#ps PS hi Hunt pov

[acourtofquestions]

UM SO MORA — They just mentioned MORA!!! & I get it mythology… but like Mora… MORA!!! As in… Mab & Mora??? 👀👀👀

[djarinterstellar]

Safe Place

Pairing: Din Djarin x fem!Reader

Summary: What starts as a night off alone escalates into some trouble in town. Luckily, when you’re employed by one of the fiercest warriors in the galaxy, backup is never too far away.

Tags/Warnings: category is- MUTUAL PINING[!!] they just don’t know it. mostly comfort/fluff. some violence in the beginning + 1 minor injury. mentions of alcohol and spice (cannabis) use. Reader is fadeddd most of the plot lmao. Protective/Soft Din 🥰 mentions of Force-sensitive Reader. also no Grogu today, it’s past his bedtime :(

Word Count: 8.6k

a/n: not me posting this on the cusp of season 3 finally premiering 💀 also this was supposed to be shorter but honestly, this thing got so out of hand so fast, idek why it drags on for as long as it does. but i was inspired by this very stoned prompt i thought of months ago with my favorite tin can babygirl and decided to finally finish it so. here we go. ✨

ps: i’m still trying out the 3rd person pov thing so lemme know if you hate it or not. also to settle any confusion amid the new szn, this takes place between s1 and 2 :)

Translation: Sen’ika = little bird

*

*

It’s supposed to be an easy night.

Mando is on a hunt and she’s been left in charge in his absence. Normally she would’ve argued coming along and you know, making herself useful as she’d originally agreed upon. But the Crest could only land so close and the additional foot travel was too long and treacherous for the Child to follow along. Plus Red trusted her enough to leave her alone with his foundling without making off with his ship and she had no other choice but to agree.

A few days had passed now since he’d departed. He estimated he’d return in about a week, so she was in no rush in waiting for him. Mando had settled them on the outskirts of town, far enough where they could lay low in peace but still close enough for her to make any emergency supply runs in town. She was left with everything she needed to care for the kid. And with specific instructions not to leave the Crest unless it was absolutely necessary.

Which is exactly what she decided to categorize this as.

The pair of double doors leading into the local cantina burst open and she stumbles back out into the streets, giggling to herself as she cradles a pair of warm cider bottles to-go in her pouch. She hadn’t planned on lingering at the bar but three drinks and a pair of shots with a group of local girls later, plans were changed. She was even invited out back to share a round of their spice joint, a generous offer she simply couldn’t refuse. She was now blissfully intoxicated and felt lighter and happier than she’d been in weeks.

The kid had finally settled in earlier and if his recent patterns served her correctly, he’d be down for the rest of the night. She was finally alone, a privilege she found extremely rare these days since joining Mando’s crew, which gave her ample time to wander into town. Was it responsible of her to leave the Crest and the kid alone? Most would argue it wasn’t, Red most of all. But he wasn’t here to say no! Plus, she had locked the ship down to keep the kid inside and protected from any potential stragglers. All goes well, she would be in and out before he woke up.

And she was confident about this because she’d already gone out just last night. Sure, she hadn’t been out this long, but again, Mando wasn’t expected anytime soon.

She liked exploring towns. It gave her a reason to not only scope out her environment, but to familiarize herself with the locals and figure out which spots in town were traveler-friendly. It was easy to wander when she was on her own, but now that she was a full-time employee, it had become somewhat of a rare treat.

It was week’s end for these particular folks, which meant most of them were out in droves tonight. She could still hear the fits of laughter and drunken serenades belting out of the cantina behind her as she walked away. The air was far cooler at night and the refreshing taste of it in her lungs gave her cloudy head the clearance it needed.

She was delightfully drunk and probably just as high, but she was conscious enough to know she needed to get back. Leaving the kid alone for a couple of hours was fine, but stretching it out any longer than that was far too much of a risk. Live music was playing somewhere from around the corner, locals dashing around her as they hopped from one cantina to another.

The energy buzzed around her like an electric current, yet she walked with a familiar ease. She felt oddly safe within the center of town. But as she drifted further into the outskirts, the street lamps dulled and the crowds thinned out. A pair of fraternal moons became her guiding light as she willed herself to remember the path back to the Crest.

And for a while, it was fine. Despite the silence, she couldn’t help but feel a bit more on edge out here alone than when she was surrounded by a bunch of drunk miners. She ignored it though, trying to tell herself it was probably the spice making her antsy. But the farther she walked, the longer her paranoia festered and itched and scratched until she realized it wasn’t the libations talking to her.

It was the Force.

She realized too late she was being followed until just before she was confronted. A Balosar male slinks out from an alleyway behind her, long and slim with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his oversized coat. She wills herself to keep her eyes straight ahead but she could hear him glide over to her side to match her stride.

“Where ya goin’ sugar? The party’s that way!” he drawled, sending an immediate chill up her spine. Shit.

“I know where I’m going,” She doesn’t look at him as she attempts to brush past him. “Have a good night.”

He reacts by slipping around her once more, this time blocking her path directly ahead. “Whoa whoa, take it easy!” His accent is thick and laced in what she can only describe as mock-innocence. “Relaax, nobody’s gettin’ hurt here!”

Her facial expressions remain unmoved, glancing up at him boredly. In reality though, her heart was hammering against her ribcage. The last thing she needed, especially right now, was unwanted attention from anybody, let alone from this total stranger. She moves to step forward but he cuts in her way, a sly grin stretching across his face.

“It’s okay baby,” Her stomach internally caved in at the pet name. “just tryna find where the cool people hang out.”

“Wouldn’t know where to point you to.” she replies flatly, straightening her back. “Excuse me.”

She attempts to move around him again, but his arm comes up to lay on the wall next to her and he leans forward to cave her in. “Where’re you from then? I’ve never seen anyone this pretty so far out here.” His free hand inches towards her face but she’s quick to turn her cheek, her jaw clenching behind her lips.

“And you never will.” she snaps back, already inching backwards.

This only prompts him to step closer, a frown crossing his slimy face. “Ey, you don’t have to be a bitch.” His tone switches almost predictably and her hand slips behind her cloak to reach for her holster.

“Back off.” she snarls him a warning with the coldest glare she can make.

He tries reclosing the gap between them again. “C’monn honey- ”

“NO.” Her fight-or-flight instinct kicks in and she fully pushes her weight on him to shove him down. Her stand off is cut short though when he finds his balance and pushes back. She’s thrown back against the wall and before she can even process it, a pocket knife is jabbed against the skin of her neck.

Shadows move over his shoulder in her peripheral vision and when she follows them, 3 more Balosars creep out of the dark, hovering behind the first one in a sort of half circle around her.

It’s at this moment that she realizes 2 distinct things. Firstly, she doesn’t recognize them. In her 4 or so days since they touched down, she’d observed the villagers in her down time and gathered a very broad consensus of who was who— and in that time, she hadn't seen any Balosars in this town, which told her they were also just passing by. Secondly, she thinks as she watches the other 3 close in, she’s tangled herself in a very complicated web here. It was 4 against 1, with a notable size difference amongst all of them. She couldn’t see straight, was hilariously underprepared for a fight given the company she was currently keeping, she was fucked up and only growing more inebriated as her vices soaked into her bloodstream, and she was alone. No baby, no bar friends, no civilian witnesses.

No Mando.

Fuck.

A strangled little noise escapes her throat when the knife is pinched further into her skin and she curses herself at how whimpered it comes out.

“Fine, since you wanna do this the hard way..” the first Bathosar sneers almost mockingly, his frame towering over her own.

She’s curling into the overcast of her cloak when her fingers finally find the handle of her blaster, skin digging tightly into the cool of the metal. She looks into his eyes and sucks in a deep breath before the tension snaps.

Fuck it.

In an instant, a shot zaps out, aimed directly at his foot. He cries out when it makes contact, and she smashes her blaster across his temple when he folds over in distracted pain, his knife clattering to the ground. Despite her inebriation, she can sense the others jumping into action and she points her gun at the closest one, shooting him right in his chest before he can get any closer. She doesn’t have time to watch his body crumple to the floor as she turns to shoot at the other two, a rapid succession of plasma bolts whizzing out almost desperately. Her second target barely misses her line of fire and as she follows his trail, she fails to block the third Balosar from tackling her into the wall. She cries out as he harshly elbows her wrist to disarm her, the blaster forced out of her hand.

“Grab her!” She hears her attacker hiss from above her before she’s suddenly snatched from behind. Her arms are pinned to her sides as she’s grabbed and lifted several inches off the ground.

Her heart is pounding, blood pumping into her ears as she yells out. Her feet start kicking furiously in an instant, every functional instinct left in her telling her to fight back. “Get off me!” she shrieks, flailing until her boot finally connects with a knee. She hears him yelp behind her, his grip slipping. She jabs her elbow fully into his nose, sending them both tumbling.

Two separate voices are shouting incoherently above her in a blend of confusion and exasperation. She can see her blaster just feet away and she starts crawling, scrambling in a desperate effort to reach it, until she’s yanked backwards by her ankle.

“Pin her down.” she hears one of them growl maliciously from above.

Her stomach turns as she’s dragged back into her assailant’s grip, trails of her fingernails digging into the dirt floor. She feels her brain short-circulating in its panic so she resorts to one last defense tactic.

She starts screaming.

And it’s a shriek that’s piercing and raw and louder than she was planning it to be. But she screams anyway in hopes that anyone within the block can at least hear her, even if it’s another drunken villager on their way home.

“Shut her up!” A second voice hisses hastily, hands scrambling to smother her.

“NO- ” She bites down on the first hand that touches her face and only squeals louder, her pitch jumping another octave in her hysteria. She starts kicking again, nails scrambling in the dirt for a spare rock, a glass shard, anything physical to grab in her defense. When her palms only fill with clumps of dirt and sand, she clenches her fists around them anyway.

What started as a dreamy, whimsical high has quickly soured into a debilitating panic trip. Rather than floating in euphoric bliss, she feels tranquilized, her focus and motor skills severely hindered and overpowered by these 3 much larger adversaries. Her stomach is turning over under her ribs, waves of nausea churning with her rising panic. Her heart is pounding too fast she feels, and her lungs are tightly clenched despite how fast she’s gasping for air.

She doesn’t realize she’s crying until she’s flipped on her back, the welling tears spilling down her temples. Before she can scream again, a balled up handkerchief is forced into her mouth. Two of them meanwhile, are putting their full weight down on her to pin her limbs to the ground. The first one is limping over to them, his knife recovered in his hand while patches of fresh blood trail behind his injured foot. She audibly whimpers now, wriggling in their grasp like a drowning fish.

“You know.. I was gonna let you go after all this,” he starts, turning his blade over in his hand as if to inspect it. “But that was before I believed the rumors.” He pauses here, and the dread is only momentarily overwhelmed by her instinctive curiosity. “I mean- we all knew the bounty’s primary target was a Mandalorian with a green pet- ” Her stomach drops. “ -but there was no mention anywhere about his pretty little accomplice.”

She rustles again as he looms over her. “And I gotta tell ya, I didn’t think it was true at all. I mean, a Mandalorian with a business partner? And a girl at that!?” He almost laughs before he pivots. “But then we sees’ you in town, carryin’ this little guy around, and we think, maybe there’s some truth in all this, ya know?” Her stomach sinks even lower at the realization that they not only spotted her with the kid, but that they’d been watching her this whole time too.

Double fuck.

Suddenly, he’s kneeling in front of her, his injured foot tucked behind his knee, and she’s roughly sat up to face him by the snatch of her hair. “So here’s what’s gonna happen,” She grunts helplessly when his blade is pressed deeper against her neck as the three men crowd around her. “you’re gonna point me in the direction of the gremlin, you’re gonna watch us shoot his kidnapper, and then, and only then, will I finally kill you myself.”

Her brows crease in pain as she tries to pull away from his blade, but the hand twisted in the back of her hair only pushes her into it. The handkerchief is yanked out for her to answer and his head tilts to catch her eyes. “So?” he snaps. “What’s it gonna be? Now or later?”

Her eyes harden, nostrils flaring. Honestly, right now, she just wants to tell him to fuck off. It’s not like this was her first time being mugged and/or threatened, and unfortunately not while inebriated either. But this one felt pretty damn close to getting got. Her brain is already scrambling between scattered half-assed theories on how to get her out of this.

Fw-ip !

A whizzing sound passes under her and it’s so subtle, she almost doesn’t notice it. Then there’s a pause of silence that’s almost too heavy to be coming from nothing before she notices that the first guy’s eyes have blown wide open. They make eye contact and she squints, almost confused.

Suddenly, he’s thrown back and he starts screaming before she realizes he’s being yanked into the shadows by his wounded foot. She can hear the mechanical whizzing again as he’s dragged, even over his friends’ shouting, and it takes another split second for her to realize it’s a whipcord. And just like that, the Force alerts her that she’s not alone again. But instead of dread, something else flutters in her gut.

The Balosar’s screams are cut short by a single blaster shot, and she inhales a gasp of air before a chill crawls up her spine.

Two heavy, familiar boot steps clunk in front of them as its owner steps into the dim lighting.

She exhales and pure euphoria blooms in her chest.

He’s towering over them, broad shoulders stiff and gloved hands clenched into iron fists, his armor gleaming like a beacon even in the cover of night.

She can’t stop the smile that’s spreading across her face. “Mando..-”

“Kill him!” One of the Balosars yanks her back into his chest as his friend scrambles to his feet, blaster already in hand. She squeaks and the sound seems to snap Mando into full action. She’s yanked to her feet as his arm wrangles itself around her neck.

From here though, she can see her Mandalorian in his full glory. She watches him stalking towards his prey, blaster bolts bouncing off his beskar like raindrops as the other guy empties his clip into him. And of course, when that doesn’t work, he headbutts him to stun him before striking. Despite the weight of his armor, Mando moves like a viper and is just as deadly.

She feels herself being dragged away and she grunts in protest, trying to wriggle out of his grasp. It’s then she remembers one hand is still clenched. Without a second thought, she swings backwards, smacking the guy right in the face as she temporarily blinds him with a fistful of dirt.

“Agh- !” He shouts and she slips out his grip. She starts towards Mando, but then she’s grabbed by her hair and is yanked backwards with a cry. “Fuckin’ bitch- !” She hears him snarl before the back of his hand strikes her directly across her cheek.

She drops against the brick wall behind her, his body towering her, but from the corner of her eye, she spots Mando. The second guy is now motionless on the floor and his helmet is fully trained on the last one. And based on the swell of his chest and how hard he’s breathing now, she doesn’t need to gauge anything else; he just saw what he did and he’s furious.

He crosses the space between them and drags him backwards and away from her. The Balosar starts fighting back but he's quickly overpowered as he’s disarmed with an unnatural twist of his wrist. Mando spins him around and lands a punch directly into his face once, twice, thrice and then a final fourth blow before the guy falls to his knees. And it’s there that he goes for the kill, grabbing his head with both gloved hands and snapping his neck with an enraged grunt and a sickening crunch.

She watches the final body crumple to the floor with blown out eyes and her jaw fully dropped. She’s physically shaking, she realizes, and can barely breathe, let alone stand on her own. But when Mando finally turns to her, his chest rising and falling, she clings to the wall behind her to gather herself back up.

“What the hell happened??” Mando’s tone is harsh and agitated, even under his modulated panting. “You weren’t on the ship when I-”

He’s cut off when she runs straight into his arms. She all but collapses into his chest, arms coiled around his neck and her face smothered into his cowl. Before he can even process what’s happening, she pulls back to look up at him. “You’re earlyy!” She’s practically beaming up at him, one of her hands tracing the cheekbone of his helmet.

He’s speechless. First, a hug. And now she’s.. glad to see him? Not to mention how she’s smiling up at him with those big, adoring puppy-dog eyes. She’s never been this nice to him before, not even around the Child. “I- ” he hesitates before clearing his throat. “ -Yes. The target uh, took less time than I thought.”

This only makes her smile wider before she buries herself in him again. This time, her arms slip around his back, her cheek leaning into his chest plate. She could care less about how the edges of his armor were pinching into her skin, or how his fully loaded bandolier was pressed very uncomfortably into her collarbone. All that mattered to her right now, was this. “I’m so happy you’re here.” she all but whimpers, closing her eyes to savor the coolness of his beskar and the familiar scent of metal and gun smoke.

Now Mando was really stunned. But he can also feel the physical tremble in her muscles and the speed of her pulse, so he relents with a long sigh before a single arm drapes around her back. “Are you okay?” he asks, his tone much softer this time.

She nods into his chest before pulling away again. “Y-Yeah I just- ” she takes a deep breath and lets out a shaky exhale. “ -that was.. too close..”

“What happened?” He decides to ask again. “Are you hurt?” His hands quickly pat her down as if checking her for any other injuries before one of them comes up to gently cup her chin. He carefully tilts her face to get a better view of her red cheek and it doesn’t go unnoticed when she refuses to make eye contact. His helmet tilts ever so slightly. “Sen’ika..”

Her lips press together and her brows furrow as she flinches. “Well..”

“Did they kidnap you?” He asks, his other hand gesturing towards the 3 bodies behind him.

This makes her head snap back up. “No! No, they had no idea where I was staying. They were just trying to follow me back t..” she trails off the moment her brain catches up to her lips, and now that she’s face-to-face with him, she can practically feel Mando’s visor burning a hole into her forehead.

The pause between them stretches out uncomfortably before he finally speaks. “Where did you go?” His voice makes her insides squirm, like a teenager getting caught out after curfew.

“Uh..” She starts and suddenly she’s become hyper-aware of how hot her face is. She can’t remember the last time he was this close to her, and the realization of this somehow makes her self-conscious. She’s also still remarkably faded, too faded in fact to fake any semblance of sobriety. And if he’s already here, there’s really no point in lying to him, he’s way too smart for that. “..the bar.” she finally finishes meekly.

His shoulders slump as he exhales. “You got drunk?” he asks incredulously.

Her face brightens in embarrassment. “Okay, look- ” she starts and she can practically hear him groan under his helmet as he looks up to the sky. “-to be fair, I only went after the kid passed out, cause I knew he wouldn’t wake up.”

When she looks up, his helmet only tilts to the side, a silent move that only prompts her to keep going. “Ok, so there’s this pattern I’ve noticed, so when you give him a full meal and a glass of warm milk, and then you just let him play with his toys and get him to make them float around the room, after a certain time, he’ll get super tired and, like, fully sleep through the night. And I know that sounds like the most basic excuse in the book but I swear I tested this three nights in a row and it worked every time, okay so I wasn’t being totally stupid..”

She doesn’t realize how long she’s been rambling until she glances up again. He’s now leaned in closer to her, and for a moment she thinks he’s examining her cheek again. What she doesn’t realize is how carefully he’s looking into her eyes. He can tell she’s been drinking by now, and despite the trauma of the attempted assault on her just now, her eyes are still way too bloodshot to just be the liquor. Not to mention the hint of another smell on her..

She inhales sharply through her nose when she feels his gloved hands slip over her own. She gazes into his visor, as if straining to look for a pair of eyes behind it and leans in ever so slightly. She’s never been as curious to see what his expression looks like as she is right now. Her face softens as she stares up at him. “Mando..?” Her voice is just above a whisper and oh-so delicate.

She can feel his thumbs gently press into the pulse points of her wrists as he stares at her, and the surprising warmth of his touch makes butterflies flutter in her ribs. And just before she can open her mouth to call out to him again, he leans directly into her eye level.

“Are you high?” He’s audibly confused.

Her eyes turn into saucers in silent panic and it’s here that he can see her pupils are blown wide open.

“…Uhhhh…”

He sighs heavily as his head drops in defeat. It’s the only answer he needs.

“Okay,” he relents as he lets go of her. “Get your stuff. Let’s go home.”

He immediately stiffens once the words slip out. Oh, fuck fuck fuck.

No Din, no! This was temporary, remember?? She’d only made that abundantly clear the day she stepped foot on the Crest with a single bag and 2 datapads. It was always a mutual agreement though: she was to join him on the Crest to work full-time on tracking down a Jedi, with a deadline of at least a couple of months before he was to drop her off at a new planet of residency of her choosing. After all, she’d only just begun resettling her life and it was a path she intended to follow through on her own. Din understood this partnership was fleeting and it was unfair of him to call this ‘home’, yet for some reason, he insisted on slipping up in little moments like this again and again.

Though based on the glazed, clueless look in her eyes, she didn’t notice at all. “Okay.” she simply says, turning around to scan the alley for her belongings. As she skirts off in one direction, Din sees her blaster laying just a couple of feet away. He picks it up for her when a loud clanging catches his attention.

“Hey!” She calls out, straining to pull her bag out from under one of the bodies. Once she rolls him off with a kick of her foot, she holds up her bag and pulls out one of the sources of the noise. “Look, the cider survived!”

His helmet tilts almost disapprovingly, but he does nothing else as he holds her blaster out to her. “C’mon.” he all but huffs impatiently.

“Okay okay, sorryy- ” she slurs, stumbling over the same body as she returns and accepts her blaster. “One of these are yours ya know!” Mando is already walking away as she’s throwing her up bag over her shoulder, and she has to scramble to keep up with him, a move that makes her trip on her own two feet.

His helmet tilts over his shoulder at her. “Can you walk?” She’s not sure if it’s meant to sound demeaning or not, but it makes her puff her chest as she pouts at him.

“Of course I can walk!” she shoots back. “You’re just going too fast.” He grunts in response, helmet facing forward again and continues his pace. She’s not sure if it’s the spice but his strides feel more rushed than usual. His shoulders are also still fully straight, she notices and something tugs in her chest as she tries getting a sense of what his body language is telling her. She’s only a step or two behind him, and her eyes wander to the floor in front of her, the words spilling out before she can stop herself. “..are you mad at me?”

She almost sounds like a child, remorseful and heavy with guilt and she already hates how it comes out. But what punches harder is his response. Or his lack of it. Because he simply keeps walking at the same pace, fully ignoring her. No grunt, no hum, not even a sigh. And for some reason, this makes her ache. She stumbles over her own feet again and almost instantly she can feel tears threatening to well under the skin of her cheeks. She wants to curse herself for getting emotional, but it has to be liquor making her moods swing so drastically, she tells herself. Not that this thought doesn’t stop her from speaking again.

“I’m fired aren’t I- ”

Before she can blink, she runs face-first into a wall of beskar as he stops abruptly. She can’t help but yelp as she clutches her now-throbbing nose and when she looks back up, he’s turning to face her again. He stares at her until the silence frays at her nerves, and just when she can feel her face burning up to her ears, she hears a soft exhale from his modulator.

“C’mon,” his voice is soft as his right arm slightly pokes out towards her. “I can hear you tripping around from up here.”

Her brows furrow ever so slightly. “Are you makin’ fun of me?” she asks.

“Does it sound like I am?”

Her eyes narrow this time. “Mayybe.” she coos. But she loops her arm into the crook of his elbow and is silently delighted when he tucks her against his side. She finds it much easier to match his walk now and she can’t help the jump in her pulse as she’s pressed closer to him. In fact, she has to bite her lip to stop the silly grin threatening to spread across her cheeks. They walk in comfortable silence for a while before her spinning brain comes up with another enquiry.

“Mando?”

“Hm?” His response is barely registered under his modulator.

“How’d you find me?”

For a moment, Din doesn’t answer. And it’s not for the lack of one either. He’s just not sure where to begin. Does he start when he first re-entered the Crest to find the kid safe and sound but with her nowhere in sight? Or when he went back outside in hopes that she was on the roof stargazing or fiddling with the ship. Or when he started speed-walking through the nearby alleys because now he really couldn’t find her and just before his panic could bubble over, a single sound just yards away made his heart stop before he jump-started into a full sprint for her.

“I heard you scream.” he eventually replies and it almost sounds like his teeth are pressed together under that helmet.

She smiles at that. My hero. She almost wants to swoon until he speaks up again.

“I’ve warned you about being alone Sen’ika,” His tone is still soft, but firmer this time. She flinches and tucks her face down from him, nodding once.

“I know, I- ” her head swirls at the pang of shame but she swallows the urge to say anything other than what was necessary here. “I’m sorry.”

Another pause of silence. She decides to focus on their footsteps instead. There was something about the synchronized crunch of gravel under their boots that just satisfied every single sense in her. And it isn’t until she looks up and gets a full glimpse of the night sky that she realizes the spice is still very much in her system, unnatural neon lights and shapes bouncing across the stars. She stares in drunken awe up at them for a little too long and when she sees the Crest finally back in eyesight, she practically deflates in relief.

“Hey,” Then, Mando gently slides his arm out of their loop, leather ghosting down the length of her arm until he cups his palm over her fisted hand. “What matters to me most is that you’re safe,” he says softly. His visor turns to her, and he slowly opens her hand to slide his own into her palm. His gloved thumb gently squeezes her knuckles in what she can only gather as reassurance. “Okay?” His tone is so warm, it’s almost tender.

It catches her so far off guard, she’s pretty sure she short-circuited and is only still breathing on emergency autopilot. Her cheeks flush up and her eyes are blown wide open in the same sweet doe-like expression he adores so much, that he can’t help but smile behind the safety of his helmet. She blinks and she almost resets, clearing her throat as she looks straight ahead. She’s still blushing as she smiles and nods once. “Okay.” she replies sweetly.

Even his gloves are impenetrable, thick and almost twice as large in size. But she can still feel a warmth radiating from the other side against her skin. Suddenly feeling brave, she shifts, slipping through his gloves and slowly linking their fingers together. Mando stiffens at first, until her nails sink into the shape of his knuckles, and he internally melts. Before he can process his own reaction, he squeezes back, his thumb gently stroking over her own.

She looks up again, grinning from ear to ear. Clouds are dancing in her vision, stars swelling and shrinking in size across the painted skies. She dares herself to glance at him from the corner of her eye. He’s looking straight ahead thankfully, only semi-lit under the glow of the moons, but his beskar has never been more radiant. The same colors in her eyes bounce off the high points of his armor, illuminating him in an almost ethereal glow. She can’t stop her eyes from wandering. He’s perfectly shaped from every angle. He stands tall and proud, and walks with an effortless swagger so few could replicate. His mere presence can shift the focus of an entire room. He’s daunting and striking and is the picture of discipline and strength. Yet he cradles her hand in his like she’s made of glass. She’s never seen anything past the chiseled cut of his helmet, yet he’s never looked more beautiful in her eyes right now. She knows she shouldn’t be looking at him the way she is right now; with stars in her eyes and the softest, most affectionate little smile spreading from cheek to flushed cheek.

“You’re so pretty~” she slurs out in the sweetest tone. From behind his beskar, Din’s heart jumps into his throat.

“You’re drunker than I thought.” He doesn’t skip a beat though, somehow keeping his tone flat and neutral.

“It’s still truee,” she shoots back, leaning against his side with a wide grin. “It’s always been true!”

He glances at her wordlessly and she smiles back at herself through his visor. He’s not sure what to say to that, if anything, he’s too flustered to think of a rebuttal. He’s never been called pretty by anyone, even as a joke. Eventually he clears his throat and looks away and she only grins wider. Did she just leave him speechless? She can’t help but try to read his body language for any hints.

BONK.

Unfortunately she’s so distracted by the dancing Mudhorn on his pauldron that she fully trips on the descending base of the Crest’s ramp. The only thing that stops her from falling on her face is Mando’s sudden grip on her elbow. His visor slowly turns to her again. And she knows he’s frowning this time. He yanks her back to her feet and they finally ascend to the deck. She sighs happily once she stumbles into the safety of the Crest.

As Mando closes and locks up the gangway behind them, a late thought suddenly strikes her. She turns to him with panicked eyes. “The kid!?”

“Shh-!” He quickly hushes her with a gloved pointer over her lips. She stares into her own flushed reflection as her voice echoes into the cockpit above. She’s hyper-aware of just how loud she’s being now that she’s no longer outside. Along with the scent of sunkissed leather directly under her nose. She doesn’t move until his finger slowly pivots to her right and when she follows his direction, she spots his hover pod, sealed up and safe and sound, just as she’d left him.

She sighs softly and her shoulders slump in relief. Mando leans in pointedly. “You’re lucky you were right.” he whispers into her hair. “He didn’t flinch when I got home.”

As goosebumps sprout up the back of her neck, he pulls away and crosses the room to the ladder. “I’m gonna lock us down. We’ll leave first thing tomorrow.” Just before he climbs, he turns back to her. “Bedtime, Sen’ika. Now.” It's a gentle, but final warning.

She nods wordlessly and he leaves her in the middle of the room, dizzy and flustered. Her ears are also ringing now that she’s swallowed in silence. Eventually, she slowly pads into her designated corner. Her hammock is tucked away in the pocket of an empty storage closet, a thin makeshift curtain the only barrier between her ‘room’ and the deck. The walls hum around her and she realizes the heat has been turned back on, thankfully. She’s too drunk to fully wash up but she’s got enough energy to rip off her tight, itchy outdoor clothes and boots. She grabs the closest pajama-adjacent shirt and lounge pants she can find and wriggles them on.

She opens her hammock and finally allows herself to lay down, eyes turned to the dim ceiling.

How would it have felt if she’d laid her head on his shoulder?

No.

Would he have pushed her away? Or allowed her to stay?

Her brain’s focus shifts to the vision of his arms. His hands. His sweet, soothing voice.

I mean, he let her hold his hand, didn’t he? And hug him. Surely she could’ve gotten away with a little shoulder lean.

Gods, no.

Is he soft under all that armor? Does he run hot or does the beskar keep him cool? Is there a human face behind that m-

No! Stop it!

She physically shakes her head to break her train of thought. This was dangerous terrain. Just because you’re drunk doesn't mean you should be humoring these silly curiosities of yours! Her eyes squeeze shut and as she tries to take a deep breath, she realizes her heart is racing.

This is ridiculous.

Okay, so what if she has a crush on her employer?? It's not exactly a new phenomenon, and it certainly wasn’t the first boss she’d ever fallen for either. What was insane was what she liked about him. Because for the very first time, she couldn’t put a face to it. Instead, it was in his voice. His strength. His unwavering faith in his Creed, in the Way. He was loyal, honorable and resourceful. Stubborn as a Bantha, but quick to strike like lightning. He was also kind and selfless. He had the patience of a saint for the Child and innocent locals and despite his daunting appearance, he never hesitated to help out others, even if it meant pushing back on their schedule. There were actually various reasons why she liked him, and she couldn’t even put a name to a single one of them.

Not that any of it mattered. Because not a word of this would be uttered to anyone, let alone to him. Not to mention that this was a temporary gig, it’s not like she’d be around much longer anyway. The last thing she needed was to complicate this job for herself with her unprofessional schoolgirl behavior.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she shifts her focus to the only other thing clouding her judgment. Her head is still spinning but the heaviness behind her eyes makes it easy to keep them closed. She also focuses on slowing her breath, allowing her limbs to fully sink into the cradle of her hammock. A few minutes melt away and just as she finally feels herself beginning to drift..

“Pin her down.”

She physically jolts awake as the image of her ex-attackers kneeling over her flashes behind her eyelids. Her heart jumps to her throat as that same awful wave of nausea courses through her. Okay so clearly she wasn’t over what happened just yet. Her stomach turns again though this time for far more terrifying reasons.

She leaps to her feet before she can stop herself. She’s not sure what she wants just yet, but she knows whose presence she needs. She whips her curtain aside and almost jumps out of her skin when she sees Mando already standing at her doorway. “G-Geez- !”

He doesn’t flinch. He’s also holding a metal cup that he offers to her when she looks at it. “Drink this before you fall asleep,” he simply says.

“What is it?” she accepts it anyway, peering inside before taking a test sip.

“Just water,” Mando pauses and inwardly smiles when she gags at the aftertaste. “and powdered electrolytes to cut your hangover time in half. You'll thank yourself in the morning for it.”

“Mm, awesome!” she flashes him a pained grin and he almost chuckles. She’s so adorable like this, it’s almost painful.

He lingers for just a moment longer before he nods once. “Sweet dreams.” He starts walking away until a single hand on his arm makes him stop in his tracks. His helmet shoots towards her expectantly and when her eyes meet his visor, her voice suddenly clamps in her throat. She catches the almost-panicked expression in her reflection’s eyes and looks away. She almost starts apologizing, but he turns towards her instead, closing the distance between them. “What’s wrong?”

“I- ” Her face feels warm again despite her growing anxiety and she feels betrayed by the flush burning across her cheeks. She huffs and looks down at her feet. “Never mind, it’s n- ”

“Sen’ika,” He doesn’t even have to say anything else. His helmet ducks to try and catch her eye. “Tell me.” His voice is so gentle and reassuring that she has no choice but to succumb.

Fuck it, right?

“C… can I stay with you tonight?” Her voice is so soft, it’s almost a whisper. Her hand gently squeezes his sleeve, teeth catching on her bottom lip. “I don’t.. wanna be alone tonight..” To be fair, it wasn’t a lie.

It’s so quiet, you could hear a pin drop from the cockpit. In fact, she can’t even hear him breathing. Fuck. Did she fuck it up? Is he weirded out? Is she fired? Again?? Fuck! Take it back!

She has no idea just how startled Din really is though. She can’t hear his heart doing somersaults in his chest or how almost-terrified he looks behind the visor. But then she looks up at him with those frantic angel eyes for just a moment, he knows that despite whatever’s asked of him, how could he ever deny his little bird?

She opens her mouth and he perks up. ”Okay,” he says. It’s just as soft as she asked and almost nervous. He nods to follow up and clears his throat. “Of course.”

Her eyes round and she blinks back at him, almost dumbfounded. Holy shit, it worked? “Yeah?”

He nods again. “Yeah,” he replies lightly before his helmet jerks in the direction of his bunk. “C’mon.”

He crosses the room to his bunk to open the hatch. The kid’s pod is hovering peacefully right by the door where either of them can reach him if they have to. She follows him wordlessly where he steps aside for her. “Pick your spot, I’ll be right back.” he tells her.

Ironically, she was no stranger to his bed. He’d offered his room to her plenty of times before she carved out a spare corner for herself to give him his privacy back. She never imagined she’d actually be sharing it with him for once. She downed the last of her water and put the cup aside before she stepped into the bunk. She decided to slide into the corner facing the wall to give him as much space as possible.

Mando’s only gone for a few minutes, but in her panicked, overthinking state, it feels like ages. She finds comfort in his sheets. After getting so used to this space then moving out for a stretch of time, they felt familiar and almost welcoming to come back to. She acknowledged this was mostly due to their scent, the warm, woodsy musk that she recognized as what was likely the scent of his skin. She nuzzles into his blankets, inhales and sighs into them.

Then his boot steps echo back into earshot. She rolls onto her back and props up on her elbows, watching his shadowed figure fiddling outside. After a particularly heavy sigh, he clicks a light off and steps inside. For a second, he almost looks like a shadow sliding along the walls. It’s then she realizes he’s not wearing his beskar. He's stripped down to his full flight suit, boots, gloves and of course, his trademark helmet. There’s still not a shred of skin in sight but this still gives her a full view of his own figure. She’s dumbstruck at just how broad he truly is even without his armor. Then, it dawns on her that he took off his beskar to make room for her and something flutters under her ribs.

He looks at her and she scoots into the wall. His gloves clench and unclench in a subtle twitch as he slides into the space next to her. It’s a tight squeeze, laying shoulder to shoulder, but it’s a fit that would’ve probably been unbearable with the few inches of additional armor on. She crosses her arms, making herself smaller and fitting around the bigger gaps between them.

They both sigh and for a moment, it’s quiet. Her heart’s weirdly racing and she’s not sure what to say. Or if anything should be said at all. He shifts next to her, and her first thought is that he’s warm, even under his dense flight suit. He sighs again, and it sounds spent. She wonders if his eyes are closed behind that helmet.

Her head cranes towards him. “Long day?”

A short huff cracks through his modulator. “Something like that.” He’s smiling behind that response.

She grins back and looks up at the dark ceiling again. Colors are still swirling in her eyes if she squints long enough, but they're fading, she notes. There’s another short pause before this time, he breaks. “If.. this is too uncomf- ”

“It’s not.” she cuts in sweetly, still smiling to herself. Despite the angle, he’s warm and sturdy and she’d never felt more secure sandwiched between a man and his metal walls. She gently nudges his side. “Thanks again for saving my ass.”

He huffs again and nudges back. “Any time.” he replies.

She giggles and pauses, words pricking at the tip of her tongue. She’s feeling brave again and in her growing drowsiness, she decides to throw caution to the wind one last time. “Mando?”

“Mm?”

She inhales and shifts, her chin gently pressing into his shoulder. “Can I be honest about somethin’?”

His helmet shifts to her expectantly before pointing his chin at her. A silent approval to keep going. “I’ve been surrounded by armies my whole life. For as long as I can remember. Rebels, mercenaries, outcasts. You name it, I’ve met ‘em,” She peers up at his visor, ensuring she’s making eye contact. “And I’ve never felt safer with any of ‘em than I have with you.”

He doesn’t so much as twitch, but she swears she hears his breath seize under the helmet. Once again, his chest blooms and swells and something warm settles in his stomach. He smiles inwardly and before he can stop himself, a gloved hand comes up between them, leather knuckles stroking along the shape of her cheek.

She leans into it for just a moment and then she breaks through, ducking under his arm to curl herself up into his side. She rolls onto her own side, an arm draped across his chest and her head resting below his collarbone. Surprisingly, he not only allows her position shift, but he wraps his arm around her and even pulls her into him. “I made a promise to you,” he says. His hand settles between her shoulder blades, his thumb tracing a single circle into her back. “As long as you’re with me, you’ll be safe from harm. I intend to keep that promise as long as it takes.”

With her ear pressed into his shirt, she realizes that his pulse is racing against her. He also smells nice, like a combination of gunsmoke, the outdoors and the linen of his sheets. It’s woodsy and crisp, but it’s warm and homey and so intoxicatingly comforting.

She wants to say it.

She could get away with saying it if she played it right. But she's too drowsy and delirious and exhausted to keep thinking. He’s draping his blankets over them, tucking her into the ultimate heat source and she wants to soak in it. There’s a cool press against her hair and she realizes that his helmet is leaning into her. “Is this okay?” he whispers to her.

She nuzzles into his shirt and sighs contentedly. Sleep is pulling her into its depths faster than she anticipated but she has enough energy to sweetly mumble, “No. It’s better than okay.”

He exhales through his nose from above her and his hand gently rubs her back. “Get some sleep, mesh’la,” he purrs. “I’m here.”

She doesn’t know what that one means. She makes a mental note to ask tomorrow. Right now, she picks her head up to press a single kiss into his collarbone before plopping back down. “G’night Mando..”

His heart rate picks up again. He pulls her up closer so her head is nestled into the crook of his neck. This allows her to wrap both arms around him. His helmet tilts down and she swears she feels his eyes on her. “Good night.”

She closes her eyes and smiles, allowing herself to sink into his warmth and scent for the first and probably only time. Her words were never truer than in this moment; never had she felt safer than in this tiny bunk, wrapped in her Mandalorian’s blankets. She falls asleep shortly afterwards, her breaths evening out and her heartbeat slowing into a tranquil pace. This time, her mind takes her to more pleasant dreamscapes.

She can’t detect Mando at all, listening to her pulse as she sleeps. She doesn’t feel how long it takes before his gloves slip off in the dim lights and two arms fully wrap around her. She can’t sense his warm palms holding her against him, one across her back, the other coming up to smooth and brush her hair. And she’s long gone by the time he makes the conscious choice to give his helmet a break, telling himself he needs the air and it’ll be back on long before she wakes up tomorrow.

Somewhere in her subconscious, thoughts flash across her eyes; images of the Child, his laugh, his bright brown eyes, and his infectious joy. Repeated images of Mando, his visor, his cape, his arms. His sheets. His voice. His leathered touch. Their hands linked under a coat of stars.

She swears she feels a pair of ghostly lips brush against her forehead, if only for a moment, but she never quite figures out where they came from. Not that it matters. Because for now, this is enough. Even if it is only temporary.

* * *

a/n: stream season 3 only on disney + <3

[vodika-vibes]

May I please get a Tech x Jedi!Reader with a glimpse before and after Order 66. Techs POV where after figuring out that the jedi are being hunted becomes worried. Im thinking White Clover and Pansy and maybe angst/fluff? :>

ps i love your work and i cant wait to read anything you make, youre amazing :3

A Promise Made

Summary: You and Tech, before Order 66 and after.

Pairing: TBB Tech x F!Reader

Word Count: 2983

Warning: Angst, Reader survived Order 66 and has totally understandable trauma regarding that

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: I'm still not sure if I'm writing Tech well, but I haven't got any complaints.

“Is there a reason you are laying on me?” Tech asks as he looks down at the Jedi sprawled across his lap, her gaze locked on the datapad in her hand.

“I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with you, and this is the best way to keep you from accidentally ignoring me.” She replies lightly, “Why? Are you uncomfortable?”

“No. I am just concerned that you might get hurt.” Tech answers easily.

“So be careful and you won’t hurt me.” 

He rolls his eyes expressively, though because she’s not looking at him, she doesn’t notice. “What are you working on, cyare?”

“Master Windu asked me to reverse engineer a Seppie weapon, and I’m starting to think that this weapon was designed by an actual child.” She says with a sigh as she drops her datapad and presses her forehead against his thigh.

Tech smiles at the back of her head, “Would you like me to take a look?”

At that she laughs and rolls over so that her head is resting on his lap and she’s looking up at him, “I know you have better things to do, Tech.”

He sets his own project to the side, and gently brushes her hair out of her face, “I do not mind putting it aside to help you.”

She reaches up and presses her hands against his, lightly rubbing her cheek against his gloved hand. “That’s because you’re amazing.” She praises, “But it’s okay, Tech. I can figure it out. I always do.”

Tech smiles at her adoringly.

When he was a cadet on Kamino, he believed that this kind of happiness was beyond him. He did not understand why his brothers, including his batchmates, were so laser focused on finding someone to spend their time with. He thought that it was little more than a distraction.

That was until he met her.

She had been brought to Kamino at the request of General Ti, and the first time Tech saw her, he didn’t think she was a Jedi. He thought she was a natborn who had been tasked with maintenance of the various vehicles stored on Kamino.

She was clever and quick witted, and while his twin claimed that she wasn’t going to win any beauty pageants, on account of the fact that she tended to have oil on her face and staining her hands, and she didn’t seem to care about things like appearance, Tech thought that she was stunning.

They developed a quick friendship, bonding over their mutual love of technology. 

Tech honestly had no idea that she was a Jedi at all, not until he saw her dressed up in Jedi robes rather than her normal grease covered jumpsuit, and talking to General Ti like it was her right.

The conversation that happened after that isn’t one that Tech is proud of. He had been hurt that she hid such an important part of her from him, and he lashed out. She was offended that he thought that she was hiding it, claiming that she never hid anything from anyone, and that it wasn’t her fault that he didn’t know that she was a jedi.

The disagreement turned into a full blown argument, and Tech didn’t talk to her for over two months. It took Hunter and Crosshair teaming up to make him see that he was being bull-headed and stubborn, and it was the encouragement of Wrecker that forced him to go to her and apologize.

At the time, he had been worried that she was going to hold a grudge, but she didn’t. Instead she just smiled and laughed, and told him that she forgave him, and then she showed him what she was working on.

Soon after that, Tech realized that he was thinking about her all the time. When he was in training, when he was reading, even when he was about to go to sleep; her smile, the way her eyes crinkle when she laughs, the way she pushes her hand through her hair when she’s contemplating something complicated-

He found himself looking forward to spending time with her, even if they’re just working in the same room. 

It was Crosshair who pointed out the obvious, with a roll of his eyes as he flipped through a magazine. “You’re obviously in love with her, dumbass.” He drawled without looking up from the glossy pages of the blaster magazine that he got from somewhere, “It’s a perfect match, you’re both annoying little shits.”

Tech wanted to argue with him, partly because he feels the urge to argue with his twin about everything, but he found the words turning to ash on his tongue. Because, annoyingly, he was right.

Tech was in love.

He became awkward and nervous around her, babbling about random things that he learned, and through it all, she watched him with a small smile, and often asked questions about his latest hyperfixation.

And then, late one night, she kissed him.

A gentle press of her lips against his. It was innocent and chaste, and yet it sent fire through his veins. She didn’t say anything after the kiss, she just watched him and waited, seeming to understand that Tech would need a moment to process.

And then he kissed her, and suddenly he understood exactly why his brothers desire this so much.

“Tech?” He snaps back to the present at the worried call of his name, and he glances down at her face, “There you are. You were lightyears away.” She teases.

“I was thinking about you.”

“Oh? Nice things, I hope.”

He laughs, “I always think about you, cyare. You occupy my thoughts at all times.”

“Well, that sounds annoying.”

“Not at all,” Tech lightly guides her until she’s sitting up and he presses a series of light kisses to her cheek and across her jaw, “I find that it is the most enjoyable part of my day.”

“Well, you’re easy to please, aren’t you?” She teases as she leans into his affection.

“My brothers tell me that I am very hard to please, actually.”

“Well, they’re not me.” She turns her head and kisses him quickly, “So you know, you’re constantly in my thoughts too.”

Tech laughs softly and presses a series of light kisses across her face, “I am glad.”

She grins at him, and shifts to sit on his lap, her hands coming up to cup his face, “Tech, I…” She pauses, and her gaze flickers to the side, “I want you to know that I have to return to Coruscant for a couple of weeks. I would like it if you commed me?”

Tech has a feeling that that’s not what she was going to say, but he lets it go, “Of course I will. So much that you will get tired of me.”

She laughs, “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“You never know,” Tech kisses her one more time, “When do you leave?”

“Two days.”

“Well then, we had better spend that time together.”

It has been three weeks and four days since the day that the Clones turned on the Jedi. And somehow, you’re still alive. Which, in and of itself, is a damned miracle.

You press your hand over your side, a slow hiss of pain escaping your lips as you move the wrong way and the hole in your side twinges painfully.

When the clones marched on the workshop, you had been in the back, working on one of the protocol droids. You managed to escape while the older jedi tried to fend off the soldiers, but you still took a blaster bolt to the side.

Not to mention, you’re still reeling from the loss of your friends, your family. 

You push the pain into the force, and take a moment to tighten the bandages around your side, before you continue your trek. It’s not safe for you anywhere.

And as much as you want to comm Tech and beg him to come and help you…you know that you better not. Tech is a clone after all. And if he pulled a blaster on you, you’d probably just let him kill you, honestly.

No. It’s safer this way.

Though, the galaxy is a much lonelier place now.

Time passes quickly, when you’re on the run. And before you know it, 6 months have passed.

You’re…surviving as best you can, all things considered. You managed to find a medic who treated your blaster wound in exchange for some simple maintenance work, and you managed to earn employment on a cargo ship.

Though, really, you mostly just bounce from ship to ship, from planet to planet, as much as you can. You don’t stay in the same place for longer than a few weeks, fearing that the empire will find you.

You take comfort from the memory of your family, and from Tech. You cling to those memories, as they’re the only thing that keep you going. And sometimes, at night, you allow your mind to linger on Tech, on what could have been.

It’s easier now, though.

After six months, you no longer feel like the Empire is breathing down your neck, and for all you know, you’ve been reported dead. You don’t dare to look, fearing that if you look and you weren’t, then the Empire will start looking for you.

It doesn’t make any sense, you know that, but it’s an anxiety that you can’t seem to shake.

“Hey, Kid!” You jump as the ship captain, your current employer, claps your shoulder with a heavy hand, “Me an’ the boys are going to the bar. Wanna join us?”

“Ah…no thank you. Trying to stay sober,” You say with an easy smile, “You guys have fun.”

“Right, sorry kid. I forgot. You keep up that sobrarity! We’re rooting for you.”

You smile at him, feeling momentarily guilty. Your story, the one that you’ve been using since the purge, is that you’re a recovering alcoholic, and that’s why you want to work on ships, to avoid temptation.

It’s not true. But it keeps people from hounding you to go drinking with them. And, more than one of the people you’ve worked with over the past few months have bemoaned your “parents” for not helping you with your addictions.

It’s almost like having a family again.

Almost.

You step off the cramped ship into the cool evening air, wanting to stretch your legs for a bit, when you hear a familiar voice and feel a familiar presence in the force.

“Hey, that person might know!” You’d recognize Wrecker’s force presence even if you were doped up on force suppressors, and the child standing next to him has the same overall feel as all of the chones.

Your blood runs cold. Wrecker will recognize you. How could he not?

He approaches you, and your mind goes blank. Your fingers twitch towards your lightsaber, hidden in your sleeve. You don’t want to hurt Wrecker. But you will if you have to.

“Excuse me, miss?” The child stops in front of you, and you look down at her. Blonde hair, wide brown eyes…she’s a clone, no doubt about it. “Me and my brother are looking for a specific shop-”

“I…I’m sorry, I’ve never been here before.” You keep your voice low, in the hopes that Wrecker won’t hear you. But you know there’s not a chance of it, not with how close he is to you.

Surprise flashes across his face, followed by joy, “It’s you! Tech has been worried sick! We all have-” He takes a step towards you, and you scramble backwards, grabbing your saber and lighting it with the comforting snap.

“Stop! Just…just stop.” You sputter, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”

Wrecker stops, “Right. Okay.” He pulls Omega back, “No one’s going to hurt you.”

“Sure.”

Wrecker slowly sends a message to his brothers, and then holds his hands out, showing that he’s unarmed. 

Tech, Hunter, and Echo run up only moments later, and Hunter has to grab Tech from running over to you.

“It is just us, cyare.” Tech says, pulling himself away from Hunter, “We are not going to hurt you.”

Your lightsaber is crossed across your body defensively, and slowly you reach out to the force, looking for the, arguably, most dangerous member of the CF99 at the moment. “Where’s Crosshair?” You ask.

“He is…not here.” Tech says quietly.

“You expect me to believe that your own twin isn’t here, I’m not that dumb, Tech.”

“He…” Tech falters, “Listen, his chip activated, ours didn’t. So when we defected, he didn’t.”

“What chips? What are you talking about?” You demand, and their faces fall.

“You…don’t know.” Hunter says quietly, “Stars, you must have thought we turned on you for no reason-”

“It would be nice to know what crime my people committed to deserve to be slaughtered down to the smallest baby, yes.” You bite out.

“It wasn’t…there…” Echo trails off and he takes a deep breath, “Tech, you need to talk to her. Just, tell her the truth. All of it. She’s a jedi, she’ll know if you’re lying.”

Tech nods, and he steps in front of his brothers, his gaze locked on you, “I am going to tell you everything that I know,” He says quietly, and then he starts talking.

And slowly, as he explains, you lower your saber and then turn it off. And by the time Tech finishes his story, you’re sitting on a small crate with your face in your hands. “My people were slaughtered by your brothers because Palpatine stole their free will from them?”

“Yes.”

Both of your hands fist in your hair, “...’m sorry for drawing my saber on you.” 

Tension drains from the men standing across from you, and the next thing you know, Tech’s hands are on your shoulders, “It is okay. You had every right to be concerned.” He kneels in front of you, “Are you injured?”

“I was shot at the temple, but that was months ago.” You say quietly.

“And…you are alright?”

“No.” You whisper, “It’s a very lonely galaxy, Tech.”

Tech raises himself enough to press a kiss to your forehead, “You do not have to be alone. You can travel with us. Right, Hunter?”

“Of course.” Hunter replies immediately.

“See.”

“That’s kind of you, but I know your ship isn’t that big.”

“With the both of us, we can retrofit.” Tech offers, “We can make room for all of us.” He takes your hands in his, “Please do not leave.”

“You won’t be safe if I travel with you. I’m a Jedi.”

“We are not safe anyway.” Tech points out, “Please, cyare? I promise that we will be safer together.”

You sigh, and very gently squeeze his hands, “Yeah, okay. The crew that I’m a part of now won’t be surprised if I decide to leave without warning.”

“Truely?”

“I have something of a reputation.” You reply dryly.

“...it has been 6 months.” You shrug, and allow Tech to tug you to your feet, before he wraps you in a tight hug. “I feared you were dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tech’s gaze lingers on her as she dozes in his bunk, his fingers are tangled in her hair as he silently offers her comfort.

She doesn’t look healthy.

She’s too thin, her clothes hang off of her, and the circles under her eyes are dark enough that it looks like she has bruises around her eyes. She hasn’t been eating properly, obviously, and Tech wonders if it’s because of grief or fear.

And there’s no way he’s ever going to forget the look in her eyes when she saw them again. Dread, fear, terror-

He never wanted her to look at him like that again.

Tech smooths his hand down her spine, and carefully adjusts the blanket so it’s tucked under her chin.

He knew the moment that the regs turned on General Billaba, that his cyare was in danger. The dread had been like a lead weight in his stomach. And while he would have spoken to Crosshair about it, he could tell that there was something wrong with his twin.

Not to mention, Crosshair had never been her biggest fan in the first place.

So he bit his tongue, and kept an eye on the list of deceased Jedi, and he hoped. 

It wasn’t very logical.

But the longer he didn’t see her name, the longer he had hope that she was still alive.

She shifts in his bed, rolling over to press her face against his thigh, and Tech presses his hand against the back of her head. The Marauder really isn’t big enough to add another adult, so she’s going to have to share with him for the time being.

Which isn’t half as much of a problem as he’s making it out to be, nothing would make him happier than waking up with her in his arms, but the last thing he wants is for her to forget where she is and freak out.

Luckily, the dread he felt when he heard about the jedi being hunted has faded into something much easier to handle, now he just has the sinking dread of having to help her deal with the trauma of surviving a massacre.

Easy.

Tech glances down at his datapad, and settles back against his pillow as he starts to read on how to help people process trauma.

If he can’t get his cyare to a mind healer, then he’ll just have to become one himself.

Tech glances at her one more time as her fingers curl in the soft material of his pajama bottoms, and he smiles at her sleeping face. He gently brushes some hair out of her face, “I promise,” He whispers, “I am going to take care of you.”

[wangxianficrecs]

Rewind 2023 - Proud Author Spotlight

WangxianFicRecs - Rewind 2023

Here are some recommendations from 2023 sent in by our fandom's authors themselves. Make sure to give them much love. PS: Authors, don't be shy! Submit more Proud Author Spotlights!

~*~

I published my first MDZS fic this year.

It's a 60k time travel fix-it fic from the POV of several outsider characters who are all witnesses to Wei Wuxian's change in behaviour and the events following that change.

I tried really hard to stick to canon (novel-only) characterization and I'm really proud of what I wrote so don't hesitate to give it a try (it's complete too!) :D

We'll Build A Dynasty (one the heavens can't shake)

by One_eyed_God (@oneeyedoctogod)

T, 66k, Wangxian

Summary: Wei Wuxian is well-known as a trouble-maker, someone who likes jokes and chaos. He promptly proves this by disappearing without a trace from the Cloud Recesses, in the middle of the Lectures. But when war is on the horizon and tensions boil over, can his actions really be summarized as a simple prank? Or, the unbelievable story of Wei Wuxian, time traveller, told from everyone's point of view but his.

~*~

Hi there! I don’t know if anyone remembers, but I posted my first ever fic on Ao3 this year!

Jailbreaking

by CullenBlue (@cullen-blue23)

T, 21k, NHS & WN

Summary: During the Wen indoctrination, we see everyone escape during the fight with Xuanwu… except Huaisang, who had fainted earlier. So, in short… how TF did he escape?? The story of how Nie Huaisang broke out of Qishan, and the events that happened afterwards

~*~

Mod Kay himself here :D I published a fic this year where novel canon Lan Wangji transmigrates into the CQL-verse and saves post-canon Wei Wuxian, who struggles to keep himself alive during his lonely travels. It goes hard on the It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, but I promise there's a happy ending.

the roots

by thelastdboy (@thelastdboyy)

E, 30k, Wangxian

Summary: In one universe, Wei Wuxian had been left by the side of the road while Lan Wangji had become the Chief Cultivator. He found himself alone again, discarded and heartbroken. He also found himself to be a target again, as people started hunting the Yiling Laozu once more. He was all alone and just so fucking tired that he couldn't even bring himself to fight back. Some part of him yearned to return to the peaceful oblivion that had been death. In another universe, Lan Wangji's world fell apart in a single day. He was forced to bury not only his son, but his husband as well. Sizhui's Wen heritage had been discovered and Wei Wuxian's past had once again inspired animosity. While Sizhui would hopefully find peace at least, Wei Wuxian's soul had been destroyed and Lan Wangji would rather destroy his own soul than never be re-united with Wei Wuxian again. However, his late husband had left him one last gift: a path into a different universe. Or: MDZS!Lan Wangji transmigrates into the CQL-verse just in time to save post-canon CQL!Wei Wuxian. Together, they grieve and eventually, they find a home for themselves.

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for these hard-working authors if you like – or think others might like – these stories.)

[smallpawedbear]

Just as the sun sets

Arven x male reader romantic fluff

FIRST FAN FIC POST 😰😰

……….

A long walk back from titan hunting, reader and arven look for a place to set up camp, both are tired which leads to a relaxing night which just keeps getting better by the second.

……….

User goes by first person pronouns (i,me,we,myself) and he/him, reasoning for such is i don’t see a lot of male reader writes, if anyone wants it i’m open to switching out for gn pronouns. Arven calls reader little buddy and bud, reader has a small stature compared to Arvens taller figure.

Reader cooking, shy Arven, hopeless and cringe romance, slow moving fic, First person pov, slight use of swear words, VERY SLIGHT suggestive themes emphasis on very slight, crushing, silent confession, sharing sleeping bag?, cuddles, undefined relationship

ps this ended up way longer than i intended.

alternating pov - Arven ➡️ reader

———————————————————————

why does the way the sun pollutes his eyes, the way he squints as we walk foward in the forest, and the way he looks back at me with wide eyes since i walk opposite the sun, why does it make me feel so… crazy? happy? insane? … arceus now my face is just red.

———————————————————————

I looked back at Arven, squinting hard barely able to see. Is he okay? his face is all red, probably sun burned because he didn’t let me put an extra layer of sunscreen on his sensitive face. Either that or an allergic reaction to the herba mystica that he cooked with earlier which ended up spraying him in the eyes and making him cry like he was cutting onions.

I raised my eyebrows opening my eyes wide and letting them relax at the sight of Arven, looking back at him and away from the sun gave my eye’s temporary relief as the world came back into view. Varying bird pokémon chirped at us from the swaying trees as we passed and the wind kept blowing Arven’s bangs from his face, which he always pushed back down, The sun was really attacking me now as it was threatening to set behind the mountains before we made it to camp. You could even hear feint chiming music playing from the sky begging us to settle in for the night. Our leading pokémon had started the walk with us but all ended up tapping out and returning to their balls like ‘raidon about halfway along the trail. Now it was just us, legs tired, hot, eyes burned, and about to collapse on the ground, Thankfully we haven’t yet.

“Picnic break?” Arven chimes from behind me, “for desert this time, you can cook…”

he knew my weakness, letting me make desert after a whole day of assisting his sandwich making.

“you got me there, deal.” I grin back at him, before tripping weirdly as i stopped the walking pace, standing felt like getting out of water after swimming for awhile and still feel like floating, except it felt like the world was still moving past us. I longed to keep going to camp, but knew a break was probably best.

———————————————————————

I set down my back pack, the wind was finally settling after being over the top annoying and messing up my hair over and over and over again. The sun and sky were orange which signified that we would probably end up walking into the night, but i had full confidence it would be worth it since my little buddy made an absolutely to die for desert.

He was unpacking a picnic blanket from my backpack and rolling it out onto the even grass, both of us pulling it back up and tugging from the corners to straighten it out. Sadly we went from walking in silence to setting up in silence, and honestly the nature noises were deafening, it made me feel like he could sense my thoughts and that it made him think i was actually crazy for staring into his eyes like that earlier. I don’t know why i’m like this, it’s like i’ve never ever had a friend before with the way i’m acting…. which at this point might even be true.

I caught sight of a yellow flower beneath the tarp as I readjusted it just one more time and panicked thinking we had set up right on top of a floette, thankfully we hadn’t and i glanced apon a bright yellow dandelion. I plucked it and held it up to the setting sun seeing them match up before i pushed it into the water bottle pocket of my bag letting it stick out.

———————————————————————

Arven was starting to freak me out. He’s been silent this whole time and continuing to shoot me short glances before realizing he pinned his hair behind his ear as he quickly pushes it back infront of his face. It was funny seeing him experience this inner turmoil with himself and i was dying to know what was going on inside his head. He clearly wasn’t upset though, i caught him smiling to himself as a plucked a small flower from the grass. If he wanted time in silence, he’s get time in silence. And by silence i mean without direct conversation because there’s absolutely nothing stopping me from playing a little music while horribly singing and dancing to it.

I had my rotom phone float around us while playing popular upbeat songs, this caught Arven by suprise as he almost drops the plates and spoons when rotom swerves by him. He just stared back at me, face red again. What’s embarrassing him really?

———————————————————————

In the middle of silence his rotom phone speeds by my face playing the singing voice of a women that i cant quite pinpoint. I was zoning out while overthinking my obsession with why i’m acting this way towards my best friend and was extremely embarrassed when i almost shattered every single plate we had. Which for some reason were glass instead of plastic because i thought they’d be nice to have tonight.

I was watching my bud dance with one hand in the air as he used the other to pick up prepared cakes and frosting, followed by fruit. He was yelling out the lyrics which he did not know at all, but still he refrained from directly talking to me.

———————————————————————

It was time for me to prepare my dish now. Arven finally set down plates and utensils, and i had gotten all my foods ready.

I started by slicing prepared mini vanilla cakes into three slices each, followed by thinly slicing the assorted fruits (mostly pecha berries) into half circles. I was about ready to put the easy sweet together but took a moment to stop swaying my hips to the music and to put down the knife to invite Arven over. His silence is over for now, desert is ready.

“Arven, unless you’re having an interesting conversation with the setting sun right now, i have something for you.”

He rolled his eyes hurrying over to me, which i then handed him a spoon and plopped a bit of whipped cream i had made earlier in the day onto it.

“Just taste a bit, i’m not sure if it survived the walk since it looks a bit flat and i trust your judgment.”

“if you insist.” He replied before popping the whole thing into his mouth and closing his eyes. His face reddened more, arceus i hope he’s not having an allergic reaction to this too.

Before he responded with his rating on the frosting i looked at him and studied his face more. I could feel my face reddening too, why did he look so perfect with his face flushed, with his bangs thrown back again which he had yet to notice and which i don’t plan on telling him about. Shit this is not happening, i can feel my heart in my chest, i hadn’t spoken to him the whole walk, and i really haven’t gotten to look at him this close all day, why was he being distant? I wanted to see him closely more often. The music was muted in my head, i was so focused i can even see the scab on his forehead from when a flying pokémon skimmed his head last week.

“ten out of ten and perfection, i don’t think it lost anything from the walk.”

“huh?”

“The whipped cream…?”

Shit i was lost.

———————————————————————

Even though i closed my eyes i could feel him examining my face. He could definitely see i was red, and the redness just wouldn’t go away. Something about this whole day has felt different, and i think i’m starting to discover the reason why.

As always, his desert was timeless and perfect and it wasn’t even done, he had just had me taste the whip cream.

“ten out of ten and perfection, i don’t think it lost anything from the walk.” I state, opening my eyes to a world slightly darker than earlier, it felt odd speaking to him but also nice after i’d been holding back all day.

“huh?” He had a dazed look on his face, hopeful thinking would make me feel like he was experiencing similar thoughts to mine but i really don’t think i have much of that mind set left.

“The whipped cream…” i replied, chuckling to myself but eventually the chuckle made me want to gag myself with the spoon seeing my buds face redden even more.

“crap yeah yeah i got lost for a second, thanks for testing it even if you could’ve died from food poisoning.”

I stood behind him now, watching over his shoulder as he assembled cakes onto the plates. A layer of cake, cream, fruit, repeat. He did this three times for both our cakes before he did the same for our pokémon in smaller portions and in bowls.

Somehow the sun has still stayed in the sky, i notice as i release my pokémon to the picnic area and watch as my bud swats at his phone in the sky. legs tired i finally flop down onto the ground laying all the way down and just looking up to the orange sky shaded by overhanging green trees.

A second figure joins sitting up next to me on the blanket and just placing a plate on top of my torso. I look sideways to see my friend lowering his phone volume and picking up a fork.

———————————————————————

i honestly have no idea how the music got so loud, i panicked as i sat down and heard the high volume. I made sure it was quiet because Arven quiet honestly looked exhausted, i’m also really starting to think he actually is sunburned at it wasn’t him being flustered.

A quick breeze rushed in pushing me back slightly and pulling loud tattering noises from the surrounding trees.

Arven pushes himself up from the ground after moving his plate. I see his bangs away from his face again and he goes to push them infront of his eye again.

“Hey you should keep it there, it’s nice seeing your face.” I say shyly with a grin, blushing so slightly that i actually dont notice i was blushing until i get a reaction from him.

“Wow i knew it, you’ve just been so obsessed with looking at both of my eyes today then haven’t you.” He exclaims probably louder than he meant to, but dear arceus it made my thoughts worse. He ended off with a low chuckle and i honestly can’t put up with this. By this i mean this feeling that i might want to mean more than just a travel buddy or best friend, and maybe the fact that he wants that too.

———————————————————————

This time we weren’t sitting in silence. He turned up his music volume again and we ate our cakes alongside our pokémon. He kept pointing out when he saw a rufflet pass in the sky which brought up a phantom stinging on the scab present on my forehead. I will admit, i’d never thought my hair was that threatening to a small bird pokémon, and i geuss my little buddy had to remind me about it day and night since one swooped down to interrupt a previous walk.

We finished eating quickly so we could return to the walk and find a place to sleep for the night before dark.

We started to pack up just as quickly as we unpacked, except a few of our larger pokémon stayed to help out. Before i pulled my bag up and onto my bag i pulled my water bottle from its pocket and handed it to my bud, as he seemed especially parched, he denied the drink but i insisted, seriously now his face was as red as mine, i think he needed it. I watched as he looked up sipping from my water, why did watching him this way feel different, watching him at all today felt different. a thought i’ve been pushing down for weeks maybe even months now pushing its way back to the front of my brain. I don’t want him to just be my little buddy, or my best friend.

———————————————————————

Handing back Arvens water, i watch as he whistles and rounds up the remainder of his pokémon while heaving his bag back onto him. I see dropped on the floor the yellow flower he picked from earlier. After staring at it for a second I kneel to pick it up from the patch of grass smushed by his heavy bag. And continuing our walk we go conversing about the most random things we can think of, just wanting to hear eachothers voice. A slight flirting occurs back and forth but i could honestly be making this feeling up.

The walk doesn’t last much longer, just under 30 minutes as we settle down under a safety checked overhanging cliff. It hung low to the ground and shaped a corner with surrounding rocks, creating a cosy cave home like corner.

The sky shines a glowing pink over our camp area as it rapidly falls to the ground.

I start setting out some lanterns to keep the light when the sun fully sets. Due to the pokédex, we should be safe here from any hostile pokémon. The swaying trees also aren’t as loud here and arven isn’t being antagonized by birds, so i’d say it’s the perfect spot.

“Tent and sleeping bags or just sleeping bags?” Arven taps me on the shoulder to ask. I take a moment to think about what would be more beautiful for the site, less about warmth honesty.

“I think we can get away with just the sleeping bags tonight, we found a perfect spot and i think it would be relaxing.”

“Oh thank arceus i was honestly not up to wrestling the tent tonight.”

“works out for us both then, i just want to be able to see outside.”

Arven reaches into his bag to get out our two sleeping bags. And by two sleeping bags i mean sleeping bag. Arven has packed one sleeping bag.

———————————————————————

Well that’s that.

“I can settle for laying on mabosstiff.” I say after a long pause as we just look at the lonely roll of cushion. “i’ll be fine i don’t want you sleeping on the raw stone floor.”

The wind stopped blowing as if it was listening to us work this out.

“well yeah you act like i’ll let YOU sleep on the floor, mabosstiff or not.”

Another even longer pause.

We both go to speak again but just talk over each other and pause again. Rotom pauses the music.

“How about we share it?” I propose quietly.

I look down at my bud and see him staring up at me, red face wide eyes and he makes my face end up looking exactly the same.

“Well, sure fine but kick me out in the middle of the night if you need, i understand it’s like your sleeping bag.” He says rubbing at the back of his neck, which is also flushed pink.

“Yeah i wouldn’t do that even if i needed to pull the sleeping bag over my head to hide from a rufflet.” I hear him snort loudly in an amused laughing tone, like he was holding in a laugh and it forced its way out of his nose.

———————————————————————

We agreed to share the one sleeping bag we packed, which honestly is my fault since Arven remembered his and i didn’t, but whatever works. We stripped of our jackets and vests, plopping down the bag, and turning off all the lanterns except one right by our bed for the night. We stayed in our day clothes since they consisted of baggy button ups, and we both opted for solid color sweats and shorts, we were dressed for the night.

Finally here we were. Arven layed down first on his side opposite the zipper and gestured me to hop in. Honestly i was reluctant, so many feelings were brought up today that i wasn’t sure i would make it through the night without exploding into a bunch of little pieces. I’ll manage.

I plopped down right next to him, my back to the zipper and facing him. Honestly we had more room than i anticipa-

He wrapped his arm around my torso and pulled me in as he reached for the zipper behind me.

“shi-“

“what? sorry are you okay did the zip pinch you?.”

“shit no no it’s fine it just kinda… idk closed in the space.”

He noticed his arm was wrapped around my lower back and he quickly let go, i saw his face go red. Maybe i haven’t been making up the fact that he might want more too.

In a time of awkwardness i dove my sky facing hand into my pocket. In it i actually felt something, and i pulled it out. It was the yellow flower from earlier, somehow it’s not smushed and still bright yellow. I just looked up at Arven, and by looked up i mean looked up, i was just about reaching his chest in this sleeping bag that i could suffocate if i leaned foward in the wrong way.

Ignoring that possibility, and also ignoring the fact that he was taller than me made me extremely flustered, i reached my hand up and just put the flower behind his exposed ear and pinned his bangs back with it. I think he could be right about me being obsessed with seeing both his eyes.

��——————————————————————

Closing my eyes so i could safe myself from saying anything stupid was interrupted when i felt a hand come up and push the hair out of my face and pin something behind my ear. I opened my eyes again to see his eyes wide looking up into mine, this time they glowed with the lantern light instead of the blinding sun, and they looked up at me wondrously. I feel like neither of us have stopped being unhealthily red since we set off on this quest but i’m seeing the reason. We looked at eachothers eyes in the same way, more than just eye contact, we saw each other in those eyes, and we wanted to be able to see more than just a buddy there.

I reached up to touch what was pinning my hair up,

“Is that the-?”

“yeah, it fell out of your bag when you grabbed the water, it’s uhm… it’s really pretty.”

“this is going to sound stupid but if reminded me of the way the sun reflected in your eyes earlier, when the sun was extra bright. It looked like a bloom of yellow.”

I don’t know why i said that, why did i say that?

“I- you cant just say that and-“ He started, but he just burying his face in his hands.

———————————————————————

Dear Arceus- Arven has absolutely the stupidest way to say things that are so absolutely flirty in the most unintentional way. Or maybe it was intentional- all i know was that as i buried my face into my hands, i felt him grab me by the waist again and pull me up closer to his face.

With a slight hesitation i wrapped my arms around him and pulled myself into the crook of his neck. I heard him gasp in my arms before he wrapped his arms around my lower back intentionally this time.

This time there was a comfortable and wanted silence. We layed there in eachothers arms absolutely exhausted from the excessive walking. Rotom never unpaused the music, the harsh wind never continued, and thankfully we were not antagonized by any bird pokémon at all. The world was silent besides our in sync breathing, our hand rubbing against eachothers bodies and faces comfortably.

It felt right this time, we felt right.

———————————————————————

if you read this far… thank you!

I really enjoyed this write, and i hope other people do too. I wanted the end to keep you thinking and imagining, the story isn’t over.

Also if anything was missing of didn’t make sense then it didn’t copy paste correctly from my notes and i apologize 🙏

[tadpolesonalgae]

hehe its cowboy time. SPOILERS ahead for CC, TOG, and ACOTAR. (I'm on my laptop bc i knew i was gonna go hard so enjoy lol)

Crescent city has a very specific role within the maas universe and I'd like to believe it was created to be a stepping stone or an aid of some kind for SJM. And that the two main objectives while it was being written were to introduce crossovers between universes and propel ACOTAR's story. For years there has been speculation among her readers that there would be crossovers eventually, there's been plenty of hints and small appearances over the years but never to the full extent CC was brought to. And I'd like to argue that said crossover wouldn't have been as impactful if Midgard wasn't 'modern'.

For example, each of our protagonists across all the different series so far have all been in or currently are in unhealthy relationships. Nesta and Cassian both coping with trauma/ negative feelings using sex in ACOSF, Aelin and Rowan literally physically fighting in HOF, and Feyre and Rhysand's unexplored history UTM as well as many other examples that I don't feel like typing out. Some of these problems are ones that can be fixed easily, but most aren't. I think with modern resources however, they would have better ways to handle said negativity.

Which brings me back to CC. I believe that SJM's intentions were likely to introduce a "forward" thinking individual into the ACOTAR universe that forces them to acknowledge their faults a little more. The reason I think this was a major reason for CC's existence is because of SJM's history of giving us morally grey characters and unreliable narrators. Especially because of the randall and ember bonus chapter at the end of HOFAS. We see Ember DIRECTLY compare Rhysand's anger towards Nesta doing the right thing to help others to the Autumn King. Who is the same man who locked down FiRo and didn't send help when the demon attack happened in HOEAB. It can of course be argued that Rhys helped others and he never would have let innocent civilians die like the Autumn King did, but that's besides the point.

Rhys in particular now has been called out by several different people for his behavior towards Nesta being unfair at the very least. And with SJM's love of hiding secrets from her readers? I think the idea of Ember's comparison was to show us, the readers, that we should be analyzing all of acotar's character's a little more.

Regarding HOW Bryce and hunt's relationship was written though? Totally agree in all honesty. Not super into it. There has been a continuous trend towards hyper-sexualization in SJM's more recent books I've noticed and however while it's not a negative thing I don't think it's being done in the best way. All of the male POV's SJM has written have been gross tbh, but I argue that that could be the goal.

#casualmisandrist

Modern men are usually a lil gross anyway, so I wouldn't be surprised that SJM's interpretation of a man would also be a lil icky on purpose. Just like how I'm not surprised so many people were into it lol.

That's about the gist of my feelings on CC? Especially since there were only supposed to be 4 books in the series, one for each house. Since it is so much noticeably shorter, I can't help but believe that CC was mostly a means to expand the universe and get more eyes on her most popular series for it's upcoming books, acotar. Which I dislike as a reader but at least she pulled it off using the lil nuggets of info shes been sprinkling throughout the years lol.

(sorry if this is long or rambly, im sick so im on the nyquil train otw to see the hatman)

PS, pls consider putting any of our homegirls from TOG in cbmthy so they can beat up literally everyone but the archeron girls rn bc the girls deserve a show and the IC needs their ass beat hehe

PPS, Elide, Lorcan, and CBMTHY reader crackship?????? yes?? pls???

-🤠

Warnings: yup, spoilers for CC, ToG, and acotar!!!

‘For years there has been speculation among her readers that there would be crossovers eventually’

This is totally just personal preference, not an actual argument, but I liked it when Aelin fell through the worlds in ToG and saw a male with a heavily pregnant female and then in acosf I think she’s mentioned as that red commit? That sort of thing I loved, or I think the book of breathings showed up in CC (maybe it was the book of the dead) but I thought those things were super cool, but honestly l would have preferred if it remained a mystery? Ironically now it’s been revealed it feels less magical—but again, that’s totally my own feelings and not really an actual valid criticism on CC :)

‘I believe that SJM's intentions were likely to introduce a "forward" thinking individual into the ACOTAR universe that forces them to acknowledge their faults a little more.’

This might be my own background talking here, but I dislike the narrative that because something’s modern or natural that it automatically equates goodness? It also kind of feels like (again, maybe personal opinion), miss Maas realised she made some mistakes in how she wrote characters in the past and how she chose to make them behave, then realised some of that was unacceptable or just not great, and then tried to recover by using a ‘modern’ character to go push all their own views onto other characters which I feel is so cheap?

‘Especially because of the randall and ember bonus chapter at the end of HOFAS.’

Oooh I’ve heard people talk about the Ember scene! I saw some absolutely adorable fanart of Ember and Nesta together actually which made me so happy since I love Nesta 😭

I feel I should probably finish off CC3 but it was genuinely painful at times I often ended up slamming the book down in frustration 😭 I’ll try and push through it though for the other characters that I do genuinely like 😭

‘Rhys in particular now has been called out by several different people for his behavior towards Nesta being unfair at the very least.’

(I would like to clarify ‘you’ in this case isn’t directly as you specifically, just a general, non-specific, generic ‘you’ 😭)

If I’m honest, I feel that’s just something that comes with the type of story acotar is if that makes sense? If you look and analyse too closely you’ll find the flaws and that’ll probably ruin your enjoyment of the series which is why I only enjoy discussing acotar lightheartedly? At the end of the day it is a fictional series so it shouldn’t be taken that seriously? Like to the point of some people judging a person’s character or making assumptions about them, based on who they like is absolutely insane and just way too much 😭

I have to say I don’t really understand people who dislike some of the main characters but continued reading? Not that it’s a bad thing—I just struggle to imagine disliking a character but continuing to read the book anyway? Especially with how prominent Rhys is? How can you even get through the books if you don’t like him? Like I genuinely struggle with CC because I don’t like the two main characters and have made the decision to not read another book because it brings me no joy?

I totally get analysing decisions and having fun discussing potential reasons pr motives different characters have, but only in a lighthearted way otherwise I’m just complaining about something I genuinely enjoy and then I’ll start to believe I don’t like it and it’ll just ruin the experience?

‘All of the male POV's SJM has written have been gross tbh, but I argue that that could be the goal.’

I heavily agree when thinking of Hunt but nothing particularly stood out to me for acotar/tog characters? Except for Az in that one bonus chapter 💀

‘Modern men are usually a lil gross anyway’

Babes usually I’d try to be fair and disagree but I think like a fortnight ago I went out and this man was fully pushing up against my back when I was looking at some t shirts and he even kind of knocked my hand away as if trying to get me to move over—I could literally smell the B.O. on him too 😭 (no, I didn’t budge one inch)

‘Since it is so much noticeably shorter, I can't help but believe that CC was mostly a means to expand the universe and get more eyes on her most popular series for it's upcoming books, acotar.’

Wait is there not going to be a CC4? Oh wait wasn’t House of Many Waters skipped out and we went straight to Flame and Shadow? Or am I misremembering that? Like I’ll be perfectly peachy if there’s no more CC 👀 (I mean, I’ll miss Ithan particularly and basically most characters aside from Bryce and Hunt 😭🤦)

‘PS, pls consider putting any of our homegirls from TOG in cbmthy so they can beat up literally everyone but the archeron girls rn bc the girls deserve a show and the IC needs their ass beat hehe’

Imagine over a meal one time reader mentions she’s been writing to someone then casually explains it’s trans-dimensional communication with this Queen from another realm who has fire magic and the IC are just [stunned silence]

‘PPS, Elide, Lorcan, and CBMTHY reader crackship?????? yes?? pls???’

Babes don’t put that idea in my head 😭 Elide and Lorcan are so precious to me (like yes I was furious we didn’t find out What Lorcan Did at first but low-key I’m kind of glad their relationship was kept the way it was? Maybe that’s just me loving emotional connections in relationships though 🫣🤭)

[reelnaturalfreak]

WRITING PATTERNS TAG GAME!!

Whew! I got tagged for a game! I got tagged by @malicmalicwriter! Thanks for tagging me, this will be fun!

Okay, the rules: List the first line(s) of your last 10 posted fics and see if there's a pattern! 1. How Sam Got His Draw On

Things had been strangely quiet, there wasn’t anything weird in the news and the ending of the world wasn’t hanging over their heads.

2. An Empty Deal

Castiel should feel something, an added weight upon his shoulders, the sword of Damocles hanging above his head, or the tight grip of deep-rooted dread of his impending doom. 

3. Problem Officer?

The trees were blurred as they passed by the window of the speeding car. 

4. Dean's Nightmare

It didn’t hurt as much as Dean thought it would, in fact, he wasn’t feeling any pain.

5. The Stars are Raining Down (And They'll Kill Us All)

The stars gleamed high above him and he couldn’t help but to recall his father’s words; “They’re diamonds, Cassie, hundreds of them. Worn by cosmic deities who are so tall we can only  perceive a part of them.” 

6. Maybe Birthdays Don't Suck

Dean's fifth birthday was one filled with heart-wrenching grief.

7. Ringing in The New Year

The bed was comfortable, almost more comfortable than their bed at home and Eileen was briefly jealous.

8. Christmas With The Winchesters

With a few more clicks of his mouse, Dean was done with the form. 

9. Holiday Cheer

The man in the reflection of the mirror looked like a nervous wreck. 

10. Castiel Take the Wheel

It was supposed to be a routine hunt, just a nest of vampires a hop, and a skip outside of Lebanon.

Oh, there were two that wasn't in Dean or Cas's POV. Most of these started off with Dean's POV, but what I really notice is I like to set up the fic before I really get into it. Tease a little before we get to the point of it. Oh, this has been fun! Thanks again MalicMalic! Ps. All fics can be found on ao3 under the username ReelNaturalFreak Now I get to goose some people! @macy2me @doidaredisturb @naughtystiel

[yuzuyuzz]

A little bit ramblers about My Yumeship in Tenipuri (テニスの王子様) /Prince of Tennis.

I haven't debut Her but so far they will be un-canon / broken Ship because Fuji never be together with her.

[I will Introduce you her name]

HISAME ITSUMI - FUJI SYUSUKE.

Her name is Hisame Itsumi. She just use a initial name to avoiding her father who hunted her since Junior High School. Hisame rejected her Father order to become a heir of Dairenji Company which ruled an illegal Athlete Distribution to join in World Cup (they use an illegal medicine to enchanted their power to become super-human)

Hisame real Family Name is Dairenji.

Hisame don't want to join their dirty business and make talented athletes become Experimented Object.

But unfortunately despite throw his anger towards Hisame, her Father start to abused her little sister --Akane Dairenji--

Akane has a talent in Tenis, this make her Father more obsessed to inject a dangerous suplemen to her in Candy shape.

Akane got abused for 2 years until Hisame found out her little sister right eye is broken and nearly blind.

This is a Prologue from Hisame POV until she run away with Akane to America and meet Ryoga Echizen. They just spent time together around 6 month before Hisame run away again back to Japan and disguise herself as SEIGAKU Student.

Hisame searching for Atobe Company to fight her father back, she need a power. So she take advantage from Keigo Atobe in exchange, Atobe will use Hisame to spying Dairenji.

Keigo Atobe try to jailed Ando Dairenji (Hisame Father) with suspect of Huma trafficking and inhumanity experiment object

Actually Atobe can jailed him, but he can avoid his trials with his underground power.

In other side, after battling so much hunters from her father subordinate, Hisame ask Saitou Itaru, who running U-17 Basecamp to take care of AKANE. She ask him personally and beg, whatever Saitou order, Hisame will do it. Fortunately, Saitou Itaru lend his hand and order KANATA IRIE to making Akane as HIS LITTLE SISTER.

Hisame continue her mission with Keigo Atobe. She can't said if her meeting with Seigaku is misfortune or not, until she meet Fuji Syusuke and they are connected each other.

But yeah, They couldn't be together till the end.

-fin-

Ps ; Akane base design /Picrew + Hisame ☝🏻

[cedricthesorcerer1]

Title: Cedric, and Sofia X Reader=Y/N Pokémon Journey Adventures Stories

Narrator: Sofia is still a princess she is just taking a break from being one

Characters/Casts

Cedric

Sofia

Y/N

Narrator: Princess Sofia’s royal went to do more royal duties, and as for Princess Amber she wanted to stay with her royal parents at the castle apparently she doesn’t like getting dirty because she is always comfortable wearing fashion designer dresses 👗 or gowns, Prince James went on a Pokémon hunting with his friend Zander on their own separate ways

Settings/Locations: Y/N House is a Cabin, Sofia Castle, Sofia secret Garden, Cedric Tower, The Bridge, Islands, Forests, Caves

Narrator

Y/N POV

when it was during nighttime i was sleeping until I heard a loud knocking sound on the wooden door, *mumbles* who could that be early in the morning

Narrator

Y/N? *calls you*

Y/N: *opens the door* yes Cedric what is it that you want?

Cedric: do you want to go Pokémon hunting with me, and Sofia?

Y/N: of course I will that sounds fun *let me just grab my backpack

Cedric POV

Sofia POV

_________________________________________________

I will update, or finish more of this tomorrow, follow for more

_________________________________________________

👀Please see= Ps. I just now came up with this idea 💡 in my mind, brain 🧠 inside of my head, that is why I created this story today

_________________________________________________

[hershelves]

ONE OF US IS LYING & ONE OF US IS NEXT

This review may contain spoilers.

One Of Us is Lying

Rate: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Cooper's POV

Friday at school I got out of my car the same time Addy got out of her sister's . . . We hadn't gone more than a few steps before we saw Nate strides over to Bronwyn's car and open the door . . . The four of us ended up almost in a line, walking toward the back entrance.

I read this because I don't want to see the Netflix adaptation unless I first read the book itself. This is a pretty good book with a great mystery plot that will make you ponder and pay attention to every detail included in the investigations. I used to be a huge lover of mystery, suspense, and thriller novels because it was my favorite genre when I was a teen, but this book didn't fool me as 'The Silent Patient' did. The plot was so predictable that by halfway through the book, I had made predictions and hunches that turned out to be very accurate in the end.

If you ask me who my favorite of the Bayview Four is, I'd have to say Nate. He's really impressive, and I like his ability to remain composed in the face of overwhelming odds. Bronwyn would come next, not because I felt cheesy with her and Nate. I adore this girl because SHE NEVER LEAVES ANYONE BEHIND; she's the type of girl who will go to any length to prove not just her own, but also the rest of the suspects' innocence. She never accused somebody without making a thorough 'self investigation' into the person.

Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5 because I enjoyed how the characters formed new friendships and, of course, I loved the mini-dramas and romance too.

PS: After reading, I tried to watch the first episode of the Netflix series, and I was disappointed.

Full Synopsis of One of Us is Lying

One of Us is Next

Rate: 🌟🌟🌟⭐

I started reading this book as soon as I finished the first one since I don't want to wait any longer and die of curiosity. BUT, I didn't imagine to be very disappointed because it isn't as good as the previous book. If One of Us Is Lying has a predictable plot, this one seems even more so. I enjoy writing about my thoughts in my books, and here's one example of a prediction I've made in this book:

SHT!

Let me just express my thougts about this whole phoebe-revenge-plan-with-darkestmind to kill Brandon Weber. I think it's either Phoebe or Emma.

1. Phoebe hooked up with Brandon so it'll make her look innocent, who can never do anything that'll hurt her boyfriend, 'ex-boyfriend'.

2. Emma, who's acting really weird lately can also be the one who's teaming up with darkestmind. BUT she used her sister's name and info instead of her own to hide her identity

No. 2 is more possible to happen since Emma really had a hard time after losing his father.

Plus, I don't think she lost her phone accidentally; she get rid of it & never talk to darkestmind again.

Emma = Bayview2020

That's why darkestmind is in the hunt for Phoebe.

Despite the fact that I had already expected the twists at the end, I enjoyed the fun parts of this book and the fact that the Bayview Four is still somehow a part of the story even if this book has different characters and a different plot to tell. I would have given it a 3, but I liked that other 'not-too-surprising' twist at the end, so I give it a 3.5 instead.

Full Synopsis of One of Us is Next

[usuallydeepcoffee]

As a Steve stan, I am here for the support group! I think the main problem with fandom gravitating from St0ny to St*cky as Steve main ship (2012 to 2014), is that...the most problems pissing me of in St0ny fics continued into the St*cy one. Like...I really tried getting into St*cky as a ship, because I love Steve and I want him happy. And Bucky is a good man, they are loyal to each other it's a good story! And there are very talented writers out there! It's just...I feel like majority of ship revolves around Bucky.His feeling, his perspective, his trauma. Even if it's a Steve POW it still feel like it a one-track Bucky train without actually thinking about Steve as a person. It's the same shit as with St0ny, so often it seems like I am reading self insert. Just that it swallows Steve whole (and not in a fun way!) I am in dire need of good Steve shipping content, but I can't stand him with either Tony or Bucky, and those are the most prominent options. Of course sometimes I stumble upon a wonderful blogs like yours, which truly love Steve as he is and for him alone. That's however, shockingly rare.

p.S- good luck on the new job (or the job hunt, I don't want to be presumptions, just sending a lot of good vibes!)

Yes, yes, yes. Anon, you've explained this perfectly.

Unfortunately Steve is expected to do the heavy lifting in both pairings, and after a while it gets tiring and off-putting. Like, I understand where people come from and why they want these two characters be comforted by Steve, but it's absolutely not an excuse to either make him into a dumb, uniformed bimbo just so they can prop up their fave AND/OR a carboard cut-out that just exists to cure their fave's depression with his magical dick or nice words.

And, most importantly, it's not an excuse to harass and guilt trip the small amount of content creators who do want to focus on Steve (the amount of commenters and people I've seen on more Steve-friendly fics and blogs is honestly ridicolous).

LMao, actually I feel like most fics from Steve's POV are more B*cky-centric than regular third person style fics or B*cky POV fics. Because sometimes they read like a glorified essay about poor B*cky and his endless suffering and how angry Steve is at people for not falling at B*cky's feet (which is so OOC of Steve to me, god).

Also probably a hot take, but like, while I haven't touched a st0ny fic in YEARS, I can still recall a couple of classics that have aged somewhat gracefully, but I can't do the same for St*cky, which I actually still like. I don't know, I feel like if you're lucky enough to escape the "Steve is unironically incapable of taking care of himself", you still might get the "let's pretend Sam (and Nat) doesn't exist or wouldn't understand him the way Bucky does" or the "Peggy could never compete with Bucky and even if she does, she's willing to step aside because she's that "awesome"". It's like passing through security lasers.

Anyway, I'm happy to provide any kind of Steve content, shippy or not! (Altho, I obviously like to h/c everyone in love with him)

PS- Thank you <3 I've got a couple of options I need to properly assess, but honestly I'm just glad to be done with the place I'm working atm.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hi Steph, hope you and your loved ones are doing well(: Do you have any long fics (+100k) that are about character development? I like casefics but I would like to read something that the focus in the story are the characters, even if there is some cases. I just read The Adventure of the Silver Scars for the first time and now I'm adrift lol. Thank you so much, you make my day most often than not, *virtual hug*.

Hi Nonny!!!

AHHHHHHH I’m so happy that you’re enjoying my fic lists, and that I make your day <3 I want to argue that I PERSONALLY find any story that long has a LOT of character development, so I’m gonna be an ass and add a part two to my last 100K w. fic list :) Hee hee hee! I don’t get a lot of opportunities hah. I haven’t read very many 100K fics since my first list last May so I apologize for the length. 

Because I’m so focussed on trying to read more long fics lately, it’s taking me a lot longer to get through them, so I’m sorry I don’t have a lot for you. BUT I’m going to ALSO link you to my other longer fic list posts PLUS my case fic lists since you’re looking for those too :)

I genuinely feel like a lot of the fics I rec that are long have a lot of character development, because otherwise I don’t think I would have been able to get through them. It’s a weird quirk of mine: I need to get into the world of the characters if I’m going to invest that much time into them, so yeah :P I hope you enjoy what I have for you! 

PS AGREED I loved Silver Scars! It’s actually on this list because I only recently read it, hahah :D

NOVEL LENGTH FICS: 100K+ W. Pt 2

See also:

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K (Nov. 2018)

Novel Length Fics: 50 to 100K Pt 2 (May 2020)

Novel Length Fics: 100K+ w. (May 2019)

Case Fics || [MOBILE] 

Case Fics Pt 2

Case Fics Pt 3

Two Two One Bravo Baker by abundantlyqueer (E, 114,574 w., 27 Ch. || Military AU || Afghanistan, War Story, Thriller) – Captain John Watson of 40 Commando, the Royal Marines, is assigned to protect and assist Sherlock Holmes as he investigates what appears to be a simple war atrocity in Afghanistan. An intense attraction ignites between the two men as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens everything they’ve ever known, but Sherlock is as much hunted as hunter, and everyone close to him is in deadly danger. Can he solve the case in time to save himself and John? Part 1 of Two Two One Bravo Baker Universe

The Bang and the Clatter by earlgreytea68 (M, 137,049 w., 37 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Baseball AU || Slow Burn / Dev. Rel., Possessive/Obsessive Sherlock, Jealous Sherlock, Mutual Pining, Body Appreciation, Depression, Closeted Sexuality, Family, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Ogling Each Other, Anxious Sherlock, Panic Attack, Drunkenness, Talk of Forever, Big Feelings™) – Sherlock Holmes is a pitcher and John Watson is a catcher. No, no, no, it's a baseball AU. Part 1 of Baseball

The Adventure of the Silver Scars by tangledblue (NR [M], 142,458 w., 41 Ch. || S3 Fix-It, Post-HLV/ Post-TAB / Canon Compliant, Case Fic, No Baby, Angst, Humour, UST, Slow Burn, Angry John, Reconciliation, Not Nice Mary / Leaving Mary, Dependent Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Caretaker John, Fist Fights, It’s An Experiment, Virgin Sherlock, Dancing, Drugging, John Whump, Pet Names, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Scars) – It’s been thirteen months since Mary shot Sherlock and John finds he’s still pissed off about it. Sherlock had thought everything was settled: John and Mary, domestic bliss. But when John turns up at Baker Street with suitcases, the world’s only consulting detective might not be prepared for the consequences. A new case. Some old scores to settle. Certain danger. Concertos, waltzes, and whisky.

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.

Free Falling by twistedthicket1 (M, 203,574 w., 38 Ch. || Guardian Angels AU || Guardian Angel John, Fluff and Angst, Humour, Kidlock / Teenlock, Light Mystrade, Passage of Time, Possessive John, Drug Use / Overdose, Victor Trevor, Graphic Bullying, Big Brother Mycroft, Hard Drug Use, Depression, Possessive Sherlock, Possessive John, Panic Attacks, Nightmares/PTSD, Pining, Healing Abilities, Kidnapping, Violence, Torture, Blow Jobs, Virgin John, Emotional Development / Attachment, Mortality, Happy Ending) – All Guardian angels are born with a Chosen human. When this child is born, the angel comes into being to protect and care for them during their life on Earth. For John Watson, all he cares about in the world revolves around his Chosen, Sherlock Holmes. Watching him grow up though, the angel soon learns that God must have had a sense of humour the day he decided to make Sherlock, as trouble seems to follow him like a magnet wherever he goes. John can't decide what's worse, the idea of losing his Chosen one, or the fact that he may be breaking the most taboo law of heaven as he disguises himself as a human to better protect and befriend the beloved detective he's always watched from afar. He was meant to care for him. But what happens when caring evolves into something more? What happens when an emotion an angel is supposed to be incapable of possessing comes to life suddenly and viciously inside John's chest?

[badwasabi]

WRITING ADVICE: How not to write thoughts

Disclaimer: The following advice represents the opinions of One Nitpicky Guy. Readers should accept or reject it as they please. 

Jen opened her door and stepped out into the night.

“Hello?” she called. “Anyone out here?”

The trees rustled, blocking the streetlight. She mused that she had told Chris to cut them back, but nooo, he just said he’d get to it. Someday.

She pulled her handgun from her coat pocket, flicked on the flashlight, and panned it around the yard. Nothing. She wondered what had made the noise.

With her left hand, she reached for the porch light, tightened the bulb.

Nope, she thought, still out. But she decided not to stick around and replace it, not at night.

Something rustled in the bushes to her left, and her gun snapped around.

“Come out with your hands up!” she yelled, her heart beating loud in her ears.

A grey cat - the neighbour’s cat, Jen recalled - sauntered out of the bushes, stared at her insolently. As cats do.

She lowered her gun, and went “Jeez, Malky! You scared me half to death!”

She could just barely make out the cat’s features, the eerie greenish glow in his eyes. He looked at her, then right past her. Which meant, she reasoned, as the hairs on the back of her neck went up, that there might be someone right behi-

She was surprised when the killer’s arm wrapped around her throat.

There are certain words that you see a lot in writing, which are almost never used in conversation. If you think there’s a prowler in your backyard, you don’t call 911 and say “Police? I think I see a figure hiding in my primroses!” You don’t look at someone’s “features” when they’re talking to you, you look at their face. I’ve never “regarded” anyone, and how many of us actually know what “flashing eyes” would look like?*

IMO, it’s fine to use words like this in, say, an article or opinion piece, which is deliberately artificial. If you’re writing a story that’s in omniscient third-person (EG Hitchiker’s, Discworld), sure, why not. But using these terms in a close third-person or first-person narrative can be somewhat jarring, even if the reader never consciously notices.

And some of the biggest offenders are the “thought” words.

In reality, people don’t really “muse”. We seldom “consider”. Or “make mental notes”. Not in our own heads. Have you ever been telling a story about something you did, and you went “and then I made a mental note?”

One common mistake is going “X thought of [subject]” without ever explaining, thus;

Dolores licked her lips as she thought of what she’d do to that sandwich.

as opposed to

Dolores licked her lips. First she’d pick up the sandwich, gently, gently. She’d nibble at the end, just a bit, just to get a little taste. Then she’d open her mouth as wide as it could go and take that big chomp-

That’s a stronger image, more evocative. If you have to use “X thought of [subject]”, try to use it like a sort of thesis statement.

Dolores licked her lips as she thought of what she’d do to that sandwich. First she’d pick it up, gently, gently. She’d nibble at the end, just a bit, just to get a little taste. Then she’d open her mouth as wide as it could go and take that big chomp-

or

Dolores licked her lips as she thought about what she’d do to that sandwich. She thought about how she’d pick it up, gently, gently. About nibbling at the end, just a bit, just to get a little taste. Then she’d open her mouth as wide as it could go and take that big chomp-

In general, try to avoid saying “X thought of [subject]” just by itself and letting it sit there. There needs to be some kind of payoff. Even if it doesn’t show up right away. Even something like another character breaking them out of their thoughts.

I see way too many people who just use “X thought of [subject]” to summarize a character’s thoughts, but don’t unpack.

But more importantly for these tips are what I like to call inline thoughts. It’s when you present the characters thoughts, in the text, without italics. While I like to use ‘inline’ thoughts for the POV character, I sometimes used italicized thoughts when I want to give emphasis.

Speaking of interruptions;

Jimmy frowned.

Well, someone with no taste might think “Dangerous” is the better album, but it’s clearly “Bad”.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash from the next room.

Never say that. Just show the interruption, and then what interrupted.

Jimmy frowned.

Well, someone with no taste might think “Dangerous” is the better album, but it’s clearly “Ba-”

There was a loud crash from the next room.

Also, some people use single quotes to indicate thoughts. As far as my highly-compensated** research team can tell, this is grammatically incorrect, and you shouldn’t do it ever.

You know what’s even worse? No, not 'irregardless’, though that counts. Using both italics and single quotes. Which gets especially confusing when it’s in the same paragraph as italicized dialogue.

“Look,” I said, “I’ll get you the money, so you don’t need to be all nice place you have here, shame if something happened to it.” ’Please don’t ask how, please don’t ask how, Please don’t-’

Please don’t write

X, I thought to myself.

Pop quiz; how many stories are there where the protagonist has access to telepathy? Mind-to-mind communication?

Not many.

Exactly. So who else would they be thinking to?

If your writing is focused on a POV character, you generally don’t have to use “X noticed/saw/perceived/reasoned/etc.” Just describe what they saw, just like you described the interruption instead of telling the audience there was an interruption.

Look at this “inline” bit;

Sanjay locked his computer, picked up his smartphone, and headed for the empty break roo-

Oh.

“Hi,” Ingrid said.

“Hey.”

Now, watch what happens when I tell, not show.

Sanjay locked his computer, picked up his smartphone, and headed for what he thought was an empty break room. Needless to say, he was surprised to find Ingrid already there.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey.”

Just kinda sucked the emotion right out of it.

But what if I want to convey a non-verbal thought? Like an impulse?

Well, Timmy, then you lie.

What?

Lie. Fake it.

Carlos had a sudden urge to tickle his cat.

vs 

Carlos looked at his cat. He could tickle her…

or

Carlos looked at his cat. Would she mind being tickled?

As a general rule, you should use thought verbs the way you’d use “said”  verbs. For me, that means 'not at all, if possible’.

“So what’s the problem?” Jones asked.

“The anklet says she has a pretty set routine,” Brown said. “Home, work, grocery store. Sometimes she jogs around the block. But on one day, the day of the explosion, she stops at this donut shop. If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…”

Jones thought that was interesting. “Coincidence?”

Vs

If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…“

Interesting. "Coincidence?”

or

If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…“

Interesting. "Coincidence?”

Or

If she didn’t have a sudden craving for some Timbits…“ Jones leaned forward. "Coincidence?”

Or

Jones’ eyes narrowed. “Coincidence?”

Or

Jones narrowed his eyes. “Coincidence?”

Remember when I said you should generally use thought verbs like said verbs? That doesn’t often apply when you’re using physical reactions instead of thought tags (which I personally prefer). People put more weight on actions than words, and from the outside we can only know most people’s thoughts by what they do and say. More specifically, try to put the physical reaction before the dialogue.

Sometimes you may want to use “X thought” to make the narration seem disconnected and distant from the POV characters. Let’s say some character has a concussion or just got some shocking news.

Jane blinked. “I’m sorry, what?” “There was a complication,” the doctor said. “His heart stopped on the table.” This is impossible, Jane thought. “No, he can’t…I just talked to him yesterday. How can he be de-dea-”

or

Jane blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“There was a complication,” the doctor said. “His heart stopped on the table.”

Jane thought it was impossible. “No, he can’t…I just talked to him yesterday. How can he be de-dea-”

This works even in first person.

I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“There was a complication,” the doctor said. “His heart stopped on the table.”

This is impossible, I thought. “No, he can’t…I just talked to him yesterday. How can he be de-dea-”

Any questions?

Good Hunting -Jon

PS: Oh, right, forgot;

Jen opened her door and stepped out into the night.

“Hello?” she called. “Anyone out here?”

The trees rustled, blocking the streetlight. She told Chris to cut them back, but nooo, he just said he’d get to it. Someday.

She pulled her handgun from her coat pocket, flicked on the flashlight, and panned it around the yard. Nothing. What had made the noise.

With her left hand, she reached for the porch light, tightened the bulb. Nope, still out. Best not to stick around and replace it, not at night.

Something rustled in the bushes to her left, and her gun snapped around.

“Come out with your hands up!” she yelled, her heart beating loud in her ears.

A grey cat - the neighbour’s cat- sauntered out of the bushes, stared at her insolently. As cats do.

She lowered her gun, and went “Jeez, Malky! You scared me half to death!”

She could just barely see the cat’s face, the eerie greenish glow in his eyes. He looked at her, then right past her. The hairs on the back of her neck went up. Was there someone right behi-

A strong arm wrapped around her throat.

* I do. But that’s another show. ** I throw a cheeseburger down their dungeon steps sometimes

[elderling-magic]

Fitz, Nighteyes, Fool and Time

“...To free humanity of time. For time is the great enslaver of us all. Time that ages us, time that limits us. Think how often you have wished to have more time for something, or wished you could go back a day and do something differently. When humanity is freed of time, old wrongs can be corrected before they are done.” - Kettle about the role of the White Prophet, “Assassin’s Quest”

For at least a year now I wanted to make a post about time and how it relates and affects my favourite fictional trio so that is what I am doing today. This post will contain SPOILERS for the entire series so if you haven’t read all the Fitz books - you have been warned. Time is overall a very important theme in the series, but I want to foccus on these 3 characters because it is what is more interesting to me.

Fitz - Past

“The knowledge that he had left me with no intent ever to return had come over me in tiny droplets of realization spread over the years. And each droplet of comprehension brought its own small measure of hurt...He had wished me well in finding my own fate to follow, and I never doubted his sincerity. But it had taken me years to accept that his absence in my life was a deliberate finality, an act he had chosen, a thing completed even as some part of my soul still dangled, waiting for his return.” - Fitz, “Fool’s Assassin”

One of Fitz’s characteristics is how he is more often than not stuck in the past. This is partly because of trauma, but is still important. Even before the story starts Fitz already made an attempt to reject the past by claiming he forgot everything about his mother. He didn’t really. The memories just hurt him too much, but Fitz was never able to forget or let go of past events (even after giving part of his memories to a stone dragon in AQ).  Fitz gets stuck in the past and is hard for him to move on. Molly was his first love and he is stuck with that, Kettricken is still Verity’s wife until the (end even though the man died in book 3), Beloved is still a bit under the shadow of the court jester no matter how much he has changed since RA, etc. Fitz’s past affect his entire life.

Fitz can’t help but be reminded of Molly when thinking of red skirts or the Fool when seeing black and white. These are the colors he associates with them and that had initial impact in his past memories (even Molly being known as Nosebleed as a kid has the hint of red in there).

Fitz’s connection to the past is not as easy to observe in the Farseer trilogy since he is still developping and usually either Nighteyes or the Fool are around him. The Fool and Nighteyes influence him and make him not drown in past memories. Fitz holds on to the people he met as a kid and as the trilogies go on he seems to give less and less importance to new characters (so much that the ones introduced in the last trilogy barelly feel like characters at all in Fitz’s POV). 

Fitz going back to Molly at the end of “Fool’s Fate” is partly because of this attachment to the past. When the Fool leaves and Nighteyes isn’t around what does he do (as seen in “Fool’s Assassin”)? He gets a room just for himself where he can write and cry about the past. That is one of the most painful books to read when it comes to Fitz because he is so lost in past memories without Nighteyes or the Fool being around to stop him and bring him new perspectives that he just brings me down with him.

Nighteyes - Present

“Come, hunt with me, the invitation whispers in my heart. Leave the pain behind and let your life be your own again. There is a place where all time is now, and the choices are simple and always your own. Wolves have no kings.” - Nighteyes, “Royal Assassin”

Obviously Nighteyes has a strong connection with the present. As he says, wolves live in the now. So, when he is with Fitz he influences him and makes him live in the present. When Fitz is living in a cabin with just Hap and Nighteyes, he says he foccuses on the present and the routine of it (not for the first time, he mentions it in AQ before too). Fitz, being Fitz, still writes about his past, but since Nighteyes is around there is a balance between how often he thinks about the past and how often he foccuses on the present.

Fitz’s connection to the past also affects Nighteyes. When the wolf starts to gain human like qualities these are associated with past memories - like Fool saying something in AQ in the lines of “I didn’t know he would remember that” about Nighteyes showing his gratitude for Fool giving him cakes in the past, for example. Or that time Nighteyes remembered his family.

Even Fitz’s stupid plan in “Assassin’s Quest” has the foccus on the present all over it. He knows he wants revenge on Regal because of what he has done to him in the past, but instead of having a plan for that future, he says he will think of something when he gets to where Regal is currently living. Completelly living each day as it presents itself. No future planning because guess who isn’t around?

Fool - Future

“If he had not come to see me, I would never have recalled how much I missed him. I would have continued to pine for the past, but I would not have begun to long for a future.” - Fitz about the Fool, “Fool’s Errand”

Of course the White Prophet is strongly connected to the future. The Fool has visions about the future and his constant concern and dedication about what he must do keep him from thinking about the past or the present.  the Fool feels blind when his dreams stop. He has no concept of living beyond his "time", of a future he doesn't see. He is so anxious about it that he would not allow himself happiness and the society he wishes for because he is constantly considering what each of his actions would mean for the future and that paralyzes him.

The times Fool seems to be enjoying himself on the present is when Nighteyes is around and still alive (”Assassin’s Quest” and “Fool’s Fate”) - there is the water fight in AQ and overall the fun he seemed to be having on the adventure in FE. Take Nighteyes away and Fool is constantly worried about the Future or remembering his past because of Fitz. 

Fitz is the only person we know that the Fool opens up about his family or his mission as Amber, for example. Fitz even unlocks the Fool’s tragic backstory slowly. Being around Fitz makes Beloved think of his past memories even if he has been avoiding them like the plague for years. There is this person he tells about it because they influence each other that much.

In Liveship Traders, Amber is 100% thinking of her goal the entire time, which makes it feel a bit different than how Beloved usually acts if Fitz is around. Fitz and Nighteyes surprise him and make him slow down a bit and think of something else no matter how few minutes it lasts.

In the same way, Fool makes Fitz plan for the future. When the Fool is around Fitz has always something to do (usually according to prophecies). Fitz also thinks about a future living with the Fool in AQ, FE and AF. Take away the Fool and Fitz drowns in the memories of his past, unless Nighteyes is there to help him.

So, does that initial quote from Kettle about getting rid of time connects with the ending where Fitz and the Fool end up in the stone wolf and basically die? Given the strong connections these 3 characters have with time I guess I could say that now that they are not around the White Prophet mission is trully complete. I am not sure what this means for the new prophet (Bee)’s future goal though. Unless that there is no future goal. Bee herself was a new entity entirely given that she was called the destroyer. I see her as having the powers of both catalyst and white prophet. So, it can really mean the end of white prophets and, like Kettle said it was their mission, the end of time itself. 

PS: I also don’t see ghost!Nighteyes as being trully Nighteyes. Nighteyes died in FE and to me that ghost is the personification of the memories the Fool and Fitz had of him. But that is another future post entirely.

[phati-sari]

Hi PS! I discovered you early this year when I was on the hunt to watch IPKKND again, and I chanced upon your amazing blog. It started with your recaps, and you must be tired of hearing this, but you honestly blew me away with your analyses. Before your blog, I watched the show at the surface level. So, when I started reading your recaps, I had no idea that people watched things so acutely, which then enables them to form such deep insights. The things that you notice, and the way you (1/3)

articulate your thoughts is a joy to witness. I honestly mean it when I say that the best thing to come out of 2020 for me was coming across your blog. After devouring your blogs, I started reading your fanfiction stories, and the first one I read was your re-telling of Khushi discovering Arnav watering his plants, and the rest is history. I have pretty much read every single story you have written, everything from OSs to your mature pieces, and I love everything. This line from (2/3)

A Moment (of Unravelling), the one from Khushi’s POV, particularly impressed me: “Even in his absence he was overwhelmingly present, a hole in her heart and a bruise on her soul, the centre of a landscape of shattered dreams and broken promises.” This line so vividly captures her anguish, pain, longing, desire, betrayal, love, and so much more for Arnav. Gahhhhh, I am in constant awe of your writing. I am so excited to read the next chapters lined up for Tere Bin and being in bitwa's head! (3/3)

Hi @teenrap369 :)

Hahah thank you! I’m so0o0o0 glad you like the recaps eeeee! It’s so exciting :) I’m very happy you found my blog too because now I’ve met you! Yay!

I can and often do just watch things, but more often than not, my mind is busily cataloging motifs, tropes, storytelling mechanisms and visual techniques. It happens without me properly even thinking about it, so I guess in a way, I’ve just chosen to have a blog about something I’d do anyway.

The mature pieces still make me blush I cannot believe I wrote (let alone published) some of them. But I set myself a challenge for a year to write intimacy, and promised myself that Charade would have sustained intimacy. I wanna grow as a writer.

“Even in his absence he was overwhelmingly present, a hole in her heart and a bruise on her soul, the centre of a landscape of shattered dreams and broken promises.”

I sometimes think this line is too purple but it felt right when it wrote itself onto the page. The image it evokes in my mind is vivid too! Dead trees, cracked earth, shattered glass, and Arnav standing in the middle of it all wearing the same smile he wore after their bindi-and-mirror adventure (when he said “Khushi ... main tumse ...” and everyone knew how that sentence ended).

I’m excited for the next chapter for Tere Bin to0o0o0o!! It basically wrote itself but I want to get the chapter after that one finished before I publish anything :) 

Thank you so much for taking the time to message. I really appreciate it :) I hope you’re well 🧡

[ranvwoop]

So! You know what I'm going to ask! What did you think? Ps. Hope you're having a good day

A Bunny for the angsty lore

hello cryptid!!!! why thank you for asking!!!! and thank you for the bun !!!! this. will be a long one. readmore time

THAT WAS SO GOOD. I was not watching it in my usual element as I was switching between POVs, so I'll probably go rewatch some bits to see what I missed but !!!!!!!

To preface. the community experience is So valuable. it's so fun. the skin hunt like tales and just.. anticipation... live fanbases r so cool. And the banquet has been a long time coming and it so didn't disappoint!!

First of all, the vibes of the beginning were Perfect. I long for the ensemble tomfoolery, everyone just.. hanging out... running around and complimenting eachother's outfits and just. A nice time! Also I love that Fundy and Hbomb were here. I don't know if I'm missing something, but, I'm glad that they did decide to show up.

Connor said he would and then he didn't. I am sad. Mister Pants. I was excited to see you.

RANBOOS LURKING. I don't think he was enderwalking. He had whatever cover on, and then he immediately took it off after the event and went on his way... and, he's spied on the egg twice before and got caught, so. I think it was just regular old Ranboo. Why? No idea. Just cause. But I don't think he'd switch out of EW that quickly.

Foolish,, Foolish Gamers,,, I love. he tried to step in to save Eret and thEN HE GOT KILLED. I'm Very into whatever lore Foolish and Eret have going on and I'm so excited to see more!!! o7. eret's stream of the aftermath has started and I'm just. !!!!!!.

TECHNO. TECHNOBLADE. I am incredibly excited for... addressing that. Most of the syndicate was there so?? Syndicate meeting soon?? I just want the syndicate to be relevant so bad.... and the return of the dog army! p. probably for the last time, if I saw correctly, rip in peace. But. Man showed up, disrespected the dead, put his personal feelings towards others aside for his values — which will Probably be an important piece in analysis and stuff later. But I don't do serious analysis often, so hey.

The eggpire is also very cool. I'm really glad that this wasn't the end of the egg arc, and that it seems it'll only go stronger. No velvet appearence :pensive:...... but.. there's still hope... also Hannah!!! power move !!!!! I honestly don't know the eggpire well enough to say much about their characters, but I'm glad to see them succeed. (Same with Puffy - I have absolutely no idea what's going on with Puffy, but uh. poor puffy. She's had a day.)

There were also some Iconic tm parallels. Eret speaking against the betrayal, Quackity outpaying the Eggpire for a mercenary's loyalty..... mmmgood. Quackity and Purpled were also very very good, but once again I don't think I know enough about either of them to say much. Except that one clip where Purpled said he delayed lore every time someone asked. Good for him.

That's about all the braincells I feel like I have to spare! Which is not a lot! I am,,, incredibly !!! about the whole thing however,,, very cool.. absolutely met and exceeded expectations..

Have a bird for your troubles!! uvu