#i have a balance board too and that's really helped my coordination (and really!! makes me look forward to the day i finally learn to surf)

[chaoticsoft]

I am one long-held breath these days, waiting.

[stingrayextraordinaire]

I just wanted to let you know how much I admire and am inspired by your work! I've recently started trying my hand at mood boards, and while I continue to kind of "study" how they are put together, I was wondering if you might share a "rule of thumb" or tip for a beginner, perhaps pertaining to color coordination across the images. :)

Friend, this is so kind of you!! I'm honored that you enjoy the moodboards. Congrats on starting to make some of your own! The best general rule I can give is to just start making them and learning from your own mistakes, because nothing beats that :)

For color coordination, I usually pick a theme color (gold, for example) and try to choose pictures that have that color in them somehow. Some of the photos might be primarily gold, and some might just have a little touch of gold. Either way, it keeps the colors coordinated.

Next, I choose some secondary colors to complement the color scheme. If I want a radiant warm-toned board, I would blend the gold theme with hints of red, orange, or brown. If I want a cool-toned board, it would be blue, green, silver, lavender, etc. Sometimes I do single-toned (pure gold) or dual-toned (gold and black only, for example), but generally I go with at least three colors to make the board feel balanced. If you find a photo you really want to use, you can always color / shade / tint it to get the color you want. LunaPic is a great free editing site that allows you to do this!

As far as arranging my pictures, I try not to group photos that are too similar in the same corners of the board. For example, if I'm using 4 photos with a long-haired girl, I would spread those photos throughout the moodboard (maybe one in each corner, or in a T shape) so they feel natural. The same goes for photos with similar colors, shapes, symbols, etc. They should all be organized in a way that draws attention to the photo itself, not the ones around it.

Finally, I usually try to tell a story through my moodboards. Even if I don't know what the story is when I start, I come up with it as I'm going. This isn't necessary for boards that are based on existing stories (like fairytales or movies), but when you're doing something like a Bath and Body Works scent or a nursery rhyme with very little context, you can breathe life into that board by creating a story in your head. That keeps your photos consistent and connects with your audience by drawing them in, rather than just choosing a series of nine pictures with the same aesthetic.

I hope this is helpful! There are plenty of subtle tricks to the trade, but I'm sure you'll discover your own methods as you start. Hopefully these tips will be a good starting point :) Best of luck with your boards, and please let me know if I can give any more help!!

[awesomefroggy]

The Mighty Nein's MtG Decks

Because apparently my current niche is oddly specific headcanons and also @fluffmonger asked. These are all gonna be commander decks because that's what I play. @qumulox helped too.

Fjord- Galea, Kindler of Hope. Equipment tribal to the max, with all kinds of Hexproof this and Protection from [COLOR] that. He has strong feelings on deck composition and ratios, and he's very meticulous about it. He keeps everything in Dragon Shield sleeves and Boulder boxes color coordinated with the deck's colors, and he's had the one same UltraPro playmat for years and doesn't see why people change them.

Beau- Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow. Just to be rude as hell. You'd think she'd have a monk deck, but they're too slow and don't pack enough oomph. Beau will claim she just tossed it together, but in reality she spent hours on EDHRec and Reddit pulling together an optimized list. She's got one of the schmancy premuim leather mats that's cobalt blue, but she balances out the bougie by using $3 UltraPro sleeves.

Caleb- Yes. That isn't a card name, Caleb is just 100% your deck brewing buddy who never keeps a deck longer than two meetups and is constantly noodling with something new. Sometimes it's aggressively potent. Sometimes it's trash. Sometimes he makes a Group Huh?? deck just for shits and giggles. But you can always count on him playing on a pristine cat themed playmat, and his Satin Towers are somehow always immediately damaged.

Veth- Grenzo, Dungeon Warden. Full aggressive red/black that is just mean (and she thinks it's funny to use the Goblin Rogue). Flood the board with dudes, and as many sacrifice spells as needed. She throws Treasure mechanics in there for funsies and uses buttons as the tokens. She doesn't sleeve her deck or use a playmat, if only to watch Caleb wince as she riffle shuffles.

Jester- Toski, Bearer of Secrets. Jester has a squirrels deck because of course she does. She also makes decks based on the art, and they're much better than they have any right to be. The sleeves? Custom printed with Traveler art. The playmat? She did her own rendition of the cover of Tusk Love and got that custom printed too. Jester also paints custom card alters.

Molly- Nymris, Oona's Trickster. His whole theme is just stacking his deck and doing card tricks with anything that has Flash. The whole deck is either foil, Secret Lairs, and/or whatever he finds the prettiest, but also he keeps the whole thing in Pokémon sleeves he traded a kid for and he plays on a Vanguard mat that got left behind at a shop. The deck is in a sandwich bag and he never bothered to get a tube for the mat. Side note, Molly is 100% the type of person who has a very nicely proxied Black Lotus in a penny sleeve with a staple through it just to fuck with people.

Caduceus- The Gitrog Monster. This firbolg can play so much Golgari. It's all life, death, the land, pulling things from the graveyard, building from what you sacrifice. Caduceus keeps his cards neatly in nice mint Dragon Shields and a pretty wood and resin box he found on Etsy. He plays on a cloth playmat he found there too.

Kingsley- Zacama, Primal Calamity. Kingsley made a dinosaur deck in Ixalan and was set for life. He also threw a treasure subtheme into his just for giggles. Kingsley picked some anime sleeves for something he'd never heard of before because he thought it was hilarious, and his playmat was swiped from a freebie bag of Playmats Long Lost at a game shop. A habit that goes across souls? Keeping decks in a sandwich bag.

Yasha- Oloro, Ageless Aescetic. It's just a numbers game. Yasha really only plays because her friends do, so she just gains life until she gets bored and starts slamming people with Aetherflux Reservoir. She's got a beautiful mat that is a print of Jester’s flower mural, and she's got awesome lighting bolt sleeves.

Essek- Sen Triplets This man is not here to fuck around. It's just hard control all the way down. He's got a Grand Arbiter Augustin IV in there "because it's synergistic." Listen man. Essek Thelyss is that rude bitch who rolls up with a leather gaming bag, a vermaloc purple heart deck box and a purple leather playmat and custom sleeves and has the nerve to turn his nose up at your UltraPro mat.

[treesnutsandleaveswrites]

Aftermath

Pairing: The Bad Batch x Reader (Polyam)

Summary: It’s been a year or so since you left the Batch (caught up with the series timeline, some SPOILERS) Warning: Mentions of death, shooting, yelling, angst, fluff, mentions of slavery, minor TBB SPOILERS

Word Count: 2048

A/N: D-5 is supposed to be a rendition of D-O, which i know isn’t really canon haha

pt xii, pt xiv

XXXXXXX

You rushed through the forest quickly, speaking into your com device.

“I’m making my way to you! Be ready!” You instructed.

“Give me a sec.”

“You have 3 feet to be ready, I’m nearly there!”

“I-”

You burst through the foliage of the forest and grabbed the blaster from your teammate’s waist before shooting the enemies chasing you. You huffed and glared back at them.

“You told me you were good at this!”

“Look, I don’t do short distances!” He tried to explain.

“You’re a damn sniper, snipers do any distance with a clear shot!” You turned to the ship to another teammate, “Everyone on board?”

“Locked and loaded. This might be our last batch for a while…”

“I know.” You sighed, “Get on, we’re leaving.”

“When the Empire said they were gonna make things better, I expected Caetum to be up and running smoothly.”

“The Empire is all the same as the others who tried to keep ‘order’.” You muttered while taking off your helmet, “Let’s just get out of here.”

“This really was your home planet?” A teammate queried.

You nodded, holding onto something as the ship took off. Once you were steady in open space, you moved to the storage part of the ship where there were multiple people huddled together.

“Is everyone alright?” You hung a small lantern to illuminate their faces more.

“Thank you…” An elderly woman said and you smiled, holding her hands in yours as you crouched down.

“I wish I could’ve saved more…”

“You have done so much for us… your name already lingers…”

“The Great Lodestar.” A man spoke up, “I heard from one of the troopers that other planets were talking about you…”

“I… have freed others, but it’s still not enough.”

“It takes time.” The woman assured, “Go and rest.”

You took a moment before leaving the storage room and making your way towards the cockpit.

“We’ve set a course for the Ocsalev System. Ready when you are, Lodestar.”

You nodded, “Make the jump.”

*******

Hunter jumped slightly from a dream in one of the chairs in front of the computers. It was always a constant dream about you… his cyare. He was sure the other boys had such dreams too. It took nearly a month for Wrecker to stop screaming your name in his sleep…

“Hunter? You okay?” Omega’s voice caught his attention as she made her way towards him from the gunner’s mount.

He nodded with a gentle smile before sitting straight up. She furrowed her brows for a moment before humming and opening the cockpit door, which urged Hunter to enter also.

“We’re almost at the coordinates Cid gave us. Odd, she never sets us up on missions where we need help from other mercenaries.” Tech remarked.

“We’re not mercenaries.” Hunter muttered but Omega giggled.

“I think you have to face it, Hunter, we are.”

He sighed before sitting in his seat as Wrecker walked in.

“We almost there yet?”

“Just approaching, it’s best you sit. No need for another head injury.” Echo joked.

“We don’t have to worry about no inhibitor chip anymore!”

“But we do have to worry about how much bacta and ice packs we use on you.” Tech rolled his eyes while easing the ship into the planet’s atmosphere, “Gentlemen, and madam, welcome to the Ocsalev System.”

They landed the Havoc Marauder at a simple docking bay before making their way into the city.

“Stay close, kid.” Hunter ordered as he led the group through the busy streets.

It was fairly crowded with people going in and out of buildings or rushing through the streets. Omega admired the commotion and looked around, but the boys made sure to urge her through the crowds. To her, this city was very different from Ord Mantell, having a lack of technology and more of a natural kick to it. Houses were built around trees and into the side of the mountain, which made Omega want to explore more.

“The device says to go in here to find this so-called ‘Kapu’.”

The batch nodded before making their way into the small shop, seeing it crowded with many different weapons and droid parts. There was an alien at the head of the shop, which boggled Omega.

“What is he? He has so many arms.”

“A besalisk…” Echo explained quietly, “The female ones have up to eight arms.”

They approached the counter as the besalisk worked on a small device, using its multiple arms to hold parts and tools. Hunter cleared his throat.

“We’re looking for Kapu. We were sent by Cid.”

The besalisk nodded while looking up at them, “Clones? Huh, never thought Cid would give clones a chance!” He laughed, “Yeah, I’m Kapu. Come with me and we’ll meet the person who’ll be joining you on your mission.” He urged them with his multiple arms while walking through the back door of the shop. There was a small transport waiting with an Ewok driver. The ewok started yelling in its native language toward Kapu.

“I told you they’d get here when they get here! And here they are! Now come on! Let’s go!” Kapu got into the passenger's seat while the Batch piled up in the back, “Better hold on to something, he’s blind in one eye.”

The batch looked at each other nervously before the transport speeded off out of the city. They arrived at the base of the mountain and followed Kapu towards the small house built into it.

“She just came back from a mission, so let’s hope she’s in a good mood.” He knocked on the door, “I’m coming in, kid!”

He swung the door open, hitting a small droid.

“Aw gee, D-5, what were you doing there?!” Kapu groaned, picking the droid up.

The batch looked around the small house. It was hardly full with anything but basic living necessities. Omega immediately noticed the armor sitting on the table, admiring the visor of the helmet. She picked it up and looked at it closely.

“Wow, this helmet is really similar to yours, Echo! But it has some modifications similar to Tech’s, like the mouth guard, and a sniper’s glass like Crosshairs.”

Kapu placed the droid down and called out again, “Girl, where are you?!”

“I’m here, hold on!” You groaned, “I literally just got back, can’t I have some time?”

“No, boys from Cid are here.”

“Cid? Since when did you start taking jobs from Cid again?”

“Just get out here!” Kapu scolded, sitting down to look at D-5.

You walked through the back door and looked at him, “Did you break my droid again?!”

“He was in the way. These are Cid’s boys.”

You looked up and your breath caught in your throat from the sight in front of you. Hunter was there with Echo and Tech behind him, who were as shocked as you. Wrecker was busy looking at the helmet with Omega, but then Echo hit the side of his head.

“Ow! I thought you said you didn’t want any more head inj-” Wrecker got up and looked at you.

“Kapu, take the kid out back, she’ll help you fix D-5…”

Omega looked to Hunter, who nodded. She followed Kapu out and you closed the door gently behind them before turning back to the batch. You then moved closer to where Hunter was still standing with his brothers.

“I… I know this looks bad…” You stuttered, tears coming to your eyes, “I-I couldn’t let you-”

Hunter had engulfed you into a tight hug and sighed into your shoulder. You were rendered speechless, but returned the hug once you processed what was happening.

“Oh, cyare…” He whispered, pulling away slightly and placing his forehead against yours, “My love…”

After he let you go, Echo hugged you tight. Then Tech. Finally, Wrecker… who kneeled down in front of you and hugged you while digging his face into your stomach.

“We thought we lost you, ad’ika.”

“I’m so sorry…” You whispered, “I should’ve left something to explain, but I didn’t want the Kaminoans to do anything to any of you…”

“It was about the inhibitor chips… wasn’t it?” Echo asked.

You looked at him for a moment before nodding, “Yes…”

“Omega told us about them.” Hunter explained as you all settled down to talk, “Order 66… that’s what they were put in for…”

“To betray the Republic.”

“No. To kill the Jedi.” Echo explained.

“The Jedi?”

“Palpatine said the Jedi betrayed the Republic… tried to assassinate him.”

You shook your head, “No. No-”

“Rex explained it to us a bit further.”

“Rex? Rex is alright?”

“Yeah… we still had the chips in because they didn’t work for us during Order 66.”

“But Rex said we needed to take them out. They were still dangerous. We learned that through Wrecker and his multiple head injuries.” Tech stated.

You took a moment before looking back to them, “Cross… on Caetum, I heard the troopers talking about their new clone commander: Crosshair…”

“Yeah, his chip was working for him, then the Kaminoans improved it’s signal and now he’s with the Empire.”

“Wait, did you say Caetum?” Wrecker asked, “You went to stop the Separatists?”

You sighed, “I needed some time to get some credits and settle… but the Empire got there before I did and nothing really improved. I just got back from one of my last missions there, liberating people so they aren’t enslaved again… But there’s still so many that need help.”

“You’ve been busy, then?” Echo smiled which caused you to smile.

“I guess… but the last mission was a mess and I can’t go back anymore. The Empire is… more controlling than the Republic. They almost caught us last time.”

“‘Us’? You have a new team?”

“No, just some other mercenaries in it for money. Nothing exclusive.”

They all nodded and Wrecker spoke up, “Then maybe you could come back with us! Be a Batcher again!”

“Let’s not get too rash, Wrecker. We still need to get this job done.”

You nodded, “We’ll talk more after. Let’s go see what we’re in for.”

Wrecker cheered and you all walked out of the house. You saw Omega and Kapu sitting against your speeder while D-5 was rolling around.

“We fixed him up.” Kapu smiled.

“Thanks, his balance module was a bit out of place, maybe that was why he got hit by the door.”

“The kid did most of the work, actually.”

You nodded and looked at her, “Omega, right?”

“Yep. And… you’re ‘cyare’ according to Hunter.”

You laughed, “To him, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo… but you can call me Lodestar.”

“Good, ‘cause that would have been weird if I had to start calling you ‘darling’ or something like that.”

You shrugged, “I wouldn’t mind.”

You both laughed before turning to Kapu with the boys as he explained the job.

*******

You fastened the last bit of your armor before picking up your helmet and heading back to your speeder. Omega was sitting in the back while helping Tech with something. Kapu lent two speeder bikes for Wrecker and Hunter to use so you all wouldn’t be packed in the speeder. You walked over to Hunter as he flipped his knife and grinned as he looked you over in slight shock.

“Weird seeing me in armor, huh?”

He smirked, “I think it’s about time, Lodestar.”

You shoved him playfully before he caught you and wrapped an arm around your waist.

“I’m surprised you all have warmed up to seeing me again. I was actually expecting to be yelled at by you or Echo.”

“We’ve been through a lot recently, yelling won’t make anything better...”

“If Crosshair were here, we’d go at it for sure.”

He nodded with a small hum, which made you cup his face, “Omega told me you had to leave him behind on Kamino… It’s okay, we’ll get him back.”

He nodded, leaning in to give you a kiss, but Kapu called.

“You better get going! Almost sundown!”

You turned to acknowledge him before turning back to Hunter, “We’ll have some time after the mission… I promise.”

You got into the speeder as Wrecker and Hunter started up their bikes.

“See you in the morning!” Kapu called, urging D-5 inside.

You put your helmet on before driving off.

XXXXXXX

Taglist: @darkangel4121 @lightning-wolffe @alucas528 @rintheemolion @shadowfoxey @butch-medusae @gabile18

[spencerreidsmiles]

Skater Boy Spencer Reid

Written by: spencerreidsmiles

Howdy, howdy! I am very slowly going through my remaining requests. This request was for prompts 38, 41, and 47 on the fluff prompt list here. You’ll see them bolded throughout the story!

Also, a short side note that I have no idea how to skateboard at all! This is solely based off my intensive research (/s) on how to skateboard, so if this isn’t accurate, I’m sorry!

Summary - The reader teaches Spencer how to skateboard.

Content Warnings - blood, minor injury, light teasing

Word Count - 1737

MASTERLIST // WATTPAD VERSION

“Skateboarding? Of all things you could’ve chosen, skateboarding?”

“Oh come on, Spencer, you never know, you might be good at it,” you replied, yanking at his shirt sleeve. 

Spencer glanced at you with a slightly withering glare. It was a look you were very familiar with; if there was one thing you enjoyed more than anything else in the world, it was teasing Spencer. It was just so easy to tease him, so why wouldn’t you?

But amidst all the teasing about the skateboarding, there was a part of you that knew Spencer Reid would make an excellent skater boy. 

You leaned closer to Spencer, looking up with the biggest puppy eyes you could muster and a big pout. 

“Remember when I saved your ass? You owe me, Spencer,” you said, emphasizing each word with a poke to his chest. “You said you would do whatever I wanted.”

Spencer glanced away with a pout. “Fine, whatever you like.” 

“Hm, I knew you would say that.” You grinned with satisfaction and squeezed his cheeks. “I’ll see you at the skate park tomorrow! Don’t forget your knee pads!” 

Spencer did not, in fact, forget his knee pads. (Not that forgetting things was something Spencer usually did.) And even though you had told him to bring his knee pads, you couldn’t help but laugh when you saw him walk - no, waddle - up in matching purple knee pads, elbow pads, and a helmet. He looked long and gangly and awkward in his gear with his usual converse and for once, a tee shirt and shorts. You hadn’t ever seen him in any of these clothes before but you had to admit, you definitely weren’t disliking it. 

“You look really good. Color coordinated too,” you said with a big smile as you knocked the side of his helmet with your knuckles. 

“You like it?” Spencer beamed. He did a little spin, the clasps of his helmet twirling around. 

“It’s perfect for you. Honest.” You kicked up your spare board, catching the top. “But let’s get down to business. I’m going to make you a skater boy by the end of the day, Spencer Reid. That is a promise.”

You handed the board over to Spencer. It was old and scraped up from years of use and many, many wipeouts. When you’d first bought it years ago, it was red and shiny, but now the red had faded away, leaving only a wooden board with strips of red remaining. The wheels were still functional, if a bit wonky, but perfect for learning on. 

For someone who claimed to have absolutely zero athletic ability, Spencer was quite good at skateboarding. Well, to be fair, he hadn’t actually started skateboarding for real yet. You started him off by placing a single foot onto the board with the other still fully intact with the ground, but it was a start. He got a feel for what it felt like to bend his knees and push his weight around to move the board. But now he had to put both feet on the board and actually skateboard.

“Y/N, look! I’m doing it!” Spencer said as he hopped around on one leg while scooting with his other on the board. 

You couldn’t help but smile. The childlike glee Spencer was exuding could make anyone smile. He carted himself around the perimeter of the skate park as you trailed behind him, keeping a careful eye on him. 

“Alright, Spencer. Well here comes the hard part. Give me your hands, you’re going to put both feet on the board now.” 

Instantly, Spencer’s smile was replaced with a worried expression. He put his foot down on the ground and paused in front of you. 

“What?” he asked. You brushed aside some of Spencer’s hair that had escaped his helmet, accidentally brushing his cheek as well. Shivers tickled your spine and unfamiliar goosebumps covered your body. 

“Hey, I got you. Trust me, okay?” you said.

“Okay.” Spencer nodded and placed his hands in yours. 

“Now push off with your right foot, then put it back on the board, and I’ll pull you, got it?” you directed. 

With a silent gulp, Spencer did as you said. He bent his knees and pushed off with his right foot before placing it back on his board. You started walking backwards and pulled Spencer forward. Slowly, you started walking back faster and faster until you had started to jog. 

“Spencer, you’re doing it! You’re doing it!” you exclaimed. 

Without saying another word, you let go of Spencer’s hands. And for a minute, he was actually doing it, actually skating around with both feet firmly planted onto the board and arms spread out like wings. You were so busy admiring him you didn’t even notice that he had begun to lose balance and wobble.

“Y/N! How do I stop!” he shouted, reaching his hands out for you.

“Oh shoot! Hold on!” 

You started running back towards him, but you were too late. Spencer had already leaned too far ahead. He started making circles with his hands, flapping around in an attempt to keep his balance. Just as you grabbed his hands, the board kicked out from under him and both of you fell flat onto the asphalt. 

You had your eyes closed while you were falling, so when you opened them to find Spencer’s face only a couple inches above yours and his body on top of yours, you nearly screamed. You had never been this close to Spencer in your entire life. Surely if he was this close, he could hear your heart beating out of your chest, no? You were breathless but you weren’t quite sure if it was because you were being squished by Spencer or because of how close you were to him. 

Spencer, however, was completely frozen. His hands were placed right beside your head and he was staring, just staring, straight at you. His caramel curls hovered right above your face, blowing gently from the wind. 

“Hi,” you said breathlessly. 

“Are you okay?” he whispered. 

“I’ll be honest, you are crushing me right now.” 

“Oh, sorry!” Spencer rolled off of you, landing on his butt, cross-legged on the ground. You wriggled yourself up and watched as Spencer dusted himself off. 

When you finally made eye contact, you couldn’t help but start laughing. You were just replaying the image of Spencer slipping over and over again. It was incredible. 

“That was the most ridiculous fall I’ve ever seen, Spencer, my god.” 

You leaned back, holding your stomach as you laughed. Just before you fell over completely again, Spencer caught your hand. From that single touch, electricity shot from your fingertips into the rest of your body. The sensation nearly scared you for how good it felt, how alive it made you feel. Touching Spencer felt like you were skating without even getting on a board. You never wanted to let go. 

But Spencer did. He pulled back, forehead scrunching as he winced. 

“What’s wrong?” you asked. But then you saw it, his poor hands all torn up from the fall. They were rubbed raw with speckles of red dotting his palms. “Oh my gosh, Spencer, your hands!” 

“I’m fine,” he said. He looked at his own palms, flexing it, moving it around.

“No, come here, at least let me clean it,” you said as you stood up. “Come on, I have a first aid kit in my bag.”

You led Spencer to a bench with all of your things. As you cleaned his palms, wiping them with antiseptic wipes and bandaging them, you could feel Spencer’s eyes watching you. 

After years of working for the FBI, going on case after case for years, Spencer’s hands were rough and calloused. There were scars, too many for you or him to remember where and when they came from now, blending in with the creases of his hands. But still, they were comforting, familiar.

“One more try, okay? I believe in you. No more wipeouts.” You finished bandaging his hands with a gentle pat. Spencer pretended to pout, giving you a half-meaning glare. 

“Oh come on, you’re okay. Do you need a kiss to make it better?” you teased. 

“What?” Spencer’s face flushed. 

“I’m kidding.” You pushed his shoulder lightly all whilst thinking that for the first time (or at least the first time you had truly acknowledged it) you weren’t really joking at all. “Now come on, one more try.”

Spencer was more hesitant this time, but he reached for your hands again. He placed one foot on the board, already beginning to wobble. Come on, Spencer, you can do it, you thought to yourself. He glanced at you as he took a deep breath. 

And he did. Spencer soared around the whole park. He was like a natural as he swerved around with outstretched arms. The sound of the wheels sliding against the pavement surrounded you as Spencer removed his back foot from the board and stopped without flying off the board right in front of you. 

“You did it, Spencer!” You ran up to Spencer and enveloped him in a massive hug. 

Spencer returned your hug, throwing his arms around you tightly. His knee pads knocked against your legs as he pulled you closer to him. He smelt of coffee and baby powder under the sweat and dirt and twinge of blood that lingered in the air. As you stayed there wrapped up in his arms, you wondered if it was possible to stay here forever in the comfort you never knew was so close. 

The two of you finally decided to leave when the sun started to beat down on your backs. While Spencer was prepared for almost everything, apparently the two things he hadn’t thought about were guard gloves and sunscreen. Spencer grabbed the board, resting it comfortably under his arm. 

As you went to get your bag, Spencer tapped your shoulder and spoke. “So uh, can we do this again next week?”

Your heart skipped a beat. “I would love that, Spencer. And who knows, you might be better than me soon.”

Spencer looked down with a growing smile on his face. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” you said, fearlessly grabbing Spencer’s hand.

You walked away with satisfaction, thinking to yourself only one thing; you were right, Spencer Reid did make an excellent skater boy.

TAG LIST - @reiding-and-writing @twelveyearoldchildprodigy @philsreidingglasses @marshmellow-mouse  @huntynut-queerios  @sierra—king  @thnksfrbuckybarnes  @hope-hopr @rosyreid @scbcar @ultrarebelheart @headshotsandcanons @lyrasilverroseelizabethamanti @heyitskatrina @mainstreamqueen @prettyrickyreid @theresnothingformehere @donuts1324 @lookingforgalifrey @doyouheardeansing @stunudo @captainreid @little-pan-trash-can @the-one-and-onlyqueenasf @the-and-sign-anon @princesswagger17 @spoonsandthings14 @nerdyfandom20 @spencerreidsbitch @irjuejjsaa @philspinkyfinger @peter-parker-steve-bucky @biscottibitch @bucky-smiles @youngmalfunctionarts @spacedustdoll @shotarosleftpinky @jjwrites @rosyreid-blog @essayzine-blog @spencerreid9 @madsgraygubler @no-alarms-no-surprises-silence

[hornedsimp]

Ayeee its ya boi, schlatt addict-

So last year I got my foot caught in a bear trap, and I was just thinking about if the reader got hurt during a fight with another mc youtuber (in game ofc) and schlatt finds them really badly hurt, and he has to take care of them. Bc they can't walk and ya know ✨b l o o d✨

So yeah thats my idea, peace ✌

Oh dear god, I hope that everything it’s alright with your leg now!

Thanks for taking the time to request this, it’s so soft and I love it so much!

I hope you like it!

--------------------------------

Jschlatt x Reader (Fluff)

--------------------------------

Warnings: Cursing, mention of alcohool, light level of violence at the beggining.

That's what I got, but if you see anything that you want me to put in the warnings please let me know

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You had gotten into a pretty bad fight with Willbur after Schlatt had announced the festival, you were walking around the city, to make sure everything was fine when you had spotted him at the top of a tree, his eyes once so caring filled with rage.

You knew that wasn't the Willbur you met long ago, and since you were on Schlatt's side now, you went to confront him, it didn't end up well for you.

No one was expecting to fight on the day of the announcement, for that reason you weren't with your netherite armor, only wearing the black suit you liked so much to seem more serious.

It was a pretty suit, yes, but it didn't work well against arrows and a diamond sword, granted, you couldn't even imagine how Willbur got his hands on a diamond sword when he was wearing the dirtiest outfit you've seen in ages.

Nonetheless, the fight dragged through the forest, as both of you were screaming at each other, Willbur trying to make you see how he was the victim of the system, trying to get back to the country he loved so much, while you were trying to explain why the rules were made to keep him away.

When he stopped trying to convince you that he wasn't doing anything bad, and started to attack you with more rage than before, you knew you were right since the beginning, Willbur had gone mad in his exile.

He shouted curses at you, throwing punches in your direction until he could trip you and hold you down on the ground, he got his sword with hands trembling, a dangerous smile on his face as he put the sword at the top of your chest, you tried to move, tears forming in your eyes as you screamed trying to get him to lose his balance so you could escape.

It was to no avail, you could feel the sword slowly making contact with your skin, the pain running through your skin slowly, almost taunting you to do something to stop it.

You bit hard on the inside of your cheeks, tasting your own blood trying to not focus on the pain, it would only get worst and worst, you closed your eyes waiting for the blackness to swallow you whole right after Wilbur pierced through your chest, but the void never came to take you out.

What came instead was another sudden wave of pain, this time concentrating on your leg, as you opened your eyes, you could see the blood running through your chest, but what got your attention, was the sword impelled at your leg, there was blood everywhere, your clothes ripped in many places where Willbur had attacked you.

And thinking about the devil, he was gone, no words or apologies, no shadow lurking behind the trees to see if you would survive, simply gone.

As the adrenaline in your body started to go down, and the pain got bigger, your eyes started to close, they felt too heavy, but you knew deep down you couldn't pass out from the pain in the middle of the forest, so you did the only thing you could think of.

You called Schlatt for help, since your arms weren't too damaged to move, you grasp on the small string of consciousness to open the message board everyone could use as a sort of direct link to each other.

Typing out your coordinates you pressed sent, letting your hands fall limp close to your body, and finally letting yourself crave the dark embrace that awaited for you, telling yourself that it would be fine once schlatt found you, your vision turned dark, and you blacked out.

-------------------------------------------------------

When you woke up again, you were in a large room, in a massive bed, with lots of blankets organized messily around you, there was an enormous window from where you could see Manberg in all of its glory, as you were trying to get a better view by moving, the door of the room opened, revealing schlatt, with a tired expression carrying a small plate with what seemed to be mushroom soup.

"What the fuck you think you're doing woman?" He asked with his loud voice practically running to your side.

"Trying to get up?" You asked still trying to move your body to at least sit on the bed more comfortably.

"Yeah that's the fucking problem dumb bitch, you can't move or else the stitches can get worst." Schlatt argued putting the plate on the bed table at your side.

He pulled the blankets off of you so you could see the white bandages covering your leg, quickly you pulled your shirt a little so you could peek at your chest, there was also white bandages firmly wrapped in your torso, you looked at schlatt, feeling your face get hot as you pieced together the pieces of what probably had happened after you blacked out alone in the forest.

Before you could say anything about the whole situation though, Schlatt let out a sigh, rolling his eyes dramatically.

"Don't ever think about that, I asked Nikki to help with the bandages, and she is the one that dresses you up on some spare clothes she had with her."

You could feel yourself relax at that, nodding your head slightly Schlatt approached you, moving his hands so he could support your torso and pull you up, making you sit on the bed, after making sure you were comfortable enough the hybrid handed you the small plate with the soup.

"Nikki thinks you're going to be able to walk in two weeks, but if you have any problem with the wound, it can take three weeks or more, you can stay here while you're healing." Schlatt says before leaving the room.

You blink a few after he leaves, your face still a little hot as you think about how careful he held you to help you move your body, deciding to not give yourself a headache thinking about it, you start to eat the soup, only to be interrupted again by Schallat entering the room.

He was carrying a shit ton of magazines and random books, the hybrid crossed the room to come to the other side of the bed and let all of the magazines down at your side, he sat right beside you and moved the magazines around so you could see all of the titles.

" I also thought... you could get bored, so I got some shit for you to read if you want to." Schlatt said with a proud smile.

You could only smile in return and offer a quiet "thanks" as you went back to eat the soup, after you finished Schlatt quickly took the place and went out to the kitchen as you moved around a little, picking a random magazine you moved the others away so there could be more space for the president in the bed.

You knew he wouldn't leave your side, not until you were completely okay again, he was just looking out for you in his way, standing close and making sure you wouldn't have any problem in your recovery.

Just as you expected, he came back soon after leaving the plate at the sink, he sat once again beside you, putting his head at your shoulder you hummed quietly, moving your hand so you could caress the side of his face.

You had learned long ago that the ram hybrid was pretty touch starved, although he kept the charade of a tough guy that doesn't need anything else other than his whiskey, you've been on his side for what seemed like forever now.

Schlatt took your hand, placing a soft kiss on your wrist before moving his head, headbutting you lightly to gain your attention, you moved your gaze from the current magazine on your lap to his face.

"Don't ever do this again to me alright?" He said in a more serious tone, his fingers tracing the lines of your hand.

"Okay, I'll make sure to not get hurt again to take up your bed." You snorted with a small smile forming on your face.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't give me another heart attack like this one, I thought I lost you when you sent the coordinates and didn't answer when I asked what was happening." He held your hands more firmly, afraid that you would suddenly vanish right in front of his eyes.

Placing a small kiss on his temples you smiled with confidence, headbutting him lightly like how he had done moments ago.

"Don't worry, I promise to do my best to not get stabbed again."

That got Schlatt to laugh as he gave you some more space, squeezing your hand he moved on the bed, sticking his legs out and pushing a blanket over himself.

"You better do your fucking best alright, now, let's talk shit about those magazine people, and how they look so uncomfortable in the covers."

[hiccanna-tidbits]

okay, okay but hear me out!

Hiccanna, Moanida and Jackunzel (and maybe someone else if u want) going on a holiday trip together (it could be sea or lake or just swimming pool).

And that three couples playing "chicken fight game"~ When u have to sit on partner shoulder or ridding piggy-back and knock down or separate the other couple!

sksksks just imagine the fun and the chaos!! hahaha

Okay SO I recently watched Palm Springs so I’m just imagining The Gang going to like…a fancy pool resort in like Arizona??? SURE LET’S GO WITH THAT

I’m imagining the only resort the gang could afford to stay at is someplace out in the middle of Arizona or something

It takes a LOT of persuading to get Jack to go, because he haaaaates deserts. Rapunzel basically has to beg. Moana finally managed to bribe him with really good homemade ice slushies. (She’s used to making smoothies for Merida, so how hard can slushies be??? Just throw in some ice!)

Rapunzel offers to help Moana with the slushies, since she gave Jack SO many puppy dog eyes to get him to come. Since they’ve got two people working on them, they’re REALLY good slushies. Jack approves.

Anna also tries to convince Elsa to go, but the perpetually-single Elsa is just like “Um, deserts? Sunburns? Being indefinitely stuck with gross couples doing gross couple stuff?!? Yeah no thank you”

Hiccup tries to wake everyone up at like 6 am to go hiking because "that's when the desert iguanas are out guys!!! C'mon, we have to go!!!" Anna is only persuaded to go after Hiccup makes her coffee--she really wants to make her bf happy, but also mornings can suck her dick. Rapunzel is more than happy to go, because she loves mornings anyways!!! And oh my god, IGUANAS!!! Jack, Merida, and Moana are like "oh FUCK no" and put the pillow back over their head, shoo Hiccup away, and go back to sleep.

On their hike, Hiccup just goes "!!!!!!!" about every reptile he sees. Snake, lizard, horny toad, literally anything with scales will send the boy into an excited frenzy. Rapunzel has similar reactions. Anna could not love both of them more.

At one point, they stumble across a gila monster sunbathing, and Rapunzel is overtaken with the unwavering desire to adopt him. She gets Hiccup on board, and he tries to lure the lizard over with a dusty piece of a snake carcass he found (Anna tried to tell him he really shouldn't touch that, but he was not to be swayed and Anna ended up figuring he could just wash his hands really well when they got back). Anna finds herself in the unusual position of having to be the Voice of Reason, having to be like “hey uh I think this might be illegal and stuff??? Also aren't they poisonous???”

(I know what you're thinking. Bold of you to assume Anna knows the difference between poisonous and venomous.)

Rapunzel literally CANNOT stop gushing to Jack about all the wildlife she saw when she gets back! Jackrabbits! Kangaroo rats! Roadrunners! Peccaries! Centipedes! Jack has only mild to moderate interest in desert ecology, but loves hearing his gf gush so he listens attentively anyways. 

Anna and Rapunzel definitely hit up the gift shops in the resort town at some point, and go ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT HOGWILD buying gifts for everyone. They probably max out their credit cards. It's embarrassing, really. But Anna gets Hiccup an absolute shitton of those little wall lizard things and he nearly cries tears of joy when he sees them, so it's all worth it, really.

Moana will not leave the pool like. The entire time. The girl is just obsessed with being in the water, honestly. She gets restless, though, and can't just stand in the pool and vibe--she needs to constantly be moving and swimming around or she'll explode. Merida is more than happy to indulge her by hanging out in the poor with her, but Merida is also constantly challenging her to swim races--a very dumb idea, considering Moana is on the high school swim team and water polo team. Merida, naturally, is an extremely sore loser and is not above excessive pouting, splashing, yelling in angry Scottish, and dunking her girlfriend in revenge. It's at least entertaining for all of their friends to watch.

Jack keeps fucking taking huge buckets of ice from the ice machine and dumping them in the pool. At first he only does this because he keeps griping about the pool not being cold enough (this boy will accept nothing less than sitting in the goddamn arctic ocean), but after her figures out that it pisses off his friends, he takes to pouring said ice directly over their heads. Merida has threatened to murder him several times for this.

Hiccup and Anna's main pool activity is just lazing around on their pool floaties (Anna has a duck one, Hicccup has a dragon one because obviously), sipping cocktails, and just generally vibing. Through some ungodly mixture of pure charisma and a fake ID that Rapunzel helped photoshop, Jack manages to talk his way into getting the whole group access to alcohol. Hiccup is a sangria or Moscow Mule kinda guy while Anna usually gets a Pina Colada or a Sex on the Beach (she's aspec, so she literally will not stop joking about the irony of this). Merida makes a game out of attempting to tip over their floaties and dunk them. Jack, chaos gremlin that he is, puts aside his usual rivalry with Merida to join in. They have a surprisingly strong dunking alliance.

Hiccup and Anna try to form a syndicate of their own, and try to lounge on the same floatie so that they can protect each other while fighting off Jack and Merida together. Unfortunately neither of their floaties were made to hold 2 peoples' weight, so the one they're on ends up tipping over, spilling their cocktails everywhere and dunking them anyways. Jack and Merida consider this a Win By Default.

Moana of course loops everyone into playing water polo at some point. Unfortunately some idiot decided it would be a good idea to let Merida of all people pick the teams, which means of course that they are incredibly rigged. It's Moana, Merida and Anna vs. Jack, Rapunzel, and Hiccup, so basically The Jocks vs. The Nerds (although admittedly Anna is more of a softcore jock--she's nowhere near on Moana or Merida's level, but she's still more naturally athletic than Hiccup, Rapunzel, or Jack). Naturally, Jock Team absolutely whoops Nerd Team's ass. Jack gets salty and demands a rematch. ...Jock Team kicks Nerd Team's ass again.

Throughout all of this, no one thinks to just...rearrange the teams a little. Merida was counting on this. All according to plan.

In the titular chicken game (yes, I remembered, don't worry!), it's Merida on Moana's shoulders (Moana swims and has a lot of upper body strength, what can I say?), Hiccup on Anna's shoulders (I mean...Hiccup's a twig, and Anna HAS to have a fair amount of upper body strength from throwing busts around and punching men off boats and such), and Punz on Jack's shoulders (Jack's pretty lithe and good at keeping his balance while jumping around, so he's their best candidate for not just falling over).

Jack and Rapunzel actually manage to stay in the game longer than anyone expects--their primary strategy is “be good at dodging and staying out of the way while Merida and Hiccup duke it out.” And it works! As limber as Hiccup is, Anna's not nearly as coordinated as Jack and is no match for Moana's sturdy footing. Also, neither Anna nor Hiccup are prepared for how goddamn ruthless and determined to win Merida is. Even though they really, really should have been. I mean...have you met Merida???

When it comes down to Merida-Moana and Rapunzel-Jack, Mer feels a little bad for having to go up against Pure Sweet Punzie. Unfortunately, Rapunzel turns out to be a very hardcore fighter when she puts her mind to it, and Merida is much more evenly matched than she initially thought and realizes she must use her Full Power. It definitely helps her snap out of Going Soft when Jack starts brutally roasting Merida in particular (as per usual). Merida gets a rage-fueled Second Wave, and finally manages to knock Rapunzel over in one foul swoop. Merida and Moana are victorious!

Moana and Merida basically always shower together after a day at the pool. They claim it's because they both know how to handle curly hair in chlorine, and just like to wash each other's hair, but the rest of the gang is pretty sure that's not all that's going on in there.

One day, Anna hits up the resort town alone to buy some kind of secret gifts for her friends with what little money she has left (this girl seriously has no chill when it comes to buying presents).  She goes past this huge, fancy ice cream shop and she's like “!!!! OMG!!! I'm gonna surprise all my buddies with pints of their faves!!!” She just gets super hyped and buys everyone ice cream, getting so caught up in the thrill of it that she forgets that she'll have to like. Drive all this back all the way back to the resort in the rental car. In like. You know. 110+ degree weather.

By the time she gets back to the resort, the ice cream is, of course, goop. Poor Anna, feeling incredibly dumb and like an utter failure of a friend, just kind of bursts into tears. Like damn. This is too much. She was gonna make all her pals so happy, and all for naught! Jack just kinda shrugs and throws all the melted ice cream cartons in the freezer anyways. Once they're (partially) re-frozen, Rapunzel and Moana make slushies with them. They actually come out pretty decent. Anna is substantially cheered up.

Moana prepares some tropical fruit platters for everyone to snack on. Rapunzel tries to “improve” them by adding chocolate sauce and nutella to half of them. Sometimes it works (I mean...bananas and strawberries with chocolate and/or nutella is pretty solid). Other times it just tastes...very weird. Merida gest frustrated and yells at Rapunzel for “ruining all of her girlfriend's good mangoes.”

Jack just thinks this whole thing is so funny, and decides to swap the chocolate sauce with barbecue sauce to cause further chaos. Absolute mayhem ensures. Everyone has a bad time. Except for Anna, who apparently is just a freak who enjoys eating pineapple slices dipped in barbecue sauce.

At some point, Merida gets really drunk on appletinis or some shit and signs the entire group up for a local archery competition. Much to everyone's chagrin, it's no refunds. Naturally, basically everyone sans Merida does terrible. Rapunzel and Hiccup very nearly shoot themselves, while Jack and Anna come very close to  accidentally shooting a group of referees (although Jack might have done this on purpose). Moana gets the farthest, if only because Merida's taught her how to shoot a bow at some point. Merida actually ends up winning--although unfortunately, the prize is $20 and a very cheap plastic trophy (which Merida STILL manages to find a way to break before the trip is even over).

The rest of the group is much more amicable to the concept of going on hikes when said hikes are in the evening. Hiccup and Rapunzel are still excitedly chattering about the local ecosystems the entire time, and Jack and Anna are just kind of looking at their nerdy SOs like “<3 <3 <3″ Moana and Merida, meanwhile, are just kinda vibing in the back, passively listening in and watching the desert sunset.

Rapunzel manages to capture Mer and Mo's interest and gets them to participate more with geology, of all things. Merida just thinks rocks are cool (especially when they can be thrown at people bothering her!), while Moana likes learning about the physical history of places--how water can carve out landscapes, and all that. Hiccup and Jack just kind of exchange a look like “I had no idea that they were into rocks, but...the more you know, I guess???”

Jack makes fun of every reptile they see, mainly to piss Hiccup off. Unfortunately it has the opposite effect, and Hiccup can't help but be entertained--mainly because Jack's insults are so weirdly specific and over-the-top that they loop around to being hilarious. Seriously, he keeps saying shit like “Those are the lamest scales I've ever seen. Absolutely drab, and not nearly shiny enough to prove that nature is beautiful. 0/10.” and “Ohhhh, this fucking rattlesnake think's he's so scary, with his dumb percussion instrument tail!!! I could be more intimidating with a mean look and a large pair of maracas!”

At some point, a bunch of tourists riding donkeys pass them. Anna, Rapunzel, and Merida just absolutely lose their shit fangirling over how cute the donkeys are, thus exposing all three of them as the unabashed Horse Girls they are. Hiccup, Jack, and Moana find this extremely amusing, and definitely aren't above teasing their girlfriends about it. Hiccup asks if next time they take a couples' vacation, the Horse Gang (as Moana insists on nicknaming them) would like to go to a ranch instead.

Anna gets like. Obsessed with palm trees. Like they're just so pretty and exotic and tropical!!! OMG!!! And they definitely don't have them wherever the gang is from in this AU. (Also if griping about Elsa not having "tropical powers" is anything to go by, she DOES canonically like the tropics!) She has to take a picture of like...every palm tree on her phone. And considering the gang is in Arizona, that means Anna is stopping to take a picture like...every 2 minutes. Rapunzel catches onto the fact that Anna likes them, and paints her a picture with some when Punz has the time. Anna definitely cries when she sees it. Hiccup can't do nearly that good, but he does buy her some little plastic figurine ones in a gift shop that she can put in her room. Anna also cries about this. She just cries whenever any of her friends indulge her random fixation on palm trees. Surely she doesn't deserve such niceties!!!

Rapunzel is just. In love with the desert landscape tbh. Like the huge funky cacti!!! The shrubs!!! The desert wildflowers!!! The mesas!!! All of it!!! So of course she needs to pull out her easel and paint it. Jack walks by one day and sees her working on it and, partly just to troll her, he's like “put some snow in it!” As he walks away, Rapunzel just stops like “wait...that'd actually be such a great idea for a surrealist-type fantasy piece!!!” After she finishes the main landscape, she adds an overcoat of little puffs of snow on top of everything, and has some clumps falling off of the cacti. When she shows Jack, he just about cries tears of joy, but frantically tries to hide it. She gives the painting to him as a present at the end of the trip. He hangs that shit front-in-center in his room and cherishes it forever and ever.

At some point, Jack gets the ingenious idea that he's going to prank Merida by catching a tarantula and leaving it in her room. It's one of the harmless ones--Jack fact-checks this by offhandedly asking Hiccup and framing it as a casual interest in local etymology. Still, Merida screams far louder than is at all dignified, and also probably loud enough to wake a neighboring country. Rapunzel later has to physically hold Merida back to keep her from absolutely beating Jack into a pulp. Rapunzel also manages to get the World's Largest Sheet of Cardboard and the World's Largest Cup and somehow manages to get the damn thing back outside.

[subbing-for-clones]

She Who Walks the Line Between Part 3

Maul x GreyJedi!Reader

Word Count: 2682

WARNINGS: blood, fluffy fluff starts picking up

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       The few hours of sleep he was able to achieve were filled with nightmares that consisted of his memories returning. His life played out behind his eyelids charging his sadness, terror and his fury. Yet before his mind could plummet to unreachable depths, he sensed a calming presence in the back of his mind. A hand that reached out for him to hold onto. He had no idea that during his rest he became quite vocal and Y/N stood in his doorway using the force to ease him back into a relaxed state. Pulling him further away from the unseen dangers that threatened to pull him down and drown him.

    He woke with a start, not remembering where he was. His first thought was why it didn’t smell like fire and burning fuels mixed with humid gasses. When he felt his legs shift under the blankets the events that took place yesterday flooded back to the forefront of his memory. He smelled the sweet sugary aroma of a plate towering with baked apples and honeyed meat sitting on his night stand but before he indulged his groaning stomach, movement from outside the window caught his eye. It was his savior.

    Not covered in the same make of dress she wore yesterday. Today she adorned a fitted white cloth binding across her chest and beige trousers that bagged around her thighs but were tight just below her knees. Barefooted, she dual wielded white lightsabers in the Ataru style. Dodging quickly and lunging aggressively toward an invisible attacker. Gracefully she connected the two sabers so they appeared to be a single double sided weapon. Twirling them so quickly and dancing on her feet so lightly his eyes had trouble keeping up. She was working through forms he both recognized and ones he had never seen before. He could see a light glimmer of sweat slicked across her form catching in the early morning sunlight. She must have been training for hours already. Strands of hair falling out of the bun she had tied up to keep the majority of her locks out of her eyeline.

    He took and ate the breakfast she prepared slowly, studying her through the glass with admiration. Obviously satisfied with her efforts she hung her now sheathed sabers from the gate and tended the goats and chickens within the pen. Despite her hostile training they were calm and trotted up to her as she passed through the gate. He watched her feed the animals and her mouth form words he couldn't hear, assuming they were praises as they danced around her.

 ~~~~~

      The next two weeks were more of the same every day. You meditated and trained in the mornings before tending to your animals. You knew his eyes were on you while he ate the food you always left for him, always watching. You feigned ignorance and never mentioned that you caught him staring, surprising yourself with the fact that you kind of liked the attention. When you had finished your morning routine you would find him dressed in his room practicing the basic movements and exercises you assigned to him for his physical therapy. Satisfied he was actually doing them you would go shower and dressing in your usual slitted dresses that you preferred.

    You would eat again together and continue helping him work his legs. After the first few days he joined you in your afternoon meditation followed by more exercises or flipping through one of your many books, light music always on in the background. The longer he was in your care the softer his eyes looked, the stronger his legs got and he came to be more comfortable in your proximity. You had both gotten used to one another's company. You had spent so much time alone on this planet you had forgotten what it was like to have a companion. A rather agreeable one at that. It was nice.

 ~~~~~

      Now able to walk on his own with only the help from a cane he joined Y/N outside every morning. Still unable to train as she did, he practiced walking around the pen surrounded by the animals. He could see a smile grace her lips when he interacted gently with them. When she had finished, she strode over to him leaning up against the fence with her arms crossed and her brows furrowed.

"What is it?" He asked, honey eyes filled with concern that he had upset her somehow. He tended to revert back to the frightened apprentice she realized he had been at one point in his life if she wasn’t careful. Despite the fact that he had never one been the cause of even a slight frustration within her.

"I have to leave for a day or two, stock up on some things this planet doesn't have. I need you to stay here, I fear a storm is coming and I don't want to leave the animals unattended. Would you be alright with that?”

Sighing with relief he agreed and watched as she boarded her ship and took off.

      The next day after she had left, he must have looked up to the sky every hour impatiently waiting for her to return. He ate much less without her, swearing to himself that it didn't taste as good if it didn't come from her hands. He did however keep up with his exercises and spent much of his free time with the goats and chickens. That night he had even more trouble falling asleep than he usually did; missing her company. After tossing and turning until daybreak he made a daring move, striding toward Y/N's room without his cane for the first time.

    He had never been inside of it but he had caught glances after noticing she had been sleeping with her door open, starting a few days after his arrival. Sheer white curtains hung in front of the transparasteel panes that overlooked the garden. Like the rest of the house, not a single chronometer in sight. The need to keep time didn't really exist in this place, he enjoyed that small detail over the past few weeks. It was starkly different from how he was raised, every moment of every day planned down to the second. Even a slight deviation always resulting with a beating. He had to keep reminding himself that she was not his master. When he did forget she would always lend a kind reminder she was master of nothing and no one.

    The pine-colored rug under foot was exceptionally plush and extended across most of the floor, the polished dark wooden flooring peeking out only around the edges of the room. A long desk was situated beneath the large viewport. Atop it lay several data-tapes and empty books. She must be copying the information by hand he assessed. Actual paper writing was extremely rare and her home was filled with paper sheeted books bound in various leathers. One of the books sat open with a pen resting on it, the entry was short but he loved seeing her handwriting nonetheless. Without lifting the journal, he stood and read the page entry, curiosity getting the better of him.

Maul- Day 17:

‘He is recovering faster than I had originally anticipated but I am also not surprised. He has to be strong to have survived as long as he did on his own in the condition he came to me in. Already walking on his own supported only by a cane by day 10. He is gaining weight slowly but is starting to look healthier. He will snap back quickly once he can walk on his own again, unaided by a crutch. His eyes aren’t nearly as blood shot and the lighter shade of color in his horns and nails indicates he is getting proper nutrients and that his hormones have balanced out.

His mind seems to be healing as well, I haven't asked about his memories but I know they come in the form of nightmares. He responds well to my attempts to calm him in his sleep. They still come every night but he has gone from an excessive number of fits to only two or three a night. He is still wildly unbalanced but the scale is starting to tip in the right direction. I have come to realize that I enjoy his presence. He seems to be more comfortable with small talk. I like his voice, alas my mind wanders.’

    Maul hobbled over to her bed and hesitantly laid down on top of it not daring to mess up the bedding too much. Several realizations crossing his mind. One, she had actually come to care for him as he was starting to care for her. Two, he learned why she slept with her door open now. His hearts raced at the thought of her standing in his doorway calming him while he slept. Three, she liked his voice. He had always been scolded if he spoke unnecessarily, taught to be silent as shadows. But she liked his voice. He could smell her on her pillows, a sweet earthy scent that lingered in his nose. Very quickly sleep took him.

    He awoke that evening as the sun was starting to set to the sound of thunder ripping through the sky. His belly growled, he had grown accustomed to several meals a day and his hunger had caught up to him. Being sure to straighten out the blankets on her bed he stood and made his way to the kitchen. Opening the cooler for the first time, he found a plate with a large cooked steak and a note.

‘You had better eat this before I return. You have to eat even if I'm not there. -Y/N’

    He smiled at her sentiment. As usual with everything she made, it was like ambrosia in his mouth. The moment he finished eating he sensed the animals were distressed. Not bringing his cane he made his way slowly outside to the barn. The rain came down almost violently, lightning streaking across the now black sky while thunder crashed angrily.

    He was soaking wet by the time he got inside to check the animals who were immediately calmed when they saw him. Sighing he sat in the middle of the floor and began his meditation to stave away his and their anxiety of the storm. He had hoped she wasn't flying in this but she was already away longer than she said she'd be. That didn't help the knot of worry growing in his belly.

 ~~~~~

      When you came out of hyperspace and entered the atmosphere you realized you must have put the coordinates in a digit off. You were on the wrong side of the planet, jungle stretched out as far as you could see. This wouldn’t be the first time you had accidently come home in the wrong hemisphere. You sighed at your own antics. It was too dangerous to fly back out to space so you had to navigate through the storm down here. Your ship seemed to attract the lightning but you managed to sense it a split second before it struck, narrowly dodging the persistent bolts. Before long you could just make out the break that gave way to the grasslands. You started lowering out of the sky but were distracted to see Maul coming out of the barn. It was just a moment of distraction but an important moment, you didn't sense the lightning. You were struck and it killed the power sending you nose first straight into the soil with a loud crash. Your vision blacked out after hitting your head on impact knocking you unconscious.

 ~~~~~

 No...NO... fuck.

Maul watched as the bolt hit her ship and she crashed out in the field. Eyes wide with panic he ran as fast as his new legs would carry, almost giving out several times before he reached the fallen ship. He raised his arms, using the force for the first time in weeks he opened the door and lowering the ramp. It didn't reach the ground due to the crafts hazardous angle. Force jumping inside he landed on his feet with a shocking pain that radiated through his torso. Snarling he made his way to the cockpit where he found her starting to wake up.

 ~~~~~

 You felt strong hands on your arms gently squeezing, you sighed into the touch rubbing your head and your eyes. When they finally opened the first thing you saw were two brightly glowing golden orbs. Rubbing your eyes again, your vision fully returning, you realized they belonged to a very worried looking Zabrack. Who was covered in...straw?

    Remembering what distracted you in the first place you burst into laughter. Hard, rolling laughter.

    The worry on his face shifted into confusion. He slowly wiped the blood off your temple from where you hit your head. Then he lifted you bridal style and started walking out of the ship. Finding a new reserve of strength and determination he carried you all the way to your home. Although you stopped laughing you still giggled, picking pieces of straw off the back of his tunic. Finally realizing what you found so amusing he smiled, "the storm scared the goats so I meditated with them. I ended up falling asleep out there."

    He now stood in the living room, still in his arms you replied, "I kind figured as much." You pressed your forehead to his for a moment, butterflies dancing in both of your stomachs. He set you down on the couch slowly and fetched a cool wet cloth. Tenderly, he dabbed at the cut. You watched him closely, a slight blush fanning across your cheeks. He was so soft, so careful in this moment, so near you, a stark comparison to the man who had first landed in your field not long ago.

    He heard your heartbeat quicken and saw your blush, causing his face to deepen slightly along with yours. Quickly he stood, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck looking anywhere but at you. "I think you'll be alright," he stammered. "It's just a shallow laceration."

    You also stood, inches from him. He was taller than you were, not by much, but it was noticeable when you were this close to his body. "I could've told you that but noooo you had to cast aside your cane and come to the rescue... Thank you." You batted your long eyelashes at him and he gulped, gaze not leaving your own this time.

"I have a present for you."

"You do?" He asked now distracted from your devilishly plump lips.

"Yeah, quick stop on Naboo, few broken necks, spines and bribes later aaaaaaand.." you reached behind your back unclipping a third lightsaber from your belt. Still rough where it had been sliced in half you presented it to him. "Tada!"

"You did this for me?" He asked slowly taking it in his hands. It seemed.. heavier than he remembered. But it was his.

"Yes I did,” you stated matter-o-factly. Now that your obviously strong enough not only to walk but to carry me across the field, like the damsel in distress that I was, covered in straw no less. We will start training together. But for now, I'm exhausted. It's the middle of the night and I've had a maker damned day." You took a chance and leaned up into him, pressing your lips against his cheekbone with your hands on his chest, holding them there for a few seconds you felt him go ridged.

    Turning on the ball of your foot you wandered back into your bedroom. "Goodnight Maul." You called without turning to see his reaction.

    He held the place on his cheek where your kiss landed just before, mind reeling and melting at the same time. "Goodnight Y/N," he murmured. Not leaving his spot.

[blu-joons]

You’re A Fan Of The 50s ~ Super Junior Reaction

Leeteuk:

“Are you sure we’re doing this right?” Jeongsu asked as he glanced down at the recipe once again. “It doesn’t look like it does in the photo Y/N.”

You grabbed the recipe for the Baked Alaska that you both were attempting to make, “yeah, just keep stirring it, it’s only custard, how hard can it be?”

“Pretty hard apparently,” Jeongsu sighed, staring hopelessly down at the pot. “I thought when you showed me this it would be an easy thing to do.”

You shrugged back at him, “it seemed pretty simple when I read about it. And you’ve released a cookbook, you should be able to cook anything.”

He turned back around to face you, “I don’t remember putting any recipes from the fifties into my cookbook though, I’m clueless right now.”

“Just keep stirring,” you dismissed, instructing him from afar. “Sometimes it takes a little while, I’ve just googled what to do when it’s not thickening.”

“I don’t think they had google in the fifties,” Jeongsu teased, “they would have probably just binned this by now and given up.”

“Which is exactly what we’re not going to do, let’s keep going.”

Heechul:

“So, what did you think?” You asked Heechul as the ending credits played for Singing in the Rain. “It’s an absolute classic, don’t you think?”

His head nodded, shrugging you aside gently. “It’s no Lion King, but I can see why you enjoy it so much, the songs are quite cool in it as well.”

“it’s a classic,” you corrected him, watching as he stood up from the sofa. “I can’t believe you’re ignoring so much of the hype that surrounds this film.”

His shoulders shrugged as he straightened out his shirt. “It’s good,” he muttered as he walked across the apartment into the kitchen.

Your head shook back at him, “I bet that you’ll have the song stuck in your head for the rest of the day, by the end of the night you won’t be able to stop.”

“I doubt it,” he hummed, but just a few moments later as you watched him start preparing dinner, you could hear him mumbling the opening line of the song to himself.

“I can hear you,” you smugly chimed, glancing through to him. “I told you that you wouldn’t be able to get it out of your head.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m doing nothing.”

Yesung:

“I can’t believe you brought me here,” you smiled, leaning back in your chair of the car, “the tickets sold out for this so quickly, how did you do it?”

Jonghoon smiled widely across at you, “I saw you looking at an advert for the drive-in cinema, and I knew I had to get tickets for you.”

“You’re the best,” you smiled across at him, holding your hand out for him to take a hold of. “It’s beautiful, just like how I imagined it would be, I can’t quite believe it.”

His eyes glanced between you and the back of the car, “do you know what the best bit is? There’s a few bags of popcorn in the boot for us to enjoy too.”

Your eyes widened at his words, “dd you really?” You laughed, struggling to keep your excitement at bay over how adorable your set up was.

“What’s a film without popcorn?” He shrugged, “I threw a couple of blankets in too, just in case it gets a bit chilly later in the evening.”

“You’ve thought of everything,” you chuckled, letting go of his hand and heading out to the boot. “This might be my favourite date night ever.”

“And the best bit is, it’s only just begun.”

Shindong:

“I can’t do it,” Donghee groaned, continuing to hold onto the barrier of the roller-skating rink. “You’re crazy if you ever think that I’m going to let go of this Y/N.”

Your head shook at his stubbornness, “why don’t you just hold my hand and let me help you, I promise that you’ll enjoy it.”

“I don’t know how you ever managed to convince me to come here,” he cried out, watching as several people flew past you both. “I’m not built for balancing.”

Your eyes rolled back at him, “you’re a dancer, of course, you’re built for balancing. Just give it a try and you’ll soon get the hang of it, just trust me.”

He stared coldly back across at you, “I trusted you when you said that this would be a good idea, I can’t possibly trust you now.”

“Are you scared of falling?” You asked, as his head slowly nodded. “We’ve seen countless people fall tonight, no one will mind.”

“I’ll mind,” he clarified, “I have my pride Y/N, there’s no way I’m going to lose my pride by falling on my butt in front of all these people.”

“Just give it a try, please, for me?”

Eunhyuk:

“I’m exhausted,” a familiar voice groaned from behind you as your teacher called for you to take a break. “Why is this so much hard work?”

Your head shook, throwing Hyukjae his water bottle. “I told you to expect something different, this isn’t like what you’re used to.”

“Professional dancers from the fifties deserve a medal,” he chuckled, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath. “And you do this every single week?”

Your head nodded as you took a sip from your water bottle. “It’s easy, I don’t know why you’re making it look so difficult. Call yourself a dancer?”

His head shook, jabbing your waist gently, “I am a dancer, but this is something else. I never imagined that your class would be like this.”

“What did you think it would be like?” You asked him, already well aware of what his preconceptions were. “You thought it would be boring?”

“No,” he smirked, “I just didn’t think it would be as fast as this, maybe a rehearsal at the studio wasn’t a smart thing to do before.”

“At least you won’t make the same mistake twice.”

Siwon:

“How did you find this place?” You chuckled as you followed behind Siwon into the diner. “This is so cool, look at all the décor on the walls.”

He smiled back at you, leading you over to one of the empty booths in the diner. “I did a bit of research on my break today to find somewhere you’d like.”

“Like? I love this place,” you chuckled, struggling to take it all in. “I think this might already be on the list for regular date night places for us both.”

His head shook at your enthusiasm, “at least try the menu first, otherwise you might end up regretting that statement by the end of the night.”

Your eyes looked across at him, “have you seen the food that the waitresses are carrying, it looks like heaven on a plate Siwon.”

“I have to admit, it does look good,” he grinned, barely able to take his eyes away from it, “you might have to roll me out of here tonight.”

“No way,” you laughed, hitting against his arm with one of the menus. “You’ll just have to save some bits for next time we come.”

“I think we’ll definitely come back here.”

Donghae:

“Not like that!” You struggled to hold back yet another laugh as you tried to introduce Donghae to hopscotch, watching him trip over his feet.

He let go of a loud groan, “I know it looks easy, but I just don’t get how people can be so coordinated to jump through the boxes.”

“Did you never do this in school?” You asked him, but he could only shake his head back at you. “I’ve never seen someone struggle so much with just a game of hopscotch.”

A small blush crept onto his cheeks, “why don’t you try and explain the rules to me one last time, I’m sure I’ll be able to get it, just say it nice and slowly.”

Your eyes rolled as he took a step back from the game. “Just throw the stone, and then hop and jump on each number, pick up the stone, and turn around.”

“But how do you know whether to hop or jump on each number?” He innocently asked, sniggering as your eyes rolled yet again.”

“Maybe I should introduce you to something else,” you laughed, “before I end up throwing you back into the fifties.”

“Games from now make a lot more sense I think.”

Ryeowook:

“I’m ready,” Ryeowook chuckled, walking into the living room with his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “And I mean business too, I’m ready to win.”

Your smile grew as you set up the Scrabble board between the two of you. “I hope you know that I’m undefeated when it comes to Scrabble.”

“That’s because you’re yet to play me,” he announced, “there’s a reason I’m the one that’s good at intellectual games within the group, and that’s why I always win.”

Your head shook as you tipped the letter bag out. “This board has been with my family for years, and you can’t claim it now.”

He chuckled lightly, helping you flip all of the letters over, “maybe it’s time for a new home for the game if you’ve had it for so long.”

“No way,” you smirked, nudging his arm gently. “You might be the one who looks smart, but I’m the one who actually is smart.”

“The glasses prove how smart I am,” he groaned, “I’m focusing today, there’s no way I’m going to be defeated by you Y/N.”

“You might live to regret that very soon.”

Kyuhyun:

“This is so cool,” Kyuhyun hummed, flicking through the folder of old vinyl records that you had. “I used to sing so many of these songs growing up.”

You smiled across at him as you sorted out your player, “why don’t you pick one? And we’ll stick it on for old times sake, maybe you could sing me a song?”

“Really?” He asked in a slight moment of disbelief. “I don’t want to be responsible for anything happening to any of these, they’re all so precious.”

You held your hand out for him to pass one across to you, “I’ll sort it out and play it, if you promise you’ll sing to one of them for me?”

His head nodded instantly, “that’s definitely something that I can do. Why don’t you pick one out that you want to listen to me sing to as well?”

“I’d pick out the whole collection if I could,” you complimented, “do you know the one that you picked out? Why don’t you sing that one if you like it so much?”

“Alright,” he hummed, clearing his throat as you took the record out of its pocket and placed it on the player. “I’m so excited to listen to it.”

“I’ll make sure to leave it on for a while, just for you.”

---

Masterlist

[what-the--curtains]

Alliance

Chapter 3 - The Revelation

(Mando x f!reader)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary: After agreeing to help the Mandalorian, you land on Tatooine. Joined by an old friend the three of you locate a potential informant and a secret is revealed.

Notes: everytime I get a lil notification sayong someone has liked this post my heart gets so full so thank you all❤️❤️ I hope you continue to enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it!

Tw: Mentions of Alcohol/blood, Swearing

Tagged: @crazycookiecrumbles

Word count: 3.2k

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

R-16, Geonosis, Outer Rim Territories

Your POV

“Pretty swanky” you say, taking note of the Mandalorians newly acquired ship “who’d you steal this off of.”

He boards it stopping at the top when he realizes you hadn’t followed him up. “Are you coming? They’ll notice you’re missing soon. Your client didn’t look like the kind of guy to last a whole night.”

“How do I know you’re not going to sell me off again?” you ask, currently rethinking this whole situation.

“ If that’s what I was here to do that, you’d be handcuffed already”

“Really? Because if I remember correctly had it not been for your counterpart hitting me in the head last time, you’d have been on your way back empty handed.” He shakes his helmet evidently getting aggravated.

“Where is she by the way?” you ask.

“We don’t have time for this.” he interjects, walking back down and grabbing you by the arm. You shake free “I’m not going anywhere with you if you’re going to treat me like a prisoner.” A clatter from up above draws you attention away from the conversation at hand. “You sure the kid’s not just roaming around upstairs.”

“Wait here” he exhales, disappearing briefly before returning with an unmistakable bundle.

“Anya!” you exclaim under your breath, eyes lighting up. “Impossible” you whisper as the small creature wriggles out of Mandos' arms and rushes towards you. “How?” you ask looking up. “Answer me Mandalorian” .

“The child” he responds “he brought it back to life. What?” he asks, noticing your forehead wrinkle in confusion.

“Nothing, I just thought the only people that could do that were long gone.” Perhaps you owed this child more than just a thank you for saving Anya. If he was able to give life he too was able to wield the force, your grandmother would not be happy if you left a Jedi in the arms of the empire. Knowing this you climb onto the ship with Anya.

“They’ll be a bounty on me now.” You state, sitting down in the co-pilot seat.

“Welcome to the club,” he says, jumping the ship into hyperspace.

“Let’s get a few things straight. I now understand why you traded me, and why this child must be returned safely, but do not get me wrong, we are not friends, I do not forgive you and I definitely do not trust you. I am here to repay a debt. Once I have we go our separate ways, and I never have to see beskar ever again. Got it?” He nods shifting into auto-pilot. “Good. There a shower on this thing?” you ask, your smell becoming increasingly offensive.

“Downstairs to the right.” You drop down scoping out the ship, not too shabby. You hear a clang, turning around to face the Mandalorian.

“What?” you say, concerned he’d caught you snooping.

“Here” he says, handing you a set of clothes, “should fit.” You take them, but he doesn’t move, and he’s blocking the door to the shower.

“What are you waiting for? A kiss?” You ask as you push by him into the bathroom having flustered him enough to knock him off balance. Closing the door you breathe a sigh of relief, as you lock it behind you. You get into the shower letting the water hit your face and run slowly down your body. It’s not warm, but it’s better water pressure than you’ve had in months. Looking down you see a puddle of burgundy pooling at your feet, caused by the admixture of blood, makeup and various other fluids currently coating your body. You rinse the blood and guts out of your hair scrubbing at that which had been there long enough to crust over. You wince in pain when you brush up against an old scar that must have reopened in the fight earlier today, oh well, you think, it will heal. The various wounds on your body were proof of that. After about a month of being in the rings you stopped bruising, but scarring was still a part of day to day life. They covered the markings and tattoos scattered across what was once smooth skin. Turning off the water, you step out of the shower and dry off before pulling on the black pants and long sleeve provided to you. Walking back up to the cockpit and placing Anya onto the seat you lean over the dashboard.

“Where are we going.” you ask. No reply. “Hey beskar head I asked you a question.” You say not realizing he had been staring at you. He points at the tracker sitting on the dash. “On another hunt?”

“ This was on the guy who sold me and the kid out, started beeping again while you were showering.”

“You gonna give me my weapons back?” you inquire, unsure of what the plan was.

“Still downstairs, I couldn't sell them. No one wanted them” he says locking in the coordinates and beginning his landing.

“Well I guess I was wrong Mandalorians can’t tell jokes after all. Where are we by the way”

“Tatooine home of the moisture farmers, and not the nice part”

“Think they’d choose a wetter planet to farm moisture” you say, looking out at the planet's arid landscape through the windshield. The two of you exit the cockpit and head towards the armoury.

“Careful” he says, as you reach your hand in.

“I just spent several months in combat I think I’ll be fine” you say sarcastically. You reach into the armoury, quickly pulling your hand back when the security system zaps you. “Fuck” you say bringing your hand to your mouth, as he turns off the protection. “Shut up”

“I didn’t say anything”

“But you were thinking it. So same goes.” You remove a bow and arrow, quickly realizing they weren't your originals.

“Real ones were lost in the incident, picked these up on the way to get you” he says leaning forward and removing the Anbam sniper rifle and standard issue blaster.

Anya follows the two of you out of the ship burying her nose into the sand pulling out a large bone. The Mandalorian was a man of few words so you have no idea where you were going, or what the plan was, but you were happy for the peace. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been in complete silence.

“Well, well, well.” A voice echoes. You draw your bow and the Mandalorian unholsters his blaster.

“Didn’t think you’d be back so soon and with someone so pretty.” the voice says as a figure of a tall man appears from behind a large sandstone.

“Cobb” the Mandalorian says, lowering his blaster

“Mando!” The older gentleman exclaims locking arms with the somewhat reluctant Mandalorian. You keep your bow aimed, as Anya approaches him sniffing his boots.

“And who might this be?” he asks looking at you while bending down to pet the critter.

“Ask her yourself.” Mando says, almost annoyed. Cobb was handsome, more so than most which makes you almost immediately untrusting of him. Anya seems to have taken a liking to him though so you drop the hostility for now. You lower your weapon and take his extended hand. “Cobb Vanth, i'm the marshal round these parts, Nice to meet you” he says

“y/n, and likewise” you respond, pulling your hand back.

“Where’s the kid?” Vanth asks and you see the Mandalorians' demeanor change guilt radiating off him.

“He’s gone, we're trying to find him. She’s a tracker” he says, pointing to you.

You look over at the Mandalorian, how did he know that? The two men walk in front of you, discussing the events that had unfolded a few days prior. As you make your way into the town you find yourself relaxing slightly. None of the locals looked like the kind to recognize you.

“Glad to see things have picked up since I was last here.”

“Well Mando, turns out less giant snakes makes for happier people.” Cobb says

“Funny how that works”

“C’mon, you look hungry and like you need a few drinks,” the Marshal says with a smile. “Might just run into your bounty if we’re lucky.” He throws two fingers up at the bartender, as you enter, leads you to a nearby empty booth. You thank the bartender as he brings out the food and drink.

“So who are we looking for.” The Marshal asks

“Ugly guy” Mando starts

“Well that narrows it down” you mutter earning a chuckle from the Marshal. Before he can continue describing the guy, the tracker starts to beep more consistently.

“Must be your lucky day” the marshal says coolly as an Aqualish enters into the establishment, tusks and all.

“Put your hood up” you say to the Mandalorian “he’ll recognize the armour, switch seats with me.” He obliges, pulling up the hood of his cloak as you shift over top of him so his back is now facing the door and you're sat between him and the Marshal.

“Alright looks like we’re in need of a plan” Cobb says.

“Give me 20 minutes with it, I’ll get the information” you say standing up.

“No way. Not happening. If this falls through you’re our only shot at finding the kid.” The Mandalorian says tugging you down by the back of your shirt, much to your dismay.

“Well there's always option B.” you say, pausing for a moment “you get up and he runs a mile then we're really gonna be screwed.” Seemingly having convinced the Mandalorian you were capable of getting the information needed, he agrees.

“Fine. 20 minutes, then we're coming after you.” He says. You stand up passing by the marshal and make your way over to the bar.

Mandos POV

He watches you head over, scanning the crowd for any potential threats. Even cloaked you stood out, and the odds of someone recognizing an ex-gladiator was high, especially one as successful as you. He tenses up when a Nikto approaches you. His hand subtly moves to the blaster, but not so subtly that it didn’t catch the marshals attention.

“You should relax Mando, it seems like she’s got it under control.” he says, nodding his head in your direction . He turns seeing you utter a few words to the Nikto causing it to continue on seemingly in a trance. His hand eases off the blaster and he relaxes back into his seat.

“Awfully protective” Cobb says, the Mandalorian ignores this comment, of course he was being protective, he needed you to find the child. He’s pulled out of his thoughts by a glass being dropped off at the table. Cobb throws his hand up nodding to you in thanks, the target had been acquired.

“So, where’d ya find her?” he asks, taking a sip of the drink.

“Long story.”

“Well we have twenty minutes.”

“Traded her for the child a while back she was fighting in a gladiatorial ring until about 25 hours ago.” He says as Anya settles down on the Marshal lap.

“This is quite the creature.”

“The kid saved it.”

“So that’s why she’s hanging around with your homely helmeted ass. Seriously, she looks like a fallen star.” Cobb pauses looking to his friend “Ahhh, but you’ve already noticed.” With no response the Marshal continues “Well if there’s nothing there then I’m in luck.” The helmet turns ,“A joke Mando, a joke.” The Marshal says lifting his hands up. Before he can respond the Mandalorian feels something bump against his shoulder causing him to look up just in time to see you pass by with the target in pursuit. As he watches him exit the bar he catches a glint of a small sphere, a bomb.

“dank farrik” he says, standing up and moving through the bar in pursuit.

“What happened to twenty minutes?” the Marshal shouts after him.

Your POV.

“Thanks for the drink sweetheart” the Aqualish says as you turn around, this was not your first time dealing with one, but you did hope it would be your last.

“If you’re looking to repay the favour you may be able to help me find something, I believe you’ve come across. A child. Small, green, big ears.”

The Aqualish laughs reaching its hand back for the bomb. Using the force you stay his hand a few inches away from the weapon.

“Answer me, before my patience wears thin.” You say. Patience, already wearing thin.

“Look lady I was hoping for some fun, let me go and no one has to get hurt.”

“You’re not in much of a potion to be negotiating.” You say. The unmistakable sound of a blaster going off suddenly echoes and you feel something cold and wet hit your face. You look up as the Aqualish drops to the floor standing behind him you see the Mandalorian.

“Seriously!” You say angrily, wiping the residue out of your face.

“It had a bomb.”

“I know I had it under control. Clean this up you say” pushing past him.

“Why do I…” he starts,

“Because…” you say turning on your heel to face him, “if we had done things my way there wouldn’t have been a mess to clean up at all.” you exclaim, throwing your hands up in the air, before returning to the bar.

You slump down in the booth next to the Marshal.

“How long did you put up with him for before you lost it?”

“Went well I take it.” He says offering you the remainder of his drink.

“Could have, if someone had just showed a modicum of trust.” You say taking a swig of the blue liquid.

“Seems like he trusts easy. He trusts you enough to ask for your help.”

“He doesn't trust me he needs my help, there's a distinct difference.” You say downing the rest of the drink causing Cobb to raise his eyebrows slightly opting to change the course of the conversation.

“Well I have to say you are just about the prettiest thing to show up here.” You roll your eyes, it wasn’t the first time you’d heard that. Despite this you find yourself smiling Cobb was quite charming after all.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on her, she doesn’t usually take to strangers.” You say moving in to scratch behind Anya’s ears.

“Got a way with all living things, though I find humans easier than animals.” He laughs.

“Well I’m sure that has something to do with your charm and face” you say. He’s about to respond when you both see a flash of armour leave the bar.

“Guess we’re leaving” He says offering you a hand, you take it and exit in pursuit of the Mandalorian.

“Mando!” the Marshal calls after him.

“Don’t leave on my account. I’ll be on the ship. If you’re not back by morning I'll find the child on my own.” he says continuing on his way.

“Oh don’t be jealous Mando we were just talking.” Cobb, says not making the situation any better.

Assuming you couldn’t piss him off anymore than he already was you pick up a stray rock and throw it at him. It hits the back of the helmet causing him to stop and turn around.

“Nice shot” the Cobb whispers to you looking impressed.

“Thanks” you say walking over to the Mandalorian.

“You okay Mandalorian?” you ask

“We should be looking for the kid not relaxing in a bar.”

“You’re not the only one who owes this child something, and don’t act like this wasn’t the first moment of freedom I’ve enjoyed in months.” with no reply you continue “What now? You killed our last lead.”

“I don’t know that’s why you’re here to figure it out.” He says sharply, the two of you now staring each other down.

“Well that’s my cue, Mando, always a pleasure, (y/n) lovely to meet you, if you’re ever looking for work I’m always in need of a deputy.” Cobb says, patting Anya on the head and heading off back towards town. You interrupt your glaring contest and wave goodbye to the Marshal. Having calmed down slightly, you turn back to the Mandalorian.

“Do you have something of his?”

“What?” the voice asks, even with the modulator you could tell he was frustrated.

“Of the child’s anything belonging to him?” you say suddenly feeling equally as irritated.

“It all went up…wait.” he says reaching into his pocket pulling something small and silver out.

“A toy of his” He says. You stick your hand out and he drops the small silver ball into your hand. As it makes contact with your skin you feel the emotion enveloping it. He cares greatly for this child, perhaps you had misjudged the Mandalorian. With this in mind you begin to gather stray stones placing them in a pattern on the ground using a nearby stick to trace lines in the sand.

“Are you going to summon him or something?” He asks.

“Not a witch.” you reply unsure if he’s joking or not.

You close your eyes, breathing deeply. The Mandalorian watches in awe as the rocks and sand begin to rise recreating a map of the galaxy. You open your eyes and walk over to Anya, bending down, you offer her the small metal ball which she sniffs. She begins circling the base of the galaxy stopping on the outer rim. Pulling more rocks forward you create a series of steps which Anya begins to ascend, sniffing the planets in front of her. She stops, sitting down so as to indicate she had located the scent.

“You know where that is?” you ask, looking up at the T visor which was still fixed on the map you had created. He hadn’t said anything in a while not that he ever really did, but you’d asked a question and needed an answer.

“Anyone home” you say, lifting your hand to knock on the helmet. He grabs your wrist before you can.

“No, I don’t, but I can get us there.” He says, gently releasing you. You drop the map to the floor leaving a small cloud of dust in its wake as you re-enter the ship.

“I hope you appreciate the delicacy of what I just did and the possible danger I’ve put us in.” You say, taking your seat, hoping you had made the correct choice in trusting him.

“How long have you known? That you have powers?” He asks, you smile at his choice of words.

“Since I was a child. My grandmother trained me in the way of the Jedi until she passed.”

“I’m sorry.” He says as he takes off.

“For what? you didn’t kill her.” After a prolonged period of silence you speak again. “I trust you’ll keep this between us, man of few words and all if it was to get out I'd take it very personally.” Taking his silence as understanding you breath a sign of relief. Leaning back you settle in for the upcoming journey.

[prongsisabadger]

The Wolf Pack

Chapter 2

Master Plo's ship was not the first I'd seen, the port at Mos Eisley was full of them; but it was the first ship I boarded that I could remember. Jedi master Plo Koon had been returning from a peacekeeping mission in the outer rim, and had stopped in Tatooine for fuel. It was a coincidence that he heard the Meilooron vendor talking about me. When I told him this, He said it had been the will of the Force. An energy field he had said. Then what had the Force deemed special about me? I asked him this.

"Tell me, Child. What would the tusken say are your best qualities?" He asked in return.

I thought about it for a second.

"Well, I can always tell when someone is following us, or how far a sandstorm is from our position. A'Koba once said I have very good instincts, but I do believe it comes from growing up in the desert." I answered as we walked up the ship's ramp.

"Kriari, the tusken have lived in the dune Sea for eons, if one tells you you have good instincts it is not a hollow complement. And neither is it entirely true." Said master Plo as he took the Pilot's seat and started pushing buttons and turning switches.

This puzzled me.

"How so, Master?" I asked as I took a seat on the copilot's place, still admitting the interior of the beautiful ship. It was much bigger than I'd imagined.

"You are a force sensitive, Child. Your midichlorian count is higher than the average life form, and as such, you have a deeper connection to the Force." he answered absentmindedly, like it was simply a fact of life. "When properly honed, your abilities can allow you to become a Jedi Master and help keep the balance of the universe."

The engine hummed to life as Master Plo pushed one final lever and started the takeoff sequence. I watched it all in awe and with unwavering attention. One day I would be able to pilot a spaceship, one day. Slowly, Mos Eisley started shrinking beneath us, and we approached the sky with every second that passed. The sky, the final frontier, that unreachable place where ships disappeared to, sometimes never to be seen again. The clouds parted before us, light blue turned to navy and then to black, and finally, Tatooine was a terracotta sphere behind us and the absolute emptiness of space was the only thing separating us from both setting suns.

"It's so odd to be so close to them." I muttered.

"Them, Child?"

"The stars, Master. We use them as a reference to navigate the Dune Sea. They are much prettier up close."

Master Plo Chuckled.

We are still very far from them, Kriari. Up close, a collapsing star can be quite daunting, not to mention deadly."

"But are they pretty, Master?" I insisted.

"In their own colossal, terrifying way, Child, yes. They are quite the sight."

The navigation droid that had been standing by the corner plugged in to its station and set the coordinates for our destination. Master Plo looked at me one more time before jumping to hyperspace. I don't remember if he said anything, I was too busy watching the galaxy fly past me.

…

The journey would be long, he told me. We should get started on some training exercise so I don't get cabin fever. And that is how I ended up cross legged on the floor staring at a rock. Master Plo sat by the table, writing his report for the council, he'd said. My mission was to make the rock move using the force. So far, all I'd been getting was eye strain.

"Staring at the rock won't make it move, Child, use the force." Said master Plo, never looking up from his working station.

I sighed in frustration. I would not let my journey end here, it was only beginning. I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before exhaling it all. I closed my eyes. The force was an energy field in all living things, that bound the universe together. So, technically, the force was inside me too. I didn't have to look at the rock to get it to move, I had to look to myself. Figuring out how the Force worked with my body. It had always been there, so it wouldn't be easy to find, but I had to try. Meditation was not a foreign concept to the Tusken, it took a lot of patience and confidence to wait out a sandstorm. It took a lot of determination and calm to find your way when lost in the Dune Sea. The Sand People might have been ruthless, but they also were a very spiritual people. The desert of Tatooine might be an inhospitable place for some species, but there was a delicate balance to its ecosystems and the Tusken tried their best not to upset it.

Keeping this in mind I started to regulate my breathing, making it longer, deeper. Connecting with my body, with my surroundings, with the Force. There was a sense of total awareness in the stillness of my mind, a certainty of things, of presences, of movement. There was the ship, the droid, Master Plo, the rock. And what if the rock moved? A little to the left at first, slowly, so as not to overdo it. Then, It would move to the right, a little faster, decidedly, with more purpose. And then it would be lifted in the air, level with my head and floating steadily as if held by an invisible hand.

I opened my eyes.

And smiled.

"Good job, Kriari." He said beside me. I dared not look away afraid the rock might fall. "Your focus is strong and steady. Is meditation a part of tusken tradition?"

I shook my head.

"No, Master. But it is common practice to meditate when waiting out a storm or when one is lost. Keeps us from panicking."

"I see. Now try that again with something bigger. It will only be more difficult from here on out."

He said as I let the rock down as gently as I could and took a pair of binoculars from my pack.

Then, I got started.

…

The first time I saw Coruscant I was six years old. The entire planet was like a miniature galaxy of blinking lights against a dark background. In the light of gay, the metallic and glass surfaces reflected the light like water in a pond and ships and speeders alike were like a shoal navigating the currents. It was beautiful, and crowded and busy, and nothing like I'd ever seen before.

The Jedi Temple was, in my childish eyes, the most beautiful structure of them all. The eternal flights of stairs, the massive pillars that flanked the entrance, the numerous structures that combined to form a pyramid-like building. The sun was setting on the city, on the planet, and the orange reflection of the sun rays bounced from one structure to the other. Everything about the temple was beautiful in it's own simple way, it was big, but it was elegant and the shades of white, ivory and tan made it all feel like it was indeed a spiritual place. A place of knowledge and of wisdom, and most of all, a place of calm and strength, and balance.

The guards at the landing platform stood tall and proud at the entrance, and they both acknowledged Master Plo with a nod and nothing more. I followed suit. They did not look at me twice, so I thought I can't have been the first child they'd seen through the gates, nor would I be the last.

"Do not fall behind, Child. We need to report to the council." Said Master Plo when he felt me get distracted.

I picked up the pace so as not to get reprimanded again. If there was something you learned when living with the Tusken was not to make anyone repeat themselves. Ever. The Jedi didn't seem to be the type to discipline children, but I didn't want to find out the hard way. As we walked the never ending corridors, underneath the high ceilings and through the heavy metal doors, we passed many Jedi, and many children as well. Most of the Jedi carried a metal cylinder with them, just like the one Master Plo had hanging from his belt. It seemed to be a symbol of status among these people, the children didn't have one, and neither did the maintenance staff.

We took one of the elevators to the top floor, and it opened to an antechamber lined with ivory seats. On the floor there was a symbol I'd seen in all the Jedi's left shoulder pads. I guess this is it. We stood in the centre of the room and waited. Before long, the doors opened and a Master came out followed by a Togruta child. She could not have been older than four.

The guard ushered us in, and once we made it to the centre of the circular room they closed the doors behind us. There were fifteen seats with their backs to the windows, facing the centre of the room, but only twelve were occupied. Whether the members were absent or dead, I wouldn't ask.

"Master Plo, you have someone to introduce us to, I see." Said a little green life form sitting on one of the chairs.

"That I do, Master Yoda," he said motioning me to step closer. "This is Kriari Foreas, she was living with the Sand People in Tatooine."

"A Zabrak living with the Tusken? I did not think that possible." Said another, his skin dark and his eyes piercing. "How high is her midichlorian count?"

"It is surprisingly high, Master Windu. The Tusken claim her mother left her there for protection. They found her dead in the dune sea a few days later." Answered Master Plo.

Meanwhile, I stood my ground, watching the interaction between them, waiting to be addressed. The other masters whispered in speculation, but none of them spoke up.

"Then, this curious child shall we meet? Hmmm.

I stood forward, and approached the masters until I was a few feet away.

"Tell us, Child, How was your experience with the Tusken? Did they treat you well?" Said the man with the sharp eyes.

"Yes, Sir. I was treated like one of them and helped the trade with the merchants in Mos Eisley."

The masters of the Council exchanged looks.

"Were you not sad to leave?"

"No, Sir. I knew I didn't belong there, not really. I wanted to learn about the galaxy. I still do."

"If we give you a little test, mind you?" Asked the little green one.

"No, Sir." I answered.

Master Windu took out a little pad and had me guess which figures appeared before him. I had to close my eyes for a while, to block out everything else. The nerves, the eyes, the strange place, the strange people. In the end It went well, or so I thought. One image appeared after the other and within a few minutes, the test was over. I opened my eyes and looked back at Master Plo. He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly.

Well done.

"Her midichlorian count is high, but it is her history with the tusken that concerns me. They are known to be a ruthless people." Said master Windu.

"Discriminated on species before, have we? Hmmm Master Windu?" Asked the one called Yoda.

"No, Master Yoda."

"A decision to make you have then child, want to be a Jedi, you do?" Master Yoda asked me.

"I want to learn how to be the bridge between races and cultures, Master." I answered after a moment's deliberation.

"Made then, the decision is. May the Force be with you, Child."

[gubes-sweaters]

Mind, Body, and Soul 4

Authors note: Sorry for being MIA for a bit. I was going through a lot of things with my family, school, friends, etc. I got in a terrible funk and I had no motivation to write. I’m doing much better now and I’m going to go back to posting regularly. Another thing I know in the show Spencer drives a Volvo, but for this story, he drives a station wagon like mgg.

Content warning: A brief mention of a drug deal and medication and… teeth rotting fluff if that counts.

Word count: 4.6k

You can find part three here

Chapter 4: My Safe Place

I wake up to the smoke alarm going off. It takes me a second to realize what’s going on but as soon as I realize I make a mad dash to the kitchen. In my haste, I slip on the rug in the living room that connects to the kitchen. My morning couldn’t be more chaotic. Both of my roommates are coughing up a lung from the smoke while opening windows and fanning out the area. Turns out that they decided to make breakfast but somehow they can’t even make eggs and toast without almost burning the place down. I quickly gather myself from off of the ground and join Tweedledee and Tweedledum in cleaning up their mess. It takes thirty minutes to clear the smoke and to clean up the kitchen. After all, is said and done I look over at the stove and see that it’s already 9:30.

“Shit shit shit!” I shout while running towards my bathroom trying to get ready. Stella and Raven follow me into the bathroom wondering what I’m freaking out about.

“What’s the freak out for?” Raven says before peeking her head in the bathroom door. I’m already stepping into the shower as they both lean up against the bathroom counter exchanging confused looks.

“I uh forgot... I made plans with Penelope that have been a month in the making.” I stammer out from behind the shower curtain. In my mind, I’m debating telling them what I’m actually up to. Their two of my best friends and we’ve been friends since elementary school. I tell them practically everything, but on the other hand, I enjoy spending time with Spencer without it being a big deal. Of course, my friends would be happy for me but at the same time, they also tend to treat me like a child because I’m a year younger than them and I’m their “innocent” friend. I almost feel like I’d be disappointing them if I break from that title. I love them both so much but I think for now it’s better to keep those parts of my life separate.

“Well tell Pen that we said hi. Oh, and don’t forget about Daisy’s birthday on Saturday.” Stella reminds me before walking off with Raven. Daisy is a girl that Raven and I used to study with our freshman year of college. Raven, Daisy, and I had the same psychology class, and Raven and I clung to her pretty quickly. Raven and Daisy both happened to be going for forensic psychology, but I’m getting my degree in social work, so our sophomore year I didn’t have classes with either of them. My point is I haven’t seen her in two years but Raven and Stella are both close with her still and for some reason Daisy also invited me. I’m not complaining because she was really sweet, and I distinctly remember she was the type of person who showed their love through touch. If you needed a hug she was there, if you needed a shoulder to cry on she was there. I just feel like I’m intruding now because I haven’t seen her in two years and according to my roommates you wouldn’t even recognize her anymore, so I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to talk to her without awkward small talk. I’ll have to worry about that later now I have to worry about being late for a date... an outing. I’m not sure what to call whatever Spencer and I are doing today.

I rush to blow dry my hair, put on a little bit of makeup, I throw on a sublime t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Just as I slip on my vans, I get a text from Spencer.

Spencer (pain in my ass): I’m out front :)

me: okie dokie I’ll be down in a minute!

—————————- Time Skip —————————

We’ve been driving and listening to music in comfortable silence for the past 30 minutes. Soon enough though, we pull in front of a small café. The place seems oddly familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it. No matter how many times I asked Spencer he would never tell me where we’re going. He called me boring, yet our first stop is a café. I’m not complaining at all, but it seems a little more mundane than I would expect from Spencer. Either way, I’m excited because I’m seeing him again.

“You ready?” He turns to look at me with a big goofy grin on his face. It’s nice seeing him smile I could get used to seeing it more. No. No. No. Don’t think like that this isn’t a date he’s simply keeping a promise that he made to me. This definitely isn’t a date right?

“Of course, but where are we?” I asked still not sure what I’m walking into. Despite me asking him he doesn’t answer, he just unbuckles his seatbelt and steps out of the car. I follow in his footsteps because I don’t want to look like a dork just mindlessly sitting in his car.

“We’re just popping in for some coffee don’t worry about it.” Spencer says while basically pulling me into this building. As we step in the smell of coffee brewing fills my senses, as I try and take in my surroundings I hear the sounds of cats purring and meowing. I turn my head and see that this isn’t any regular café, it’s a cat café. I remember some of these cats because this is the cat café that has adopted some of the cats from the Humane Society the Pen and I volunteer at. That’s why this place seemed so familiar.

“I asked Penelope what you did in your free time. She mentioned you volunteer and you’re a big animal lover, so I figured this was a fun way to ease you into today’s events.” He turns to me with a smile on his face while we wait in line for coffee.

“This is amazing Spencer. Seriously this is perfect.” As we're waiting in line we watch the cats in the next room over through the large window. We watch as some kittens chase after one another. A couple of the older cats are either sitting on the windowsill purring or sitting in someone’s lap instead of playing like the kittens. As we go to order Spencer insists on paying, after a while I concede. He pulls out a large wad of cash from a money clip, which I wasn’t expecting, I mean I didn’t expect him to be broke, but most college students don’t have that kind of money lying around. Maybe he gets money from his parents, or he happened to have a really good paying job. Instead of being lost my own thoughts and mental gymnastics, I focus on the cats in the room that we’re walking into.

About five minutes later we both get the iced coffees that we ordered. Spencer got enough sugar in his to give somebody a heart attack. With the coffees, we got a small little bag of catnip. A chubby orange cat immediately starts to take a liking to Spencer, the cat is sucking up to him because he’s the one with the catnip. About half an hour later we get ready to leave, but not before I watch Spencer trip more than once over himself while entertaining the cats and inevitably everybody else in the café that started watching. We decide to call it quits before falls, and he cracks his skull open. As we get back into his car he announces now that I’ve dipped my toes in the “fun pool” it’s time to kick it up a notch, but once again he won’t tell me where we’re going.

—————————— Time Skip —————————

I find myself mindlessly tapping my fingers to Kid Cudi, while looking out the window I feel a pair of eyes on me. I turn and see that he’s watching me with a big grin on his face.

“What?” I ask before he shifts his eyes back to the road momentarily.

“Nothing, I’m just lucky to be hanging out with you today. I honestly thought you were going to be sick of me by now.” He confesses, and he looks sad as if he could ever burden me.

“Spencer’s I know it’s only 11:30 and the day just begun, but I don’t think I’ve relaxed and had this much fun in a long time. Don’t think that I’m ever going to get sick of you. I promise that I’m having a really fun time.” I feel like I almost convinced him, but there’s this small little part of his brain that wouldn’t believe me regardless of what I said.

“You say that now, but I’m pretty sure after this you’re gonna hate me.” he says while gesturing to what’s in front of us. As he puts the car in park I look straight forward and see that we’re at a skate park.

“Uh, I don’t know how to skate... like at all.” I say hoping he doesn’t expect much coordination or skill out of me.

“I figured that much. I thought I could teach you, still wanna give it a shot?”

“Why not that’s the whole point of today right?”

“That’s the spirit!” He says before jumping out of his car and quickly grabs a skateboard out of the trunk. He looks like a kid in a candy store while we walk to a section that’s not occupied.

I’m glad I wore vans and jeans because I have a feeling in any other outfit I would have a very unfortunate wardrobe malfunction. He shows me two or three times how to properly kick off without falling. Then he asked me to give it a try or to at least try and find my balance on the board first. As I step on he holds my waist, so I don’t go anywhere, but that doesn’t stop me from wobbling a couple of times in the process.

“Make sure you put your back foot towards the front of the board when kicking off, if not the board will fly out from underneath you. Don’t worry about falling though I got you I promise.” He says while slowly loosening his grip on my waist. I start to learn to push off and eventually with Spencer‘s help I can go a couple of feet before I chicken out.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to get it all at once, a lot of people can’t learn how to skate in a matter of hours.” He tries to cheer me up and coax me out of my embarrassment because I’m not fully understanding it.

” Yeah, I think I want to try it all by myself once maybe I’m having trouble because I’m using you as a crutch.” This is where I made my mistake because I got a little too cocky, and instead of getting it like I thought I would I fell. When I fell, I fell hard and I scraped both of my knees. Of course, this would be the day that I wear jeans with rips in the knees. As soon as I hit the ground he booked it towards me, and when he reached me, he crouched down in front of me with his hands on my shoulders searching my face to see if I’m okay.

“Are you okay? You didn’t break any bones, did you? Do you need to go to urgent care?” He asks a couple of ridiculous questions with panic very present in his voice. I’m obviously not hurt that bad, but that doesn’t stop him from freaking out momentarily.

“I’m okay Spence I promise. I only fell off of a skateboard I didn’t get shot.” I say before chuckling, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m glad you’re okay, but you scraped your knee bad. We’re going to have to get that cleaned up, you don’t wanna know how many germs are in that cut now, let alone the various infections that you could get if you leave it alone.” He says before standing up in extending his arm out to me. He collects his board, and we make our way back to his car. We go to a drugstore around the corner, and he runs in to get Band-Aids, alcohol wipes, and Neosporin. Again I insist on paying because this is my fault, but he brushes me off and leaves me in the car. He comes back and asks me to sit on the side of the seat, while he kneels in front of me in the parking lot. He cleans my knees off while reeling off facts either about the products he’s using or about all the germs in my wound. He finishes his nervous ramble by putting a Band-Aid on my knee before placing a gentle kiss on that knee. I blush at the small bit of contact, while he collects all of the products off the ground and puts them back in the plastic bag.

“Change of plans were going to take a small detour. I got a good idea while I was in the store.” He says climbing back into the driver’s seat and starting the car.

“Let me guess I don’t get to know ahead of time just like before,” I asked hoping that he would at least give me a little hint.

“That’s correct.”

It’s 2:10 by the time we arrive at the mall. I have no clue what would make him think of going to a mall and what we're even here for. Either way, it doesn’t stop me from blindly following him right into the mall. For someone who’s a bit of a germaphobe Spencer hasn’t seemed to mind holding my hand everywhere we’ve been today. The first two times I thought he was grabbing my hand, so he could just pull me to whatever activity I had in store for me. This time is different though because as we enter the mall our fingers intertwine together as if it was second nature. He still led me but this time we’re walking side by side. He stopped me very abruptly right in front of a store that I haven’t even seen since I was eight years old.

“Spencer, mind telling me why we’re at a Build-a-Bear?” I ask while we enter the brightly colored store.

“While I was in the drugstore I saw teddy bears and it made me think of this place. Also, we need to kill a little bit of time before we make our last stop of the night.”

Turns out we’re not the only adults who had the same idea as Spencer. Two other couples looked lovingly at each other while making a bear. This seems like a date night activity and not whatever the hell Spencer and I are doing. We end up picking a light brown teddy bear and just about every employee that we came in contact with told us we were a cute couple, but Spencer nor I corrected them. It didn’t seem to bother him so it didn’t bother me either. When it came time to pick out clothes for the bear he insisted that he had “impeccable style”, and he knows what he’s doing.

”Spencer’s you’re wearing a baggy sweater, jeans, converse, and mix-matched socks. I don’t think that your style is peak fashion.”

“Hush you’re ruining my vision.” He jokingly said while staring at the clothing with his thumb and forefinger gripping his chin. We both crack jokes and make fun of each other‘s sense of style before we inevitably end up basically picking the same thing that Spencer is wearing. We dressed the bear in a red sweater, black jeans, converse, and only because Spencer insisted on mix-matched socks. Yes, we did pay for two pairs of socks, so we could mix-match his socks. Spencer finally let me split the cost on something when it came time to pay. After we made our way out of the store with our fingers once again intertwined and our son that Spencer jokingly called the bear in the store. Our poor son doesn’t even have a definite name because he insisted on naming the bear Spencer Jr. or Sativa, but I told him there’s no way I would ever let him name the poor bear Sativa and Spencer Jr. is on the fence. As we’re about to walk out of the mall Spencer gets a call and then three texts in a row. He tells me he’s just gonna wait to open his phone once we're in the car. Once we get in the car, and he checks his phone his face drops.

“Is everything alright?” I ask because of his shift in demeanor.

“Yeah, everything is good I just need to take this call quickly.” He says before stepping out of the car and closing the door.

Spencer’s POV

When I get three texts and a call from my mom‘s doctor saying that there’s a problem my heart automatically sinks. I mean she’s all I have left and my mom is the one person who’s ever been in my life consistently with unconditional love. I call my mom‘s doctor as I step away from the car a couple of feet. I ask what’s the issue and it turns out it’s her treatment, her doctor tells me that because of her recent change in medication as well as the increase in dosage I’m going to have to start paying more for her assisted living. The situation is a lot better than what I was thinking. It’s a minor problem that I can easily solve. After I talk to my mom for a couple of minutes and make sure that she’s doing okay before making my way back to the car. As if my prayers have been answered I had an old friend text me and asked if he could buy two grams of weed off of me. I hurry up and tell him I can meet him right after he gets off work. This way I can kill two birds with one stone because he works at a gas station not too far away. While I am there I can pick up snacks that I’m going to need before we go to our final destination tonight.

Readers POV

Spencer never addressed the phone call when he got back in the car, but instead just turned on music and placed his hand on my thigh. The mood totally changed from calm and relaxed to now very awkward with tension. We only talked for a couple of minutes before it went back into an uncomfortable silence. Something seemed off about Spencer as he told me that we need to go to a gas station before wherever we’re going next. It’s not because I think stopping at a gas station is odd, but it’s because he insisted on this certain one, but he wouldn’t tell me why. He also was digging through a bag in his backseat for a bit before shoving something in his pocket and walking into the store, and as much as I wanted to snoop I didn’t because I respect his privacy. I trust him a lot, probably more than you should trust someone who you haven’t even known for a week, but my mind keeps wondering as I’m sitting in the car alone once more. That’s another thing that I thought was odd because he asked me what I wanted and insisted it was pointless for me to go in as well. He’s also taking a really long time I’m trying to brush it off, but there’s some part of my brain that can’t help it profile his body language and everything he is saying. I try to never profile people because it seems unfair, but having a dad as a profiler that would always profile me every time I saw him made reading people's body language second nature to me.

I’m glad when Spencer returns he seems a lot more happy and relaxed. When he gets back in the car he has a huge smile on his face as he puts the snacks in the backseat. I ignore the change in mood for the second time because it’s probably something he didn’t want me knowing about right now. In the little bit I’ve known Spencer he’s been pretty much an open book, so for him to not share something it must’ve been very personal.

“So we have one more thing planned for today and it’s very special to me. Are you ready?” He asks sounding genuinely happy and finally his normal self.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

————————— Time skip ————————-

Before we get to this secret special location it’s already dark out. Tonight the stars are shining so bright and the sky was so clear. Since I am not even paying tension I don’t realize that we’ve arrived until I hear Spencer turn off the car. He quickly hops out of the car without any explanation whatsoever. I try and take in my surroundings and realize that we must be at some park. I see a few benches, signs leading to different walking trails, and a cute little playground.

“Stay there.” He says while opening the trunk of his car. So, I comply even though I have a feeling this is how dumbasses like me get murdered. He tells me not to look at what he’s doing, so instead, I go on my phone for a bit. He announces that he’s done and I need to come look, so I hop out of his car and see that he’s cleared out his trunk, and collapsed his backseats. He also has a lot of snacks set up with soft pillows and fuzzy blankets. He smiles proudly at me, and all I can do is chuckle because I think this is the absolute sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I tell him thank you while giving him a tight hug.

“You’re welcome.” He says, well rubbing my back with one hand and cradling my head with the other. Before we break from the hug he plans a gentle kiss on the top of my head. After we both crawl in the back and slip under the blankets.

“Do you mind me asking why this place is so special?”

“Well… it’s because I lost my virginity here...” He tried to keep a stoic face before busting out laughing.

“I’m just kidding obviously!” He says before laughing once more. After our laughter died down a bit his face becomes actually serious. He draws in a deep breath to prepare himself for what he’s gonna tell me.

“In all honesty, this place has given me a lot of solace since I’ve moved here. Back home in Vegas I never really fit in much, so I learned to create my own safe space. When I moved out here this park became my new safe space. It’s also really special because I’ve never taken anyone here before. Mostly because that way I could just slip away from everything and no one would know where I’m at, but I also never found an occasion special enough to share something personal like this.” He admits while adverting his attention away from me and more onto his fingers. He fidgets with them as if he were nervous to open up like this, as much as I want to know everything tonight is not the night to push the envelope.

“I’m glad you feel that you could trust me with this. Spencer in all honesty who you seemed to be when I first met you is a complete 180 from who I know now. I love the side of you and I want to see more of it.” I say while taking his hands in mine commanding his attention. When I finish he looks up at me with those sweet puppy dog eyes. He moves his hands from mine and rests one of his palms against the side of my face. He stroked my cheek with his thumb before we start to lean in. He puts his other hand on the side of my face and snakes his fingers into my hair as my eyes flutter shut. I hate saying something cheesy like there were sparks, but that’s the only way I can describe the fire that was lit inside of both of us. He pressed his soft lips to mine and we moved in perfect synchronization as if we’ve done this a million times before. He swipes his tongue across my bottom lip asking for access. I wrap my arms around his waist in attempts to pull him and impossibly closer. As things start to heat up Spencer slows the pace and eventually pulls away entirely. After he presses his forehead to mine as we both pant. He grabs the side of my face with one of his hands once more before moving to grip my chin and presses a kiss to my forehead.

“I care about you so much. I get it’s stupid to say because this is all of a sudden, but you’ve brought so much joy into my life and I don’t want you to leave.” He confesses with his hand planted on the side of my face and his other resting on my waist.

“Trust me I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” I promise him.

“Plus splitting up would not be good for our son.” I joked trying to lighten the mood from the serious turn it took.

“Yeah, I don’t need to add child support payments to the list of bills I already pay.” He says before laughing and removing his hand from my face. We talk a bit more and get comfortable under the blankets before he grabs his laptop out of his bag and hands me the snacks I asked for. As we’re falling asleep he says just one word to me.

“Atlas.”

“Huh?” I ask him, trying to keep my eyes open long enough to finish this conversation.

“I just thought it was a cute name, for the bear I mean. In Greek mythology, Atlas was a titan that was called upon by Zeus to carry the heavens on his shoulders. It means the one who bears a heavy burden. I feel overcoming a huge burden or even carrying a burden that you don’t need to makes you strong and courageous.” I can tell that this story meant something to him. Something that I didn’t know about yet.

“It’s perfect.” I say before shutting my eyes as he grips me tighter.

By the time that the credits were rolling, we were both sound asleep in the back of his car. Our arms wrapped around each other and my head on his chest. I fell asleep to the sounds of a small breeze whistling through the trees and the soft thumping of Spencer’s heart.

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Taglist: @rexorangecouny​ @haylaansmi​

[evabellasworld]

Storm of the Republic

Chapter 18

AO3 Link | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

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Summary:  When Tup murdered General Tiplar during a battle, Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex dispatched Ahsoka, Fives, and Yara to solve the mystery that was plaguing the Clone Army. Meanwhile, Senator Padme Amidala contacted Commander Fox, Commander Tori, Riyo Chuchi, and Dipper to help her continue investigating the death of Palpatine, suspecting that Dooku was behind the evil plot. But when Dooku send an ISB agent to stop them, the team had to race against time to search for the truth, which could alter the course of the galaxy.

————————————————————————————

Navigating through the asteroid field, Fives and Yara gripped on the steering, carefully avoiding from getting hit. They didn’t expect the navicomputer to fail them, but here they are, trying to key in the coordinates.

“Any luck?” Yara asked, as Fives slammed his hands on the ship’s panels.

“This thing doesn’t seem to work,” Fives groaned, as he punched the computer with his fist twice, hoping it would work. “Fuck, we didn’t have this kind of issue when we first boarded.”

Turning her head behind, she got up and rushed towards Tup’s aide, checking his breathing. Thankfully, there were no droids breaking in like the last time, but Yara still felt her stomach turning. She felt eyes watching from every corner of the ship, waiting to kill her.

Something is up , she thought, her fingers shaking. Grabbing her torchlight by her utility belt, the ARC Trooper tiptoed towards the engine room and opened the door, only to find the smoke coming out from the pipes.

From what she recalled, General Skywalker told them that the ship was in perfect condition. All the engines were inspected and there was enough fuel for the ride. But when Yara touched the pipes with her gloved hands, she exclaimed in pain, rubbing her hands on her armour. Fuck, it burns like hell!

As she got out of the engine room, the ship bumped into a medium-sized asteroid, causing her to lose her balance and fall on her face. “Oh fuck,” she cursed as blood dripped from her nose. “Why does this always happened to me?”

Pressing her hands on her bleeding nose, Yara clung onto a bannister attached to the wall and got back on her two feet as she rushed towards her ailing brother, who was still unconscious. “I got you, vod,” she spoke to him, gripping on his gurney. “Don’t you worry about a single thing. You’ll be fine sooner than later.”

She maintained her balance with Tup behind her when she walked into the cockpit, and found Fives desperately searching for the source of problems that caused them in this situation, hoping they could get back to base as soon as possible. “Did you find anything?” he noticed her holding Tup.

“Well, our engine is fucked,” she informed him, reaching for her handkerchief and pressed it against her nose . “It was smoking hot when I checked. What about you? Did you check the navicomputer?”

“Not really,” Fives shook his head, pointing at the asteroids in front of them. “I am currently busy with how not to get ourselves killed in space, again.”

“Fair enough,” she relented, as he did his best to fly to the end of the asteroid field, narrowly scraping the surface of the ship. He needed an opening if he were to jump into hyperspace, even if the engines were malfunctioning.

In a time of emergency, Fives would stop on a nearby system to fix the ship, but with Tup desperately needing medical care, he had no other choice. If his brother was going to make it, he had to make another jump, even if it meant risking his and Yara’s lives.

They’ve braved the worst-case scenarios on Umbara, when they had to fight their enemies on a gloomy planet. They were also close to execution as well, but they still lived to fight the next day. We can make it off this rock, he narrowed his eyes in determination. We’re almost close.

But he spoke too soon. As he flew through the cracks between the large rocks, an enormous asteroid hit their shuttle’s exhaust, triggering the alarm on the ship. “Crap, we’re hit,” Yara shouted, crouching underneath the cockpit with Tup.

“Brace for impact,” Fives warned her, as he jumped out of his seat and leaned closer to his brother and sister, shielding them in his arms. As much as they fight each other, Fives cares about Yara and Tup, and he would mourn if they both die in front of him.

The ship entered the atmosphere of a secluded planet in flames and crashed onto the grassy surface, leaving a huge debris behing. Coughing from the black soot, Fives put on his helmet and broke the cockpit window with his foot, turning to Yara, who was rubbing her head. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t feel my left arm,” she cried in pain as she clutched to Tup’s gurney with her other arm. “I think I broke my bones again.”

Pushing out Tup from the ship, he carried his injured comrade in his back and jumped out of the combusting ship, before it let out an earth-shattering explosion in the middle of a prairie field. Yara could feel her head throbbing as she felt a metallic in her mouth, along with dizziness and nausea.

”Well, I would say that was a great landing,” she pointed out. “Well done, Fives.”

Fives checked on Tup, who was growing paler than usual. “We have to get help for him. If we sent him back to base, he wouldn’t make it.”

“But what about Master Kaarim?” Yara protested his decision. “General Skywalker ordered us to-“

“I know he did,” Fives interrupted her mid-sentence. “But we have little of a choice. Besides, your arm is broken and I know that you’re having a concussion right now.”

As much as she wanted to disagree with him, he had a point. This was a life-and-death situation, and they needed to save Tup if he was going to stay alive. They also don’t have a ship to leave the planet, which means they had to stay somewhere for a couple of nights. She wasn’t sure if the locals would welcome them, but they’ll have to make do with what they have.

“Alright, Fives,” she nodded. “I trust your decision. But after Tup and I are healed, then we’re getting off this rock. We can’t stay here for long. The Empire is on our tail, and endangering others is the last thing we want.”

“You can count on me, vod.”

Dragging Yara and Tup with him, Fives wandered across the plains, gazing at the golden grass and the cool breeze in the air, along with tiny dots of angel’s breath. The sky above them was tinted with orange, and the sun was the colour of the ocean, which was intriguing for the both of them. Having been stuck in space for a while, the duo were glad to see a change of scenery.

“I’m just going to sleep for a while,” Yara yawned, closing her eyes. “Wake me up once we arrive at a town or something.”

Fives chuckled. “And once we’re in town, I’ll just let you walk on your own. You're way too heavy for me to carry.”

“Fuck you,” she slapped his cheek lightly, much to his amusement.

“You’re a lazy bum, you know that? You’re only good at eating and sleeping, that’s all.”

“Well, it’s a brilliant talent and also, if I’m too heavy, then you can just put me down right now.”

“Your head hurts. It’s best if I carry you instead.”

“Suit yourself,” Yara chortled. “Also, Tup is going to be okay, right?”

“He will, Yara,” Fives consoled her. “He will.”

[big1ron]

The Venator “Resolute” had jumped right into a separatist trap. Somehow a virus infecting the main computer has scrambled the hyperspace jump coordinates, and now the companies on board were outnumbered and without reinforcements, deep in separatist space. A few last, desperate SOSs to nobody, and the ship was quickly overwhelmed with fire. The Resolute was going down. But not before each of the escape pods could be jettisoned.

————- Chapter One: Podrace. -————

The planet was thick in foliage and deep with caves. The contrast of the yellow pods on the blue stalks of many of the plants would have been beautiful, if they had time to admire it. The planet was currently in its night cycle. And the two Jedi’s escape pod had landed atop a rather high peninsula. Anakin climbed out of the smoking pod and coughed as he waved the smoke out of his face. He surveyed the ground far below him.

“I don’t see any enemy encampments, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. It’s impossible to see anything with all these crazy cliffs and caves. They’ll no doubt be sending hunter squads down shortly. How are the comms snips?”

“Fried master. The beacon too. Must have been destroyed in the landing.” Ahsoka climbs out after him, and steps up beside him, looking over the landscape below.

“Alright then let’s try to find another pod. Maybe a separatist base or some kind of settlement. We need to get off this rock.”

The escape pod crashed into the planet. Hard. All three passengers were thrown around pretty badly and Rex knew that would leave a mark. The impact had destroyed most of their equipment, and he had hit his shoulder against the wall of the pod. He knew it would bruise but it didn’t feel broken. He opened his eyes which he had squeezed shut on impact. He stirred to get up, and assess the other two men. One of the two, Echo, was doing the same. But the other, Kix, wasn’t moving. Rex gestured for echo to open the hatch while he climbed over to Kix and took his pulse, relieved he was alive before gently trying to shake him awake.

“Hey Kix, can you hear me? I need you in the here and now trooper.”

Kix groaned in response, pulling himself upright and rubbing his temples “wha’ ya need cap’n?”

He must have hit his head pretty badly, but he was awake, and that was a good sign. Rex hands Kix his bucket and turns for the hatch. Echo had already gotten it open and had been surveying their landing site. But before he could get outside the pod he hears Kix falling down behind him. He turns quickly to see Kix pulling himself to his feet again. That hit he took combined with the uneven floor of the pod made it hard for the medic to keep his balance. Rex took pity on him, and let Kix lean on him for support as Rex put an arm around his waist and practically dragged him out of the pod.

“This is u’necessary sir, ’m fine.”

“Define ‘fine.’ How badly did you hit your head?”

“Good.”

So, pretty bad rex guessed. The situation outside wasn’t looking too much better, as the pod had crashed though the ceiling of some kind of cave system upon landing. And it was rather dark in the caves with only the (admittedly pretty bright) moonlight from their entry hole, so rex switched is visor to night vision. Echo had already done the same.

“Two tunnels to the east, left one angled up, right angled down, and one tunnel to the north. Headed down. No sign of any hostiles.” Echo reported. “How’s Kix?”

“I’m fine.” With that Kix tried to stand up a little straighter, and away from rex to prove his point. But rex only pulled him closer, as if he was afraid he was going to fall again.

“He’s not fine. It looks pretty bad. But I’m no medic, and I don’t trust ours to give a proper diagnosis. Looks like we’re pretty close to the surface. So let’s try southeast.”

Echo took the lead, pistols in hand. But it soon became clear they were alone for now

“Hey Rex, do you think maybe you’re being a little overprotective again?” Echo asks as Kix trips, almost falling but held up by the captain.

“I think that’s proof enough that I’m not.” But as the ground levelled put slightly Rex hesitantly removed his supporting arm from kix. Which proved a mistake as echo, immediately overcome with the urge to pester, gave kix a light shove which sent him diving directly to the ground.

Fives stepped out of the escape pod, followed by Hardcase and Tup. Their pod had landed deep in the forest valley. Layers of escarpments and cliffs towered around them.

“The comms were sabotaged. Can’t get a message out.” Says tup, the last one out of the pod.

“We’ll just go find Rex. He has to be around here somewhere right? He’ll know what to do.” Says fives, who really has no idea what to do but has immediately assumed charge anyways.

“We don’t even know if Rex is out there. What we need to do is find some sort of communication, get a signal out. This is a separatist controlled planet right? So we find and take a base. We’ve still got guns, and they probably have communications devices”

“With just the three of us? Forget it. This is hopeless. I bet the others have already been shot down... I wouldn’t count on getting off this rock.” Hardcase falls silent at tups remark. He’s right, they are deep in separatist space with no ship, few rations and no communications. They’re probably going to be permanent residents. If they don’t run into and hunter droids of course.

But fives immediately contradicts. That’s no way for a republic soldier to think. “We have to at least try something. We can’t just give up. Let’s see if we can climb up to.... that ridge, and see what we can from that vantage point.” Fives points to one of the higher cliffs facing them, as they have no heading and he’s got to start somewhere.

“I don’t know, might be a better idea to stay put and wait for the hunter droids to find us. They might have salvageable communications devices”

“Really hardcase? I thought you were all about doing and hyperactivity” fives waves his blaster towards the cliff “you really just want to stay put? Wait for us to just die like tup does?”

“Hey! that’s not what I-“ Tup starts

“No, I don’t! But what I do want is for us to get off this rock and I think that’s our best option!”

“You know you wouldn’t be able to sit still that long so let’s start making time before we waste it. Move it troopers, let’s go.”

Ahsoka poked at the ground with a stick. They had traveled a fair ways away from the pod by now, and had stopped along a ridge. Her master was sitting cross legged and mediating. Actually meditating! That’s how you knew he had no clue. Anakin skywalker never meditated.

“You know it would probably help if you tried too” anakin opened one eye to look at the padawan. He had never been good at reading the living force, but even mediocre skill combined with his absolutely massive force signature had to account for something, right?

“What are you even trying to do anyways?”

“I don’t know, sense If there are any clones or droids around maybe? It’s not working anyways.” He sighs and gets up, turning in a seemingly random direction and stars walking. They need to find some sort of communications if they want to-

“Wait, master” ahsoka ignites both her lightsabers and anakin does the same

“I sense it too.”

Suddenly the engines of two speeder bikes are heard, and headlights wash over them in the dark, as two mounted commando droids rush towards them. The droids open fire and-“Ahsoka wait!”

Too late. She had already deflected the bolts into the engine of one of the bikes, causing it to explode. Her master skillfully decapitated the other droid and used the force to slow the bike to a stop.

“You could have used that bike. Now you’re riding pillion.” He mounts the bike and pats the space behind him. “But at least you won’t crash this way”

“Hey I never crash!” Complains ahsoka as she climbs on behind him. “Besides, you don’t get to complain about my driving when you’ve crashed every ship you’ve ever flown”

The last pod had landed in a slightly more flat area, nearby a crude and thin path, that the group was now following deeper into the thick forest. The group was occupied by Jesse, who had elected himself leader and nobody had objected, Coric, and Dogma. They had been walking a while and everyone had been pretty quiet. Especially since tensions between Jesse and Dogma was still... weird.

“So are you two just going to give each other the silent treatment for however long we’re stuck here?” Asks coric, fed up with the silence

“No.” “Yes.” They answer at the same time, in the same tone.

“Alright Jesse, why do you refuse to talk to Dogma?”

“I don’t need to explain myself to you. And you already know anyways. Nows not the time for this. Keep your focus on the road.”

“You know you can’t stay mad at him forever. We could be more effective if we work together”

“Actually, I can. Look I’ll talk to him when I need to, ok?”

‘I’m standing right here you know’ Dogma almost says. Instead he just goes with “I have no objections.” To remind them he is, in fact there.

“Of course you don’t.” Jesse grumbles “cause I have orders for you and you can’t function without those, can you.” Dogma looks to his feet and coric looks defeated. It’s true, having clear orders from Jesse is the only thing keeping him from low key panicking.

Suddenly four pairs of glowing eyes flick on in front of them, where four hunter commando droids had been lying in wait.

[homeformyheart]

first choice (part 2) - noah harris x mc (mtfl)

author’s note: part 2 for “first choice.” there are mentions of characters from the freshman series (emily day, zig ortega, chris powell) – enjoy!

copyright: all characters owned by pixelberry studios. moodboard created by me. series/pairing: my two first loves - noah harris x mc (emma price) rating/warnings: 18+; smut between the 🔥⚡ and ❄💧 icons word count: 4.9k based on/prompt: moodboard aesthetic / prom theme inspired by the royal masquerade choices book. summary: emma and noah’s relationship continues to blossom and hit a few major milestones as they finish out their senior year of high school.

read part 1 if you haven’t. read the follow-up fic, the perfect gift if you’d like.

first choice (part 2)

2 weeks later

emma blew on her gloved hands to try to warm them up. she was wearing at least three layers, a scarf, boots, and she still felt the freezing cold in her bones. noah looked over at his shivering girlfriend and chuckled, putting his arm around her and rubbing her shoulders.

“how are you not cold?” emma whined, turning her body toward him to get as close to his body heat as possible.

“i’m always warm and it’s technically above freezing,” noah said, bending down to kiss her forehead.

berry high and eastridge had a partnership with a local community program that helped coordinate and fund group college visits. emma had volunteered to help coordinate schedules across schools. it took a little bit of convincing, and promising a lot of kisses, but noah agreed to come on the trip. even though the NAUA scholarship didn’t pan out, emma was hoping that hartfeld’s second chance scholarship might still be an option for him.

“we’ll take a 15-minute break everyone, feel free to grab some coffee!” the tour guide announced as they approached the campus coffee shop.

“oh, thank god!” emma muttered, half-dragging noah with her as she raced to stand in line.

“hot chocolate or coffee?” noah asked, wrapping his arms around her waist once they got in line.

they approached the front as emma still debated her order. “vanilla latte, please!” she said, kissing him on the cheek before going to find a table.

she sat down next to the red-headed tour guide. “hey emily, how easy is it to find flexible part-time jobs on campus? my boyfriend’s a little worried about balancing everything.”

emily smiled. “first of all, you guys are such a cute couple. second, it’s pretty easy to find a job on campus or close to campus. but how to balance it all might be a better question for my boyfriend, zig, who took a full course load while playing football and working to support his family. i’ll see if he can take his break now.”

emily walked to the counter as noah came back with their drinks. emma accepted the warm mug gratefully and sighed as the latte warmed her cold fingers. noah slid in next to her on the couch, putting an arm around her shoulders.

the tall, tanned brunette barista sauntered over with emily, who quickly introduced everyone. emma shook zig’s hand and was surprised that he and noah went in for a fist bump.

“have you guys met?” emily asked, also seeming surprised.

zig nodded. “i helped prep noah for his interview with dean stafford for the second chance scholarship.”

emma’s eyes widened with recognition. “oh, you’re the one chris mentioned when i spoke to him about the scholarship!”

“chris powell? yeah, he’s one of our best friends and team captain. he showed me your film, noah, and we made sure to pass it on to coach with our recommendations. it was a no brainer, especially hearing about your story from emma,” zig said warmly as emily cuddled in close to his side.

emma tensed and looked down. a couple of weeks ago, the hartfeld football coach reached out to noah “out of the blue” and recommended he apply to hartfeld formally. that noah would be a top candidate for the second chance scholarship, so long as he was willing to play football for hartfeld and kept his grades up. the captain of the team then reached out and walked noah through the application process and connected him with zig to prep for the interviews, which not-so-coincidentally aligned with the trip’s scheduled visit to hartfeld. of course, all of that happened after emma found chris’ contact information on the scholarship website and spoke to him about noah.

zig kept talking about how the scholarship changed his life and made it so he could finally pursue the college education he wanted and was able to put the stigma of his past behind him. noah asked zig if he could have a moment alone with him. emma bit her lip nervously as she walked away with emily to give them some privacy.

“is everything okay?” emily asked.

“um, well, he may or may not be mad at me for going behind his back and submitting his football film to chris. i came across the second chance scholarship during my research and thought it would be perfect for noah. i didn’t tell him about it because i didn’t want to get his hopes up,” emma said quickly, a knot of anxiety forming in her stomach.

“well, it sounds to me like he’s very lucky to have someone in his life who cares so much about him and his future. zig and chris also wouldn’t be here if someone didn’t give them a second chance. it inspired chris to create the scholarship, and i really hope things work out for you guys,” emily said reassuringly as zig and noah fist bumped. she walked over to give zig a kiss and emma watched apprehensively as noah approached her, his face thoughtful.

“i’m sorry for going behind your back, babe. you were just so upset about losing the NAUA scholarship, i didn’t want to get your hopes up but i did a lot of research and thought the second chance scholarship would be perfect, since it covers tuition, room and board, and books, with football and boxing fulfilling the activity requirement, so any extra money you make can be sent to your mom. i had to convince ava to help me sneak into the A/V office, and i owe michael a big favor since he put the highlight reel together quickly to make the deadline, so i didn’t have time to explain, and…” emma blurted out. “are you mad?”

noah gave her such a tender look that the tension in her body disappeared. “how could i be mad at my gorgeous, selfless girlfriend who found a way that i could go to college while dealing with her own applications? but i don’t like that you felt as though you needed to keep this a secret. i want us to be a team, okay?”

emma tilted her head up and leaned in to give him a soft kiss. “okay. and i couldn’t just not help you. i care about you, babe. you mean a lot to me.”

noah lowered his head until his forehead was touching hers and closed his eyes. “what did i do to deserve you?”

she laughed. “you chose me, remember?”

“and you chose me,” noah said softly, leaving a kiss on her nose and lacing his fingers with hers as they left the coffee shop to rejoin the tour.

4 weeks later

emma was in front of her house at 7am, waiting for mason. she had texted him a few days ago asking if she could join him for a run. she was pleasantly surprised when he replied but she still wasn’t sure what to expect. she looked carefully at mason’s face as he jogged up to her house, trying to gauge his mood. he gave her a nod and she fell into place jogging beside him. when they finally reached the park and took a break, emma turned to face mason.

“thanks for hanging out with me again, i’ve missed you,” she said, her voice hopeful.

mason gave her a longing look before a small smile appeared on his face. “i’ve missed you too, em. i wish things could go back to normal with us, but i don’t think my feelings for you are going to go away anytime soon. and it hurts to think about you with noah.”

“i felt the same when you were with ava and i’m sorry if i hurt you. mason, you’ll always have a special place in my heart but i also really want my best friend back. i think we just maybe outgrew the old way we used to be friends with all the changes that happened this year, and with us going to different colleges and experiencing different things, maybe we just need to find a new way to be there for each other,” emma said slowly. she had given this a lot of thought over the last couple of months.

mason nodded thoughtfully, seeming to agree. “yeah, maybe we can talk over a milkshake?”

they spent the rest of the morning sharing a malted peanut butter milkshake and catching up on everything and anything. as the sun rose high in the sky, they decided to order food and continue talking like they used to, and emma was hopeful that they would be able to keep finding moments like this to reconnect even when school and life kept them miles apart.

* * * * * emma kept hitting the refresh button on her phone mail app for the results of the photo contest she was expecting to hear about. she was sitting in the park with noah, who was attempting to study for midterms but kept looking over at emma with amusement.

“staring at your phone isn’t going to make the results appear magically,” he teased.

emma put her phone down and sighed. “i know, i’m just really anxious.”

“come here,” noah said, putting his book aside and pulling emma on to his lap. he wrapped one arm around her waist and used the other to draw her face closer to his. he left a line of kisses starting at her neck, working his way across her jaw, and up to her cheek. emma closed her eyes, tilting her chin toward noah so their lips could meet in a sweet kiss. she brought a hand up to the back of his neck and shifted so she could deepen the kiss when she heard the ping! from her phone. she quickly climbed off noah’s lap to grab her phone and read the new email that had arrived.

“oh my god, i won! i can’t believe it!” emma shoved her phone in front of her boyfriend’s face, who quickly scanned the congratulatory email and broke out into a wide grin.

he stood up, pulling emma up with him so he could wrap his arms around her and swing her around. “congratulations, babe. i knew you could do it! remember what i said when we picked that one?” noah asked, setting her back down on the ground and peppering her face with kisses.

after an hour of reading her write-ups for both photo options and looking at each photo carefully, noah grabbed the first one and handed it back to emma. “you should use this one. your write-up definitely brings the viewer into the moment and make it seem like so much more happened than the moment itself. and personally, it means the most to me since i was thinking of you when i scored that touchdown. i was so happy you were finally mine, the adrenaline made me feel like i could do anything,” he said, smiling fondly.

“how could i forget? i made sure to include it in my college applications because of that,” emma said, smiling.

6 weeks later

emma smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in her navy fit-and-flare dress outside of the neighborhood restaurant noah first took her to when he asked her to homecoming. it quickly became a fixture for them as a date night spot, but tonight was going to be the first time she met his mom and sister. to say she was nervous was a huge understatement.

noah took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “there’s no need to be nervous, i promise,” he said gently, giving her a kiss on the cheek before leading her toward a booth in the back of the restaurant.

emma waved shyly as they approached the booth. “hi, mrs. harris; hazel. it’s really nice to meet you,” she greeted tentatively. she was surprised when mrs. harris stepped out of the booth and wrapped her up in a big hug.

“it’s so good to finally meet you, dear. i’m so glad you could join us to celebrate!”

the rest of the evening was pleasant as they recounted how noah got selected for the second chance scholarship. emma and noah held hands under the table throughout dinner, giving each other side glances and small smiles when they thought his family wouldn’t notice. noah looked pointedly in the other direction when they started sharing embarrassing childhood stories, and emma just laughed along until the conversation eventually transitioned to emma’s future.

“so, emma, what are your college plans?” mrs. harris asked.

she saw noah shift in his seat and avoid her gaze. she hadn’t made any decisions yet but they also hadn’t really talked about their relationship long-term.

“um, well, i plan on focusing on fine arts so i’m deciding between the california institute of design and columbia university in new york,” she replied quietly.

mrs. harris clapped her hands. “oh my, those sound prestigious! i’m sure your family would want you to stay close.”

emma smiled half-heartedly and nodded. “yeah, california would be much closer to home.” but on the complete opposite side of the country from hartfeld, she thought glumly to herself.

dinner wrapped up shortly and after saying goodbye and promising to have dinner with them again soon, emma sat quietly in the drivers’ seat of her used SUV. her dad finally caved and bought her a car as an 18th birthday and congratulatory present after her acceptances came in. it was a safe, reliable car, perfect for the eventual long drives to and from college but emma was just glad to finally have a car of her own. emma looked over at noah with a twinge of sadness as she drove silently back to his house, stopping a couple blocks away so they could have some privacy.

“we should probably talk about what’s next for us, right?” she asked hesitantly.

noah shrugged. “we still have time before you have to decide. but honestly emma, i want you to make the decision that’s best for you. promise me you won’t factor me or our relationship into your decision.”

emma looked helplessly at how the moonlight seemed to sharpen the contours of noah’s face in the most romantic way; his eyes shining sincerely with every word he said. how could this kind, sensitive, gorgeous guy not factor into her decision? she sighed and nodded, “i’ll try.”

🔥⚡🔥⚡

he gave her a sympathetic but understanding look before taking off his seatbelt and reaching toward her. emma obliged, turning the engine off and climbing over the center console to straddle his lap. noah lowered his seat back, wrapping one arm around emma’s waist and the other around her neck, bringing her in for a kiss. emma sighed contentedly at the soft, sweet kisses that quickly grew heated. she ground her hips into his, trying to get her body as close to his as possible, as her hands tangled themselves in his hair. she moaned as he started kissing down her neck to suck gently on the soft patch of skin near her collarbone, one hand moving to palm her breast and the other trailing up the inside of her thigh.

they had agreed over winter break to go slow and that sex would be off the table for now, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still have fun. emma was starting to get addicted to his touch and wanted to speed up her readiness for him even though logically she knew they needed to take their time; noah had more experience from his time in juvie but understood more than she did that he needed to go slow with her. they ended up meeting somewhere in the middle. emma let out a soft hiss as his fingers started stroking the fabric of her underwear and she ached to feel him inside. he pulled back to look in her eyes for permission and when she nodded, her lips swollen and eyes lidded, his finger dove underneath the fabric.

she could sense the smirk on noah’s face before it appeared as her hips started grinding against his fingers of their own accord and crashed her lips into his. he quickly added a second finger and emma moaned against his mouth; she wanted more. as his fingers continued their steady strokes, she unzipped his jeans as fast as she could, cupping him in her hands through the fabric of his underwear before diving her hand beneath his waistband. she felt him stiffen even more once she freed his cock from his pants and started stroking him; knowing that she caused this reaction sent a thrill down her spine.

“noah, please, i need more,” emma whimpered, rocking hard against his hand while trying to match him stroke for stroke.

“since you asked so nicely,” he murmured against her lips, pressing his thumb down on her clit and moving it in slow circles while maintaining his finger ministrations.

emma buried her face in his neck as she felt the pressure build below her hips; her body felt like it was on fire and she came apart shortly after, biting down gently on the patch of skin that connected noah’s neck to his shoulder to keep herself from screaming. panting slightly, she pulled back to look at him as he brought his fingers to his lips and began licking them. emma picked up the pace of her strokes and gave him a mischievous grin, leaning forward to capture one of his fingers in her mouth, tasting herself. noah’s eyes widened with surprise and she felt his cock twitch underneath her hand as she swirled her tongue around his finger. she moved back to lower her head to his cock.

he tried to pull her back up. “you don’t have to do that—” but she waved him off.

“just tell me what you want,” she winked, continuing her strokes as she started licking him playfully.

noah’s hips rose slightly. “you’re not going to have to do much, i’m close, babe. just keep doing— that, yes, god!” true to his word, after a few measured tongue swirls in sync with her hand strokes, emma felt noah clench and release but not without moaning her name. she swallowed as much as she could and grabbed a tissue from the center console to clean up the rest, grinning wickedly at noah.

“you are definitely full of surprises,” he murmured, bringing her up so he could give her a kiss.

❄💧❄💧

8 weeks later

emma stood in front of the refreshments table, trying to avoid constantly looking over to see if anyone was looking at her photos. but of course, she couldn’t help it and was glancing over every 15 seconds. she stopped when a pair of large, warm hands covered her eyes.

“guess who?”

she squealed and turned around to wrap her arms around noah’s neck. he had to take a step back to keep from falling over, and let his arms wrap naturally around her back. he leaned down to give her a quick kiss before she pulled away.

“thanks for coming, babe. let me walk you through it,” she said excitedly, grabbing his hand and whirling around quickly to lead him toward the wall where her photographs were on display at berry high’s end-of-year art show.

noah smiled and listened attentively as emma explained the themes she was going for and why she chose each photo and placed it where she did. he glanced over at the photos as she was explaining, but he cared more about observing the way her eyes lit up as she talked about something particularly moving, the way she tapped her chin when she was gathering her thoughts, or when a light pink blush appeared on her cheeks when she glanced over and caught him looking at her.

it wasn’t long before her family, ava, mason, and berry high friends arrived and she moved to greet them, giving them a similar rundown of her photos. noah took a couple steps back to observe the photos from a distance; he wasn’t that into art but could tell that emma had a real talent. of course, someone might say he was biased since her award-winning photo, which happened to feature him, was front-and-center.

“hey noah, how’s it going?” noah turned to his right to find mason standing next to him, looking up at emma’s photos.

“jennings. i’m good.” he really wasn’t one for small talk. “i’m glad you made it; emma’s been looking forward to seeing your reaction since you’ve always supported her photography hobby.”

mason turned to him, eyebrow raised. “thanks, i appreciate that. she used to always carry her mom’s camera with her everywhere.” he paused and noah, who always found a way to extract himself from conversations when the predictable lull approached, took a sip of his drink.

“i know we’ve had our differences but i just wanted to thank you for being there for emma. she means a lot to me, and she seems happy with you. just don’t hurt her,” mason said, putting a hand on noah’s shoulder as he turned away.

noah held mason’s gaze for a brief moment and nodded. mason gave him a nod in return and walked away. noah wasn’t sure if they would ever be friends, but he knew mason was always going to be in emma’s life, and at least now the two of them had an understanding.

the crowd was starting to thin out as the evening wore on, and soon it was just him and emma. he put an arm around her waist and brought her closer. “i’m really proud of you. your photos are amazing,” he said, leaning down to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. emma felt herself flush from the compliment.

“wait, i have one more thing i want to show you,” she ducked below the refreshments table to pull out a horizontal picture frame. she tucked it behind her back. “turn around and close your eyes!”

noah chuckled but obeyed; even though he was tempted to peek, he preferred seeing emma’s eager expression when she was waiting for his reaction to something. “okay, you can open them now!”

where her photos were before now hung a series of five photos, individually framed, but connected in a large horizontal design. noah stepped closer to look at the photos, there was the goofy one of them from homecoming, the selfie they took under the stars after emma agreed to be his girlfriend, and a few others. he looked over at emma, who looked giddy, prompting his eyebrow to quirk up in interest.

emma leaned forward to flip a switch hidden on the side. it was then that noah noticed a cord from the frame that was plugged in to the outlet below. when he looked back up, a soft light came from each individual photo, lighting up the letters P R O M ? in script.

noah stood there with his jaw open slightly, stunned. “wha-? aren’t i supposed to ask you to prom?”

emma shifted her weight nervously. “well, i wasn’t sure if you wanted to go to eastridge prom and since i’m at berry high, i figured i should do the asking. and i wanted to surprise you since, you know…” she trailed off and noah raised his eyebrow at her expectantly. emma blushed and looked down at her feet. “you said before that you liked that i could surprise you. i just want to make sure i keep you interested.”

he wrapped his arms around her to pull her in for a kiss. “you just keep being you, there’s plenty to like.”

“wait, is that a yes?” emma pulled back to look up at him.

noah just chuckled. “like i could ever say no to you.”

* * * * * emma couldn’t have imagined a more magical night, as stereotypical and cliché as that sounded. berry high had outdone itself with their prom theme, “the royal masquerade,” and the sparkly gold and silver décor. she couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she took in the balloon archway and the gold and silver painted vase centerpieces filled with red and yellow roses on each table. masks and crowns surrounded the vases, along with disposable cameras and costume jewelry, easily serving double duty as décor and photo props.

she turned her head to look at her absolutely handsome boyfriend. he wore a fitted black suit and bowtie with a boutonniere that matched the deep red of her dress and corsage. even though they had coordinated their outfits, she was still stunned when he came to pick her up. she had forgotten how good he looked in a suit. she kept sneaking glances at his profile the entire ride over (he drove them in her car after she made it clear she was not going to ruin her hair and makeup by riding on his motorcycle to prom), wondering how she got so lucky with noah.

“you’ve been staring at me all night, you okay?” he asked, holding out his arm for her as they stepped through the doors of the ballroom.

emma looped her hand in the crook of his elbow, hoping he didn’t notice how she lingered on his bicep. “you just look so handsome tonight,” she said, sighing happily.

noah smirked. “i think you’re the one who steals the show. you are absolutely gorgeous tonight, baby. dance with me?” he grabbed her hand and extended his arm, inviting her to twirl under it. emma giggled as she let him spin her around, the long skirt of her dress billowing out elegantly, before he put his arm around her waist and led her to the dance floor.

after taking their prom photos, dancing with her berry high friends, and enjoying the evening overall, noah quietly led emma toward one of the ballroom balconies. they stepped outside and let the night breeze cool them down.

“did you want to take a break?” emma asked, feeling grateful that she could lean against the railing and take some of the pressure off her stilettos.

noah didn’t answer but just looked at her softly as he rested his arms on the railing on either side of her, enveloping her in his arms. “i just wanted a little bit of quiet to admire my amazing girlfriend. i can’t believe we’ve been together six months already. it seems like not that long ago that we were dancing at homecoming.”

emma felt herself blush. “you are being really romantic tonight, you know that?” she said softly, placing her hand on his cheek and gently stroking it with her thumb. noah leaned down until their foreheads touched and emma felt an overwhelming warmth bloom from her heart and spread across her chest. in that moment, wrapped up in the tender way noah was holding her, she couldn’t help but feel safe and loved. she knew her feelings had progressed for a while now but wasn’t sure if she should wait for noah to say it first. her heart told her that she needed to seize this moment.

“i love you.”

noah’s eyes widened slightly. did she just say—? he blinked a couple times before a wide grin broke out on his face, his eyes lighting up with happiness. “you mean it?” emma nodded, smiling shyly. “i love you too. i’ve wanted to say it for a while now but you beat me to it,” he said, cupping her face in his hands and leaning down to give her a deep, loving kiss.

emma beamed and knew she was never going to forget this night for the rest of her life.

* * * * * summer came and went, filled with graduations (lots of tears all around as noah walked across the stage, with mrs. harris squeezing emma’s hand tightly) and grad parties, working part-time to have spending money for college, registering for classes, and planning out the road trip to school. but emma’s favorite part of the summer was how she finally got to spend it hanging out with ava at the mall like old times, reminiscing with mason at his treehouse or at the beach, helping mack find ways to express her art more productively, and going on lots of dates with noah. despite the memories she made that more than made up for missing out last summer, emma was ready to step forward into her future.

noah secured his motorcycle to the tow dolly attached to the back of emma’s car as she crammed in another box in the backseat. “that’s the last box, right?”

emma nodded, glad her dad got her a car that was big enough for both of their stuff but small enough that she shouldn’t have issues finding parking in the city. she watched as noah went back into the house to say his goodbyes and sent her dad a quick text update that they were getting on the road. their goodbye earlier that morning had been brief; he wasn’t thrilled that she was driving cross-country with noah, but agreed to trust her as long as she sent him updates every couple of hours and called him once she arrived at their scheduled stops.

she climbed into the car and put on her seatbelt, waving goodbye to noah’s mom who was waiting in the doorway. noah gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and climbed into the passenger seat. emma turned the key in the ignition and looked over at noah. “ready?”

“wait, not yet.” he leaned over and cupped her face in his hands before giving her a long, deep kiss. “i love you. now i’m ready.”

emma rolled her eyes but couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “i love you, too.”

she carefully pulled the car out of the driveway, following her phone’s gps toward the highway. she couldn’t help but glance over at noah’s profile next to her, wondering how she got so lucky. noah held out his hand and emma laced her fingers with his over the center console. he pulled their intertwined hands together to leave a soft kiss on the back of her hand, and when he looked back up at her, he was beaming. emma felt a feeling of gratitude and love swell within her for this wonderful man who chose her first.

* * * * * mentions: @khoicesbyk; @nyastarlight; @chetachisblog​; @robintora​;​ @shows-simp-card​; @brycesgirl​;

[zabrak-show]

Blood of the Sith

Summary:

Kudra Deschain is a young pilot working for a trade company out of Coruscant. Her next trade route to Mustafar, ends up being a fiery life changing revelation to the dark side of the force, where she meets Maul, a Sith apprentice to Darth Sidious.

Notes:

This is pre phantom menace, by like maybe a couple years. I had fun writing this, but it's just for fun so hopefully no one takes this too seriously and gets mad at me for depicting Maul in a way they don't like, or not having some other random spec incorrect. I wanted to show a softer side to Maul. Probably NSFW, but there's nothing that graphic as I am a secret prude.

A huge thank you to my fiance for helping me out with some of the technical aspects as well as the story writing. And thank you to all my friends who have not only put up with me talking about my dumb Maul story for the past few months while I slowly chipped away at it, but encouraged me to continue. Sorry it’s such a slow burn, please hang in there I swear Maul shows up soon lol!!

7 chapters all together. 12.7k words (total for all 7 chapters combined)

Chapter 1

The metal floor plates quietly vibrated as the YT-1000 entered the Coruscant atmosphere. The pilots were a young woman with pale skin and long black hair, and a young male twi’lek with orange skin. They wore similar black jumpsuits and even seated at the helm it was obvious the twi’lek would tower over the woman.

“So Kudra, what are you planning to get yourself into now that we’re back from that mess?” The twi’lek asked with a smirk.

“Mess?” She replied, dodging the question, “I had everything under control the whole time.”

A green and gold astromech droid wheeled in to beep his counter and the twi’lek laughed and asked, “Your droid really loves to call you out. Why do you still keep that old thing around?”

Kudra busied herself with checking all the landing sensors and grumbled back, “That droid has proven useful on every run we’ve done. Plus, I like her sarcastic attitude.” She was cautious to not make it obvious the droid was her only friend and constant in her life the last 10 years.

“Have you set up the meeting then with Krass? After we land I won’t have much time to…”

“Yes Kudra,” The twi’lek cut her off and she shot an icy glare his way, “Krass will be ready and waiting for us so you can go off on your secret missions or whatever it is you do.”

Kudra sat in silence while they came into the landing bay. Why did he always get so mad she didn’t want to hang out with the team after a job? They just spent 2 weeks on this crusty cargo ship together. They both deserved to do whatever they wanted on their own.

As promised, Krass was there waiting for them, once they got off their ship. He was a tall weequay with leathery brown skin and knotted blonde hair. He always tried to look higher class than he was, which made him look tacky in Kudra’s opinion. He wore his usual worn out and dated long red leather coat with tarnished brass buttons and knee high black boots over canvas pants. He stuck out like a sore thumb on the landing bay amongst the muted flight suits of most everyone else.

Krass and the twi’lek discussed unloading the cargo and routine maintenance with the landing crew while Kudra checked in on L0-K1.

“Make sure these maintenance droids don’t mess anything up while I’m gone.” She said as she stooped down to wipe grease from the droid’s arm. L0 beeped and wheeled away.

Kudra stood in the back against the wall of Krass’ small, now crowded office. The whole team was probably over 40 people, but he only held the meetings for pilots, engineers, and copilots so 13 of them all together. A low hum of conversations between everyone enveloped the room until Krass spoke up to start the meeting. The room quieted and he gave his usual fanfare speech while explaining everyone’s next jobs. A sinking feeling hit Kudra in the gut as she realized her name hadn’t been called. She could not afford any time off right now, and as far as she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong lately. As it seemed like the meeting was wrapping up, Krass remembered her, “Ah yes Kudra, I haven’t forgotten you. You’ll be taking the Z95 to the outer rim for a small but important job.”

Kudra nodded her head, “Yes, Sir.”

Slowly, everyone filed out of the room and Krass caught her arm as she neared the door.

“Listen,I know you just got back, but if you can leave right away, it’d be a huge help. I’d consider your ship, the YT1000, paid in full after the job got done. If you do it right of course.” He finished sternly now forcibly grabbing the top of her shoulder.

“Sure,” Kudra responded coolly, “I can leave as soon as the ship’s ready. What’s the mission?”

He loosened his grip, “Top secret.” he stared into her green eyes as if to search for a reason he might be wrong about sending her on this mission, finally removing his hand from her shoulder and looking away.

“You’ll be going to Mustafar to trade with a mining collective there. In and out, easy peasy. It’s hotter than blazes there and not like some desert planet. It’s covered in lava so pick up some protective clothing, ‘fore you head out. I’ve already deposited more than enough credits for ya to prepare. Any questions?”

Kudra thought for a moment, “Naw, just load the information onto L0 about which landing bay to aim for and who the point of contact will be. Thanks for trusting me captain, I won’t let you down.” The weequay sprung to life suddenly and patted Kudra so hard on her back it made her cough. “Enjoy your night and I’ll let you know when the ship’s ready.”

Kudra pulled the covers up around her, pulling it off the naked sleeping man next to her in bed. She quietly packed her bags and got dressed. She debated on waking him up, and tripped over an Alderaanian wine bottle, spinning it across the floor and making a loud clank against a metal chair leg. Well, I guess that’ll wake him, she figured. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was really quite handsome, dark brown skin and curly brown hair with scruffy facial hair like he’d forgotten to shave.

“Hi gorgeous, are you leaving already?” he looked up at her from the bed.

“Yes,” Kudra responded plainly. “Apologies for waking you.” She started to pick up his clothes to hand him and he grabbed her for a kiss, causing her to lose her balance and fall into him, kissing him deeply and forgetting herself for a moment.

“I’m sorry” she said, pulling away, “this was fun. I do need to get going though.”

“Right,” he shrugged her off and got dressed in awkward silence.

Kudra made it to the ship bay just in time. Krass was waiting with L0.

“Ok, you’re all set with coordinates.”

“Great, thanks Krass,” she started to crawl up the boarding ladder.

“Kudra, wait.” She stopped and turned her head toward him.

“I didn’t mention it earlier, but” he paused to look around them as he handed her a small black velvet pouch, “this is very important and very secretive. Never take it off your person, until you meet your point of contact. It’s worth your very life.” He stuffed the bag in her hand and didn’t let go for a moment.

“So what, is this the actual cargo?” she looked at him skeptically.

“You could say that. Don’t let it into the wrong hands. It’s imperative it gets to our contact person.” he shook his hand holding hers and the pouch.

“Ok, I’ll make sure your old “friend” gets their prize.” she joked with a wink.

“Please, Kudra. This isn’t a joke. No funny business with the clientele this time. You won’t always have someone like me to get you out of your lovelorn messes.”

Kudra’s cheeks burned red hot and her heart raced. How dare he treat her like this, like some mischievous star crossed lover. She covered the anger up with her voice keeping it as cool sounding as she could, “Of course. In and out, business as usual.” She turned to crawl back up the ladder, and Krass was still standing there and yelled after her, “No. NOT business as usual! Professional this time please!” Kudra kept climbing, “Yup you got it Captain. You know I always get the job done one way or another.” She and L0 boarded the Z95 at last. She tied the bag to her belt and got ready for take off.

“What’s the worst that could happen, L0?” she asked the droid as they exited the Coruscant atmosphere. L0 responded, likely with an actual answer to the worst things that could happen and Kudra laughed.

After about an hour into their journey, Kudra remembered the weird encounter with Krass before they left. She opened the pouch to see what was so important inside. L0, beeped her opposition.

“Chill out, L0, I’m just seeing what it is that is so important. I’ll put them right back in the pouch.” She dumped the pouch contents into her palm. Two pyramid shaped, black and gold objects fell into her hand. She noticed there was some type of inscription on the sides of the pyramids. Somehow they felt heavier outside of the bag than inside of it.

“Wow, what do you think these are? Some kind of puzzle?” she asked L0 and the droid screeched a response.

“Ha ha yeah, I suppose my life should be worth more than a couple puzzles.” She slipped them back into the bag and tied it to her waist again.

“Alright, L0, we’re getting close. Narrow in on our coordinates before we get out of hyperspace.”

Kudra tied her long black hair back, revealing a portion of her head shaved and a tattoo of a convor. The ship came out of hyperspace near Mustafar, but in the middle of an electrical storm. The ship controls went erratic and every sensor that could beep started beeping.

“Woah, L0 what the hell is going on? I can barely get into a landing pattern.” Kudra weaved in and out with the barely working steering controls, trying to avoid the erratic lightning happening all around them.

“Why does this shit only ever happen in the outer rim?!” She was desperately trying everything as they started to enter the atmosphere, “L0 please fix our navigation plot, I can’t see anything!” L0 chirped, but the ship was struck by lightning, flickering their main power and everything went dark, the controls went dead.

“That can’t be good! I’ve gotta land L0, find me something to land on, find a way to SLOW us down.” Another lightning strike on the ship and power flickered on for a moment. Enough for Kudra to take some controls and slow the ship down. Everything happened so fast and she was doing everything not to panic and to just focus to try and find any type of solution. She had to use all her strength to try and guide the ship with what little power they had. All Kudra could see was lava. “Is there anything NOT lava on this dumb planet??” she screamed and L0 screamed back at her. She found a landing, but they were coming in way too hot. It was the best they could hope for, so she made the descent.

The initial impact onto the scorched ground completely obliterated one of the wings and most of the rest of the ship was torn up beyond recognition. They were sliding and spinning out of control until finally a bed of lava stopped the ship. What was left of the back of the ship was up in flames as the lava ate away at them. No time to think other than “escape” Kudra began kicking the canopy to try and free both of them. She was running on pure adrenaline as she could feel the ship slipping further and further into the lava, the flames getting hotter and hotter. It started to feel hopeless, so Kudra took a moment to focus every part of her on getting out of the burning ship. A deep breath in, eyes shut, and a strong kick thrusted the canopy off the ship and Kudra jumped out and fell onto the burnt ground. L0 flew out after her with a shriek and an ungraceful tumble next to her sounding like an empty can.

“Woah, L0, you look like shit.” Kudra coughed out, while starting to stand. L0 wheezed a response

“I know, I feel like shit too. Thankfully I have these ugly threads to keep me cool.” she looked down at the black and dark green thick formless robes draped over herself and then back at the ship melting and burning into the lava pool as she lowered her goggles over her eyes. The reality hit her again, and she realized how bad this was. The ship was gone. They were in the middle of nowhere on a lava covered planet. The ship let out a final death rattle as the lava engulfed it entirely and Kudra fell to her knees. Well, this was maybe the worst that could happen.

They started walking, with no real apparent plan other than to maybe find somewhere that wasn’t covered in lava.

“Do we even know how to get to the mining collective from here? What was the contact person’s name?”

L0 chirped the answer.

“Ok, I am choosing to ignore the distance we are from them, but Uane’s the name so we got that.” Kudra sighed deeply. She was too exhausted to keep up any sort of positive charade.

“We need to get out of this heat. Let’s see if we can find a cave over in those cliffs.” Kudra pointed off into the distance a series of cliffs that normally probably wouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes to walk to, but in this heat it was hard to say.

L0 beeped conversationally.

“Listen, I realize if I had taken Krass up on his original offer years ago, I’d be unhappily married but with a ship. And not here. That much I realize. What’s your point?”

Another prodding chirp from L0.

“Settle down? With Krass? Are you out of your mind? I do just fine on my own without looking after some useless old person all the time. This heat is really melting your brain, L0.”

L0 continued prodding Kudra with past mistakes she had made. Kudra wished she could punch a droid and have it do anything other than hurt her own hand.

“L0, what is your deal? We’ve been over this. Why are you always bringing up that deal on Corellia? The whole thing worked out a lot better, actually BECAUSE of me.”

L0 whirred in disbelief.

“Yes I stabbed Crix Harend! As you’ll remember he attacked me. At the time, I had no idea that was his wife in my bed.”

The droid buzzed on about this Correllian from Kudra’s past.

“I actually don’t think Crix ever found out about me and his brother. Anyway that was so long ago. Why can’t you let it go? We still managed to trade our cargo with them in the end.”

L0 wasn’t letting it go and starting to get on Kudra’s last nerve.

“Yes, because I slept with Crix too. What is with you right now?” She screamed at the droid.

They walked on and on in mostly silence now as Kudra was mad at L0 and also too exhausted and shell shocked to make commentary. As thankful as she was to have been warned about the heat and having the right clothing for this planet, something told her they weren’t meant for all day frolicking in the lush lava fields.

Mustafar felt like hell. Every breath was fire on Kudra’s lungs, every step reminded her of all the pain, mostly physical, but her mental game wasn’t so strong right now either. She trudged on and on, L0 whirring quietly behind her. At last, they found a cave to hide in. It wound pretty far back through some tunnels, but that was good. The further in they went the cooler and darker it got. L0 lit up the cave with a small flashlight attachment as Kudra made a makeshift pillow and blanket with her capes and passed out.

Next chapter