#the last guy she liked blew up in a star to save the planet

[beeribas]

My poor druid went through so many things this session. And not even the typical D&D tragic things, interpersonal drama things. They found out that their mom is a goddess, have a date(?) with one of the girls she likes, clearly made the other girl she likes upset by mentioning said date(?), has their friend worried because this date(?) will involve the girl (who the date is with) drinking their (my PC) blood cause she’s a dhampir and they both wanna find out if celestial blood tastes weird of hurt her (my PC is an aasimar), they have to talk to their goddess mom once they get back to the apartment and have tea and they are almost 100% going to have a breakdown to their goddess mom. I think it is important to add that this is my most well-adjusted D&D character. She's been having a week.

[if-you-built-yourself-a-myth]

2/6/9 - Sobbe 🧡🧡🥰

There might be a part two of this, if I can get my act together.

2- Hogwarts!au ~ 6-fake dating ~ 9- "why are you awake so late?"

Special thanks to @gukyi 's prompt list

Requests are open!

Robbe found himself in the astronomy tower that night, not because he had any prefect duties there, but because he liked the view. The Great Lake was a giant mirror in the darkness. Where he lived during the summer, streetlights always washed out the stars. He should probably get on patrol and do some actual work before someone came around and sent him back there.

He climbed up onto the window ledge, carefully placing his feet to avoid falling out. The astronomy tower offered the best views because there was no glass to look through. That, and the height. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something streak through the open air. Might be a shooting star. Robbe braced his hands on the windowsill and craned his neck out.

Nothing. Of course it was nothing. He sat back into the shadows.

A cloaking charm was in order, for the sake of discretion. He wouldn’t want to draw any of the other prefects up to his safe place. Especially not Noor. Most prefects travelled in pairs when they canvased the hallways—Noor tagged along with Britt and Britt’s troublemaker of a boyfriend. When he and Noor were together, it’d been a foursome. Not that they’d been together. His fellow Hufflepuff prefect, Jana, stuck to him like glue after her breakup went a little sour. Tonight, he’d ditched her outside the Great Hall.

Something much bigger flashed past, temporarily blocking the light of the moon. Not bigger—closer.

“Shit!”

Okay, that was definitely something.

Robbe looked out the window again, his eyes strained. Nothing out here was lit properly, save for the Lake, which had mother nature doing all the work. He could use Lumos to give a little bit of light, except it would give away his location to anyone outside. Hogwarts retained the same peaceful stillness as ever. Not a ripple on the surface of the water.

Something hit the castle wall, so close to Robbe that he almost fell backward off the ledge in surprise.

“Come on... turn on...”

Robbe considered announcing his presence. Whatever this person was doing, they probably shouldn’t be doing it. Heights like this meant broomsticks, broomsticks right here meant prohibited behavior, prohibited behavior this late meant hefty punishment. It was his moral responsibility as prefect to stop it.

Not that he really cared much for his moral responsibility as a prefect.

He clenched his hand around his wand. “Hello?”

Soft music wafting down from above, muffled as if someone was playing it too loudly through headphones. Whoever it was, they seemed to be circling the tip of the tower, around ten feet over his head.

“Hello?” he tried again. “No students should be out of bed right now.” Which, of course, they knew. But it brought the situation under his control.

The music got a little bit louder. Robbe heard heavy footfalls on the slanted roof, maybe heavy enough to jar the shingles from their careful positions. Might as well introduce himself. He put on his prefect face, the no-nonsense pantomime of confidence that he gave to pretty much everybody around Hogwarts, and jumped down from the windowsill like a good narc would. Detention for all.

“Hey!” he called at the ceiling. “Come down.”

No answer. The music got louder. Robbe didn’t recognize the song, nor could he hear the lyrics very well. Something slow about a guy named Tom and a planet.

He cupped his hands around his mouth. “I’m a prefect. This is against the rules!” Fuck, Jens and Moyo would make fun of him for ages if they heard him say that. Robbe tried not to cringe at his own behavior. “Turn down your fucking music.” Except, all the f-bomb did was make him sound more childish. He wasn’t exactly flourishing in this role.

Whoever was up there cranked the music to full blast. Enough to wake up the whole campus. Footsteps sounded on the roof again, and a boy slid in through the window, his robes ruffled and dirty, his short, bleach-blond hair sticking straight up with electricity. He brought along with him a strange orb of light balanced in his hand, enough make out his face and to see his green and silver tie was woefully tied. It was Britt’s boyfriend. That much was clear from the attractive cut of his jaw—no, not attractive—never mind. Shit, what was his name? He left his broom on the sill and jumped down to Robbe with unparalleled grace. When his feet hit the flooring, the smack echoed all the way down the tower.

“Long time no see. Did Britt send you?” he asked Robbe. No one anywhere near the spiral staircase could miss it.

“Students aren’t allowed to be out of bed.” Robbe lifted his head, hoped it emanated authority when he spoke. “I’m sure you know that—”

“Tell her I don’t want to talk to her.”

“You’re not supposed to be—”

“It’s over. Finite. Done. Fuck.” He spun in a circle and said, “Britt, wherever you are, it’s over.”

Sander! That was his name. Sometimes, when Robbe went out with Noor, Sander and Britt came along. The foursome. And maybe, sometimes, Robbe would watch him across the table instead of Noor when they were drinking, resting his head on his arms. Sander tended to end up in detentions, though, and there were only so many trips to Hogsmede per semester. Robbe didn’t spend a lot of time in the Slytherin dungeons. Not enough to see Sander around. You know, nothing that meant anything.

The prefects, of course, heard all about Sander, because Britt was Head Girl. He managed to push rules in ways that Jens, Robbe, and Moyo never could.

Everyone in the nearby dormitories must have been awake by now.

Robbe kept his cool, improvised. “Why are you up so late?” A little confidence went a long way when it came to laying down the law.

“Avoiding her. Tell her that.”

“It’s not allowed. It’s going to be twenty points from Slytherin. And detention.”

Sander crossed his arms over his chest. The top three buttons on his shirt were one hole off, as if he’d dressed in a hurry. The sleeve of his robe was torn. “Tell Britt I don’t care.”

“I’m not with Britt,” said Robbe. “I’m a prefect. It’s twenty points.”

“Huh.”

A gust through the window dropped the temperature at least five degrees within the tower. Something blew from the roof and fluttered to the ground far below—a blanket, maybe? The wind joined with the music for an awfully melancholy wake-up call. The students would be pissed.

“Turn off the music.” Robbe gestured to the ceiling. “You can have your breakup drama during hours when people are awake.”

Sander waved a dismissive hand. “It has boundaries already. You can’t hear it outside of the bubble I made. You’re not with Britt? Thought Noor might have—”

“No. How big’s the bubble?”

“The tower. Plus a few feet, I guess.”

“It’s still detention.”

Sander took a few steps toward Robbe, appraising him like a piece of artwork in a museum. His gaze, or the windchill, gave Robbe goosebumps. He remembered staring at Sander’s hands, wrapped around a butterbeer glass, while the girls gossiped into their chips on a weekend. The casual air of the unattainable. But that didn’t mean anything.

If the punishment was secure, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with asking questions. “What—um—what happened with Britt?”

“Same thing that always does. I don’t know why I bother.” Sander flicked his wand behind his back, and the music got even louder. Now the lyrics were clearer: this is ground control to major Tom— “Head girl. You’d know.”

“You guys were pretty happy last time I saw you.”

“Always pretty happy until we’re not.”

Robbe laughed. “Yeah, I think that’s how happiness works. I liked Noor alright until I didn’t.” He covered his ears. “Would you turn that shit down? It’s awful.”

“Nah,” said Sander. “Good music. Britt keeps making a big deal when I play it in the common room.” He hesitated. “You know that. You and Noor, like a month ago? Pretty sure she chewed me out in front of you guys at the Three Broomsticks.” A pause. “Yes, definitely. You had on your Quidditch stuff that day; I remember.” He carded a hand through his hair, so Robbe could see the dark brown roots coming in underneath the bleach blond. Hair like that glowed in the dark. No wonder it had been so easy to see when Sander flew by earlier.

The day in question was a bit of a blur for Robbe.

“Britt loves doing shit like that,” Sander continued. “What happened with Noor?”

It was long past time to send Sander away. Something pushed Robbe to reassure Sander of something instead—of what, he wasn’t quite sure. “Noor and I were never together.” Maybe it was the fact that, from this distance, he could see that Sander’s eyes were the same color as the star reflections across the lake. He’d always assumed they were black. “You’re mad because Britt chews you out? You kind of deserve—”

“Mm, more treats me like a kid, y’know?”

Their faces were awfully close together now.

It was nothing.

Robbe wondered why his pulse was speeding up. He wondered if Sander could hear it. But then—any moment like this one, alone in a tower with someone beautiful, would be enough to make one’s heart work overtime.

Not that Robbe found Sander beautiful.

Why did Sander know what sweater he was wearing on a date, when Robbe had blocked out Sander’s name?

“And you come up here to ignore her?” Robbe asked, because if he didn’t, he didn’t know where his mind would go. And that wasn’t cool. Sander held the light orb beneath their chins, illuminating their faces in the dark. His breath ghosted across Robbe’s skin when he scoffed.

“Yeah, but I mean…”

Angry voices sounded from the staircase. More than one. Robbe’s ability to hear them at all over the music was a bad sign. Was the air thinner up here? Robbe froze in place, leaned a little bit back for a clear view of Sander’s face.

Sander jerked away. They rose in volume by the minute, climbing upward, getting closer. “That’s her. I know what she sounds like.”

“If it’s her, it’s Noor.”

“What’s upsetting about Noor? Thought you two liked each other.”

“I did like her.” And it was true, in one way or another. He did. Just… not enough. Not as much as everyone else thought he should. Tonight especially, when all he wanted was to see the stars over the lake, he did not want to deal with her chit chat. Or the way she looked at him when she thought they were going to kiss. No thank you. Not up his alley. “She’s a little—she wants to—You’re still getting detention for this. I thought there was a bubble!”

Britt and Noor probably heard the music. Robbe’s cloaking charm from earlier might prevent him from being seen, but it only did its job for viewers standing five feet away or more. Further would be more advanced magic. He wasn’t an Auror, after all.

The voices only got closer.

“Shit,” said Robbe. He considered climbing out onto Sander’s rooftop perch, although if Sander thought Britt had found him earlier, that was something she already knew about.

“Sander?” came a voice from the stairwell. Fears confirmed.

There were several ways Robbe could take control of this situation. Number one: he could wait and get Sander in trouble as intended, even if it meant having to walk to the Hufflepuff common room with Noor trailing along behind. He’d never hear the end of it. Two: he could make a break for it with the cloaking spell and pretend he’d never visited the tower at all. A stronger option. Too bad Sander would snitch on him instantly. Three: he could somehow get Sander out of it with him, which didn’t seem fair.

“Noor’s all over you?” Sander rubbed his palms against his battered robes. He chewed on the edge of his lip. “Tough for you.”

“Not tough, I mean, I wouldn’t say—”

“Okay, I have a quid pro quo plan.”

“I don’t trust you.”

“Go along with me here.” Sander lay a hand on Robbe’s shoulder, and it became terribly obvious that Sander was a good four inches taller. They didn’t have much time before the girls would arrive. “On the fly, but y’know. I’m good. It will work. Women… they fume, but they let it go. You know?”

“I don’t know.”

“All the way or no way.”

I don’t know what that means.”

Sander gave a devilish smile. “Double whammy. Britt and Noor."

Screw it. Robbe didn’t want to talk to Noor. He wanted her off his back and he wanted the boys to stop talking about her when he was around. “All the way?”

Then it happened.

The door to the tower’s zenith flew open. Sander took Robbe by the back of the neck, the communication passing between them in an instant. Sander paused less than a breath away from Robbe’s lips, giving him time to stop it if he wanted to. Then they were kissing, Sander’s hands in Robbe’s hair, Robbe’s in the air like a surrender. Sander backed him up against the stone wall, pinned his arms up on either side, and closed his own eyes as Britt’s wand threw them both into something sickeningly close to daylight.

It wasn’t Robbe’s first kiss. He wasn’t a fan of kissing.

All in all though, pretty solid.

Sander’s tongue tasted like chocolate. Might have liked it a little.

Might have thought about watching Sander across the table in a bar, something jealous and acrid burning in the bottom of his throat when Sander kissed Britt.

Not a lot. Not enough to mean anything.

“What the hell are you doing?” Britt planted her hands on her hips, her appearance sour. Her hair stuck out in a dozen different directions as if it had been hexed to float as such. From the disheveled state of her robes, Robbe could guess that her night had been far more difficult than his. His pulse hammered at heart attack speeds in his chest. Was this what dying felt like? Why were his hands tingling?

Wasn’t that great of a kiss.

Okay, but not like… not like Noor kissed him.

Nothing like that.

“Ow, my eyes,” said Sander, breathless. “Privacy.”

He went back in for the second kiss, and Robbe let him. Just let him. Fucking hell. More short and sweet than the last. Robbe’s hands shook, his whole body shook. All the blood in his veins pumped straight into his head. He wasn’t allowed to want something like this.

Noor clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Sander,” Britt repeated. “What the fuck?”

“We’re—” said Robbe. “It’s not—”

Sander, however, was faster. “You’ve brought your boyfriend here before.”

Both Noor and Britt were incredulous. “What?”

Sander owned the situation. That was Robbe’s job. “I’m allowed to do it, too,” Sander said. “Bring my boyfriend.” His eyes met Robbe’s. This is the plan, go along with it.

Robbe went red. Now that he could see Sander completely in the light from Britt’s wand, he could tell how realistic this ploy was. Sander’s shirt, the buttons! Streaks of dust stained the white material brown, the kind of dirt one might find caked to the walls of this very tower. Whatever he’d been doing earlier, it wasn’t much of a stretch to imply he’d been making out with Robbe instead. Oh fuck no. Robbe didn’t sign up for something like this.

“You’re not—he’s not—” Noor fumbled with her words. “This—”

Sander smiled. He looped his arm around Robbe’s shoulders. “Recent thing.”

Robbe felt like he was about to be sick. No, seriously. Like he was about to drop dead on the cobblestone flooring of the astronomy tower. What would the boys say about something like this? Jens would be okay, maybe, and Aaron would be insensitive but supportive. Moyo… that was a wildcard. Robbe would need to book it back to the dormitories to get ahead of the rumor before it spread too far. This couldn’t be happening.

He tried to take deep, grounding breaths. Sander’s skin on his neck did not help.

He did not like the kiss.

He did not like that kiss.

“It’s actually kind of late,” Sander continued. “We should really be heading to bed. Accio player.” A CD compact flew down through the window and into his open palm. So that was what made the music? A tiny enchanted compact? He slid it into the pocket of his robes and the music cut off.

Noor nodded, bewildered. She put a hand on Britt’s arm. “Um, well… patrol’s all done. Might as well. Sorry to… uh, sorry to bother you.”

“You’re not together,” said Britt, like she hadn’t heard. “You’re doing this to get back at me, and the stupid music—”

Robbe wasn’t buzzing from a kiss. He wasn’t shaking from a kiss. This was something Sander did to get Britt off his back for a night, nothing to worry about, nothing that would continue.

Noor was a better kisser. She used less tongue and didn’t taste like marinara.

Robbe was always a fan of marinara.

“Recent thing,” he echoed.

A watch on Sander’s wrist beeped twelve-thirty. Outside the astronomy tower window, the Great Lake reflected the night sky with seamless synchronicity. Wouldn’t the boys just love to hear about this? Wouldn’t they just love—Robbe took one more fleeting glance outside, a castle bathed in the moonlight. He needed to get out of here. He needed to run. This was an arrangement to get Noor off his back.

“I’ll walk you to the common room,” Sander said, casting lumos. He brushed past the girls, took them down the spiral staircase, grabbed Robbe by both shoulders. “Cool, quid pro quo. It’s taken care of. No detention?”

How Robbe mustered the strength to speak, he’d never know. “This is just a bigger mess. Still detention.”

Sander squeezed Robbe’s hand. “Yeah, but so much more fun. I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” He took the path to the left to the dungeons.

Robbe sprinted the rest of the way to his bed, breezing by Jens, Jana, Moyo, and Aaron’s little huddle in the common room. Straight beneath the covers. The curtains pulled. He swore he could hear Sander’s music from half a castle away. No way could he wake up tomorrow and face the implications of tonight. No way. The door to the dormitory opened again, closed quietly behind. It was Jens. it had to be Jens.

“What shit are we into this time?” came Jens’ familiar tone.

Robbe choked on the sentence as he spit it out. “I think I’m dating someone.”

[tanyawritesstories]

Thawed | The Mandalorian x Reader pt. 6

There's only one more chapter after this 😱 rescue is inbound! I hope y'all are enjoying the series so far, enjoy the latest chapter! 😊

Series Masterlist

Word count: 6.2k

Warnings: angst, canon violence, torture, fluff, canon divergence, I fixed the ending 😉, plot twist???

•••

Din tapped his foot anxiously on the floor of Slave I. They had just landed on a planet he couldn’t remember the name of, it was a prison planet basically and he was here to pick up someone he had hoped he would never see again. Din had stashed the Crest on Navarro, with Karga helping him and promising to find the tracker hidden inside it. He’d also picked up Cara after learning of her new status within the New Republic. Din had only grabbed his jetpack and the Beskar spear Ahsoka had given him from the Crest before joining Fett and Shand aboard their ship.

Grogu grabbed Din’s leg and he looked down at his little one. Grogu looked sad and he held one of Y/N’s hand sewn toys that she made for Mandi that were left on the Crest. He had apparently snatched it while Din was busy grabbing other things. “I know, buddy. I miss her too,” he lamented. Din himself had taken something of hers: her shawl. He had taken and folded it thinly and tied it just above his vambrace on his left arm. It was the only piece of her he had left.

“She’s got him,” he heard Fett say just before he walked down the ramp. Din didn’t want to do this, he wished there was an easier way. But there wasn’t, this was all he had. He sighed and stood, letting Grogu have his seat as he walked down the ramp, encountering the man he wished he would never see again.

~~~~

“We need coordinates for Moff Gideon’s light cruiser.” Din informed. Mayfeld scoffed, “Moff Gideon, forget it.” As an ex-Imperial, Din was sure Mayfeld knew how dangerous Gideon was. Grogu wandered out from behind Din’s chair and Mayfeld noticed him. “I see you still got your little friend, so why do you need me?” Din picked Grogu up and held him in his lap, he was having a hard time keeping his composure around his guy. He was glad when Cara answered for him.

“They have his girl,” she said, “and his baby.” Din didn’t correct her this time. “You’re telling me this guy found a woman,” Mayfeld almost sounded mocking. Cara and Fennec both glared at him. “What’s in it for me?” Din rolled his eyes, letting Cara do the law talking. He paid attention to what Mayfeld was saying. Internal Imperial terminal. Morak. Secret mining operation. The words passed through his head and he picked out the important details. He couldn’t stop worrying. Thinking.

What was happening on board that cruiser? Was Y/N safe? What about Mandi? Were they together? Or had Mandi been taken away and experiments forced upon her like they had done with Grogu? Din didn’t want to think about that as Slave I entered into space, heading for Morak.

~~~~

Y/N laid on the cold, hard bench in her cell. Her mind constantly switching between worrying about her baby and worrying about Mando. She hoped he was safe, she hoped he had taken Grogu and ran as far away as he could. She had a feeling that he would come for her but she almost wished he wouldn’t. She had done this to protect him.

The sound of the cell door opening made her sit up. Two stormtroopers entered before Moff Gideon did. He looked down at her with his usual piercing stare. “A Mandalorian traveling with a woman and child, you know how that looks I presume,” he said. She was confused. “Now, I know he picked you up on Nexlar, our contacts told me about how he defended you. Judging by the way you handed yourself over, I’d say there’s more to you two than meets the eye.”

Y/N clenched her jaw and looked at the floor. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of being right. “My guess is he’ll come to rescue you,” he said tauntingly. “So you are now our bait.” He turned and exited the room, nodding to the troopers on his way out. The door closed and the troopers produced shock batons from their belts. “Let’s get to work,” one said. Y/N closed her eyes and awaited the physical pain that would come. Bait doesn’t have to be alive for it to work, she thought.

~~~~

“What do we do with the kid?” Everyone looked to Grogu who stood at the foot of the ramp. Din picked him up and set him on a seat. “He’ll be fine in here,” he said. “My ship isn’t child proofed,” Fett said matter of factly. “Neither is mine, he’ll be ok. Let’s go,” Din urged. They scouted out the route and the base, formulating a plan on how to get inside. There was only one problem. they didn’t have anyone innocent enough to get in without tripping the alarm.

Eventually Din was the only one who could do it. He would do it for her, for Y/N and Mandi. The last image he had of her in his mind was the fearful but determined look on her face. He’d seen that face before, on a different woman. His mother. With the ‘I love you’ and everything. He hated that the two instances were so alike. Only this time he had the opportunity to save Y/N and he wouldn’t stop trying until he succeeded.

He didn’t like being out of his armor, in fact he hated it. But it was what he had to do. Mayfeld’s endless chatter aboard the transport went in one ear and out the other. The pirates attacked and all Din could think as he found them off was: I wish I had my armor, and please let me make it through alive. He got more and more anxious as they arrived, were welcomed into the base, and within reach of the terminal. Mayfeld refused to go in when he saw someone he recognized. Din wished he could force the other man in there but there was nothing he could do. Except...do it himself.

The bounty hunter part of his brain told him it wasn’t worth it, the Mandalorian part screamed at him not to. Din pushed those thoughts away. He would have to be vulnerable here, something he hated most. He walked to the terminal, data stick in hand. He was scared. A calming thought found its way into his mind as if someone had planted it there on purpose.

Y/N had gone through these challenges too. She had been willing to put blind faith in a man she didn’t know. She trusted him to protect her on a dangerous planet, and trusted him when she was at her most vulnerable: delivering her baby. Din knew this was what he needed to do. Before his mind could convince him otherwise, he raised both hands to the helmet and lifted it off his head…

~~~~

Y/n coughed, more blood staining the floor. The troopers had been brutal and merciless. They knew she chose not to talk and made it their goal to get her to scream. By the time she had, her nose was broken, she’d been kicked in the stomach so many times she wouldn’t be surprised if a rib or two was broken. Those were the injuries she couldn’t see. When looking in the reflective walls she saw that she had a black eye and a split lip.

She spit blood onto the floor and paced around the room, her anger boiling to the surface. She was starting to think she should’ve stayed within the safe confines of the New Republic, but she left on good terms and went her own way. They had forced her to scream before, now she wanted to scream on her own. She hadn’t used her voice in months, save for those few words to Mando and Grogu. The more she walked the more rage built up in her.

This wasn’t who she was. She wasn’t some hopeless girl with no voice. She was a woman and a mother, she had to fend for herself now. And that meant making noise. She turned and punched the wall so hard she heard cracking. Y/N fell to her knees and screamed. Loud.

She had a powerful voice and they would all hear it.

~~~~

Mayfeld was getting that look in his eyes that Din knew far too well. He was seconds away from snapping. Din looked at the man and shook his head just enough that he would see it. Mayfeld ignored him. The Imperial officer continued to talk, his words getting more and more evil. This wouldn’t end well.

It didn’t.

Mayfeld finally snapped and drew his blaster, shooting the man in the chest from point blank range. Din sent Mayfeld a shocked look then they both remembered they were in a public room. They looked around and saw all the others in the room staring at them in shock. The duo acted first and shot down everyone. Time to run. Mayfeld gave Din the helmet back and they escaped through a window. Cara and Fennec shot down everyone that followed them while they got to the roof. They could hear the ship and ran, shooting behind them as they went.

Slave I leveled out and they both jumped the gap onto the ramp. Din helped Mayfeld up and into the ship at which point he asked for the cycler rifle behind Din. He handed him the weapon and watched as he aimed at the facility. Din remembered what Mayfeld’s area of expertise had been while he was with the Imperials. Sharpshooter. The shot he took hit a container of Rhydonium, blowing up the entire transport and the one next to it, then the whole facility went up in fire and smoke.

Din was thankful to be back in his armor as he and Mayfeld waited for Cara and Fennec to get back to the ship. “Ya’know I, I’ve been in a similar situation as you are right now,” Mayfeld said. Din turned his head to look at him. Mayfeld had been using a somber tone of voice while talking to him in the transport, now he was almost sounding mournful. “I had a woman once upon a time,” Mayfeld said, looking at the ground. “Ava, loved her with everything I had. She was a sharpshooter, like me,” he smiled sadly, “better than me..” Din felt bad for him. “What happened?” The other man sighed and looked into the forest. “She was on the second Death Star when it blew up,” he said. “If there’s any advice I can give ya, when you get your woman back don’t ever let her go and love her like there’s no tomorrow.”

Din nodded. “I will.” Cara and Fennec returned and Mayfeld was fully prepared to go back to the scrapyards. Cara was impressed by his shooting and the fact that he’d basically switched sides, she let him go. “What now?” She asked Din. “Now, we rescue them.”

~~~~

Fett was quite the pilot as Din was learning. He’d chased down the Imperial ship through hyperspace and hit them dead on with an ion pulse to shut down their engines. Din and Cara boarded the shuttle, just who he was looking for. Dr. Pershing. Din shrugged off the pilot’s questions directing one at the doctor. “Are they alive?” The skittish man stuttered. “They only mentioned that there was another child, that’s all I know,” he said before one pilot aimed a blaster at his head. The pilot antagonized Cara, Din didn’t know why, what was he thinking he could get out of it? He got what he was asking for when Cara shot him dead.

They then traveled to another planet, Din knew that the small group they had couldn’t take on Gideon alone. He knew just the people to go to, they owed him a favor. He and Fett entered the cantina, their eyes scouring the room and finding their targets. It was easy to convince Bo-Katan, promising her the cruiser and anything else she wanted as long as Din could get Y/N and Mandi free and safe. They briefed aboard Slave I, Dr. Pershing threw in his knowledge which Din was secretly grateful for.

“Where is the child being held?” He asked. The man glanced at Grogu who was hiding behind a chair, he pressed another button and the holo zoomed in on a lower portion of the ship. “Here, in the brig under armed guard. Most likely they’re performing the tests there as well.” “What tests?” Din questioned. “Just blood samples for now, they wouldn’t proceed with anything else. That’s why they called for me,” the doctor answered. “And the woman?” The doctor looked confused. “They never told me about a woman, only a new child with similar abilities…”

Din sighed. He would have to find Y/N on his own and he knew someone who could help him with that, his helmet turned to look at Grogu. He had seen what Grogu and Mandi could accomplish together, their powers were stronger that way. Once he got both of them together, they would help him find Y/N. He didn’t like the idea of taking the kid into the Nexu den, but it was the only way he’d find her. Bo-Katan described her plan and they were all set. It was now or never.

They exited hyperspace and were thrown into the action. Fett was on their tail, and he was certainly making it convincing. Bo-Katan sent her distress call through. The enemy launched TIE fighters in response, which had to dodge the craft. Bo-Katan and Koska just barely evaded the fighters as they went after Fett, who was unconcerned by them. They were coming in hot. It was going to be a rough and fast landing, not to mention sketchy. “Hang on!” Fennec shouted. The shuttle bounced off the walls and skidded along the floor until it stopped.

Din tucked Grogu into the bag he usually carried him in. Din had tied it onto his belt in such a way that he could easily detach it, and had fashioned a flap to cover the top so no one could see what was inside. Grogu would be hidden, he might get jostled a bit but he would be ok. “You gotta be quiet now, buddy,” he said as he closed the flap over the top of the bag.

The girls exited the shuttle first charging and blasting their way through the hangar. Once he heard the blaster fire cease, Din exited the shuttle, making sure he was clear and heading to the brig. He crept through the hallways, always making sure they were empty before advancing. He had to duck and hide a couple times to avoid detection. But he continued, having memorized his way.

He got to the doors behind which the Dark Troopers were stored, he held the data stick in hand, but when the door came into view it had already opened. “No, no!” He yelled, running for the control panel. He got the stick in the controls and the door started closing. It was nearly all the way shut when two powerful robotic hands shoved it open, one of the droids got through and sent Din into the opposite wall. His spear got knocked from his shoulder and the bag that Grogu was in detached from his belt, both sliding across the floor in different directions.

Din shot at the droid but, as predicted, the bullets only bounced off. The machine lifted him off the ground by his neck and began throwing heavy punches to his head. Din knew his helmet would hold up, the wall would break before the Beskar would. Clearly they hadn’t been programmed for combat against Mandalorians. He saw the remaining droids attempting to break the glass and get free, he hoped it would hold until he could destroy this one. Grogu was out in the open somewhere off to his right.

Din tried his flamethrower but it was no use, fire resistant, of course. He was thrown near the door by the droid and had almost reached for the airlock switch before the droid reached him and flung him in the other direction, near his spear. He tried his whistling birds this time, they did more than the flamethrower did at least. Slowing the droid down a little as it shot at him. Before it could reach him, he spun onto his knees, snatched the spear and plunged it into the droid's neck area. Sparks flew from it and with all his strength, Din ripped the spear back towards him, severing the droid’s head from its body and finally destroying it. Din scrambled for the airlock when he heard the whoosh of the outer doors opening, he got to the door, seeing all the droids sucked out into space.

Confused, he looked down at the controls to see Grogu standing at the foot of them, his little hand stretched up towards the airlock switch. Din sighed in relief, picking the child up. “Thanks, buddy,” he said. He set the spear back onto his shoulder and picked up the bag from the floor. He reattached it to his belt and placed Grogu back inside. “Let’s go find mom, huh?” He said. Grogu cooed and Din closed the flap and continued on.

Din let his anger fuel him as he attacked the two stormtroopers guarding the cell. Stabbing one in the stomach and strangling the other before harshly breaking his neck. He shoved the data stick into the control panel and the cell door opened. Revealing Moff Gideon standing over Mandi holding a glowing sword. It was similar to Ahsoka’s blades, but black and shimmering and it made a different noise. Din immediately drew his blaster and Gideon gave him an annoyed look. “Drop the blaster.” He said. Din slowly set his blaster on the ground and kicked it over to the man as per his request.

“Give her to me.” Din hissed. "She's fine where she is," Gideon replied. He waved the light sword over Mandi's head and the little girl reached up for it. Din's heart skipped a beat, thankfully it was just out of her reach. Gideon began talking about the sword he held but Din could care less. He heard something about how it had belonged to Bo-Katan and that it held great power, his mind skipped over the part about ruling over Mandalore.

"You keep it, I just want her," Din said. "Ah, I'm guessing you want her mother as well," Gideon replied, his voice cold. "Where is she?" Din growled. "She served her purpose, and so has this one," the agent spoke. "I only wanted to study her blood. She has incredible abilities much like the child in your bag.” Din stood, unmoving. “Alas, I have all I need from her. Take her, but you will leave my ship immediately and we will go our separate ways.” Din took a steadying breath and walked to Mandi as Gideon turned off the sword and walked towards the door. Din was almost to Mandi when the sword clashed with his jetpack.

Din detached Grogu’s bag and he thumped on the floor. Din blocked Gideon’s attacks with his vambraces , the other man using his strikes to drive Din out of the cell and into the hallway. Din dodged until they stood facing each other, he drew the spear off his back and readied himself.

Meanwhile, Grogu had sensed Mandi’s presence and crawled out of his bag. Mandi had started crying because of the loud clanging and clashing. She was laying on the bench above him where he couldn’t reach her. So he held out his little hands and concentrated, bringing her down to him.

Din was mostly on the defensive, managing a few offensive strikes that Gideon easily blocked. Din had practiced with the spear since he got it, it was clear Gideon only had a general idea of how to use the sword he possessed. Din’s spear clashed with the light weapon. He stabbed but Gideon grabbed the spear, Din pushed, driving him back. He hit the wall. One jerk of the spear and the sword flew out of his hands, deactivating when it hit the ground. Gideon slumped to the ground and Din pointed the spear at his throat.

“You’re sparing my life, well this should be interesting,” he said. Din swung the spear, striking Gideon across the face hard enough to ensure he would stay unconscious for a while. Din snatched the laser sword off the ground and stuck it into his belt, setting the spear onto his back. He heard Mandi crying and rushed into the cell. Grogu had gotten her down from the bench somehow and was standing beside her. Din kneeled next to the kids and brought Mandi into his arms.

“Shh, it’s ok, sweetheart. It’s alright, daddy’s here,” he comforted. He held her until she stopped crying, scooping Grogu into his arms too, holding them both close. He loved them both so much. “You both need to help me find Y/N now, ok?” Both children looked up at him with curious and willing eyes. Din managed to fit both of them into the bag. He locked Gideon’s hands in binders and dragged him into the cell, making sure to lock it. He then relied on the kids to guide him.

He figured she was probably somewhere on this level. Grogu took Mandi’s hand and acted as a translator for her powers. Mandi would whine and Grogu would coo back, as if they were talking, then Grogu would look up at Din and point in a certain direction. The kids led him down the hallway and took a few turns. They stopped him in front of another cell where both children whined. She was in here. He used the data stick to open the door. It opened to reveal a sight that made his blood run cold.

Y/N was laying in a heap on the floor. One of her eyes was purple and nearly swollen shut, there was blood running out of her nose which was bent at a weird angle; most likely broken. Her bottom lip was split and the knuckles on both her hands were bleeding. They had really done a number on her. Din knelt at her side, smoothing his hand over her cheek. “Y/N, wake up,” he shook her gently, “you need to wake up.” He took the kids out of their bag and set them next to her. Grogu waddled over and touched her face. He reached out to Mandi with his other hand and Din moved her closer so Grogu could grab her hand.

The kids both closed their eyes. Din wasn’t sure what they were doing but he removed a glove and touched his skin to her’s. It was like something had told him to, like he knew he could help this way. After a few seconds, Din suddenly felt exhausted as if something had drained his energy. He took shallow breaths, he felt like he’d just run for miles without stopping. He looked at the kids, they looked like they were straining so hard. Then Din began to see the change.

Y/N’s swollen eye slowly went back to normal, her nose moved back into place and the bleeding stopped, and her lip seemed to heal from the inside out. The kids strained harder. She suddenly woke up with a gasp and the kids stopped, Grogu falling down exhausted. Din helped Y/N sit up. “It’s me, it’s me. I’m here,” he said. Tears brimmed in Y/N’s eyes and she wrapped him in a tight hug. He wasn’t uncomfortable this time and hugged her back. “I’m so sorry I let this happen to you,” he said. She pulled away to sign to him.

It’s ok, I chose this. I knew what I was doing to keep you and Grogu safe.

“You shouldn’t have had to,” he told her. She shrugged and managed a smile. She noticed the kids and swooped them both up into her arms, kissing them both on the forehead.

Thank you for getting her and keeping her safe.

Din nodded. “Can you walk? We need to get Gideon and bring him up to the bridge to meet the others.” She nodded and Din offered to put the kids into his bag, which she let him do. They walked back to the other cell and opened it, he was still in there and still knocked out. Rage flared in Y/N’s eyes and she strode over to his body, grabbing his collar and punching him hard in the face. He woke up almost instantly from the impact. “I see you found her,” he addressed Din. “Get up,” Din snapped. Y/N helped Din haul the man to his feet. Din took the sword from his belt and activated it, pointing it at his back. “Move.”

~~~~

Everyone seemed relieved to see Din and Y/N walk in with both the kids and Gideon, alive. All except Bo-Katan who looked concerned, though Din didn’t know why. Cara was happy to see that Gideon was alive and captured, she could now turn him in to the New Republic. Gideon claimed that wasn’t why Bo-Katan was concerned. “Why don’t you kill him now and take it?” He said to her. Y/N grabbed his arm and shoved him down onto the stairs. “It’s yours now,” he said to Din. “What is?” He smiled, “the Darksaber, it belongs to you.”

Din deactivated the sword and walked over to hand it to Bo-Katan. “It belongs to her now,” he proclaimed. “She can’t take it,” Gideon announced with an evil smile. “It must be won, in battle.” Gideon went on to explain how claiming the Darksaber worked. Din didn’t seem to care. “I yield, it’s yours,” Din said. Gideon chuckled, explaining further and insulting Bo-Katan along the way. “He’s right,” she admitted. Din let out an annoyed sigh. “C’mon, just take it,” he hissed. He was tired of this, he just wanted to get out of here with Y/N and the kids.

The moment was interrupted by an alarm going off and Fennec went to check on it. “The ray shields have been breached,” she said. “How many life forms?” Bo asked. “None.” Was the reply. Y/N turned to Din.

The droids.

Gideon seemed confident in his droids. Everyone could see them advancing on the security feed, the intimidating droids making their way towards the bridge. Everyone looked at the systems and watched as the droids advanced on their position. Din set the saber on a control panel and set Grogu and Mandi down behind a console. Fennec called for the blast doors to be sealed and one of the other Mandalorians punched the button. “They’re here,” she said.

Everyone picked up their weapons, Y/N finding one on the ground to use. They heard the pounding on the doors as the droids began their infiltration, every person in the room ready to open fire the second the door broke down. Gideon began talking again, everyone heard his words but paid him no mind as the door began to bend. Y/N took a shaky deep breath.

Then another alarm started sounding and they could see a ship closing in through the viewports. A single X-Wing fighter. Cara seemed doubtful and the other two Mandalorians tried to make contact. No one saw Grogu stirring where Din had set him down. Y/N tried to get a look at the pilot, maybe it was someone she would recognize. The pounding on the door suddenly stopped for seemingly no reason. “Why did they stop?” Fennec questioned. Y/N touched Din’s arm and he looked at her.

They found a new target.

Everyone watched as the troopers turned to face whatever threat was coming from the X-Wing. A single figure in a black robe making their way down the empty halls. Y/N’s heart skipped a beat. A Jedi. There was no one else it could be. Her suspicions were confirmed when the figure brandished a laser sword and entered combat with the dark troopers. At least they weren’t trying to get through the door anymore.

“A Jedi…” Bo-Katan breathed. Din turned to look at the screen and Y/N saw Moff Gideon start shaking, he knew he was done for if there was a Jedi coming their way. They all continued to watch as the Jedi cut through the droids like they were made of duraplast. Grogu had started to wander over to Bo-Katan’s screen when Moff Gideon struck. He shot at Bo with a blaster that he had gotten somehow, her armor deflected the blasts but it got her out of the way. He aimed at Grogu but Din was quicker, diving in front of the child and protecting him with his Beskar covered body.

Cara knocked the blaster away from him when he went to use it on himself and knocked him out with the end of her blaster rifle. Grogu had made it to the screen and touched his little hand to it, he knew that was a Jedi. Din pulled himself up to look at the screen and Y/N joined him with Mandi in her arms. The droids left the door and faced their attacker, waiting for him to get off the lift. Everyone held their breath.

The lift arrived and the Jedi cut down every droid before them, making it look effortless with the laser sword they carried. Din stood beside Grogu and watched as the Jedi arrived at the door, all the droids had been cut to pieces. Y/N’s breathing had become more shaky, she was scared. Grogu looked at Din and then pointed to the door, Din picked him up. “Open the doors,” Din said. No one moved. “I said: open the doors.” Fennec told him he was crazy as he set Grogu in a chair and pressed the button for the doors. Y/N held her breath, staying at the back of the room.

The door opened and the Jedi walked through the smoke onto the bridge. He stood for a second before deactivating his laser sword and removing his hood. Y/N instantly recognized him. “Are you a Jedi?” Din asked. The man confirmed, beckoning Grogu to him. The child whined and Din looked to the Jedi, “he doesn’t want to go with you.” “He wants your permission,” the man clarified. He went on to say that Grogu would never be safe if he wasn’t properly trained. Y/N was getting angry, her heart beating out of control. He was trying to separate them, Y/N had sworn she wouldn’t let anyone do that. She had thought that threat would come from Moff Gideon and it had, but she hadn’t expected a Jedi, especially this one, to try and separate a child from their parent. There was silence and she acted.

She cradled Mandi in one arm and snatched the Darksaber from the control panel where Din had set it, she strode across the room until she was standing between the Jedi and Mando. She activated the saber and pointed it at him, her eyes blazed with anger and defiance. The Jedi looked unaffected and Din was struck dumb, what was she doing?

“I...will n-not let-t you…t-ake this c-hild…”

Her chest was heaving from her harsh intakes of air and the saber was shaking in her nervous hands. Her words were hoarse and broken, but she could speak, barely enough to understand. The Jedi looked at her sympathetically, like the look you gave a mourning friend. “Y/N, you know I have-”

“No!” She shouted, “do not use my n-name. They will n-not be s-s-separated, Luke. I p-promised myssself that.” Everyone else in the room was confused by the things she was saying. “You of all p-people should u-understand that.” The Jedi she called Luke just stood, the same look remaining on his face, like he felt sorry for her. He was trying to reason with her.

Din was beyond confused. Why was Y/N threatening a Jedi? How did she know him? How did he know her! Was this the part of her past he didn’t know about, that she pretty much refused to talk about.

“I’m sure you’ve seen his abilities, you know he needs to be trained,” Luke said. “I know,” she swallowed, “but you c-can’t separate them…the Jedi in the past m-made that mistake. Don’t be l-like them.” Luke sighed. “There is no other option for him, even your own little one will need training when she comes of age,” he told her. Y/N looked down at Mandi, still pointing the saber at Luke. Tears welled in her eyes and Y/N blinked them away. “If you won’t l-listen to m-me, then perhaps y-you’ll listen to the Supreme Chancellor o-of the New Republic,” Y/N said.

“You don’t have to do this,” Luke pleaded as Y/N crossed the room. She deactivated the saber and stuck it in the waistband of her pants. She stood at the base control panel and pressed several buttons in sequence. Luke sighed softly and walked over to her. Everyone else exchanged glances not knowing what to do or say. Cara walked over by Din. “What’s going on?” She whispered. “I don’t know,” he answered.

Y/N turned on the long range communications and took down the shields for better signal, turning on the open frequency. “You’re attached to them,” Luke whispered from beside her. “Shut up,” she growled. She fiddled with the comms unit until a voice came through, one that Din recognized. “This is New Republic X-Wing M1-11, come in.” Y/N smirked, trying her best to clear her throat so she could be heard better. “Carson, it’s Y/N. How are you these days?” The man chuckled on the other end. “Y/N, I haven’t heard from you in years. How are you, kiddo?” Y/N smiled. “I could be better, I have a situation I need your help with. How fast can you make it to these coordinates I’m sending you?” She punched a few buttons, sending him their position in space.

Cara looked at Din. “I know that guy she’s talking to,” she whispered to him. “So do I,” Din said, “he tried to arrest me.” Cara chuckled. “Funny, he made me New Republic Marshal.” Din hummed, checking on Grogu who was still sitting in the chair.

“It might take a couple hours but we can be there,” Carson said, “What’s the occasion?” “Extraction. A few friends of mine managed to capture Moff Gideon,” she said. “You’re joking.” Y/N shook her head even though he couldn’t see her. “Not joking, my friend. He’s unconscious on the floor next to me. I also have an issue with a certain Jedi that I would like the Chancellor’s help with.”

“I’ll relay the message to her. In the meantime, Trapper and I will head over there and escort your ship to a neutral planet where you can meet,” Carson explained. “Copy that,” Y/N said, “see you soon.” She ended the communication and turned to Luke. “Can we at least discuss something with the Chancellor?” She asked. “I suppose so,” he replied. She nodded and Luke nodded back at her. They turned to face the room of confused individuals. Fennec spoke first. “I can’t still be here when the New Republic arrives,” she said. “Will your friend be coming back? Can he come get you?” She thought for a moment. “I can comm him to come get me,” she said. Y/N motioned for her to have at the controls.

“So who are you?” Cara asked. “How come you have contacts with the New Republic?” Y/N looked at the floor almost in shame. “You didn’t tell them?” Luke said to her. She glanced at him then back at the floor. “Who are you?” Din asked. He needed answers, now. What had she been hiding from him? Y/N turned her head and glanced out the viewport at the stars. “Y/N, you need to tell me,” Din insisted. He walked a little closer to her. “What have you not been telling me?” He asked sternly.

Luke still stood next to her. “It’s a long story,” she said. “She didn’t tell you she was involved in the war, did she?” Luke asked Din. Din looked between Luke and Y/N. “What?” Cara set her blaster down. “That doesn’t explain much, how does she have such high contacts?” She looked at Y/N. “Supreme Chancellor Mothma, are you serious?” Y/N held Mandi tight to her and walked closer to the window. She and Luke exchanged glances, as if she was giving him permission to speak for her.

“Technically speaking, Y/N is the second most influential and powerful person in the New Republic,” Luke informed. “What? How?” Bo-Katan finally spoke. Luke looked at Y/N again before addressing everyone else in the room.

“She’s the Supreme Chancellor’s daughter.”

[its-all-ineffable]

Star Trek reactions - Balance of terror

Aww, they're having a wedding! That's so cute!

Uh oh, the Earth Outpost's have gone silent...that's not good...

Scotty's walking this girl down the aisle, bless! This is so cute!💖 Also, nice to see Scotty again! And Kirk's marrying them, that's adorable!

Aw damn, a red alert in the middle of a wedding! Of course! Also, why is Spock not at the wedding? Did he not want to go?

"Planets Romulus and Remus" nice.

Sulu! Yay! Nice to see you again! And more Scotty content! Love them, Uhura too. She sang last episode, it was good!

The poor people who's wedding got interrupted. I hope they manage to actually get married.

Hang on - is this the ep where people are racist to Spock because Vulcan's and Romulan's are similar? Boy, I'm gonna get angry if it is.

I don't like this Stiles guy, he's gonna be racist to Spock isn't he?

Oh shit! They're just gone? That's BAD!

Hang on, isn't that the couple that was - yeah. Aw, bless 'em. She just wants to be married.

OMG THAT LOOKS AWFUL! THIS POOR GUY! Uh oh, that's not good! OMG THAT GUY JUST GOT KILLED OMG!

The ship's gone! WHAT?😱

Every time Spock says blip, I keep thinking of 'The Blip' in the MCU. My brain...

This Stiles guy, I... "Romulan spies"? What, like Spock? Fuck you man.

Uh oh, the Romulan's look Vulcan! Here comes the racism!

Stiles man, shut the fuck up! No one likes you, you racist dickhead! Yes Kirk, defend your husband! Poor Spock.

Isn't that Romulan Spock's dad? Like, the actor plays Spock's dad later on on the series? I swear it is!

That Romulan is depressed. Like, seriously.

This Stiles guy is a dick. A dick. Yes Sulu, tell him! FUCK THIS GUY YOU LEAVE SPOCK ALONE YOU PRICK!!

Spock wants to start a war? Spock, no! Please don't!

That Romulan saved his friend! Bless!

Oh god Spock, not near the sparks! Oof! Oh, here comes the ship - IS IT EXPLODING??

Yeoman Rand! Yay! Lovely to see her, I love Janice!

That shot of Rand and Kirk together is beautiful!

Aw, the couple! Bless 'em! Spock lying on the floor like a model though!😂

Spock standing over Stiles though!🤣 He be playing!

Damn, the Enterprise is really going after them! Why? Why can't you be the bigger people? Is it so hard?

OMG, you're going to fire the dead body at them?! WTF?!! Oh, you're going to trick them! Ah!

Yay, Janice is back! I love her so much, she's so good and kind!

Bones being a good friend is what I need! BONES LOVES HIM, AWWW! What a good best friend!

OH NO, SPOCK INADVERTENTLY SENT A SIGNAL! AHH! And that Stiles guy is gonna say he did it on purpose!

Oh no, they're gonna try and blow them up!

LORD THEY WENT! Oh, oh they're okay! Good good!

I like this Romulan Commander, he just wants to go home. He's so done with everything.

"We'll handle things without your help Vulcan." GET FUCKED YOU DICKHEAD! Look at Spock coming to help, after Stiles had been a little racist bitch!

Oh my god, just save yourselves dude! Let your crew be beamed aboard The Enterprise! is he gonna - yep, he blew them up. Wow.

Spock being the bigger person! Oh no, not the guy who was going to get married! Fuck, why?! His poor partner.

This poor woman, honestly. She just wanted to get married to the man she loved. Jeez.

Ah well, at least the racist dickhead learned to not be racist!

That's it for this ep! Next up: ...to be confirmed

@vulcan-avenger-of-fandoms-27 @datsavageavenger @lockwie @tribblehugger96 @ricketyricketypinetrees-blog @fandom-star @ramblingsofachristiannerd @toboldlynerd @high-functioning-lokipath @miglika

[piratemadi]

please make your critical post of supernatural those are literally the only posts about supernatural i care about, especially since i side eye the heck out of the many people who give supernatural a pass because they ship two boring white dudes (dean and castiel) PLEASE

omg ok nobody make fun of me for posting an earnest criticism of this show i enjoy critical analysis and being a hater

i think most of why this show sucks has already been covered pretty thoroughly but these r the main things abt it that piss ME off.

the racism runs so SO deep. supernatural is supposed to be an exploration of americana thru horror (and i’ll give them that. like the idea of deconstructing america and all its fallacies thru horror is genius and in competent hands it would be absolutely incredible. but anyway) but it only really scrapes the surface of what is inherently horrific about americana! something like that is supposed to be an INTERROGATION of monstrosity and how america (and western society more broadly) creates monsters out of human beings and how white christian morals are established as the ONLY acceptable morals and how anyone who falls outside of those norms (non christian, non white, lgbt, people with substance use disorders, prisoners, the poor, indigenous people/cultures etc) are monsterized, so to speak, because of an oppressive and unloving colonial society. like u cannot have a horror narrative abt monsters attacking family values and white suburban life without invoking some very old and racist conventions! but instead of subverting that supernatural just reinforces it! it consistently fails to make any kind of real statement because the most demonized parts of society are the people who are also treated the WORST in canon! native american beliefs are stolen and turned into stupid bogeymen without the show ever featuring a native character or seriously grappling with the inherent violence of america as a colonial state, black men are consistently portrayed as angry and evil while black women are treated like shit (dean’s happy ending at the end of s5 is with a white woman he fucked one time instead of with the black woman who he was in love with??), impoverished people are mostly ignored and when they’re not theyre monsters (theres one episode centered around a poor rural family that commits murder and cannibalism. no supernatural stuff or monsters. just poor people. thats the scare).

theres this consistent fixation on preserving american suburbia, on saving “normal” (read: white middle class) people and it sets up this dynamic of like. the “real world” is the white middle class and then there’s hunters including our mains who defend that “real world” against monsters and demons, which is just Everything Else. and the writers PRETEND to struggle w the question of monsters and what makes one but they just toss it around without ever actually committing to answering that question with compassion or narrative coherency. they have multiple episodes about characters who were raised human, who want to be human, but have to be killed because of an inherent evil nature. there’s a plot in the early seasons about how one of the main characters has demonic powers, and instead of saying that doesnt make him inherently bad and he’s allowed to fully access all parts of himself without being fundamentally evil, they consistently frame intrinsically neutral traits as inherently evil specifically because they go against a christian ideal of morality! and eventually he learns to suppress these powers and that’s that!

and then it establishes christianity as the guiding principle of america, not in a way of like “american culture and history is deeply steeped in white supremacist protestantism that has led to incredibly fucked up views on god and love and morality and thats what we have to deal with as people who live here”, but in a way of like “the christian god is real and he’s a white guy who fucking hates you.” which like. Ok. they bastardize and trivialize any religions that arent christian while building the entire series on christianity. Ok. like i guess its possible to write stories about white christianity without implying that every other religion is full of shit but supernatural did not do that on any level

its also just. really poorly written. i genuinely loved the first season i thought it was really well paced and that the characters were introduced really well like the first season is a GOOD horror story in terms of family as horror and the inherent terror of americana. but the pacing and the character development started tripping up in s2. by s3 they started raising the stakes Exponentially which honestly is such a kiss of death for good fiction like every season mounting a bigger badder antagonist than the last one is the surest way to kill a story bc it means the earlier entries in that story become basically meaningless in the face of the new bad guy. u dont need to raise the stakes to write a good story! a well written story abt the horror and drama of a close knit and unhealthy family caught up in something they don’t really understand isn’t Less emotionally resonant than, like, having to stop the world from ending, because at the end of the day its Fiction and none of it matters beyond what u can make the audience really Feel. im not gonna feel sorrow if 7 billion fake little people die. i didnt cry when the death star blew up whatever planet it blew up. what DOES make me feel sorrow is a few truly well written characters whose relationships are complicated and tragic and whose motivations i can understand and whose inner lives i can imagine. raising the stakes destroys a good story and thats exactly what happened to supernatural (not that the racism and misogyny and american protestant moralizing wasn’t killing it already)

also, the misogyny makes the female characters basically impossible to watch. like not a single person on that show is a good actor (except sterling k brown love u king u were the best actor that show ever saw) but they didnt even give any of the women anything to work with. its literally so cringey to watch any woman onscreen except maybe like. bela talbot and she was treated like utter shit.

god. you know that expression dont fall in love with potential? i dont do that w people i do it w fiction. i came off black sails and the untamed and frankenstein and i watched the first couple seasons of supernatural with my friend and it was like...there was so much room for it to SAY something about monsters and how society creates them thru violence and how deeply horrific american protestantism is. like theres so many questions and concepts that it brought up that it never actually SAID something about. shithole of wasted potential. and yeah dean and castiel is stupid there i said it

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms- In the Flesh.

Part 16

No editing, we die like men: ill prepared and confused. Did I read this over even once before posting? Nope.

Warnings back fully into effect. Have triggers? Just go ahead and avoid this. Don't want to spoil anything, so I wont say which, but guys, you've seen my other chapters for this. You know better.

This was actually fun to write with my weird view point that's both in the moment and yet so disconnected.

CLOSED list of hooligans: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Following Damian back into the living room, she saw the group all gathered around their phones, whispering amongst themselves. Approaching soundlessly, she peeked over Juleka's shoulder, catching sight of the screen at the same time Jason did. 

The Joker. He had escaped Arkham once more and now held a broadcast, obviously attempting to get the attention of the Batman. Apparently he set up a new game for them to play. To make matters worse, the prize for winning? The return of Robin. A young looking boy in a different form of the Robin suit was shown for only a moment, glaring at the camera in his face. The timer was set and the broadcast cut. 

That location, it was far closer to their own location than the Wayne manor. Bruce wouldn't make it. It was her and Jason all over again. 

Jason.

Turning on her heel, she took a deep breath and swallowed hard to settle the anger rising in her throat and took command.

"Damian, see to Jason, keep him calm. The pit is about to take hold," she spoke calmly, Damian nodded and lead the taller man away as she turned towards the group watching her every move, "I'm setting out. Jason is likely to come with me. You'll watch over Damian in my absence. I do not expect any of the kwamis to wish to transform with me, but if you decide to, you'll need to be morally ambiguous unlike Tikki or Plagg. Neither of us will be held back or redirected. You'll have to accept whatever comes of this," looking away from the kwamis and to the bristling teens in front of her, she hardened her gaze, "Unless one of you has experience with the Lazarus Pits and their effects, you will stay away from either of us or that building. Judging by the gasps I hear from the kwamis, they will enforce this for me if you decide not to heed my words."

Stalking into her room once more, she started to drag out bags, open compartments in drawers, pull off seemingly decorative pieces from the walls. Longg approached her carefully from the side.

"I will transform with you. The others would feel more comfortable if one of you were superpowered and I'm morally gray unlike the main set."

Nodding, she took his piece carefully, "I need you to make my suit stealthy. I will not be caught due to bright colors."

"The suit will match your will," he reassured.

Transforming, she took in the multiple shades of grey and black lining her body in waves, selective holding pouches hidden within the fabric. Placing her knives about her body, she found a retractable bladed staff along her thigh. Perfect, one less large piece to carry. 

Grabbing a mask, she slipped out to find Jason mostly calm. Taking his hand in hers, she led him to the bathroom and handed him his own clothes back from the league missions.

"He won't be transforming?" Marc inquired.

"His body is more riddled with madness. It's less than it would be had his soul been dipped as mine has, but I've had time to tame and curb the insanity. He hasn't. Add superpowers to the mix?"

"He'll level a city," Plagg spoke up.

"Exactly."

"And you're taking him with you?" Kagami growled out, obviously against the idea.

"Would you rather I leave him here so he can accidently kill one of you and hate himself for the rest of his life? Besides, he has no attachment towards Damian yet. I'm not risking it," her tone brokered no arguments and Jason emerged in that moment. He immediately went into her room and pulled out a gun from her side drawer, muscle memory letting him navigate the place as his own. He put it in the holster on his thigh and went towards her equipment, still out and waiting for him, sifting through until he found a larger set of machetes, grabbing them and a second mask before rejoining her at the window to the fire escape. With just a glance towards the other they knew their minds were in sync.

"Damian, stay and watch them," Jason ordered, the kid nodding at his given mission, turning towards the team with crossed arms. 

With that, they climbed out and took off across the rooftops.

…

The run went by in a blur of motion neither could remember. Now they crouched on the edge of the building the Joker was supposedly in, scoping out the entrances. She could feel Jason practically vibrating at her side and traced spirals along his spine to keep him mentally in place.

"Shhh, focus on my instructions Jason. Those voices aren't as important as our own," she murmured, finding an unguarded door. The idiot never used obvious doors, so of course the clown wasn't focused on them as much as the windows, basement and roof access. The door she found looked like an old employee entrance, easily overlooked. 

"Jay?" Before she could finish the inquiry, he moved forward and picked the lock, letting them in, keeping in front of her.

"Based on the lighting in that video, I'd guess they're keeping him further up. What do you think?"

"Likely midway up, seventh or eighth level."

They skirted their way up staircases, quietly knocking out anyone they found on their way up. Occasionally they stopped to practice deep breaths, as the further up they went, the more vivid the green in their eyes glowed. Both could sense the impending catalyst and tried to press the insanity back. They wanted this to be on their own terms.

At about the sixth level, Jason found himself having to hold Mari back, having almost torn out a guys throat for simply struggling too much in the takedown. 

"Not worth it. Not yet."

Breathing heavily, the voices dropped back to reasonable levels, allowing their continued movement. Mari found herself meditating as they went, recentering herself. One of them had to stay fully self aware and she knew it had to be her. Jason needed someone to watch out for him in his first true rush, not to panic in the middle when no one could hold them back. She would be there the way Talia had been for her. As Damian normally was.

At the ninth floor, they found their target.

Marinette felt borderline insulted at the difference in treatment.

The current Robin was swinging upside down, bound in rope and gagged. 

They had been chained to an operation table, beaten to a pulp with every moment too long the bat took. This boy didn't even have a guard on him. Sure, there were boobytraps set all over the damn place that they painstakingly dismantled one at a time, but even still. Not a scratch on the kid's face. Shaking the thought, Mari chided herself. Her anger was reserved for the people who put them in this situation, not some boy that was obviously dragged into the adults' personal issues. She knew when they escaped and the madness leveled out, relief for his unharmed state would course through her like a tidal wave. For now, she felt contempt and resignation. When the last trap finally fell apart, they heard his voice.

"Batsy! So you finally decide to show on time for one of your pretty birds?" It called, still not in view.

Jason bristled in her peripheral and she yanked him around quickly to focus in on her, aware of the hanging kid's eyes trained on them.

"Save Robin. He can't. He won't. We know this. Do what he didn't for us. Save. Him."

Jason's pupils blew under the mask and a growl tore from his throat as he turned towards the masked child, letting the anger direct itself into righting the injustice done unto him.

Marinette turned back towards the voice, creeping forward, bladed staff withdrawn and extended. She watched its shadow as it twisted along the walls. Finally, it turned the wrong corner and she slammed the side of the staff against him, letting the staff glide along their body as they were forced back, the tip catching their chest and opening a gash through his suit.

Joker jolted, gasping and confused, "You're not Batsy."

A feral grin grew upon her face, "No, but I'm so much more fun, wouldn't you say?" she activated wind dragon, blowing him further back across the room until he stumbled and fell onto his back. He quickly grabbed up a device and smiled maniacally, holding it up to view, starting a spiel about what it would do if he pressed this particular button, blah blah blah. She wasn't here for his rambling. Activating electric dragon, she launched herself into the device, shorting it out into a useless hunk of metal. Reappearing in front of him, she drew out her blades, only to hear quiet feet land in the room over. 

"And what exactly did you have in mind, girly?" He asked, licking at the corner of his mouth in a weird tic sort of a way. 

Placing a grin to rival his own across her face, she tilted her head, "It is not what I'll do that should concern you. Rather, what I'll allow him to do," she watched annoyed confusion flicker across the clownesque features as Jason appeared at her side, a second set seeming to approach her from behind. Reaching back, one hand grabbed a thin shoulder in a harsh grip to keep the kid in his place, the other went to her side to grip a broad shoulder in a more crushing grip to keep Jason from moving too soon. She turned and looked into masked, violently green eyes.

"Do you want to?" A nod. "Will you regret it?" A shake. "Will you take back your mind when it's over?" Another nod. "He's all yours, Bird. Get it out of your system, find me when you're done." A growl.

She let go and turned towards the kid, bodily backing him up into the other room, out of view.

"You don't want to see this."

"Who are you?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, I'll figure it out either way. Be nice if you made it easy though."

"Hmm, how does one become a Robin? Oh yeah, the previous one either leaves or dies."

"You don't mean," the kid's eyes widen.

"He shouldn't of allowed another one. Isn't one child dying for his cause enough?"

"It's not like that," he grew defensive.

"Isn't it though? Whether you wanted it or not, if anything happens to you, it's because he decided another child could fight actual murderers."

"That's beside the point, I need to stop them," he tried to push past her only for her to activate wind dragon and pick him straight up and out of the building to another rooftop, letting him go at the top, though grabbing his grapple as she reformed.

"Do you recognize this part of the city?"

"What are you doing? Let me back in there," he sounded panicked.

"Breath, little bird. Do you recognize where we are?"

"I- yes. I recognize it."

"Do you know how far it is from Wayne Manor?"

"What does that-" he attempted playing dumb.

"Do you?"

"Of course I do!"

"I know you do. You're a smart little bird. Very well learned. You know how long it takes to get here from the Manor as well don't you? And what time the broadcast went up?"

The kid's face darkened, and while he obviously didn't want to admit it, he could obviously make the calculations.

"He wouldn't have made it on time."

"It was on purpose. Joker wants to remind him of his greatest failure," the teen, she realized, rationalized.

"Batman isn't the only one Joker reminded. People don't take kindly to reminders of their dying day."

"So you two are?"

"Undead? In a funny way, yes. And absolutely riddled with destructive insanity."

"You don't seem it."

"I've had time to repress it. Learn control and stability. Him, not so much. This is his first relapse. There's no preventing it. Only directing it. I figure taking out an actual child murderer, who has tortured and ended the life of hundreds, including the sick and dying would be an alright outlet."

"It's immoral."

"We both know the only reason Bruce won't kill is that he wouldn't stop once he started. He'd lose control entirely. It's nothing to do with morality. Otherwise he wouldn't turn a blind eye to the select hits Alfred made in his time."

"How do you know so much?"

"How do you?"

"I figured it out on my own and decided for him."

"Very clever of you. But you didn't decide for him, he let you and took advantage of your determination. I'm sure in more ways than this one." She picked his arguments apart, remembering the way Talia detached Damian from herself. She didn't like the idea of manipulating a kid into disowning his own family, but a toxic situation was still toxic. She'd contact Alfred later to get back in touch as well as a better read on the situation.

As the teen became frustrated once more, he moves towards her to get back his gear only for Jason to drop next to them, breathing heavily with blood dripping down his arms and from the blades across his back, down onto his legs and the ground surrounding.

He seemed to slowly come back from the insanity, leaning into her, "I killed him. Fuck, I killed him," he gasped. 

Marinette reached up and stroked his head in soothing motions.

"It's okay, Jay, it's okay. He deserved it. You hate taking another's life and feel the weight of it, but it wasn't a life that was regrettable to end," she whispered, remembering the words that assuaged her own guilt.

"The-the Joker is dead?" The teen before them whispered.

Jason peeked up at the little Robin before them, the green sparking for another moment, "He made another? Replaced us? The mantle should have died when you did. Dick should have stopped him," he groaned out, hatred and fear pulsing in waves.

"Oh shit, you're the last Robin. Jason," the teen's breath caught, half in awe, half dread.

"Yeah, the last. Why? You shouldn't be here," his voice quivered.

Mari handed the grappling gear back over, looking him directly in his hidden eyes, "I know you're going to tell him Jason's back. That he killed the Joker. I'm sure you'll even mention me. But I'm sure he'll notice our own message."

"And what would that be?"

"We were the ones to save you. Not him. Let me know if you ever need an escape from that nightmare."

With that, she lead Jason away, having heard his breathing even out and calm moments before.

"Let's go home," she whispered in his ear, getting a soft nod and taking off back across the roofs.

[ao-anonymousobsesser]

Oops?

Hey! So! I’m not dead! Surprised? Me too!

This story was written for my good friend @comfortably-chaotic-mind -  I love them, please go follow them and read whatever they post. Some ColdFlash written just for you, buddy, since I know I haven’t written much...and this is honestly kind of garbage and not in any way explicitly ColdFlash until the end, and I might eventually continue it in a real story (probably not). But anyway! Good job with school! Here you go!

Oops? a ColdFlash Fic for @comfortably-chaotic-mind - 4700 words

“Allen.”

He glanced up, fingers pausing their furious typing but still hovering over the keys. “Yeah?”

“There’s some guy at the door, says he knows you.”

Barry’s brow scrunched. “Who?”

His roommate shrugged. “Didn’t give a name. Said he was your friend, asked me to get you.” A pause, and he looked over his shoulder almost nervously. “He’s creepy, dude—I think he might be on the run. Who the fuck you hangin’ out with?”

Realization dawned, and he laughed. “Oh, okay,” he said, still laughing. “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just Len—you can let him in.”

“You sure?”

Barry rolled his eyes. “Yes, Hal. I promise he won’t steal your stuff.”

His roommate’s eyes narrowed at that. “Even more suspicious,” he muttered, but he disappeared back into the hall.

There were muffled voices—Hal telling Len where to find him—and then the front door shut and the TV in the living room turned on. If he listened really carefully, he could hear quiet footsteps on the creaky stairs.

The door to his bedroom-slash-office opened again, and he turned back to his computer. The data report wasn’t going to finish itself. It didn’t take long for the door to shut, and then a man’s figure came to lean against the desk beside his arm.

“No Cold-Gun today?” Barry asked, conversational. “How bold of you. You know, without that thing, I could take you to jail whenever I want.”

The man scoffed. “We have a deal, Scarlet—I don’t kill, you don’t turn me in. I haven’t killed anyone, so…”

He rolled his eyes. “What do you want, Snart?” he sighed. “And how did you even find me?”

“I asked Vibe.”

Barry waited for him to continue, but he left it at that, so Barry finally stopped talking and looked up with a raised brow and a completely nonplussed expression. “What do you want, Cold?” he snapped.

Len just frowned. “What are you doing here, Scarlet?”

“What do you mean?” He gestured pointedly around them. “I’m working.”

“You work in Central City,” the man corrected, almost…grumbling.

Barry shook his head, face scrunching in utter confusion. “No, I mean—I had to go back to school.”

“Back?”

“Yeah? Back? This is where I went to get my degree in the first place, and now I have to take an updated course. Just a few weeks. I should be back by next month. I’m even getting paid for it.” He grinned, though it almost immediately fell when Len just stared at him. “What?”

“When did you get your degree?”

“Every CSI has a college degree, Snart. It’s mandatory.”

“No. When were you in Coast City?”

He shrugged. “I moved the summer after high school. School for three years, training for one, and then I went home.” The other man was silent, and his brow scrunched in concern. “Why?”

Len shook his head. “No reason,” he said quietly, glancing around the room. The way he said it indicated that there was, in fact, a reason, but that he would not be disclosing it. “What are you doing back?”

“Refresher course,” Barry replied slowly. “They updated the curriculum for the new tech we have now, and Singh offered to send me back here instead of doing the course in Central, since Coast City is way better in the university department.”

The other man didn’t ask anything else, still looking around the room, and the speedster sighed deeply.

“Look, Snart, I have a lot of work to do, so if there’s a reason for this visit, please get to—”

“What was it like,” he interrupted, the words rough and halting, as if he were forcing them out of his throat, “for you, when you were in your coma?”

Barry blinked in surprise. “How do you know about that?”

“Humor me, Scarlet.”

“I…” He hesitated before shaking his head. “Well, it was hard, at first. Not just because I woke up with superspeed, but—when I was…asleep…I was just dreaming. About anything, everything—and it didn’t really feel like anything more than just regular dreams and stuff. And then I woke up, and it had been, like…nine, ten months without me even noticing. So I had to deal with that.” He sighed. “The world just kind of…I mean, the world doesn’t stop because a random CSI is in a coma. No one really cared—No one other than Iris and Joe, and STAR Labs kinda. So, yeah. It was rough for a while. Everything had changed, and I didn’t even get to see it.”

Len was quiet for a long moment. Barry watched him carefully, searching for any sign as to what this was all about.

Finally, the older man sighed and shook his head. “How did you know it was me at the door?”

“Hal’s description,” he replied without hesitation. “He’s pretty intuitive about stuff. Said you looked like you were on the run, and creepy, and suspicious, but if he thought you were actually dangerous, he would have come out and said it. And you’re the only one I know that could pull that off and still say, I’m a friend of Barry’s, can you get him? with a totally straight face.” He shrugged. “Anyone else who might have done that is still in Central. I got an update last night—they all went out to celebrate Caitlin’s first official catch.” He grinned.

Len rolled his eyes. “You left a bunch of newbies to protect the city,” he sighed disapprovingly.

Barry frowned. “You know, when we first met, I was a newbie,” he pointed out. “I had only been a speedster for like—a month.” He huffed. “Cisco and Iris have it under control for now. It’s fine. The city’s in good hands.”

“I don’t like it.”

The speedster paused, head tilted as his eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“I just don’t. A lot can happen without the Scarlet Speedster around.”

“There are three other speedsters in town right now. I think they’ll be fine.”

“None of them are you.”

“What’s your point, Len?” he sighed, exasperated now. “Did something happen?”

“No.”

Just then, Barry’s alarm sounded, startling him. It was noon: officially lunchtime. He huffed, shutting down his laptop and standing to stretch. Then his phone started beeping again—not his alarm, this time, but his text-tone. And then it started ringing. Like, ringing ringing, in the way it only did when Cisco’s latest installation was being put to use.

He had only let him put the app on his phone a few weeks ago, before going to Coast City, just in case. If several people called him at once, he could choose which he wanted to answer rather than hearing the busy-line beeping noise when he answered the phone.

Barry raised a brow and reached for the device.

Len grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “Don’t answer that,” he all but ordered. “Trust me.”

“Why?” His face scrunched. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

“They’re just going to tell you that I’m on my way here,” the man explained carefully. “And since I’m already here, you don’t need to know.”

“How did you get here so fast, then?” Barry retorted.

“Kara lent me her generator.” Len shrugged. “She was…strangely nice.” His brow rose. “I’m guessing you only told her the good parts, and not that I’m a criminal?”

The speedster ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe? By the time I met her, you were with the Legends.” He paused. “How did you meet her?”

“Long story.”

“Obviously, I’ve got time.” He crossed his arms and glared pointedly. “What the hell is going on, Len? What did you do in Central that has everyone trying to get ahold of me? When did you get back from the Waverider? Why are you here?”

“I didn’t know where else to go!” Len shouted, expression crumpling. “Mick won’t talk to me, Lisa’s underground, Sara thinks I’ve lost my mind, and the rest of the crew—they can barely look at me after what they did! What they let me do!”

Barry was utterly confused, now, and he took a slow step forward as if approaching a scared, wounded animal. “What are you talking about?” he asked carefully.

“I died, Barry.”

He froze—actually froze, standing stock-still like a robot shutting down. This was… “What?” he asked. “What…That…What?”

Len sighed, slumping down into the vacated office chair. “The Time Masters were—They were gonna let Vandal Savage wreck the timeline. Kill whoever he wanted. They said they had to, to ensure the world’s survival.”

“What does that mean?”

“In a couple hundred years, we’re going to be invaded by Thanagaar—an alien planet with a warlike people. And the Time Masters don’t think we’ll make it unless Savage is there to help us. So, they let him do what he wants, shape the world into what he thinks is best, and he’ll save the world.”

“It’s Vandal Savage, Len. He can’t be trusted.”

“I know,” he snapped. “We all knew that.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We decided to destroy their time-keeping device. The Oculus, they called it. It held the records for every timeline, every little change that would or could occur. Destroy that, and time is guided by freewill.”

“And?”

“And the only way to destroy it was to stand right next to it, holding down the button until it exploded.” He looked up, watching the horror dawn across Barry’s face, and nodded. “Ray was going to be the one, thinking his Atom suit would protect him, but we saw that it wouldn’t. And then Mick tried to step in, because Rip convinced him it was the way to repent—by saving his friend. I couldn’t—I couldn’t let him die.”

“Len…”

“I couldn’t let Mick die, Barry,” he snapped. “Not like that. Not when I—I was the one who dragged him into the whole thing. Into the Legends. He followed me, after everything, after everything I did to him, and…and I couldn’t do it.”

“I get it.”

“I knocked him out, took his place…blew up the Oculus. Took out half the Time Masters, too.”

“And then?”

“I died. Disintegrated. Became…Nothing.”

Barry reached out to set a hand on his shoulder, brow scrunched in sympathy. “How long?”

“I don’t know.” Len shook his head. “Days? Years? Centuries? I…I wasn’t sleeping, exactly, or dreaming. It was all…real. And then you were there. Every time I managed to pull myself together, every time I relaxed into the pain enough to think…You were there.”

He was confused again. “I don’t remember…”

The man was already shaking his head. “An older version of you,” he clarified. “You were…maybe thirty?” He sighed. “There were so many fragments, different timelines…It’s hard to keep track. Most of them didn’t make sense.”

“Why?”

“I’d rather not say. If you don’t mind.”

Barry shrugged. “That’s fine, I guess. It’s your trauma.” He sighed. “So this was maybe…three, four years in the future.”

“Most of it.”

“And the rest?”

Len looked away at that, silent for a minute. Then, quietly, “The last one was a few weeks ago. He brought me back to the Waverider.”

“He?”

“You…Future-You.” He chuckled softly. “I fell through a wormhole onto his kitchen floor.”

Barry laughed. “I’m sure that was surprising.”

Len shrugged. “He didn’t seem surprised. But it could have been because he was older.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t seem surprised?”

“He…” Hesitation, again. “He just leaned over and said, Finally. Then he helped me up, explained some science stuff that I couldn’t understand, and offered to take me back to my time.”

“How old was he—I?” Barry stuttered.

“Forty? Maybe forty-five?” Another shrug. “You might have been older, though—I had a feeling. Speedster aging must be slower.”

“Strange.” He shook his head. “How long did you stay with the Legends?”

“Not long. Like I said, they can barely stand to be around me.” He sighed. “It didn’t take much to get them to drop me off in 2016.”

“You still haven’t told me how you met Supergirl. She’s on another Earth, Len—the Waverider couldn’t have taken you there, and I don’t think you have any favors left with Cisco. So how did you meet?”

Len nodded, thoughtful. “That…is complicated.”

“More complicated than literally dying?”

“Yes.”

Barry huffed and sat down on his bed, crossing his arms. “Hit me with it, then.”

“First of all, I didn’t meet her this year. I met her…probably at least fifteen or twenty years from now. It’s all a little fuzzy.”

“Why?”

“She—Well, her team, really…They were the ones who pulled my threads together.” He shook his head. “They didn’t mean to, not really—they were looking for some sort of robot, or something—but they got me out first. I was unconscious for that part. Woke up in a hospital bed next to Kara’s.”

“She was hurt?”

Len shook his head again. “Not exactly…More drained. The machine they used drew power from her. She insisted it was fine, that she just needed some Vitamin D, and she’d be fine.”

“Her power comes from the Sun.”

“I know that now—I didn’t know back then.” He sighed. “She asked who I was…and when I told her, she immediately asked if I knew you and Oliver.”

“Of course she did,” he muttered. “And then?”

“I don’t remember a lot of it,” Len admitted. “She gave me one of her spare generators, and then I woke up on Older-Barry’s kitchen floor.” A scoff. “And then I get home to a crew that no longer wants anything to do with me. They dropped me off in Central. I looked for Lisa, but it looks like she’s underground—she’s not at any of her usual safehouses.”

Barry grimaced, shifting slightly in his seat. “Um…”

The former villain narrowed his eyes. “What’s that, Scarlet?”

He winced. “Lisa’s not underground, Len.”

“What are you talking about? Is she in jail?”

“No…” Barry sighed. “She’s on Earth-2.”

“Why?” Len demanded, lurching from his seat.

“Because she’s sick,” he said calmly, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “Harry—Earth-2 Wells knew a doctor who specializes in her condition, one who’s much better than anyone we know on this Earth, and we sent her over there to get help. Cisco’s probably on his way there right now to tell her you’re back.” He paused. “Actually, she’s probably with the you who lives there, now that I think about it.”

“What?” That made him pause in his anger, at least, now confused and concerned. “Why?”

“I don’t think you want to know,” Barry hedged. “But she’s in good hands, I promise.”

“Just tell me, Barry.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “The doctor I told you about, the specialist? It’s her—Earth-2 Lisa Snart is a bio-engineer with a Medical Degree. Basically, she’s Caitlin. Minus the ice powers and with the addition of some pretty sweet inventions.” He grimaced. “Her brother is…the Mayor. Of Central City. They killed their dad when they were kids—self-defense.”

Len was quiet for a moment. Then: “You’ve met, then?”

He nodded. “Twice, actually. Once on accident…and then again when Harry introduced us to Lenny and Doc. They’re…nice. Safe. Very protective, which isn’t surprising.” He grinned. “Last I talked to Lisa, she was awake and feeling a lot better. She hasn’t had an episode in almost two months, and her brain activity is back to normal. She sounds better, too—more like herself. Even flirted with Cisco when they talked, which she hadn’t done in a while…”

“She’s okay, then?”

“Not at a hundred percent yet,” Barry warned with a shrug. “But yeah. She’s safe. Happy. Feeling better than she did when she first came to us.”

“What happened?”

“She just—Showed up at Joe’s one night, out of nowhere. I think it was maybe a month or so after you left—she had called Cisco before that, asking if we knew where you were, and we told her, and she was pissed at me for some reason.” He laughed, just a little. “Then she just shows up out of nowhere at Joe’s house, scares the hell out of me when she just walks right through the front door. Which was locked.” He shook his head. “Apparently, she stole your key?” His brow raised.

Len just smirked. “Lock-picking gets tedious after a while.”

“Where did you even—”

“Iris should be more careful about leaving her purse lying around.”

“…Whatever.” Barry huffed. “So, anyway, Lisa just walks in one night—middle of the night, out of nowhere—sits right next to me on the couch, scaring the hell out of me. She looks at me, and I could already tell something was messed up with her, because she just…she didn’t look right. She looked tired and sad and…sick.” He sighed. “She looked at me for a minute and then said, Don’t freak out. You know, like she hadn’t just appeared out of nowhere. And then she said, I need your help. And I was like, With what? And she told me she ran into an old boyfriend and he did something to her.”

“What the f—”

“Not that,” he assured quickly. “That was my first thought, but she kind of lost it when I asked her, and—yeah. So then, when she calmed down from that, she got this headache…migraine…thing, and that was when I first saw her get one of her attacks.” He grimaced. “It was…bad. Weird, and scary, and it actually kind of freaked me out.” A sigh. “So, uh, I called Caitlin first, and then Cisco and Harry, and asked them to meet us at STAR Labs. Harry had actually seen something like it before, on his Earth, and he knew a specialist—other-Lisa—who could help. So we took her there. She insisted that I had to come with her, and she wouldn’t let me leave until she was with Lenny and Doc, until she was sure she could trust them.”

Len thought this all over for a moment. “What exactly did this attack entail?”

“Hard to describe…” Barry thought about it. “She kind of…exploded? Not her body, but like…her spirit, kind of. Like an astral projection, except she couldn’t control it enough to actually appear as a person.” He sighed. “We met the ex-boyfriend a few weeks later…Roscoe?”

“Dillon.” He sneered. “He’s still around?”

“Not anymore,” the speedster said darkly. “He was a metahuman…some kind of tornado-hurricane-spinning abilities. Cisco called him Topsy-Turvy, but after he just kept coming and coming…it was an accident, but he died.”

“How did he hurt Lisa?”

“As far as we can tell…She was working on some sort of mercenary work or something, and he was robbing a bank, and they…literally ran into each other. She got thrown into a wall, got a knock on the head, and apparently the concussion triggered some kind of ability she didn’t know about.”

“She wasn’t in Central—”

“When the Particle Accelerator blew.” Barry nodded. “Yeah, we know.” He winced. “You’re not gonna like our theory on that.”

“Why not?” Len asked, very slowly.

“Because it might be my fault.”

He blinked, surprised. “What?”

“Turns out…I kind of…give off small amounts of Dark Matter because of the Speed Force…mostly when I run.”

“And?”

“And, the people that I transport, if they carry a metahuman gene, could, theoretically, absorb that Dark Matter in the same way that people affected by the Particle Accelerator did…and, theoretically, this would make them more likely to develop an ability when exposed to violent trauma.” A pause. “I transported Lisa a handful of times when we were helping you guys last year, and even before that for different reasons.”

Len didn’t say anything to this, instead looking down at his hands.

“I’m sorry, Len,” Barry said quietly. “If I’d known…”

“It’s not your fault,” he told him. “You didn’t know.”

“I…”

“Not every bad thing that happens is your fault, Scarlet,” Len said with a smirk. “It’s alright.”

Barry huffed. “Fine.” He was quiet for a minute. “If you want, I can take you to her. You know, so you can see for yourself.”

He thought about it for a bit before shaking his head. “No,” he decided. “If she’s getting what she needs, I don’t want to interrupt it. If Cisco does tell her and she wants to see me, I’ll go, but for now, she needs her rest.”

The speedster nodded in understanding. “Okay.” His phone was still ringing, and he looked at it. “I’m just gonna tell them that everything is fine.”

He picked up the device, ignoring the calls, and opened the group chat, which was full of about a hundred messages that all said pretty much the same thing. He sent out a text saying, Yeah, he’s here. Just wants to talk about some stuff. Everything is fine. Thanks, I’ll let you know later. Love you guys.

With that, Barry sighed and slipped the phone into his pocket. “So, what are you going to do now?” he asked the former villain.

Len just smiled. “Not sure. I could go back to robbing banks…but I don’t really need the money. Maybe I’ll offer your team some help in Central.”

“What do you mean, you don’t need the money?” His eyes narrowed.

“Blowing up the Oculus had a few benefits.” He shrugged. “I know all the lottery numbers for the next five years. I’ve already made four-hundred grand.”

“Len…”

“Technically not a crime.”

“Still.” Barry shook his head with a deep sigh. “Fine, whatever. Well, I’m sure STAR Labs could use the help. And I’ll be back in no time…as soon as I finish this course, which is…not what I expected.”

“Too hard?”

“Too easy,” he corrected, scoffing. “I’ve read all the material, and the projects are all…solved with very little effort. Nothing near as challenging as my actual job in Central. Science there is always complicated.”

“Because of the metas.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Superpowers make regular science look way easier than it did in college.” He nodded at the computer. “Actually, after the paper I’m working on right now, I only have two more and a final exam. I could be done by next week, if I wanted. I just don’t want Singh to think I rushed through it.”

“He already trusts you more than any other CSI, Barry. I think he trusts you to do the work on your own schedule.”

“Maybe.”

“Then I’ll see you back in Central next week.”

“I—”

“Next week, Barry.”

A sigh. “Fine. Next week.” His phone buzzed, he looked at the message and laughed. “Harry says your sister is attempting a prison break to try to see you. You might want to visit her.”

Len chuckled. “Alright then. I suppose it’s time to tell her what’s happened.” He stood, holding out a hand when Barry followed suit. When their hands clasped, the villain-turned-legend pulled the speedster forward until they were almost hugging. “I’ll see you soon, Scarlet.”

“See you soon, Cold.”

And with the press of a button, Len was gone, leaving Barry to wonder exactly what just happened.

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

6 Weeks Later

“Barry…”

“Iris…”

She sighed. “This is getting unprofessional.”

He laughed, a little nervous. “What are you talking about?”

“You and Len.” It had taken a while for everyone to get used to each other, but now he was just Len instead of Cold. Progress. “You guys have got to stop flirting in the field. It’s weird.”

“We do not flirt.”

“You’re literally blushing, Barry.” Her tone was amused now. “Do you have a crush?”

“Iris,” the speedster all but whined, pulling a t-shirt over his head. “This is weird.”

“Why? Because we dated?”

“Yes!”

“Barely.” Iris rolled her eyes. “Barry, it’s fine. You have a crush on Len, it’s fine…but you should probably tell him.”

“No!” he said immediately. “No, that’s—That’s a bad idea.”

“Why? I’m pretty sure he likes you.”

That made him pause. “Really?” He bit his lip, looking at her. “You think so?”

“Lisa keeps teasing him about it.” She nodded. “And you’re both clearly attracted to each other, and you’re always flirting, so…Why not just come out and say it?”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not.”

“What if it ends badly?”

“What if it doesn’t?” Iris laughed brightly. “Barry, sometimes you get in your own way. You just gotta go for it sometimes. Take a leap of faith. It’s gonna be okay.”

Barry was quiet for a long time, and Iris eventually left him to his own devices.

Ultimately, he decided to go for it; he went to find Len. Unsurprisingly, he was at “their” spot: a diner across from Jitters and CCPD, filled with leather booths and chrome and the smell of fresh homemade pie.

Barry slid into the booth across from Len, who looked up from his phone with a smile. “Hey, Scarlet. Look at this.”

He turned the device around so the speedster could see. “What’s that? Oh—Oh, that’s so cool!” He grinned. “Lisa-Squared?”

“Yeah. Lisa drew up the models, and Doc built it. It came out pretty neat, I think.”

“It did, yeah. I like the melting feature—there won’t be ice-streaks all over the city.” He laughed. “Of course they’re gold—Lisa’s choice, I’m sure.”

“Naturally.” Len shrugged. “You can’t take the Gold out of the Glider, I guess. Not completely.”

“No, I guess not.” Barry leaned his head on his palm, elbow on the table.

The newly-branded Citizen Cold raised a brow and put his phone away. “Something on your mind, Barry?”

He shrugged. “Iris came to talk to me today.”

“What about?”

“She said that we flirt a lot when we’re in the field.” He scrunched his nose. “I told her she was crazy, and she looked at me like I was an idiot…not unlike you’re looking at me right now, Len—what the hell?”

“Barry,” he said quietly, slowly, “I don’t know how to break this to you, but almost everything we say to each other is banter…which is a form of flirting.”

“But—But,” Barry sputtered. “But!”

“What’s wrong, Scarlet?” Len teased. “Can’t keep up?”

He frowned, almost pouting. “You never said anything,” he accused.

The other man shrugged. “I was told not to.”

“By who?”

“By you. Older you—The one who brought me back. He said you had to figure it out on your own.”

Barry stammered again, arms flailing. “What the hell!” he said, frustrated. “That’s stupid!”

“You’re calling yourself an idiot?” Len clarified.

“Yes! I’m an idiot, now, but like—that’s just stupid.” He sighed. “I mean, I guess it makes sense to keep the timeline the way it should be. But still.”

They were both quiet for a long minute. Long enough for a waitress to come by and take drink orders and then bring them back.

Once she disappeared, Barry took a sip of his soda and then suddenly blurted, “Will you go with me to Jesse’s party on Earth-2 this weekend?”

Len raised a brow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? That’s a lot of pressure.”

“It’s just a party, Len,” he said with a grin. “All our friends will be there, and we can be together without doing the awkward first-date thing…I mean, we already did a lot of that without realizing. Unless you want to…”

There was a pause as he thought about it, enough to make Barry almost panic, but Len nodded slowly. “Alright. But I have two requests.”

“Shoot.”

“One: If Caitlin makes her Speedster Alcohol, you have to stop drinking at least two hours before we leave. I want you sober when we head out.”

“Why?”

“Because, two: I want to go for a walk. We’re not doing the first-date-awkward dinner thing, and movies aren’t something we have time for, but we can go for a walk and talk about things.” A pause. “It’s important, to me.”

Barry thought about this, about what it might mean, but he didn’t see a reason to say no. Besides… “That sounds nice. Okay. I won’t drink too much, and I’ll stop before we leave so we can go talk. It’s a deal.”

“It’s a date, Scarlet.”

“A date, Cold.”

[redschillzone]

All We Know (Iden Versio x Reader)

(Gif found here!)

Pairing: Iden Versio x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k Words

Warnings: Curse words

Summary: Through your whole life you were falling for Iden, but the question was did she love you back? Iden Tag List: @allfiguredout​ @dversstark​

A/N: One request out, two more to go! Hope you guys enjoy. 

“Iden! Come on!” You giggled as you pulled on Iden’s arm, watching as she giggled in return but chased after you around the busy sidewalks of Vardos. You were both just small children, enjoying what you both considered playtime which was really just one chasing after the other. You both came from strict Imperial families, so this kind of thing was frowned upon but no matter what they thought, they knew that forming “allies” was crucial at a young age so they allowed the two of you to meet.

“I’m coming (Y/N)! Get ready for me to tag you!” Iden all but squealed at you; You were laughing as you ran around as fast as your little feet could carry you. You were playing tag with Iden at the moment as your parents stood nearby, talking over a few plans for who knew what; You didn’t care, you were too young to understand what was actually going on in the world. Right now all that you cared about was outrunning Iden, your best friend. You two must have ran around the area for what felt like hours, switching between tagger and runner before your parents called you back to them.

“(Y/N)... Say good-bye to Iden. It’ll be awhile before you see her again…” Your mother had told you that day and you couldn’t help the tears that formed in your eyes as you looked at Iden who was being given the same talk; You both looked at each other and hugged tightly, tears running down your faces as you both sobbed heavily.

“I-I don’t want to say g-good-bye!” You sobbed, keeping a tight grip on Iden as she sobbed into your shoulder, agreeing with you. It broke your parents hearts a bit to see it, but they knew it needed to be done; They were going to be relocated to another planet, so they needed to get this done.

“Think of it like this you two.. It’s not a good-bye, it’s more like a see you later.” Your father had explained to you both as he kneeled beside you, a smile on his face as he watched you both calm down and wipe away the tears and snot from your faces.

“S-See you later…?” Iden questioned, looking at you before looking at your father once more.

“Yeah, she’ll see you again, Iden. I promise.” Your father explained once more, watching as you both calmed down at the fact that you both would be seeing each other again. You two looked at one another and gave a small nod.

“See you later?” You questioned, hugging Iden tighter which caused her to giggle but she tightened her own hold on you as she responded.

“See you later.”

━━━━━━━━━

You couldn’t help but laugh lightly at the memory as you leaned against your X-wing, watching as Iden began to bark a few orders around the hangar; You were about to launch the final attack on Jakku and you just couldn’t help but relieve a few old memories. It’s just how you were, you lived in the past sometimes, wondered what would have happened if something changed; If you two would still be where you were at night. As you gave a low hum, you watched as Iden hugged Del one last time before she turned her gaze in your direction and you couldn’t help but smile as she began to make her way over.

“Hey, you ready for this?” She questioned, her hands on her hips as you all but hummed louder, giving a small nod as you patted your x-wing.

“Oh you know it; I’m always ready for these kinds of fights.” You told her, a grin on your face as she chuckled lightly and gave a nod.

“Good, I expect you to make it out of there alive, (Y/N).” She told you, arching an eyebrow at you as you chuckled in return.

“Do you doubt my flying, Versio? Did you really forget how amazing of a pilot I am? I graduated second in the class, right behind you.” You reminded her, watching as she all but rolled her eyes at you, a smile still on her face; You were talking about your guys' time together at the Imperial Academy. 

You and Iden had met up again after your parents had relocated, them having sent you off to the Future Imperial Leaders Military Preparatory School; It just so happened that Iden was being sent there as well. But how could she forget such a time? She was amazed to see you there first off but she was grateful that you were there; You had gotten her through some rough times there. You two blew through the courses and once they deemed you both ready, you were shipped off with her right into the Imperial Academy, where you both blew through your classes yet again to be the first and second best in the class.

“Oh no, believe me. I remember.” She teased you before she went ahead and gently pulled you into a hug, allowing you to wrap your arms around her.

“See you later?” She asked you, giving you a side glance as you hummed lowly in return, tightening your hold on her as you gave a nod.

“See you later.”

━━━━━━━━━

“Lieutenant Versio! Lieutenant (L/N)! What were you two thinking?!” Your commander snipped at you both, her arms crossed as she shot daggers between you and Iden as you both stood at attention, your hands behind your backs and legs apart as you were trained to do. Iden’s face was expressionless but yours? Well, you were doing your best to hide the grin that was just itching to crawl upon your lips; You two had disobeyed direct orders and took a new approach to the attack and to say the least, your plan worked but you knew it wouldn’t come without repercussions. You weren’t going to allow the Rebels to take control of the base just like they were planning, so you and Iden jumped ahead into your TIE’s and took care of the few x and y wings that were flying towards the base; If anything, your little stunt didn’t just save the base but thousands of Imperial lives as well.

“We thought this plan would have been better, and clearly it was.” You spoke up, the grin finally winning as it broke off across your face. Your commander didn’t like it though as she took the end of her blaster and hit you in the stomach with it; A gasp had escaped your lips as you all but fell to the ground, a ‘thudding’ noise hitting Iden’s hears before your low groan reached them next. Your form was curled up into a ball on the ground and you had noticed out of the corner of your eye that Iden had flinched slightly, but not enough for anyone else to see.

“You two better listen to orders next time.. Though I suppose you’ll be out of my hair soon.” Your commander hissed to the two of you, causing Iden to blink lightly.

“Permission to speak, commander?” Iden asked, her attention still facing forward as your commander shifted her gaze in Iden’s direction before she huffed.

“Permission granted, Versio.” She said, moving to stand in front of her, watching Iden with narrowed eyes; She needed to choose her words wisely or else she’d end up on the floor with you with the butt end of a blaster in her gut.

“What do you mean by we’ll be out of your hair soon? Are we being re-stationed?” Iden questioned, being careful of her wording as your commander gave a low hum, looking down at your form as you coughed a bit before looking at Iden once more.

“You are. You both are being stationed on the Death Star.” She huffed before she continued. “I don’t see why two Lieutenant Imperial Officers like yourselves are going but it was requested. I’ve said enough as it is, you two are dismissed.” She spat, watching as Iden nodded and kneeled down to help you up, listening to you groan before you both made your way out of the room and outside; You two were making it your mission to get as far away from your commander as you could.

The cool breeze of the planet's air hit you both as you made your way outside, the large, dual metal doors opening and closing behind you as Iden went ahead and led you both over to a decent clearing, having you sit just below one of the trees. She let out a breath as she kneeled in front of you, lifting her hand to flick your forehead.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” She teased you, watching as you all but whimpered and rubbed at your forehead from the rather harsh, gloved flick.

“Yeah yeah I know but shit- We’re going to the Death Star, Iden! I’m sure your dad is going to be pleased and well.. I’m sure my parents would be as well.” You told her, watching as Iden gave a small hum and nodded at your excitement; Working on the Death Star is no joke, you both knew that and you knew whatever lie ahead was going to be rough and dangerous.

“Hey.. I see that look on your face, we’ll be fine, Iden. We’ve faced way worst threats.” You told her, smiling as you went ahead and rested your hand on her shoulder; You watched as her body tensed for a mere second before it relaxed, her eyes shutting before she gave a small nod and a smile formed on her lips as she opened her eyes once more to look at you.

“Yeah, we have.” She spoke, the smile still on her face and you could feel your heart beating at a thousand beats per second; Was she always this pretty? Were her eyes always so.. Bright? And her lips they looked so soft- No, you were not falling for Iden Versio. At least, that’s what you kept telling yourself. You gave a shook of your head before you got yourself up, holding your hand out to her and smiled as she took it and stood up.

“I’ll see you later, alright?” You told her, having plans to retire to your room to get some sleep. She gave a smile in return, giving your hand a gentle squeeze before she released it.

“See you later.”

━━━━━━━━━

Static rang through the comms as you flew through the skies of Jakku, your eyes scanning the area for the incoming TIE’s that all but surrounded the skies like swarms of flies; They were annoying little things but you knew how to combat them. You had flown them before so you knew they didn’t have deflector shields but you knew their guns were built better because of that fact; But you had to admit, you preferred the X-wing’s better, they offered more room to fly, to spin with plus they had more toys. 

“(Y/N). Are you holding up alright?” Del’s voice broke through the static comms, causing you to relax as you gave a nod and shot down a tie, watching as it lit up in a bundle of flames before the debris fell from the sky.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Is Iden and Shriv doing alright? I haven’t seen her X-wing in awhile.” You admitted, worry flowing through you for but a moment as you shook your head; You needed to put your feelings aside. You were in the middle of the most important fight of your life and your mind just couldn’t help itself as it wandered to Iden. You loved her, you really did; Even after she had rejected you while you guys were still working on the Death Star you loved her and you showed it with just about everything you did. You wore your love for her on your sleeve and you didn’t care who saw it.

“They um- Iden is going to find her father, (Y/N). This war is coming to an end and she wanted to try and save him..” Del told you and you could feel the ice beginning to grow inside your veins; These Star Destroyers were blowing up left and right and she decided now would be a good time to find him? She was insane, you knew that, stubborn as hell too so you knew there was no way Del or yourself could have talked her out of it. A sigh had escaped your lips as you spun your x-wing around and began to fly in the direction of the Corvus.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Del asked you as you gave a small hum, gripping your controls as you gave a small nod.

“Yeah.. She told me she’d see me later, after all.” 

━━━━━━━━━

“Iden! Iden hold on!” You all but yelled after Iden as she ran through the halls of the Death Star, rushing towards where her TIE was; She skidded to a stop and looked at you, breathing heavily as she raised an eyebrow.

“Gotta make this quick, (Y/N). Those Rebels are getting close.” She told you, catching her breath as you stopped beside her, catching your own breath before you bit your lip and quickly blurted out.

“I.. Fuck- I like you, okay? I’ve liked you ever since we were little and just.. I don’t even know if this is the right time to tell you but fuck, I feel like it is.” You admitted, watching as Iden frowned slightly at your sudden confession. You couldn’t help but bite your lip as you watched her glance away, letting out a breath as she tightened her hold on her helmet.

“(Y/N)... Now isn’t the time for this.. We don’t have time for relationships and you know how bad they can get. We’re supposed to be allies, not friends. Hell, not even lovers. I.. I’m sorry- But I gotta go.” She said, going and putting her helmet on as she ran towards her TIE; You could feel your heart breaking into two over her words, the tears that began to form in your eyes but you quickly shook your head. She was right, after all. You were supposed to be allies, not lovers. Not even friends but you knew those words wouldn’t stop you from loving her; If anything, those words made you want to love her even more. And that’s exactly what you planned to do, and that’s exactly what you did.

After the first Death Star had been blown up and she was presumed dead for a while; You had cried over her ‘death’ just about every night until you were informed that she was alive. You hugged her so tightly after she had returned but you could tell something had changed inside her, you just didn’t know what. You both moved on with your lives, as if your sudden confession never happened and it had been blown up with the Death Star. 

You were both informed about Inferno Squadron and how Iden would be it’s Commander.  You met Del and Hask and joined them on the Inferno Squadron once Admiral Versio had deemed you fit to join them. Even through all that you still loved Iden, no matter what you two went through and as you three defected while on Vardos and joined the Republic; You realized you had fallen head over heels for Iden Versio, even if she didn’t love you back and you were slowly but surely growing okay with that fact so long as she remained in your life.

━━━━━━━━━

You had rushed over the the escape pod that laid in the golden sand; Your boots kicking up sand behind you as you quickly scrambled on top of the pod before you began to tug it open, grunting lowly before you finally had it opened and looked below you, a light chuckle escaping your throat as you saw Iden. She looked up at you, a small smile on her face as you stuck your hand out to her.

“We won..” You informed her, watching as her gloved hand took your own and you helped her up, grabbing onto her other shoulder to keep her steady as you both stood on top of the pod, observing the mass wrecks around you. You let out a shaky breath as you turned to look at Iden once more, who had her gaze on you as she looked to be thinking something over and as you raised an eyebrow, parting your lips to speak you couldn’t help the squeak that escaped you as Iden threw herself against you; She wrapped her arms around your neck as she kissed you, your eyes slowly fluttering shut once you had secured yourself on your feet before you wrapped your arms around her waist. Her lips were as soft as you thought and Maker, you weren’t going to forget this kiss for awhile.

You were the one who pulled away first, looking at Iden with a dreamy look in your eyes before you spoke up.

“I.. I thought you didn’t like me…?” You questioned her, watching as she moved her hands up to your face, placing them on your cheeks before she rubbed at them.

“No- No I was foolish back then, (Y/N).. I love you. I love you so damn much.. I thought after the first Death Star exploded that I had lost you; That I turned down your love and I would never get it again. Then I came back and saw you were alive and each passing day I began to love you more and more.” She explained, your eyes beginning to well with tears as you tightened your hold on Iden.

“I know even after I turned you down you still showed me how much you loved me; You checked in on me when I needed it most, you brought me my favorite foods, brought me gifts from time to time. I just, I didn’t know when the time was right to tell you but.. I think now is a good time.” She chuckled lightly as she wiped your tears away, you laughing lightly as you went ahead and kissed her once more; This kiss was full of passion and you put in just about every speck of love you had for Iden in it and she gladly returned the kiss, keeping her hands on your cheeks. 

You two stood there for what felt like hours before she pulled away, putting her forehead against yours as she sighed happily, her eyes closing.

“I’m so glad we won because fuck.. I wanna start a family with you, (Y/N).” Iden told you and you couldn’t help but laugh as you nodded.

“I wouldn’t want anything else, Iden.” You knew your life was about to get a thousand times better and you knew you’d be seeing Iden later.

[vaguely-concerned]

I rewatched the mandalorian episode 8 and boy have I got feels for you

- lol gideon’s callouts to all of them though... you have ‘hey cara remember how we blew up your entire planet and killed your fellow soldiers’ and ‘hey din djarin yeah I know who you are lol the mysterious stranger thing doesn’t work on me remember how we apparently murdered a bunch of mandalorian children in one night’ (that’s how I’m taking ‘mandalorian recruits’ anyway) and then finally there’s just ‘greef karga. you’re really old enough to know better.’ 

- oh bb!din doesn’t cry at any point during the whole flashback :((( bb boy. he’s of course terrified but there are no tears. I’m guessing he’s in shock/dissociated the entire time. (probably also due to having a child actor but I think it makes a lot of sense in-universe too! to put on my trauma hat for a moment he’s always read to me as a combined freeze/flight type; he either dissociates or loses himself in work. I suppose he got started early) 

- the look on Papa Djarin’s (I mean I assume) face as tiny din reaches out for him and he knows he has to turn away and leave to save him :) exquisite burning agony

I still wonder so much what his parents did for a living. those red robes look almost like uniforms/religious garb to me or it might of course just be the fashion in this place, people in the background seem to be wearing similar things. 

- I LOVE the mando who saves him as a kid because that’s apparently the same actor who’s in the mando suit when it’s not pedro pascal or another stuntman (brendan wayne, I think it is?) so it gives this wonderful feeling that you get now where a lot of din’s body language and general bearing comes from but there’s also just enough difference that it’s clearly another person. with din there’s always this edge of reserve and a slight stiffness no matter how relaxed he is, and this guy has the same basic steadiness as him but seems a bit more open just from these few short shots. (there might be a little bit of character design in this as well -- din’s shoulder pauldrons are naturally uh ‘higher’ than this guy’s, who has smoother/flatter and more rounded shapes, giving the feeling of shoulders just slightly raised and relaxed down respectively)

it’s nice to see the mandos as a protective force even if they have the death watch symbol there to make you go ‘?!?!?!’, there wasn’t a lot of that in clone wars but it’s an ill wind and so on I guess 

- this confused jawa looking at the dead stormtroopers is everything. don’t worry you’re doing amazing sweetie

- the context for why din picks up the e-web (channeling the spirit of baze malbus, a man who also didn’t let the fact that his weapon was really meant to be mounted on a tank stop him :’) ) makes it even better: he sees that IG-11 has the baby and that he’s getting overwhelmed and he literally grabs the biggest gun he can find and goes to town to let him get away.  

- “I haven’t heard that name spoken since I was a child” ooof but also what are the logistics of that? I’m wondering if it might be the ‘Djarin’ part, if that’s his family name? maybe there hasn’t been a use for that among the mandos? surely someone has needed to call him by name somehow at some point in the last 30+ years lol

- one of the reasons gideon works so well as a villain is that he can get past the beskar. he knows exactly how to kill mandalorians because he’s done it before. he’s not only a huge threat emotionally -- he wants the baby and he’s done some fucked up shit to din’s culture -- he’s also one of the few people who can nullify the physical protection of our main boi in the helmet. and that scares me. because he’s my dad and I love him.

- I’m fairly sure din is properly unconscious for almost half a minute there. (which is very very bad. always go see a doctor if you lose consciousness after hitting your head if an IG unit with appropriate training and equipment is not on hand)   

- baby yoda passing out after doing one (admittedly spectacular) thing is a wholeass mood, #same buddy ilu 

- din is the first person to explicitly call the baby a foundling ;____;

- poor cara she’s already lost so much and her new bro is trying to convince her to let him throw himself on any sword made available to him. (I do love that neither she nor IG-11 buy mando’s bullshit for a moment here tho lol they’re openly saying they’ll take him with them anyway while he’s listening) 

- oh. oh din starting to jumble his words even as the gun remains rock steady in his hand is hitting me really hard this time. ow.

- I think the baby can sense din and IG coming (he gives a little sound right before they show up) 

- when cara checks in with him in the tunnel she touches her fingers to his chest so very lightly and he almost falls over backwards sdfaksdljhf

- well he definitely is trembling while picking up that helmet from the pile. so have fun knowing that with me 

it’s so messed up too because there’s not that many of them left; he’s all but guaranteed to have known every single one of them. 

- this image of him on his knees in front of this pile of the empty armor of the dead feels. I don’t know how to describe it but like a repeat. like he has been here before, this isn’t the first time and it’s hitting him all over again. (considering how things have been going for the mandos recently that might very well be true too. metaphorically this is essentially what’s going on in the background of the entire show, anyway. Friends I think mando Saw Some Shit during the night of a thousand tears or a similar event) 

maybe what gives me this feeling is how clearly he is in another time in some way during this part, before the armorer diagnoses him with Dad and brings him properly back. he’s trying to send them away with the baby, who’s like. basically the symbol of his will to live at this point. “I can’t leave it this way”, he can’t leave the dead behind and be alive, some part of him wants to stay with them. 

you can see this from how he talks about the baby too: in the scene where he’s hurt and trying to get them to leave he consistently calls him the child or the baby (not to mention the first foundling we get!) and focuses very specifically on keeping him safe. in this triggered state the baby briefly becomes it again and he doesn’t even mention him, he just tells them to take his ship and leave. in that moment all he wants to do is fight and probably die on behalf of those who are already gone. (I think bessel van der kolk has called PTSD ‘a profound loyalty to that which is lost’ or something like that. that rings very true to me here)  

the talk with the armorer is basically a very short debate between ol’ coping mechanism!din being like ‘hey I just remembered before all this I was doing my very best to work myself to an early and likely shallow grave, I should get back to that’ and Papa Wolf!din being like ‘except this is my son so we’re not doing that we’re gonna have to improvise something new on the fly here’. bless. 

(all of this is so subjective and probably me reading things into it that don’t really exist so don’t quote me on any of this but his anger at greef karga sounds to me like that of a younger, emotionally rawer man too, it’s so openly hurt and... active? I guess? these days when he gets angry he seems to tend more towards getting deathly quiet. then again this is one of the most genuinely upsetting things in the whole show so it could just be that)  

- hahahahahaha greef rests his hand on his gun before he follows them into the armorer’s workshop; it would seem he did not think it guaranteed either she or maybe especially mando wouldn’t try to shoot him  

- the way the armorer’s voice gains a brightness/warmth when she sees the child! the mandalorian ‘protect babies’ instinct in action haha, she’s like ‘oh this is why you did this bugfuck insane thing. perfectly reasonable, keep up the good work’.  the foundlings are the future is not just lip service it really is a central tenet of their culture even when it’s inconvenient 

there’s this sense that... in the face of his hurt she’s basically telling him to go be alive, to raise this child, to choose surviving and healing. I think she understands him very very well, I wonder how long they’ve known each other. (she had the mould for his signet ready <3)

- he sounds so crestfallen and lost when he asks if the baby is an enemy. and then she’s just fondly like ‘no it’s your son you absolute dummy’ and he’s like ‘...yeah I know’ 

- I. love that in these scenes he’s hurt (and not just physically) and other people are there to carry the baby until he can pick him up at the end fully as a father would.  

- I have talked about it before but I must restate how hilarious and endearing I find it that mando conscientiously leans the thing he tries to pry the boat loose with against the wall again while cara shoots the place up. one is never too busy to mind one’s manners. (this scene really showcases each of the characters too. greef: just keep fuckn pushing! mando: briefly kicks the thing with a growl then tries attacking the problem from a new angle. cara: GUN.) 

- oh the absolute sweetness of how IG says “And you will live”. there’s so much emotion in his droid voice there and all of it is peaceful and affectionate. I agree with din IG don’t goooooooo don’t leave us we need an adult

I keep whispering ‘pls someone think to shield the baby’s eyes’ through my tears in this scene, he didn’t need to see that happen D:

- I really need to repeat that despite what IG-11 says, he goes ahead with his plan anyway even though mando never satisfies his ‘programming’s’ demand. droid’s got free will and a huge big heart Y___________Y anyway... droid rights in the star wars universe when (...it would be very funny if din became embroiled in that fight somehow after this, oh how the turntables) 

- another continuity error: mando puts the jetpack on, then we get a shot of cara shooting and he’s standing there with it in his hands again haha. unless he realized he put it on upside down the first time around or something that seems unlikely. (he’s also lying in slightly different positions between cuts in the scene where IG-11 heals him, but that’s so small and subtle I don’t even really count it) 

- the jetpack scene is a beautiful encapsulation of din’s fighting style. he flails and gets jerked around a lot. he nearly blows himself up. I don’t think he’s fully in control of anything that whole time. and yet he gets the job done yet again. a disaster, but a glorious disaster still standing at the end of it all. one simply must stan. 

- a) I think din remembered how to take off better than he remembered how to land haha and b) BABY’S HAPPY LITTLE FACE WATCHING HIS DAD COME BACK DOWN c) THE BABY & MANDO MUSIC PLAYING WHEN DIN NOTICES THE BABY CLUTCHING HIS LEG *elmo surrounded by flames gif* (it’s a calmer/more grounded version of the same song that plays when they have that moment of connection right before the other mandos come to the rescue in ep 3 and also a few other times)

- baby’s joyful little trilling sound when his dad turns his head to check on him 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 and he strokes the cape with such contentment because it’s a safe familiar texture because this is his dAD (officially and legally too now, mandalorian-wise :’) im so happy)

- the unsympathetic comedy stormtroopers at the beginning could conceivably have survived (if not uh happily lol). if they become a recurring duo who show up and get more and more screwed every time I wouldn’t be mad haha

- I support these jawas in everything they do, I feel a great kinship with these lil goblins 

- anyway I love this show so much and I hope season 2 is good too and knows it holds my fragile heart in its hands 

[warsamongstthestar-keen]

Chapter Thirty-Three

The crew looks at each other, Ezra sensing as panic seeps into the room. "Okay, well, we'll just have to get them out before they reach the planet."

Hera smiles at his enthusiasm, "That's easier said than done. There's no way the Ghost can get into the system without being seen."

Sabine looks at the Twi'lek, "I might have a plan for that."

*Later*

The Mandalorian snuck aboard an Imperial ship, successfully stealing a transport, with her normal flare.

The crew gather's in the cockpit, surrounding a hologram of the Grand Moff's ship.

"The transport you stole will get us close to the fleet over Mustafar. We know they have Kanan and Keen on Tarkin's Star Destroyer," Hera states.

Zeb rolls his eyes, grumbling, "And it's surrounded by a bunch of other Star Destroyers."

"Uh, lots more. We'll need a distraction to cover our entry," the Twi'lek turns her chair to face the girl, "Sabine?"

"Engine room's here–" she points at a place on the hologram. All the power for the ship. If we could get inside the docking bay, I could rig something, black 'em out. But our transport ship's not gonna fit in there."

"We need something small enough to get into that hangar bay," Hera sighs. "Too bad we blew up all the TIEs at that base."

"Well...uh," Ezra pipes up, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "there is one left. But it's not at the base."

Zeb's ears press flat against his head, glancing nervously at Hera, "Uh-uh. Uh-uh."

"Look, this is serious, Zeb. For Kanan and Keen."

The Lasat sighs deeply, "Fine."

"What's going on?" Hera demands, looking between the Padawan, Lasat and Mandalorian.

"The TIE we stole a while back, we, uh–we didn't exactly crash it."

The Twi'lek glares at him, "And by 'didn't exactly', you mean–"

"We didn't crash it," Ezra responds quickly, "We kept it."

"You all knew about this?" she demands. The other three rebels look down guiltily, not meeting her eyes. Hera sighs, "I should be angry. I should yell at you for disobeying a direct order. But right now, I'm just grateful we got it."

"Uh, there's a slight problem with it."

"What kind of problem?"

"Yeah, what kind of problem?" Zeb growls.

Ezra and Sabine lead the other two to the TIE fighter. It sits in the middle of a field, hidden behind a few peaks. The ship is covered from top to bottom in a rainbow of colours, all coming together to form a beautiful array of colour and design.

"Okay. Well, this is awful," the Lasat grumbles.

"What? It's some of my best work," Sabine shrugs.

"It'll have to do," Hera states, inspecting the paint job.

"I thought you were supposed to be the sane one. This whole plan is as crazy as those colours."

"Maybe you're right," the Twi'lek responds to the ranting Lasat. "Maybe this mission doesn't make military sense. But Kanan is family. Keen is family. And we've all lost enough family to the Empire. So rescuing them makes sense to me. I-I'm not ordering you-- any of you-- to come along. But you need to decide now. In or out?"

"I'm in," Ezra and Sabine chorus. Chopper agrees as well. The four turn to look at the Lasat.

"Karabast. I'm in. But what about that?" he nods to the TIE.

"Eh, no time to fix it. Besides, the Imperials will only scan it. By the time the Imperials see it–"

"It'll be too late," Sabine finishes for the captain.

*Tarkin's Cruiser*

Kanan presses back against the table. Electricity streams through his body, screams erupting from his throat. It cuts off abruptly, knocking him forward.

"Still protecting your precious crew," Darth Vader sneers, tired of torturing Keen, and since she passed out, he figured he might as well interrogate Kanan, "Quite admirable. But what I want to know is about the other rebels, code name, Fulcrum."

The Knight sighs, "I know nothing of a larger rebellion. And if I did, I'd rather give my life than tell you."

"So heroic. Just like your master. Tell me, Jedi, how did you survive Order 66, hmm? It was your Master Billaba who laid down her life for yours. Do you remember her last word to you, her last and final breath before she died? You do, don't you? You see it in your sleep. You hear her voice when you wake. Tell me, Jedi, what was her last word to you?"

Throughout the Sith Lord's spiel, the Knight had looked more and more distraught, "Run," he states, although it barely comes out as a whisper.

"And does your loyal and precious crew...know you ran as your Master fell, abandoned her and the Jedi Order...when they needed you most? What do you think your rebels would do...if they know their leader was a coward? You're even afraid of your own power. You don't have the courage to wear your full saber out in the open. Let me tell you something, Jedi. You're right to be afraid. You couldn't save your Master then, and you can't save your followers now."

"Keen knows. She knows it all. Just as I know what happened to her. What did you do to her?" he demands, his voice raising in volume.

"She was asked the questions I asked you. She refused to give straight answers. I did what had to be done. We didn't really need two Jedi to interrogate anyway. Why would we, when we have you."

The Knights head drops back down, against his metal restraint, the questioning continuing.

*Ghost Crew*

"I'll send in our transporter code as soon as we know they are there. Ezra?" Hera says, turning to face the kid.

"Well, here goes nothin'," he gulps. He shuts his eyes, delving into the Force, searching for the two recognizable Force signatures.

"So anything?" Zeb asks a few seconds later. The boy scrunches brow, doing his best to tune out the conversation happening over his head.

Hera's voice snaps through his concentration, "Ezra, are they there?"

The Padawan snaps his eyes open, gasping, "They're there. Kanan, Keen, they're alive!"

Smiles cross each Ghost members face. "Sending codes."

It's a tense few minutes of silence, until cutting through the comm's comes, "Transport Ship 63378 cleared for docking."

"They bought it," the Twi'lek declares, turning to the astromech "Chop, send in Sabine's present."

Chopper babbles at her, saluting. He quickly releases the TIE, remotely flying it to the Transport.

Hera smiles at the other crewmembers, whilst docking the ship. She once again turns to Chopper, "This shouldn't take long. Keep the engine running."

The droid responds in his grumbles, not sounding happy.

The rebels infiltrate the Cruiser a little too easily, finding the docking bay crowded with unconscious Stormtroopers.

"These guys will wake up soon," Sabine supplies.

"How soon?" Ezra questions.

"Too soon, I reckon," comes the Lasat's haughty response.

Ezra stops at an intersection in a corridor, turning both ways, his hand outstretched, and eyes clamped shut. He points to the right with surety, "Come on. This way," he calls. The commlink sparks to life and Chopper warns of Imperial reinforcements.

"Don't worry," Sabine brushes it off, "On a ship this big, it'll take 'em a while to find us."

The group rounds a corner, to meet three Stormtrooper's, blasters raised at them. "Drop your weapons! Hands up!"

"They found us," Ezra groans. He slices at them with his lightsaber, leading the crew through the nearby blast doors. He uses the Force to slam them shut, freezing the controls by stabbing his blade through them.

"Pretty clever, kid," the Mandalorian compliments, "So what's next?"

"Kanan and Keen are down that hall," the Padawan indicates to the blast doors, "I just cut off only way to get to them."

Hera glances around the corridor, spotting a vent, "Might be our only way, but it's not yours." The boy smiles up at her, racing for the vent, jumping down inside. "Let's go. Let's go," she encourages the other two rebels, leading them down the corridor.

[roswelldetails]

RNM 2x06 - Sex and Candy

EPISODE SUMMARY:

Maria’s (Heather Hemmens) investigation into her mother’s disappearance leads her and Alex (Tyler Blackburn) to the home of a mysterious boot maker named Travis (guest star David Anders). Meanwhile, on her journey of self-discovery, Isobel’s (Lily Cowles) night out leads her into the arms of someone unexpected. Finally, after making some major scientific strides, Liz (Jeanine Mason) is dealt a devastating blow. Geoff Shotz directed the episode written by Rick Montano & Vincent Ingrao (#206). Original airdate 4/20/2020.

DETAILS:

Max and Isobel's fight:

Lights start flickering when Max starts getting aggressive and then get brighter as he gets more worked up.

The first attempt to expel it seemed like he was causing an earthquake.  He blew out all the windows in the gym, knocked Isobel down, and there was shaking.  But it didn't seem to go beyond that room - no damage is seen when Michael arrives or around town.

Note, after the earthquake thingie the lights go out 

His hands are doing the electric power thingie and THEN he also grabs the lightning.

I think Isobel used her telekinesis to stop it and then push it away, which seemed to work...but if so then why couldn't Noah do that last season? 

Was it the sheer volume of electricity? There was definitely MORE than with Noah.

Michael uses his telekinesis to manually reset Max's heart.  This is very smart of him. Note that he's using his own heart/pulse to get it right.

They are using the antidote to Liz's serum to try to heal Max's mind. 

Michael says that they've been giving him antidote injections for three days (time jump).

Three days of antidote and no new memories for Max.

Isobel remembered her blackouts within a few hours of getting injected with the antidote in 1x10.

Note: Liz hesitated using the antidote this way in 1x10 because Isobel could still be dangerous and they didn't know about the 4th Alien yet.  There doesn't seem to be a similar hesitation with Max. Because Liz trusts him more? Because him forgetting her is more personal? It's not like there isn't a chance that Max is still dangerous…

Maria arranged a Mexican market in the Pony parking lot to subsidize her income.

Buffy the Beagle is Forrest's dog!

Maria comments that the meteor shower makes animals act strange. And humans too.

Forrest and Maria are organizing an open night mic at the Wild Pony.  Free drinks for performers.

Maria clearly approves of Forrest and Alex getting to know each other.  She smacks Alex for his awkward flirting.

The bootmaker's farm is about an hour outside of town.

The Science:

Kyle and Steph are watching a "surgical separation of craniopagus twins".

Craniopagus Twins = twins attached at the cranium/head. (Aka not a heart surgery).

"Did you know, ever since 1947, twin births in Roswell are higher than the national average? Maybe it's aliens."

Speaking of awkward flirting…. "You're just my favorite person I can't stand."

The Spanish:

Le cambio una bolsa de chiles para mi papá...for the free fries next time you come to the Crashdown.

Liz is bartering.  She says basically, I'll trade you a bag of chiles for my papa for free fries next time you come to the Crashdown. 

Note, the captions for this are wrong and use the Spanish word for grasshoppers instead, but you can clearly hear Liz say chiles. Thanks to @rosaortecho for pointing that out to me.

Max says:

I'm trying to eat clean. Uh, tiene carne seca sin como se dice, preservativos.

He's trying to say, basically, does the jerky have preservatives. 

Quiere carne a sin preservativos?

Basically, you want meat without condoms?

Lo siento. Uh, no lo entiendo.

I'm sorry, I don't get it.

Él quiere decir conservantes.

He means preservatives.

Gracias. Estoy embarazado.

Thank you. I'm pregnant.

Michael asks Max who he's texting. Max says everyone has been messaging him but Cameron is the only one who hasn't responded, which isn't like her.

Wildly curious who he was texting though.  It's not like he's a social butterfly. His mom? The sheriff? Who? As I pointed out to some friends the other day, he spent his 21st birthday getting trashed with his SISTER. This is not a trait of a guy with lots of close friends.

Just as another note, Michael says he ghosted her. When exactly was that? Yes, Max ran out on her in the middle of a handy in 1x03, but they addressed that the next day.  She "broke up" with him in 1x07, but they were still good right up until she left town. 

Isobel:

"Does he seem different to you?"

Alex and Maria playing "Never have I Ever" in the car. Good way to do background on characters.

Maria has never cheated on a boyfriend

Alex has never been in a real relationship. Not even "Kellie Sommer-something".

Alex says that whenever he was with a woman he was trying to disappear.  Except for Sophomore year after Battle of the Bands. Seven Minutes in Heaven in Haley Moore's hall closet. Alex and Maria kissed and it was Maria's first kiss (and boob graze).  She always thought she'd marry Alex. Had to come up with a new plan after he came out. 

Alex says "I did too."

"Kissing you in that closet was the first time in my life that I enjoyed touching someone."

Max picks up Liz for their first date…

Just as a note, Save Tonight was the opening song in the pilot of OG Roswell. During the "oh, Max Evans is staring at you again." exchange between Liz and Maria.  So, it might go well with new beginnings or something ;-)

The Science:

"Psychogenic amnesia limits retrieval of stored memories, but if we light up your limbic system and gustatory cortex with some familiar signals…"

"Your milkshake might bring all my memories to the yard?"

**Note, second reference to this song in the context of Liz bringing Max milkshakes. First was in 1x06 by Isobel. Hmm. 1x06 and 2x06… maybe they should crack this joke in 3x06 too.

"Sometimes when people wake up from comas they have different personalities, different tastes even…"

Everything you ever wanted to know about psychogenic amnesia:

But, my main takeaway is that it's a specific type of amnesia where there's abnormal memory function but no brain damage or other clear cause of it.

Limbic system:

Basically the part of your brain that stores emotion, behavior, and long term memory.

Gustatory cortex:

Basically the part of your brain that processes taste.

Maria compares Michael to Chad because he starts fights and lies.  Alex disagrees and lists ways that he was doing good things:

He lied to protect his family from Alex's family.

He shouldered the burden of a murder he didn't commit for ten years so that Isobel didn't have to.

He pushed Maria away to protect her - which might be a good thing too because of all his baggage. 

First Date:

Max went to Ranch camp one summer and dislocated his shoulder while trying to read Lord of the Rings on horseback. #nerd. 

Liz references the gala as not their first date, but there was also the desert in high school.  I guess she doesn't count that either. 

Side note: Cam and Liz talked about him peacocking in 2x03, but that kinda felt out of character at the time to the Max we knew.  This Max DOES seem like he's peacocking a bit. Got dressed up, taking Liz horseback riding. He admitted to trying to one up whatever they did together before. Just an interesting (to me) observation.

Liz looks panicky when Max suggests truth serum (because Science!Liz probably could make truth serum), but once she realizes he means whiskey she's like, "oh yes, that's fine." Oh Liz… 

Diego details:

They were engaged just last year

Liz left without saying goodbye

Bioengineer 

They were working together on the Denver study

They would come home and keep talking about work

He had ideas to help improve it

They both spoke The Science

He pushed her to get better at The Science

When the funding was cut she realized she loved the work more than him

Liz couldn't figure out how tell him that so she packed her things in the middle of the night, hit the road, changed her phone, and blocked him on Facebook.

**This is the first time LIZ has mentioned social media. Interesting given the crap Maria keeps giving her about it!

Travis and fresh warm milk. What is up with it??

"Nice ring. Does it keep you from burning up in the daylight?"

David Anders introduces himself as Travis.

Just as a point of interest, Maria researched enough to find the bootmaker, figure out where he lives, but she didn't get his name??? 

Vampire Diaries/Originals reference.

Travis says he can't help with car stuff.

The milk was from a cow named Jennifer.  He milked her for the last time today. (Creepy).

Weird contradictory statements from Travis:

"You're the best thing I've seen in a long time."....

"Mm, I'm sorry. So many customers and all their ugly faces get all sewn up and stitched together in my mind."

"Yeah, that's the woman that bought them boots. While back. Nice lady. She paid cash."

Second reference to animals behaving strangely during a meteor shower:

"Meteor shower's got my girls singing a bit off key tonight.  Jennifer, she likes a good lullaby."

"Okay this guy is going to turn us into skin suits." (OG reference? Or just general sci-fi?)

Meteorchella at Planet 7 (Coachella-style party during meteor shower?) with any excuse to add sparkles!

Kyle says he's at Planet 7 because he's trying not to hang out with people from high school.

Isobel says she's trying to have fun without feeling like prey.

Don't think the details of Kyle/Isobel dancing matters all that much, but as a point of amusement I'll share that in the panel on Tuesday night they shared that Lily whispered something different to Trevino on every take...And they got progressively dirtier to the point that she finally felt like she crossed a line and profusely apologized.  Also the lick was a Lily addition. 

Max's confession about killing the drifter:

Kind of an interesting thing, comparing the first version of the drifter story in 1x06 to the 2x06 version. 1x06 was more dramatic, but 2x06 was more personal, I think. 

1x06

"There are moments that define our lives, and there are moments that divide our lives. Incidents that separate us into two different people: who we were before and who we will be after. Forever…One day we were children and the next we were something else. I was a killer. Michael an accomplice.  And Isobel...Isobel was broken."

2x06

"I killed a man once, on a camping trip. This drifter came out of nowhere, attacked Isobel.  I wasn't even thinking. I killed him. With this. I arrest people who kill people. Most of them usually regret what they did. You know, you can just tell that they're forever broken. It's like a piece of them dies with their victims. So when I could feel that darkness, like I had to kill, I wanted Isobel to let me die. Because I couldn't risk hurting even one innocent person. Cause life just wouldn't be worth living."

Kind of an interesting narrative choice to confess to murder on a first date and then have the girl just brush it aside. 

"No, it just hit me why you're so happy and idealistic, and I feel like an idiot. You are that way because you don't remember me. It's a clean slate.  It's like when you got out of the pods with whatever memories you had erased it's probably for your own good."

"Last I heard you were the love of my life."

"Your cohorts, they left out some details. Cause if you had your memories I'm positive the worst thing that's ever happened to you is connected to me. And I can't bear the weight of making you remember that again."

**Note, second time this has been implied.  Last time was by Michael in 1x08 regarding the alien symbol.

"...it's gotta have some connection to us right? Maybe it was something we saw somewhere before the crash."

"Sorry, are you, Max Evans, acknowledging that we must have had lives before we hatched out of the pods? You never want to talk about home."

"Hey, Roswell is home. Look, I'm sorry man. You're right. I've spent a lot of time not talking about where we come from or why we're here.  Keep thinking I can pretend the past away and just be normal. But if Isobel's blackouts are some alien thing, then I need to know more. Okay, and this symbol? That's all I have to go on. I mean don't you think it's strange that we don't have any memories? I mean, no parents, no language. We weren't infants, man. We were seven."

"I just figured our memory faded. Over 50 years in those pods. Maybe it was just time. Or maybe whoever put us in those pods doesn't want us to remember."

Travis and Trevor's house...with added bonus of his ring that Alex comments on.

Leather ribbons/strips on the wall are for (from?) Hayley and Gertrude. More cows, I presume. 

There's also a framed Purple Heart on the wall next to a photo of Travis?

"War really messes with a man's mind.  Gets it all twisted up.

Timeline issue!! Alex says Mimi was missing for 3 weeks, but according to the clearly established timelines in 201-203 it was 4 weeks (or a month ish).  I wrote about this here:

Maria put her jacket on a scarecrow to trick Travis. And did she leave it there?

(Answer: yes. She doesn't wear it for the rest of the episode. Smart of her, actually).

Michael sees Trevor come out of the house and is about to shoot him. Maria immediate knew it wasn't Travis and threw herself in front of Michael's gun

Trevor shoots Travis.

A bullet from the Crashdown shooting falls out of Max's journal.  Does it look like it has blood on it? Or maybe just ketchup? If it's THE bullet it would make a lot of sense that he kept it hidden - evidence that Liz was shot. See this comparison between one of Wyatt's bullets in 1x02 and the one Max finds in 2x06

"Sorry about my twin here. He's had a rough go."

"Combat does not make you an axe murderer."

"No, it wasn't the combat. It was the R&D. If a paramilitary group ever asks you to take part in a study, you run the other way. He showed up a few weeks ago. Locked me up out back. Lucky y'all showed up when you did. Gave me a chance to escape."

R&D is a military acronym for Research and Development. (Aka...The Science.)

Priscilla - the cow Mimi's boots were made from.

This is literally the only direct information gained about the boots from this little sleuthing excursion. 

Well, and that Mimi paid cash, which isn't like her.

Side note - I didn't really know what Paramilitary meant, so just in case any of you are also not good with military stuff, Paramilitary groups are like private armies. Like, I dunno, the private security firm that Jesse and Cam discussed in episode 2x04. 👀

Male doctor operating on Steph clearly states:

"All right we're approaching an arterial junction."

A female doctor replies and its less clear.  What I hear is...Blood gasses are back? Anyone else hear something that makes more sense than that?

He replied something like...the stint through here

She says something about pH levels.

Max admits that he didn't know what would happen when he decided to bring Rosa back.  He just wanted to fix the worst thing that ever happened to all of them.

"I can't believe we were Shyamalan'd by an evil twin."

I think Alex is referring to the twist ending? Or maybe just the insane axe murderer stuff.

M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed the Sixth Sense, Signs, Split, etc…

During this scene is the first time we see Michael's tattoo… it's on his arm. I struggled with getting a cap of it, but I know there are gifs going around.

I had every intention of detailing the dialogue in the trailer scene, but before I could get to it, Carina posted the script, so I didn't think it was a good use of my time. Here's the script:

The next morning, Alex calls the Sheriff from outside the trailer for an update.

The Sheriff tells him that Travis and Trevor burned their home and ran...weren't caught by the sheriff.  Which means we may not have seen the last of them.

The Spanish:

"Oh my God. Dios mio, Max. I took off your pants before I even said I love you. I'm some kind of zorra."

Dios mio basically is Oh My God! So Liz really was spiraling. She went, "Oh my God, Oh my God..."

Zorra - female version of Zorro. Basically a vixen, bitch, prostitute… the internet has all sorts of fun words that it translates into. 

"I call this one Visceral Werewolf Part 2, dedicated to my boy Chee Chee, may he rest in peace."

Can we have more Bert? Bert is the best. Also kudos to his goofy friend who is wayyy too excited about this.

Forrest's slam poem:

Locked up for days,

Time slipping away,

On my knees I would pray to break free from this cage.

But bargaining for keys, you forget hidden fees.

And wishing for what you’re missing ain’t the same as living the dream. 

And now I’m fighting to stay on this side of the cage.

Even though I know a part of me wishes I’d stayed. 

Ain’t no prophet or rebel or savior or devil

Could have predicted, fought, cheated or leveled. 

A life with potential that’s squandered, 

A comfortable cell is a question I ponder. 

Am I a free man or a prisoner wanderer?

Max's memory flash:

Young Max, chained to the ground as described in 2x03. 

Max looks scared.

He's dressed all in white like the 1947 aliens after the crash (As shown in 1x12 and 2x03).

He's in a cave or something like a cave. 

Holes in the wall are glowing an orangey red color.

The ceiling is like the alien ship material with the alien symbol in it.  

A figure approaches from behind him, bends down, and places a hand on his shoulder.

It mirrors the figure approaching Nora in 2x03 and touching her shoulder before burning the military men...probably the same person? Noah? The stowaway? Someone new?

After the figure touches Max, he looks at the hand, and then a red glow lights his face.

MUSIC:

1. Xocoyotzin Herrera "Esperanza"

2. Jose Luis Lepe "La Carreta"

3. Eagle Eye Cherry "Save Tonight"

4. Lousiana Red "I Done Woke Up"

5. Whissell "Magnetic"

6. Stop Dead "Alchemistress Dance"

7.  Orville Peck "Turn To Hate"

8. Kim Petras "Close Your Eyes"

9. Orville Peck "Queen Of The Rodeo"

10. Moontricks "The Fall"

11. Years & Years "Hypnotised"

12. Jordan Critz Feat. Birdtalker "Through Your Eyes"

This time I couldn't find the Whissell and Stop Dead tracks on spotify - however the Stop Dead track is referenced at being by Chelsea Dawn in the closed captions.  Which I did find. Trying to confirm this. Let me know if anyone else had better luck!

[nrsranger]

2.7

Hosnian System

NRS Ranger

Conference Room

1902 hrs

Phlaxes looked around the table, Captain Namin was on his right and on his left was the Duro Space Station Commander, he tried recalling the name but he gave up after a few moments. Also around the table was, Alek Mauz the Captain of the Air Group, The Tagurta, Captain Anatha Violet Captain of the Theed another Star Cruiser, Captain Gideon Park Captain of the Torrent the third MC-80 Cruiser that made up task force four and the Bothan L.T Commander Ralrost Maldoza. The last person in the room was the hulking Wookie Major Snrykkk. But the empty chair at the head of the table drew everyone's attention.

“I don’t know why I’m here, after last meeting” Assistant to Senate Daline Phlaxes said spiteful

“I don’t know either but I know the Admiral has a reason, so trust in that reason” Captain Namin said calmly

As Thadmin entered the room, and set down a holo transmitter.

The pale red headed man said over the holo.

“Today is the end of the Republic.

The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder.

At this very moment in a system far from here, the New Republic lies to the galaxy while secretly supporting the treachery of the rogues of the Resistance.

This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand will bring an end to the Senate, to their cherished fleet.

All remaining systems will bow to the First Order and will remember this as the last day of the Republic!"

Admiral Thadmin began “13 hours ago his message was transmitted on every channel across the galaxy.” His voice paused and became more serious “The final casualty report are still coming in but what is known is all seven Starhawk Battleships, all 12 Star Cruisers dozens of light cruisers and support craft were all destroyed” Thadmin looked down and paused for a few seconds, causing each person at the table to focus on each of the Admirals words “It, has, been ,confirmed, that, that, I am now the highest ranking Naval Officer in the Fleet.” His words hung their full of the unsure confidence that all people have when responsibility is thrust upon them. Thadmin took a breath and recovered his confidence “That is why I’m issuing Battle Order Number One” Thadmin held up his data pad and read “Make no mistake from now on we are at war. First All New Republic Ships will stay on Yellow Alert for the duration of the Crisis. Second all surviving New Republic Ships shall retreat to Raysho Station to be resupplied and rearmed as soon as possible, Commander, is that possible?” Thadmin looked at Commander Chino who replied,

“Yes sir!”

“Very good, now more than ever we need steady nerves and stout hearts”

“YES SIR!” All the officers around the table shouted synchronized

“Good! Now, Commander Chino, tell us what happened.” Thadmin said sternly as he took a seat

“Yes, sir” Chino said standing up and displaying holographic data “at 21:47 five superlaser bolts entered the Hosnian System, one minute later they impacted Hosian Prime briefly causing a solar singularity three seconds later the bolts impacted all other planets in the Hosian system penetrating to the core and causing almost instant disintegration, At 22:07 the Hosian Prime Singularity collapse.”

“Ok but how did your station survive?” Captain Park said

“Raysho station, primary source of power is solar, so when long range scanners picked up the Superlaser bolts I had all power diverted to the shields. Usually it takes 10 minutes at .8 lightyears to fully charge the station. As far as we could tell the Hosnian Prime Solar Singularity formed it supercharged the shields even though it lasted 15 minutes it was .000005 lightyears away and since all power was diverted to the shields all that solar energy went directly to the shields saving the station. It almost blew out every circuit in Raysho Station.” Commander Chino explained

“Ralrost has the Bothan network picked up anything further information?” Thadmin asked

“Yes, sir, hours before the attack The Resistance engaged a First Order division on Takodana, this caused the First Order to initiate the preemptive strike against the Hosnian system, The Resistance is now currently launching attack against Starkiller base, the super weapon responsible for the destruction of the Hosnian System; however, The Resistance base has been found and The First Order is assembling a Task Force to Count Attack” Maldoza said

“Sir, should we help them?” Alek asked firmly

“I wish we could CAG but our Star Cruisers and Fighter Squadrons to valuable to risk, right now but we are the ONLY defense the New Republic has left” Thadmin said matching Alek’s firmness

“But sir, if they succeed they are going to need help” Alek said

“I know, but we don’t have any craft to spare” Thadmin explained disappointed

“Well, that not entirely true, sir, we have a dozen or so old MG-100 StarFortress Bombers that don't serve us anymore” Commander Chino said

“Ok, once the Torrent and Ranger are recharged and resupplied we will depart to deliver those bombers” Thadmin said “Captain Namin I’m putting you in charge of this one, remember DO NOT RISK OUR CRUISERS.

“Yes, sir” Namin said, accepting the responsibility of the cruisers.

“Excuse me sir, what about the Theed?” Captain Violet asked tentatively

“I’m glad you asked, Captain, A.S Phlaxes” Thadmin said, causing Phlaxes to snap up in his seat “Despite all your flaw, no one knows more nor can fight more effectively in the realm of politics than you, so while we fight the war, we need you to keep the New Republic alive and running, the Theed will escort you to Ryloth, now why Ryloth you might ask” Thadmin said taking the word out of Phlaxes and Violet’s mouth. “We have been attempting to track all surviving senators, the first one is Senator Galbo Sandcha of Ryloth.”

“Understood sir,” Captain Violet said hesitantly

As the meeting continued Joker made his way through the ship until he arrived at the Female Marine barracks he knocked twice. L.t Driver answered the door

“Oh hey Joker,” she said trying to muster a little happiness in her voice

“Hey Lila, I’m just wondering if you're doing alright?” Joker asked

“Oh yeah, I’ll be alright but, it’s just hard to process” Lila said beginning to remove the sadness from her voice

“Did you know, Jawook, well?” Joker asked

“Umm, yeah, yeah I knew him very well, do you want to come in?” Lila asked

“Um, sure, thanks” Joker said

Lila led the way in, Joker noticed the similarities to the Pilot barracks, with each bunk bed being well made and the floor clear of debris, then he began to notice the differences, it appeard of the 12 Bunk beds but only two Foot lockers. He continued to follow Lila to her bunk, which was a top bunk the unit boarding the leftmost wall, when she arrived she moved Jawook’s Ryyk Blade from where it sat on her bunk she then climbed up and sat down. Joker followed her and sat on the top bunk of the opposing unit letting his feet dangle.

“Sorry for the lack of mess” Lila said “There aren't too many Female Marines.

Joker laughed that off and asked “Then whose foot locker is that?”

“Oh thats L.t Jax’s bunk, she's one of the bridge sensor officers but she's on duty now” Lila said, “she moved in once she learned that I was here alone and it's kinda nice to talk to someone”

“I know the feeling,” Joker said before changing the subject “So how did you know Jawook so well?”

“Wait here” Lila said, jumping down and kneeling by her footlocker she pulled out a holo photo and jumped back up and handed it to Joker, Joker looked at it, it showed two Wookies and an older Human Male and a young human toddler. “That’s me” Lila said smiling

“Wow, I didn't know your were so hairy back then” Joker said

“Not the Wookies the Girl” Lila said playful punching Joker dangling leg “This was my Dad’s proudest moment, the day he met Chewbacca,”

“How’d he met Chewbacca” Joker asked

“Well it's a long story but he was Biologist for the Empire on Kashyyyk, he was always kind to the Wookies sneaking in extra food and supplies and such, and he developed a strong friendship with Jawook”

“He sounds like a great guy” Joker said

“Yeah, he is” Lila said smiling “the Wookies really respected my dad for that”

“Wow I could imagine” Joker said

“That picture was taken when the New Republic Liberated Kashyyyk the Wookies vouched for my dad and he was accepted into their culture and he stayed on Kashyyyk using his biology skills to help regrow the Black Forest” Lila said

“Wow that's amazing” Joker said thoroughly enjoying how L.t Driver told the story

“But when I was born, during the Imperial reign Jawook swore that he will protect my dad’s family, my dad took him up on that offer when the New Republic came and the shooting started, My dad hid my mom and I with Jawook until it was over ever since then Jawook has almost felt like my adopted dad, and he helped me get into the Navy, and even brought my name up to Captain Namin for assignment to the Ranger.” She said, beginning to break into tears “I just can’t believe he’s gone, he was always been there for me, and now he no longer will be”

“Hey, Lila,” Joker said laying his hand over her’s “it's going to be alright,”

“It’s easy for you to say that, you can always make Jokes of things and be alright” Lila said wiping tears with her free hand

“Your right, it is easy for me to say, I never had anyone I care about leave me” Joker said his tone softening. “But if you love and honor Jawook, that is a great blessing, because that mean you can love, you can feel positive feelings, sadness is not bad, it is an indicator of love, and that's something I have not experienced so count your blessings” Joker finished with a single tear crawling out.

Lila looked up into Joker’s eyes releasing his hand “aww thanks, Joker, your sweeter than what the rumors said”

“What rumors!?” Joker said contorting his voice in moch offense

Lila laughed it off, Joker jumped down from off the bunk and said “Do you want to grab some caff?”

“Sure, I could use some,” She said, joining him.

As they walked out of the room, Lila linked her arm through Joker’s, Joker lips tilted into a half grin

“L.t Diver you know romantic relationships are forbidden between officers on the same ship!” Joker said spoofing regulations

“I know” Lila said sweeter than Rishi Honey “but if anyone asked, I’ll just say I’m being escorted by my faivor X-Wing Pilot”

“Lila, are you sportsflrting with me?” Joker asked fully knowing she was

“Maybe,” she said with a wink.

[softbiker]

Born to Run - Chapter 8

Warnings: some bad words

Word count: 3.3k

A/N: I love how I queued this and then tumblr literally didn’t post it :))))) anyways, the slow burn continues; bad people are up to stuff, good people are up to stuff. As always, let me know what you think! 

He leaned on his motorcycle, a butterfly knife twirling between his twitchy fingers. He waited there, watching a few cars pass by on the highway, but there weren’t many at this time of the afternoon. Sweat started to pool in his worn leather boots, but he’d be damned if he complained. He’s seen hotter, been through worse. His other hand dug through the stash in his pocket, and he popped a piece of sugary pink gum into his mouth, crumpling the wrapper and letting it fall to the ground.

Gravel crunched behind him as his lieutenant approached. Rumlow didn’t turn, merely flicked his wrist over and folded the knife, waiting for the other man to speak.

“They’ve moved her into the clubhouse,” Ward said, hair greased back and oily in the sunlight. “Guess she didn’t listen.”

“No,” Rumlow shook his head with a smack of his bubblegum. “Guess she didn’t.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, the only sounds between them were his mouth on the gum and the cicadas humming in the late September heat. A couple more cars passed by, but their old gas station hangout was the last thing anyone wants to look at too closely; the road turned away from them and so did everyone's eyes. Grant Ward was sweating now, too, but he didn’t dare interrupt Rumlow while he was thinking. His mother used to say he didn’t have any brains, but he’s got enough to value his own neck and shut the hell up.

“It’s Barnes that wants her,” Rumlow finally spoke up, spitting his gum on the ground and trading it out for a peppermint. That wrapper followed the other, littering the gravel. “Rogers, Wilson - the rest of ‘em would’ve left her alone. But he wants her. Probably fucks her.”

Ward cracked a little smile at that. He was a red-blooded man, and he’d seen that doctor chick. Couldn’t blame Barnes for taking an opportunity.

“You think she’s our ticket, boss?”

“I know she is.” The peppermint cracked between Rumlow’s molars. “They just added a weak link to their chain. We tug on it and Barnes’ll come running.” He stood up from his perch against the seat of his bike, tilting his head to one side until his neck cracked. Ward shifted his feet on the gravel to put an extra few inches of space between them. He glanced at their bikes.

“We movin’ now?”

“Not yet.” Rumlow straddled his bike and spared Ward one last look. “Call the boys. We’re havin’ church.”

**********

“This’ll be your room,” Natasha leaned a hip against the door, allowing Y/N to walk in first. “Not exactly 5 star, but it’s better than being homeless.”

“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.” Y/N dropped her duffel bag on the bed and sighed, tilting her head back to look at Nat. “Seriously. Thank you for doing this.”

“You don’t need to thank us.” Nat was shaking her head already. “We put you in this mess. It’s the least we could do.”

“Still. It means a lot.”

After spending one more night at Bucky’s place, Y/N had gathered what was left of her (undamaged) belongings and thrown it all in the back seat of her car once more, following Bucky and Nat on their bikes as they lead her out of town towards the clubhouse. The radio faintly picked up a gospel station but she shut it off. Too much on her mind.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the warning, literal writing on the wall. “Leave while you can.” The threat was clear - at some point, they wouldn’t let her go, whoever “they” were. She’d be dead. The implication chilled her more than the break-in itself; this wasn’t a random, opportunistic home robbery. Someone followed her, found her, targeted her. And while the Avengers were doing their best to help her out, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it truly was their fault.

But you signed up for this, she told herself. Didn’t you ask for it?

A knock on the door frame, and Steve Rogers poked his head around the corner, his soft blond hair sticking out at odd angles from his helmet. He met her eyes with a small smile.

“Hey. You getting settled?” he asked, shuffling his very large body to fit in the doorway next to Natasha.

“Mhm. Nat is helping.”

“Good - that’s good,” Steve nodded, hooking his thumbs in his pockets, a little awkward. He had the telltale posture of a person who has something to say, but doesn’t know how to say it. Natasha noticed this, too, turning herself to face him fully.

“Spit it out, Rogers, I know that look.” She crossed her arms. He blew a defeated breath past his lips.

“Listen, I wanna start by saying that I don’t like this anymore than you do, okay?” he held up his hands, looking between the two of them. “But...I’ve been talking with Bucky, and we both feel that it would be good if - if you didn’t really go out alone for a while.”

A beat.

“Excuse me?”

“Clearly you’re in danger, we all saw the damage at your house. The person - people - who did this are not going to just leave you alone. So...we were thinking that you should have someone, one of us, taking you to work or to the store or wherever you need to go.”

He finished his little speech with an apologetic lift of his eyebrows, knowing that it would not be received the way it was intended. At the look on Y/N’s face, he tensed his shoulders, bracing himself for the blow.

“Are you out of your mind?” She was looking at him like he had just sprouted a second head. “It’s one thing to suggest moving in here, but a bodyguard? A literal bodyguard? No way. Not happening.”

Scared as she was, alone as she felt, her independence bristled at the thought of having her privacy invaded, her competence questioned. Did they really think she couldn’t take care of herself? She lived on a college campus, and then in the city for med school - she’d fended off her fair share of creeps, and all by herself.

“I knew you wouldn’t go for it…” Steve sighed, but set his jaw, not backing down. “But this isn’t really a request.”

“Are you - are you fucking joking right now?” Oh she was really gonna lose it. “Look, you may be the president or captain or whatever around here, but I’m not a part of your stupid gang. You don’t get to give me orders.”

He blinked, a stunned look on his face as if he were seeing her for the first time. Natasha was smirking, giving him that knowing look that he honestly hated - she remembered, just like Steve did, the first time he heard those words. The woman who said them. The tension in his shoulders relaxed just a little.

“I’m not trying to. I swear,” he placated. Drawing in a deep breath, he glanced at Natasha, who was no help at all today, then settled his gaze back on their guest. “Look. How about a compromise. Give it two weeks, two weeks of being escorted by someone from the Avengers, just until we get these people or things calm down. Sound reasonable?”

She hesitated. Honestly? No, not reasonable. But in the name of safety...and she did wonder, her mind turning back to the train of thought she had followed in the car. Whoever it was, they might not be fooled by her moving across town. They might even still be following her, know that she was here…

“Fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms. “Two weeks. But I still don’t like it.”

**********

“I’m sorry, remind me why we’re doing this?”

“You agreed to let one of us take you to and from work. This is the easiest way.”

“...you could just follow me on the bike. Or ride in my car.”

Bucky sighed heavily, slumping against the handlebars of his motorcycle.

“What’s the big deal? I thought you liked riding?” he shrugged. “Besides, riding together saves gas, and it’s better for the planet.”

She lowered her brows at him, clearly not impressed with his argument.

“Look. It’s not the bike I have a problem with, okay?” She rubbed her temples. “If I show up to work on the back of your bike, people might - they’ll think…”

Bucky raised his eyebrows. “People are gonna think what they wanna think, doll,” he shook his head. “But not a damn bit of that matters unless you think it does.”

She pursed her lips, fingers fiddling with the zipper on her jacket. Enough people associated her with the gang already that her home had been invaded and vandalized. And the rest had their whispered suspicions, shared at church ice cream socials and book clubs.

Without a word, she took the helmet he offered and swung her leg around to sit behind him. At least this commute would be more fun.

**********

“So...Bucky Barnes, huh?”

“Yeah - what’s he like? He as mean as he looks?”

“Well, he’s gotta be something other than mean for her to want to date him-”

“Woah, woah slow down,” Y/N put her hand up, interrupting the flow of the nurses’ conversation. “I am not dating him. We’re not dating.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Charlotte raised her eyebrows. “And that’s why he’s following you around like a guard dog, driving you places, holding open doors…”

“Never leaving your side.” Stacey added.

“Waiting for you after work.” KC, the newest nurse, nodded towards the front door of the clinic, where the man in question could be seen leaning against his bike, a cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

Y/N sighed. After a week of Bucky’s protective detail, the whole town had their eyes on her. Whispers between grocery aisles and PTA meetings and over coffee at Mel’s Diner - everyone had seen her with him, on that motorcycle of his all the time, and hadn’t she seemed too smart to fall in with a guy like that? Of course, it all made sense now, what had happened over there at the Van Horn house - somebody in that gang wanted her gone, but she was too in love with Barnes to listen to her good sense and skip town. She’d heard it all; complete strangers took it upon themselves to warn her, to scold her even, for hopping into bed with a dangerous man. All of it regardless of the truth, which was that he was more of a bodyguard than anything else.

“I know you all think that there’s something going on between us,” she said slowly. “But Bucky and I are just friends. That’s all.”

The nurses had finally cornered her after several days of watching Bucky peel into the parking lot and produce their wind-swept doctor, and then seeing him reappear at lunch and in the evenings to steal her away on the back of his bike. She knew they made quite the picture, and she sure as hell knew about his reputation - she had just hoped that no one would actually say anything to her face. It was too hard to explain, even without her hesitation to reveal Avengers business.

Her words did little, if anything, to satisfy them. On the face of it, they were worried for her. The town knew nothing about Barnes other than his reputation, which was more leather than golden. When Y/N started making appearances with him, her own character came into question, with everyone but her friends at the clinic. She protested again and again that he wasn’t what the town said, that he was a good, kind person, and over time she wore them down a little - but after that it was worse. Satisfied that she wasn’t in mortal danger, the girls revealed their deep curiosity about the mysterious “bad boy” that had become her personal driver. They giggled and whispered as though they were at a sixth grade slumber party, not a medical clinic.

Charlotte crossed her arms with a smug smile, watching Y/N squirm under their questions. Maybe she just wasn’t ready to admit it to herself.

“Well, I think your friend-,” she put air quotes around the word. “- is ready to go.”

Y/N looked out the door again to see Bucky straddling his bike now, his face turned towards the door as if he could actually see her through it. The sunglasses on his face were bright and reflective in the golden hour sun.

“Alright then. Have a good night ladies.”

“Oh I’m sure yours will be better.” KC wiggled her eyebrows.

Bucky watched her approach him with a smile around his cigarette - a smile that dropped in surprise when she snatched the thing from his mouth and threw it to the ground.

“What have I told you about smoking here?”

“I’m still outside, you know.”

“Yes, but plenty of patients have trouble breathing - you could manage to not have a cigarette while you’re waiting for me to get off work.”

His grin was playful, sweet.

“Yes, ma’am.”

15 minutes later, on their drive home, he shot straight past the clubhouse without even slowing down. Lulled into the familiar trance of holding him on the back of his bike, she almost didn’t notice - when she realized what he’d done, she squeezed his waist and leaned up to yell in his ear.

“Where are you going? The clubhouse is back there!”

“You’ll see, doll!”

He stuck to the highway for a few more miles, before branching off on a smaller road through the hills. They sped past pastures and creeks and herds of cows lazing under trees, all of it still green and soft though October had managed to sneak up on them somehow. A few houses dotted the hillside here and there, with large barns to hold their animals, but other than that they saw no sign of civilization, or of people who would stare.

He turned off again onto a small country lane, following old signs that read “Old Man’s Lake Park” until they reached a gravel lot that served for parking. With a sly grin, he watched her pull off her helmet and tugged her along a worn footpath through the park, never letting go of her hand.

“I thought you might like it out here - a change of pace from going back and forth to the clubhouse and work and the grocery store.” He looked over his shoulder, and she could see his confidence fade a little, a hopeful look in his eyes tempered with an ounce of doubt.

The lake sprawled out over a hundred yards, its surface calm and glassy, cut only by a family of ducks near the shoreline. Trees dug their roots in along the bank, their branches curving down to brush the top of the water, with a couple of ropes tied to the stronger ones so that people could jump in. As the sun fell closer to the horizon, the whole scene was lit in amber and gold, the soft hum of cicadas filling the air around them.

“This...Bucky-” She looked up to find him already looking at her. “This place is beautiful.”

He smiled, a little bashful as he glanced down at his boots.

“I know people have been givin’ you a hard time...and I know it’s mostly my fault,” He sighed. “But all the way out here, there’s nobody watching. You can just...be yourself, you know?”

He was staring across the lake, the light from the water reflecting in his crystal blue eyes. She took a deep breath, shoulders relaxing.

“Yeah, I know.”

**********

“You seriously did that on a dare? I can’t believe you.”

“Well I had to otherwise Steve was gonna do it! You didn’t know him back then, he would’ve caught pneumonia and died!”

“Oh, so you went skinny dipping in a frozen lake for selfless reasons, that makes it completely different.” She rolled her eyes, unable to hold down her smile. “I’m sure your mother was very proud.”

“She was, when she figured out I was saving a life,” Bucky quipped back, eyebrows raised.

“Saving a life by almost dying - you pretty much broke even on that one.”

“Yeah, well. I was 15, I had more muscles than brains back then.”

She just scoffs, rolling her eyes again.

**********

“You know, I never really saw a lot of stars until I was deployed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Grew up in the city - too much light pollution.”

“Me too, actually.” She laid back on her elbows. “I barely know any of the constellations, except for the Big Dipper.”

“Seriously?” When she nodded, he laid down on his back, gesturing with his hand for her to do the same. “Okay, class is in session.” He pointed towards the sky above, a little to her right. “You see that group right there, with the three stars right in a row?”

Tracing her eyes along the tattoos on his forearm, she turned her gaze upwards to where he was pointing.

“Yeah, I see it.”

“That’s Orion’s belt.” He leaned a little closer, letting her eyes follow the shape that his finger was making. “Then you can follow it up here and here...and that’s the whole constellation of Orion - he’s called the Hunter, and you can kinda see there how he’s supposed to be holding a bow.”

“Oh, wait I do see it!” She turned to him, beaming. “That’s so cool!”

He was already smiling at her, his eyes flitting over her face.

“Alright - next up, Pegasus.”

**********

“Why did you really come out here?”

They had scooted closer to each other as night fell and the temperature with it. Y/N was sitting with her knees drawn up, Bucky’s jacket around her shoulders.

“I mean, I know you went with the rural practice program,” he went on. “But...I just can’t believe you didn’t have another option to pay for med school.”

She shrugged.

“Well, I could’ve gone into the military, but I’m not exactly thrilled with our current commander-in-chief,” she sighed. “And then...I don’t know, I guess. I didn’t want the stress of having to pay off my tuition by myself. So I took this.”

He nodded, silent for a few moments.

“Do you regret it?”

She didn’t answer, not for a long time - she just stared at the toes of her sneakers and pulled at the grass. When she did speak, her voice was small, barely above a whisper.

“Do you ever feel alone, Bucky?”

She could feel him looking at her, but didn’t turn.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I do sometimes.”

“I’ve...I’ve never been this alone in my life.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I regret this, but I feel-I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. Like I’m lost. And no one can tell me if I’m going the right way or not.”

He didn’t say anything to that, but covered her hand with his. The sky had been dark for a long time, the stars glittering overhead and echoing back on the surface of the lake. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but neither of them had made a move to leave.

“I...know a little of how you feel,” he said, his voice low. “And I don’t think anyone can really tell you which way to go.” He squeezed her fingers, his palm covering hers. “But you’re strong, and crazy smart, and you can figure this out. And…” he sighed heavily. “You don’t have to be...alone.”

She stared at him, just able to make out the soft blue of his eyes in the dark. Something stretched between them, unbreakable in the moonlight. She couldn’t look away. On the grass between them, he threaded his fingers with hers and whispered.

“You’re not alone.”

[smokahuntis]

Constellatio

constellatio

Warnings: angst, violence, sexual tension, bond breaking.

Pairing: Kylo Ren x Reader

Summery: The read is an assassin who has been hunted by the first order for sometime now, what will she do when she gets trapped with the supreme leader himself, and what will he do when he finds a new connection.

Authors note: not edited, but I really enjoy this one actually, oh and I made this gif!

Chapter 2: Ortu Stella

-

Fear, an emotion (Y/N) hadn’t felt in a long time. Not until she found herself on the First Orders radar. The (E/C) eyed girl had escaped them many time, not wanting to work for them, she had even pushed away the Rebels requests. She was alone, it’s how she liked it. She liked poison, blades, and freedom. So when the Supremacy tried to control her she escaped, and when the rebels tried to order her to do things, she ran. She never really thought about why they want her so bad, other then she was a well known assassin, but what would they want with an assassin? The only thing about her that stuck out other then her skill was the name she was given, Stella Tenebris, Stella for short. It meant ‘Dark Star’ and she embraced it completely. Plus, she found more people hired her after the name had spread.

Right now she found herself occupying a booth in a small Cantina on a planet she didn’t know the name of, waiting for her “date”. A man named Elric was her bounty, meant to kill him and make it look like the cook of the cantina did it, why? She didn’t ask. Just as she was about to cancel the man walked in, smiling at her as he sat down in front of her, she had already ordered there drinks, his with enough poison to go unnoticed by him, but enough to burn him from the inside out or his stomach at least. The ‘date’ went smoothly, so smooth she almost felt bad for the guy. The poison wouldn’t kick in till she was far away from the place since it was a slow burn. And so by the time he had started to feel it she was already in her ship leaving the back water planet.

While the ship was in auto pilot she had already changed back into her normal gear. A pure black outfit fitted with its own cloak, it once was compared to Kylo Ren’s, by an old client. The only real differences was that hers fit her better and she would never wear a mask.

As she walked back to the pilots seat she grabbed her fathers light saber from the wall clipping it to her belt, before sitting down. She never used it, she just felt more confident with it on her. As soon as she set down in the seat and began to take control of the ship she saw the fuel lights flicker. Soon after she landed the ship in a more green planet then the last, deciding to rest there for the night.

—

(Y/N) tried to sleep, she really did but sleep did not grace her that night. Leaving her bed and back into her gear she decided to explore the small town she was in. But something about the surrounding forest called her name, and soon she found herself deep inside it. It’s dark branches clawed at the edges of her cloak and it’s leaves blew around tickling her skin. It was peaceful, but it was too peaceful. That’s what made it easier for her to hear the red lightsaber light up behind her. She turned grabbing hers instantly. The Red met the white instantly clashing brightly.

Kylo looked down at her, the glow of the sabers lighting of there faces. At the time she wasn’t focused on him, she was focused on his lightsaber. She held hers tightly, using it to push Kylo back as she spun away, facing him she held freely.

“You’re a hard person to find.” He said with a snarl, stepping easy on the cold ground, the frosted grass crunching under his feet.

“You’re an easy person to run from.” (Y/N) quipped back as they circled around each other. After he comment they lunged back at each other, their lightsabers clashing over and over. Neither could land a hit on the other.

(Y/N) moved her saber in a figure 8 motion reflecting his hits, and it a quick flip of the handle, she gripped it in her other hand, the burning heat facing her fore arm as she swung to his neck, nearly catching it. The motion turned her body and swung back again only to have her arm caught by the taller man. He held her arm into the air not letting her strike, and as he moved his sword towards her she moved just in time to grab his wrist, pushing his red hot burning blade into the ground. Her back was to his chest, she could feel his check move with his unsteady breathing.

“You’re move.” She said chuckling letting go of the lightsaber and moving away from him quickly enough to catch it again and point it to his throat. It wasn’t until then they noticed where they were, Torsaga cliff, and Kylo stood at the very edge, his saber breaking the ground he stood on. He looked down about the same time she did, and then the ground below him fell. She reached out grasping his hand at the last moment. Holding him to the spot.

“Hold on!” She said holding his hand tightly, snapping her light saber back into her belt, she used her other hand to grip his arm.

“Why are you saving me?” He asked, his voice some how calm in the moment as the wind from the ocean below hushed it, for only her to hear.

“I-I don’t know “ she stammered over he own words as she tried to pull him up.

“Let go!” He said looking at her, he noticed the rocks began to shift under her.

“No! I can’t let you fall!” She yelled looking at him, she couldn’t see it but she knew he had a worried expression under that mask and hard attitude.

“If you don’t let go you’ll fall too!” He yelled back, and just like the the ground below her gave out, and they fell into the deep blue ocean below.

—

When Kylo woke up all he could see was her, she was looking over his arm wrapping it with a black cloth. His head lulling to the side, feel the stone behind it, that’s when he noticed his helmet was off. That’s when he grabbed her wrist tight looking at her, using the force to throw her to the wall of the cave. He stood wrapping his hand around her throat.

“Why did you take my helmet off?!” He asked, anger in his voice, his eyes searching her face for something, anything.

“K-Kylo.” She choked out grasping at his wrist to try and get free. “Y-you were b-bleeding, I had to stop it.” She said, her voice weak and quiet. Her answer only made him squeeze tighter and lean closer. Her eyes were screwed shut in fear.

“Open your eyes...” he said, she could feel his warm breathe on her face. She listened to him, her (E/C) eyes meeting his chocolate brown ones, and in that moment it was like something snapped inside of him. And as for her, something woke up. His hand left her neck and he backed away.

“What did you do to me?” He asked his gloved hands now in his wavy hair. He was searching, searching for Rey, he couldn’t find her anywhere, he couldn’t find there bond.

“Me? What did you do to me!” She said her voice weak, still grasping at air. Her chest was heavy her hands were tingling. She looked back up at him, finding he was staring at her, anger riddled his face, but along side confusion.

“Where is she?” He moves towards her again this time his hands stayed at his side, but her back met the wall once more.

“Who...” (Y/N) said looking at him, deep into his eyes.

Rey, I can’t find Rey.

“Rey? From the rebellion?” (Y/N) asked looking at him.

“I didn’t say that out loud...” he said taking his glove off reaching his hand up slowly towards her face.

“Yes you did, I heard it.” She said looking at him.

“I said that in my mind, and you were in it.” His hand touch her bruised neck lightly, tracing the marks he left. “How did you do that...”

“Do what?” She asked flinching away from his touch, (Y/N) feared no man, but Kylo Ren could kill her in seconds and she knew that. She knew he was dangerous, and part of her craved it, part of her would get caught just to see what he’d do.

“Is that what you think of me little star, I’m deadly?” He said going threw her mind like he never could. She was always blocked off from her and he never knew why. But this new found bond had him wanting every piece of it.

“Get out of my head!” She said pushing him back looking at him, grabbing her light saber. Swinging it at him but it froze only inches from his raised hand.

“Don’t.” He said calmly, his hand dropping along with her lightsaber. His hand stopped mid air in between them, and he stated.

“Join me.”

She looked at him, something about the way he said it this time, something about seeing his face, his eyes, his anger. Something about seeing him. Changed her mind, because even she couldn’t deny the bond that she felt between them. But a lass she was the dark star, and she served no one.

“Never...” 

[kingofdirtandnothing]

@polyfacetious big ass Christmas Drabble Extravagaza: Day Eleven

Asexual and aromantic. 

Those were the words Five found for himself when he looked up his “symptoms” on the internet. The scientific terms for someone who didn’t have any desire for sexual interaction, or romantic entanglements. And while it didn’t feel exactly like it fit him (Five liked to jerk off as much as the next 17 year old guy, he just didn’t find anyone sexually attractive), it was closer than he’d ever been before. 

And Five liked titles. He liked being able to put things in neat little boxes. The world was massive, and confusing, and full of shitty people who would manipulate you and use you under the guise of caring about you. If you knew your place and you knew what to look out for, you could keep it from happening.

The best thing you could do was look after yourself. As long as you didn’t rely on anyone, they couldn’t hurt you. It was a lesson hard learned.

That’s why Five turned in his completed, signed and notarized emancipation forms the day he turned sixteen. Relying on his dad was like dropping through a sheet of ice and hoping you’d come out the other side as an acorn. You couldn’t change the fundamentals, be it time and space or a person’s nature. They were who they were, and no amount of bellyaching was going to change that.

Hell, if it wasn’t for seeing Sir Reginald’s name on his completed form that got mailed back to him, Five wouldn’t even have been sure that the old man knew he was gone. But it was there, stamped, because the old man signed too many forms to do it by hand, and it felt like a burden lifted and a new one hung around his neck in equal measure. 

For a reactive, petulant teenager who wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged, it had been a swift kick in the ass to actually be acknowledged. Wasn’t that just karma rearing her ugly head?

That day, five days after the papers were filed, was the last day that Adrian Christopher Hargreeves ever existed outside of legal documents. That was the day he decided that his name was Five. Not for any real reason, there was nothing monumental or thoughtful behind the choice. It had been the first thing to come to mind and Five let it be his choice, fueled by spite. 

He was no heir apparent to an aeronautical empire. He was just another number.

Living in a hostel wasn’t ideal, but it was better than trying to pay for a hotel every night, or deal with landlords who didn’t want a teenager on their lease. It gave him a shower to use every night without having to go to a gym and a safe place to keep his things, as long as he didn’t leave anything expensive lying around in plain sight. His laptop came with him wherever he went, always in his backpack. Just in case.

Sometimes, he thinks about asking Peter and Eddie if he can crash on their couch. He knows they’d say yes if he did. But as accommodating as they were, there were always limits to people’s kindness, and Five didn’t work his ass off to get out of being beholden to one man’s whims so he could find himself at the mercy of another.

(Peter isn’t like Sir Reginald. He actually listens when Five talks. But he won’t take the risk, not when things were going so good for him.)

Head Chef. 

That was another title, another little box. But where the other ones were titles and boxes that Five could wrap his hands around and declare with a decision, this one was one that was going to take some work. 

Five spent days mooching off of the wifi at the hotel near the beach, moving from bench to bench so they wouldn’t ask him to leave. It was how he figured out exactly what he was going to need to get from sixteen year old with no experience to head chef. And it was going to be a long, hard road.

Getting the job at Tony’s place seemed like the best way to start down that road. A Michelin star restaurant on his resume would look good when he applied for culinary school. But what Five didn’t account for was how much he’d hate the damn job. If he had to shuck another oyster again, it would be too soon. 

Why anyone would eat those things was beyond him. They were disgusting. And if you needed a slimy mussel to get your dick hard, then maybe you needed to see a doctor, not spend hard earned money sucking down disgusting sea creatures.

And no matter how much he told himself to suck it up and power through, Five spent most of his time miserable for those few months he worked at Tony’s restaurant. To the point that he’d even started considering giving up on it altogether. What was the point of going to culinary school if he was going to hate it? What was the point of all his hard work if it wasn’t going to make him happy?

The whole point of this endeavor was to not end up like his father. If Five was going to go home every night miserable, he would have kept the money and the business. At least then he would have been miserable on silk sheets. Or miserable driving a Maserati. 

That’s when Peter stepped in. With his idiot grin and his unending well of optimism and bottomless pit of a stomach. He was the one to tell Five that he should follow his dreams. That there were plenty of chefs out there who didn’t have degrees but still made some of the best food on the planet. 

‘I think there’s a fryer in the back of the bar’ sounded like the best escape plan that Five had ever heard. Not that he was going to tell Peter Parker that. He’d bite off his own tongue before he told Peter just how much he needed him. (How much he loved him. Like family.)

So head chef became owner in Five’s head, all the plans he’d built around himself shifting to accommodate. Now the focus was on making money, saving up what he could, learning what would make people go out of their way to try. 

Shifting a title and a box in his head turned out to be easier than Five thought it was going to be. And in a way, he should be glad that he figured it out with head chef because Eleanor Crain walked into his life and blew up two other boxes that Five was content with. 

Asexual and aromantic no more. Nell was beautiful in a brushed clean kind of way. Like she’d never worn make up in her life. Five knew women went for that look, that they carefully cultivated the kind of make up that made them look like they weren’t wearing any at all. But Nell’s face wasn’t like that. It was simple, and clean, and beautiful. 

She had a laugh that was light and bright and effervescent, a smile that lit up a room. She was the kind of girl that Five would have been convinced was an unattainable creation of the media if he hadn’t met her for himself. 

But he did, and now he was in too deep, right off of the diving board and into the deep end. Because now all of his decisions had a Nell Crain shaped question mark at the end. Would she still like him if he did this? That had given him pause a time or two.

Of course, it didn’t stop him from decking a drunk in an alley behind the bar, but he took the time to think about it and that was a whole new kettle of fish for him. (Sometimes, Five got so angry that he couldn’t breathe. He never wanted Nell to see that. And if it took back alley bar brawls to keep it away from the surface and from her, then so be it.)

It even started affecting his cooking. 

Not in a bad way, not exactly. But for the first time in his admittedly short but stellar cooking career, Five found himself thinking about what someone else wanted. About what she would think of each item, whether she would savor it on her tongue or pretend and smile her way through something she had to choke down. 

He learns about her life in between small tasting plates of chicken wings and mozzarella sticks. She tells him about her father giving up on her and her brother and Five says fuck him with a vitriol that makes Nell laugh. 

She tells him about her mother, dead when she was six years old. Nell pushes a mozzarella stick around in a puddle of marinara when she does, making abstract designs. Nell says she doesn’t remember her mother, and Five admits the same. It’s not the kind of bonding that anyone wants to do, but it’s knotted between them all the same. 

Five doesn’t know how it happens, but he tells her about Sir Reginald. About emancipation. He dances around the part about living in a hostel, because he doesn’t know if he can turn down kindness from her. 

By the time they make it through the bar’s short menu, she’s given him sweet but solid advice on all of it. (Better than Peter, who licked the plate when Five first made parmesan and garlic chicken wings.) Five has notes written down in a small notebook he keeps in the breast pocket of his apron, and he fully intends to adjust and adapt his recipes. 

But he can’t stop thinking about Nell. About how nothing he made really sparked any joy in her. And he wanted that. Hell, he could be honest with himself, he needed that. He needed her approval, and it was a big, bright red flag flapping in the wind, but Five was too far gone to do anything about it. 

Which is how he ends up in the bar’s kitchen on a Sunday morning, tossing his third sandwich in a frustrated heap. But the fourth, oh the fourth is a thing of beauty, just the right amount of crisp on the edges and golden brown all over, the cheese starting to seep out of the sides of the sandwich. It was purely aesthetic, but it was perfect. 

He brings the bowl and the plate out of the kitchen and up to where Nell sits, the lone body at the bar. Peter and Eddie wouldn’t come downstairs for hours. This was the closest to privacy that Five had these days. (He wasn’t stupid, he knew they slept in on Sundays for this very reason. Eddie Brock the lapsed Catholic had started going to Mass at night on Sundays.)

“Grilled cheese and tomato bisque for the lady.” Grudgingly, the bisque was Tony’s recipe. But it was a damn good one, and Five wasn’t going to spit in the wind. Just because it wasn’t his idea didn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea. 

Nell laughs, but the sound falls away to something more appreciative as she breaks the two triangles of the sandwich apart, watching the golden cheese stretch between the two halves. It’s only when she bites down on the edge of the sandwich, the crisp bread crackling that Five realizes he’s holding his breath. 

And it’s released in a whoosh of laughter when Nell fans her mouth. “It’s good! Really good. Really hot, but really good!” 

Being in love was not a box or a title that Five had expected to ever have. But now that he found himself in that box, he wasn’t in a hurry to get out. And there was maybe a few more box’s and titles he’d like to get his hands on now that he knew about it. 

Nell Crain’s boyfriend would be a good one to start with. 

[discotreque]

Picard 1.08: Broken Pieces

I'm so tired, y'all. My cat ate one of my hair elastics, because she's an idiot, and she was up all night puking extremely loudly all over the apartment. I have reached the age where I can't just bounce back from a sleepless night with a couple of Red Bulls and sheer force of will, so I'm kinda wrecked.

But I don't think I've ever been so wrecked that I couldn't ramble about Star Trek for a minute, so—shall we?

Spoilers:

We open on Aia, "The Grief World," possibly the most extra name for a planet in all of Star Trek canon.

This flashback is set 14 years ago, and Ramdha is present. But when we met her as one of the disordered Romulan xBs, they said she and her ship were assimilated 16 years ago. Either I'm misremembering or that's an obvious error. Which happens—I'm not mad, just confused.

Speaking of confusion: we see only female Romulans experiencing the Admonition (cool name btw), and Oh mentions a tradition passed down from their "foremothers." Are the Zhat Vash a female-only sect like the Qowat Milat? If so, what's Narek's deal? Or are only women Admonished, and male Zhat Vash agents just have to take their word for it?

None of this actually matters. I told you I was tired.

I really liked the scene with Narissa and Ramdha, mainly because I like Peyton List a lot and she got to show some complexity for a change, but Narissa remains an uncompelling villain to me. Even if she thinks she's working to save trillions of lives, she's indulging in an awful lot of sadism along the way; you get the impression she'd be torturing and murdering people even if she weren't an anti-android crusader.

They told us up front that Rios had a tragic backstory, but wowwwww. Two weeks in a row, this show gets us grieving for a character we've never met—impressive.

Prop watch! The phaser Raffi pulls on Soji looks more like a 21st-century firearm than any weapon we've ever seen on Star Trek, which added some possibly-unintentional heft to the scene. You just don't get the same visceral reaction seeing someone held at dustbuster-point.

The return of Admiral Fucking Bongwater! I worry Oh's going to get her before this is all over, though.

More infinitesimally tiny nitpicking: the JJ Abrams movies introduced the idea that phaser bolts on "stun" are blue, and ones on "kill" are red, and as far as I could tell, the first two seasons of Discovery used the same convention. (Which is a retcon I'm fine with: it makes fight scenes more visually understandable.) We've seen both red and blue phaser fire on Picard, and every confirmed phaser kill has been from a red shot. This episode, we see Seven shoot a bunch of Romulans with blue bolts, but later Narissa says they were killed by phasers. I don't know what to believe anymore!!!

I have literally never been more attracted to Jeri Ryan than in this episode. What a babe.

Every conversation about Data on this show ends up making me weepy. "He loved you" was the heavy hitter line, of course, but Picard saying that he felt as limited in his own emotional capacity as Data also had me reeling.

I totally called the engineering hologram being Scottish. Is it a terribly clever joke? No. Did I know they would be powerless to resist it anyway? Yes. Did I laugh my ass off when it finally came to pass? Absolutely I did.

Moving stars around the galaxy is pretty cool, but I read a novel once where some hyper-advanced aliens were moving stars back in time. Way cooler.

The physical comedy in the scene with Mr. Hospitality the close-talker and Raffi, who has a basic normal sense of personal space, was hilarious.

Rios is a sad boy who listens to sad songs on vinyl records and reads sad philosophy books. So basically he's every guy I knew in my 20's, zing!

Say what you will about the writing on this show, but the acting is almost uniformly phenomenal. I've heard more than one actor say that being on a show with Sir Patrick Stewart makes you instinctively up your acting game, and honestly, I think it shows all over the place, even when P. Stew's not in the actual scene.

All of that last point was basically to say Jeri Ryan is also acting her ass off this episode. I always thought she was a great actor, all the way from her debut on Voyager, but she is taking it to another level here and I cannot look away.

Can't decide who's showing off more in the scene with all the holograms: Santiago Cabrera or director Maja Vrvilo. Standing ovation to them both.

Raffi calls Rios's record player a "Walkman," which is adorable.

I will literally bet money that, had we seen Beautiful Flower (RIP), he would have been played by a relatively makeup-free Brent Spiner. Furthermore, I predict we're going to see another android from that line (i.e. Spiner returning sans the Data makeup) before the end of the season. And if it doesn’t happen and I remember to, I will call myself out.

Agnes is like "I promise I won't kill you," and Soji's just "Like you fucking could."

There was a cute moment on the Ready Room this week when Wil Wheaton mentioned seeing an early cut of this episode without most of the VFX, and Jeri Ryan's immediate reaction was "Oh, so I looked like a total idiot!"

All those Borg being vented into space was rugged as fuck. This show has gone to some lengths to establish individual Borg drones as not only victims, but victims who can potentially be saved. On TNG and Voyager, you cheered when a Borg cube blew up. On this show, when thousands of drones are unceremoniously killed, it feels like the massacre it is.

Everyone who's been whining about the nasty, nasty language on this show is going to have a fucking field day with this episode.

Speaking of f-bombs, I get the feeling Picard should have called Clancy back with the news that her head of security is a Romulan agent. Seems like information she should have, um, ASAP?

When Soji took over La Sirena with zero difficulty I burst out laughing. Like father, like daughter!

I am extremely interested to see what happens next with this Borg cube.

Picard's speech to Rios feels like the thesis of this whole show. I like it.

And fuckin' Narek is still around. Ugh.

Next week is Part 1 of the two-part season finale: "Et in Arcadia Ego." How's that for a title?