#still workshopping their ship name what else is new

[lelianaslefthand]

are we about to kiss rn?

[thewildwaffle]

The Gardener - Part 8

Thanks to A_R_K on archiveofourown for this prompt about the uncanny valley.

Part 1&2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

In retrospect, Nipti supposed the situation at hand was inevitable. He’d been taking a break while working on the support beams for some vigbri climbing vines when he noticed the strange ship sitting near the edge of his gardens, right up against the wild tree line. That was odd. When had that landed? It’s not like he was right next to the edge of his lands, but he was certainly close enough that the fact that he hadn’t heard the ship come in was strange. What’s more, when visitors to his gardens came by, they usually landed their ships next to his large workshop. Deciding that the support beams he’d spent the last quarter of the cycle on were going to keep standing and doing their job, Nipti decided he’d go and intercept his latest visitors before they could trample anything. If they’d just landed near the dang workshop like everyone is supposed to, they’d come across the posted rules and instructions that Marley had set up. Then, Nipti could otherwise ignore them unless they specifically needed something from him. Oh well. As much as he enjoyed not interacting with people other than Marley, he enjoyed making sure his gardens were treated with the respect they deserved from guests. It took a while to find the new guests. They’d already wandered a bit from their ship. Nipti looked around their landing area. Nothing seemed to be disturbed. Thank the stars, their ship must have some great landing gear that didn’t create branch-breaking and petal-tearing gusts during descent. Perhaps that was also why Nipti didn’t notice the ship’s approach in the first place. The guests themselves had wandered off and were slowly meandering through the gardens, staying on the walking paths, Nipti appreciatively noticed. There were three of them. Two of them stared silently at him as he approached. The third was crouched over, looking intently at a plant that immediately sent Nipti’s alarm bells off.

“Don’t touch that!” He called out. The crouching guest turned to stare at him silently like its companions. Nipti was going to say that the plant the visitor was about to touch was quite delicate, and depending on their species, could be dangerous, but the words froze in his mouth before he could. Ah. He’d thought something like this would happen eventually. Before him stood three humans. They looked different than Marley. Taller. Paler. Their eyes were set a little deeper in their faces. There was something else that seemed different, but Nipti couldn’t quite pin down what it was. He shook his head. Of course they looked different than Marley! He may not be an expert on humans, but even he knew humans came in all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, and dispositions. Still, he was worried of what Marley’s reaction might be to other humans arriving at the gardens. Would Marley be standoffish and territorial? Or maybe excited? They’d both been working on Marley’s piece of junk ship whenever they had the time or parts, but with other humans showing up, would Marley decide to go with them? It was something Nipti knew had been a possibility, but one he kept pushing from his mind whenever it came up. Not anymore, he supposed. Whatever Marley decided to do would be their own decision, and Nipti would do his best to be supportive of whatever his friend decided. “Sorry, that plant there might not be dangerous to humans, but as the gardener here, I ask that you not disturb anything while visiting,” he finally broke the silence. The three smiled at him simultaneously. Nipti tried not to shiver. Marley was always mindful of not baring teeth while smiling to not appear predatory or threatening. These three were not so inclined. Nipti wondered if their diet was different than Marley’s, as their teeth appeared to be sharper. “My name’s Garbon Nipti. I noticed you’d just arrived and thought I’d come and see if there’s anything I can do for you. There are maps available near my workshop there if you’re looking to study a specific garden or specimen.” Nipti gestured to the area in question. “We are just perusing,” one of the humans that had been staring unblinkingly at him as he approached said. Their voice was level and somewhat monotonous. Very different than Marley’s bouncing cadences. Nipti waited for a moment for them to introduce themselves as he had, but they remained silent and still. He stood there as long as he could until the uncomfortableness of it all became too much. “Okay, well, if you need anything, I’ll be working nearby.” He would have also mentioned that they could also get help from Marley, but a part of him hoped they didn’t cross paths. His stomach tied itself into knots. He shouldn’t hope that. He knew he shouldn’t, but he was so afraid that if they did, then Marley would leave with them. Nipti frowned and shook his head as he started walking back to the vigbri climbing vines. No. He shouldn’t be so selfish. He’d always known other humans would visit his gardens eventually. Their kind wandered all over the place! “If Marley does want to go,” he said to himself under his breath, “then I need to be supportive. No matter how much… how much I’d miss...”

He was so lost in thought that he nearly ran over Marley. “Woah, hey Nipti!” Marley laughed and acted as if they’d lost balance from the run-in. Nipti was significantly shorter than the human, so he knew it was just an act. Marley stood back up straight and looked Nipti up and down. “You okay? You look like you’re lost.” Nipti nearly scoffed. “Lost? I walk this path several times a day. How could I be lost?” “Lost in thought,” Marley corrected. “Like you’re physically here, trying to run me over and whatnot, but your mind is a million segments away.” “Oh,” was all Nipti could respond. He supposed he had been rather preoccupied thinking about the new guests to the garden. Should he tell Marley? He was starting to second-guess himself now. If he didn’t bring them up and Marley didn’t cross paths with them, maybe his friend might never even know they were here, let alone leave with them? The gardens were big, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities. Would that make him a bad friend? Was it his responsibility to tell Marley, just in case? While Nipti struggled with his options, Marley waited patiently with a cheerful smile. That did it. Nipti decided he needed to stick to his original resolve. “Marley, there’s some new guests that just landed by the wild tree line.” Marley’s head tilted a bit. “Why would they land there when I just repainted the landing pad last decacycle? Are they causing trouble? Need me to muscle ‘em outa here?” “Uh, no. No,” Nipti stammered slightly and shook his head. “I… actually, I think you should meet them. They… they’re human. They’re just back there, from where I was coming from.” Marley’s face lit up. “Oh for real? Yeah, I’d love to! I wonder where they’re originally from. It feels like giga-cycles since I’ve seen other humans. Come on, let’s go meet them!” With the “let’s,” Nipti grudgingly followed behind his chipper friend, trying to not let his glumness show and damper the mood. Life, he supposed, would just go back to normal before Marley came. The old workload, the old quiet, the old solitude. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be the same normal. He had gotten much better and bolder at dealing with rude or destructive visitors, having seen and followed Marley’s example. The habit of “jerry-rigging” different contraptions and systems had also rubbed off in some cases when proper solutions weren’t always available. And if Nipti were honest, the solitude would perhaps feel a bit more like… loneliness.

They were getting close to where Nipti had left the new garden guests. They must have wandered a bit down into the Quilb orchard. Nipti reflexively tensed. Those orchards had some very rare specimens, some of which native folklore claimed had mystical properties. Nipti didn’t put much stock into the latter, but he still prized those trees and the flower buds that were about half a decacycle from blooming. “I hope they’re still staying on the paths,” Nipti muttered, mostly to himself. Marley came to a stop at the overlook of the orchard. Nipti stopped as well, scanning the area. He quickly spotted the three figures through the foliage and pointed them out. “There they are.” Marley didn’t move. “Uh,” Nipti was sure his friend had seen them. They were hard to miss. Marley was staring right at them. After a moment, Nipti put a hand on Marley’s arm. “Is something wrong?” Maybe this whole pause and staring thing was some strange human custom. If it was, it looked like it was working. The figures were now starting to move closer and he could see the pale faces with their deep-set eyes staring back up at them.

Before Nipti could even register what was happening, Marley had scooped him up, turned, and ran back the way they had come. Nipti wasn’t that much smaller than a fully grown human, but Marley threw him up over the shoulder and sprinted away like he weighed nothing. Nipti’s arms scrambled on Marley’s back, trying to get leverage to steady himself enough to hold himself up to see just WHAT THE FREWAN WAS GOING ON?! “Marley!” Nipti cried out and nearly got smacked in the head by an overgrown bush as the human in question banked hard on a sharp turn. If Marley heard him in the mad scramble, there was no response given besides heavy breathing and a jostle as Nipti’s weight was readjusted mid-stride. Nipti looked back behind them. The other humans weren’t following, or at least, it didn’t look like they were. He couldn’t see them, but that didn’t mean they weren’t giving chase. But why would they? Why would there be a need to chase? Why was Marley running? Marley only slowed down once they reached a utility shed Only then did it occur to Nipti - humans have a stereotype of being foolhardily brave. Whatever his friend had seen from those other humans had really spooked Marley. The type of adrenaline that comes from being mortally afraid started seeping into the corners of Nipti’s brain. He said nothing more as they ran into the shed and shut the doors. Neither said a word as they bunkered down into the best hiding spots they could manage. Marley took a spot somewhat near the door, under a small window, and would periodically and discreetly peek out to check if they’d been followed. Thankfully, there was yet to be any indication that that was the case.

It felt like an eternity before Nipti finally found his voice again. “Why were we running from those other humans?” Marley kept staring out the window, scanning the area silently for a moment longer. “Those weren’t humans.” “What?” Nipti frowned. Not human? He hadn’t really met other humans besides Marley, but it’s not like they’re super easy to mix up with other species. “Well then, what are they?” Marley’s gaze turned from the window to look back at him, confused and thinking. “I… I don’t know.” “They looked human.” “Yeah,” Marley whispered and said nothing more. They sat watching and listening. The silence was starting to get to Nipti. He felt like he was being hunted, and he needed to do something besides just wait to be found. It was only now that Nipti noticed how the small hairs on Marley’s arms and neck were standing straight up. “Hey, come on, please. What’s going on? Do we need to call for help?” Marley took a shaky breath and nodded. Nipti reached for his pack and had a small moment of terror as he reached in and couldn’t immediately find his comm. After shuffling around some twist ties and a pair of shears, he found it in a side pocket. He quickly messaged the closest neighbor he knew. Thankfully, they messaged back right away that they’d come over. She was a large biet, so hopefully if those humans-that-weren’t-humans were still around, they’d be intimidated away by her muscular bulk and large teeth.

It took a while for the neighbor to arrive, making for a long and tense wait. Even though she was the closest in proximity, Nipti’s gardens were so sprawling, that she was still quite a distance away. Nipti nearly jumped when his comm sounded an alert of an incoming call. “Hello?” Nipti noticed a bit of a tremble in his voice. “Hey Nipti, it’s Glenna,” the biet’s voice sounded a bit tinny on the old comm’s speaker setting. “I’m here. I don’t see anything out of order, at least I don’t think I do. There’s a small ship over here by your main warehouse, but I’m pretty sure it belongs to the family of duibs that I saw meandering around a few mentiks ago. Your gardens are looking great! You’ve expanded a lot since I was here last. Where are you at now?” Nipti took a deep breath. “We’re in a small shed out near the edge of the gardens by the wild tree line. Do you see any ship over there?” “No, there’s nothing out there,” came the response. “Are you okay? You seem a bit shaken up.” “I… I am feeling a bit shaky, yes. Thank you again for coming over. I’ll be over to you soon.” Nipti looked up from the comm device to Marley. Marley looked out the window again then back to Nipti. “They’re gone?” “Apparently. We… we should get out here.” “Yeah.” Nipti had never seen his friend so subdued and skittish. They both walked as if their heads were on swivels as they went together back to the main warehouse.

Despite not wanting to talk too loudly so as to draw attention from any unwelcome, unseen entities, Nipti had to know something. “How did you know they weren’t human? Are you sure they weren’t?” Marley didn’t respond immediately. “I… I’m not sure how I knew, but I just knew. There was something about them that just set me off. It was like they were straight out of the deepest depths of the uncanny valley. Like, they looked almost human, but there was something about them that felt wrong and dangerous.” Marley’s conviction felt strong to Nipti. So they were sure the mystery visitors weren’t human, but he wasn’t sure what the “uncanny valley” was or what that meant. Finally, they started to hear the bright and cheery tones of normal garden visitors. Even though Nipti had always preferred his solitude, he felt a rush of relief at seeing non-”not-human” guests wandering through flower beds and trellises. The relief was even stronger when he finally caught sight of Glenna. Welcoming pleasantries and introductions were polite, but short. Glenna was curious to know more about what was going on. Nipti insisted they go inside for a drink first. Glintsi flower tea for him and Glenna and peppermint for Marley. Recalling the day’s events took only a few minutes. Both Nipti and Glenna shared a particular interest in what Marley had meant by describing the visitors as being “from the uncanny valley.” It wasn’t some geologic location, but a psychological theory that the more something or someone looks human, the cuter humans think they are, up to a point. There was a space somewhere between “almost” and “completely” human that “cuteness” dropped significantly and instead freaked humans out. Usually, it was with robotics and inanimate objects. When it happened with living things, it made the uncanniness so much worse. “Well,” Glenna finished her cup and sat back, “from what I know about humans, you should trust their instincts when they say something is off.” She turned to Marley and smiled. “I know Nipti likes his space and privacy, and I honor that, but I worry about him sometimes. My family and work keep me too busy to really do otherwise anyway. So, I’m glad you’re here. You seem like good company, and with all the visitors coming in and out of the gardens, well, I’m glad he’s not alone.” Marley smiled and agreed.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with more tea and exchanging stories. The sun was nearing the horizon by the time any of them noticed. “Oh, I hadn’t realized it had gotten so late,” Glenna stood up. “I need to get back. I promised my son I’d help him bake some hirtan tarts tonight. If you’d like, I could bring some by tomorrow?” Marley nodded enthusiastically, “Oh yes, thank you. And if you’d like, I could make some dishes I’ve been working on for my little cafe. You can tell me what you think.” “That sounds lovely,” Glenna smiled and started walking toward the door. “It was nice to meet you, Marley. And Nipti, if ever you need help, please don’t be a stranger, you don’t have to do everything all alone, you know.” “That’s what I’m learning,” Nipti returned the smile and bid farewell to Glenna with some additional thanks for coming over.

Nipti waited a few moments once the door was shut before turning back to Marley. “Okay, you’re going to tell me a bit more about the uncanny valley. What the frewan happened in humanity’s past to create a need to know what’s almost-human-but-not-quite?!” Marley blinked and shrugged. “I don’t know.” Nipti waited for more info. Marley looked like they were deep in thought, and needed a bit of time to gather all the thoughts running around their head. “It might have come from hard-wiring in our brains to avoid dead bodies or extreme illnesses? Like, they look human, are human, but something’s obviously wrong and they could be contagious or dangerous. I mean, it’s just a theory, but it does make logical sense to me.” Nipti nodded. It did make sense. “But,” he drawled after a moment of thought, “the visitors today didn’t look like dead bodies. I really thought they were humans. I mean, they looked different than you, but they really looked like they were human?” The unsettled look Marley had earlier that day returned for just a tik. With a shake of the head, Marley stood back up and started gathering up the used tea cups to wash them in the sink. “Listen, I’m not a psychologist, I don’t know why they freaked me out so bad. I don’t know what they were, but I hope I never see them again.” Nipti fully agreed.

[iaminsideyourwalls]

Sorry for the ask so soon after my first one, but really, I would love to hear about any head canons you'd like to share! :O Do you have a favorite merc?

Don’t apologize for asks, I love asks! I even put it in my bio.

You couldn’t ask a parent to pick a favorite child could you??? ;_; (although I do think about sniper every day.) I’ll give you a headcanon for all of them then.

Scout

he retained some French from when he was little. He’s not good at it in general but is a lot better at understanding it than speaking it. He can eavesdrop on Spy but can’t conjugate être. I also like versions of Scout that speak Spanish when people hc his mom as Latina.

Sniper

one of my all time favorite headcanons is Māori Sniper. Also, if you’ve seen this blog you’ll know i believe he’s an autistic king.

Engineer

I know a lot of people tend to portray him as a tender, kind, empathetic guy but I genuinely don’t think he’s ever felt empathy or genuine compassion in his life. Sure he knows how to act sweet and polite and soft and nonthreatening all the time but no matter how long you’ve known him, if you get in his way he’s already designing a new machine in his head to blow you away into the last century.

Demoman

Objectum Demoman is one of my all-time favorites. For real. I will genuinely ship him with eyelander, idgaf.

Soldier

I really love trans soldier headcanons. His transmasc swag is off the charts. It’s hard to come up with hcs for Soldier because he’s so fucking wild you could put him in any situation and it could be true. Lived in a diving bell for two years? Sure. Favorite food is un-husked kernels of wheat? Absolutely. Replaced his dick with his big toe so he could use it to walk? I could go on.

Heavy

during and after he obtained his phd in Russian literature he published a number of fiction books under a pen name. They’re all tasteful romances with subplots of political intrigue. They gained high critical praise and are still moderately popular in bookstores in Russia and some neighboring countries. all the royalties from sales go to his family. He’s also an autistic king.

Pyro

I don’t have many headcanons for pyro because I like keeping the whole mystery. I don’t wonder what’s under the mask or come up with possible names because I think the whole of the character is that mystery. But I will say that as great as unicorns and rainbows and cupcakes are, there’s really nothing Pyro loves more than hanging out with Engie in his workshop and pretending to help.

Medic

as far as my own headcanons, I have a lot. Here’s some. He does not have a driver’s license—he taught himself to drive by stealing a car. He’s insecure about his voice but he talks too much to really care. He’s always wanted a motorcycle. He puts drugs in his morning coffee. He doesn’t like classical music, he listens to the top 40s on the radio and sings along. The peppier the better.

One of my favorite Medic headcanons I ever heard was that he only has medical training as a veterinarian and I think that’s hilarious because it could absolutely be real.

Spy

He’s smart but he’s not as highly educated as he wants people to think. He never went to a university and maybe never even finished school. Just like Scout, he’s so damn good at what he does that he can afford to be more concerned with appearance and showing off than anything else. They’re both committed to making people see what they want them to see and nothing deeper.

[adashoflavendermelancholy]

Nicknames

Thatch has a little habit. One that no one really minded. Unless they were new to the ship. No matter who you are, there was no getting out of being part of it. Thatch would give you a nickname, and the more you struggled with it, the more nicknames you got. When he first joined the crew, he called Whitebeard; Pops, Daddio, Dadmister, Cap, The tain, The old man, The adopter. All that was just for their captain and father. If anyone thought they were getting out of a nickname of equal annoyance, they were wrong.

On the surface, Marco hated these nicknames. Always getting the ones that were bird themed, or worse, doctor themed. Mother hen was Thatch’s favorite to use for him. But that didn’t make it any easier to not glare a little at him. If Marco was being honest with himself, he loved the nicknames. It made them feel more like a real family. As silly as it sound’s, because they are a family. Just the small thing about having a nickname was something Marco never thought would happen.

Haruta was always called something to do with their height and pension for the arts. Jozu had something frilly and sweet to offset her large look. It was just something they got after being around Thatch long enough. Some of the names stuck more than others. Getting more of the crew to use them rather than their real names. It was all just fun.

By the time the first Halloween with Thatch on the ship, almost everyone had a nickname. It was something he enjoyed doing. Seeing his friends and family light up with happiness or annoyance at one of his nicknames. If they were really bad, he would crack up with laughter from the look on their face.

There were only a few people left on the ship without one. Those that kept away from Thatch so they wouldn’t get a nickname. But he was slowly working his way through to them. Well, there was also one patiently waiting for their nickname. One that hasn’t shied away from Thatch, more often than not picking small fights with him. Just so they could talk for a little while.

Izou swears they weren’t pouting while watching the party. Thatch is busy running around with plates of food and drinks. Not that he minded doing so for his family. “If you want one that bad, you should just talk to him.” Marco said, leaning next to Izou.

“No one else had to ask,” Izou muttered back. They had been talking to Thatch every day for two months now. Yet, they still had not gotten a nickname. Not one single nickname. Was their name hard to make one? Jozu’s name was just as short, so it couldn’t be that.

Marco shrugged, going back to watching the two again. Knowing what was going on. Thatch hadn’t been all that subtle about all this. Izou only missing it because they were too busy with their own feelings. Usually, Izou was on top of things like people having crushes on them. Almost all the crew did for a moment. Izou’s beautiful, confident, and oh so icy. Not that they gave anyone the wrong idea. “I still think you should ask him.”

Izou glared at the other. It wasn’t fair. “Is that your professional opinion, or you being a Mother hen?” Izou asked.

“Is he worrying again?” Thatch asked, putting a couple of plates down in front of them. Izou looked over and saw the smile on his face. It’s so rude that he looked that happy while they were struggling. “How many times have we told you to relax? At this rate, you’ll be the first to die.”

“Yeah, worrying.” Marco rolled his eyes. This was getting out of hand now. Izou was going to start throwing things soon if it wasn’t solved. “Thatch, how many more until you have nicknames for everyone?”

Thatch looked over the crowd, counting heads and nicknames. He gave a small laugh at the really good ones before moving to the next. “About six or so… Why?” He turned back to Marco, “Already want a new one?”

Marco shook his head. No way was he going back to letting Thatch workshop his nickname again. It took weeks before it settled down. Finding the one that Thatch liked more than the others. But by then, everyone else had picked their favorite. Not heading the warning of being thrown into the sea for some of them. Thatch being one of those people who weren’t afraid of being thrown over for a nickname. “What’s Izous?” Marco asked.

A hiss of pain left Marco as Izou slammed their elbow into his side. It shouldn’t have hurt, but Izou used Haki to make a point. Making Marco glare at them. Thatch watched this with a slight smile on his face. “Izou’s nickname? It’s uh-“

“THATCH! Hurry back!” One of the fourth division called. Saving Thatch from making up a nickname on the spot. He was definitely not telling Izou of the nickname he’s been calling them to Marco, and only Marco. Not wanting the name to get out to the others.

“Look’s like I got to get back to work.” Thatch said, smiling at the two. Marco’s eyes were calling him a coward, and Thatch knew he was right. Izou looked more curious than anything else, which did not bode well for Thatch.

Later that night, once people were drunk enough and full of different kinds of food. From meat that was colored to look green and rotten, to candied apples. Everything decorated to look as haunting as Thatch and the others in the kitchen could make. Izou made their way to see Thatch. Leaving the deck to see where the latter had gone. In the kitchen getting Thatch washed dishes as he hummed to himself. A form of comforting himself.

Izou slipped into the room, leaning against the counter, watching him. Thatch finished up and turned around, leaping in the air with a short yell. “Izou!” Thatch said, clutching at his heart. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“What was Marco talking about earlier?” Izou asked, getting to the point. They spent all night thinking about how to bring it up. In the end, this seemed like the best option.

Thatch tensed a bit. “What do you mean?”

“He asked what my nickname was. Sounded like you already had one picked out.” Izou tried not to sound too worked up about this. It wouldn’t do to get heated just yet.

“I, uh, well,” Thatch said, looking away from Izou. “I have an idea but I don’t know-“

“What is it?”

Thatch looked into their eyes. The deep brown meeting their dark eyes. He didn’t say anything for a moment. “I can’t choose.” Thatch muttered, a small bit of red on his cheeks. Taking a step forward to box Izou in. Izou didn’t move, just lifted their chin a bit to keep eye contact. “Beautiful. Ice queen or king, depending. Doll...” Thatch said, getting a little close. “Darling, if I could get away with it.”

“You might.”

[reinabeestudio]

I'm late, but using my (recent) birthday as an excuse to ramble about Cee and the other mercs—mostly Cee, with hints of ship stuff :]

This is kinda long btw

The arrival of Ms. Doremi was not something unexpected, since the team had been notified a few days prior of a new hire from Spain. However, she wasn't what they imagined.

The answer depends on who you ask, but all of them more or less were expecting a tough mercenary, someone that has clearly fought and killed before. Someone that gets the job done no matter what. But before them was the damndest fanciest lady they've ever seen. Scout was the one tasked to showing her around due to being the fastest, and it was clear some doubts about this new teammate quickly started to appear after each one met her personally.

Not only that, but there was something particular about Ms. Doremi: she had a room for herself like the others, but she didn't always sleep on it. In fact, many nights she'd leave the base and come back in the morning. Spy even identified her car as an ivory Seat 600 D. Not exactly a model seen in the US.

Now, as I mentioned in past posts, I ship her with almost all of them (except Pyro)—not at the same time. So how things develop depends on the merc! Although the ones I think about the most are Engineer, Soldier, and Scout.

I'll focus only on Engineer/Cee for now. Maybe I'll explore different reactions in the future (please ask me about any of the other ships gimme an excuse to gush please please please pl--).

Surprise, he fell in love at first sight 💥

I imagine they found him on his workshop, arguing with one of the others for touching his tools or something else (probably Spy? I like to think they don't get along at all lol). So there he was, cursing up a Texan Storm(tm) until he hears stifled laughter behind him and he turns around like ???. And when he sees her, he completely freezes.

“Apologies, I didn't mean to laugh. You just have such a way with words, I coulnd't help”

And aren't you a vision of loveliness.

She would offer her hand for a handshake, while introducing herself. How proper, ain't she cute. “I'm Cee Doremi. I'm the new RED member. And what might your name be?”

“I'm mighty sorry 'bout earlier, promise I'm nicer than that!” He took her hand then, a bit too tightly. “Dell Conagher, or the Engineer. At your service.”

“It's alright, Mr. Conagher. As my mother used to say, when we argue it's because we care. Don't you think?”

“Please, call me Dell. And I can't say I fully agree with ya, Ms. Doremi, but I can see yer point!"

“Call me Cee." God, that smile of hers could resurrect an angel. The guy is practically leaking toony hearts while Spy and Scout look at them like 👁 (nosy father & nosy son lol). “It was nice meeting you. But I still have to finish my little tour, and I'd kindly like to have my hand back, yes?”

Engie's face scrunched up in confusion before he looked down at his hand and noticing that he's, in fact, still shaking her hand.

So she waved him bye and he waved back with a face warmer than an oven. Meanwhile Spy just looked at him with the most insufferable knowing smile ever.

“What a gracefully embarassing display of those 11 PhDs, pardner.”

“Shut it, you snake.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ⟐ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Time passes, and Cee's presence is just one more on base. She even got her own nickname: the Lady (very original). It started as a joke, but it ended up just becoming a thing lol.

She gets along with her teammates! Some more than others, but she has a minimum level of property that she doesn't seem to like breaking, no matter how rude some people might be. Old habits, she calls it (makes you curious how she was raised).

And everyday as usual, when night comes, she drives off... somewhere. And everyday she comes back in the morning. She's been asked about this by the others many times; she has her own room here, what's the need of leaving every night? Where does she even go? But as polite as she is, that's a question she doesn't answer.

Until one day the answer comes to them.

Cee called for a meeting, which was odd. She was the only one standing up, the rest of the mercs sitting down and no doubt confused what was going on.

“As all of you know, I spend most of my nights outside of the base. First I want to clarify, I have no problem with my room. I'm thankful I was given my own space.” she started, her hands clasped in front of her. “But I did for a good reason. Something very important.”

She explains how she was told by the higher-ups it'd be best if she stopped the car trips, mostly because the enemy could follow her and learn the location of the base. How she explained her situation, and a solution would be searched.

But until then, she'd have to compromise.

“I'm only doing this because I have no other choice. Apologies in advance,” she finished explaining.

They see Cee turn around to the doorframe behind her and says something in Spanish (“Ya podéis salir”). And the 9 mercs watch with wide eyes how a young girl and a young boy come out and quickly go to Cee, the kids looking at the men while hiding behind her. They looked similar to Cee.

“Gentlemen, these are my twins: Lance and Renée.”

She looked down at them, gently patting their heads. “They will be staying on my bedroom, until a safer place for them is found. I've already told them to behave and not bother any of you unless it's a dire situation and I'm not around. Please, be patient with them while they are here.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ⟐ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

An addendum: Cee comes from wealth and was raised 'properly' and to be ladylike at all times.

She's not helpless tho, she was hired as a merc after all lol (and by the time she meets the mercs, it's been many years since she was in that upper social bubble). But she has a lot of old habits ingrained in her due to her upbringing, and being with the mercs is when she really learns how to let loose.

Yes I know, I didn't really talk about actual ships AJSDNGDS. But I thought that it'd be best to first establish some facts about Cee for better understanding ☝ If you wanna learn more, ask about it (/j /lh)

[words-of-wrath]

Shrapnel

Pt. 1/?

For those who see eroticism in the mechanical 🖤

Part 1

Metal legs wrapped around her waist, sitting down on the rickety seat. A welding mask is draped over her face, protecting her from the sparks showering over her body. The sounds of electric pulses, like firecrackers, are filling the entire workshop. Her muses chest is open, wires and circuitry exposed. With each spark of energy she convulsed in Aurora's lap. Scrap, that's what her previous administrator and owner had called her.

'you're just Scrap' he said. Aurora had bought her for pennies on an online marketplace. Discarded, thrown away, shipped in pieces to the highest bidder. And even then, it wasn't even that high. Her new administrator had chosen a different name for her. 

"Do you like that, Robo-Slut?" A muffled voice with a slight lisp said. Scrap wasn't even sure if Aurora knew she could hear her. But she couldn't respond. The girl pulled away, blowtorch still in hand. She reached up to pull her welding mask up. Sticking her tongue out, she twisted some screws into place. Machinery whirred to life, and Scrap's eyes suddenly lit up. 

She saw a scrawny-looking girl covered in dirt and oil stains. She wore a faded pair of overalls, one shoulder strap undone and hanging loosely at her chest. She couldn't have been younger than her mid-twenties, though when she smiled a cheesy grin Scrap saw thick braces, gleaming in the fluorescent lighting of her workshop. She wore thick rectangular glasses and had dirty brown hair tugged back into a tight bun. Essentially, she just looked like a huge nerd. 

"I still need to reestablish most of your motor functions, your nerve-endings, and iron out the kinks in your programming," Aurora said, lisping some of her Ss and Ths. Scrap took this time to look around Aurora's workshop. Posters of different video games, bands, and anime lined the walls. There were tools strewn about everywhere, tables filled with blueprints. "Look at me!" Aurora suddenly demanded, and Scrap found herself unable to resist. In fact, she found herself quite infatuated with this nerdy-looking dweeb girl. What had Aurora done to her programming? 

Aurora closed her chest plate back up, tightening the screws. This caused Scrap to squirm a bit, though she didn't feel anything. The administrator seemed to delight in Scrap squirming in her lap. Finally, Aurora began to press on the touch screen in Scrap's chest. There was a little jingle, one of a company long since lost to the slow decay of time, which signified her other functions booting up. Producing a keyboard from a small table just next to her, Aurora plugged the USB into Scrap and set it on her lap. 

"I'm gonna take good care of you, Robo-Slut," Aurora said, a hint of facetiousness in her tone. She began to type away, it must have been nearly 150 words per minute. Lines and lines of code appeared on Scrap's chest. "Okay, you should have some of your motor functions back. Try and move!" Aurora said. Scrap hesitated for a moment, and then turned to her right arm, the only one currently attached to her body. She watched it rise in the air. Turning her hand over, she flexed her mechanical fingers. They hissed and squealed, she hadn't done that in quite a while. Aurora grinned another brace-filled and toothy smile. 

After a while of typing, Aurora grimaced at the screen. "Why are there locked files here?!" she demanded to know under her breath. "Hey!" an angry tone filled the room as she stared up at Scrap. "Give me the passcode for these files!" Scrap again was reluctant. There was something stopping her from giving that information out. It was private. Private to her alone. And she didn't want anyone else to know that. Slowly, she shook her head. Aurora groaned and typed a few more lines of code out. Then, an angry hand shot up and gripped Scrap's chin. "You should be able to speak now. Give. Me. The. Access. Code!" Aurora grunted through gritted teeth. 

"... N-no!" Scrap said. It had been a while since she had ever spoken. Maybe even a century. Who knew at this point? Aurora narrowed her eyes and lowered her head to give her an evil look. She pulled away from Scrap and continued to type. 

"Let's see if all your programs are running correctly...!" she said. "... I'll just run them all at the same time!" another smirk flashed the corner of her mouth. If Scrap could feel fear, this probably would have been it. Confidently, Aurora pressed the enter key on the line she had just written. Scrap heard her fans whir to life. They could expel the heat fine enough now. But as more and more programs began to run, as command prompts and warnings (which Aurora ignored) showed up on her viewing screen appeared, she found that the fans became nearly unbearable. She sounded like a freight train barreling into a station. Scrap arched her back, red lights flashing all over her body. With her newfound voice she let out a small cry. Aurora delighted in seeing that. 

"S-stop!" Scrap said. But that only seemed to strengthen Aurora's resolve. She continued to run each and every program, not nearly done yet. She was hot in Aurora's lap, surprised that the small nerdy girl could even handle it. 

"You like it!" Aurora said. Scrap thought about this for a moment. She did like it... now that Aurora had told her she did. She was obsessed with this girl. Why?! A line of code entered into her when Aurora had first gotten her. A USB dongle inserted into her right from the start, telling her to give the girl her undivided attention, her eternal love. 

"C-cold... need cold!" Scrap begged for it. Aurora raised an eyebrow and then seemed to get a devilish idea. She reached up to grab a hose from the ceiling. She had so many things on hand. Perhaps she had prepared for this very thing. 

"Here you go, little bot," Aurora hooked the hose right up to Scrap's mouth. She could no longer speak, and Aurora pressed a couple of buttons on a rectangular metal device just next to her. Another hiss, lights flashing, the hose began to twitch and bulge as suddenly an ice-cold fluid entered Scrap's mouth. She felt her insides cool. It was nice at first. But Aurora kept pumping and pumping and pumping. The hose bulged in her mouth as her mechanical guts began to freeze up. She felt herself slowing down, mind turning to a slushie. 

A green light pulsed on Scrap's temple. Aurora pressed a few more keys and then tugged the hose from Scrap's mouth. Bright blue coolant dribbled impotently from her mechanical mouth as Scrap leaned over her. "Good girl," Aurora said, running her hands over Scrap's icy-hot metal flesh. Her memories had become distant rooms, inaccessible to her when they were so close before. She may have had real flesh at one point. Maybe she was a human, mortal, maybe she was bio-engineered organic material. But now she was just Scrap. "Now, since you're working correctly. How about a factory reset?" 

"A-a what?" Scrap asked dumbly. 

"You're going to forget all of this. You're going to forget who you are, who you were. You're going to become mine, forever and always," Aurora grinned, and she started to type. 

"Y-yes, Admin!" Scrap said. But she didn't mean it deep down, where the final dwindling semblance of her autonomy lay. She was only programmed to obey. She didn't want this, not at all. But soon she may do so. She may completely acquiesce to Aurora's desires. Once this factory reset was over and done with. "P-please reset me..." maybe she meant it that time. 

"With pleasure," Aurora said, finally typing in the last line of code and confidently pressing the enter key with a toothy grin. The last thing Scrap saw as her vision faded was Aurora's nerdy face staring at her with devious glee. The last thing she felt was the whirr of her servos inside. 

And she powered down.  

[rosemaryreality]

Sonic Prime S2 EP1 Reaction.

Alright so we are back to the start? but from Shadow's pov

2. Ooooh so Shadow saw all those freaky giant hollograms(? of their friends

3. Ah, i was wondering about that, so there's a barrier Shadow can't pass through.

4. HE LOST THE CHAOS EMERALD????!!!!!

5. !!!! so SHADOW is the reason why Sonic's shoes would act up???

6. Oof, dude's been trying for a while.

7. I had noticed this before in season 1, but god, the way sonic says "home" breaks my heart every time

8. So he still thinks Shadow isn't the real Shadow? really dude? unlike everyone else, he clearly recognizes you

9. "Sherrif shadow of floating rock world" ALRIGHT WE GET IT!! there's no cowboy world, no need to rub it in

10. DUDE HE CLEARLY SAID YOUR NAME. HE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE. HE IS YOUR SHADOW.

11. Oh. speaked too soon i guess. Anyway FINALLY!!

12. SONADOW HUG!!! i'm redrawing this.

13. LMAO. the way shadow slides to the left, feels so extra for me i love it.

14. If those giant shards weren't there, how would sonic move while in there? would shadow have to carry him?

15. Rip green emerald.

16. Aww he missed the palm trees.

17. "Just like home" but it's not.

18. Holy shit he is gonna see the "ghost" version of tails.

19. Oooooh, interesting. I thought everyone except big would be at the cage, but tails is at the beach near his workshop. So it's not about where they where when it happened, it's probably about significant places.

20. Oh, they're ALL at the beach. I'm guessing the palm tree amy's at is THE palm three, so they really must have plenty of memories there, if it's the place they're all at.

21. Omg i love prime sonic but GOD is he slow, they're not you're real friends!! and where is shadow anyway? i bet he is silently judging you.

22. Oooooh i wonder if this is partly why shadow is so quick to dismiss the people from the shatterverses, even if they're clearly more life like than these versions, it's probably hard for him to consider them as much more than this: shallow versions of their friends, their missing pieces, especially since he can't meet them for himself (yet).

23. THE WAY HE HUGS HIMSELF I CAN'T!!!! i know it's his fault but COME ON!!

24. Oooh the way Shadow looked at his shoes, already planning to steal them?

25. EXCUSE YOU SHADOW WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY BOY NINE?!!! HAVE YOU EVEN MET HIM? WHO ARE YOU TO SAY HE CAN'T BE TRUSTED??!

26. Oh god he really thinks of Nine as "angsty Tails" i'm crying.

27. "He's not tails. he is nine" look at what you've done Sonic, now i have to agree with Shadow just after he insulted Nine.

28. "This is his reality" oh god ummm i don't think I agree with that.

29. Ugh sonic how can i be mad at you when you are defending Nine? still don't like that he doesn't see him as his own person though.

30. Yeah i can't blame Shadow for not trusting Sonic, like, WHO would trust him at this point?

31. "I know what you are capable of" oh? OH? so NEITHER of them trust the other one, huh.

32. OMG HE GRABBED IT WITH HIS MOUTH?? I ACTUALLY LAUGHED OUT.

33. Well, that was fast, let's see his reaction to the fact they do nothing for him.

34. ?????????????????????????? WTF? I'M SORRY DID I MISS A SCENE??

35. OOOOOOOOH HE TOOK BACK THE ONES FOR HIS SHOES.

36. God this Shadow is so extra, couldn't you put that one like a normal person?

37. Wait so they DID help him get out of there, how? maybe those things have some of Sonic's energy on them? whtever it is, couldn't be enough to get past the barriers.

38. I don't know if the place between shatterspaces is a good place to be fighting, Shadow has his airshoes but what if Sonic falls into the void?

39. I couldn't believe Sonic said "come at me, bro" when i heard it, now SHADOW? and he sounded so smug too

40. What happened in new yoke?

41. Oh right, THOSE guys.

42. So sonic can just spindash his way through that place.

43. Man that knocked out shadow BAD.

44. SONADOW PRINCESS CARRY!!!! Sonic prime really is a gift to all ships.

45. OF COURSE he fell on his face, gotta love running gags.

46. Finally got to the "together" part, god is sonic smug about it, on other news, sonadow needs each other, hell yeah.

47. "I won't let you down, shadow" awwwww.

48. For some reason the shadow vision was so funny to me, bro he is not DEAD.

[nate-fraust]

Something Old, Something New

Sorry, don’t really use Tumblr except to see what new stuff’s being posted about my ships, so this’ll be a lame first post.

Anyways, I guess the prompt for this sort of thread thing is “Post a snip of one of your oldest works vs. one of your newest.” In that case, I’ve got a few things for y’all.

(Btw: thx to @n1hila for the tag. If anyone else would like to join, like @mel-kusanagi, you can, but you don’t have to. I’m just a dude lurking in the shade of y’all’s brilliance :) )

So, since I got tagged on the basis of my writing, I guess I’ll start with that. Writing

The first section is an excerpt from the first chapter of “coNTROL”, the first fanfic I ever published during my early years as a part of the inFAMOUS fandom. I’d initially posted it on Fanfiction.net back in September or October of 2013, but I deleted it from my account there and reposted it to my AO3 five years later. This story sparked my love of writing and storytelling, so much so that I’m working on earning my bachelor’s in Mass Communication/Journalism right now. The second section is “Phantom”, my latest one-shot. I wrote it as part of the “Codextober” challenge from @orphiceonian, using the prompt “Blade”. I’d intended to follow it up with another one-shot of Loki (or Delus/Luka/Leug, as I would call him using the “Isu” name he would most likely have) meeting Aletheia/Angrboða (Drud/Drutes in “Isu”) during his time apprenticing under Promethus/Consus (Permenos/Setor) at his workshop prior to the War of Reunification* in 1923 Isu Era. However, classes and assignments got the better of me. Perhaps I’ll finish it over this break.

Old:

His brain drummed a maddening beat against his skull as he limped towards the destroyed military truck. Dammit, he cursed. Would this incessant pounding never end? He reached the truck, which had evidence of a firefight or some sort of incindeary devices all over it. The back of the truck was facing him, a box of smoke and flames. Delsin rushed as best he could towards the opening, trying to ignore the oily stench of smoke and burning human flesh.

He saw the shine of a DUP officer's helmet, and ignored it. Why should he care for the oppressive SOB? He peered around and noticed movement through the fumes. He hurried over to the figure and tried to get his attention.

"Sir? Sir, you need medical help." Delsin said to the hunched over man as he clapped him lightly on the shoulder. Don't we all, he reflected bitterly. "I need to ca-".

The man grabbed his arm and held on like a vise. "No!" he shouted hoarsely. "No hospitals! They're never taking me back!"

Delsin tried to wrench his arm away from the madman, and ended up touching his wrist to the stranger's thumb. A roar sounded in his ears, and they flew apart. Delsin hit the ground and slid to the back of the car, bashing his head on the end of a cold metal bench. He barely heard the crack of the man's neck as he slid into unconsciousness. New:

Wind rushes into me as I come back to myself. Far off in the distance, a sable speck plummets into the spear-din, glinting and crossed. I watch it fall.

Someone is screaming. Somewhere, someone is screaming.

The heat is at my back. I turn to face it.

Ice shoots through my heart.

“ You ,” I sputter, gilded spittle flecking Delus’ scarred visage.

“Aye.” The bastard’s smile is cruel, lit from within with madness. “ Me .”

He goes to pull his dagger from my chest, but I grasp onto his arm in a grip made tight from death. His eyes are full of hate and panic.

With the last of my strength, I cast Gungnir far from me, willing it farther and farther still as I pull the traitor’s blade deeper into myself.

Delus is screaming in my ear, cursing me, my blood, my kin. I close my eyes against the truth as he howls to the roaring winds, crying of his hand in beloved Balthas’ slow death. I close my eyes and call out to the Swayer, drawing it back, back, back-

My blood-brother chokes on his words as Gungir tears through us both, fleeing far to the north. We fall.

The air is thick with cries of “ Zàw! ” and the black scent of death, but my eyes are fixed on his. There are no promises, no oaths to be made in the face of such a sight.

My body is cold now, yet the wound burns all the same.

Delus’ mouth moves, gilded tongue full of venom-

* - The War of Reunification was a conflict that likely would have been analogous to the Aesir-Vanir War of Norse myth. If the conflict was continent-wide, it could have also/otherwise been the basis for the theorized Proto-Indo-European myth of the “war of the functions/foundation”.

Bonus: Art

I’ve been drawing for far longer than I’ve been writing, but I don’t stake any significant claim on it. However, I do have a few pieces in my Google Photos. Old:

This is a drawing of Delsin Rowe from one of my other (unfinished) inFAMOUS fanfics, a Last of Us crossover titled “The Light”. Had I continued with it, Delsin would’ve looked something like this by (probably) the middle of the story. His right forearm has a green-blue shattered arrowhead, which was supposed to signify the Glass powers he would have gotten at some point in the journey.

This is a drawing of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, semi-inspired by Christy Tortland/Serena Kenobi’s iteration of her in her “Hunter” Wonderbat series of fanfics. If I’m remembering correctly, I may have based the body off of Gina Carano, but I really should have worked more on Gal Gadot’s face. Either that, or I should’ve just done Jamie Alexander instead.

New:

This is an early sketch of a marble statue of Dagris, a “god-king” deity from a homebrew DnD campaign I’ve been involved with for a few months. We’ve stalled for the moment, so I figured it would be alright to put this out into the world.

---

Bonus2: Poetry

Yes, I’m still here. Yes, I’ll be getting out of y’all’s hair in a moment (if you’ve not stopped reading already). Just wanted to leave you with a few snippets of poetry. 

Old: It’s pointless to write these words,

for I’ve dug my grave with my own hands,

with my thoughts,

and they're simply wind to you.

I’m grasping at an image,

A watercolor from the back of my mind.

The paints run down

As the image is washed in the river of thought.

I want to know;

I need to see.

But it’s not for me.

New:

Before me, behind me, above me, about me,

The sky. 

Choked by the fideless clouds,

It roils, gelt in fury.

Orcus’ rictus gapes;

Kharon, bowing, beckons,

Cyan cowl stained,

Blotted by woeful waters.

Onward, ever onward;

Through tongueless tears,

Through faned fears,

Through a thousand-thousandfold.

Not so strange,

The fruitless ash,

Maddening horse-gallow.

Not so great,

The landless thorn,

Crossless cedar-hyssop.

Gloryless wanderer,

Sightless sees,

A pitiless gaze,

A manger seiged.

[pentechnics]

OLAT Drabbles - Safe

Ch. 2 - Messages

Series Masterlist

Summary: Din's POV of chapter 2 in its entirety

Notes: This one was so fun to write! I honestly can't recall who requested this one, no such ask exists in my inbox. Maybe it was just me again and I forgot lol! (please tell me if it was you, it's very possible that tumblr just ate the ask because it was from so long ago sdfghjk) Regardless, I really hope you all enjoy seeing this chapter from his point of view. I am so excited to keep writing these -- so much more fun from his side of the story is to come! Please let me know what you thought, and if you enjoyed this please consider reblogging it!

Thank you all so much! ❤️

~~~~

Din parked his speeder bike in the lot and proceeded to help Grogu out of his seat. 

“You ready for another day, kid?” 

“Yeah!” Grogu cheered as Din knelt down and helped him slip on his backpack. 

“You know what to do if something happens, right?”

“Yes, Papa-”

“You have them call me right away. No matter what, I’ll come right over. And in the meantime, you use the moves I taught you.” 

“I will, Papa, I will! Now come on!” 

Grogu stomped in place before grabbing Din’s hand and yanking. Din heaved a sigh before walking Grogu over to the courtyard. 

You were already stationed at the gate with a bright smile on your face, giving a wave as they approached. There was a slight stiffness to your frame. Perhaps you were still intimidated by him. 

Din bent down to give Grogu a few parting words before watching him eagerly waddle towards you. Your shoulders relaxed at the sight, your expression calmer when you looked back up. You gave Din a nod before leading Grogu through the gate. 

Din stayed rooted in his spot, watching the two of you until you disappeared into the building. 

Anxiety bubbled in his gut, much like it did every time Grogu left his line of sight. You’d promised him Grogu’s safety, but a person’s word could only do so much under a real threat.  

Endless scenarios plagued his mind. This planet was still new territory that he had yet to learn. Its sanctuary reputation helped, but worry still weaved through the cracks. 

With a final glance in the direction of your classroom, Din turned and headed back to his speeder bike. 

~~~~

After fixing up the particularly banged-up engine of a small cargo ship, Din stepped out of the workshop and tugged out a small data pad. 

He tried to recall Fennec’s instructions as he tapped along the screen, trying to reach the contacts. When your name, followed by the identifying ‘Grogu’s teacher’ beside it popped up, he pressed on it and began to type. 

How is Grogu

Just as he was going to put it away, he glanced back at it. If the roles were reversed, he’d be freaked out to receive a random message like this. He thought about what form of explanation to offer before typing once more. 

I was told I could reach you at this address

He couldn’t stop checking the pad, even as he continued his work day. Two mere minutes would go by, and he’d be putting down his tools to pull it out and see if you’d responded. 

A little part of his heart sank whenever the screen came up blank. 

He kept himself from checking for a more solid five minutes as he tried to figure out the various parts of a droid, when a small ping sounded through the air. 

He dropped the materials back on the counter with a ceremonious clang and dug out the data pad once more. 

He’s doing great! He seems really happy today. Everyone’s having naptime right now.

Din let out a sigh, the weight of his nerves easing out of his muscles. Grogu was okay, and he was resting. He tapped the little response box and began typing. 

That’s goof- delete- good.

Why the little letters were so small, Din didn’t understand. He poised to continue typing, thinking through what else to say. 

“Hey, Mando!” 

Din looked up to see his boss beckoning him over. With a sigh, he put the data pad away and made his way across the workshop. 

“Roko needs a hand with the hyperdrive on the Gunship,” the Togruta said, walking him over to an outdoor work station. Din nodded and headed towards where his coworker was waving. 

“Thanks a lot, man,” Roko said with a grin while he and Din climbed into the cockpit of the X4 Gunship. “I’ve been tinkering with this thing for an hour but still can’t get it to work.” 

“Let’s see,” Din leaned underneath the control panel to examine the wiring. 

He asked Roko to bring a few tools, then had him watch while Din repositioned a few wires and connected others. 

“This right here should do the trick,” he said as he clipped and secured one last wire. “Give it a shot now.” 

Roko stood and fired up the ship. The controls sprung to life, the durasteel shaking with the engine’s purr. Din got up and checked the status reports.

“It’s up!” Roko said, “You did it!” 

Din gave a tilt of his head in lieu of a response. 

“That was a huge help. You just let me know if I can ever return the favor, ‘kay?” 

Din nodded and climbed out of the ship. He glanced back as he walked away, Roko’s bubbly tone still ringing in his head. Was everyone here like that? So far that seemed to be the case. 

He tucked the thought away and pulled out his data pad on the way back to his workstation, resuming the thought train of what message to send you.

His pace slowed while he stared at the feed. He didn’t quite have any other questions for you, but something didn’t feel right about leaving the conversation like that. You were taking care of his child, and according to Fennec’s friend you were also to help him through any potential troubles, both physical and mental. 

No matter how stressed it made him to leave Grogu each morning, Din definitely couldn’t do all that on his own.  

He sat at his station and typed out a short, 

Thank you. 

~~~~

Din couldn’t wait to get out of the repair shop and see his boy again. 

Once the time came he all but ran out to his speeder bike and jetted off towards the school. He parked in his usual spot and made his way to the courtyard, situating himself in the middle, where he could see all the other families waiting for their children. 

The perfect vantage point if anyone were to try something funny. 

Moments later you were walking out with the class on your heels and bending down to give them little farewell gestures. Din watched as group after group left the courtyard, the line dwindling down until Grogu was the last one standing. 

The sight of him alone made Din feel whole again. He grinned and let himself deflate, shifting his weight onto his hip. 

Grogu gave your hand a little tap before coming towards Din, a smile painting his features. 

“Hey, how was your day, kid?” 

“It was good!” Grogu said with a little hop. Din knelt down to his level. 

“Everything go okay?” 

“Uh-huh,” Grogu nodded, voice quiet. “Miss is very nice.”

“Good, that’s good.” 

Din stood and reached out his hands in a silent question, to which Grogu nodded. But just as he lifted Grogu into his arms, the little bundle’s brow furrowed. 

“Papa,” he said, “can we go back? I wanna say something to Miss.” 

Din tilted his head, confusion entering his mind. As much as he wanted to know what Grogu had to say, he wasn’t sure how to ask. He nodded and set Grogu back down. 

“Sure, pal. Let’s go.” 

The two of them walked through the courtyard and into the gate, passing a few other classrooms before getting to your open door. 

Din poked his head in and found you peering down at something on your desk, brow scrunched in concentration. He took a breath before gently knocking on the door. When your head shot up, he repressed a chuckle.�� 

“Sorry,” Din said, stepping into the room with Grogu beside him. “He wanted to come back in and tell you something.” 

“That’s perfectly fine,” you said with a smile, making your way over to them and kneeling down. 

“What can I do for you, bud?”

Grogu gave Din’s fingers a little squeeze. Din ran his thumb over them in response. 

“Thank you, Miss,” came his little voice. “... I feel safe here.” 

Din’s gaze shot down to him. Those were some of the last words he expected Grogu to say.

Grogu’s trust was not easy to gain. Not since his capture by Moff Gideon. Din’s throat suddenly felt dry as he considered what would compel Grogu to tell you such powerful words. And then there was the question of you – would you understand how big this was for him? 

The expression on your face was assuring that you were at least somewhat aware. Your grin split your cheeks into two, your eyes glossing over as you responded. 

What happened next was what really had Din’s mind twisting. 

Grogu held out his tiny arms to you, asking for an embrace. Din couldn’t help being shocked; now that Grogu had grown a little bit and gained more autonomy over who touched him, it wasn’t as easy for him to be comfortable with new people. 

Yet here he was, asking you for a hug. After just a few days. 

When your gaze lifted up to Din, he almost forgot to answer the question in your expression. 

The elation in your smile, the desire to fulfill Grogu’s request in your eyes, it was overwhelming. He took a deep breath before taking a step back and giving a quick nod. 

Damn, if anything else were to happen, he’d need to sit down. 

The two of you giggled in your embrace, your smile getting impossibly brighter. 

“Thank you for coming back to tell me that, Grogu. It made me very happy.” 

Grogu’s ears perked up just before he turned to face Din, his own grin taking up the majority of his expression. 

“And thank you for bringing him,” your voice made Din’s gaze snap back as you stood up once more. “I’d love to walk you both out to the gate, if that’s okay?” 

Din nodded and took Grogu’s hand. 

The two of them matched your pace; Din glanced down every now and then to see Grogu look between him and you, as if this were the happiest moment of his life. 

Din couldn’t help watching you. Every now and then you shot Grogu a smile, your stature confident yet relaxed. 

It was amazing. How had Grogu become so comfortable around you so quickly? So okay with being that candid about his feelings, so willing to let his guard down in your presence? Aside from the family, Grogu hadn’t done that with anyone since he began speaking. 

When you saw them off from your spot at the gate after confirming the next check-in, all those questions and more still bounced around in Din’s mind. He hardly registered the walk through the courtyard, not until he stopped to look back at you. 

Who were you? 

~~~~

“To begin, I’ve been noticing that Grogu’s really been getting along with the other students,” you started. 

Din drummed his fingers on your desk as you spoke, absorbing every detail of Grogu’s days since starting. His increased activity was relieving to hear; Din couldn’t help worrying that being away from peers his own age for so long would hinder his ability to make friends. 

“It’s a really good sign that he’s taken to being social with his classmates. He’s still a bit shy at times, but that’s to be expected given that it’s only his first week.” 

Din nodded as he recalled Grogu telling him about some of those classmates. ‘Li and Chia are really nice,’ he’d said, ‘And Jack always shares his candy with me.’ 

Din could only hope that those connections would stick. 

“One thing did come up the other day during naptime-”

Red alerts began to ring in Din’s head. His head snapped up to you, fingers falling still. Your face held its composure, a hand coming out in front of you. 

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” you said, voice purposefully calm. “And we worked through it just fine.”

“What. Happened.” 

He couldn’t help the menacing tone of the question. He’d told Grogu to have you call him if anything serious happened; what kept him from doing that? A million possible scenarios ran laps around Din’s consciousness, his muscles growing tingly from the anxiety. 

“It was just a bad dream,” you said, “He came up to me and I sat with him and talked to him until he fell asleep again.”

A bad dream. 

Grogu had a bad dream. Din sighed and sat back in his chair, hoping with all his might that it wasn’t that dream. 

“Did he say what it was about?” he asked, unable to stop the crack in his voice. 

You shook your head. 

Damn it. 

“I don’t typically ask them because it can sometimes make them feel worse. From what I’ve seen the children usually talk about it on their own if that’s something they want.”

Din deflated as his thoughts began to run. It made sense, and you were right; a flashback of Grogu telling him about the Moff Gideon nightmare, through sobs and hysterics, after having had it three times and not saying a word, crept up and made his heart clench in pain. 

When he raised his head once more to continue the conversation, the look on your face made him freeze.

You were gazing at your notes, a certain kind of apprehension painting your features. Were you hiding something from him? 

You looked up with a start before nodding. 

Good – Din still had it. 

“He did give me a hint, though.” you started, glancing down once more before meeting his gaze. “When I told him that nothing could hurt him here and that he was safe with me, he asked me if anyone would be able to come take him away.” 

Kriff. 

Din’s chest clenched again, though now more so in anger, as he gripped the edge of your desk. 

“I told him I’d never let that happen, and I never make a promise to a child that I don’t intend to keep.” 

Your expression was confident. Secure. Genuine. Right alongside your words. 

Din sighed and slumped against the chair. He’d always been there whenever Grogu woke up from this dream. Always. He’d sit with Grogu and do whatever it took to calm him down before helping him fall asleep again. He couldn’t imagine how Grogu must’ve felt having that dream here. 

Especially since it had been so long since the last time it happened. Back when they were initially reunited, that nightmare occurred somewhat frequently, but decreased over time. Din scolded himself for letting his guard down. 

“Not that again,” he grunted, his free hand clenching into a fist on his thigh. 

Oop- did he just say that out loud?

His brow shot up with his head; you were looking at him with such concern in your eyes. It was jarring, but confirmed that he had. He let out a sigh and leaned onto your desk. 

“He’s had that dream before. It’s been… a while since the last time it happened. I guess I thought he wouldn’t need to worry about it anymore.”

He still couldn’t believe he wasn’t there. How did Grogu manage it, waking up from that dream, completely surrounded by strangers? And if that had happened while Grogu was here, why hadn’t anyone called Din?

But then another memory resurfaced; Grogu had asked to come back in here, and he’d said those words to you… 

You. 

You were there when he woke up. 

“Was that the same day I brought him back in after school? When he said he felt safe?” 

“Yes, it was,” you said with a nod. 

“Well, how about that... “ 

Din leaned back once more and took in the image of you. 

From what he’d experienced so far, you were kind, caring, and honest. You really seemed to care about the children. Even with the day of the nightmare aside, Grogu had nothing but good things to say about you. Din was beginning to understand why. 

You shivered the slightest bit as he stared, and he was glad the helmet was hiding the little smirk on his face. You cleared your throat. 

“I don’t take that for granted, by the way. Him telling me he feels safe means a lot to me. And I promise you, I’ll do all I can to make sure he continues to feel that way.” 

“I assume that’s another promise you fully intend to keep?” he asked, tilting his head. 

You nodded, brows rising up, as if you were trying hard to convince him of your sincerity. Din resisted the urge to chuckle, and gave a nod instead. He could only hope you were a woman of your word. 

Din’s eyes scanned the room around you. Various drawings hung about, different scribble patterns depicting a visual language only children seemed to know how to speak.

Luckily for Din, he’d learned Grogu’s dialect well. Well enough to spot it right away. 

The picture caught him off guard at first; he hadn’t expected that Grogu would include the Razor Crest. It had been so long, after all. 

In his peripheral, he saw you follow his gaze and smile. 

“Ah yes, he drew that during art time the other day – the same day as the dream, in fact.” 

Din couldn’t hold back a little chuckle at the thought. The mental image of Grogu furiously scribbling away, draining the life force from his utensil of choice to create every little figure was so clear. 

Sure, Grogu drew all the time at home. But it was rare that all four of them were in the same picture together. And with the Crest? Fett and Fennec hadn’t ever ridden in it. 

“Would you like to take it home?” 

Your gleeful voice pulled Din back into the moment. 

Take it home? He could do that? He could have it there and look at it whenever he wanted, just like all of Grogu’s other drawings? He tried to withhold his excitement at the notion, instead sitting up a bit in his chair. 

“... Would that be okay?” 

Your smile grew wider as you nodded and rose from your desk to take it down. 

That’s when Din noticed just how short you were. 

You were straining to reach the corners of the drawing, getting on your tiptoes to stretch your arms as far as they could go. It was almost painful to watch. 

Din rose and poised himself to help you take down the last corner, his arms coming up to reach over you just as you dislodged it with one last hop. 

You almost bumped into his cuirass as you turned, and he froze at the sudden proximity. An apology crept up his throat as you took a step back, almost bumping into the wall, but died out before his lips could form the words. 

You stared up at him, doe-like eyes that shimmered underneath your lashes, pupils slightly dilated. 

It was strange; your presence usually seemed so large, so confident and powerful. There was still a spark from you in this moment, but it felt different. It was as if you were a burning star, casting a colorful flame that threatened to consume him if he got any closer.

But there was something about it – about that look in your eyes – that made him want to risk it all and feel that burn.  

You straightened up and held the picture out in your hands. Din glanced at it, clearing his throat and trying to recover his composure before reaching out for it. 

The slightest pressure against the tips of his gloves was his only indication of your hands’ presence. He slowly met your gaze again, relishing in seeing the shine of your eyes up close. There was a slight nervousness to your gaze – not a fearful sort, but something else, which blended with that fire and had Din’s heart skipping a beat. 

He’d seen plenty of galactic wonders in his time, but you were the first one he encountered outside a spacecraft. 

Wow, he thought. Beautiful. 

His breaths grew slightly more shallow as he willed his mouth to say something. Anything.

“... Thank you,” he finally rasped. 

“You’re welcome.” 

The words were so quiet and light, like a soft cloud. Yet your eyes were still so loud, staring into his visor as if you could see right through it. 

Din swore he’d confess anything to you right then if you asked.  

He took the picture and stepped back, drawing in a deep breath and examining it up close before returning his attention to you.

You waved him back to the desk and finished your list of updates. He took mental note of each one, the buzz of the drawing and of your little shared moment still reverberating in his head. 

After the meeting concluded, you walked him out to the gate. Din looked down at the drawing in his hand; Grogu had used a myriad of colors to depict each of them. He and Din were at the forefront holding hands, while Fett and Fennec were just behind them. Fennec had a large smile scribbled onto her face; Din bit down a grin. They’ll be thrilled to see this, he thought. 

“I bet Grogu will be happy to see that picture at home.”

Din gave you a nod, now imagining the smile on Grogu’s little face. 

When the two of you reached the gate, you held out your hand for him to shake. 

“Until next time, then?” 

“Until next time,” he echoed, clutching your hand in his.

He was surprised at the strength of your grip; your handshake was solid, firm. He liked it. 

The phantom of your hand remained wrapped around his as he walked away. He clenched it into a brief fist, as if he were grasping an actual hand. 

Memories of the meeting played through his mind on the way home: the conversation about the dream, the detailed descriptions of Grogu’s improvements, the strange sensations that clouded his mind when he got too close to you. Every little move you made stuck out to him in some way, like there was something to learn about you from each one. 

And after what he’d seen from you, Din’s curiosity refused to leave any stone unturned.  

****

[after-the-shapes-and-beats]

Okay time for talking about ideas/concepts/trivia I haven't explored!! A lot is old stuff but some is new, lots of thinking lately lol.

Also a reminder you can totally ask me questions if you're interested in something I haven't mentioned or want something elaborated further on. <3

I was going to introduce Barracuda, Lycanthropy, and the other player shapes as characters, at different points and under different circumstances of course. I did post one concept of Barracuda, but the others haven't graced this blog yet. (Still have to finalise all their designs/redesigns lol)

Was going to do a lot of Q & Square unofficially adopted parent/child moments. Didn't have anything specific planned but just really looked forward to the potential fluff/angst etc. of it all lol

I was also gonna do shameless Square/Fresh shipping lmao. Its my story they can kiss if I want!!

Chip was gonna get a girlfriend. :)

Was going to bring up Qs past. It wasn't going to be super important/relevant in the long run, but it was going to be discussed.

I reeeaaally wanted to do some animatics. I'm not brilliant at that kind of thing but god I couldn't get them out of my head lol. Still can't haha. Especially one for the track "first crush" by Sabrepulse. ;)

This is a newer thought but I’ve been exposed to some new songs recently via my sibling playing rhythm games and GOD some of those tracks really made me go “I NEED to incorporate this into my jsab au somehow”. They slap dude. These songs fuck severely and I need to choreograph fight scenes to them.

A BIG concept I wanted to introduce was individuals having a "true song" (still workshopping the name) intrinsic to them that gives them their abilities. Square can hear them if he listens carefully. :)

Qs true song was gonna be a big reveal haha. It's not Close To Me. :^)

Considering the start of the blog was set approx. maybe only 1 or 2 months after the event of the game, there was gonna be a lot of Processing Trauma. Fresh is a recently rehabilitated force of destruction. Square just remembered he's basically god. It's all a lot to come to terms with haha. Denial can only last so long lol.

The main plot thing I wanted to eventually get to was basically "where did square come from and what are the repercussions of inserting himself among the mortals he created?"

I haven't pinpointed any characters' ages other than "around this area". Except Huey. Huey is definitely 17 lol. Everyone else is solidly an adult. Square and Fresh are mentally young adults. (Immature young adults, but still. Lol)

Before the game Chip lived mostly at sea, but after everything she decided to settle down to be close to her friends. :) She still spends a good amount of time out on the water, but she has people and a place to come home to now. uwu

Huey's special interest is flying/flying machines! When he and Square met in the factory, he was actually testing out a small single person craft he built when he got stuck.

Fresh is really into his creative hobbies. After knowing only destruction, creating is really fun and healing for him. :)

Q has a plethora of skills, most are expected because they live rurally and try to be as self sufficient as possible, but some are very out of left field lol.

Square likes dresses and being barefoot because of sensory issues, and swooshy dresses are very stimmy. :)

Sleeves don't agree with Fresh and his weird arms lol so he wears exclusively sleeveless shirts. God forbid he ever have to attend a formal event.

Fresh seems like the biggest source of potential angst, and yeah there's a lot there, but Square actually has more baggage of the two! While Fresh is up front about his traumas and insecurities, Square keeps all his stuff to himself. Fresh gets to hear a little bit but only because the two of them just understand and relate to each other in a way the others couldn't.

Aaaand that’s everything I’ve got I think!! I need to work on like, proper ref art and bios for the characters and stuff. Develop some underdeveloped aspects some more. I also need to shitpost more lol. Again feel free to ask questions or whatever!! I don’t currently really know how to move forward other than occasionally posting art so responding to you guys’ thoughts/suggestions for drawings or whatever would be good.

Love youuuu! <3

[one-piece-dumpster-fire]

Hello! Could i please have some good good pregnancy and parenting headcanons with a fem!s/o for Law, Eustass, and Zoro please? Thank you so much and have an awesome day!

Oof pregnancy and parenting headcanon make me so soft, thank you very much for this sweet request🥺! I focussed a bit more on the pregnancy part rather than the parenting tho since I've written something similiar for Kid and Law already😅 Hope what I came up with suits you, and sorry for the long wait!

How they deal with a pregnant gf and having a baby headcanon

Trafalgar Law

because of his medical knowledge and observant nature, Law actually noticed the first signs of your pregnancy even before you did

so when you finally realize that you're pregnant and go to confront him with your discovery, he's anything but surprised

"Law, I need to tell you something. I'm-"

"Pregnant? Yeah, I thought so."

he looks pretty unbothered and composed, almost as if this isn't anything new to him, but on the inside he is completely tense and filled with anxiety. A baby just doesn't fit into your pirate lives. At all. However he doesn't want to show his true feelings and possibly cause you to panic. You already got enough on your plate with all the new physical and hormonal changes you're about to go through

personally Law didn't plan on having kids, ever, but what's done is done. To make sure that this is really what you want he'd still offer you the option of an abortion, but when you decline and tell him that you want to keep the child, he accepts your decision

"Alright (Y/N), brace yourself then. A few major changes are upon us..."

everything from the beginning of your pregnancy to the date of birth is planned out by him. Law doesn't want anything to go wrong and refuses to take risks. That means you'll spend most of your time either stuck by his side or in the proximity of another member of the Heart Pirates

Bepo, Penguin and Shachi are super excited for the kid and to be uncles. They all come up with their own ideas on what they'll do with the baby once it's born, and their enthusiasm sort of puts Law at ease. This means he and you at least won't have to deal with everything by yourselves

when you actually go into labour, Law's composed facade drops for a moment and he reveals just how stressed he's been up until now

in order to properly assist you and be there for you while you're giving birth, he forces himself to imagine that this is just an ordinary operation. It's not his girlfriend having his baby, he's not about to be a father in a few minutes-

all the stress and anxiety instantly falls off of him when he first holds the new life you two created.

the first time Law looks down at his baby he's absolutely mesmerized. Sure it's still bloody and screeching its lungs out, but despite all odds it's looking completely healthy and is actually,,,, really adorable? Holy shit, how did he manage to make something so pure-looking-

after cleaning the baby and introducing it to its mother, he brings the little human over to Bepo and lets it rest in the bear's soft fur instead of wrapping it up in a blanket. Not only should that be far more comfortable for the tiny thing, but it's also the first bonding experience with uncle Bepo. And while the baby is sleeping, Law walks over to check in on you and tells you how great you did

as far as being a dad goes, Law belongs to the supportive but distant type. Whenever he's got the chance he'll try to spend time with his kid, but there are often other, more important things he has to take care of

however he's still a proud parent and lowkey hopes that the child will take an interest in his work when it gets older. It shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the first things your kid will be taught by Papa Law is how to dissect a frog

Eustass Kid

his immediate thought when you let him know that you're pregnant is "how can I make this unhappen"

look at him, Kid is not ready to be a dad. Especially when it comes to his level of maturity he's basically still a child himself-

no one on the Victoria Punk is prepared for the big news. Their captain made a baby. There will be a kid running around the ship. Oh shit, everyone better start learning to limit their use of profanities already-

initially Kid acts pretty grumpy throughout your pregnancy. He didn't want this, but it's still happening. And he can't do anything against it. He's almost acting like a pregnant woman himself-

can not and will not handle your cravings/mood swings. Whenever you start acting up he just gets completely irritated and quickly peaces out when he can't come up with a way to deal with you

but what started out as regret turns into excitement when he thinks about how awesome his kid would be. With him as dad and you as mom it's only natural that the result will be amazing

and thus he starts to be a bit more open-minded towards the whole situation. Heck, he even gets lowkey excited and starts building a few baby cribs and closets for the child!

unfortunately tho Kid is anything but compassionate during your pregnancy, and it gets especially bad when you start showing. His immature nature shines through and he makes quite a few indecent comments on how you look a balloon,,,

for some reason he also tends to be more horny than usual. Hey, you already got a bun in the oven, so there isn't anything else you need to worry about, right?

in contrast to how he treated you during your pregnancy, he's actually very supporting and motivating during birth

lmao but that's mostly because he's eagerly waiting between your legs for the kid to plop out and right into his arm like a Christmas present

it's almost like a lottery to him and he's super excited what the brat will look like

however nothing could have prepared Kid for the moment when he gets to hold the baby for the first time. The young man basically beams with pride and grins from one ear to the other while the baby cries like an alarm clock

Kid's first time holding the newborn in a nutshell:

"Hehe, it looks like we got a girl here, ey (Y/N)?"

"Kid... that's the baby's ass. You're holding it the wrong way around."

he definitely comes up with ridiculous names for the child, such as: "Eustass Explosion", "Eustass Chainsaw" and his personal favorite- "Eustass the Destroyer"

putting his excitement aside, the young pirate captain definitely has to grow into the role of a father. At first he almost treats the kid like some sort of new toy or pet

you'll never catch him changing even a single diaper. Most of the time Kid tells Killer to man up, cover the holes in his mask, and take care of it by himself if he really wants to be considered 'the best uncle'

despite his rowdy behaviour he is aware that the child is 'fragile' and usually makes sure to keep it away from any dangerous stuff, meaning that the workshop is off-limits for the little one. Kid also never uses his metal arm when he's playing with or holding the baby; instead he build a more authentic prosthetic that'll allow him to hold the child more properly

Roronoa Zoro

his eye almost pops out of its socket when you tell him

holy shit! Zoro of course knew that sex makes babies, but what are the odds of this happening to you?! Besides he always considered himself to be too controlled and restrained for that to work?! Damn?!?!

despite the initial shock he wants to do his best to help you through the pregnancy. After all he basically caused this-

however Zoro can't even find the way to the grocery store to get some diapers

someone send him help. And by help, I mean Chopper

the reindeer himself doesn't know too much about pregnancies, but he's more than happy to collect some first-hand experience and teaches Zoro all about how to be a dad and what's going on with your body

whenever you're near he keeps his swords sheathed and tucked away from you. Once your stomach starts popping he's wary that if he comes too close to you with a sharp thing you might burst or something

at night he keeps watch like a guard dog, his overprotectiveness shines through and he often refuses to go to sleep before you

you probably go into labour while he's out getting lost or fighting some marines, but once Zoro gets the news he almost drops his sword and hurries back to be with you

but he arrives almost an hour later because he got so excited that he forgot the way back to the Sunny

Zoro really wants to help you and Chopper deliver the baby. He's constantly repeating what the reindeer doc says to you and at some point, when your pain reaches its peak, he even suggets reaching down and pulling the baby out of you with his own two hands lol

but once the first cries fill the rooms, he freezes up. It's done. Those nine months of worry, mood swings, suffering and cravings are finally over. A wave of relief washes over him as he smirks down at you, quietly saying how proud he is

however Zoro strongly refuses to hold his baby at first. He's genuinely scared he might drop it or accidentally crush it.

you and Chopper basically have to yell at him to get him out of his trance and convince the new father to take a look at his child

"Zoro, I did not go through hours of pain just so you can say no to holding our baby. For crying out loud, take your child!"

the second you put the baby into his arms Zoro's protective dad instincts kick in and now he refuses to let the child go again lmao

he's mustering the little one's face like some abstract oil painting, unable to tear his gaze from it and proudly recognizing all the similarities between the baby and its parents

luckily Zoro got some natural dad skills under his belt, and you both share the responsibilities evenly

he's never opposed to changing diapers or feeding the baby, even if the first annoys him sometimes. He also keeps the baby around himself 24/7- during workouts he puts it onto his back, when he wanders around the little one sits on his shoulders, and when he takes a nap on the desk the baby lies on his chest

all of the other Strawhats are more than welcome to take care of the baby from time to time and bond with the newest family crewmember to their heart's content. Well, that goes for everyone except Sanji. You better not let Zoro catch him handling the baby or a fight will break out-

[wirewitchviolet]

Dear Game Developers, I don’t want to be a rapacious colonizing blight on the world.

I like a pretty wide variety of games, but one general thing I’ve always been particularly keen on is the sort of game where I start off just kinda naked in the wilderness with nothing and have to build up a bunch of infrastructure to accomplish something. So you know, RTSes, Civ clones, survival games, sandbox-y Minecraft stuff, Dwarf Fortress and similar things, but these all have this really annoying habit of making my character the biggest existential threat to the entire world, and I would really like them to stop doing that all the time.

So, just to open up with an example of how to do this sort of thing in a way I like, Subnautica is one of my favorite games. I recently streamed the whole thing, so, links to that if you’d like: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Subnautica actively confronts my issue head on, and handles it right. I’m not slaughtering everything I see, I’m not strip mining the whole planet, I’m not leveling forests. I’m here by way of horrible tragic accident, and by the end of the game I’ve done my best to clean up the mess from that and address some other global issues to the point where I can confidently say my presence over the course of the game has made for a net positive impact on the environment in which it’s set. Plus it’s a great game in a bunch of other ways.

I’m also pretty happy with Factorio, oddly enough. In Factorio I AM strip mining the whole world, slaughtering absolutely all of the local wildlife, and any forests I’m not clear-cutting I’m choking out with industrial emissions that leave nothing but dry withered skeletons where there were once beautiful stretches of foliage. The thing of it is, between actually tracking my environmental impact as a mechanic and having such downer visuals, it at least feels like the developers and I are sharing a really dark joke about how awful you are in games like this.

Then on the other side of the coin here, we have, say, Satisfactory. A game in the same weird subgenre as Factorio (do we have a name for these yet? Convey’em Ups?) but... really gross. The player is explicitly just heading down to this really beautiful planet to extract and process all the resources they can. You’re rewarded for killing... basically all life you see despite it not generally posing any sort of real threat to you, clear cutting all the vegetation, and to keep the factory building vibes nice and chill, when you tap into a coal vein or set up an oil well, you get an endless supply of those burnable fuels to use forever, with absolutely no consequence, as you just consume all the things to make all the other things and ship them out to meet quotas. And that’s... kinda gross? Again, the fact that nothing you do has any sort of consequence despite half of it being stuff that is literally killing the world in reality makes it way worse.

Meanwhile, lately I’ve been keeping a lot of modded Minecraft videos going in the background to stave off the social isolation with the whole plague and all with some human voices, and see what cool new ideas people are testing there. One of the real popular new mods is this one called MineColonies, and you know what? It’s really neat. The idea is you find a big open plot of land somewhere, throw down blueprints for really huge multiblock structures of houses and workshops and such, get those built up a little, and NPCs start wandering in you can start giving jobs to. Here’s someone to harvest and replant trees, someone to go mining for underground resources, someone to build and upgrade the rest of these buildings, people to provide renewable food and medicine to all these other NPCs. Schools for their kids to get their stats up to good places by adulthood, a whole higher learning system to advance a tech tree, it’s cool.

But the thing is, as you probably gathered from the name, it’s DISGUSTINGLY colonialist. All these people coming in are explicitly white, with British accents, explicitly gendered and explicitly heterosexual too incidentally, and a huge part of the general infrastructure building is having to set up guard posts and barracks all over, training knights and archers to defend against the local barbarians native to the land you’re building on who wander out of the wilderness to attack everyone with some regularity. And I mean, how messed up is that? This mod is explicitly adding in native people’s just so there’s someone for you to displace and murder as you colonize some big chunk of unspoiled wilderness in the name of prosperity for your... British colony. Which of course works on an explicitly feudalist system (and then also for some reason has everyone grumbling about how you’re spending your gold, which you aren’t even doing). It totally thematically ruins what I’d otherwise be super super into. And not long after this was released, baseline Minecraft did basically the same thing. There are now roving barbarian tribes who go around trying to kill you and any villagers near you and you have to concern yourself with wiping out whole groups of them with some regularity, whereas previously the only enemies you really had to deal with were zombies and skeletons and a few other weird explicitly monstrous things. It’s gross.

My distaste for slaughtering barbarians extends to the civilization games too. Which... I mean I have put a LOT of hours into a lot of Civ games so it’s obviously not a total dealbreaker for me, but... you’re always this weird immortal dictator and even if you set your civilization up as a democracy, you sure do win every single election regardless of how unhappy people are with you, and you spend a good chunk of time slaughtering local barbarians. And increasingly, with each new game, smaller independent nations because they really keep putting more and more emphasis on military conquest being, if not the best path to victory, one you have to push pretty far no matter what you’re going for.

And it doesn’t have to work like that. My favorite game, mostly in the franchise, is still Alpha Centauri. Where the “barbarians” are brain eating space worms, not other humans, and even then, you can (and I consistently do) be a big tree-hugging hippy, enact worm-friendly social policies, make friends with them instead of killing them, and have them go devour a bunch of violent anti-science anti-environment right wing creeps, strongarm everyone else into adopting similar policies, and, like Subnautica, leave the world better than you found it by foregoing all the easier wins and doing the thing where you find a permanent solution to the local planetary superconsciousness accidentally going berserk and eating itself at periodic intervals. Happy ending for everyone! Except for Miriam. Screw Miriam.

Meanwhile, someone I know not to long ago just randomly pitched a game where there’s a big nature ravaging industrial sprawl, but you play as some sort of reclaiming embodiment of nature, strategically... I guess spreading trees to grow up through everything and have rats chew through the wiring and stuff, and yeah, I would play the hell out of that game. If nobody else gets to it before I clear my plate of all these other projects, I might even make that game.

I should stress again too that it’s not even that I don’t want games to ever put me in such a role as the player, just if you’re going to do it, acknowledge that that sort of thing isn’t cool, and either make it clear that the player character has been forced into a really unfortunate position, or that said character is just awful. Or both, both works.

What I don’t want to ever see people do is rationalize a way out of the issues. “Oh this is an infinite supply of clean-burning coal” does not fly with me. “Oh we’re establishing a colony but it’s on an alien planet” is still colonialism. The weird fetish the whole game industry seems to have with leveling forests is not made better by having those trees give you saplings that fully replace every tree cut down in like 2 minutes. If you don’t want to unpack the moral implications of something, you can just not include it to begin with. None of the stuff I’ve been laying out here is actually necessary for any of these games to work. Just... quit being weird and making me play coal-mining conquistadors already.

[luckychild]

4, and 40 w/ Daughters of Destiny for the fanfic writer meme?

#4: How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

I have a bunch of Demon Slayer xOC stories in my head. A few Jujutsu Kaisen fics, too, and some of the MHA ideas I've mentioned here but have never posted. I recently started watching One Piece and have some ideas, but I need to finish the series (a monumental task) before working on any of them. And of course I really need to work on my Cowboy Bebop and Pokemon fics...

Obviously I still have some older YYH stories I still need to finish, both on my Star Charter account and on fics I started under another name. I find myself preoccupied by them rather than concocting new YYH ideas. Once I finish all of those, I'm thinking I might stop writing for YYH, unless something new strikes me. I always want to be a part of the fandom, but... I can't keep starting stuff and not completing it!

LC's gotta get finished first, before anything else.

#40: Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one). - Daughters of Destiny requested here

I'm not sure about an alternate ending since I haven't really written all of Not Quite Kagome's story. And since Daughters of Destiny was kind of a prologue to NQKag's story, its end is really more like a beginning? But here's the general vibe of how a story all about Not Quite Kagome would go, if that works for you.

Basically the dynamic between NQKag and Inuyasha would be super different in this story. They wouldn't be romantically interested in each other; NQKag knows her sister, who lived the life of Not Quite Kikyo, was into Inuyasha, and NQKag wouldn't want to encroach on that relationship. Plus, as an identical twin, in her past life she was often frustrated to be compared to her sister, so getting her sister's "leftovers" as a love interest in her new life is just plain gross and uncomfy. She'd resent being compared to Kikyo even more than canon!Kagome since she's already had too much of that kind of thing in her past life.

NQKag and Inuyasha, therefore, would basically become bros. They'd be a buddy comedy duo who bicker a lot and have more of a sibling relationship, and they bond over their shared love for Kikyo and their respective angst for what she's become and the roles they played in that. Each of them wants to seek out Not Quite Kikyo for their own reasons: Inuyasha for closure and to take care of a person he loved, and NQKag to lay her sister to rest and end her torment. They'd search for the jewel shards and try to find a way to lay NQKikyo to rest together.

The "sit boy" thing would also play out super differently. I have the scene already written! One day I'll share it, along with her meeting Miroku (she shuts down his pervy behaviors FAST). I'm thinking of making a snippets collection with random bits from NQKagome's story in it, but I'm still workshopping a title. Let me know if that sounds interesting to any of you.

I will admit I'm a SessKag shipper, so that would get set up somewhere along the way. NQKagome would open him up and challenge his perceptions of humanity. Would try my damndest not to turn her into a Manic Pixie Dream Girl to his Depressive Demon Nightmare Boy, although "Literal Ray of Sunshine dates Grumpy Rage Monster" is a favored ship dynamic for me, so...

I'm not entirely sure how her story would end, tbh. Part of me wants her to save NQKikyo by giving her a new life she can finally live in peace and with her own identity, but also there's something poetic in just laying her to rest after centuries of torment. But I also don't just want to kill someone who deserves more than she was given, y'know? It'd be a big bummer, and as I age, I find that I enjoy bummer endings less and less. Optimism in such a dark world can be truly subversive.

IDK if this was what you were really after when you asked for #40, but I hope this was interesting to read about, at least!

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

Oh, that bit about Karl’s powers and XD’s company at the beginning of the overwatch timeline made the karlnapity brain go brrrrrrr, bro!! Very long post ahead!!!! And I know the chatfic is coming soon, and I totally understand if you wanna reserve the blog’s attention for that once it comes out because I am also extremely excited for it, so publish this whenever you want!! Also good luck with the title and summary!!

So like, it’s a few years after Overwatch fell, and Sapnap, Quackity, and Karl are more or less content! They feel for Sam and the other original members, they do, but Overwatch and the omnics honestly weren’t a very big part of their world. They all made it through the omnic crisis just fine, and now they’re just going about their lives in the relative peacetime. They’re even engaged, vague plans of a marriage someday cobbling together bit by bit, but they’re in no rush. They’re happy!

And then Karl finds out about this interesting experiment that’s looking into real, live, actual time travel. Like!! Karl was psyched enough when space travel started getting big again; he knows just about everything there is to know about Horizon One for someone who’s never been there. If time travel turns out to be real? Karl wants in, and he wants in now.

Sapnap and Quackity are half-convinced it’s a scam or a gimmick or something. Sure, they personally knew what amounted to a superhero team a few years ago, but there’s a difference between a small group of skilled fighters and literal time travel. Especially since it’s an XD-sponsored endeavor, Quackity is certain there’s some catch. If nothing else, it’s probably a way to waste a lot of people’s time and money to get XD some good press again.

But Karl is so excited to check it out, neither of them want to try particularly hard to shut him down. They decide they’ll keep an eye on it, obviously, just in case, but they wish Karl good luck and a good time. So he heads out with high hopes and a little suitcase, promising to call every night and to see them soon.

And for the first few days, it goes great! Karl does call them every day and talks for at least an hour about everything he’s learning about this theoretical time travel and how it’ll work: a ship called the Slipstream, which is supposed to use teleportation technology to travel between places in negative time, thus creating functional time travel. Sapnap and Quackity reserve their doubts, but Karl’s having the time of his life either way, and they’re glad to hear him so happy. Especially when he tells them that he gets to get in the ship and take it on a test flight tomorrow - not to try out the time travel yet, but just to make sure he knows how to fly it. Karl gets to fly a ship!! He’s gonna be an actual pilot!! He’s so excited!!!

Karl hangs up that night, clearly over the moon, and Sapnap and Quackity resolve themselves happily to at least four hours on the phone tomorrow night, hearing all about the flight and how it went and what Karl is looking forward to.

And the next night, the hour comes, and Sapnap and Quackity settle on the couch with snacks and drinks, ready for a good long listening session. They wait for the phone to ring. And wait. And wait.

After an hour, they reason that maybe the test flight took longer than expected. Maybe Karl is tired out from flying it. Maybe Karl got distracted. Maybe he forgot to charge his phone. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Either way, it’s not like they had agreed that he’d call at this specific time. So there’s no need to worry. They’re not worried.

Another hour passes. And then another, and another, and soon midnight finds Sapnap and Quackity, sitting in the kitchen with mugs of tea long since cooled, watching a phone that won’t ring. Looking up the experiment or the Slipstream doesn’t bring up any bad news, which sets them both a bit at ease; no news is good news, right? At least for now?

Uneasily, they decide to go to bed. Karl will have to have called or at least texted by morning, surely. And if not, they’ll call him, and then they’ll call the number they were given for questions about the experiment. There’s no reason to worry.

Despite having no reason to worry, when morning comes without word from Karl, Sapnap and Quackity worry. When they call Karl, it goes straight to voicemail. When they call the number for the experiment, it’s disconnected. When they look up the experiment and the Slipstream and XD in general, they notice what they hadn’t last night: not only is there no news, there’s no mention of the experiment. The website Karl had learned about the experiment from is gone. XD’s website makes no mention of time travel. Even with all of Quackity’s investigative power, as far as the world wide web is concerned, there has never been a ship or shuttle with the name Slipstream.

It’s like the whole project never existed at all, and Karl Jacobs along with it.

Thus begins Sapnap and Quackity’s investigation. They call anyone who will listen, telling them that Karl is missing and it’s almost certainly the fault of XD and his company and please please please help them find out what happened. They become the most annoying thorn in XD’s side in months, calling every division in every company several times over, demanding answers. At one point, they’re discreetly contacted and offered hush money if they just drop it, and Sapnap has never screamed so loud in his life as when he told them exactly what they could do with that money. Quackity immediately tries to follow up, tracing the offer to gather proof that something must have happened if they’re trying to cover it up, and only runs into a brick wall. XD is infuriatingly good at covering his tracks.

What finally marks the turning point in their investigation is XD’s most common underestimation: common human decency between strangers. Quackity and Sapnap are anonymously contacted by someone who was working in the experiment’s division and heard about their search, someone who has access to Slipstream plans and blueprints. Through them, Quackity and Sapnap learn that Karl vanished because he was pressured into activating the time travel function on his test flight, despite the fact that it wasn’t ready yet. They’re also given early blueprints for the Slipstream, which include some of the plans for the time travel mechanism.

It’s this mechanism that Sam is able to study and rework and reverse engineer, eventually leading to the development of the chronal accelerator, which should, in theory, bring Karl back.

And it had been a rough time for Quackity and Sapnap, spending nearly all of their free time trying to gather resources and to find the truth and then to help Sam however he needed. They’ve undergone their respective breakdowns, supporting each other through them: Sapnap kept Quackity from burying himself too deeply in his work and his research, getting him to sleep and eat regularly. In turn, Quackity made sure he was available for Sapnap to talk and vent to, redirecting his steadily burning fury to constructive outlets. They’ve settled into an uneasy but manageable rhythm of getting through the days, haunted though they are by the uncertainty of where Karl is and when (if) they’ll see him again. And with the invention of the chronal accelerator, they’re both struggling with just how much hope they can afford. If this doesn’t work - if they get so close to finally getting Karl back, only to fail… it’s not something they want to think about.

So when Sam calls them down to his workshop, saying that he thinks he has a working model to recover their fiance, they arrive hand-in-hand, Quackity guarded, Sapnap cautiously optimistic. They gather around the workbench, surrounding Sam’s invention, a mechanical-looking harness with a glowing, green-and-purple spiral at its heart. Sam looks to them, hovering one hand over the activation switch, waiting for their signal.

They share a glance. Sapnap squeezes Quackity’s hand, steady and secure. No matter what, it promises. No matter what, I’ll still be here. I’m with you.

They both nod to Sam, and he flips the switch.

The harness hums and crackles to life, its spiral glowing brighter and starting to spin. Sam stands at the ready, watching six different monitors to ensure nothing goes wrong. Sapnap and Quackity lean on each other, nearly holding their breath, eyes glued to the accelerator.

Slowly, a figure fizzles into existence. Half-transparent, arms curled close to their chest, they glance around the room, looking lost and unsure, until they meet eyes with Sapnap and Quackity. Then their eyes go wide, one hand rising to their mouth, hanging open in shock.

Sapnap? says the ghost of Karl Jacobs. Quackity?

And in the next second, the ghost comes back to life, lungs filling with air, color rushing to his cheeks, solidity returning to his form. And Karl gasps, coughs, leans forward with one hand clapped over the accelerator, and his gaze doesn’t leave his fiances for a second. He extends one shaking arm, reaching for his fiances with an open hand. The tension shatters.

Sapnap closes the distance in half a second, Quackity barely a breath behind. The fiances collapse against the table as the two of them all but tackle Karl. Because Karl is real, Karl is alive, Karl is here in front of them. The lingering doubts that have dogged their footsteps vanish. The fear in their hearts that three engagement rings would become two wedding rings dissolves. The aching absence they’ve felt between them for months melts away in tears and sobs and bone-crushing hugs, the three of them relishing the hard-regained closeness, pressing together as the weight of the world lifts from all of their shoulders.

They’re together again.

[fictionwordcounts]

Together or Not at All [Din x Reader]

Word Count: 8000+

Summary: Normally two Mandalorians working together wasn't a good idea, but sometimes you're forced to make it work; and sometimes you want it to work.

It had been months since you had seen another Mandalorian. It was better for only a few hunters to work at a time, so they hardly crossed paths during a mission. That's why when a Mandalorian showed up in your town, word got around fast.

You had just picked up a bounty puck from an old friend of yours when a group of chattering droids wandered into the cantina. You twiddled your thumbs as they gossiped away, giving you all the information you needed. You could almost laugh at the stupidity of droids. They didn't know or care about what they could be giving away.

You slid your drink down the counter for someone else to enjoy. Normally, you'd take one back to your ship, but this couldn't be one of those times. You had work to do and a bounty hunter to find.

You walked down the street looking for the one person you knew that couldn't resist telling you everything; Even if it was for a price. As you passed by children playing in the streets, their mothers rounded them inside as quickly as they could. They knew your reputation, and though you would never hurt a youngling, it was probably best they stay out of your way. They watched curiously behind their mothers until you had passed their dwelling.

"If it isn't old Wrist Rocket!" Jung Powell's voice rang out signaling you had reached your destination. He called you that because a small missile launcher on your wrist was the only piece of pure beskar you had. It stood out, hence him picking it to distinguish you from other Mandalorians.

He emerged from his workshop and walked over to you. "Here to ask about the new Mando in town, eh?"

"Where are they?" You asked simply.

Jung laughed and squashed a bug underneath his foot. He was always easily distracted. "You know I like ya," he smiled. "But payment's been kind of high this month. Y'know how it is--"

"Fine. I'll get you a payment," you interrupted.

He chuckled and crossed all four of his green arms. "That's why I like you, but it's a bit different this time." You withheld a breath. If Jung wanted you to do something different, it was never good.

"I don't have time to chase down the people you squabble with," you argued.

"It's not a squabble," he countered. "He owes me money, and he won't pay up."

"So, a squabble," you huffed.

He waved two of his hands dismissively. "Ok, call it what you want. The point is I'm not very intimidating--"

"You don't say."

"But if you so much as walk in the door, he'll be at your feet with the money. I just know it." You took a moment to weigh out the options. It was just a simple debt collection. You figured it would be an easy job. Just get it over with and find the other Mandalorian.

"Fine," you agreed. "Who owes you?"

"Don't know if you've heard of him. His name's Kole. Never gave a me a last name, but he doesn't live far away."

He gave you the directions to your target, and you went quickly on your way. You needed to get this job over with so you could get the information you needed about the Mandalorian. You were almost jogging down the streets as you relayed the directions in your head. Left. Right. Left again. You stopped your mental GPS when you heard some kind of commotion. You took a deep breath. It was where your target supposedly was.

You armed the rocket on your wrist and slowly walked into the building. A man dropped at your feet and you instinctively aimed at him. He wasn't moving. You kicked his arm to make sure it was safe to continue.

"Who are you?" A voice made you whip around. Standing only a few feet from you was a Mandalorian decked out in full beskar armor. Every system in your body froze, and you had to remind yourself to breathe.

"You're a Mandalorian," you commented, ignoring his question.

"So are you," he added. He took a step towards you and you pulled out your blaster. He raised his hands slightly, but he didn't step back.

"What are you doing here?" you questioned.

"I'm just passing through," he answered. "I didn't know...I thought all the other Mandalorians were dead." You were glad the helmet you wore concealed the shock on your face. Either he was a lunatic or something terrible at happened.

"Why would you think that?" you asked.

He kept a hand raised as he crouched down at the man at your feet. "Because they all died," he quipped. You didn't quite know how to process what he was saying. You hadn't gone back to Mandalore in years, so it wasn't impossible that he was telling the truth. Still, you refused to believe that they were all gone.

He pulled something out of the mans pocket and stepped back once more. "What is that?" you questioned. The only reason you could trust him was the fact that he was a Mandalorian, and at the moment, that wasn't enough.

He crushed the device in his hand, making you wonder what it was even more. "Broken," he responded simply.

You rolled your eyes though he couldn't see it. "You better start talking, because this is my town. I'm not letting another Mandalorian put me out of my job here.

"I'm not here to take your job," he assured you. "I just came for him." He gestured to the unmoving man that was still at your feet. You figured by now that it was Kole. Your target.

"He was my job," you growled. He still hadn't told you why he was there or how the other Mandalorians had died. He wasn't telling you anything, and it frustrated you to no end.

"Well," he sighed. "You better hope your employer will take him in cold." He tried to walk by you and you were quick to block him.

"Move," he ordered.

"Not until you give me answers," you insisted.

"I was going to," he said. "Back at my ship."

"I'm perfectly fine discussing this here," you said pointedly.

"I'm not." He changed his approach, realizing that he wasn't getting through to you. "Believe me, I'm not going anywhere. I've been looking for another Mandalorian for a while. I just need to get something."

You both stared at each other as if you could read the other's expression through the helmets. That was always a problem with Mandalorians. They couldn't communicate without getting physical. The longer you stood there the heavier the tension in the air became.

A squeal interrupted your stare-down, and before you knew it, your blaster was aimed in the direction of the sound.

"Don't!" The Mandalorian cried. You took a moment to take in what exactly you were looking at. A small green creature with abnormally large ears was standing on a counter not far off.

"How did that get in here?" you demanded.

The Mandalorian rushed over to the creature and gingerly picked it up. "I don't know," he huffed. Then to the child he added, "I thought I told you to stay on the ship." It cooed in response and held it's hand out toward you. You still had your blaster raised, so you lowered it slowly and stared at it's three little fingers.

"What does it want?" you asked. Instead of responding, he put the child down on the ground, and it stumbled in it's oversized coat towards you. You tensed up as it got closer.

"What does it want?" you repeated with more urgency. The kid reached your feet and grabbed on to one of your legs. You froze, so you didn't hurt it by moving.

"Don't hurt him, he's just a kid," The Mandalorian said.

"I wasn't planning on it, but you need to get it off of me!" You raised the boot with the creature on it so he could take it off. He set it back on the ground, and it immediately started making it's way back to you. He picked it up with a warning and didn't put it down again.

"That's not....your kid---"

"No," he interrupted. "I just found him."

"A foundling," you whispered as you stepped towards the child.

The Mandalorian instinctively stepped back. "Yes. I've been keeping him safe."

"Hence my target being dead at my feet," you guessed.

He nodded. "Are you a guild member?"

"No, I get my targets from locals," you explained. "Something I intend to keep doing, so you and your foundling might want to make yourselves disappear."

"We're not here to ruin your business."

"You being here is ruining my business," you pointed out. "Right now, I get plenty of jobs. Why shouldn't I? I am the only Mandalorian in this town after all. Add another in the mix? eventually we'll be either splitting the load, or fighting for the best offer."

"I'm not here for the jobs," he said. "If I needed jobs, I could go anywhere. Like I said, the Mandalorians are gone. People will hire anyone. All you need is the armor."

"Speaking of," you said with a nod towards his armor. "You've got a pretty good set. What are the odds of the Mandalorians being wiped out and a single man making it out with full beskar armor? I'd guess pretty slim. Unless of course he helped kill a few so he could keep the spoils."

"I got this armor before they all died," he informed. "High paying customer."

"Must've been quite a bounty."

"Still is," he looked at the kid in his arms. "That's why I have to keep him safe."

You paused to take in what he had said. "That was the bounty?"

"If you lay a finger on him--"

"I'm not interested in the money," you snapped. "I just want to know how you got paid and still got to keep him."

"It's complicated."

You looked back and forth between him and the kid. "Alright. I don't care. Just get what you came for and get off my planet."

***

It had been days since your Mandalorian encounter and he still hadn't left. You would see him around town every now and again, and he was always with that kid. He insisted he was leaving, but he never did. It made you anxious. In just the few days he had been there he had stirred everyone up. You couldn't imagine what would happen if he never left.

You sat on the edge of a rock on the outskirts of your town. He claimed he had his ship parked somewhere around there. You wanted to check it out, but you weren't in any hurry. It was nice to be able to take in the scenery for a moment. You stood and took a deep breath. Calming down for a second was just what you needed. This Mandalorian had you worked up for nothing.

You turned around and froze when you saw the Mandalorian's kid standing right in front of you. For some reason, he always made an effort to find you. You liked to think the Mandalorian told it to, just to get on your nerves.

"Go back to the Mandalorian," you ordered. It titled it's head and continued to stare at you. "The other Mandalorian." It stayed.

"Look, kid, I'm not babysitting you. Go back to the Mandalorian that takes care of you, cause it certainly isn't me." Finally, he started walking. Unfortunately for him, he was walking straight towards the edge of the cliff. You put your foot in it's path and it looked up at you.

"Try the other way," you instructed. You nudged it with your foot away from the edge. It paused there for a moment, then turned around and headed for the edge again. You sighed and picked it up by the back of it's cloak. You really didn't want to touch it at all, but you couldn't leave it to wander off the cliff like that. You held it away from you as you continued to trek through the rocky area. Either you'd find his ship or you'd take the creature back to him directly.

A few moments later you saw smoke rising in the sky. There was nothing in that area for miles. The perfect place to land a ship. You picked up the pace, hoping that it was the ship you were looking for. Sure enough in the middle of the clearing was a broken down ship that looked like it used to be a Razor Crest.

"Please tell me that isn't his ship," you said to the child. It only gurgled in response. You set it down now that it couldn't wander off an edge somewhere, and it started walking to the ship. No wonder that Mandalorian was still there. He hardly had a ship to fly back on.

"Hey!" The Mandalorian came up behind you. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"You intend to fly back on that?" you remarked. "That wouldn't make it off the ground, much less the planet."

"You think I don't know that?" he huffed. "That's why I've been repairing it these past few days. Don't worry. The kid and I will be out of your little town in no time." He stopped the kid halfway to the ship and carried him the rest of the way. You decided to follow, curious about the inside. You followed the Mandalorian up the ramp and took a quick look around the ship. It didn't take long since it was so small and cramped. You couldn't imagine living in it.

"Are you done with your little tour?" he grumbled when you had made it back to the ramp.

You shrugged. "If you don't want me to look around your ship, you should've had it off the planet."

"Unless you have a spare parked in a garage somewhere, that's not going to happen just yet."

"It might be easier if you didn't have a kid to look after," you pointed out.

"It's not that difficult."

"Oh really?" you smirked. "Is that why I found it about to wander off a cliff?"

You could see him tense beneath his beskar armor. "What?" he said testily.

You walked off the ship with a last comment over your shoulder. "I'll let you get back to work."

You sat outside the cantina with Jung Powell talking business. He always bought you a drink thought he knew you couldn't remove your helmet. He probably did it as a temptation to break your code, but it would never work. Instead he would just drink yours as well as his.

"You did great with the money Kole owed me," he was saying. "But you killing him gave a lot of people cold feet y'know."

You tilted your head slightly. "What about you?"

He reached forward to grab the cup in front of you. "I understand it was all in a day's work," he said through a chuckle. He emptied the glass in one gulp and slammed the cup back on the table. "So, if you're looking for another job, I'm the one to talk to."

"That's why I'm here," you said.

"This one's a bit different--"

"With how often you say that, it's starting to become expected."

"Right, I get that, but this really is something else." He leaned over the table enough for you to smell his breath. "Are you up for a cargo run?"

You leaned back and shook your head. "I'm a bounty hunter, not a mail carrier."

"Not even if the mail includes a high paying customer?" he bribed. You stared at him as you considered the offer. It was almost impossible for you to give up a good payment, and you knew that Jung never let you down when it came to those.

"Where to?" you asked warily.

"A dwarf planet a couple systems away--"

"Off planet?" you interrupted. "No deal."

"Come on, wrist rocket, it's getting harder and harder to get deals that stay on planet," he whined.

"Maybe for you, but I have other sources." You stood up to leave and he was quick to tumble out of his chair and stop you.

"No, no, wait!" he cried. "I promise it's worth your time! Plenty of credits! Probably enough to get you more than just a wrist rocket!" You froze. You couldn't lie and say that it wasn't tempting. Deep down you knew it was because of the Mandalorian, but you didn't listen to yourself.

Instead you turned back to Jung. "What do I need to take and where?"

He smiled and rubbed two of his hands together. "Glad you're on board." He gave you your assignment and you walked away knowing you just made a big mistake. Madnalorians were true to their word. If you said you were going to do it, you have to see it through. Now you took up a job out of what? Spite? It was a terrible idea. However, you pushed the doubt out of your mind and looked towards your goal. The only thing you needed now was a way off the planet.

***

"You want me to do what?" The Mandalorian didn't sound thrilled about your offer.

"I'll give you a cut," you assured him. "I just need transportation off-planet."

"I'm not towing you around to whatever planet you want for a small tip."

"A small tip and the repairs you need to get that ship off the ground," you corrected.

"No thanks. I'll repair it myself." He walked back into his ship, not letting you respond. You stepped back to see his ship was still smoking and hissing and let out a frustrated breath. You knew you could fix it for him, but you wouldn't do it for charity. You weren't getting through to him though. You cut your losses and turned around to leave.

Something grabbed on to your leg and out of instinct, you tried to kick it off. You heard the Mandalorian's foundling squealing so you stopped and looked down. Once again, the creature was holding onto your boot with a iron grip. Normally you'd pry it off and send it on it's way, but as it looked up at you with it's big black eyes, you had an awful idea.

Warily, you began walking it back to the ship. You heard the Mandalorian in the the cockpit so you waited for him to come down. When he did come down and saw you with the creature, he froze.

"What are you doing with him?" he said. You could tell he was tense, and his hand was hovering closer and closer to his blaster.

"Your little foundling won't let go of me," you said with a smirk that he thankfully couldn't see. "I tried and tried, but he just won't budge."

"Sounds like a you problem," he said. You thought you heard a hint of humor, but he was far too concerned about his kid for you to tell.

"It is until I go off-planet to finish out this job, and because I couldn't get him away from me, he tags along. That sounds very much like a you problem," you teased.

The Mandalorian clenched his fists. He scooped the kid off your leg and placed him in his bed. He closed the door and turned back to you. "Leave the kid out of this."

"I can't help what it does--"

"You're not taking him with you." Now he was getting upset.

You felt the kid grab onto your boot again and without looking down at it you said, "I don't think I have a choice."

"How did you--" The Mandalorian tried to take him off again, but the kid stayed put. "C'mon kid, let go."

Nothing.

The Mandalorian tugged harder, but the kid squealed, causing him to stop. He looked from the creature to you. For a second, your stomach flipped at the idea that he might actually kill you just to get his kid back. You quickly pushed the thought aside. He wouldn't. It was against the code.

He stood there considering his options for a while before he finally mumbled, "You'd have to get it to fly."

You smiled and gently took the kid off your boot. "Thank you," you said as you handed it over.

He took it and brushed past you as he said, "Just one trip there and back. No more." That was fine by you. You got exactly what you needed. Now you had to get to work with the repairs.

***

You and the Mandalorian sat in the cockpit ready to test out the repaired ship. His kid sat in his lap since you were taking up it's usual spot, so he carefully reached around it to flip switches and press buttons. He had instructed you not to touch anything, then proceeded to unscrew a small lever and hand part of it to the kid.

"We just repaired this thing, and you think it's a good idea to take it apart for that thing's chew toy?" you inquired.

"I know what I'm doing," he snapped. He pulled up, and the whole ship rumbled beneath you. For a moment you weren't sure it would make it off the ground. Then, with a low creak, the ship rose and started cruising forward slowly but surely.

"Hold on," the Mandalorian instructed. He increased the speed and the ship let out a number of complaints. It started rumbling and shaking uncontrollably, and you grabbed onto the seat so you wouldn't get tossed around.

"What's happening?" you shouted over the noise of alarms and groaning metal.

"It'll stabilize once we break through the atmosphere!" he responded.

"If we make it that far!" you snapped. You looked over at the kid on his lap. He was smiling and bouncing like it was some kind of ride to him. Something you would've found funny if there wasn't a good chance that you would all plummet back to the ground. A few moments later, space came speeding into view and the alarms switched off. Then in a second everything went from chaotic to completely silent.

"Told you," the Mandalorian said. "Now we just cruise over to your dwarf planet. I don't think we'll be able to jump to hyperspace."

"What?" you said louder than you had planned. "That could take us days, and that's if we don't come across any obstacles!"

"You're the one who wanted a ride," he quipped as he leaned back in his chair. "If you change your mind, there's always the eject pods."

It took every cell in your body to maintain your composure. This wasn't even a mission you were particularly thrilled about going on, much less with this Mandalorian. You felt at times that the only thing keeping you both from each others throats was the Mandalorian code, but according to him, all the Mandalorians were dead. What validity was there to that pact?

The creature on his lap kept looking at you with it's huge, pitch-black eyes. You didn't know how to react. It was hard not to stare. It's eyes and ears were oversized, and it's layers of clothes made it look like it was in a squishy cocoon. It was kind of cute. You smiled at it, and though it couldn't see, it gurgled and smiled back.

"How old is it?" you asked. The Mandalorian seemed taken aback by the question. You were almost surprised yourself. You didn't care about the kid. You were just curious.

"I don't know," he said after a while. "Somewhere around 50?"

"Fifty?" you asked surprised.

"Well, he obviously ages slower than we do," he remarked. You looked over at the kid and he looked back at you with wide questioning eyes. The Mandalorian stood up with the kid in his arms, and went to the lower part of the ship. "I'll be right back. Don't touch anything!" His command echoed just far enough for you to hear him. You rolled your eyes and reclined in your seat. You might as well get comfortable.

You had been twiddling your thumbs for almost half an hour, and the Mandalorian still hadn't come back. It was irritating, especially since you couldn't do anything on his ship. It clearly wasn't meant to be a livable space. It was just meant for towing him across the galaxy.

You had thought about traveling beyond your planet before, and the longer you stayed the more you wanted to leave. You had heard that it's the spirit of a Mandalorian to travel from place to place, but you never tried. Now you looked out at the black of space littered with stars. It had been so long since you had seen it.

A small, quiet sound roused you from your thoughts. You turned your seat around to see the kid standing there and staring right at you. A small chuckle escaped your lips.

"What do I have to do to get you to stop following me?" you asked half-jokingly. He babbled as if he was actually trying to respond. He walked closer and raised his arms.

"Sorry, but I don't think your dad would want me picking you up," you warned. It insisted and walked even closer. You rolled your eyes. The Mandalorian didn't seem to be coming back soon anyway. You granted the child's wish and picked him up. You didn't set him on your lap, but rather held him a good distance away from you as if he was toxic.

"Are you seriously older than I am?" you whispered almost to yourself.

"Hey!" The Mandalorian's voice cut through the ships low hum and made you jump. You almost dropped the kid so you brought him closer to you by instinct. "What are you doing with the kid?"

"Your kid keeps coming to me!" you explained angrily. "Besides, he's fine." You held the creature out towards the Mandalorian like it was some dull object. He was quick to take it from you, and he sat back down in the pilot's seat. You needed to say something. Anything. You were getting tired of constantly being mad at each other. After all, you were supposedly the last two of your kind. It probably wasn't best to be fighting each other with every word.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to call you," you mentioned. It was a sudden thought that you had. You currently didn't call him anything. The way you got each others attention was by yelling at the other. Definitely not a good way to end the fighting.

His head moved ever so slightly towards you. "I don't really..." He trailed off and a long moment of silence passed before he spoke up again. "Why don't you just...call me Mando?"

"Mando?" you inquired. "That derogatory nickname that almost every Mandalorian gets?"

"It's not a derogatory nickname. At least, not anymore," he corrected. "I don't have anything else in mind."

"Well, Mandalorians get their nicknames by what they look like or how they act," you pointed out. You looked him up and down. "I guess that would make you 'Beskar?'"

"And what would that make you? 'Not beskar?'" he retorted.

"Ha ha," you replied unenthusiastically. "I'm seriously just supposed to call you Mando?"

"Call me whatever you want," he concluded. "It's not like we're going to be seeing each other after I drop you off." You couldn't argue with that. You certainly didn't intend to see him again, and you were positive the feeling was mutual. You laid your head back against the seat. This was going to be a long trip.

***

Two days since you had left, the dwarf planet finally came into view. You were relieved to be so close to your destination. Of course, the trip wasn't as bad as you thought once you actually talked to Mando without bickering. If you didn't leave room for an argument, he hardly said anything, but the few things he said were actually worth something.

"That's the planet right?" he asked.

"It is," you confirmed. "Are you sure this thing is equipped to land?"

"I guess we'll find out in about five minutes," he replied as he flicked switches and pressed buttons.

"Ship 4119, this is landing pad 7. Do you have clearance to land?" A voice from the intercom made both of you freeze. A small hologram appeared with a symbol that made your blood turn cold. It was the crest of the Empire.

"This is an imperial trade?" Mando hissed under his breath.

"Dank farrik!" you growled. "I'll kill you, Powell."

"Ship 4119, are you reading me?" The voice pressed.

"What do we do?" you whispered.

"Four minutes 'til we land," he started. "We stall." He raised his voice so the person over the intercom could hear. "Yes, I have clearance, but there's some bad interference. Let me switch you over to another channel. Stand by." He switched off the intercom and turned towards you. "That should buy us about a minute."

"Only?" you asked incredulously.

"What did you expect dealing with the Empire?" he scolded.

"I didn't know it was the Empire," you defended weakly.

"We don't have long to figure out what we're doing," he reminded you. "We can't land on the pad so we need to find an alternative."

"It's all trees," you huffed. "The landing pad is our only option."

"Ship 4119, you cooperation is required or you will be terminated."

"The landing pad it is," he sighed. "Hold on to the kid. It's not going to be a smooth landing."

You did as he said and waited. He lowered the landing gear and the ship immediately seized up. The shook and rumbled, and alarms started going off. The voice over the intercom had started a countdown until their "termination". Mando waited until the count of one to expertly roll to the side and half land half crash onto a separate landing pad. Guards were around the ship in moments. Stormtroopers.

"Step out of the ship with your arms up," one commanded.

"They don't know that there's two of us," Mando whispered to you. "I'll walk out as they said, then on my signal, you come in behind and start taking them out." You nodded, and he started to make his way off the ship. You watched him closely for the signal as you readied your rocket. One hit, perfectly aimed, would take them all out.

The signal, followed by your rocket going off, followed by a blinding white light filled the next few moments of your life. When the smoke cleared, there was hardly anything telling you there were stormtroopers there at all. You exited the ship with the kid still in your arms.

"Not bad," you complemented yourself.

"Yeah, yeah, you did good," he brushed off. "We're not entirely out of the woods yet. Spread out and make contact if you find the package."

You stopped. "I thought you were leaving."

"What can I say?" he said with a small shrug. "I'm bored." He threw a small communicator in your direction. "If you come back without the kid, you're as good as dead." Without another word, he jogged off to look for the package. You look down at the kid in your hands, and he tilted his head.

"Yeah, I'm confused too," you murmured. You jogged in the opposite direction already waiting to get off this planet.

What seemed like hours later, Mando contacted you on the communicator. It was pretty choppy, but from what you could tell, he either had the package or he would soon. You breathed a sigh of relief. You weren't comfortable being so close to the Empire.

You quickly found the river you had been following, and began heading upstream. The kid was getting restless. He wanted to walk, but the Mandalorian would have your head if you let him with so many stormtroopers around. So you continued. You thought all would be well, but out of nowhere a gun shot fired right next to your head.

"They're over here!" A stormtrooper yelled through the woods. You found cover and quickly opened your communicator.

"Mando, I'm under attack!" you warned. "South of the ship, not far! Hurry!" Shots were firing all around you and the child started whimpering in fear. You held him close to you as you fired shots blindly into the forest. "Mando!"

Stormtroopers yelled in the distance signaling help was there. You stood from your cover and came helmet to helmet with a camo trooper. He knocked his gun into your hands, sending the kid rolling across the forest floor. You fired your blaster and the trooper dropped to the ground. You heard a sickening splash as you realized the child had rolled towards the river.

Mando caught up with you and noticed you didn't have his kid. "Where is he?" he yelled. You ignored him and plunged head first into the river. The child was so small, it would've been carried away in an instant. When you finally spotted him, he was bobbing downstream with a wide smile. You swam towards him, scooped him up, and placed him back on solid ground. Thankfully there wasn't a scratch on him.

The Mandalorian had made it to you and the kid right as you pulled yourself from the river. You were ready for him to scold you, grab the kid, and walk off, but he picked up the kid and extended an arm to you.

"You alright?" he questioned. You hesitantly took his hand, and he helped you stand.

"Fine," you said quietly. A small hint of a nod from Mando, and you were both walking through the forest back to the ship.

Mando held out a metal rod laced with blue light. "This the package?"

"Yes," you said as you took it from him. "Thank you."

"We can't get back on the Razor Crest," he informed. "It's too banged up."

"What are we supposed to do then?" you asked.

He turned to you. "We need one of those Imperial Cruisers."

***

It had been a whole month since your run-in with the Empire. You and Mando successfully stole one of the Empires aircraft, and made your way back to your planet without a hitch. It was there that Mando offered for you to work with him for a while. You told him you had to think about it, but your mind was already made up. You loved the thrill of going off planet, and you wanted to go again.

You hadn't looked back until now. You were currently making your way back to that same dwarf planet to retrieve the ship you had left behind so long ago.

"Either the Empire will be completely flushed out--" Mando was saying.

"Or they'll have grown ten times their original size," you finished.

"That about sums it up," he confirmed. Working together felt so natural now. It was a wonder Mandalorians hadn't worked together before. They had similar expertise, making it easy to agree to and execute a plan. At least, that was the case for you and the Mandalorian. You found a way to communicate without fighting, and you only grew closer from there.

You liked being around the Mandalorian. You hadn't expected to become so close to him, but you didn't mind one bit. You were both at ease with one another and didn't need a lot of words to understand each other. You both had learned the micro movements that the other would use. A small shift of the helmet. A clench of the fist. A drop of the shoulders. Small things that meant so much.

"So, you run the kid onto the ship as I cover you," Mando said, going through the plan once more.

"I set off a distraction long enough for you to make it on the ship yourself," you continued.

"And we fly off the planet as quick as we can."

"Assuming it will fly," you quipped.

"All of this is assuming they've grown stronger," he reminded you. "I'm not sure the Empire is capable of that at this point."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," you cautioned. The intercom rang out with the same warning you had received last time.

Mando kept his eyes forward. "Here we go." He ignored the voice and landed the ship on the pad. You picked up the kid and waited for Mando to leave the ship first. He walked out, guns blazing, and you were quick to slip out behind him. A few troopers saw you, but luckily they were terrible shots. You made quick work of them and moved the kid onto the Razor Crest. So far so good. Now you just had give Mando a distraction.

Before you could even think of anything, three TIE fighters let loose a rain of fire on the pad where the Mandalorian was. In a panic you fired a rocket at one, but it just missed the fast moving ship.

"Mando!" you called. "Get in here! We need to move!" You fired at as many troopers as you could without attracting fire to yourself, but it didn't help much. He was practically by himself.

"Fire up the ship and take off!" You heard Mando's voice over the communicator in your helmet.

"I'm not leaving you," you replied.

"Leave the ramp open! Trust me!" Going against your better judgement, you did as he said. The child was confused as to why you were leaving the Mandalorian on the planet, but he stayed with you. You tried to get the ship off the ground, but it wouldn't budge. You diverted power and fuel until you had enough of a kick to get it moving.

"Now would be a great time to get on board!" you informed.

"I'm on my way! Fly!" he responded. You pushed forward as the ship creaked. Would it be able to make it off the planet?

"Lower!" Mando's voice called out suddenly. You pushed the ship downwards and everything lurched forward. Including the child who was more than happy to be around all the buttons.

"Get back in your seat," you instructed him. His ears drooped, but he obeyed and crawled off the control panel.

"I'm on! Close the ramp," Mando said. You closed the ramp and tried to direct the ship upwards. TIE fighters noticed the attempt to escape and started firing making the ship worse.

"We're taking fire!" you yelled. Mando climbed the ladder into the cockpit, and you were quick to move so he could take the controls. The ship slowly climbed while taking shots from the TIE fighters. You couldn't dodge them without using much needed fuel to get away from the planet. The ship was rocking and squealing as it tried to break through the planets atmosphere. You grabbed the child and rushed him down to his bed. He would be safer there than in the cockpit.

"We broke through!" Mando informed you. You climbed back up to where he was.

"Then why are we still shaking uncontrollably?" you questioned.

"Those TIE fighters will be on us in seconds," he continued. "We need to jump to hyperspace."

"This ship can't do that!"

"It'll have to. Where's the kid?"

"He's safe."

"Then hold on." He prepared everything for the jump, but he looked over at you before he started. "It's our only option."

You strapped in as quickly as you could. "Then do it." Mando engaged the hyperdrive. Immediately you knew you were going to crash. The ship's alarms blared and the engine burst into flames. Pulling out of hyperspace, you saw a planet speeding into view, but you couldn't stop the ship in time. You crashed and slid on the icy planet before everything went black.

***

When you woke up, you could only make out the orange light of fire mixing with the blue light of the planet you were on. You tried to blink to make the world come into focus, but your eyes refused to comply. You took off your helmet for a moment and cold wind whipped at your face. The back of your head throbbed and you gingerly touched it. When you moved your hand you saw that it was coated in blood. You were wounded where no one could see.

You slipped your helmet back on before going to find the Mandalorian. You didn't know what to do except find him, so that's what you would do. You didn't have to walk far before you found the crashed ship. You picked up the pace as you called for the Mandalorian. You entered the burning ship and found Mando unconscious in the cock pit. You shook his shoulder until he finally woke.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," you lied.

"And the kid?" he pressed.

"I don't know," you answered. You both quickly descended the ladder and opened the door to the sleeping pod. The child sat on the bed completely unharmed. You breathed a sigh of relief. You felt as if the kid was your own. You didn't know what you'd do if something happened to him.

"Any sign of the Empire?" Mando questioned.

"None," you replied. "But there's no sign of getting off this planet either. We really messed up."

"There has to be some kind of lifeform on this planet," he insisted.

"I saw the planet. It's all snow and ice. You'd have to be crazy to live here."

"We have to try anyway." He grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped the child in it. You all left the ship and stepped onto the freezing planet. Your hopes of finding a way off were low to non-existent, but you followed Mando. He'd find a way.

The longer you walked, the dizzier you felt. Your head hadn't stopped throbbing and you were finding it hard to focus. Whatever you had done to your head was slowly chipping away at you. Your legs felt weak, and it wasn't long before they gave out on you. You crumpled into the snow.

"Y/N!" Mando called. You couldn't register his voice. Where he was. What was happening. The fact that he had used your name though you never gave it to him. It was all just a fleeting thought that was drowned out in the pain. He held you in his arms as he tried to keep you conscious. You felt his hands at the sides of your helmet and you quickly held them away.

"It's against the code," you groaned.

He looked at his hand which was covered in blood from your helmet. "You're bleeding! I have to take it off to help!"

"No!" you insisted. "You can't see my face. You know that."

"I'd rather you live with the shame then die here in the snow!"

"I can't," you breathed. "I've never taken it off in front of anyone." He stopped and looked at you hopelessly.

"It's ok," you said. "Find a way off the planet and take care of the kid." The Mandalorian carefully propped you up in the snow then slightly stepped back. Before you could say anything, or even think of what was happening. He removed his helmet and dropped it at his feet. His brown hair blew wildly in the wind as he bent down to you.

"You..." you barely whispered.

"I'm helping you even if that means breaking the code, but we'll be breaking it together," he said. You felt him lifting the helmet off your head, but you didn't stop him. He placed your helmet next to his in the snow and gently moved your hair aside. You didn't have the willpower to fight what was happening. You let him work as the world grew fuzzy around you. It all seemed surreal. Especially when the next thing you remembered was the child dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

The world was coming back into focus, and the throbbing pain in your skull subsided. You looked up to see your Mandalorian unmasked and holding his child. Your hand instinctively reached for the wound at the back of your head, but there was none.

"He healed you." It was strange to hear the Mandalorian's voice outside of the helmet. It was softer and more real. "I don't know how he does it, but it drains his energy. It was the only way to save you.

You stood slowly, unable to take your eyes from the Mandalorian's. It was strange to think he was seeing your face just as you were seeing his. You thought you'd be more ashamed. After all you had broken one of the most important rules on Mandalore. You both had. But you didn't feel guilt like you had done something wrong. You felt what you could only identify as relief. Relief that you didn't have to hide behind your metal helmet in front of the one you cared so deeply for.

Mando picked up both the helmets, handing yours to you. "We should get moving." You stared into yours, not wanting to put it back on. You grudgingly did, and Mando followed. You both took moment to stare at each others expressionless helmets, then continued through the ice and snow.

When you finally found people, you recognized them as a rebels. There weren't many that were aware of the Empires presence and even fewer would fight. They wouldn't harm you. They brought you into a cave that was partially lined with metal and cement. They hadn't been there long. They were hesitant to let you in at first, but when they saw the child laying unconscious in Mando's arms, they obliged. They took the kid to care for him, and you could tell Mando was tense. You placed your hand on his shoulder and he turned to you.

"He's going to be fine," you comforted. He remained silent. "You...said my name. Back in the snow. Unless I was hallucinating--"

"You weren't" he confirmed. "I saw it on our first trip to that kriffing dwarf planet. I never meant to get used to saying it in my head. I'm sorry."

You shrugged. "I don't think you knowing it puts me in danger."

He took a deep breath. "My real name is Din Djarin."

"You didn't have to tell me--"

"From now on, we do things together or not at all. Deal?"

You desperately wished he could see you smile. "Deal."

***

A week passed on the planet you came to know as Hoth. You needed time to recover and so did the kid. The rebels were working on a way to get you off the planet, and the Mandalorian spent most of his time working to help them with that. He was getting more frustrated every day. You wanted to help him. Tell him they'd find a way soon, but the only option they had was another week of waiting until a ship flew in for supplies.

It was late at night when he came to you. He was broken down and stressed, but he would never tell you so. He hardly said a word to you during the whole week. But now here he was.

He walked over to you slowly and stopped. "I can't find a faster way off this planet," he said, his voice laced with defeat.

"It's alright," you assured him. "What matters is that we will get off. Eventually."

"Eventually," he repeated. "Eventually isn't good enough."

"We're alright here," you soothed. "Nothing's going to happen to the kid here."

"They have trackers," he pointed out. "They'll find him if we don't move--"

"Din," you said, using his name for the first time since he told it to you. You stepped closer so he was only a few inches apart from you. You removed his helmet without any objections from him and set it aside. You did the same to your helmet. You needed to talk to him face to face.

"No one is going to get the kid because we're protecting him," you said. "We protect him together." Din smiled, wrapped his arms around your waist, and pulled you closer to him. Your arms rested around his neck as your lips touched. A kiss was something a Mandalorian could never know. But you both disregarded the rules just so you could know each other's touch not  through a casing of metal. And you did it together.

[imagining-imagines]

Together or Not at All [Din x Reader]

Requested on Wattpad.com at StarkWars084

Word count: 8000+

It had been months since you had seen another Mandalorian. It was better for only a few hunters to work at a time, so they hardly crossed paths during a mission. That's why when a Mandalorian showed up in your town, word got around fast.

You had just picked up a bounty puck from an old friend of yours when a group of chattering droids wandered into the cantina. You twiddled your thumbs as they gossiped away, giving you all the information you needed. You could almost laugh at the stupidity of droids. They didn't know or care about what they could be giving away.

You slid your drink down the counter for someone else to enjoy. Normally, you'd take one back to your ship, but this couldn't be one of those times. You had work to do and a bounty hunter to find.

You walked down the street looking for the one person you knew that couldn't resist telling you everything; Even if it was for a price. As you passed by children playing in the streets, their mothers rounded them inside as quickly as they could. They knew your reputation, and though you would never hurt a youngling, it was probably best they stay out of your way. They watched curiously behind their mothers until you had passed their dwelling.

"If it isn't old Wrist Rocket!" Jung Powell's voice rang out signaling you had reached your destination. He called you that because a small missile launcher on your wrist was the only piece of pure beskar you had. It stood out, hence him picking it to distinguish you from other Mandalorians.

He emerged from his workshop and walked over to you. "Here to ask about the new Mando in town, eh?"

"Where are they?" You asked simply.

Jung laughed and squashed a bug underneath his foot. He was always easily distracted. "You know I like ya," he smiled. "But payment's been kind of high this month. Y'know how it is--"

"Fine. I'll get you a payment," you interrupted.

He chuckled and crossed all four of his green arms. "That's why I like you, but it's a bit different this time." You withheld a breath. If Jung wanted you to do something different, it was never good.

"I don't have time to chase down the people you squabble with," you argued.

"It's not a squabble," he countered. "He owes me money, and he won't pay up."

"So, a squabble," you huffed.

He waved two of his hands dismissively. "Ok, call it what you want. The point is I'm not very intimidating--"

"You don't say."

"But if you so much as walk in the door, he'll be at your feet with the money. I just know it." You took a moment to weigh out the options. It was just a simple debt collection. You figured it would be an easy job. Just get it over with and find the other Mandalorian.

"Fine," you agreed. "Who owes you?"

"Don't know if you've heard of him. His name's Kole. Never gave a me a last name, but he doesn't live far away."

He gave you the directions to your target, and you went quickly on your way. You needed to get this job over with so you could get the information you needed about the Mandalorian. You were almost jogging down the streets as you relayed the directions in your head. Left. Right. Left again. You stopped your mental GPS when you heard some kind of commotion. You took a deep breath. It was where your target supposedly was.

You armed the rocket on your wrist and slowly walked into the building. A man dropped at your feet and you instinctively aimed at him. He wasn't moving. You kicked his arm to make sure it was safe to continue.

"Who are you?" A voice made you whip around. Standing only a few feet from you was a Mandalorian decked out in full beskar armor. Every system in your body froze, and you had to remind yourself to breathe.

"You're a Mandalorian," you commented, ignoring his question.

"So are you," he added. He took a step towards you and you pulled out your blaster. He raised his hands slightly, but he didn't step back.

"What are you doing here?" you questioned.

"I'm just passing through," he answered. "I didn't know...I thought all the other Mandalorians were dead." You were glad the helmet you wore concealed the shock on your face. Either he was a lunatic or something terrible at happened.

"Why would you think that?" you asked.

He kept a hand raised as he crouched down at the man at your feet. "Because they all died," he quipped. You didn't quite know how to process what he was saying. You hadn't gone back to Mandalore in years, so it wasn't impossible that he was telling the truth. Still, you refused to believe that they were all gone.

He pulled something out of the mans pocket and stepped back once more. "What is that?" you questioned. The only reason you could trust him was the fact that he was a Mandalorian, and at the moment, that wasn't enough.

He crushed the device in his hand, making you wonder what it was even more. "Broken," he responded simply.

You rolled your eyes though he couldn't see it. "You better start talking, because this is my town. I'm not letting another Mandalorian put me out of my job here.

"I'm not here to take your job," he assured you. "I just came for him." He gestured to the unmoving man that was still at your feet. You figured by now that it was Kole. Your target.

"He was my job," you growled. He still hadn't told you why he was there or how the other Mandalorians had died. He wasn't telling you anything, and it frustrated you to no end.

"Well," he sighed. "You better hope your employer will take him in cold." He tried to walk by you and you were quick to block him.

"Move," he ordered.

"Not until you give me answers," you insisted.

"I was going to," he said. "Back at my ship."

"I'm perfectly fine discussing this here," you said pointedly.

"I'm not." He changed his approach, realizing that he wasn't getting through to you. "Believe me, I'm not going anywhere. I've been looking for another Mandalorian for a while. I just need to get something."

You both stared at each other as if you could read the other's expression through the helmets. That was always a problem with Mandalorians. They couldn't communicate without getting physical. The longer you stood there the heavier the tension in the air became.

A squeal interrupted your stare-down, and before you knew it, your blaster was aimed in the direction of the sound.

"Don't!" The Mandalorian cried. You took a moment to take in what exactly you were looking at. A small green creature with abnormally large ears was standing on a counter not far off.

"How did that get in here?" you demanded.

The Mandalorian rushed over to the creature and gingerly picked it up. "I don't know," he huffed. Then to the child he added, "I thought I told you to stay on the ship." It cooed in response and held it's hand out toward you. You still had your blaster raised, so you lowered it slowly and stared at it's three little fingers.

"What does it want?" you asked. Instead of responding, he put the child down on the ground, and it stumbled in it's oversized coat towards you. You tensed up as it got closer.

"What does it want?" you repeated with more urgency. The kid reached your feet and grabbed on to one of your legs. You froze, so you didn't hurt it by moving.

"Don't hurt him, he's just a kid," The Mandalorian said.

"I wasn't planning on it, but you need to get it off of me!" You raised the boot with the creature on it so he could take it off. He set it back on the ground, and it immediately started making it's way back to you. He picked it up with a warning and didn't put it down again.

"That's not....your kid---"

"No," he interrupted. "I just found him."

"A foundling," you whispered as you stepped towards the child.

The Mandalorian instinctively stepped back. "Yes. I've been keeping him safe."

"Hence my target being dead at my feet," you guessed.

He nodded. "Are you a guild member?"

"No, I get my targets from locals," you explained. "Something I intend to keep doing, so you and your foundling might want to make yourselves disappear."

"We're not here to ruin your business."

"You being here is ruining my business," you pointed out. "Right now, I get plenty of jobs. Why shouldn't I? I am the only Mandalorian in this town after all. Add another in the mix? eventually we'll be either splitting the load, or fighting for the best offer."

"I'm not here for the jobs," he said. "If I needed jobs, I could go anywhere. Like I said, the Mandalorians are gone. People will hire anyone. All you need is the armor."

"Speaking of," you said with a nod towards his armor. "You've got a pretty good set. What are the odds of the Mandalorians being wiped out and a single man making it out with full beskar armor? I'd guess pretty slim. Unless of course he helped kill a few so he could keep the spoils."

"I got this armor before they all died," he informed. "High paying customer."

"Must've been quite a bounty."

"Still is," he looked at the kid in his arms. "That's why I have to keep him safe."

You paused to take in what he had said. "That was the bounty?"

"If you lay a finger on him--"

"I'm not interested in the money," you snapped. "I just want to know how you got paid and still got to keep him."

"It's complicated."

You looked back and forth between him and the kid. "Alright. I don't care. Just get what you came for and get off my planet."

***

It had been days since your Mandalorian encounter and he still hadn't left. You would see him around town every now and again, and he was always with that kid. He insisted he was leaving, but he never did. It made you anxious. In just the few days he had been there he had stirred everyone up. You couldn't imagine what would happen if he never left.

You sat on the edge of a rock on the outskirts of you town. He claimed he had his ship parked somewhere around there. You wanted to check it out, but you weren't in any hurry. It was nice to be able to take in the scenery for a moment. You stood and took a deep breath. Calming down for a second was just what you needed. This Mandalorian had you worked up for nothing.

You turned around and froze when you saw the Mandalorian's kid standing right in front of you. For some reason, he always made an effort to find you. You liked to think the Mandalorian told it to, just to get on your nerves.

"Go back to the Mandalorian," you ordered. It titled it's head and continued to stare at you. "The other Mandalorian." It stayed.

"Look, kid, I'm not babysitting you. Go back to the Mandalorian that takes care of you, cause it certainly isn't me." Finally, he started walking. Unfortunately for him, he was walking straight towards the edge of the cliff. You put your foot in it's path and it looked up at you.

"Try the other way," you instructed. You nudged it with your foot away from the edge. It paused there for a moment, then turned around and headed for the edge again. You sighed and picked it up by the back of it's cloak. You really didn't want to touch it at all, but you couldn't leave it to wander off the cliff like that. You held it away from you as you continued to trek through the rocky area. Either you'd find his ship or you'd take the creature back to him directly.

A few moments later you saw smoke rising in the sky. There was nothing in that area for miles. The perfect place to land a ship. You picked up the pace, hoping that it was the ship you were looking for. Sure enough in the middle of the clearing was a broken down ship that looked like it used to be a Razor Crest.

"Please tell me that isn't his ship," you said to the child. It only gurgled in response. You set it down now that it couldn't wander off an edge somewhere, and it started walking to the ship. No wonder that Mandalorian was still there. He hardly had a ship to fly back on.

"Hey!" The Mandalorian came up behind you. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"You intend to fly back on that?" you remarked. "That wouldn't make it off the ground, much less the planet."

"You think I don't know that?" he huffed. "That's why I've been repairing it these past few days. Don't worry. The kid and I will be out of your little town in no time." He stopped the kid halfway to the ship and carried him the rest of the way. You decided to follow, curious about the inside. You followed the Mandalorian up the ramp and took a quick look around the ship. It didn't take long since it was so small and cramped. You couldn't imagine living in it.

"Are you done with your little tour?" he grumbled when you had made it back to the ramp.

You shrugged. "If you don't want me to look around your ship, you should've had it off the planet."

"Unless you have a spare parked in a garage somewhere, that's not going to happen just yet."

"It might be easier if you didn't have a kid to look after," you pointed out.

"It's not that difficult."

"Oh really?" you smirked. "Is that why I found it about to wander off a cliff?"

You could see him tense beneath his beskar armor. "What?" he said testily.

You walked off the ship with a last comment over your shoulder. "I'll let you get back to work."

You sat outside the cantina with Jung Powell talking business. He always bought you a drink thought he knew you couldn't remove your helmet. He probably did it as a temptation to break your code, but it would never work. Instead he would just drink yours as well as his.

"You did great with the money Kole owed me," he was saying. "But you killing him gave a lot of people cold feet y'know."

You tilted your head slightly. "What about you?"

He reached forward to grab the cup in front of you. "I understand it was all in a day's work," he said through a chuckle. He emptied the glass in one gulp and slammed the cup back on the table. "So, if you're looking for another job, I'm the one to talk to."

"That's why I'm here," you said.

"This one's a bit different--"

"With how often you say that, it's starting to become expected."

"Right, I get that, but this really is something else." He leaned over the table enough for you to smell his breath. "Are you up for a cargo run?"

You leaned back and shook your head. "I'm a bounty hunter, not a mail carrier."

"Not even if the mail includes a high paying customer?" he bribed. You stared at him as you considered the offer. It was almost impossible for you to give up a good payment, and you knew that Jung never let you down when it came to those.

"Where to?" you asked warily.

"A dwarf planet a couple systems away--"

"Off planet?" you interrupted. "No deal."

"Come on, wrist rocket, it's getting harder and harder to get deals that stay on planet," he whined.

"Maybe for you, but I have other sources." You stood up to leave and he was quick to tumble out of his chair and stop you.

"No, no, wait!" he cried. "I promise it's worth your time! Plenty of credits! Probably enough to get you more than just a wrist rocket!" You froze. You couldn't lie and say that it wasn't tempting. Deep down you knew it was because of the Mandalorian, but you didn't listen to yourself.

Instead you turned back to Jung. "What do I need to take and where?"

He smiled and rubbed two of his hands together. "Glad you're on board." He gave you your assignment and you walked away knowing you just made a big mistake. Madnalorians were true to their word. If you said you were going to do it, you have to see it through. Now you took up a job out of what? Spite? It was a terrible idea. However, you pushed the doubt out of your mind and looked towards your goal. The only thing you needed now was a way off the planet.

***

"You want me to do what?" The Mandalorian didn't sound thrilled about your offer.

"I'll give you a cut," you assured him. "I just need transportation off-planet."

"I'm not towing you around to whatever planet you want for a small tip."

"A small tip and the repairs you need to get that ship off the ground," you corrected.

"No thanks. I'll repair it myself." He walked back into his ship, not letting you respond. You stepped back to see his ship was still smoking and hissing and let out a frustrated breath.. You knew you could fix it for him, but you wouldn't do it for charity. You weren't getting through to him though. You cut your losses and turned around to leave.

Something grabbed on to your leg and out of instinct, you tried to kick it off. You heard the Mandalorian's foundling squealing so you stopped and looked down. Once again, the creature was holding onto your boot with a iron grip. Normally you'd pry it off and send it on it's way, but as it looked up at you with it's big black eyes, you had an awful idea.

Warily, you began walking it back to the ship. You heard the Mandalorian in the the cockpit so you waited for him to come down. When he did come down and saw you with the creature, he froze.

"What are you doing with him?" he said. You could tell he was tense, and his hand was hovering closer and closer to his blaster.

"Your little foundling won't let go of me," you said with a smirk that he thankfully couldn't see. "I tried and tried, but he just won't budge."

"Sounds like a you problem," he said. You thought you heard a hint of humor, but he was far to concerned about his kid for you to tell.

"It is until I go off-planet to finish out this job, and because I couldn't get him away from me, he tags along. That sounds very much like a you problem," you teased.

The Mandalorian clenched his fists. He scooped the kid off your leg and placed him in his bed. He closed the door and turned back to you. "Leave the kid out of this."

"I can't help what it does--"

"You're not taking him with you." Now he was getting upset.

You felt the kid grab onto your boot again and without looking down at it you said, "I don't think I have a choice."

"How did you--" The Mandalorian tried to take him off again, but the kid stayed put. "C'mon kid, let go."

Nothing.

The Mandalorian tugged harder, but the kid squealed, causing him to stop. He looked from the creature to you. For a second, your stomach flipped at the idea that he might actually kill you just to get his kid back. You quickly pushed the thought aside. He wouldn't. It was against the code.

He stood there considering his options for a while before he finally mumbled, "You'd have to get it to fly."

You smiled and gently took the kid off your boot. "Thank you," you said as you handed it over.

He took it and brushed passed you. "Just one trip there and back. No more." That was fine by you. You got exactly what you needed. Now you had to get to work with the repairs.

***

You and the Mandalorian sat in the cockpit ready to test out the repaired ship. His kid sat in his lap since you were taking up it's usual spot, so he carefully reached around it to flip switches and press buttons. He had instructed you not to touch anything, then proceeded to unscrew a small lever and hand part of it to the kid.

"We just repaired this thing, and you think it's a good idea to take it apart for that thing's chew toy?" you inquired.

"I know what I'm doing," he snapped. He pulled up, and the whole ship rumbled beneath you. For a moment you weren't sure it would make it off the ground. Then, with a low creak, the ship rose and started cruising forward slowly but surely.

"Hold on," the Mandalorian instructed. He increased the speed and the ship let out a number of complaints. It started rumbling and shaking uncontrollably, and you grabbed onto the seat so you wouldn't get tossed around.

"What's happening?" you shouted over the noise of alarms and groaning metal.

"It'll stabilize once we break through the atmosphere!" he responded.

"If we make it that far!" you snapped. You looked over at the kid on his lap. He was smiling and bouncing like it was some kind of ride to him. Something you would've found funny if there wasn't a good chance that you would all plummet back to the ground. A few moments later, space came speeding into view and the alarms switched off. Then in a second everything went from chaotic to completely silent.

"Told you," the Mandalorian said. "Now we just cruise over to your dwarf planet. I don't think we'll be able to jump to hyperspace."

"What?" you said louder than you had planned. "That could take us days, and that's if we don't come across any obstacles!"

"You're the one who wanted a ride," he quipped as he leaned back in his chair. "If you change your mind, there's always the eject pods."

It took every cell in your body to maintain your composure. This wasn't even a mission you were particularly thrilled about going on, much less with this Mandalorian. You felt at times that the only thing keeping you both from each others throats was the Mandalorian code, but according to him, all the Mandalorians were dead. What validity was there to that pact?

The creature on his lap kept looking at you with it's huge, pitch-black eyes. You didn't know how to react. It was hard not to stare. It's eyes and ears were oversized, and it's layers of clothes made it look like it was in a squishy cocoon. It was kind of cute. You smiled at it, and though it couldn't see, it gurgled and smiled back.

"How old is it?" you asked. The Mandalorian seemed taken aback by the question. You were almost surpised yourself. You didn't care about the kid. You were just curious.

"I don't know," he said after a while. "Somewhere around 50?"

"Fifty?" you asked surprised.

"Well, he obviously ages slower than we do," he remarked. You looked over at the kid and he looked back at you with wide questioning eyes. The Mandalorian stood up with the kid in his arms, and went to the lower part of the ship. "I'll be right back. Don't touch anything!" His command echoed just far enough for you to hear him. You rolled your eyes and reclined in your seat. You might as well get comfortable.

You had been twiddling your thumbs for almost half an hour, and the Mandalorian still hadn't come back. It was irritating, especially since you couldn't do anything on his ship. It clearly wasn't meant to be a livable space. It was just meant for towing him across the galaxy.

You had thought about traveling beyond your planet before, and the longer you stayed the more you wanted to leave. You had heard that it's the spirit of a Mandalorian to travel from place to place, but you never tried. Now you looked out at the black of space littered with stars. It had been so long since you had seen it.

A small, quiet sound roused you from your thoughts. You turned your seat around to see the kid standing there and staring right at you. A small chuckle escaped your lips.

"What do I have to do to get you to stop following me?" you asked half-jokingly. He babbled as if he was actually trying to respond. He walked closer and raised his arms.

"Sorry, but I don't think your dad would want me picking you up," you warned. It insisted and walked even closer. You rolled your eyes. The Mandalorian didn't seem to be coming back soon anyway. You granted the child's wish and picked him up. You didn't set him on your lap, but rather held him a good distance away from you as if he was toxic.

"Are you seriously older than I am?" you whispered almost to yourself.

"Hey!" The Mandalorian's voice cut through the ships low hum and made you jump. You almost dropped the kid so you brought him closer to you by instinct. "What are you doing with the kid?"

"Your kid keeps coming to me!" you explained angrily. "Besides, he's fine." You held the creature out towards the Mandalorian like it was some dull object. He was quick to take it from you, and he sat back down in the pilot's seat. You needed to say something. Anything. You were getting tired of constantly being mad at each other. After all, you were supposedly the last two of your kind. It probably wasn't best to be fighting each other with every word.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to call you," you mentioned. It was a sudden thought that you had. You currently didn't call him anything. The way you got each others attention was by yelling at the other. Definitely not a good way to end the fighting.

His head moved ever so slightly towards you. "I don't really..." He trailed off and a long moment of silence passed before he spoke up again. "Why don't you just...call me Mando?"

"Mando?" you inquired. "That derogatory nickname that almost every Mandalorian gets?"

"It's not a derogatory nickname. At least, not anymore," he corrected. "I don't have anything else in mind."

"Well, Mandalorians get their nicknames by what they look like or how they act," you pointed out. You looked him up and down. "I guess that would make you 'Beskar?'"

"And what would that make you? 'Not beskar?'" he retorted.

"Ha ha," you replied unenthusiastically. "I'm seriously just supposed to call you Mando?"

"Call me whatever you want," he concluded. "It's not like we're going to be seeing each other after I drop you off." You couldn't argue with that. You certainly didn't intend to see him again, and you were positive the feeling was mutual. You laid your head back against the seat. This was going to be a long trip.

***

Two days since you had left, the dwarf planet finally came into view. You were relieved to be so close to your destination. Of course, the trip wasn't as bad as you thought once you actually talked to Mando without bickering. If you didn't leave room for an argument, he hardly said anything, but the few things he said were actually worth something.

"That's the planet right?" he asked.

"It is," you confirmed. "Are you sure this thing is equipped to land?"

"I guess we'll find out in about five minutes," he replied as he flicked switches and pressed buttons.

"Ship 4119, this is landing pad 7. Do you have clearance to land?" A voice from the intercom made both of you freeze. A small hologram appeared with a symbol that made your blood turn cold. It was the crest of the Empire.

"This is an imperial trade?" Mando hissed under his breath.

"Dank farrik!" you growled. "I'll kill you, Powell."

"Ship 4119, are you reading me?" The voice pressed.

"What do we do?" you whispered.

"Four minutes 'til we land," he started. "We stall." He raised his voice so the person over the intercom could hear. "Yes, I have clearance, but there's some bad interference. Let me switch you over to another channel. Stand by." He switched off the intercom and turned towards you. "That should buy us about a minute."

"Only?" you asked incredulously.

"What did you expect dealing with the Empire?" he scolded.

"I didn't know it was the Empire," you defended weakly.

"We don't have long to figure out what we're doing," he reminded you. "We can't land on the pad so we need to find an alternative."

"It's all trees," you huffed. "The landing pad is our only option."

"Ship 4119, you cooperation is required are you will be terminated."

"The landing pad it is," he sighed. "Hold on to the kid. It's not going to be a smooth landing."

You did as he said and waited. He lowered the landing gear and the ship immediately seized up. The shook and rumbled, and alarms started going off. The voice over the intercom had started a countdown until their "termination". Mando waited til the count of one to expertly roll to the side and half land half crash onto a separate landing pad. Guards were around the ship in moments. Stormtroopers.

"Step out of the ship with your arms up," one commanded.

"They don't know that there's two of us," Mando whispered to you. "I'll walk out as they said, then on my signal, you come in behind and start taking them out." You nodded, and he started to make his way off the ship. You watched him closely for the signal as you readied your rocket. One hit, perfectly aimed, would take them all out.

The signal, followed by your rocket going off, followed by a blinding white light filled the next few moments of your life. When the smoke cleared, there was hardly anything telling you there were stormtroopers there at all. You exited the ship with the kid still in your arms.

"Not bad," you complemented yourself.

"Yeah, yeah, you did good," he brushed off. "We're not entirely out of the woods yet. Spread out and make contact if you find the package."

You stopped. "I thought you were leaving."

"What can I say?" he said with a small shrug. "I'm bored." He threw a small communicator in your direction. "If you come back without the kid, you're as good as dead." Without another word, he jogged off to look for the package. You look down at the kid in your hands, and he tilted his head.

"Yeah, I'm confused too," you murmured. You jogged in the opposite direction already waiting to get off this planet.

What seemed like hours later, Mando contacted you on the communicator. It was pretty choppy, but from what you could tell, he either had the package or he would soon. You breathed a sigh of relief. You weren't comfortable being so close to the Empire.

You quickly found the river you had been following, and began heading upstream. The kid was getting restless. He wanted to walk, but the Mandalorian would have you head if you let him with so many stormtroopers around. So you continued. You thought all would be well, but out of nowhere a gun shot fired right next to your head.

"They're over here!" A stormtrooper yelled through the woods. You found cover and quickly opened your communicator.

"Mando, I'm under attack!" you warned. "South of the ship, not far! Hurry!" Shots were firing all around you and the child started whimpering in fear. You held him close to you as you fired shots blindly into the forest. "Mando!"

Stormtroopers yelled in the distance signaling help was there. You stood from your cover and came helmet to helmet with a camo trooper. He knocked his gun into you hands, sending the kid rolling across the forest floor. You fired your blaster and the trooper dropped to the ground. You heard a sickening splash as you realized the child had rolled towards the river.

Mando caught up with you and noticed you didn't have his kid. "Where is he?" he yelled. You ignored him and plunged head first into the river. The child was so small, it would've been carried away in an instant. When you finally spotted him, he was bobbing downstream with a wide smile. You swam towards him, scooped him up, and placed him back on solid ground. Thankfully there wasn't a scratch on him.

The Mandalorian had made it to you and the kid right as you pulled yourself from the river. You were ready for him to scold you, grab the kid, and walk off, but he picked up the kid and extended an arm to you.

"You alright?" he questioned. You hesitantly took his hand, and he helped you stand.

"Fine," you said quietly. A small hint of a nod from Mando, and you were both walking through the forest back to the ship.

Mando held out a metal rod laced with blue light. "This the package?"

"Yes," you said as you took it from him. "Thank you."

"We can't get back on the Razor Crest," he informed. "It's too banged up."

"What are we supposed to do then?" you asked.

He turned to you. "We need one of those Imperial Cruisers."

***

It had been a whole month since your run-in with the Empire. You and Mando successfully stole one of the Empires aircraft, and made your way back to your planet without a hitch. It was there that Mando offered for you to work with him for a while. You told him you had to think about it, but your mind was already made up. You loved the thrill of going off planet, and you wanted to go again.

You hadn't looked back until now. You were currently making your way back to that same dwarf planet to retrieve the ship you had left behind so long ago.

"Either the Empire will be completely flushed out--" Mando was saying.

"Or they'll have grown ten times their original size," you finished.

"That about sums it up," he confirmed. Working together felt so natural now. It was a wonder Mandalorians hadn't worked together before. They had similar expertise, making it easy to agree to and execute a plan. At least, that was the case for you and the Mandalorian. You found a way to communicate without fighting, and you only grew closer from there.

You liked being around the Mandalorian. You hadn't expected to become so close to him, but you didn't mind one bit. You were both at ease with one another and didn't need a lot of words to understand each other. You both had learned the micro movements that the other uses. A small shift of the helmet. A clench of the fist. A drop of the shoulders. Small things that meant so much.

"So, you run the kid onto the ship as I cover you," Mando said, going through the plan once more.

"I set off a distraction long enough for you to make it on the ship yourself," you continued.

"And we fly off the planet as quick as we can."

"Assuming it will fly," you quipped.

"All of this is assuming they've grown stronger," he reminded you. "I'm not sure the Empire is capable of that at this point."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," you cautioned. The intercom rang out with the same warning you had received last time.

Mando kept his eyes forward. "Here we go." He ignored the voice and landed the ship on the pad. You picked up the kid and waited for Mando to leave the ship first. He walked out, guns blazing and were quick to slip out behind him. A few troopers saw you, but luckily they were terrible shots. You made quick work of them and moved the kid onto the Razor Crest. So far so good. Now you just had give Mando a distraction.

Before you could even think of anything, three TIE fighters let loose a rain of fired on the pad where the Mandalorian was. In a panic you fired a rocket at one, but it just missed the fast moving ship.

"Mando!" you called. "Get in here! We need to move!" You fired at as many troopers as you could without attracting fire to yourself, but it didn't help much. He was practically by himself.

"Fire up the ship and take off!" You heard Mando's voice over the communicator in your helmet.

"I'm not leaving you," you replied.

"Leave the ramp open! Trust me!" Going against your better judgement, you did as he said. The child was confused as to why you were leaving the Mandalorian on the planet, but he stayed with you. You tried to get the ship off the ground, but it wouldn't budge you diverted power and fuel until you had enough of a kick to get it moving.

"Now would be a great time to get on board!" you informed.

"I'm on my way! Fly!" he responded. You pushed forward as the ship creaked. Would it be able to make it off the planet?

"Lower!" Mando's voice called out suddenly. You pushed the ship downwards and everything lurched forward. Including the child who was more than happy to not be around all the buttons.

"Get back in your seat," you instructed him. His ears drooped, but he obeyed and crawled off the control panel.

"I'm on! Close the ramp," Mando said. You closed the ramp and tried to direct the ship upwards. TIE fighters noticed the attempt to escape and started firing making the ship worse.

"We're taking fire!" you yelled. Mando climbed the ladder into the cockpit, and you were quick to move so he could take the controls. The ship slowly climbed while taking shot from the TIE fighters. You couldn't dodge them without using much needed fuel to get away from the planet. The ship was rocking and squealing as it tried to break through the planets atmosphere. You grabbed the child and rushed him down to his bed. He would be safer there than in the cockpit.

"We broke through!" Mando informed you. You climbed back up to where he was.

"Then why are we still shaking uncontrollably?" you questioned.

"Those TIE fighters will be on us in seconds," he continued. "We need to jump to hyperspace."

"This ship can't do that!"

"It'll have to. Where's the kid?"

"He's safe."

"Then hold on." He prepared everything for the jump, but he looked over at you before started. "It's our only option."

You strapped in as quickly as you could. "Then do it." Mando engaged the hyperdrive. Immediately you knew you were going to crash. The ship's alarms blared and the engine burst into flames. Pulling out of hyperspace, you saw a planet speeding into view, but you couldn't stop the ship in time. You crashed and slid on the icy planet before everything went black.

***

When you woke up, you could only make out the orange light of fire mixing with the blue light of the planet you were on. You tried to blink to make the world come into focus, but your eyes refused to comply. You took off your helmet for a moment and cold wind whipped at your face. The back of your head throbbed and you gingerly touched it. When you moved your hand you saw that it was coated in blood. You were wounded where no one could see.

You slipped your helmet back on before going to find the Mandalorian. You didn't know what to do except find him, so that's what you would do. You didn't have to walk far before you found the crashed ship. You picked up the pace as you called for the Mandalorian. You entered the burning ship and found Mando unconscious in the cock pit. You shook his shoulder until he finally came woke.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," you lied.

"And the kid?" he pressed.

"I don't know," you answered. You both quickly descended the ladder and opened the door to the sleeping pod. The child sat on the bed completely unharmed. You breathed a sigh of relief. You felt as if the kid was your own. You didn't know what you'd do if something happened to him.

"Any sign of the Empire?" Mando questioned.

"None," you replied. "But there's no sign of getting off this planet either. We really messed up."

"There has to be some kind of lifeform on this planet," he insisted.

"I saw the planet. It's all snow and ice. You'd have to be crazy to live here."

"We have to try anyway." He grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped the child in it. You all left the ship and stepped onto the freezing planet. Your hopes of finding a way off were low to non-existent, but you followed Mando. He'd find a way.

The longer you walked, the dizzier you felt. Your head hadn't stopped throbbing and you were finding it hard to focus. Whatever you had done to your head was slowly chipping away at you. Your legs felt weak, and it wasn't long before they gave out on you. You crumpled into the snow.

"Y/N!" Mando called. You couldn't register his voice. Where he was. What was happening. The fact that he had used your name though you never gave it to him. It was all just a fleeting thought that was drowned out in the pain. He held you in his arms as he tried to keep you conscious. You felt his hands at the sides of your helmet and you quickly held them away.

"It's against the code," you groaned.

He looked at his hand which was covered in blood from your helmet. "You're bleeding! I have to take it off to help!"

"No!" you insisted. "You can't see my face. You know that."

"I'd rather you live with the shame then die here in the snow!"

"I can't," you breathed. "I've never taken it off in front of anyone." He stopped and looked at you hopelessly.

"It's ok," you said. "Find a way off the planet and take care of the kid." The Mandalorian carefully propped you up in the snow then slightly stepped back. Before you could say anything, or even think of what was happening. He removed his helmet and dropped it at his feet. His brown hair blew wildly in the wind as he bent down to you.

"You..." you barely whispered.

"I'm helping you even if that means breaking the code, but we'll be breaking it together," he said. You felt him lifting the helmet off your head, but you didn't stop him. He placed your helmet next to his in the snow and gently moved your hair aside. You didn't have the willpower to fight what was happening. You let him work as the world grew fuzzy around you. It all seemed surreal. Especially when the next thing you remembered was the child dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

The world was coming back into focus, and the throbbing pain in your skull subsided. You looked up to see your Mandalorian unmasked and holding his child. Your hand instinctively reached for the wound at the back of your head, but there was none.

"He healed you." It was strange to hear the Mandalorian's voice outside of the helmet. It was softer and more real. "I don't know how he does it, but it drains his energy. It was the only way to save you.

You stood slowly, unable to take your eyes from the Mandalorian's. It was strange to think he was seeing your face just as you were seeing his. You thought you'd be more ashamed. After all you had broken one of the most important rules on Mandalore. You both had. But you didn't feel guilt like you had done something wrong. You felt what you could only identify as relief. Relief that you didn't have to hide behind your metal helmet in front of the one you cared so deeply for.

Mando picked up both the helmets, handing yours to you. "We should get moving." You stared into yours, not wanting to put it back on. You grudgingly did, and Mando followed. You both took moment to stare at each others expressionless helmets, then continued through the ice and snow.

When you finally find people, you recognized them as a rebels. There weren't many that were aware of the Empires presence and even fewer would fight. They wouldn't harm you. They brought you into a cave that was partially lined with metal and cement. They hadn't been there long. They were hesitant to let you in at first, but when they saw the child laying unconscious in Mando's arms, they obliged. They took the kid to care for him, and you could tell Mando was tense. You placed your hand on his shoulder and he turned to you.

"He's going to be fine," you comforted. He remained silent. "You...said my name. Back in the snow. Unless I was hallucinating--"

"You weren't" he confirmed. "I saw it on our first trip to that kriffing dwarf planet. I never meant to get used to saying it in my head. I'm sorry."

You shrugged. "I don't think you knowing it puts me in danger."

He took a deep breath. "My real name is Din Djarin."

"You didn't have to tell me--"

"From now on, we do things together or not at all. Deal?"

You desperately wished he could see you smile. "Deal."

***

A week passed on the planet you came to know as Hoth. You needed time to recover and so did the kid. The rebels were working on a way to get you off the planet, and the Mandalorian spent most of his time working to help them with that. He was getting more frustrated every day. You wanted to help him. Tell him they'd find a way soon, but the only option they had was another week of waiting until a ship flew in for supplies.

It was late at night when he came to you. He was broken down and stressed, but he would never tell you so. He hardly said a word to you during the whole week. But now here he was.

He walked over to you slowly and stopped. "I can't find a faster way off this planet," he said, his voice laced with defeat.

"It's alright," you assured him. "What matters is that we will get off. Eventually."

"Eventually," he repeated. "Eventually isn't good enough."

"We're alright here," you soothed. "Nothing's going to happen to the kid here."

"They have trackers," he pointed out. "They'll find him if we don't move--"

"Din," you said, using his name for the first time since he told it to you. You stepped closer so he was only a few inches apart from you. You removed his helmet without any objections from him and set it aside. You did the same to your helmet. You needed to talk to him face to face.

"No one is going to get the kid because we're protecting him," you said. "We protect him together." Din smiled, wrapped his arms around your waist, and pulled you closer to him. Your arms rested around his neck as your lips touched. A kiss was something a Mandalorian could never know. But you both disregarded the rules just so you could know each other's touch not  through a casing of metal. And you did it together.