew a ship could be so damn big.

     I had walked and walked, following the map on my datapad to my quarters, which seemed to be on the other side of the ship. It was nearly midnight and I still hadn't reached it.

     During the entire walk, I couldn't get the strange encounter with Kylo Ren out of my head. Why had he just stared at me? What was that prickling sensation? My mind was going so fast, asking so many questions, that I almost ran into a wall. I had stopped myself just short a couple of inches from slamming right into it. I stood there, recollecting myself, as a quiet, minuscule beeping came from my datapad.

     Looking down, the beeping was signifying that I had reached my destination. In front of me were my quarters and not some random wall.

"For kriffs sake, finally," I muttered.

     I shut off my pad and went to reach for the control panel next to me, but I stopped myself from hitting the door button. Are my roommates already inside? What if they're already asleep? I don't want to get on their bad side, who knows how long I'll be rooming with them.

"Hey!"

     My head whips to the side to be met with a stormtrooper.

"What are you doing here?" They asked. From the sounds of it, the stormtrooper was female.

"I asked you a question."

"I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be rooming here." My words flew out fast and uneasy.

"Whose orders?" The stormtrooper asked.

"Head technician Ademir. He said that there were no available rooms in the technicians' quarters and that this was the first available spot," I explained.

     The stormtrooper made a noise of understanding and hit the door button on the panel. It slid open with a slight whoosh and was pitch black inside. The stormtrooper went in, turning the lights on in the process. I stood there, awkwardly, almost waiting for an invitation.

"Well, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?" The stormtrooper said.

"Uh, yeah right." I hurriedly walked in, the door closing behind me.

     The room was semi spacious. It had two dressers, three beds, each with its small nightstand; a refresher, and a window that outlooked the galaxy.

I made my way further in and sat on the bed that looked unoccupied. I sat rather stiffly as the stormtrooper began to take off her armor.

     Her helmet came off first, revealing dark skin, that almost seemed to have a honey glow to it, brown eyes, and a pretty face.

"So what's your name little technician?" She asked. Without the helmet on, I could hear an accent that was unfamiliar to me. I gave her my name and asked for hers.

"LN-7245." She answered as she continued to undress.

"LN-72- okay, that's a lot to call you by. Do you have a nickname or something I can use?" I asked.

She momentarily stopped her movements. "No. All we ever go by is our numbers." She then resumed, sitting down on the bed to take off her shin armor.

"Well, what about," I pondered for a second, "Leonora or Leo for short." She looked up at me.

"Leonora," she tested the name on her tongue, "I like it. Sounds nice. Where'd you come up with that?"

" Your number started with LN. I just took it from there and made something out of it that sounded pretty."

"Well, thank you for that." Leonora stood up, grabbed a case from under her bed, and began to pack away her armor for tomorrow.

When she finished, she grabbed some clothes, presumably sleep ones, out of the drawer on her nightstand. Before walking away to the refresher to change, she turned to the bed farthest away from me and smacked the person, who I honestly didn't even see, that was lying in it. They awoke with a start, cursing in Durese, a language known by space travelers.

"Why would you do that? I was sleeping so nicely!" They groaned. It was another female. This one had blond hair with brown streaks, blue eyes, and a pretty face as well.

"We have a new roommate. Be nice." Leonora smacked her again with her clothes and went to the refresher to change.

The girl grumbled something then turned to me, leaning back on her elbows, her head cocked to the side.

"So, what's your name?" She asked. I gave it to her. She peered at me curiously.

"You don't look like a stormtrooper." She pointed out.

I laughed. "What gave that away?"

She looked me up and down, "You don't have the body of a stormtrooper. And the way you seem to carry yourself, I'd assume you're a technician."

"Right you are." She laughed.

"I'm ZA-7283."

"Nice to meet you. Can I give you a nickname?" I asked.

"Nickname?" She asked. Leonora walked out of the refresher, dressed in comfy, all-black, nightclothes.

"She gave me one," Leo laid down on her cot, putting hands behind her head, "I'm Leonora, Leo for short." She had an air of pride around her.

The other girl gasped. "That sounds so cool! I want one too!"

"Okay, um, how about Zariah?" I suggested.

"Ooo, I like that. Makes me sound badass!" Zariah exclaimed. Leo and I laughed at her enthusiasm.

After we all calmed down, Zariah asked me a question.

"So why did they put a technician with two stormtroopers?"

I told her the same thing I told Leo.

"Ahhh okay. Well, at least you got two roommates who aren't sticks in the mud. That would've sucked." Zariah laid back down. I nodded in agreement.

—————————

"Shit, shit, shit, shit."

     I hoped to maker that there were no higher-up officials around, because if so, I would've most likely faced punishment. I was currently running through the halls like a mad man with my jumpsuit half on and struggling to carry my small tool bag.

     I had completely forgotten to set an alarm last night, causing me to wake up 20 minutes late, which is by no means acceptable. Leo and Zari left way before me, as troopers have to get up earlier than the techs, and they didn't even bother to wake me up.

So now I had to resort to dashing my way through the metal halls, weaving in and out of other technicians and stormtroopers. As I slid around a corner, I suddenly ran straight into something. The force I hit it with was enough to send me sprawling backward onto the cold metal floor. I groaned in slight pain and made an effort to sit up. Regaining my bearings, my sight is immediately met with black boots.

My blood ran cold.

Trailing my eyes up, all I see is black. Black pants, a black shirt, a black cloak, and a black helmet.

The prickling sensation returns. This time it's sifting through my mind, weaving in and out of the crevices.

Kylo Ren.

I scramble to my feet as quickly as possible and bring my arm into a salute. Once again, the black soulless eyes of his mask stare into the very depths of me.

"Please forgive me, Commander, sir!" The wavering words flew out. He said nothing, and I feared that he would whip out his lightsaber and end me right then and there. But he simply stared for a few more moments then briskly walked away, the prickling fading with him.

I watched as he left, not dropping my salute until he disappeared completely and I could no longer hear his boots on the metal floor.

When I had deemed it safe, I dropped my arm and breathed a sigh of relief. Gathering myself together, zipping up my uniform properly, and grabbing my bag, I made my way to my task for the day.

I was assigned to fix some damage in a meeting room, presumably caused by Kylo Ren during a meeting that had gone sour.

But when I walked through the doors metal blast doors, I couldn't help but curse.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

In front of me was one of the biggest messes I have ever seen. The poor innocent wallhad been slashed many times by a burning saber, leaving deep jagged lines. They crossed and weaved in and out of one another, forming some type of chaotic artwork. No matter the strange beauty, this was going to be a pain to fix.

Setting my bag down, I went closer to inspect the damage. The wiring underneath it had been damaged severely. Some areas are worse than others, but half of the underneath panels would need to be replaced.

Looking away from the wall, I took notice of a larger bag of tools and a welding cart set off of the side; free for me to use. I walk over to the bag, open it, and grab my first piece.

——————

Four hours and counting. That's how long I've been fixing this mess. And I haven't even gotten to re-welding the slashes yet.

For the last hour, I've been working in a tight space. Literally.

To fix some of the wires in one of the deeper slashes, I had to go inside the wall. It required me to remove the vent cover, which resided right below the slash near the floor, and crawl inside; upside down. It took me several tries and having to unzip my jumpsuit halfway, revealing my black under tank, and tie the sleeves around my waist to finally weasel in. My back was flat against the air vent as I worked and I could hardly hear anything. Honestly, it was a miracle I even fit. After removing the air duct lining, I was able to finally access the wires.

Which leads me up to now. I was in the process of attaching one of my last wires, peacefully working and oblivious to the outside world, when something unexpectedly nudged my foot.

The sensation made me jolt up, my head slamming into the roof of the duct.

"Kriff!" The word escaped as pain now radiated through my head. My foot was nudged again. "One moment please!" I shouted. I began to weasel my way back out, having slight difficulty due to not being able to see much.

Once I finally got my head and arms out, I sat on the ground, blinking my eyes to adjust to the harsh lighting, having been in a dark vent for the last hour.

"Did you hear me?"

My head whipped up, and I was met with someone you hoped to never meet; the infamous, General Hux.

I stood immediately, getting a slight head rush from the fast movement, and saluted. "General Hux, sir." I addressed him.

He looked at me with distaste; not pleased to see me without my uniform on properly. But there was no going back now. He looked me up and down, a frown forming on his face. He was just like I've heard him to be. Short, red-haired, and a not-so-pleasing face that was always screwed up in a face of displeasure.

He huffed and spoke again. "Did you hear me at all?" His voice was snobby and pitched.

"No sir, I couldn't hear anything in there." I curtly replied, taking notice of the men behind him. Other Generals and officers, I had never seen, but by the way they presented themselves, they were important.

"Well, I had asked what you are doing in here. This is a restricted area to those without permission." He sneered, obviously not liking me.

"I was tasked to fix this damage, sir. Some of the wirings needed to be replaced but I could only access it through the vent, sir." I remained still, keeping my salute.

"On whose orders?"

"Head technician Ademir, sir. I have the assignment on my data-pad if you wish to see, sir."

"That won't be necessary. Do you have any other tasks to do?" He was growing frustrated at my presence.

"No sir, I don't. This is my only one due to how much work it requires." I answered. He huffed and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the blast doors opening, and someone walking in. My view was blocked by the other men, but General Hux rolled his eyes, already knowing who had entered.

"Ah, Commander, how pleasant of you to join us."

[phoenixhalliwell]

Well Helloooo Nurse

Pairings: Will Miller  X Gender Neutral Reader ( Nurse Lark but goes by the name of Birdie) 

Word count: 1887

Author's Note: Good Evening all, welcome to the Will Miller show. Please be gentle as it’s my first time writing for him. I also have no idea how the inside of an ER works, i’m just winging this whole thing lmao  I hope whoever stumbles on this enjoys it :) 

Hope you don’t mind the tags: @lilacyennefer​ @cinewhore​ @dignityneeded

Thanks to his idiotic brother, Will ends up in the ER. Benny in an attempt to make amends, tries to be his wingman. 

Throwing yourself down into your chair, you let out a small cry at the relief at finally being off your feet. To say it's been a long week is an understatement. Your back is in agony, your stomach won't stop growling  and there's a throbbing pain behind your eyes . The ER has finally quietened down after a disastrous morning and you're counting down the minutes until it's home time.  

'Is it just me or is time moving slower?'

You glance at the clock. Another 20 minutes  and you are free for the next two days to do absolutely nothing. Closing your eyes you smile at the thought of the large glass of wine, warm bath and take out that awaits you when you get home. Your happiness is short lived though when you hear your name being called out.

'Urghhh, just leave me alone'

"Birdie, my good friend. How are you? You are looking fiiinnneee today, is that a new pair of scrubs."

Opening your eyes, you glare at your friend Letti who is currently batting her eyes at you. You scoff. You  know for a fact you look like shit. Your hair looks like a bird's nest ( no pun intended) and you're pretty sure that your scrubs have seen better days.

"What do you want?" you narrow your eyes at her.

"You know how you're my absolute best friend and you love me so much? Could you find it in that golden heart of yours to stay on just a little longer and cover the end of my shift. It's only a couple extra hours. I wouldn't normally ask but Scott has managed to ship the kids off to his mum's tonight and it's been so long since we've had adult time, if you catch my drift. Please. Help me out here Birdie I am dying" She begs.

'Pfft least you're getting the option for adult time' you think to yourself.  You watch as she clasps her hands to her chest and starts to give you the sad puppy dog eyes .You can feel your resolve start to crumble. Groaning, you throw your head back in defeat.

"Fine, but you owe me one and you better believe I will collect" you sigh. Letti fist pumps the air before grabbing your face and giving you a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I fucking love you Birdie. I will name my next child in your honour"  she promises.

"Yeah like I haven't heard that before" you snort, wiping your cheek. Letti suddenly thrusts a clipboard into your hand before rushing  you through your next patient, eager to get home to her husband. You're not really listening to her, nodding along  every so often as you try to decipher the chicken scratches on the paper in front of you.  

' Did a child fill in this form?'  

You hear snippets of what she is saying: "Hotter than sin..... If I wasn't married...  wouldn't be able to walk straight"

You are finally able to pick out the important information:  

Exam Room 3 - William Miller, 40, laceration to left arm.

'Ok I can work with that'

Calling out your goodbyes to Letti  and telling her to have a good time, you make your way to exam room 3 to get started. Drawing back the curtain, you step into the room and  call out

'Mr Miller?'

"Yes?" two voices answer at the same time.  

" They are talking about me Dumbass, I'm the one that's currently bleeding no thanks to you. Please excuse my brother, he was dropped on his head a lot as a child"  your patient apologises to you. You let out a snort at the quip.  It's not until you get a proper look at his face that  your laughter is quickly cut off.

'Oh' is all you can think before your mind goes blank. Sitting in front of you is a man you can only describe as an Adonis.  Even though his face is twisted slightly in pain, you would gladly stare at him  for the rest of eternity. Beautiful  blue eyes, soft blond hair, a well groomed beard. Your mind  takes you to some bad places when you think about that beard.

'Hotter than sin indeed...."  

A choked out laugh causes you to tear gaze away from William and over to the other man in the room who waves at you looking far too amused.

'Oh god, he knows I was checking out his brother' You cringe internally.

"Hi I'm Benny in case you were interested" the other man jokes. He is also a fairly attractive man  -you can see some similarities between the two. However, Benny has nothing on his brother. You shyly nod your head in greeting before making your way to Will's bedside.

"Ok Mr Miller, I am Nurse Lark. From what I could make out from your form, it says that you have a laceration on your left arm. Is this correct?"  you ask the older Miller.

"Yes that's right. Sorry about the scrawl, Benny didn't make it past the 3rd grade."  Will  teases.

"Fuck you dickhead" Benny hisses back.

"Boys, settle down, this is an ER  not a playground " you interject. Both men mumble their apologise and you try not to laugh. Gently picking up Will's arm, you turn his arm left to right to get an idea of  the extent of his injury. He's lucky in the fact it's not too deep. Unfortunately it cuts directly through the tattoo on his lower arm. Potentially a future scar but that was out with your control. Raising your head, you notice how close you are to each other's faces. Will stares back at you and you lose yourself for a minute.

"For fuck sake, get a room" You hear Benny mutter behind you. You cough and busy yourself getting the equipment you need to start patching Will up.

"I'm sorry but this might hurt a little"  you warn him in advance.

" Don't worry about me, I'm tough as nails " He smiles reassuring you.

You nod before getting started. So focused on your work, you didn't notice Will admiring you from where he sat. He liked the way  your eyes never wavered from your task despite Benny blabbering on in the background. How your nimble fingers made quick work of his wound. He thought the way you stuck your tongue out slightly in concentration was the cutest thing.

Benny was quick to notice his brother's heart eyes and started snickering.

" You know what Will? Maybe if you're a good boy the nice nurse will kiss it better once they are done"

You glance up in time to see Will's face turn scarlet. 

'Just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter'

"That's it, Benny get out now!" Will  growled.

Benny sighs dramatically and sulks out the room but not without muttering "just trying to help you get laid dickhead". You glance back at Will who is now staring up at the ceiling, looking as though he wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

"It's days like these I really wish my parents had got me a puppy instead of a little brother"

"Well from what I've seen of him so far, the man is basically a gold retriever in human form" you joke back. The laugh he lets out catches you off guard.

'I  could get used to that sound.'

You had to stop yourself from sighing and scolded yourself for acting like a love sick fool instead of the professional you are.

The conversation came easy for you both after that.  You started by telling him your name before the both of you shared little tidbits about each other. Will seemed like an interesting man from what information he gave. He was funny and incredibly smart.

'He's perfect'  is all you could think. However, it didn't take long after Benny got asked to leave to finish patching the rest of Will's arm up.  

"Well Mr Miller, I guess that's you done. Please make sure to keep the area as clean as possible and have someone help you change your bandages"

You feel sad at the idea of him leaving. It is evident that he feels the same by the way he stalls collecting his things. He looks like he's debating with himself before he finally turns to you looking determined.

" Would you maybe like to go to dinner with me sometime? I know we haven't met under the best circumstances but I had a really great time talking with you. I'd end up hating myself if I didn't at least ask"

Your heart races at the question and you don't hesitate to tell him yes. His face lights up and you find yourself falling a little more for Will Miller. Grabbing a pen from your top pocket, you hastily write down your phone number and hand it to Will. You both wish each other goodnight before parting ways. You find yourself grinning and bite your lip to try and contain your glee.

" Guess  I will be naming my first child Letti"

 Outside the hospital

Benny leans against the wall (pouting like a child) and waits for his brother . He still can't believe he got thrown out of the room. It feels like forever and a day before Will finally makes his appearance with a smug grin on his face.

'He looks like the cat that got the cream'

' What's with the grin man? Did they give you the good shit for the pain or something?"

Will shakes his head before showing Benny the piece of paper in his hand. A set of digits.

"William, you sly dog" Benny laughs in delight before he slaps Will's arm. He's quick to realise his mistake when his brother grunts in pain clutching his bad arm. Benny panics and makes to touch him but is stopped in his tracks.

"Don't . Fucking . Touch me.  Just get in the fucking car. " Will hisses. He marches off to the car park, swearing under his breath.

'Well that victory was short lived' Benny thinks, following his brother.

Bonus Scene - Date night

'Is it just me or is time moving slower?'

You glance at the clock for what feels like the millionth time. Another 10 minutes before Will is suppose to arrive. It's been so long since you were last on a date and you can't remember being this nervous. You look down at your outfit and run a hand over it to make sure there wasn't any creases. Will had text earlier to let you know to dress casual for your evening out but wouldn't give you any more information. The sound of the doorbell interrupts your thoughts and you let out a nervous giggle.  Trying not to seem too eager, you give yourself a beat before  opening the door. You feel yourself go weak in the knees. Will is dressed to impress - A black leather jacket over a soft grey t-shirt with a nice pair of black jeans that does wonders for him. He lets out a soft laugh at the way you are blatantly eyeing him up before doing the same to you. He lets out a low whistle.

"Well hellooo nurse"