#star wars tinyfics

[elsajeni]

V - abandoned spaces

“Wait,” Luke says, something uneasy bubbling up in his chest. “Wait, I don’t– we shouldn’t go in there.”

“Don’t be such a baby,” Fixer says with a snort, and shoves his way through the gate. Windy follows him, chin raised defiantly, and that sets off a sort of stampede– with two of their friends already inside, the rest of them can’t hang back or they’d be cowards.

Luke goes in last, that sense of dread and unease still building, growing. The closer he gets to the gate, the worse it feels– it’s like there’s some kind of huge hurt animal in there, something ugly and angry and scared, and it’s drawing him closer and pushing him away both at once. And then he takes a last step over the threshold into the abandoned camp, and all of a sudden it’s crushing him, he’s on the ground, shaking, gasping for breath…

*

Owen has to come pick him up from the Darklighters’ place, which would be humiliating if he didn’t still feel so terrible. He gets into the landspeeder and sits with his head down, silent, expecting a lecture about the trouble he’s caused, the afternoon’s work interrupted. But Owen doesn’t say anything until they’re well away from the house, and when he does it’s, “Huff said you were sick.”

Luke gives an unhappy, one-shouldered shrug. “Kinda.”

“You kids been fighting?”

That, Luke knows, means those other kids been pushing you around?– he’s the youngest of their little gang, not by a lot but by enough to make a difference, and he suspects Owen still thinks of him as the little kid tagging along after them on the playground.

He shakes his head. “No.”

Owen gives him a sideways look. “Drinking?”

“No!”

“All right, all right,” Owen says, raising one hand from the controls in mock-surrender. “You don’t want to talk about it. Fine.”

They ride in silence for a while, Luke turning the strange awful feeling over in his mind, gnawing at it. They’re almost back to the farm when he decides he can’t contain it anymore and blurts, “You know that old camp up by the bridge?”

Owen slows the speeder almost to a halt and frowns at him. “The Tusken camp?”

“Yeah,” Luke says– he didn’t know it was a Tusken village, there’s not enough left of the houses to really tell, but as soon as Owen says it he knows it’s the same place. “The abandoned one. What happened there?”

“Nothing good,” Owen says sharply. “Were you up there? I would’ve thought even you kids had enough sense to–” He bites off the end of the sentence, seems to think for a second, and sighs. “Who dared you to go in there?”

“We all kind of dared each other,” Luke says, because it’s more or less true, and also it means no one’s parents will get a stern holocall from Beru about their bad behavior. “It wasn’t– how’d you know someone dared me?”

Owen raises his eyebrows. “I wasn’t born an old man, you know. So. Is that what happened? You took a dare, you went in and… what, someone jumped out and scared you?”

“I wasn’t scared,” Luke protests. He looks down again, twisting his hands in his lap– he can still feel that awful surge of dread if he thinks about it. “I was… there’s something wrong in there. Something bad was about to happen. I could feel it coming. And it’s dark in there.”

Owen’s quiet for a long time. After a while Luke steals a glance over at him, tries to guess what he’s thinking– this seems like something more than you idiot kids, how many times have I told you to stay away from there. But Owen mostly just looks tired, and maybe a little sad, and after a minute he puts the speeder back in gear and drives them the rest of the way home without saying anything more.

[alphabet prompts]

[prowlingthunder]

WIP Meme 10/20/2020

Tagged by: @mandakatt

Look at what you've done. How dare you. I'm not even sure this is all of them. I think some are hidden in gdocs yet. Argh.

Tagging: @egodominustuus @thelostknee @linwyrms-lair @gracethescribbler @skywalking-across-the-galaxy @khantoelessar @zpansven

Read the list under the cut.

1: A Child of Blood

2: Eileen - Birds of a Feather

3: BtVS - Lupercalia - Xander - Wolfthreat - WIP

4: BtVS - PT Alexander Harris Auroresbrother - Denguards - LUPERCALIA - WIP

5: Buffy the Witcher

6: SynthSil - Ascendent Ab Inferis (Lux Aeterna AU)

7: Boys in Blue

8: Butterfingers the Deathclaw

9: Piper - (Lupercalia)

10: Sil/Jack

11: CM - Lupercalia WIP - Red

12: CM - Lupercalia WIP -

13: AC/FFXV - Des and Noct swap places - ffxv Halloween bang

14: Trigun x Outlaw Star

15: Gargoyles x Ronin Warriors

16: Power Rangers x Ronin Warriors

17: Ronin Warriors x Outlaw Star

18: Rurouni Kenshin x Yu Yu Hakusho

19: Dragons Breath -- DAO&RW

20: Farcry 5 / What Became of Edith Finch - Eddie

21: Farcry 5 / What Became of Edith Finch - Jake

22: Gundam Wing - With Daemons WIP

23: GW Pacific Rim

24: GW&IA&FFX - Auron - Roulette - Unlikely

25: Hobbit/RW - Bilbo -

26: House Ronin Warriors

27: RK-Xmen = Dragon Teeth

28: RW-PJ

29: RWSG1

30: SG1/JOS - Third - In a God's Bedroom

31: ST/RW

32: SW/GW - Brothers and Sisters [clonefic]

33: Thor-x-Ronin Warriors

34: Noctis (Final Fantasy XV) / Levi (Attack on Titan) - Hunting [Noctis in AoT]

35: Hiei (Yu Yu Hakusho) / Prowls (Exalted) - Stars [Prowls adopts Fire Demon baby]

36: Noctis (Final Fantasy XV) / Ezio (Assassin’s Creed) - Family [Assassins in FFXV]

37: Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho) / Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars) - Honor [Kuwabara unfucks SW]

38: Kuwabara (Yu Yu Hakusho) / Dex-Star - Love [Kuwabara adopts a Red Lantern Cat]

39: Voltron/Escaflowne

40: When the Night Comes/Arcana crossover

41: YYH/Naruto - Kurama - Foxkids

42: CSI NY - Lupercalia WIP -

43: Dark Matter - Hiro - [Lupercalia] - WIP

44: Every Warden Ever - WIP -

45: Nelaros and F!Tabris as wardens

46: Salazar - Crowbar Fic

47: Carslile/Sil - Highschool

48: Joan rambles

49: Junior - (Best laid plans)

50: Junior - Outsider

51: Junior - The G.O.A.T.

52: Junior rambles

53: MacCready - Big Town Blues

54: MacCready - Radstorm

55: Nora - Line-dried Laundry (Lupercalia)

56: Pandora -

57: Pandora - Lupercalia Fic - [Inside Pandora's Box]

58: Pandora rambles

59: Russian Roulette - Silas deathfic

60: Sil/X6 rambles

61: Silas - Demon Summoner AU - A Leaf in the Wind

62: Silas King - Snow Angels (Papawolf!Renigald)

63: Silas King - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Operation: Rescue Quinn kidfic)

64: Silas rambles

65: Winter Animals (papa!Artem)

66: Y7 - All the Things I Didn't Say

67: Ambulo

68: Contritum Coronam

69: to abstain from doing harm

70: A General Gift

71: ABO nicias&caleb/nicola

72: An Army - Prompto & Ignis - Blood and Water

73: Andali misc

74: Ardyn - (Triplets verse)

75: Cathedral of You fanfiction

76: Cor -

77: Cor - Dawnfire - WIP

78: Dave - [Scourgeverse]

79: FFXV Glaive Lupercalia

80: FFXV Prompto Lupercalia

81: Galahdian Noctis au

82: give a brother wings

83: Halloween '19 d2

84: Halloween '19 d3

85: Halloween '19 d4

86: Halloween '19 d5

87: Halloween '19 d7

88: Noct raises Ardyn

89: Nyx -

90: Prompto - Terrible Things

91: Sealions - Cor - The Dance

92: snowchild (Lupercalia wolfProm fic)

93: The Feral Coeurl of Galahd (Galahdian!Cor fic)

94: Transplant Fic Box

95: Vipers Victim

96: what fire burns

97: IA - Kasmir!Oliver Briggs - WIP

98: IA - Nebrija x Arzu - Family - WIP

99: David and kids

100: David and Bridget, Combat Skills

101: David vs Simon Fight

102: Bridget tending David

103: Music *http://youtu.be/G2ZKKXCuaYc?t=9m46s

104: Seduction

105: Wish

106: Destiny

107: xerxes

108: Giayl - Wolflords (Lupercalia)

109: LotRO - Aegliraan - Caran Dagra - WIP

110: Lupercalia - Shepard - Star-light, Star-bright

111: ME - OC - Blood And Water

112: Black Cats and Broken Mirrors Chapter 5

113: Itachi - Step Two

114: The Hardest Part - Chapter One - Alone

115: 100+ Words list

116: Bioshock - Big Daddy - ABO verse

117: Character Roulette 2

118: Life of Redemption

119: A lover's homecoming

120: The Dreaming Cord

121: Logan - (This is what it's like) - WIP

122: Outlander - Kainan - (wolf fur and dragon teeth)

123: SPCH - drabble

124: Thor - All The Little Children [Lupercalia]

125: Thor - Lupercalia WIP - Frigga -

126: WoW - Livieva - Puppy At Heart

127: Haruko - Genji lives path

128: McHanzo Timetravel Shenanigans

129: Overwatch - Yuuma - Nest of Vipers - Big Bang

130: Stan/Haruko

131: Stanfic

132: Taijo Aitai tinyfic

133: Yuuma Op

134: Mia - Lupercalia fic - The Chosen Ones ch2

135: RW - Lupercalia - Arago & Hariel - Blood and Ashes - WIP

136: Ryou - Coal Dust - GIFT - WIP

137: Seiji - Kagome, Kagome

138: Seiji & Cale - Quadrature Pt2 - GIFT - WIP

139: Yulie WIP

140: Dinner

141: Bamboo

142: Travel

143: Sting

144: City

145: Noise

146: Titan

147: Oddyseus

148: Hera

149: Archangel

150: Centaur

151: Gorgon

152: Rainforest

153: Music

154: Groot

155: Plagues

156: Courage

157: Rage

158: Belief

159: Joy

160: Horoscope

161: Family

162: Obligation

163: Friend

164: Loneliness

165: Anakin - - timetravel fic tcw/ep7

166: Anakin / Rey - A Pocket Full of Sand (Reincarnation Fic)

167: Eurynome - Monsters in the Dark

168: Eurynome - Supernova?

169: Jeeri -

170: Shmi Skywalker - Son of Sands [Aniwolf]

171: Snowdrops

172: Star Wars AU Fics

173: StarWars - WIP

174: Trials and Shenanigans (Bits and Pieces)

175: We Shouldn't Be Friends

176: SG1 - Sam - - WIP

177: SG1 - Sam&Jack - - WIP

178: SAO - Yui - SAOFest - Marching Band

179: SAO - Yui - SAOFest - What Big Sisters Are For

180: SAO w Jaegers - Silica - WIP

181: Series: Bad Plan

182: Arrow&RW - Oliver - - WIP

183: Cye - Homecoming (Multiverse)

184: Papa!Cye

185: little shadows far reaching

186: Untitled document

187: Voltron - Keith -

188: Geralt - Witchwolves [Lupercalia]

189: Hell Hath No Fury

190: Chapter 3

191: Adventures of Maiwen Tanet

192: Art of Living

193: Asclepius

194: Bloodlines

195: Bondsiblings

196: Cats Cradle

197: Smoke Song

198: Darkness Watching

199: Desert Sands

200: Dragon's Cross

201: Dragonkin

202: Fractured

203: Hydra

204: Lyric Book

205: Poetry Book

206: Red Moon Kisses

207: Rupert's Drop

208: Feyborn

209: Superheros

210: Wonderland

211: A Mother's Love

212: Harry Potter and the Light of the Moon

213: Minor Troubles

214: Roses In Stained Glass

215: Even God Can't Save You Now

216: Mirrors Edge -

217: Our Secrets

218: Mica Sands

219: SG1/RW

220: They Call Them Ghosts

221: We All Bleed

222: In A House Of Brittle Bones

223: With A Crash of Thunder

224: Digital Shards [YGO/Digimon]

225: God Save The Queen

226: Fractured Light

227: AtlA/RW

228: NatM/YGO

229: SG1/StS

230: Van Helsing/Helsing

231: GW/Avatar

232: GW/JOH

233: Saving You

234: Firefly/Outlaw Star

235: GW/RW Reincarnation Is A Bitch

236: Escaflowne/RW

237: Mending Of Hearts Hope/Noel

238: The engines of iron Cindy/MTProm

239: Weaver's Undoing

240: A Nomad's surprise

241: A Soldier For Sale

242: Heir of Spring

243: The Ghosts of Haven

244: Master's Vengence gladio/prom d/s bdsm

245: The Unfortunate Ice Cream

246: The Perfect Hustle

247: The Adventure of Odie, the One Eyed Sock Puppet

248: Angels in the Attic

249: Mending the Sun

250: Numb to the Stars

251: Traitor of Heaven - ffx/ffvii

252: Isle of Iron

253: Irreverence

254: the empty tower

255: Bravery In Eternity

256: Changeling's Duel

257: Gilded Dispair

258: Wolfwan return of shark

259: Clonewolf O66

260: Time of the Wolf Lupercalia AU

261: Time of the Wolf Lupercalia snippets

262: Going Down (Cpt. America lupercalia)

263: wake up cpt+girls

264: Lokison

265: Uncle of Mine

266: The Things Wolfsisters Do

267: Howling

268: Shield Sisters

269: starhunter lupercalia

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, April 12, 2017

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Nothing Left to Lose (Buffy/Glory, PG-13) by aaronlisa

Something New (Xander, crossover with Iron Man, Gen) by madimpossibledreamer

Just the Right Amount of Cheese (Xander, crossover with Iron Man, Gen) by madimpossibledreamer

Bound (Teen) by MistressRenet

Blood (Tara, Vamp!Willow, Teen) by TaglarianMythicRites

I'm So Sorry Baby (Xander/Spike, Not Rated) by Maria (Queenofcarnage)

The Chosen One's (Buffy, crossover with Star Wars, Teen) by ImOnlyHuman21

Hoy (Dawn, Tara, Buffy; Spanish Language; Gen) by PhoenixGFawkes

Dreams of Goodbye (Doyle/Cordelia, Teen) by angelus2hot

Do not let my past you're doomed to repeat it (Angel, Fred, Willow, M) by HugeSpikefan

Sprusilla, Under the Milky Way - the Church (Spike, Not Rated) by feathers-and-cigarettes

The Secret's Out (Buffy, Ensemble, Not Rated) by bangelicchocoholic

[Faith/Kennedy, Kennedy's parents leave their big fancy mansion empty for a weekend] (Faith/Kennedy, Not Rated) by buffylovesfaith

[Chaptered Fiction]

How My Love's Song Gently Cries (CHAPTER 2) (Spike, Willow, Explicit) by DragonsPhoenix

If You'd Still (CHAPTER 45) (Oz, Willow, M) by mille-libri

The Spaces in Between, (Pt. 22) (Angel, Willow, Not Rated) by dingoes8myrp

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: No Such Animal (Faith Lehane) by scarred-loretta

Artwork: half finished btvs doodles by wolveswithhats

Video: In Defense of Joss Whedon by Emcee Frodis

[Reviews & Recaps]

Episode 5: BtVS 1x05: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date by returntothehellmouth

522: The Gift by tinyfences

Smashed by tialovestelevision

In the Buff S3Finale “Graduation Day” by the-mental-vacation

In the Buff S3E20 "The Prom" by the-mental-vacation

[Recs]

More Links Than A Bag Of Sausages - April 12 by petzipellepingo

More Links Than A Bag Of Sausages - April 13 by petzipellepingo

[Fandom Discussions]

Willows and wolves AU by beccaelizabeth

Dark Horse Preview: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SEASON 11 #6 by feliciacraft

[If you’re attending Whedoncon next month...] by squeefangirlproject

Can someone who hates Xander please explain to me why... by sunnydelena and luscious2

[Riley] by babygirl06301

[Faves and Least Faves of BtVS] by spike-quotes-quotes-of-spike

[Angel] by babygirl06301

BufferingTheVampireSlayer Podcast: 0.06: Welcome to the Mailbag Vol. 4

PopCultureRoleCall Podcast: S02E12 - Sex Eggucation - Bad Eggs

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Dark Horse: Preview pages for Angel S11 #4

Dark Horse: Preview pages for Buffy S11 #6

[ao3feed-skylighter]

lazy afternoons

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2nqhlYv

by Elsajeni

Luke, when he thought it was just him that had the day free, had planned to spend it chasing down a short in the wiring of his landspeeder. He’d almost stuck to it even after Biggs called, too-– almost, until Biggs rolled his eyes and said, “Come on, you have all summer to play with your speeder. This is a limited-time offer.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here, hurry up.”

For a friend's prompt from the kiss prompts list: "16, Teenage Dirtbag Luke / Teenage Dirtbag Luke's Teenage Dirtbag Friends" 16. ... lazily

Words: 455, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 6 of Star Wars Tinyfics, Part 2 of Kiss Prompts

Fandoms: Star Wars Original Trilogy

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Luke Skywalker, Biggs Darklighter

Relationships: Biggs Darklighter/Luke Skywalker

Additional Tags: Teen Romance, Stolen Moments, Kissing, Tumblr Prompt, Tosche Station

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2nqhlYv

[ao3feed-wedgeluke]

promises, promises

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2o7G3gy

by Elsajeni

“I’ve been waiting all week for this,” Wedge says, voice low and hoarse, when he comes up for air. “What did we get, ten minutes alone in medical? It’s not enough.”

“I know.” Luke puts a hand on Wedge’s waist and leans into him. “Is it ridiculous if I say I’ve missed you? Bunked in the same room and it feels like I haven’t seen you in days.”

For a friend's prompt from the kiss prompt list: "Number: 29, Ship: The empty bridge of a mothballed GR-75 rebel transport." 29. ... as a promise

Words: 716, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 4 of Star Wars Tinyfics, Part 3 of Kiss Prompts

Fandoms: Star Wars Original Trilogy

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker

Relationships: Wedge Antilles/Luke Skywalker

Additional Tags: Hoth (Star Wars), Stolen Moments, Kissing, Tumblr Prompt

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2o7G3gy

[elsajeni]

If you're doing mini fics, may I request Ton Phanan and the letter G? :) (and good luck prepping for that fic exchange!)

babe. you may always ask me for Ton Phanan doing anything.

G. A fistfight

“One night,” Face says through a yawn. “You have one night of liberty, and what do you do with it?”

“What pilots have been doing since time immemorial,” Ton says, a little indistinctly thanks to the cold pack held to his face. (Or thanks to the split lip, maybe. Or both.) “What, is it your first day in Starfighter Command?”

“And when you drag your sorry carcass back here,” Face goes on, ignoring him, “you drag it to me.”

“My friend,” Ton points out. “My wingmate. The one person in this circus who has no choice but to put up with me.”

“The one person in this circus who you know damn well was on duty past midnight. You couldn’t have gone to Kell?”

Ton grimaces. “Oh, that sounds fun. Wake Kell up at three in the morning to explain how I lost a bar fight. Nothing I’m more in the mood for than being dragged down to the gym for a late-night boxing tutorial.” He lifts the cold pack from his face for a moment. “Can you see that I’m rolling my eye?”

“You’re a mess,” Face informs him.

“Like that’s news.”

“Mm. Come here. Let me see.”

“I told you, I’m fine,” Ton grouses– but he goes where he’s beckoned, leaning forward to let Face catch his chin in one hand, the fingers of his other hand tracing very gently around Ton’s swollen eye, down his bruised cheekbone, over the stinging cut on his lip.

It hurts, and it’s humiliating, and he leans into it anyway, his organic eye drifting closed.

Face sighs, and then he’s leaning in, too, brushing his lips over the bruises, the lightest ghost of a kiss.

“You’re a mess,” he says again, very softly, into Ton’s ear.

“See,” Ton says, unable to stop himself, “this is why I don’t take these problems to Kell.”

Face snorts, a little huff of a laugh against Ton’s cheek. “Yeah? Not as tender?”

“Lousy kisser,” Ton says, and grins despite his split lip when Face cracks up and buries his face in Ton’s shoulder.

[alphabet prompts]

[elsajeni]

WAIT HANG ON I didn't realize it was Star Wars-centric, Mara K

K. On the edge of consciousness

Mara stumbles at the top of the boarding ramp, lands hard on one knee, and for a second thinks it’s all over. Zsor’s people can’t be that far behind her, they’ve got a clear shot while she’s down– one sharp crack from behind her and one more brief burst of pain and that’ll be it.

The shot doesn’t come. She slaps at the ramp control, noting distantly that she leaves a bloody handprint smeared across it, and staggers back to her feet and down the passage to the cockpit.

Veeone has the engines lit already, waiting for her order– or for her to not come back, and for the programmed failsafes to let them take full control. Well, no failsafe needed yet; Mara’s in no shape to fly on her own, but she’s perfectly capable of giving orders.

“Punch it,” she snaps, before she’s even quite in the cockpit, and Veeone obeys with gusto– smart little droid, they must have noticed Zsor’s hired muscle on her heels. Mara almost falls again when the ship springs forward like a tusk-cat, and has to claw her way forward against dizzying uncompensated acceleration for the last few steps to the pilot’s chair.

The dizziness eases once she’s strapped in, but doesn’t go away entirely. Maybe not just the acceleration, then.

Vee chirps at her. She glances at the translator readout and says, “It’s fine. What’s our course?”

Another chirp, this one sounding kind of skeptical. But the course data comes up, and Mara leans forward to study it. (Another wave of dizziness when she moves; definitely not just the acceleration. There’s a medical kit back in the cabin, enough supplies, hopefully, to get her to a civilized planet, but she’d better get to it soon...)

It’s a perfectly reasonable course, one she might have laid in herself. Just under five hours in hyperspace back to the rendezvous point, or a detour to the Kodinar system that adds an extra hour but takes them straight to a planetside medical facility. But looking at it now, there’s something about it that feels... wrong. Dangerous, maybe.

“No,” she says, raising a hand to the nav controls. “No, not Kodinar-- hold on, let me--” Keying in the new set of coordinates takes more effort than it should, and when she’s done she stares at them blankly for a second, trying and failing to figure out why they seem familiar. Why they feel so much safer than the Kodinar system.

Veeone makes an interrogative trill, and Mara jumps, wincing when the motion makes her head spin again. “That’s right,” she says, trying to cover for the moment of disorientation. “Go ahead, get us out of here. Ship’s all yours, I just-- gotta go and--”

She gets about three meters toward the cabin-- toward the medical kit-- before she falls, Vee’s agitated chirping fading into the distance behind her.

*

She wakes up somewhere cold and unpleasantly bright, and shifts a hand up to cover her eyes with a groan, and is barely even surprised to hear a familiar voice say, “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

“That’s nice,” she rasps-- ugh, how long has she been out? “I come to you for help, and what do I get? Sarcasm.”

“Well, I thought you’d like it better than sentiment,” Skywalker says, and when Mara opens one eye she can see that he’s leaning against the wall, a half-smile on his face.

“At least your sense of humor’s improving.”

That gets a broader smile, just for a second. Then he steps closer, and-- oh no, he meant it about the sentiment-- in a softer voice says, “I’m glad you came here. Your droid showed me the course you were supposed to take, and I don’t know if you would have made it. But... how did you know I’d be here?”

“Didn’t,” Mara admits, already drifting toward sleep again. “Just... had a good feeling, I guess. Felt safe.”

“Oh,” Luke says, and she thinks, if she had the energy to open her eyes, that she’d see him smiling again.

[alphabet prompts]

[elsajeni]

for @i-solmnly-swear: Darth Vader and N

N. The color green

He is always, now, in pursuit of green. The readouts in the suit’s heads-up display are a firehose of information, more than he can make sense of at once, but the colors make for an easy summary— heartrate in the green, breathing, body temperature, a dozen different biochemical levels, all in the green. It’s a tricky balance, but he is learning to manage it, between the settings and controls of the suit and his own control of himself.

(For a long time, thinking of any technique, any meditation, that he learned in the Temple only makes him think of Obi-Wan, and thinking of Obi-Wan makes him hotly, breathlessly angry, and the readouts spiral further into amber and red. But anger will make him powerful, if he can master it— so he does, masters it and controls it and focuses it to a white-hot plasma beam, and soon he can slow his heartrate with Jedi meditations without losing the focus of his anger or his power, and the readouts spend more time in the green.)

It’s been three months since he left Anakin behind, and he is beginning to master the tricky dance of keeping all the readouts green at once, when his master comes to him with news.

“What is this?” Vader asks, taking the holodisc his master holds out.

“Evidence,” Palpatine answers. “A clue, perhaps. You have done well in tracking those few Jedi traitors who escaped justice, but I notice that one in particular continues to elude you.”

Vader’s grip tightens on the holodisc; it’s an effort of will to keep himself from shattering it. “My former master.”

“Obi-Wan Kenobi, yes.” Palpatine nods toward the disc. “That footage may, perhaps, help you to locate him. Or perhaps it will remind you why you wanted to. Why you asked me to leave him to you.”

The footage, when he watches it, is mostly old: there are a few recent, blurry surveillance clips of bearded men who might be Obi-Wan, but most of it shows him in and around the Temple, or in what is now the Imperial Palace, meeting in secret with various senators known to be of questionable loyalties.

Meeting in secret with Padme.

Meeting again and again with Padme.

Meeting, what must be mere days before— before Vader learned of her betrayal— not at her office, but in her apartments. In the home they had shared. In— the cameras don’t follow them this far, but Vader knows it, can feel it, knew it even then— in their bedroom.

He brings one gauntleted fist down on the holodisc player, smashing it with the disc still inside. He destroys much of the rest of his quarters, too, bellowing with rage and betrayal, tearing and smashing and shattering. And he is pleased, when it’s done, to see that he is still the master of his anger, that it is still feeding his strength.

That every biometric readout has stayed in the green.

[alphabet prompts]

[elsajeni]

For the number prompt: 16) Teenage Dirtbag Luke / Teenage Dirtbag Luke's Teenage Dirtbag Friends

16. … lazily

It’s a rare treat to have nothing to do. Not to do nothing – ask Owen or Huff how often they manage that – but to have nothing to do, no schoolwork or farmwork that they’re dodging, nowhere they’re supposed to be.

Luke, when he thought it was just him that had the day free, had planned to spend it chasing down a short in the wiring of his landspeeder. He’d almost stuck to it even after Biggs called, too – almost, until Biggs rolled his eyes and said, “Come on, you have all summer to play with your speeder. This is a limited-time offer.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here, hurry up.”

So instead they’re here, lying back in the shade under the creaky deck Fixer built onto the back of the station last year, sharing a cold gizer-ale and listening to the faint music playing from inside.

Luke snags the gizer bottle out of Biggs’ hand as he’s setting it down, takes a long swig. “So,” he says, wiping his mouth and passing the bottle back. “A limited-time offer?”

Biggs grins at him. “Transmitted my application this morning,” he says proudly. “Before you know it I’ll be light-years away from here. Cadet Darklighter.” He takes another sip, hands the bottle back over to Luke.

Luke takes it, but doesn’t drink. “Next year,” he points out.

Biggs nods.

“If you get in on the first try.”

“Well, that’s a sure thing, I’m the best pilot on this rock.”

“Second-best.”

Biggs kicks him in the shin. Luke, unrepentant, holds the gizer out of his reach and goes on, “You know, I heard Dev Sandskimmer applied three seasons in a row and they still didn’t take him.”

“Dev Sandskimmer’s an idiot.” Biggs rolls toward Luke, snags the bottle from his hand, then rolls the rest of the way to land on top of him and says into his ear, “Look, I’m going to get in. You ought to make the most of the time you’ve got.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Luke allows, and turns his head to meet Biggs’ lips with his own, a soft, leisurely kiss. A summer-afternoon nothing-to-do all-the-time-in-the-world kind of kiss.

After a moment he pulls away and says, “Anyway, the next academy class doesn’t start for six months, it’s not a very limited-time offer.”

“Well, if you didn’t show up in half an hour, I was going to call Windy instead,” Biggs says, and then, laughing, “Ow– OW, come on– aw, my beer–”

“I’ll get you another one,” Luke promises. He gets a hand on Biggs’ waist and rolls the pair of them so he comes up on top, then leans in for another kiss as he adds, “In a minute.”

(kiss prompts)

[elsajeni]

for the meme: wes/hobbie, 22?

I’m sorry this took so long, I got kinda caught up in how much fun it is writing Star Wars action and... forgot to get around to the kissing? I promise they do get to it eventually.

22. … in a rush of adrenaline

“This just keeps getting worse,” Hobbie says, peering around the corner, and for once Wes has to agree.

There’s a full squad of stormtroopers still between them and the ship, not great but not the worst odds they’ve ever faced. That, they could handle; the real problem is going to be the two E-Web repeating blaster cannons set up to cover the hangar entrance, positioned so there’s no plausible approach that’s out of their line of fire.

“Could we go over the roofs?” Tycho suggests, keeping his voice low.

All four of them look up, gauging the distance from one roof to the next. The hangar is across a wide avenue from their current hiding spot in an alley, too wide to cross at rooftop level without equipment they don’t have. If they could get across on foot, though, further down on a less-closely-guarded block… Wes risks leaning out, glancing up and down the road, and ducks back in to report, “I think we could do it. From the north side – the hangar wall’s lower on that side, too.”

“Not a lot of cover up there,” Wedge says. “But if we’re very good, and very lucky…”

“Well, the good news is, we are very good,” Wes says with a grin, and then pats the blaster pistol riding at his hip and adds, “And we make our own luck.”

“Speak for yourself,” Hobbie mutters, but he does stand up and check his blaster’s charge, evidently resigned to his fate. “All right, what’s the plan?”

It almost works. It comes so, so close to working. They don’t try to leave the perimeter the stormtroopers have set up, just move down a few blocks, split up, and cross the road one at a time in the busiest intersection they can find; that part goes fine. They get up onto the rooftops okay, too, scrambling up with the help of a parked delivery speeder and a drainpipe, and the path they find from building to building is so easy, and so unguarded, that Wes is almost having fun.

Then Wedge, out at the front of the group, vaults up and onto the flat roof of the building that’s right up against the hangar wall, and something clicks under the heel of his boot and instantly there’s a commotion on the street below, a lot of shouting and a couple of wild shots snapped off in their direction. Wedge, most exposed, drops flat; the rest of them, still on the next building over, dive for what little cover they can find.

Wes ends up sharing the space behind a cooling unit with Tycho; he can just see Hobbie a few meters away, tucked behind a chimney. He risks a look out into the street, squeezes off two quick shots toward the stormtroopers, drops back into cover with a grimace. “They’re moving the E-Webs. If they get a clear shot on us…”

“Yeah.” Tycho cranes his neck, waves as if he’s trying to signal something to Wedge – no use even bothering with the comlinks, they’ve been jammed since the Imps caught on to their presence and cordoned off the spaceport. “Sithspit. Well, I’m open to suggestions.”

“Ship’s guns would even things out against that cannon.” Wes chews his lip. “You go forward, I’ll cover you from back here, and you and Wedge drop in and get to the ship.”

Tycho nods. “Which gives us the firepower to cover you and Hobbie catching up to us. Or come around to pick you up, if you’re really pinned down. Think you can keep them off us long enough?”

Wes gives him a sharp-toothed grin by way of answer, drops to his elbows, and starts crawling toward the forward edge of the roof.

He gets off three shots, and drops two of the troopers below, before any of them spot him. Then there’s a lot more shouting, the stormtroopers scattering for cover of their own, and Wes drops flat again and crawls rapidly backward, away from the streams of blasterfire converging on his position. Ahead of him, Tycho’s reached the next roof, taking advantage of the stormtroopers’ focus on Wes to make the jump and land flat on his belly next to Wedge, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Hobbie creeping out of cover to take up a firing position on the other edge of the roof; Tycho must have paused long enough to give him the ten-second summary of the plan.

Hobbie starts shooting, and the troopers are briefly thrown into confusion again, redirecting all of their fire toward him – they must think the first shooter has moved that way. It’ll only fool them once, but it’s a solid opportunity; Wes waits, watching Tycho and Wedge make their way forward, and opens fire again as soon as they reach the hangar wall, sowing renewed chaos as the stormtroopers realize they’re dealing with two shooters and hopefully keeping them busy enough not to notice Wedge and Tycho making the leap into the open-roofed hangar.

There’s no blasterfire from inside the hangar; that’s probably a good sign. He keeps shooting, focusing his fire on the two troopers wrestling the first of the E-Web cannons into position on the opposite side of the street; one of them falls folded up around a gut wound, the second drops with a blaster burn across his right thigh, and Wes grins to himself.

There are a lot of troopers, though, more than the one squad they saw initially – they must have drawn backup from the perimeter guards. Even with the two E-Web operators down, someone else will get it firing in a matter of seconds, and the other cannon won’t take much longer to get into position. Wes catches Hobbie’s eye and points – go now, you’ve got a few seconds clear – and then starts shooting again, this time just a general spray of suppressing fire, discouraging anyone from leaning out of cover to take a shot at Hobbie as he makes the unsheltered jump onto the next roof.

One brave or stupid stormtrooper leaps out toward the E-Web as Hobbie’s sprinting for it, takes one wild shot that misses him entirely, and as Wes bares his teeth and snaps a shot in his direction, stomps hard on some piece of equipment at his feet–

–and a portable shield bubble pops up around him, protecting the gunner and most of the workings of the blaster cannon itself.

“Great, I’m dead,” Wes says aloud, and glances back and forth, gauging the distance to the hangar wall. It’s maybe a hundred meters all told, but even at a flat-out sprint, that’s more than enough time for the E-Web gunner to find his range, and with the shield bubble up there’s no chance of taking him out before he can start firing…

There’s a flash from down by the hangar entrance, and suddenly the second E-Web, being carried across the street by two troopers, goes up in a ball of flame. For just a split second, Wes gapes – then it occurs to him that one of the others must have gotten to their freighter’s guns, and that maybe he’s not dead after all, and he grits his teeth, rises to a half-crouch and sprints for it as the E-Web and a half-dozen blaster carbines open up on him.

Halfway there, he feels superheated air on the back of his neck, a shot sizzling by too close for comfort, and he ducks lower and sprints harder, takes the jump down into the hangar at a dead run. He lands hard and rolls to his feet, barrels across the hangar and up the boarding ramp and straight into Hobbie, pins him against the bulkhead and kisses him, hard and urgent.

It’s a long moment before Hobbie puts his hands on Wes’s shoulders, gently pries him off. “All right?”

Wes takes a shaky breath. “Yeah. You?”

“Fine,” Hobbie starts to answer, and then Wedge bellows from the cockpit, “If you two are about done, I could use someone in the rear turret, we’re about to have some company!”

“On it, boss,” Wes calls back, though he steals another quick kiss before he goes.

(kiss prompts)

[elsajeni]

Because I know what fandom you've been writing recently, and I like to mess around with how to interpret these things... 1) Number: 7, Ship: A battle-damaged Y-Wing, and 2) Number: 29, Ship: The empty bridge of a mothballed GR-75 rebel transport.

You are nothing but trouble.

7. … to shut them up

She lands hard and pops her canopy, untangling herself from the harness in a hurry to get up and out. Her astromech took damage from the same hit that cracked her head against the canopy, and he’s responding, but sluggishly; she wants to check him out, and once he’s taken care of there’s the damage to her starboard pylon to deal with, which looks like mostly nothing serious but she’s definitely drawing less power than she should be, and then there’s all the components that ion blast knocked out–

She’s not even fully unstrapped before she hears a ladder clang up against the side of her fighter, and a half-second later Leia appears at the top of it, wide-eyed and out of breath. “Ev?”

“Hey,” she says, grinning.

“Are you hurt?” Leia clambers the rest of the way up the ladder and swings a leg over, perching on the edge of the cockpit and leaning in. “You sounded awful on the comm. Stay still, let me look–”

“I’m fine,” Evaan says – not that she exactly minds Leia’s hands cupped around her face, but she’d rather it wasn’t just to inspect her for injuries.

Leia doesn’t appear to hear her. “Your fighter’s a mess, I don’t know how you got it back in one piece. Can you get out? Look, are you sure you’re not hurt? I think you should–”

“Leia, I’m fine,” she says again, and when that doesn’t seem to break through either, lowers her voice and tries, “Ma’am–”

“–can worry about your fighter after the medics check you out, I know you don’t–”

Evaan rolls her eyes, pulls Leia down into her lap and kisses her.

Leia makes an indignant noise into her mouth, which makes her laugh, which makes Leia laugh; they break apart for a moment, Evaan keeping her arm around Leia’s waist to keep her close, butting her face up against Leia’s and seizing the chance for another quick kiss. “I said I’m fine,” she says, and she’s still laughing a little. “But I’d be better if you’d let me get a word in edgewise.”

“Sass from my pilots, every commander’s dream. You’re lucky you’re my favorite.” Leia swings back onto the ladder.“I still want you checked out.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Evaan says, clambering down after her, and then dares, “Maybe someone should walk with me, I did hit my head.”

“Yes, I can see you need someone to lean on,” Leia says solemnly, and tucks herself in against Evaan’s side, letting Evaan drape an arm across her shoulders. “Can’t leave one of my pilots in this condition, my reports will just have to wait.”

(kiss prompts)

[elsajeni]

Han/Lando - "I... no, no, I swear, it... it was sitting right here, you have to believe me!"

“You lost my ship,” Lando says blankly.

“I didn’t lose her, she’s just–” Han breaks off and shoots him a glare. “Hey. That’s my ship, buddy, I won her fair and square.”

“You lost my ship.”

“Well, look, she was sitting right here, I don’t know what–” Han glances down the length of the hangar and curses under his breath – there’s a heavy speeder with the livery of spaceport security rounding the corner. “Listen, we’re about to have bigger problems if we don’t get moving.”

“Bigger problems than–”

“Just come on,” Han snaps, and takes off down the row of ships, away from the approaching speeder.

Three landing bays down the line, Lando catches up to him. “You know,” he says, “there’s no way out on foot at that end of the hangar. You do know that, right? It’s a thousand meters straight down.”

“I’ll think of something,” Han says, and is saved from having to answer any follow-up questions by his comlink beeping. “See? That’s our backup calling. Chewie, talk to me.”

“You look like a man who needs a friend,” a familiar cool voice says on the other end.

Wonderful. “I got a lot of friends already, Karrde. If you don’t mind, I wanna keep this channel open for them.”

“Let me talk to him,” Lando says urgently into his other ear; Han shushes him in time to catch Karrde saying “–and your droids, of course.”

“What?” he says, and then, “Never mind – Karrde, hold on, there’s someone here who actually wants to talk to you.” He flips the comlink to Lando, glances back at the security speeder, and curses again. “Hey, while you’re chatting, get out of sight.”

“–great to hear your voice, Talon,” Lando is saying, warmly and with every evidence of sincerity, as he steps casually into the shadow of a light freighter’s landing skid. Han moves to follow him, but there’s not really enough shadow to conceal both of them, and anyway Lando waves him off; he ducks behind a stack of crates waiting to be loaded instead, and splits his time between keeping an eye on the security crew and stewing over not being able to eavesdrop.

He can see Lando from where he’s standing, just not hear him – a broad smile on his face as he talks, leaning loosely against the landing skid. If he watches closely, he can almost make out what he’s saying. He leans forward, narrowing his eyes and trying to focus, and manages to catch still think about–

There’s the bang of a speeder door closing, and he jumps, looks up in time to see the spaceport security vehicle take off at top speed back the way it came. While he’s frowning after them, puzzled, Lando strides up beside him and hands him the comlink back. “Little assist from Karrde’s people,” he says, that warm grin flickering across his face again. “He had someone call in an emergency on the other side of town. The Falcon’s in impound, we may have a little trouble springing her, but he’s already got Chewie and the droids on board his ship and he’s willing to put us up for a couple days, too, while we come up with a plan. Free of charge.”

“Free of-- What the hell did you say to him?”

“Oh, just reminded him of some…” Lando hesitates a second, then flashes a wicked grin. “Some old times.”

Han looks scandalized. “You and Talon Karrde–”

“What can I say,” Lando says, and loops his arm through Han’s elbow, tugging him toward the open end of the hanger, “I have a weakness for the disreputable smuggler type.”

[elsajeni]

I sent you a request for a tinyfic about nacal tarstar the salt licker and forgot to include a setting/situation/etc, so could you do something like how he and his archaeology interns got recruited to the resistance?

“Yes, it’s remarkable!” he enthuses – he knows he ought to be more circumspect, these government inspections have seemed less and less friendly recently, but the find is still so fresh it’s hard to contain himself. “A burial chamber of this scale, and totally undisturbed – we never expected anything like it!”

The inspector leans further into the doorway, his gaze scanning across the chamber’s contents – the dust is thick, but here and there there’s a glint of reflected light that suggests treasures. “And this is the primary reason you’ve applied for the additional permits?”

Nacal nods. “Our original permits allow for a small-scale excavation – that’s what we thought we had here, a few square meters to search for potsherds and that sort of thing. Given the size of this chamber, and the potential historical value of the artifacts inside, we’re looking at a very different project.”

“Of course.” The inspector makes a note on his datapad, then looks back up at Nacal. “I’d be happy to expedite your application, Dr. Tarstar – I’ll issue a temporary permit so you can go ahead and start work, and the final permit should be issued within the week.”

“Well, thank you,” Nacal says, a little surprised – maybe whatever’s been going on in the Commission on Cultural Resources has been sorted out?

“One additional condition you’ll have to deal with – anything taken out of this site becomes property of the sector government. You’re welcome to stay on-planet and study any artifacts for as long as you maintain valid permits, of course, but once your research is finished, they’ll have to be turned over. I’m sure you’ll understand – as you said, given the potential value of these artifacts.“ The inspector gives him a thin smile and holds out the datapad. “Sign, please.”

Nacal hesitates; he isn’t exactly filled with confidence in the sector government. “When you say value–”

The inspector laughs. “You said it yourself, professor – they may have immense historical value. I’d guess that most of them will find a home in one of our planetary museums.”

“Of course,” Nacal says, a little embarrassed even to have asked, and signs on the datapad.

Four weeks later, one of his graduate students calls him over to her Holonet terminal. “Look at this,” she says, pointing. “I was looking for similar finds, and I got this news article about this gambler who just bought–”

“That’s one of the figurines from the first grave!” Nacal jabs a finger at the screen. “That’s supposed to be – that belongs in a museum! Those thieves!”

Eight weeks after that, Nacal, six graduate students, and three unusually daring undergrads are holed up in an abandoned mining complex on one of the system’s moons, their stolen ship’s hold full of technically-also-stolen artifacts, when they manage to pick up the faint signal of a Resistance broadcast…

[elsajeni]

jyn erso & cassian & undercover as a couple, pretty please :)

“How can you be so bad at this?” Cassian hisses, as soon as they’re out of earshot of the customs agent.

“Why would you think I’d be good at it?” Jyn hisses back, and snatches her bag back out of his hands.

“Weren’t you a guerilla fighter?”

She shoots him an incredulous look. “What do you think ‘guerilla’ means? Because I have to tell you, it was mostly sneaking around and blowing things up. There wasn’t very much pretending to be on your honeymoon involved.”

“That’s the sneaking part,” Cassian says despairingly.

“Look, he let us past, didn’t he?” Jyn rolls her eyes. “Anyway, he doesn’t care how we know each other or why we’re here. Answer ‘business or pleasure,’ IDs clear, we’re not his problem.”

“But we’re someone’s problem, because now we’re suspicious, because normal people want to talk about their vacations.”

“Oh, what do you know about normal people,” Jyn snaps, which is both kind of a low blow and kind of a fair point. They come to an intersection, and she slows. “Which way?”

“East, darling.” He glances down at her bag; the false bottom must mean it’s heavier than it looks. “Are you sure I can’t carry that for you?”

“You have enough to carry,” Jyn says, and then adds, after a pause of exactly the wrong length, “Sweetheart.”

“Absolutely incredible,” Cassian says under his breath, and turns east, toward the train station.

[elsajeni]

13 Halloween Ficlets - #2

The first trace of the ships is a startled yelp from the sensor officer -- it’s only a split second and then she regains her composure, but that’s enough time for Han to be on his feet and at her station, leaning over her shoulder to stare at the display. “What?” he demands.

“Uh,” she says, still sounding a little frantic, and then rallies, “Unidentified small craft, sir. I’ve got it on visual, but...”

She flips a switch to bring it up on screen, and Han jumps. It’s a small ship, all right, not much more than starfighter-sized, and it’s not making any hostile moves, but it’s close, tucked right in against Mon Remonda’s flank, and moving quick. “How’d he get inside our sensor envelope?”

“Working on that, sir. Passive sensors aren’t reading him for some reason.” Her hands fly over the controls again, double-checking. “Nothing. Let me try a scan--”

“Wait.” Han grabs her wrist before she can punch in the command -- it’s not exactly proper military discipline, but the ship’s rotated to where he can get a look at its insignia, and there’s something about it he doesn’t like. “Is that -- can you get me a clearer image here? Without running a scan. Nothing he’d be able to pick up.”

“Yes, sir.” The officer taps a few keys, and the image zooms in a little, sharpens up. “Looks like a... some kind of animal?”

“Yeah,” Han says, straightening up slowly, dread settling in his gut. “A marsh fox. Native to Corellia. Rich ass-- uh, they’re hunted for sport. Power down all sensors.”

It’s not loud -- his bridge crew is always well-disciplined; he suspects they’re trying to make up for him -- but there’s a little hubbub at that order. “Uh,” the sensor officer says again. “Sir?”

“That ship isn’t alone. They don’t want to be seen, and we don’t want to see them. Power down.”

She doesn’t ask any more questions, just starts shutting down the various sensor panels -- like he said, well-disciplined. Behind him, though, another voice pipes up from the comm station, “Don’t want to see who, sir?”

“The hunters.” Blank faces. “The-- am I the only damn Corellian on this ship? No one else knows about the Marsh Fox?”

Still blank faces. It dawns on Han that he’s giving orders based on a ghost story, and that he really, really doesn’t want to explain it to an audience of two dozen poker-faced military personnel. “Look,” he says, “just... just trust me. And when you’re off duty, find Antilles, make him explain.”

He stalks back to the captain’s post, settles in and watches the bridge viewports, waiting for the first hunter ship to streak into view.

Today’s set of prompts was: a tattoo parlor; the Wild Hunt; a prediction that comes true; “You’re the only light I have ever known.” I got lucky on that first one, where I rolled prompts that mostly made sense together, but it still counts if I only use one of ‘em!

Today’s wordcount: 455; total wordcount: 985

[elsajeni]

13 Halloween Ficlets - #8

“And the whole way home, she thought she could hear a strange sound -- something scraping, banging, against the side of the landspeeder.”

It’s a pretty cheesy story, Lara thinks, but if anyone can actually make it sound scary, it’s Face. Around the camp, most of the Wraiths seem to be listening intently.

Not that there’s much else to do out here. They’re on comm silence, still a day and a half out from the base, and all of them are getting pretty bored. Which is how the Inaugural Wraith Squadron Ghost Story Contest got started, an hour or two ago.

Face wraps up -- something about a sharp, bloody hook -- to a chorus of oohs. Lara yawns, glances at her wrist chrono, and groans. “Hey, I’m on watch in... five and a half hours,” she announces. “I’m going to turn in.”

“Me too,” Myn says, a little too quickly. Great. Extremely subtle. She waits for him to catch up, though, and links her arm through his once they’re out of the circle of firelight.

They’re almost to Lara’s bedroll when there’s a rustle from the bushes, and Myn freezes. “Hear that?” he says in an undertone.

“Jumpy?” Lara teases him, takes another step forward -- and something explodes out of the undergrowth at her, screaming. She yelps and throws a blind punch at it, feels it connect; beside her, Myn drops her arm and bolts, back toward the campfire and the rest of the squadron.

The thing lets out a squawk and drops to the ground. Lara yells again, glancing around, then, satisfied that there aren’t any more of them coming, bends down to examine her attacker. When half the squadron comes crashing up behind her, she’s doubled over laughing.

“It’s a fat little bird,” she manages, pointing at the stunned creature on the ground. “Some kind of grouse -- poor thing, we must have scared the hell out of it--”

“Sounded like the feeling was mutual,” Face says, and claps her on the back. “You two okay?”

She glances up at Myn; he’s a shade paler than usual, but he gives her a shaky grin. “Fine,” she says, and Face nods, starts back toward the fire, the rest of the Wraiths trailing behind him.

When they’re alone, she looks at Myn again, raises her eyebrows. “You are jumpy.”

“I don’t like surprises,” he admits, stepping closer and putting an arm around her shoulders. “And I hate ghost stories.”

“I can tell.” She takes a step backward, toward her bedroll, tugging him along with her. “Well, you just stick close to me, then. I’ll keep the ghosties and goblins away.”

Today’s prompts were: “Hollywood plays down our... talents”; a suspiciously accurate horoscope; we started telling scary stories for fun but I’m actually terrified now; a converted warehouse

Today’s wordcount: 450; total wordcount: 3877