#think of it like yoda becoming baby and then slowing ageing back up

[reyturnofbensolo]

😬

[lloydskywalkers]

a complicated profession

Chapter One

This is one of the longest, most self-indulgent fics I’ve written in a while and it is entirely @ninjawhoa‘s fault (and i mean that in the best way possible but u know). So the full inspiration for Kai and Nya as Mandalorians goes to them <3

Honestly the best way I can summarize this is to explain that I started it out saying “lol there’s no way I’m gonna write Lloyd as baby yoda”. then 11k words later. Lloyd as baby yoda. 

(while you don’t technically need to have watched the mandalorian to understand this, it will kinda help and you’ll probably guess who Cole’s gonna be. plus it’s just a Good Show in general, so u should watch it)

Kai’s not a heartless person, despite what some people might say.

But he’s not the kind of person that keeps many regrets, either. In his line of work, he can’t afford to be. Mandalorians aren’t known for their expressiveness in the first place, and the helmet has long hidden any grimace he might make at his and Nya’s less…savory jobs. But he’ll never show it otherwise, because they are Mandalorian, which means they’re the best of warriors or bounty hunters to be had, and you don’t become the best by regretting who you blast in the back and who you freeze in carbonite this week.

But there are some things — a precious few — that he does regret, and he does hold on to. And one of the more current, glaring ones is that he really should have pressed for more information on their target this time.

Specifically in regards to its age.

“I thought they said it would be forty-six years old,” he says blankly, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. For a moment, he’s glad that Nya’s still outside, covering him where he’s snuck in to the compound with the assassin droid. Because while the droid can’t tell that Kai’s gobsmacked, Nya absolutely could, and she’d never let him live it down.

The target stares up at him where it’s hidden itself beneath an old weapons rack, its eyes wide and curious on his helmet. It’s definitely their target, no question — Kai’s tracker hasn’t stopped going nuts since he got this close to it — but it’s also definitely not forty-six years old.

It’s a kid. No older than six, at most — a human boy, from appearance, but the red eyes staring back at him lead Kai to believe their target’s a lot more than just some human. That and the obscene bounty that’s sitting on it, and the ridiculous amount of guards they had to fight through to get this far.

The assassin droid takes a jerking step forward, the gear on the left side of its face glowing dark red, and the child curls back, the first movement Kai’s seen it make — though he can’t really blame it, after the shootout they’ve had right outside the door. It doesn’t speak, either, just continues to stare at him with those wide, crimson eyes, as if Kai’s the most fascinating thing it’s ever seen. Then those eyes flick to the droid, and the gaze turns frightened.

“Four to six,” the assassin droid clarifies, its voice as monotone as ever. “Species unknown.”

“It’s supposed to be older.” Kai knows his voice is too quiet, too young. He doesn’t sound as old as he’s pretending to be.

“A shame, that it will never be,” the droid clicks. “But its life ends here.”

The droid brings its blaster up, and the kid’s eyes clench shut. Kai’s moving before he can think, shoving the droid’s arm so the blaster isn’t trained on the kid.

“I’m supposed to bring it back alive,” he hisses.

“And I am supposed to bring it back dead,” the droid replies blandly, it’s glowing eyes staring at Kai’s helmet. “Step aside. It will yield less trouble for everyone this way.”

Kai stares at the droid, revulsion twisting in his gut. He hates droids.

But he also knows that this is an assassin droid for a reason, and that it’s proven a valuable ally as it is.

The droid pulls away, its blaster clicking back on. Kai turns back to the kid, all frightened eyes beneath its mop of golden hair.

The blaster levels with the kid’s head, and the fear turns to resignation. Kai knows that look.

For an awful half second, he sees another child huddled before him, another child alone in the world, tear-stained and hopeless and lost.

There’s a click of a trigger, and blaster fire flashes bright across the room.

***********************************

Nya’s just finished cleaning up the last of the stragglers who were guarding the compound by the time her brother finally emerges from it, scraping dark stains from the edge of her weapons with the gritty sand that drowns this planet. She scowls — she hates desert planets on a good day, because the sand gets all in the cracks of her armor and wears down the gears on their ship, but sand will always soak up blood better than anything else will.

She frowns at the bodies that litter the sand around them, scrubbing a hand over the plating of her helmet. They’ve gone through an awful lot of trouble for this job, more so than usual. Ronin wasn’t kidding when he said their client made a steep demand.

It had better be worth it, she thinks, as the familiar sound of her brother’s boots draws nearer. She blinks as he steps out of the compound, the absence of the CRY-11 droid he went in with painfully noticeable. Maybe there was a disagreement on who got the bounty…? The question is on her lips, when she finally catches sight of what’s in his arms.

Nya stares. Her brother is not dragging a struggling target to them. Her brother is holding a baby, the thing tucked close in his arms. Well — not a baby, exactly, if it’s big enough to cling to Kai’s armor like that, but — it’s a tiny kid.

“What is that,” she asks, her voice slow and measured through her helmet.

Kai tightens his grip on the shivering kid, who’s yet to unfurl his fingers where they grip tightly around his breastplate, face pressed into his shoulder. He’s silent for a beat, and the quiet feels loud, surrounding the two of them and the kid and the piles of dead bodies around them.

“Our payday,” Kai finally says, sounding eternally exhausted.

***********************************

It was supposed to be a simple target, if a difficult one.

Sure, their client was Imperial — or ex-Imperial, though either way is just as bad, in Kai’s opinion — but the guy was straightforward enough. A bit saccharine, a lot creepy, but clearly eager to pay for a target. And the payment — Kai hasn’t seen that much Beskar steel since their father’s smithy, and the prospect of winning at least some of it back, at least some of what the Empire took from their people, was too much to turn down (even if it did mean working with Imperials).

Not that he and Nya had been planning on turning him down in the first place. The downside about being the best bounty hunters on this side of the galaxy is that, eventually, they run out of targets that’ll earn them money. They’ve cleaned out all Ronin’s best offers, and they’d needed more.

It’s how they got this target. Not favoritism from Ronin — no matter what the other Hunter’s Guild members say — because as their planet’s head of local bounty headers, favoritism isn’t something he can afford showing. No, Kai and Nya got this target because they are the best, and they always follow through on a job.

But bounty hunting commissions are a two-way street, and Kai knew they should’ve pressed for more information than just “here’s a tracker, you’ll know the target when you see it”.

Then maybe they wouldn’t have ended up trekking across this awful desert with a kid in tow.

“What would a bunch of Imps want with a kid?” Nya asks again, brushing sand from where it’s collected in the corners of her elbow armor. “He doesn’t seem like he’s worth that much.”

“Tell that to the guard detail they had on ‘im,” Kai mutters, wincing at the new scorch marks on his armor. That steel payment is going to come in handy a lot sooner than he’d thought.

“Well yeah, but…” Nya’s helmet swivels toward the kid, where it’s yet to move from the patch of sand it’s claimed in their campground. It hasn’t said much of anything since Kai took it from the compound, but it hadn’t fought Kai either, so that’s something. Not trust, maybe, but the way the kid stares at them seems curious, which is a lot better than hostile.

Makes it easier for transporting it, and all.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Nya finally huffs, pulling her knees up to her chest, looking very much like the child she is, and a lot less like the callous assassin she’s supposed to be.

“You say that like Imperials have ever made sense,” Kai yawns, stretching his arms. “Look, our job is to bring the kid back, not to ask questions.”

“And to blast Guild assassin droids on the way?” Nya quips, drily.

Kai shrugs, his head tilting down. He wasn’t gonna let the droid just kill the kid. Even if the bounty hadn’t been a part of it, he’s not that heartless.

And he’d known the look in the kid’s eyes.

And he hates droids anyways, so it’s a win all around.

“I wonder what’s so special about him,” Nya murmurs, tilting her head at the child. It shifts under her gaze, almost anxiously.

Kai shrugs again, and turns his head as well. “Hey, kid. What’s your deal?”

He can feel the face Nya’s making at him beneath her helmet, but Kai ignores her, watching the kid intently. The kid stares back, blinking once at him.

Then it turns away, pulling the edge of Kai’s lent cloak tighter around its shoulders, and says nothing.

Kai bites back a sigh. He doesn’t know why he’s expecting anything more. It’s not like every quarry’s supposed to be jumping for conversation at being used as bounty. Heck, he doesn’t even know if the kid can talk. Or if it does, maybe it’s the wrong language…?

Kai doesn’t know why he’s trying to care.

“Eloquent as always,” Nya snorts. Kai throws her a gesture, and Nya retaliates by kicking sand up on him as she stands. “I’m gonna head back to the ship,” she says, shouldering her weapons. “Need to make sure nothing’s scrapped it yet. I’ve seen too many Jawas running around here.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kai smirks. “Checking back in with Jay while you’re at it wouldn’t happen to part of the plan, would it?”

Nya’s foot connects with his side this time, and Kai cackles instead of sweeping her leg out from under her. Nya’s helmet shakes side to side, and Kai can picture the blush she’s sporting beneath it.

“You are going to check back in with Jay,” she huffs. “We’ve still gotta thank him for helping us out, and the kid probably needs to eat eventually.”

“There’s always frogs,” Kai mutters.

“You are not letting him try and swallow a frog whole again,” Nya snaps, clearly not over the earlier incident, in which the kid had revealed a set of unnaturally sharp teeth, apparently trying to snack on one of the planet’s tiny amphibians.

“Maybe it’s naturally carnivorous, like the Togruta,” Kai shoots back. Nya crosses her arms. Kai crosses his.

The debate between calling the kid him or it has been ongoing since they left the compound, but Kai’s not budging. If you give your target humanity, you start to get in trouble.

“I’ll meet you at Jay’s, then,” he finally relents. “Be back before morning, alright?”

Nya makes a sound of amusement, the dying sunlight flashing off her helmet as she shakes it. She knocks armored knuckles against his own helmet, sending mild reverberations around Kai’s skull.

“I’ll be back when I’m back,” she says, but he catches the undercurrent of a promise in her voice. She turns away, her helmet tilting toward the kid where he sits unmoving, still silent. Her hand twitches, and for a moment, it looks like she’s about to reach a hand to ruffle his tangled hair.

Her hand finally goes loose, hanging limply by her side, and her helmet dips.

“Take care of the kid, okay?”

Kai nods. He almost scoffs, makes a comment — they won’t get paid for a dead kid.

But somehow, he knows that thought isn’t what makes her say it.

***********************************

Kai didn’t always live his life under a helmet. Probably wouldn’t have chosen too, necessarily, if given the choice — he’s got some pretty great hair, he likes to think, and perpetually hiding it is a tragedy in and of itself — but, that is to say, he’s not complaining.

Living with his head beneath a helmet is better than the alternative, which Nya always jokes would be living without a head at all.

Kai’s lips curl into a half-grin behind the helmet, in the way he only does when Nya jokes. It’s a half-truth; they both know that had the Mandalorians not seen to take them on as Foundlings, had they not swooped in at the last moment to rain blaster fire on the battle droids, then well…

Well. The little that would be left of them would likely be scattered in the streets with their parents.

The half-smile has now long since disappeared from Kai’s face, but no one could tell. Nya could, probably — she has a way of knowing him like that, just as he does her, exactly what face he’s making behind the helmet — but she’s not here now.

There’s a shuffling noise beside him, and Kai is abruptly reminded at what is here with him.

…alright, calling the kid a what does feel like too much. He should give it who, at least. The kid’s quiet, but there’s enough sentience, and enough expression in its eyes to communicate that its…well, a person.

A bounty, Kai reminds himself. A quarry. At the end of the day, the kid’ll be in someone else’s hands, and Kai’s own hands will be full of well-earned payment. It won’t do to go getting attached, or anything so blatantly stupid. Kai hasn’t gotten this far on sentiment.

The kid keeps staring at him with those eyes, the odd red glinting in the dying sun as it trudges beside him. Not for the first time, Kai wonders what, exactly, type of being the kid even is. It looks human, certainly. Its hair’s gold enough to pass for the Mandalorian royalty of the old Republic, and the teeth could be attributed to mixed blood. The eyes, too.

But the price on its head, for a simple human? Not likely.

Kai glances back at the kid, and is hit with an unpleasant jolt when he realizes it’s no longer by his side. There’s a brief moment of panic before Kai finds it, trailing just behind him, a scowl on its face as it trudges through the thickening sand.

It’s more expression than Kai’s seen on the kid all day, and it almost makes him laugh.

“Having some trouble, there?” he asks, watching the kid struggle up the sandbank in amusement.

The kid looks up, red eyes narrowing, and — “Slow.”

Kai blinks rapidly. He’s been about ninety-nine percent sure the kid can’t talk. So the quiet voice that suddenly comes from it is enough to give him pause, for a moment.

“So you do talk,” he manages. “Wanna tell me what you are?”

The kid finally reaches him, puffing its cheeks out as it breathes heavily, looking exhausted. It probably is, with the pace Kai’s been driving them at.

He doesn’t feel a pang of guilt at that, he tells himself.

The kid blows a breath out. “Slow,” it says again, voice dull.

Kai snorts in spite of himself. “You are slow, huh.”

The kid glares at him. Kai shakes his head, then steps forward, scooping the kid up and settling it on his back, like he used to with Nya when she was younger. The kid goes rigid for a beat, then Kai feels tiny fingers digging into the grooves of his armor, clinging tightly.

“Don’t get used to this,” Kai warns, as he continues to make his way across the barren wasteland. “It’s a one-time thing.”

The kid says nothing, but Kai wasn’t expecting anything, either.

***********************************

Nya’s already made it back to Jay’s outpost by the time Kai and the kid reach it, and judging by her irritated posture, their ship probably has been scrapped. That or Jay’s said something incredibly stupid again, which wouldn’t be unusual, but Nya normally finds Jay’s stupid to be funny, as opposed to…whatever’s put her in a mood.

Kai, on the other hand, does not find it funny, like how Jay laughs for a full ten minutes when he catches sight of the kid. He’s more tempted to slug him in the jaw, or something, because that’s Kai’s approach to almost everything that annoys him.

“This?” Jay says between snickers, as he stares at the kid. “This is what’s been tearing the planet apart?”

The kid’s been shifted back to his hip by now, and it hides its face in Kai’s armor, shrinking away from Jay. Something in the gesture makes Kai’s chest feels weird, so he glares at Jay instead, before remembering that Jay can’t see it.

“Apparently,” Nya answers for him, her voice weary. “It’s not exactly our usual bounty.”

“I’ll say,” Jay snorts, laughter still in his voice. He tilts his head, studying the kid with his bright eyes. Kai lets him inch closer, reluctantly. Jay’s loud and obnoxious, but he’s also one of the cleverest people Kai and Nya know in their corner of the galaxy. Normally, he’s just their repair guy — no one knows ships like Jay, whether they’re in the sky or on the ground, and he hasn’t gained a reputation as an ace pilot for nothing.

Why he’s chosen to stake out here, with the other best mechanic on this side of the galaxy, is still a mystery to Kai, but he’s one of the closest things they have to a friend, and at the end of the day, Kai does trust him.

“Yeah, I got no idea what he is,” Jay finally says, stepping back and running an oil-stained hand through his auburn hair. His mouth quirks up. “Hey, maybe he’s a Sith. Y’know, with the eyes?”

“Like the wizard people?” Nya says, her voice twisting, as if she’s wrinkling her mouth.

Jay rolls his eyes. “Sure, the wizard people. Geez, this galaxy forgets everything—” he cuts off, as if feeling the gazes he’s getting from behind both helmets. “I’m joking. Sith eyes are yellow. I’d guess he’s a mixed human, if anything.”

“It’s worth a lot, that’s what’s important,” Kai grouses.

Jay blinks, staring at the kid again.

“You’re seriously delivering a kid as a bounty?” he finally asks. His voice is even, guarded, but Kai doesn’t have to look far to find the carefully censored judgement in his voice.

“Well, the Imps want ‘im, and you know how they are when they don’t get what they want,” Kai says, sharply.

Jay��s smile disappears. Nya’s helmet swivels toward him, and Kai bites his tongue, mentally cursing himself.

Jay might be the loudest chatterbox he’s met in the galaxy, so it’s easy to forget sometimes. It’s not easy to forget why they come to him so often, because again, no one knows ships like Jay and no one does repairs like Jay, but it’s easy to forget where he comes from.

But the scars are there, hidden behind the sleeves of the blue jacket he always wears, and if Kai looks hard enough, he might even be able to decipher the Imperial brand beneath the mess of scarring Jay’s made over it.

Jay might have made it out, but Imperial slavery isn’t something you just walk off. Especially not when it’s taken both your home planet and your parents.

Jay’s bright eyes shutter, darkening at the mention. Kai wants to kick himself. He wishes Zane were here, like he often is to help with repairs — he’s always better at talking to Zane. Probably because Zane is a whole lot quieter, and doesn’t try so hard to make him talk back.

He’s saved by the kid lifting its head, red eyes watching Jay with an undecipherable expression. Jay shifts, a bit uncomfortably, and Kai gets it. The kid’s eyes feel a bit like the ocean — there’s too much in that gaze, and if you look too deep, you’ll end up lost.

Or maybe Kai’s just being dramatic again. He’s been told he does that a lot.

So maybe he’s too busy being dramatic to miss what happens next, but the next thing he knows the kid has suddenly reached out and has one little hand on Jay’s arm, like it’s trying to comfort him. Or maybe it’s gotten fed up of the way Jay squints at it, and it’s finally decided to try and shut him up, but—

Nope, Jay’s eyes are going the kind of watery that mean the kid’s done something right.

He gives a ragged breath, patting the kid’s hand before pulling away. “Cute kid,” he says, flashing a brief smile. He shakes his head, and something like regret crosses his face before he speaks again. “Alright. Let’s get your ship back together, so you can get out of my hair already.”

***********************************

As it turns out, their ship has been scrapped by Jawas while they were gone after all — typical — and that’s why Zane’s been missing.

“I managed to track them until they stopped,” he says, brushing crusted sand from his hair as he dismounts the speeder. The kid eyes him curiously from behind Kai, where it’s taken to standing most of the time. Kai’s pretty sure that it likes Jay, and it definitely likes Nya, but for some reason it’s picked Kai to stick to like a barnacle.

Persistent little brat.

“Did you take care of them, then?” Kai asks, carefully maneuvering the kid out of his path with his boot as he re-shoulders his weapon.

Zane gives him a blisteringly dry look, and despite the helmet Kai feels his cheeks heat.

“If by that you mean, ‘did I murder them all’, then no, I did not take care of them,” Zane sighs. “I did, however, manage to bargain with them, if you’re up for the task.”

“We’re up for any task,” Kai says hotly. “It’d just be a lot easier if we—“

“Shut up and listened to Zane, who’s been very helpful,” Nya interrupts him. Kai’s helmet swivels to her incredulously, and Jay snorts. Kai finally crosses his arms, slumping down on one of the radiators with a scowl. He glances to the kid, who’s decided to settle on his left, his own arms crossed in imitation of Kai’s.

It’s almost enough to lift his mood.

“Can you believe this, kid,” he mutters instead. “Sold out by my own sister.”

“I didn’t sell you out,” Nya huffs. “I’m trying to get us our ship back. What’s the bargain, Zane?”

Zane purses his lips, suddenly looking a bit hesitant. “Well, that’s the difficult part,” he says. “You could pay them in credits—“

“Imperial?” Kai asks.

“New Republic,” Zane replies. Nya mutters a curse.

Kai exhales wearily. “And the other option?”

Zane winces. “There’s a Krayt Dragon egg,” he begins.

He doesn’t need to finish. Kai knows what that look on his face means, even if he knows little else about Zane.

While Kai and Nya know Jay’s past well enough, Zane’s is a mystery. Maybe it’s just because he’s quieter than Jay, and a lot less likely to blurt out his entire backstory after one glass of Corellian whiskey, but the most Kai’s ever been able to pick up about Zane’s past is that he doesn’t like talking about it. He was with the Rebel Alliance at some point, though he’s quiet about his experience in it, and it lead him to Jay, who he’s stuck with ever since. The two are formidable mechanics and crackshot pilots, and combined they’re solid allies to have on your side.

Except, of course, when they suggest tackling Krayt Dragons as means to win back their ship parts.

“No way,” Nya says. “Nuh-uh. We’d like to come out of this one alive, thanks.”

“Yeah, no offense, but that armor’s seen better days,” Jay says, looking pointedly at Kai. “I don’t think they’d be here to claim the ship parts after that, Zane.”

Kai’s common sense evaporates, as it tends to do when literally anyone underestimates him.

“Excuse me, we’re not the best bounty hunters on this side of the galaxy for nothing,” he snaps, glaring at Jay. “Armor or not. Some of us don’t need fancy tools to get the job done.”

Jay’s mouth screws up. “I literally make fancy tools for you to get the job done with on a weekly basis—“

“Zane,” Kai says, studiously ignoring Jay, who doesn’t know what he’s talking about at all, clearly. “Did they give you coordinates?”

Nya makes a muffled sound of agony, and the kid glances up at him curiously. The edge of Zane’s mouth tilts up, as if he’d known Kai would be on board from the very start.

“You won’t need them,” he says. “The sound will be enough.”

***********************************

The sound is enough. More than enough, in fact, Kai thinks, gritting his teeth as the Krayt Dragon’s screech reverberates through his helmet.

“Kai, get up!”

Nya’s screech of terror almost rivals it though, the panic in her voice triggering a rush of adrenaline in Kai’s battered body. He forces himself to roll just in time, the dragon’s sharp claws sinking into the sand where his head had been. Kai’s armor clanks as he moves, scrambling wildly to his feet, and he bites back a curse. It pains him to admit it — in more ways than one — but Jay was right. They’re going to need to put that Beskar steel right toward new armor, if they survive long enough to actually get their payment.

“Why won’t this thing go down!” Nya grunts, one of her curved knives flashing as the dragon’s tail sends it flying.

“Hit it with the flamethrower again!” Kai calls, fiddling with the controls on his own. He’s regretting having used his own flamethrower as much as he has — his fuel stores are dangerously low.

“Why is that your answer to everything!” Nya snaps, which may have less to do with irritation toward him than it does the dragon that just tried to eat her left leg. “It’s a dragon, this thing won’t burn, idiot!”

It hasn’t met me yet, Kai wants to bite back, but he’s forced to shut his mouth as his next shot goes ricocheting off the dragon’s skin, just before it bowls him over.

“Kai!”

Nya’s scream of visceral horror bounces around his battered brain as the dragon tries its best to trample him, Kai desperately flailing as he tries to stay alive. One of its legs hits his chest, and there’s an ominous crackling sound as he shrieks, fighting back tears of pain. Razor-sharp, dripping teeth flash in his vision, and Kai prepares to shut his eyes even as his brain kicks into overdrive.

He can’t die now, he can’t, he promised, Nya—

Then — relief, blessed relief as he can breathe again. Kai doesn’t dare to hope, but a beat passes. Then another, and another, and there’s no awful sensation of teeth tearing into him. Nya’s gone quiet. Kai frowns, then carefully lifts the arm he’s flung over his face, blinking.

He immediately wishes he’d kept his eyes shut, because that would make this whole thing much easier to explain.

Kai gapes open-mouthed at the Krayt Dragon where it flails mid-air, held hovering by some unseen force as it struggles. Nya’s dropped both her weapons, her arms swinging limply where she stares at the scene as well. Kai’s about to start questioning his sanity, when there’s a small grunting noise from beside him, and he turns.

Oh, that doesn’t help, either.

The kid’s got one arm outstretched toward the dragon, his eyes furrowed and his mouth all set and strained. His arm tremors, and the dragon wavers mid-air, before the kid catches himself, making a face and concentrating. The dragon’s limbs go stiff, as if held by invisible ropes, and it gives a screech of frustration, claws scratching uselessly at the air.

Kai begins questioning his sanity.

Maybe I am dead, he thinks, hazily.

“What,” Nya says, sounding utterly flabbergasted. “The hell.”

“He’s gotta be one of them,” she insists, after they’ve traded the Jawas their disgusting dragon egg for their ship parts. (They’ve left the dragon alive, if worse for wear, which was a lot more than it deserved, if you asked Kai.)

“Those — those wizard people Jay was talking about, y’know?” Nya continues eagerly. “I heard they were supposed to have crazy powers like that, mind stuff and levitation and — and he’s gotta be one of them.”

“What, a Jedi?” Kai scoffs, his eyes straying to kid where he’s slumped in his arms, solidly out for the count after the stunt he’d pulled. “Yeah, and I’m the prince of Naboo. The Jedi are dead, Nya.”

“No, they aren’t,” she says stubbornly, and Kai can imagine her lip sticking out. “There’s that Rebellion hero, the pilot? He’s a Jedi.”

“That’s a legend they made up to get people to join, Nya.”

“Then how do you explain him?” Nya finally says, throwing her arms out and gesturing. The kid’s eyes drag open blearily, and he stares at her in sleepy confusion. Nya’s arms immediately drop, and she lowers her voice.

“How do you explain what he did back there,” she says, less aggressively this time. “Because you can’t write that off as a legend.”

“I don’t know,” Kai says, for what feels like the hundredth time, and it grates at him. He doesn’t like not knowing things, but this is…beyond the comprehension he’s ever expected to need. “It explains why he’s worth so much, though.”

“I’ll say,” Nya mutters. “It’s ‘cause he’s a Jedi.”

“He’s Jedi bounty then,” Kai says flatly, as they finally reach their ship, still anchored near Jay’s outpost. “The important thing is, we got our parts back. Now let’s get them on.”

“You’re hopeless,” Nya huffs, but she complies, dropping her weapons and grabbing for a welding torch. “I’ll get started, you — no, you sit here with the kid.” She shoves at him, pushing him away from the parts and down onto an open patch of sand. “Jay’ll be out in a bit, and he can help me. You need to rest those ribs.”

“I’m fine,” he protests, but his ribs twinge as he sits, and the kid’s weight hasn’t been helping things. Nya’s helmet gleams in the moonlight as she tilts her head, and Kai can feel her judgement.

“I’m sitting,” he grumbles.

“Good,” Nya says, and he doesn’t miss the flicker of relief in her voice. “Keep the kid safe.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kai sighs, shifting the kid from his arms and setting him down next to him. He gives a breath of laughter, muttering, “Maybe he’ll keep me safe."

The kid doesn’t pipe up, pulling his legs up to his chest as he wraps his arms around them, yawning instead. Kai shakes his head, his eyes drifting to where Nya works on the ship, then back to the kid again. He thinks of the way the kid had held the Krayt Dragon earlier, of the power that might lie in that tiny frame.

“Well, you might not be a Jedi, but  you’re definitely something, short stuff,” Kai sighs, wincing as his shoulder twinges again. He’s not likely to forget how vicious Krayt Dragons can be anytime soon, that’s for—

“Lloyd.”

The kid’s voice is so quiet, Kai almost misses it. He blinks, then turns to the kid.

“What?”

The kid shuffles, then jabs his thumb at his own chest. “Lloyd,” he repeats, firmly. “Name. That’s mine.”

It is, quite possibly, the most Kai has heard the kid say at one time. It’s also surprising, for some reason, that he’s got a name, though it shouldn’t be.

“Lloyd,” he says, running the name over his tongue. It doesn’t sound like a name from anywhere around here. “Where’s that from?”

The kid stares at him, then looks away, one of his shoulders jerking up in a half-shrug much like Kai does.

“Don’t know,” he says, and Kai barely catches the sad little thread of emotion in his voice.

Barely, but it’s there.

Kai bites his lip, grateful, as always, that his expression is hidden from the world. It makes his next gesture much easier to write off as casual — simply draping his cloak over the kid’s shoulders to ward off the cold of the desert night. Nothing more.

The kid’s fingers wrap tightly around the tattered cloak edges, pulling it close, and something in his expression softens. Kai feels unreasonably satisfied with himself.

He’s really not a bad kid, for an unreasonably high-priced bounty, Kai thinks to himself.

And yes, he’s fully aware that he’s switched from it to him, and he knows that this is more than likely going to end in pain, but hey. The kid pretty much just took down a Krayt Dragon to single-handedly to save him.

It’s the least he can give him.

Besides, it’s not like he’s about to start using his name.

***********************************

They get their ship repairs finished in record time. Nya argues that Jay and Zane get their ship repairs done in record time, along with Nya’s help, and Kai had zero contribution whatsoever — but Kai reminds her that he was the one to get trampled by a Krayt Dragon for this, so he’s put in more than his fair share of work, thank you very much.

“All you did was lie there,” Nya huffs, as they rocket through hyperspace. “The kid did more work than you.”

Normally Kai would have a snappy retort to give back, but Nya’s voice sounds dangerously…well, dangerous. There’s been a heavy cloud of gloom hanging over her since they waved goodbye to Jay and Zane, more so than there usually is. And, as much as Kai knows part of it is probably from having to leave Jay behind again, he’s not dumb enough to realize that a lot of Nya’s bad mood has to do with their destination.

It’s not like he’s thrilled about it himself.

He lets her words linger instead, the two of them falling into silence where they sit, pilot and co-pilot as always in their ship. There’s an ongoing argument over who fills what role, but Nya’s in a bad enough mood to let Kai take the lead for today, at least.

It’s a hollow victory. Flying with Nya is one of the few things about this job he enjoys, the two of them racing through the galaxy, untethered by anyone or anything. Set upon by the heavy silence as they are now, though, it’s more depressing than anything.

There’s a quiet rustling, and a mop of bright blond hair pops up at Kai’s side, the kid going up on tip-toes as he strains to peer over the ship controls. His mouth falls open as he catches sight of the blurring blue lights of hyperspace, the streaming lines reflecting in his wide eyes. Nya’s helmet doesn’t move, but Kai knows her eyes are on the kid. He turns his head, letting the kid know his are, as well.

“Never seen space before?” he asks, keeping his tone even.

The kid shakes his head, the lights shifting in his eyes as he does. “Don’t remember,” he murmurs, sounding awestruck.

Kai swallows uncomfortably. The kid looks dazzled, more emotive than he’s been since Kai carried him out from that compound. There’s a sinking part of him that’s trying to figure out what the kid’s gonna look like when Kai hands him over for the bounty, and he needs to go ahead and smother that.

He’ll find out soon enough, anyways.

The kid suddenly moves, a skinny arm reaching out across the controls, and—

“Hey, I need that!” Kai exclaims, as the kid steps back, the ball-like knob from the center stick he’d snatched grasped firmly in his hands. The kid dodges his grasp, prize held tightly to his chest, and Nya gives a muffled snort of laughter.

Kai takes a breath. “Kid—“

The kid ignores him, stepping back to the spare seat he’s been huddled in. He turns the knob over in his hands, eyes curious, before shifting so he’s sitting cross-legged. He then cups his hands around the knob, leaving the little ball to hover mid-air, suspended.

Kai wants to run a hand through his hair. Or hit his head against the flight controls. He does neither, groaning quietly instead.

“We’ve picked up a mutant freak.”

“Be nice,” Nya warns, her helmet still fixed toward the kid. “He might turn his wizard powers on you, next.”

“They’re not called wizards, Nya, they’re called Jedi, and he isn’t one.“

“Maybe he’s a Sith, then.”

“Sith eyes are yellow, Jay said so, his are clearly red.”

“Maybe Jay was wrong, then.”

“Maybe Jay was wrong?” Kai repeats, incredulous. “Glad you’re finally seeing sense, but that’s a new one.”

“Shut up,” Nya mutters, and Kai can clearly picture the dark stain that’s spreading across her cheeks. “He knows more than you do, you — you nerf-herder.”

“Nerf-herder?!” Kai swivels in his chair, pointing a finger toward her. “You watch your mouth, you under-grown womp rat—“

“I will curse you out in Huttese—“

The tiniest of sounds cuts through their argument, soft and light. Kai blinks rapidly, turning as Nya does to stare at the kid, who’s exhaling on the end of a giggle, hand over his mouth and his eyes bright. The smile fades at their attention, and he ducks his head — but there’s still that edge of happiness in his expression, the slight turn at the corners of his mouth.

“…he laughed at us,” Nya says, blankly.

“Well,” Kai says, willing his voice to sound light and failing completely. “We’re funny people.”

Nya says nothing in reply, but Kai can feel her stare on him through his helmet. The kid makes a quiet humming noise, turning the little knob over in his hands again. Kai sets his jaw, then snatches the knob away from the kid.

“S’not a toy,” he says at the kid’s wounded expression, twisting the knob back in place. He doesn’t look pleased with this answer, but the kid doesn’t put up an argument either, sinking back in his seat and pulling his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them as he stares out at the streaking stars.

Nya’s helmet swivels from him to the kid, then back again. “Kai—”

“Don’t,” he warns. “Don’t, Nya. This is how we get in trouble.”

She makes a quiet sound of frustration. “This is different. We’ve never…”

Kai blows his breath out, long and slow. “I know. I know, but Nya, we took the job.”

Nya’s hands tighten on the controls. “Screw the job.”

Kai jerks his head toward her, wishing for once that she could see his expression. “Not with this client. They’re Imperials, they’re too dangerous.”

“They’re Imperials,” Nya repeats, emphatically. “That should make it worth the danger.”

Kai presses his lips together, but he doesn’t argue back. He knows, he knows. He knows why Nya wants to abandon the job right now, because he does too. The very idea of handing their kid over to the client is making his stomach turn.

And yeah, he has zero love for Imperials. He has love for blasting them, maybe, but that’s as far as it goes, and he wouldn’t lose any sleep over going back on a job for them.

But then they’d lose the job. They’d lose their payment, they’d lose their place in the Guild, probably, and they’d walk out with a price on their heads and hunters coming after them.

It’s not worth it. Kai feels for the kid, he really does, but Nya comes first.

She can argue all she wants, but they both know it’s Kai’s call that will win out in the end.

***********************************

They land back at the Guild only a few days after they’d left it, but it feels like years have passed to Kai. Nothing’s changed, the dirt-lined streets still filled with the same eyes, but now those eyes are turned toward the small straggler clutching the end of Kai’s cloak where he hides between Kai and Nya’s steps.

Nya steps closer to the kid, her hand holding his tightly on instinct, something protective in her stance. Kai fights the growing feeling of nausea in his gut as he leads the way, hoping his helmet conveys enough intimidation to keep any lingering Guild members from trying to snatch their bounty last-minute. They’ve come this far, and it’d be a shame to end the job with a firefight in the middle of the street.

Or maybe he just wants to stretch out the last bits of protection he can give the kid as long as he can, before he hands him off for who knows what.

Kai’s eyes stray to his side against his will, watching the way the kid takes in the town with wide, curious eyes. There’s still a marked tinge of fear in them, that Kai is beginning to doubt will ever leave, but he looks…less terrified. More trusting.

Trusting of them, and if that doesn’t scrub salt in a wound.

Nobody attacks them, and Kai finds himself almost disappointed. All too quickly, they’re retracing a familiar path to their client, and Kai can spot all the hidden cameras this time. The steps toward the hidden compound feel heavy, like his boots have turned to lead. Nya is silent where she walks beside him, the kid’s hand gripping her gloved fingers tightly. It’s the weighted kind of silence, the kind that means she’s upset.

Kai isn’t feeling ecstatic himself, but they took a job.

They’re Mandalorian. They finish the job.

This is the way.

The doors slide open with little prompting this time, and the kid shrinks behind Nya as the white-armored troopers threaten to crowd closer. Kai’s fingers twitch toward his weapon, and they edge off. They don’t leave his back though, following them through the compound, and the eyes on his back burn.

They finally reach the client and his hollow eyes, seated in his dim room as if he hasn’t moved since they left. His face stretches into a leering sort of smirk as his eyes land on the kid, and something gleams to life in his dead eyes. It’s a hungry look, one that makes Kai’s stomach twist and turn, his heart sinking further.

“Well done,” the client rasps, his voice thick with satisfaction. “Well done indeed."

He pulls their payment from below his desk, the Beskar steel glinting in the dim light. The brief thrill Kai feels at the amount is stifled as their client nods his head at the stormtroopers once, then to the kid. They step toward them, clanking steps echoing heavily, and Nya goes stiff. For a minute, Kai fears she’s going to make a scene. That she won’t let them get any closer, that she’s about to shove the kid behind her and run.

For a half-second, Kai fears he might do the same.

They don’t move. Years of bounty hunting don’t allow for that weakness.

The troopers take the kid, handing him off to a dark-haired scientist. For his part, the kid barely struggles, a myriad of expressions crossing his face before his head droops, something like resignation in his eyes.

From behind her helmet, Kai thinks he hears Nya swallow.

“Your payment, as promised.”

Kai takes it automatically, the steel heavier in his hands than he’d thought it be. He doesn’t like it as much as he thought he would.

“The kid,” he says, his mouth running before he can stop it. “What’s going to happen to him?”

Nya’s helmet swivels sharply toward him, and Kai ignores her. The client raises a single eyebrow, and the gleam in his eyes gains a cold edge.

“I didn’t know it was customary for your kind to ask after their bounty,” he says, carefully.

Kai doesn’t reply. The client raises his head, as if to stare at Kai down the end of his nose.

“What I do with the child is my business,” he says, his voice flat. “I suggest you return to your own.”

The stormtroopers around them adjust their hold on their weapons, just enough to be threatening, and Kai knows this conversation is over. He nods sharply, pushing away from his seat and taking the rest of the steel as he stands. Nya follows after a beat, her posture stiff and brittle.

The troopers part to let them leave, though Kai can feel the stares burning into his back as he goes. He doesn’t care — their business here is done. They have no reason to bother Kai or Nya anymore.

But Kai is a stupid, stupid moron, and he does turn back, once, before they leave the compound.

The kid’s eyes burn into his, hollow and heartbroken, and Kai struggles to breathe behind his helmet.

This is the way, he repeats in his head. He keeps telling himself that until his feet obey him again.

***********************************

Nya says nothing as they make their way back, her silence icy and biting. Her fingers flex over her weapons as she stomps up the ramp of the ship, but she stares resolutely ahead, heading straight for the cockpit. Kai follows after her slowly, dragging himself slowly through the ship and up the ladder. Everything feels heavy. Their new armor, freshly crafted by Mystaké from the steel, is beautiful. Stronger and sturdier than anything they’ve worn before, and they look more Mandalorian than they ever have.

Kai tries to find joy in that, but he can’t. The pauldrons weigh too heavily on his shoulders, and all he feels is tired. Bone-dry and wrung out, like he’s spent everything he’s had on this mission. Numb.

He swallows as he takes a seat next to Nya, then bites back a curse. No, he doesn’t feel numb — and that’s the problem.

Firing up the ship is second-nature by now, and he doesn’t need Nya’s help the bring the engines to life. He can pilot them out of the atmosphere just fine by himself, get them as far away from this stupid planet as possible. Maybe they can go to Naboo, or Felucia, or anywhere that’s not a cursed desert planet. Just as long as it’s far enough away from prying eyes that they can finish their next job in peace, without his insides tearing themselves to pieces like—

Kai goes still, the engine puttering. Nya’s head turns the slightest bit toward him at the hesitation. He should’ve taken off minutes ago, the ship’s ready, but Kai’s fingers just…freeze, right over the knob on the center stick.

He swallows again, and it sticks in his throat this time. Something inside him is burning, twisting and dying with every movement. His arms feel leaden where he’s left them, frozen stiffly over the little ball, and for a second he can’t breathe again.

Those eyes. The kid’s eyes.

Kai wants to curse. His helmet is too hot, tight and constricting. They should leave. They should leave now, with their armor gleaming and their record clean, Nya safe and their ship intact, they should leave.

But that will mean leaving Lloyd behind, in the clutches of the Imperials.

Kai is not a force-sensitive. He can’t be, because he doesn’t put stock in the Force. But he can imagine, if he did, that their fabled visions feel much like the scene he sees flash before his eyes now. The kid and his gentle eyes, his burning eyes, torn apart and broken by the Imperials like every other thing they touch.

Lloyd.

Kai’s fist squeezes closed, gloved fingers biting into his palms. He shouldn’t. He shouldn’t, he can’t, if he does he’s going to ruin everything. He’s going to wreck everything they’ve built to pieces and he’s going to put him and Nya in more danger than they’ve ever been in, hands down. They’ve got their payment, they’ve done their job, they’re legendary now. It would be stupid, it would be so, so stupid.

Unfortunately, stupid has always been one of Kai’s stronger points.

Kai swears out loud this time, and Nya jumps. Aw, to heck with it. What good is being rich if he can’t live with himself, anyways.

He kicks himself up from the seat, muttering under his breath. Nya snaps up beside him, looking to him as if she’s holding her breathe.

“Stock up on the good weapons,” Kai grumbles, already shouldering his heaviest blaster. “An Imperial compound’s gonna be tougher to break into than we’re used to.”

Nya lets out a loud, shaky breath of relief. Kai can’t see her expression, but he doesn’t need much to know that she’s beaming behind her helmet.

“I knew it,” she says, and the smile’s in her voice. “I knew you couldn’t do it.”

“Oh, shut up,” Kai mutters. “I’m not heartless.”

“No,” Nya says, with entirely too much fondness in her voice for someone who’s pocketing miniature missiles. “You’re just a good person.”

Kai frowns, jabbing a finger in her face as he shuts the ship down. “That was uncalled for,” he says. “Watch who you slander.”

Nya huffs a laugh, sliding the now nearly-empty weapons cabinet closed as she follows behind him. They cut a quick pace, and it takes every fiber of Kai’s being not to break into a dead sprint as they retrace their earlier path.

We’re coming, you stupid kid, he thinks fiercely. We’re coming back, so you better not have given up, because we’re about to fight a battalion of Imperials for you—

Well. There weren’t that many stormtroopers in the compound, Kai assures himself, as they turn another corner, followed once again by too many eyes. It shouldn’t be that bad.

***********************************

It’s bad.

Kai should never make assurances to himself, ever. Or promises, at that, because he sucks at keeping them. Heck, he can’t even keep to a job, since he’s pretty sure burning down half the house of his employer goes against a couple of rules.

But still. It might not be that bad, but it’s definitely bad.

“—backup, we need backup, it’s the Mandalorians, you fool—“

The unfortunate trooper’s call for help is cut off abruptly as Kai’s laser blast catches him in the helmet, sending him slumping to the floor. Kai gets only a moment of victory before another smattering of blaster fire sends him to the floor, scrambling for cover.

“Left door!” Nya hollers at him, her durasteel blade whistling as she catches a trooper in the ribs. “Three — no, four more!”

Kai nods sharply, shifting his blaster aside as he reaches for his wrist instead. Taking a quick breath, and shoots up from behind the table he’d been hiding behind, flicking the panel on his wrist as he faces down the newcomers.

The room flares bright as a blast of superheated flames erupts from Kai’s wrist, sending the troopers screaming. He spins in place, setting the room ablaze along with any remaining enemies. A gleeful sort of expression twists his lips as the fire grows, the heat feeding directly into the adrenaline coursing through him.

Take that, you dirty Imperials—

“Kai!” Nya’s shriek cuts through his haze of pyromania, jerking him back to the present, which is apparently him burning the entire room down. “Would you stop with the flamethrower already!” Nya howls at him, from where she’s had to duck behind a stack of crates to avoid incineration. Kai almost scoffs. As if he’d ever hit Nya on accident.

…he should probably watch it with the flames, though. Maybe a bit. Nya’s cape looks like it’s smoldering at the edges.

“Sorry, sorry,” he hisses, switching the flamethrower off and batting at the edge of his sleeve, which is also smoldering from the heat.

“Get it together,” Nya snaps, darting out from the crates and plastering herself against the doorway, glancing around the corner. “We gotta find Lloyd before they try anything.”

Right. The remind of why they’re here sinks in Kai’s stomach like ice, and he shakes his head, following behind Nya as they race through the compound. So far, they’ve had the element of surprise on their side — no one’s expected them to come back after having been paid, that’s for sure. But their client’s quick on the uptake, Kai will give him that. He can already hear the sound of clanking footsteps down the hall over the blaring of alarms, which means their time window is shrinking by the second.

“Come on, come on,” Nya hisses, the tracker in her hand beeping quicker the further into the compound they get. They round a corner stained with blood and Kai feels sick, picking up the pace as the tracker starts wailing, signaling that they’re close.

“Here, he’s in here!” Nya yelps, kicking savagely at the sealed blast door. “Kai, the door—“

Kai doesn’t need to be told twice, already aiming his blaster at the lock. “Get back,” he warns — then the blaster flashes, and the lock explodes into pieces, the door sliding open.

Nya makes it in the room first, her hand waving frantically as if to clear the smoke crowing around them. Kai is immediately after, and he’s the first to spot the droid, gunning it down without hesitation. His eyes dart around the room, landing on the cowering scientist in the corner, the two stormtroopers scrambling to their feet, the blinking machines, and—

There.

There’s a figure strapped to the table, too small to be a trooper, a shock of blond hair—

Kai’s blaster is flashing before he can even think, and the two stormtroopers drop, dead on impact. He leaves the doctor alive, just in case, because he doesn’t know what they wanted with Lloyd and if they’ve hurt him—

“Kid, kid, wake up, come on,” he breathes, snapping through the restraints with his blade. He’s vaguely aware of Nya securing the scientist, her blade leveled at him and her eyes glued on Lloyd. The kid’s eyes are closed, and there are dried tracks on his cheeks that used to be wet that Kai will hate himself for later — but he shifts as Kai finally tears the last of the straps free, his brow furrowing as he brings his hand up to scrub at his eyes as they flutter open.

The kid blinks, wide red eyes focusing on his helmet, and his mouth falls open.

“Kai?” he whispers.

Kai’s chest constricts, because he knows he never told the kid his name, but he’s learned it anyways.

“Hey,” he says, weakly, because he’s bad with this, he’s bad at caring for other people, and admitting it might feel like it’ll kill him but leaving behind Lloyd almost had—

The kid freezes, his expression spasming, before he throws himself at Kai—

And squarely punches him in the chest.

“Oof — hey, kid, stop — kid — Lloyd—“

Kai grabs at the kid’s struggling hands in vain. Lloyd just tugs free and hits him in the shoulder, harder this time, tiny fists battering against his thick armor.

“You left me behind,” the kid gets out, his voice cracking in all the worst places, angry and hurt. It’s the longest sentence Kai’s heard him speak, and it makes him want to throw up. “You left me.”

“I know, I know,” he babbles frantically, alarmed at this turn of events. This isn’t — he’s bad at this—

He gives Nya a look, his shoulders jerking helplessly. Her helmet inclines dangerously, and Kai turns back to the kid.

To heck with it.

Lloyd goes in for another swing, and Kai catches his wrist this time and pulls it, trapping the kid to his chest and wrapping his arms around him, holding tight. He struggles briefly, but Kai can feel him weakening, the fight draining.

“I’m sorry,” Kai murmurs. “I’m sorry, Lloyd. I won’t. Ever again. I promise.”

It’s one he’ll keep, he swears to himself, slotting the promise right next to the one he made to Nya long ago.

And maybe Lloyd senses that too, with whatever freaky powers he has or not, because he finally goes limp, the fight leaving him completely as he clings back, sniffling.

The kid’s voice is raw and scratchy, but there’s a fierceness to it that makes Kai wonder if he wouldn’t have been able to get himself out eventually on his own. “Never again.”

“Never again,” Kai echoes.

“And you call me sentimental,” Nya mutters, but he can hear the smile in her words.

***********************************

They don’t kill the scientist, in the end. It grates a bit, but he really didn’t hurt Lloyd — kept him alive, actually, if his word is anything to go by — and now they’ve got the word of an ex-Imperial scientist that he’ll help them out once he’s in a better position to do so, as long as they can remember the name Borg, or whatever.

Kai hopes Nya listened to him, because he’s too busy trying not to dissolve into panic at the increasing amount of hostiles showing up on his sensors.

There are few troopers left in the compound to stop them on their way out, but they put up a fight. Kai feels a flicker of apprehension that they’ve yet to see their client again, but he shrugs it off as the doors come back into view, the dimming evening sky clear outside. They break out of the compound at a dead sprint, Lloyd tucked into the crook of his arm and Nya at his side — only to immediately skid to a stop. Kai swears.

He’s forgotten the sheer amount of bounty hunters that also wanted in on the kid, and are probably more than happy to get another chance. Apparently, they’re all here to claim it at once. Fantastic.

Nya’s the first to move, turning to the figure standing a the front of the pack, his eyepatch glinting in the dying sunlight.

“Ronin,” Nya says, weakly. “Please.”

Ronin almost looks regretful, something at the corners of his mouth creasing at Nya’s plea.

“Kid,” he says, heavily. “You know I can’t. There’s cutting you slack, then there’s this.”

Nya sucks in a breath, her eyes doubtlessly landing on the dozens of blasters trained on them. Lloyd remains deadly silent in his arms, but Kai can feel the fear radiating off of him in waves. He tightens his hold on him, hoping it’s reassurance.

For himself, somewhat, too.

Nya’s helmet swivels from Ronin to Kai, then back to Ronin. Kai holds his breath. If anyone can change Ronin’s mind, it’s Nya.

Ronin’s expression twists in pain. “Look, just hand the kid over,” he says, and it sounds like he’s the one pleading now. “Just give the kid back and I’ll sort the whole thing out, okay? I can swing it, I can clear you both. All you gotta do is hand the kid back, and you’ll be fine.”

Lloyd shudders in his hold, and Kai pulls him tighter to his chest, his stance defensive.

“You know we can’t,” Nya murmurs.

There’s another flash of pain across Ronin’s expression, before he steels it. “I’ll miss you,” he says, his voice void of emotion. “But there’s always someone else to take your place.”

The sound of the safety clicking off blasters echoes across the street, and Kai’s hand strays to his gauntlet, ready to unleash the flames once more. He’ll get the kid behind him, shove him off to Nya before telling her to run, and maybe — if he can cause enough of a fight — the two can get out of here. He’ll be breaking his promise, but at least Nya and Lloyd will have a chance.

That’s enough for him, he tells himself, fingers millimeters from unleashing the flames. That’s enou—

A bounty hunter to his left lets out a sharp cry, before dropping to the ground. Kai’s head jerks toward him, before there’s another scream, another hunter dropping.

And that’s all the warning they get before the street explodes into utter chaos, missiles streaking back and forth and the roar of jetpacks mixing with the screams. Kai throws himself into Nya, twisting last-minute so he’s covering them both, and hurls them toward an alleyway just as the street they were on explodes.

His vision goes hazy, ears ringing as the world spins sideways. This would be a nice time to take a nap, he thinks dizzily.

There’s a gentle touch at his shoulder, and he’s jostled as someone shakes him.

“Kai. Kai, get up.”

He blinks his eyes open at the kid’s frightened voice, and is met with a pair of red eyes staring down at him in open terror. The terror melts into relief as Kai groans, slowly pushing himself up.

“Okay?” the kid asks, insistently, as if the utter carnage exploding on the street next to them isn’t even happening.

“M’fine,” Kai moans, reaching for his weapon as he reorients himself. “What’s — where’s Nya—“

His eyes catch on her, and his heart almost stops.

Nya’s moving, pushing herself up with a light moan, her forehead creased as she scrubs a hand across her face, dark hair falling in messy tangles around her head. Lloyd stares at her, his eyes wide, and reaches a careful hand to touch her hair.

“You do have a face,” he whispers.

Nya blink rapidly, looking at Lloyd, then up to Kai. And oh, his heart squeezes something painful at her eyes — it’s so rare he gets to see them — but he quickly reaches for her helmet, handing it to her.

Nya stares at it, then swears violently as a blast erupts just to their left.

“You saw nothing!” she yelps, pointing at the kid and jamming her helmet back on, fumbling once in panic. There’s a note of fear in her voice, because they technically have sworn an oath, not to let any living thing see their face—

But who’s the kid gonna tell, anyways.

Besides, they’ve got much bigger problems, like the entire Mandalorian faction on the planet going to war with the bounty hunter’s Guild for them in the street nearby. Mystaké’s risking everything for them right now, so Kai quickly decides that they had better make the best of it.

***********************************

“Well, I guess we’re fired now.”

Nya lets out a wheezing laugh at his dry statement, the sound echoing across the ship as they speed through hyperspace, putting as much distance between themselves and any bounty hunters as they can. Mystaké beamed them one last transmission before they’d taken off, assuring them that no, the other Mandalorians stepping up to save their skins last-minute was not a mistake, but that they had better clear off for a while before they tried to contact her again.

Which was just fine by Kai. He wasn’t too eager to get his head blasted off by a bitter bounty hunter anytime soon.

“I mean, technically, he didn’t really fire us,” Nya argues, slumping into the co-pilot’s seat beside him. “He just fired at us.”

“Yeah, that’s practically a goodbye hug by Ronin’s standards,” Kai says, and Nya snorts.

Lloyd looks between them both where he’s seated behind them, Kai’s cloak pulled tightly around his shoulders. “Weird,” he mutters, shaking his head. Kai blinks, and Nya stifles a giggle.

“You should talk, you could write the book on being weird,” Kai scoffs. He eyes the kid in concern, looking him up and down. “And hey, you should catch some rest. S’probably been a rough time for you, with all the, uh….stuff.” Kai cringes as he trails off, feeling Nya’s glare on him.

Lloyd purses his lips, then shakes his head silently. Kai narrows his eyes at him.

“Alright, kid, nice try, but I know you can speak full sentences,” he says. “We’re gonna prioritize communication here, okay? First rule on board, you gotta talk to us.”

“Kai,” Nya sighs.

“What?” He says, throwing his hands up. “We’re stuck together now, kid’s gotta go with the flow.”

Nya’s helmet twitches, as if she’s rolling her eyes at him, which she definitely is. “You don’t have to talk unless you’re okay with it, Lloyd,” she says gently, turning to the kid. “You’re safe here, we promise.”

Lloyd stares at her, the edge of his mouth quirking up in something that’s not quite a smile, but something trusting.

“And part of being safe is not dropping dead in exhaustion, so rest,” Kai orders, firmly.

Lloyd meets his stare dead on, then the edge of his mouth curves down, making a face that looks dangerously stubborn.

“Next planet,” he says. “Then rest.”

Oh, for—

“This is your fault,” Kai hisses at Nya, as she smothers a laugh. “We have a kid now, do you realize that? We just adopted a freaky wizard kid, we have to raise him now, we’re not even adults—“

Nya leans back in her seat, giving up and laughing freely. “Whatever,” she says, scuffing the kid’s hair. “I always wanted a younger sibling to gang up with you on. How about the next two planets, then rest?”

Kai sputters as Lloyd beams, realizing his critical mistake too late. He finally gives up, sinking back in his seat and sulking.

“Ungrateful brats,” he mutters. “You rescue one kid, and this is the thanks you get.”

He will admit though, to himself at least, that it’s rather difficult to keep sulking when Lloyd’s soft laughter fills the cockpit. And yeah, the kid’s definitely going to crash after passing one planet, but it’s been a pretty exciting day, Kai figures, tossing the knob from the center stick at the kid, unable to stop the grin tugging at his mouth at the expression of delight on Lloyd’s face.

He can let them have their fun for now. They’ve earned it.

Besides, he can always rub it in their faces tomorrow, when every other bounty hunter in the galaxy is after them.

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Sonic the Hedgehog (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day the movie is first released in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie do not read on until you have.

General Reaction:

It's difficult with today's movie going audience to predict how movies like Sonic are going to perform and be received. Especially when the ad campaign did absolutely no favours for this movie other than convince Paramount that Sonic needed a more truthful redesign than what they originally put out.

Here's the thing. Sonic the Hedgehog to me is trying to be 2020's Detective Pikachu capitalising on that nostalgia of a beloved classic franchise.

However, I do feel that the haters and internet trolls out there are not going to be able to get past the comparisons this movie draws to 2011's Hop, which was a live-action/CGI-hybrid movie starring James Marsden who becomes the companion of a somewhat overbearing CG creature.

But, I encourage all movie goers, including the haters, to go into this with an open mind...particularly if you have any history with Sonic because you will get some enjoyment and walk away afterwards feeling happy overall.

My personal history with Sonic is slightly less-so than I would like. I played the original 2 SEGA games countless times and did watch some episodes of the earlier animated shows.

Having said that, my main Sonic fandom actually comes from the mid-noughties series Sonic X, which I feel this movie could have adapted but alas. Also I played the Shadow the Hedgehog spinoff game and more recently Smash Bros where I actually won as Sonic recently.

Now this movie reminds me of those shows and games practically in no way. I mean there is that opening sequence where you see Sonic running around and looping like he does in the SEGA games, I do also feel like James Marsden's character could easily be an older version of Chris, the boy from Sonic X, but aside from that, the gold rings and Robotnik...there's not a lot for the Sonic fans to spot.

I can't say this is a perfect movie, because it really is not. There are a lot of super speed gags and some of them do stick but some just fall flat and at times feel repetitive.

The worst crime this movie commits in my opinion is stealing Quicksilver's gimmick of speed scenes. By which I mean there are not one but two occasions when time is slowed down to almost a halt and we see Sonic running around still. They even have songs specific for these scenes.

Also, because I'm not fully aware of every Sonic incarnation, I did not understand why Sonic is effectively The Flash with being able to generate lightning. I mean I understand the laws of physics of generating enough friction can create static but I have never known Sonic to have any electric attacks.

I did like how the static electricity was preserved in his quills when they fell off though. In animation and the games you don’t think about Sonic’s realistic hedgehog qualities such as having quills so it was a nice touch.

I am also aware that Sonic has turned Super Saigen before with the help of the Chaos Emeralds I believe, so the fact we see a similar transformation here is quite good to see for that reason.

In terms of story I do think this is a simple plot that has been done numerous times, Hop is definitely one example that comes to mind, but I feel it’s also a very accessible story for non-Sonic fans.

I don’t know if Longclaw the Owl is an original character or one from Sonic mythology but I did not really vest much interest in her. Baby Sonic I thought was cute, but I refuse to accept anyone saying he is cuter than Baby Yoda as no one is cuter than Baby Yoda.

On the subject of age, it was good to see them acknowledging Sonic’s age for a change as opposed to just presuming because up until now I did always think he was some sort of teenager but this confirms it. If Baby Sonic is around 5-9 years old then Sonic in present day is late teens which makes sense with his temperament.

The gold rings being used as teleportation devices, I don’t know if they’re meant to be in the games but loved their use here.

I enjoyed the use of technology in this movie and particularly Robotnik’s commentary on how technology is more reliable than people which ties into his ultimate fate of being stranded alone without another soul on the planet he is sent to which forces him further into insanity.

The fact Sonic’s story is about fitting into society while James Marsden’s character is about figuring out what’s right in front of him are great parallels and do balance each other out rather well.

Also where he ends up with effectively being part of a family as well as a town hero was a nice way to wrap things up.

However, that mid-credits scene showing the arrival of Sonic’s faithful protege Tails to the real world looking for his friend screams for a sequel, especially if this means that more of Sonic’s companions could be introduced in the future like Knuckles, Shadow or even Rouge the Bat.

Characters:

Dr. Robotnik:

I don’t want to say he is the best character because I feel all four of the main cast members do a great job, but my favourite definitely is Jim Carrey as Robotnik. This is Carrey back on form and there were so many great shades of back when he was at the top of his game in the 90s with work such as Ace Ventura, The Mask and The Grinch.

From his first scene he stole every scene he was in. You could tell that he was taking the role seriously while also having the time of his life with it and this is why, back in the day, he was on such high form.

He may not have been the overweight bald megalomaniac, at least with the latter two not until the end of the movie, but he was the evil genius and mad scientist and almost every line he delivered he nailed.

I think “rockonnaissance” is going to be the new “joygasm” for him but it worked for The Riddler and it works for Robotnik.

I’m also happy he was nicknamed Eggman in the movie by Sonic because of the shape of his drones, I thought it was fitting. I can’t wait for Sonic to see the new bald version.

Sonic:

Yes Sonic is second but I said it before, there were times when he was overbearing.

Ben Schwartz by the way does a fantastic job voicing the character, I know he voices Dewey in the new Ducktales series and also for some reason voices BB-8 in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but this is my favourite role of his voice is so realistic for a wide-eyed and somewhat innocent “alien” hedgehog.

I enjoyed how when he first came to Earth he was this urban legend around Green Hills who spent those 10 years people watching and either making up nicknames for the citizens while also longing to fit in with them but knowing not to.

Also the movie’s comedy was never as vulgar as Ryan Reynolds or immature as Russell Brand. I think they had one fart joke in the movie but the rest was generic comedy movie material which was hit and miss in comedy.

It was quite touching also that he was so protective of Green Hills and the status quo so much so that when Tom said he was planning on leaving to move to San Francisco, he was so offended and I thought it was going to be that trope of “Oh now they’re going to separate only to discover they need each other later” but instead it was a few digs and then they got over it.

I am so happy they did redesign the character because the movie’s original look for him was horrendous and did make Cats look reasonable whereas this is more like the Sonic everyone knows and I did not realise he didn’t have his traditional running shoes until Jojo, the niece of Tika Sumpter’s character, replaced them for him.

I will keep saying I want a sequel just because I am interested to see where Sonic’s story takes him next, especially with Tails now on Earth and the potentiality that others could join.

The Wachowskis

Again I thought James Marsden and Tika Sumpter did very pleasant jobs. This is my favourite James Marsden performance to date. Up until now his roles have been either corny or simply bland for me but here, yes there were a couple of dodgy jokes and moments but overall I thought Tom was a very likeable character and at the very least a driven character.

His wife Maddie, first of all props to the movie writers for having a mixed-race couple front and centre in the movie. But also, Maddie, who is also an accomplished career woman alongside her accomplished career husband, did not weigh Tom down or the story down as simply being “just the wife”.

I also enjoyed Maddie’s sister and niece, Jojo is quite cute and for the little screentime that she has does well with it for a child her age. While Natasha Rothwell continues to grow in my estimations after her fabulous turn in Love, Simon as the very sassy teacher.

Others:

As for the rest of the cast, this was a great who’s who for spotting the great jobbing actors as Lee Majdoub, Neal McDonough, Michael Hogan and Adam Pally all have minor supporting roles that do not go unnoticed.

Meanwhile Colleen Villard (née O'Shaughnessey), who voices Tails in the video games as well as voicing Wasp in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes series and Sora in the Digimon franchise, reprises her role as the anthropomorphic fox in an uncredited mid-credits scene. I am hoping she returns for the sequel because it is good to hear her acting again.

Recommendation:

I do see a future for this movie in terms of a franchise. I do not quite see it crossing over with Detective Pikachu as I know there were rumblings of some sort of Super Smash Bros. movie cinematic universe.

However, if the movie does warrant a sequel, and with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 64%, considering this seems to be a deciding factor for some cinema goers, I don’t see why not. I am hoping the future of this franchise does see the introductions of Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge and even Amy.

Potentially also spinning off from this franchise, there could be Donkey Kong, Mega Man and maybe even Mario to create that Super Smash Bros. universe.

Overall I rate the movie 8/10, it’s a great movie and definitely has some rewatchability to it.

Having said that I can see where some cinema snobs or even haters may come from as they inevitably target the movie but I encourage everyone not to be taken in by other people’s opinions, not even mine, make up your own minds and see it for yourself.

So that’s my review of Sonic the Hedgehog, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[iximaz]

Blood-Forged ch5

Summary: Din takes his young charge to a new planet with a new plan to hide. It quickly goes sideways after he meets another Mandalorian who has never seen her own kind.

Characters: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), Baby Yoda, enby!fem!OC

Pairings: Slow burn Din Djarin/OC because it turns out I’m a thirsty hoe

Warnings: Eh, right now it’s just in light PG-13 territory. Mentions of family death, some blood/violence/bodily harm. Will probably end up becoming smut later.

Word Count: 1036 (indefinite chapter count coming)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 (you’re here!) Part 6 Part 7

When Din woke the next morning, he took his time getting out of bed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a proper lie-in. Sorgan, maybe? The thought of the kid getting hungry finally pushed him into getting dressed.

When he went into the main room, however, Baby wasn’t in his cot. Din whirled, panic rising in his chest, until he caught sight of a flash of green under the blanket on the sofa.

He crept over and tugged the corner of the blanket down to see the kid nestled on Aysa’s chest, a string of drool dribbling in her hair. Aysa’s eyes opened (at this range, he could see a ring of gold around the pupil, standing out against the green) and he hurriedly stepped back, resting a hand against the empty cot.

“Baby crawled under my arm sometime last night,” Aysa whispered. She ran a thumb over the peach fuzz on the kid’s head, trying not to think too hard about waking up to Din standing over her. How long had he been there? “I think he had a bad dream.”

“Thank you for taking care of him,” Din said, and Aysa sat up slowly, still cradling the child to her chest. She got up and carefully set Baby back down in his makeshift cot; in the quiet of the early morning, Din could hear a soft automated whirring from her spine as she bent over.

“Your spine,” Din said, and Aysa froze briefly before straightening up like he hadn’t spoken. “When did that happen?”

“A few months ago,” Aysa said. “Took a vibrosword right across the back.”

Din hesitantly reached out a hand; Aysa didn’t move, but she did glance at him out of the corner of her eye. He took that as permission to go ahead, and he placed his gloved fingers against the curving metal. He could feel the thrum of machinery under his hand, amplified when Aysa took in a shallow breath.

“Saw some cyberjackers jump someone for parts.” She closed her eyes, but didn’t pull away. “Gave their target enough time to get away, but…”

Din felt her shiver under his hand. “You weren’t wearing your armor.”

“It was on Coruscant—I thought I was safe.” Aysa sighed. “Woke up in the hospital a week later—passerby saw what happened and called for a medvac.”

“You were fortunate.”

Aysa nodded, leaning into his touch ever so slightly. “Haven’t gone outside without my armor since.”

“It will save your life one day,” Din said firmly.

Aysa turned and his hand fell off her body. She lifted her own, pressing their palms together, and Din’s heart caught in his chest.

He hurriedly pulled his hand away. She couldn’t have known, surely—either she was too young to remember, or it just wasn’t her tribe’s custom, but to press hands together like that—

“Sorry,” Aysa murmured, drawing back.

An innocuous touch, then. Din shook himself mentally, then shook his head for Aysa’s benefit. “It’s fine.”

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Aysa said sheepishly. “Guess if you don’t take the armor off, you’re probably not used to people touching you, huh?”

Not particularly, but he wasn’t about to divulge that sort of personal information to her. Instead, he said, “We can remove our armor if need be. The Way only forbids removing the helmet.”

Aysa felt heat creep into her cheeks as her stomach flip-flopped. She knew that her newfound feelings (pesky things, feelings, really) were likely because Din was the first Mandalorian she’d seen in ages. After all, it wasn’t like she knew him very well; there wasn’t any other explanation to it. Still… this would be annoying at best to deal with. An emotional merc was a dead merc.

“Could you remove your armor if you… wanted to?” she asked, and almost immediately after wanted to kick herself.

Din tilted his head as he considered the question, but was spared from having to respond by a soft cooing behind him. He turned and lifted the child out of his cot. Aysa setting him back down must have woken him.

“He’s hungry,” Din said as Baby’s little clawed feet wiggled.

“So, uh,” Aysa said as Din carried Baby over to the dining table, “what’s your plan for when we go out looking for work?”

“Plan?” Din glanced up at her.

Aysa nodded at the baby in his arms. “You know, who’s gonna watch the kid?”

“I was going to leave him here,” Din said, and Aysa snorted.

“You can’t leave a baby alone like that,” she said, and Din scowled at her behind his helmet.

“I’m not giving him to someone else,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.”

Aysa’s eyebrows crept up. “More dangerous than leaving the kid here to get into all sorts of trouble?” she said.

“He’s got tracking fobs set to him,” Din said, and Aysa drew in a sharp breath.

“And you didn’t think to tell me that before coming here?” she demanded, and darted into her room. There was a clattering sound, and she re-emerged wearing her flight suit, hopping on one leg as she tried to pull her greaves on. She overbalanced and her shoulder hit the wall before she straightened up, tugging her chestplate straight over her flak vest. “They could be here any minute—nowhere’s safe, not when—“

“You think I don’t know that?” Din asked flatly. “The guild’s mostly operating in the Outer Rim these days. It’ll be weeks before anyone comes looking here.”

Aysa glowered at him. “We’d better be on our way before that happens, then,” she said. “Hope you have any leads on your clan, because if I did—well.” She cleared her throat. “Wouldn’t exactly be stuck in this situation now, would I?”

Din merely turned to begin re-heating the broth for the little one. “They know how to contact me,” he said. “They will do so when it’s safe.”

There was a crack of breaking glass and they both whirled when a small metal ball rolled through the window, red light blinking in time to high-pitched beeps.

“LOOK OUT!” Aysa screamed, and Din dived for Baby, curling protectively around him a moment before the grenade exploded.

[aenigmaticdays]

Non-linear Trajectories

A series of significant steps over the next few months since the Mandalorian and the baby became a clan of two post-Nevarro. There’s still a lot Din has yet to learn about the kid he’s taken under his wings, and even if it’s a wild-goose chase to reunite him with his kind, who says space-parenting is easy?

A/N: Inspired by…Yoda, of all creatures, who became a Jedi Master at a hundred years old, and continued that way till he was 900 ish.

If it stands to reason that its ageing must not quite be that linear, what fun then, to know we’re probably standing at a precipice when Dyn Jarren is about to get thrown into a dizzying time of fatherhood with a kid whose sudden growth spurt and accelerated rate of learning will probably happen…quite soon.

Apart from this, all we know of this species is that it’s supposed to remain an archetypal mystery on George Lucas’s orders, though The Mandalorian has pretty much opened this can of worms by introducing the baby on our small screens.

I’m taking liberties here. #Sorrynotsorry

Also on AO3.

9 years, 3 months ABY

What pitiful little Din Djarin knows of parenting is thrown further into dissonance when the ad’ika finally speaks.

“Tion'ad's ogir? See you, I can.”

The high-pitched warble is enough to galvanise Din out of the pilot’s chair to stumble in front of the child who is gnawing at the silver Mythosaur, its attention fully fixed on the inanimate object as though it hadn’t nearly floored him with its casually-spoken but cryptic words.

After all, he’s only a novice at figuring out the ad’ika’s garbled coos, squeaks and trills when the kid suddenly decides to speak.

His own voice, rough with sleep, comes out gravelly, low and bewildered as he’d ever heard. “What…what did you just say?”

The only response Din gets is the slight lift of its disproportionate lift of its green years, a slobbery grin and two raised green arms.

He slumps back into his seat with the kid on his lap, his mind racing. More importantly, the kid’s first word isn’t Buir to his shamefaced relief, because he wouldn’t know how he’d react otherwise.

3 months after leaving Nevarro, the decree that they are now a clan of two still simultaneously terrifies and elates him. But it’s a bond—whether he wants to admit or not—that had been forged long before he’d traded the kid for beskar and hadn’t needed the Armourer’s affirmation or the emblematised mudhorn now welded onto the beskar he wore to give it a name.

The fault solely lies on Dyn’s shoulders which become weightier by day.

Coming to terms with being something akin to the kid’s father requires more than an overhaul in the long-held mindset that he only worked alone and had only himself to look after. It is a change that he tries to welcome nonetheless, according to the creed all the Mandalorians live by—the kid that started out as an asset is now a foundling.

Gone are the days of taking coin in exchange for bounties—that course of destiny he’d irrevocably altered with the split-second decision to get the child back and out of the clutches of the Client.

Theirs is a strange relationship: he’d turned from reluctant captor to reluctant protector to somewhat reluctant dad to a foundling who in its own way takes care of him as much as he takes care of it. There hadn’t been anyone, not even his own adopted parents, nor his clanmates, who’d been as fully attuned to the sweep of his emotions and physical well-being as this child, and maybe it’s because of that sorcery-magic that the green creature wields at moments of its choosing.

The kid is an odd contradiction on its own: small and vulnerable, helpless…yet not, not with the immense sorcerer’s power that he wields at opportune moments when Dyn had thought all was lost.

This is something that he had yet to fully assimilate, despite the daily, round-the-clock reminders of the kid’s dependence on him.

Swivelling the chair around, he turns to regard the kid, who’s still happily playing with his pendant like he hadn’t just upended Din’s brooding. A quick mental calculation about the kid’s development leaves him overwhelmed.

The low-level of panic that accompanies the thought of taking responsibility for the ad’ika hasn’t fully ebbed since the day he’s single-handedly tanked his bounty-hunting career, but he’d be in denial to say he’s taking on this momentous task with the same gusto he’d used to take down bounties.

If the ad’ika is merely a gurgling, teething infant at fifty who has just learned to talk, what then, is its lifespan and what other powers will it develop in the years to come?

“Buir!”

It’s the second time that Din nearly falls out of his chair at that squeaky warble, accompanied by a toothy giggle.

The uncomfortable feeling in his gut grows, but it isn’t one he can put a name to.

oOo

9 years, 8 months ABY

The slight, sharp prod in his mind is the only thing that nudges him upwards towards the light at the end of the tunnel—so sharp that it momentarily erases the lingering, recurring nightmare of dirt roads falling to ruin or of the sudden darkness that envelops him as his parents shove him into a basement storage or of the amplified sounds of broken screams and the whine of Imp blasters.

Amid the chaos and the flames, the intrusive presence twists itself into the well-worn scene, a supporting player in a familiar cast that always ends with him staring into the wrong end of a blaster.

Except that this has the exceptional warmth of someone he recognises by instinct, a warmth that suddenly takes on a rapidly-swelling tinge of green, red and yellow colouring the edge of his consciousness upon which only blackness had once encroached.

Wake up, Buir! Buir! Protect you, I will!

This is must be a hallucination, Din thinks, because the pain that colours his side has just blurred his vision fuzzy and dimmed all else around him.

With eyes that have crusted over, he blinks with difficulty and sits up, the noise of the shootout still loud in his ears, except—

Clarity returns incrementally as time ticks by slowly, as though orchestrated by a three-clawed hand that is waving shrapnel through the air in a miniature tornado that has them sitting in its calm eye.

With a flick of the ad’ika’s little arm, the funnel-shaped shrapnel loses its form and falls into a heap by his feet before arrowing upwards in a spectacular rush of speed and descending impossibly fast onto—and into—their would-be captors.

Only when the last Imp falls does the kid slump in exhaustion but not collapse, its slight wheezes and heaves of breath the only sounds echoing through his earpiece. Still, it’s instinct that has Din catching the kid and clutching it tightly to his chest as the baby babbles a mix of mando’a and Basic distractedly and pushes itself into him, before imprinting its claws into the edge of his armour.

The fumble back to the Razor Crest is a slow one, with the kid snoozing in his carrier bag after Din’s repeated assurances that they’re both fine and that yes—they are well clear of enemies.

The doors shut with finality on this godforsaken planet and it’s not a moment too soon as more Imps suddenly enter the arena.

Din busies himself with the take-off protocols before allowing himself the luxury to think in the silence of the cabin once he makes the jump into hyperspace.

“Bad men, they are.”

The soft squawk and the lifted green ears challenge him to deny otherwise.

He’s used to the kid’s random bursts of sentences by now. The kid’s intent is always understandable, even if his syntax defies correction. But it isn’t a moral issue that Din’s going to engage in right now, especially not with a kid who’s just saved both their hides.

So he nods, swivels around and touches a green ear in a way he knows the baby likes.

“You did good, kid. That was a hellhole we just got out of. And thanks to you, no less.”

As though pacified by the Mandalorian’s words, the kid returns to gnawing at the Mythosaur pendant that hadn’t left its neck since Nevarro.

Verd ori'shya beskar'gam.

The words uttered by the Armourer long ago floods his memory banks—words bestowed with restrained approval when he’d once used his smarts to outwit his trainer-captors and not with his weapons in the Fighting Corps.

A warrior is more than his armour.

The kid had proven that in spades.

Whatever the ad’ika had done earlier, this is the clearest and most overt displays of power he’d seen it wield over space and matter. If whatever the kid has done thus far—from moving pieces of toys for its own amusement or turning the flametrooper’s fire back on him—had baffled him or given him pause, it’s today’s show of power that brought a fuller understanding of how the Mandalorians had found the Jetii a fearsome foe.

If the kid had once collapsed after the fight with the mudhorn and slept for days, the energy that it seems to has right now is a clear sign that it’s capable of much, much more than Din could ever have imagined. That it’s only coming into its own now given the exponential rate of its increasing powers is more than unsettling, making the search for its own kind suddenly made much more urgent.

He continues to marvel at the baby’s growth, if it’s still considered a baby at this point in time. He’s flying blind as always, more so with a species whose unknown past is still hidden within the confines of the kid’s mysterious memory banks.

But the kid had grown remarkably in the months he’d left Nevarro, astonishing Din with its mental dexterity and its ability to…do its thing when it wants to.

Din checks the navi comp, mentally cancelling out the planet they’d just taken off from.

One more down, too many more to go.

oOo

10 years, ABY

How the holovid had found its way into a flea market is beyond anyone’s comprehension, but he’d made his purchase on impulse after hurriedly gathering his rations for the next space run, eager to get back to the Razor Crest lest the ad’ika’s latest brand of mischief involving opening and slamming shut the Crest’s various doors damages something permanently and strands them in yet another godforsaken planet.

Labelled nothing more as a training vid for aspiring Force-users and shoved among renowned fake vids, it’s probably worth fewer credits than he’d paid for, but this is the only hot lead that Din had been tossed in a long, long time.

Only when the child’s tuckered out with a full belly does he play it.

The grainy footage, short as it is, is…mesmerising.

It’s merely a static-filled, shaky snippet of a jetii in training, her luminescent, long, blunt-edged sword moving with a hum to deflect blaster shots before they meet their mark, before cutting to a scene where she leaps across the forest floor and onto the branches of primeval trees, each one higher than the other.

But it’s the last scene that threatens the relative stability that both him and the ad’ika had found.

It’s one where the same jetii grimaces—and trembles—in concentration, the gleaming sword held straight in front of her glistening face as she strains forward but makes no progress, as though resisting an invisible mental and physical probe.

A voice from outside the three-dimensional vid commands. “Steady, you will hold. Feel it. Runs though all living beings, it does.”

The jetii breaks, stumbling backward onto the grass as her chest heaves with exhaustion.

Finally, Din puts a face to the squeaky, raspy voice. A green creature with large, pointed ears and wispy white hair ambles into the side of the holovid, wielding a similar-looking, glowing, green blade in its claws—

Forgotten, you have.

The Force is with you, always.

It’s not so much the green creature speaking as it’s a…a reverberating hum in his own head just as the holovid crumbles into thin air at that moment.

Beneath his helmet, Din is sweaty and light-headed, his mind drawing a blank.

The Force. The jetii.

A creed, possibly, or an order, not unlike the Mandalorian Resol’nare that they live by.

More specifically, the older, jetii version of the ad’ika who is presently rushing around the Crest, babbling in its own curious mix of mando’a and Basic and finding new places to start a game of hide and seek.

A teacher of sorts.

As far as he’s concerned, this could be confirmation of more of the ad’ika’s kind out there, and in this short snippet, he’d learned much more about the mysterious, Force-sensitive jetii than anyone had been able to tell him apart from the stories of the Great Purge and the fragmented tales of ancient Mandalore.

It isn’t without a twinge in his gut when he realises that the answer he’s looking could be closer than he thinks.

oOo

11 years, 2 weeks ABY

They are uncomfortably close to a Mid-Rim planetary system that Din would have preferred to forego when the Razor Crest starts to act up.

It leaves him no choice but to guide the Crest into the icy, buffeting winds on Iridonia, a planet he’d judged too inhospitable for him and the kid to stay on, both for its terrain and its native predatory creatures.

The ship turns belly up, then rights itself, free-wheeling as it breaks Iridonia’s atmosphere even with his hands firmly on the landing controls. Swaying in the planet’s gravity pull, it heads straight for a massive, molten lava field south of its equator—

He’s swept left and right, barely hearing the alarmed screeches of the kid as they are nearly tossed off their seats. It’s the tail end of his cloak that the kid falls onto with a displeased, pained squeal, but he doesn’t even have the time to look at it for any injuries as he scrambles to flip several switches with one hand as a last resort while scooping up the ad’ika with the other.

A low whine indicates that the emergency landing gear has kicked in, but a short explosion a few seconds after that and pitch-darkness in the cockpit says that even that’s out of commission.

This is it, Din thinks.

He’s flat out of tricks of his trade.

The last year of his life with a kid that he probably hadn’t done any justice by is going to be snuffed out in a hot, painful burn. Along with a vulnerable, tiny creature that he still knows so little of. The regret that floods him is immense, along with the desperate panic that he could have still saved the child if he’d only—

Two shaking, green hands stretch past his peripheral vision as the kid strains forward with half-closed eyes.

The Razor Crest shudders to a halt in mid-air as the steaming vapours of the lava field obscures its viewport, then glides serenely past the wind storm and into a stable air flow before hovering unsteadily and landing bumpily on a patch of green near a massive body of water.

Whatever the kid does with the Force these days (and it’s getting more and more impressive by the day), it still stuns him speechless. How it’d gotten to a point where it wields this power over space and matter so instinctively and easily is not something he understands and probably can’t ever.

When Din speaks, he’s breathless with awe. “Once again, you’ve saved us, ad’ika.”

The child sags and fidgets drowsily on his lap. “Sleep…buir.”

The kid’s worn himself out this time around and even Din can understand the sheer amount of strength it’d taken to push a ship out of its path and into another.

He sighs and glances down at the snoozing kid.

The repairs that await him are extensive.

There’re some he can do on his own, but others are beyond him. Din only hopes that there’s a port that will stay peaceful long enough for the Crest to get fixed before they’re on their way again.

Luck barely stays on his side when he stumbles across an isolated workshop near a village, though the hostile stares of the humanoids Zabraks keep his hand permanently stayed on his blaster and the other holding the kid’s carrier bag more tightly.

A tall, grizzled native waits for him at tent flap, her pale orange skin oddly glowing in the light pushing the facial tattoos and horns into sharp relief.

“I have seen your ship.”

Din acknowledges her greeting with a curt admission of his own. “We nearly crashed.”

She merely smiles and gestures him in. “I saw this months ago. Come, your ship will be repaired. For now, rest, Mandalorian.”

It’s only after he’s had a meal and taken care of the kid’s needs that the Zabrak tells him of a jungle-covered moon that orbits a red gas giant.

She leans forward, the intensity of her stare somehow penetrating the toughness of his visor. “You are both ready.”

oOo

11 years, 1 month ABY

An ancient structure comes into view when the stars of deep space disintegrate into thick clouds and rain relentlessly pattering the viewport.

Yavin-4 is a cleverly-concealed habitable planet that has been the heart of the Rebellion for a long time and simply being in New Republic territory when he’s merely operated in the Outer Rim is justified cause for nervousness.

He gingerly puts the Razor Crest down on the landing site next to an X-wing but makes no move to lower the ramp. Behind him, the child fusses and fidgets, squawking when it’s unhappy (which is practically most of the time) and barely using the words Din knows it can speak.

Calming the kid down these days is a monumental task.

The ad’ika seems to have regressed in the last two weeks alone ever since they’d left Iridonia, restlessly chirping and babbling gibberish as though it’s trying to erase all the progress it has made since Nevarro.

The kid’s also clinging more than usual to his armour, refusing to sleep on its makeshift cot and insisting on being near him as much as it can. Even now, it toddles towards him, arms outstretched and eyes wide.

Something stirs on this planet despite its surface stillness: a particular sort of energy that rumbles through the mossy ground and saturates the humid air, the sort that lifts the hair on the back of his neck.

If Din has a slight inkling of it, the kid mostly likely feels it everywhere.

He’s got a bad feeling about this—this is the journey that will change the holding pattern that he’d found himself in for the last year or so.

Whatever happens from here onwards hasn’t yet been written.

The finality of the Zabrak’s words is deeply imprinted on to his psyche; months and months of searching is suddenly culminating in something that Din has no words for.

Maybe both him and the kid are not ready for it.

He gently settles the kid in its carrier bag and hits the ramp’s controls. “Ready to go?”

The ad’ika frowns in defiance. “No!”

The kid’s separation anxiety is rearing its head even before anything happens and he commiserates. The bond between them is a life bond—sacred words have been spoken about this and if anything, it’s his fault for not reassuring the child of it ever since they’ve become a clan of two.

Din sighs in empathy. “Neither am I, kid. But it has to be done.”

It does.

There are so many missing pieces here that he needs the answers to and the cloaked spectre—the jetii that he now knows by the name of Luke Skywalker—who awaits him at the structure’s massive entrance might provide them all.

But…

Din weighs the words he’d heard so long ago in his head and tests them on his lips, the feel of them strange on his tongue.

“Whatever it is, the Force will be with you, ad’ika.”

The kid stills suddenly, its ears lifting as he turns to glance at the waiting jetii and then back at his buir.

He tries again, swallowing past the lump in his throat. “Aliit ori'shya tal'din. And I will be with you. Always.”

-Fin

oOo

Tion'ad's ogir – Who’s there? Buir – parent (either father or mother) Jetii – Jedi Verd ori'shya beskar'ga – A warrior is more than his armour Aliit ori'shya tal'din – Family is more than bloodline

[shadowsong26x]

EPIX/Rise of Skywalker Reaction Post

So, I got back from seeing EPIX this morning, and I figured I should get all my thoughts down!

Everything spoilery is behind a cut, and this post is also tagged with the spoiler tags I’ve listed here. If you want me to add any additional tags, let me know and I will to this and any future EPIX posts.

Okay, so, before I really get into this, I should mention two relevant contextual things that probably strongly impacted my feelings on this movie.

I’m not super-invested in the sequel trilogy. I love (most of) the characters, I’m not really into the story that’s being told with them.

Given where TLJ left us, I went into the theatre expecting something between A Trainwreck with Some Delightful Moments and A Delightful Trainwreck. Basically, it was going to be a Hot Mess and I knew it, but I was pretty sure there was going to be something to love, even if the film as a whole didn’t delight me (which, honestly, is even where I stand with TLJ, which remains my least favorite film of the series). And, you know what? I got exactly that. A Sometimes-Delightful Trainwreck. I’d say it’s even towards the upper end of that Delightfulness scale.

All right, moving on to actual thoughts. I’m trying to focus on the positive here, mostly because I did overall enjoy this movie, but I also had some Problems with it.

I’m gonna talk about Kylo Ren first, mostly because I want to get this out of the way. I will say that--when I first saw TFA, I thought I could be interested in this character. I thought they were gonna maybe go the burnt-out gifted kid route with him, which would be hella interesting to explore for the child of Heroes like Han and Leia, and the Legacy he had to live up to. Obviously, they didn’t, and while the direction they went is certainly topical, it’s not super engaging, at least to me. I know it is to some people, and far be it from me to harsh anyone’s squee, but he basically doesn’t do anything for me. I personally don’t find him particularly interesting or intimidating.

Basically, I don’t particularly care about Kylo Ren. (I don’t know if I’m quite at the point where, as my roommate puts it, I aggressively Do Not Care, but the Not Caring is definitely a thing.)

Anyway, that disclaimer aside--his arc was okay, I guess? I mean...I think my general feelings on the subject are not that it felt phoned-in, exactly, but that it was mostly there because the writers thought it should be there, rather than it flowing organically from the character(s) involved. It also felt rushed, but that goes back to a problem with the movie as a whole that I will get into later in this post. But, given that, the actual beats that were involved in said arc I thought were effectively done. The bit with Han in the wreckage, in particular, was nice.

As for that Kiss though.

...I mean. I’m actually kind of pleased that the end of the film left the romantic threads dangling? It gave me plenty of OT3 feels (though I felt like, especially in the first third or so, the film was leaning more towards Rey/Poe and Finn/Rose, but there was some later stuff that seemed to hint at the full OT3 with a question mark on where Rose stands.)

But I do have a problem with the fact that the only on-screen kiss between Major Characters was between Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. That being said, I can backfill/justify it in that...you know how some people headcanon that Luke’s initial crush on Leia was some sort of “There is a Connection Here that I Cannot Name and it’s probably supposed to be Romantic given our ages and genders and presumed lack of other relationship so let’s go with that?” Between something like that and the fact that he just gave up his life for her in a very literal way (side note: the Force has always been New Powers as the Plot Demands; but the healing thing was a) if not actually in a canon novel at least strongly implied and b) ALL OVER fanon so even if I had a problem with Random Force Powers suddenly occurring I wouldn’t have an issue with this one; the Force Diad thing was ~handwave plot device~ sure fine whatever). ...anyway, given all of that, I can backfill it to a way where I don’t hate it (i.e., if he’d lived, I don’t think it would’ve been followed up on very much/they would’ve settled into a non-romantic relationship of some kind, whatever that might’ve been). Except that it’s the only one, which kind of leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Then again, he did immediately die, so...yeah, I can live with this. I don’t like it, and I don’t think I ever will like it, but I don’t hate it either and it’s not a dealbreaker for me.

Most of the other problems I have with this film come down to structure and pacing. In that, thanks to where TLJ left us, this move had to do so much to bring the story to any kind of cohesive end, and not enough time to do it in. Trying to squeeze too much plot into too small a space.

(I actually had the same problem with ROTS initially--although that was more due to the PT having pacing issues as its Primary Narrative Flaw; TPM was way too slow; AOTC actually had good internal pacing but couldn’t quite make up for it; and then ROTS was as a consequence of that really rushed. Meanwhile, with the ST, I feel like the writers are relying on “it’s all there in the manual” a little too much, so not really...trying as hard, if that makes sense? To make it all connect within the film, I mean, as opposed to depending on people going into other/outside/supplemental material to connect the dots (still not as bad as the Prisoner of Azkaban movie on that front, but it’s still Bad; and, like, all film versions of novels leave some stuff out, just look at the LOTR films; but POA left out a key plot point and that--is a rant for another post. Back to EPIX). It’ll be interesting to see what kind of deleted scenes come out, or if it’ll grow on me in future watchings. Not that it’ll ever become a favorite, I don’t think, but it might improve in my eyes.)

Anyway, basically, a lot of this felt rushed or like...introduced but not really addressed/wrapped up in any kind of satisfactory fashion? Kylo Ren’s arc in particular, as I’ve mentioned before, plus the Threepio stuff felt rushed and non-consequential, and also with Rey’s arc to an extent (it...again, all the beats worked for me/I thought it was fairly effective, but it really needed two movies to pay off as well as it could have). ...I mean, there are more plot threads I could probably mention here, but those are the three that stuck out the most.

Also, this movie needed More Rose :( I LOVE HER and she was barely here!!!!!

Another thing I would’ve liked to see is...okay, I really liked the Overlapping Voices bit, but it would’ve been nice to have more Presence from the ghosts? Like...there’s a bit at the end of season 1 of Sailor Moon where she’s in the Final Battle, the other four have died (or just been left behind, if you’re watching the English dub), and their ghosts show up and place their hands on hers and lend her their strength? A visual cue like that would’ve been great and helped the arc feel more complete. Especially since Palpatine had all of his predecessors/Sith ghosts backing him in a more visible fashion. But, then again, that’s a Personal Taste thing and while it would’ve, IMO, made that moment better, not having it doesn’t make it worse, if that makes sense?

(Also, the credits moved too fast for me to track, but I definitely saw Qui-Gon Jinn listed, though I don’t recall hearing him, and I definitely recognized Anakin/Hayden Christensen and Mace/Samuel L. Jackson and Obi-Wan/Ewan McGreggor (and Alec Guinness I’m pretty sure?) and obvs. Yoda/Frank Oz when actually listening, but I couldn’t identify the other voices--anyone have the full list? Was Ahsoka and/or Kanan and/or Ezra involved, or was it restricted to movie-only Jedi?)

But...yeah. Apart from the Kiss being very ....:/ for me, most of my identifiable problems with the film is stuff like this.

I think the other thing I want to talk about in detail is the Rey Palpatine reveal.

So, up until this movie, I was actually in my corner flying my tiny but determined Rey Kenobi flag, and the more I think about it, the more I like Rey Palpatine for some of the same reasons? Like...I don’t remember everything I’d thought through about Rey Kenobi, but it had to do with the cyclical nature of Star Wars, and bringing it back where it started--and we get that with Rey Palpatine, in a nice arc, healing some of the damage her grandfather did, both to this family and to the galaxy as a whole.

That being said--those of you who know me and my fic projects know I’ve been writing a child (daughter) for Palpatine for quite some time now, and I have no intention of stopping, lol. Am I going to take this/Lavinia’s (presumably) half-brother into account in future projects? ...probably not. But I am looking forward to/hoping we get a novel or something about him and Rey’s mother. Because that is actually a story I’m interested in--why canon!Palpatine chose to have a kid, and how said kid managed to break away and got to this point. [...y’know, I actually think Rey Kenobi’s background/thread of descent would be less interesting to me? Since I subscribe to the idea that a) Korkie Kryze is Obi-Wan’s biological son; and b) Obi-Wan had many Friends With Benefits throughout the galaxy and figuring out exactly which one Rey descends from carries less weight for me.]

...okay, I think that’s all the Detaily Bits I want to get into, so here are some bullet points of things that really stuck out to me, in no particular order:

Bawled like a baby re: everything involving Carrie Fisher. Just...yeah. Miss you Space Mommy.

LANDO! I loved his entrance, I loved him adopting Jannah at the end, I loved all of it.

Chewie’s fake-out death was also actually pretty good/well-handled. I mean. First Boom happens and I’m like DDDDDDD: but then I remember how people reacted to his death in Legends and I’m like would they really do it and then DELIGHT.

HUX. Okay. I never really cared about this dude before, and honestly I still don’t really care about this dude but at the same time, those of you who know me know I have a Thing for double-agents and defectors and I LOVE THIS WHOLE ENTIRE PLOT THREAD. I LOVE THIS SHITHEAD TURNING TRAITOR FOR THE MOST VENAL REASONS AND STILL BEING A BAD GUY/EVIL/AN UNREPENTANT JACKASS. THIS WAS PERFECT.

(Also Finn shooting him in the leg instead of the arm as requested was DELIGHTFUL)

SPEAKING OF DELIGHTFUL gotta love Zombie Skeev Palpatine Unliving His Best Afterlife. Was he as Delightful as he is in ROTS or ROTJ? No. Did I still enjoy every minute of his scenery-chewing nonsense? You bet your ass. So happy, Ian McDiarmid looked like he was having tons of fun and honestly what more could I have asked for?

The whole scene on Ahch-To was just *chef’s kiss.* Use of Yoda’s theme with the rising X-Wing, Luke being snarky and kind and beautiful, him emerging from the fire with the saber...just loved it.

LEIA HAD JEDI TRAINING AND HER OWN LIGHTSABER. BB!MARK HAMILL AND BB!CARRIE FISHER’S FACES.

LEIA TRAINING REY. REY CALLING HER ‘MASTER.’

USING THE BOND TO ARM KYLO REN okay like I said I have Mixed Feelings about the arc as a whole but that moment was SO COOL.

Poe’s ex-girlfriend was pretty great, ngl.

JANNAH AND EX-STORMTROOPERS YESSSSSSSS

HINTS OF/SHREDS OF EVIDENCE FOR FORCE-SENSITIVE FINN GIVE THEM TO ME NOW.

D-0 was pretty cute!

All of the Badass Finn.

Also that MOMENT where Finn runs up to Poe like “I NEED TO TELL YOU A THING” and Poe is all “I NEED YOU TO FIGHT WITH ME” and Finn just interrupts himself to thank Poe and they have that “General” “General” moment and it’s SO CUTE I’m love it.

The entire thing at the Lars farm at the end. Just. Burying the lightsabers, seeing the twins’ ghosts, claiming the Skywalker name, Rey having her own saber now. This movie was a Hot Mess but it definitely ended on a high note.

...that’s pretty much what I have for right now. I will probably have more thoughts after discussing it with other people/seeing it again (because I will be seeing it again). But overall...do I like it? Well, it’s Star Wars, which I love and which frankly always has some Super Dumb and/or Frustrating Stuff, and the things I disliked weren’t bad enough to Ruin It for me, so yes, I liked it. Is it my favorite Star Wars/good for a Star Wars movie? ...not really, no. It did have some gorgeous moments, but it doesn’t really hang together. Like the rest of the ST, it relies way too much on It’s All There In The Manual and, between that and the fact that TLJ didn’t do the work necessary to set it up, the movie felt rushed and a little bit...I don’t want to say hollow, maybe shallow is a better word? I mean, I know this is Star Wars and It’s Not That Deep (but the ground is soft and I’m ready to dig or however the quote goes), but this felt particularly shallow even for Star Wars. Like...cotton candy, fairly good/tasty but a little bit prone to melting away and with very little substance holding it together. On that level, I’d actually probably rank it around Solo (which, let me say, I really like)--so, better than TLJ, but still A Hot Mess of a movie. But I enjoyed myself, and I think overall my feelings are middling-to-positive on it. Even if...honestly, even like less than four hours after the movie ending, I’m already forgetting like half the plot points...? Like I said. Cotton Candy.

What did/do you guys think?

[irwintry]

2% Milk

Warnings: swearing

Author’s Note: sea bears

Word Count: 2.3k

part one two

Luke had never been this paranoid in his entire life.

Your words were short, your gaze no longer prolonged, and your tolerance with physical contact was growing thin day by day. You laughed at his jokes and smiled every time he walked in the room, but those lovely grins would falter as soon as his presence registered.

Luke felt sick to his stomach.

You were his. You had been his for nearly a year. He was yours. Even after you had gone back to school for your last year, he made sure to be there whenever you needed. He reminded you to take your pills on important days (just in case you forgot – he would never bug you about it in fear of it becoming bothersome), and he often dropped by whenever you felt exceptionally sad so he could give you a proper cuddle. Even if the journey took a few hours, it was always worth it to see you.

So now, his heart was in his feet at the thought of you no longer loving him. He had never loved anyone more.

Luke couldn’t believe there had been a time where he hated you. Even looking at you annoyed him, and now he still found himself lost in your eyes after dating for as long as you two had been. As cheesy as it sounded, they were his favorite color. He had given every part of himself to you throughout the past year, and he had never done that before to anyone, not even Mason. If Luke lost you, he’d lose himself, too.

It was a shame that was the truth. A person should never consistently rely on another for their happiness. You had become another half of him, so it was hard to deny that losing you would destroy him. He would never want you to feel guilty about the decision, even if it did tear him apart.

Commitment scared him. He knew of people his age getting married and settling down, and as bad as he wanted to do it one day, he didn’t know when he’d feel ready. He hadn’t been in a relationship as serious as this one with you, and he wasn’t sure he should be thinking about marriage so soon. Nevertheless, he was.

He pictured his life with you, and he’d smile. He envisioned the two of you in a white house with red shutters, a little boy and girl running through a sprinkler on the lawn. Years ago, if someone asked him what he wanted, he wouldn’t have told you the answer was a family. He never imagined settling down like that. He wanted to travel the world and live life as if there were no tomorrow. Now, he couldn’t picture living his life without you.

It was safe to say that Luke was terrified. You had never hesitated like this.

The front door to your parent’s home creaked slightly as he stepped through it. Your car was in the driveway, as was Mason’s. Luke expected to find the two of you in the living room playing Mario Party 12 on the Wii, but there was no excessive shouting coming from that direction. The TV was off, and the only sound he could hear was the distant murmur of two voices from the kitchen.

Luke hadn’t felt nerves like these since he played baseball in school. He dreaded batting – he preferred playing shortstop, but the team batting was always too good, so he never stayed in that position long enough.

He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. Truly, he wished he hadn’t.

You had been crying, and Mason – while usually very aloof when it came to any sort of emotion – was consoling you. From what Luke could guess, the conversation you were having with your brother was the reason you had started crying in the first place. It didn’t make sense to Luke at the beginning, and then he felt weightless in his boots.

He rested his forehead against the pale wall, eyes wide and watery as he attempted to steady his breathing. His hands were in fists on the wall beside his head, his fingernails cutting deep crescent indents into his skin. He couldn’t think. His brain was too muddled, and he couldn’t think.

You were pregnant. Pregnant. You were pregnant with a child. Most likely his child.

Luke swallowed and blinked a few times to let whatever tears had emerged fall onto the faux suede of his boots. Of all the times he thought about overcoming commitment, he never imagined it happening so soon. If he chose to be completely honest, no matter how many times he thought about it, he knew he would never be ready for the news.

He felt sick to his stomach. Every inch of him had numbed, and his limbs were no longer mobile as the conversation between you and Mason carried on. Luke tried his best to listen in despite his head losing focus every second.

“–not easy to even think about,” Mason said. “If you want me to tell him, I can.”

Luke’s ears perked, but his heartbeat was still too loud.

“Don’t... don’t do that,” you sputtered out through sniffs.

His heart ached. He wanted to stomp in there and press you tight against him until all worries faded away, but his touch wouldn’t help this time. At least he had an answer as to why you somewhat-removed yourself from him. He couldn’t imagine how heavy this felt in your chest. Every time you saw him, you were reminded that you were bearing his child.

Fuck, he thought.

But, what if it wasn’t his child?

Luke couldn’t think like that. He knew you wouldn’t cheat on him. If anything, you had room to believe he’d cheat on you. Though he never, ever would, but even you knew he had never been this dedicated to anyone before in his life.

“How would you do it?” Mason asked. His voice was calm, unlike what Luke’s would be if he were there.

There was a moment of silence. Luke pressed his palms flat against the cool wall and took a breath. It was shaky, but he had been holding it in for what felt like ages. Only a moment passed since he heard the news.

Suddenly, Luke felt so guilty. This was your news to tell, not his to overhear. He had to leave before he made any further mistakes.

“I don’t even think he wants to know,” you whispered, but he had heard.

Luke frowned, returning to his spot against the wall by the staircase.

“He’s– he’s never even talked about kids, s-so...”

“So?” Mason questioned.

“What if he doesn’t want it?”

Luke wiped his eyes and paced for a moment. Every tremor in your voice shattered his heart even more, he couldn’t take it. As much as he wanted to waltz in and say everything would be okay, he needed air. He needed to make sure he was okay before the day your reveal came.

And, he really, really hoped it would be soon.

-

Luke hadn’t seen you since he heard you talking with Mason that night a week ago. He pretended to be busy simply so he could sit on the news a little longer, but nothing helped. The two of you were so young, and you had been so careful. He couldn’t get over that part the most. He couldn’t remember what possibly went wrong one night a few weeks ago that brought the two of you to where you were now. He wasn’t angry at himself, and that scared him most of all.

The white house with red shutters consumed his mind when he wasn’t thinking about you. His smile was so big in his daydreams. He laughed while his kids danced in the damp grass, their tiny eyes brighter than his had ever been. It all felt so real now. This life was within reach if he just knocked on your front door – well, walked in (he hadn’t knocked in six years). He couldn’t keep avoiding you while he knew what he wanted. It wasn’t fair to you.

Besides, what if you didn’t want this?

Luke’s forehead had broken out in pimples because of the number of times he’d rested his hands up there. He could also blame the stress of this whole thing for making his skin cry so loud. With one long sigh, he reached for the keys to his bike and slung his jacket over his shoulder.

Ready or not, he needed to see you.

He walked in unannounced, his hands deep in his pockets as he rounded the corner into the living room. You had been balls deep in a film about two secretaries setting up their bosses when he walked in, your mouth wide open as you flung popcorn into it. Your hand froze in the air, the popcorn kernel hitting your shoulder on the way down. The air was too thick for Luke’s liking.

“H-hey,” you muttered as you scrambled to find the remote so you could pause the movie. “What’s... what’s up, Lu?”

He took a deep breath. What was he going to say?

“You’re sweaty,” you stated, standing up to greet him. Even then, you maintained a decent distance.

He nodded. “You scare me,” he whispered. He waited until confusion flooded your features before he continued. “You scare the fucking shit out of me. You know that? You like soy milk, but you drink 2% with your cereal. You hate watermelon, but you have three pairs of socks with watermelons on them. What’s the deal?”

“Luke, I’m– “

“You tell me you’re head over heels in love with me, then you suddenly start avoiding any contact with me.” Luke could no longer feel his fingers. Truth be told, he had no idea what he was saying. He couldn’t think straight when looking at you, so he simply just spoke. “Ya fucking terrify me, sweetie. So, what am I supposed to do, y’know? I’ve been sittin’ and makin’ myself sick over this. Every time you retract from a hug, I lose my goddamn mind. And– “

“Slow down.”

“I can’t... I can’t!”

“Please.” Your eyes were watery; he could tell you were thinking about spilling it all right then and there.

He shook his head. “I know– I’ve known... I-I know.”

“Know?” Your voice did not resemble your expression. You looked properly spooked. “Know what?”

“Baby.” Luke felt so pathetic.

“What?”

He couldn’t think a single coherent thought. “Do you want?” So, so pathetic.

You raised an eyebrow. “You’re confusing me, Lu.”

“Pr– “ He sucked in a breath and pressed his lips together. “Pregnant. Are you?” What, was he fucking Yoda? Luke wanted to hit himself.

The silence stung more than he expected it to. Your face had fallen, and the longer you waited to say anything, the more he wanted to make sure you would never frown again. Along with that, he began thinking of the many ways he could have addressed the situation much better than he had moments ago.

“How...” You sat down on the side of the couch, your eyes casting down towards the floor as you folded your arms. “How did you find out?”

It upset him how weak you sounded. He considered making a move to hug you now, but even then, he had no idea how you would take it. You appeared so fragile. It absolutely killed him.

“You– “ Luke took a breath. “You were with Mason the other night or something...”

Your mouth opened, and he could barely hear a soft “oh” come from your parted lips. “I’ve wanted to tell you,” you said. “I just... I needed to think I guess. I needed to convince myself that everything would be okay.” A tear fell down your cheek, but you wiped it away before Luke could reach out to wipe it himself. “Will it be okay?”

He nodded, taking a step towards you and flinching when he waited for you to move away. He took one more step when you inched towards him. “Sweetie,” he mumbled as he tugged on your waist.

You fell into him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders so you could hold him tight. “Sweetie,” you mocked. “’m scared.”

“Yeah?”

You nodded into his chest.

“Me too,” he replied. He raised a shaky hand to brush a few strands of hair away from your face. “I mean, what if the baby doesn’t like coffee?”

You smiled, and then your eyes widened. “You’re not... you want this?”

“Only if you do, sweetie,” he grinned. His brain was on fire. He felt sick, but he felt happy.

“I-I do,” you said. You reached a hand up to his cheek so you could bring him down to your level. The kiss you placed on his lips was soft and sweet, and it sent a swarm of butterflies to erupt in Luke’s stomach. “I-I’m just– wow, I-I’m so– “

Luke chuckled, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “I’m so lucky.”

“Yes, yeah, I was gonna say that.”

He laughed once more, spreading his fingers against your stomach as he gazed longingly at you. “So, are you really lactose intolerant? Like, what is the deal with the two gallons of 2% in your fridge?”

You groaned. “Can’t believe you’re going to be the father of our child.”

“Believe it, sweetie,” he sighed – happily, he would add. He was truly the happiest he had felt in ages. Even when he claimed he never felt happier when he was with you, he never knew he would feel like this. He was so, so in love with you, and now he was lucky enough to have a child with you. He was so happy.

[inquisitorhotpants]

so i feel like ranking the 10 released Star Wars movies, just for funsies.

Note: this is purely 1000000% subjective.

ETA: OH MY GOD i forgot the Ewoks movies. Five year old me is so disappointed. Problem fixed. xD

10: The Force Awakens - I found this a lackluster wannabe ANH lacking the heart of ANH, way too much of a bone thrown to the Prequel Hater crowd (up to and including Simon “I don’t respect prequels fans as people” Pegg as the consultant) with the constant BtS harping on “real effects” and the wholesale lifting of so much of ANH. Absolutely magical cast, zero Star Wars magic in that movie for me. I have no desire to ever watch it again. I will probably rewatch the parts of the Holiday Special that amuse me before I’ll watch this again. Shockingly mediocre; it’s like JJ didn’t even try, he just wanted to make the Whiny Fanboys happy.  (Needless to say, I have my reservations about Episode 9, as you might imagine.)

(TFA lags so far behind the other 9 that I’m straight up numbering them 1.9 and onward. These are sorted honestly by the smallest things.)

1.9: The Clone Wars - Kinda eh plot, but the lead in to see way more from Anakin, plus the introduction of Ashoka, love it. Had the most “eh” plot though, hence it coming in at 1.9.

1.8: A New Hope - At this point in the series, Han, Luke, and Leia are more ... archetypes than characters. This is good, because it serves as introduction, and still hearkens back to the serials that were Star Wars’ inspiration, but it still drops ANH down to the bottom of the crowded #1 field.  xD

1.7: Attack of the Clones - The weakest of the prequels, though I one million percent believe this is because they cut so many of Padme’s scenes. Almost all the relationship scenes were cut, almost all the Naboo scenes were cut, and it infuriates me. I love that Anakin is an awkward dork. I love that Padme likes him and doesn’t know what to do about it. I love that when she says “no, we can’t” he 100% backs off and doesn’t mention it again. The rendition of the Imperial March with the clones at the end is still my favorite rendition of the Imperial March, and the rendition of Across the Stars with first Anakin’s Theme, and then just the barest, barest hint of the Imperial March at the end of the credits is in my top three favorite pieces of Star Wars music ever. I love it. (Like I said, these are all 1.whatever for a resaon. I don’t dislike this movie at all. I’m rating on incredibly minute things.)

1.6: The Empire Strikes Back - I love this one, I do. The confrontation between Luke and Vader! Especially after the prequels, feeling that Vader just wants out from under someone’s control, and here’s a connection to Padme (and how like Padme Luke is! With her heart, her caring, her softness, her optimism; you have to wonder what kind of feelings this stirred up, after decades of trying to bury them). And Luke himself, so determined to save his friends, not controlled by the Order, I just love him. The first hints of Leia being Force sensitive! I only knock it down this far because the fandom has made me exceedingly tired of Boba Fett and frankly I fucking hate Yoda. (I told you it was subjective.)

1.5: The Phantom Menace - Anakin’s story, ultimately, can be summed up as “the road to hell is paved with good intentions,” and to see that well, you have to see where he starts - a nine year old slave boy willing to risk his life to help total strangers. Asserting his personhood even at that age, in those circumstances. Worried about these strangers, and his mom, more than himself. Even here, you see that the Jedi have reduced people to mere numbers, you see them callous and uncaring of a scared child. Even here, you can see that as close as Anakin and Obi-Wan got, their relationship would be doomed. You wonder what would have happened if Qui-Gon hadn’t died. You see new places, new ships, new creatures. You know what happens to the Republic, you’ve seen it dirty and dingy and run-down ... and here, you see it bright and beautiful and gorgeous. It’s the necessary beginning to a fall that will encompass the galaxy. 

1.4: The Last Jedi - This movie felt like Star Wars. New places, new people. Themes that have been ignored in Star Wars, nuance that we’ve been talking about for years. How do heroes deal with failure? How do you step into shoes you don’t think you can fill? How do you find where you belong? How do you become a leader? So few small quibbles with this movie, I could probably move this and 1.3 interchangeably, to be honest. Here the excellent cast gets to shine in a way I don’t feel they did in TFA, and I love them all the more for it. Cried like a baby all over this one, too. (Still should have been Anakin talking to Luke, though.)

1.3: Revenge of the Sith - The corruption rotting the heart of the bright, shining Republic finally bursts forth. The road to hell has been laid with good intentions, brick by brick by brick, and you’re helpless to do anything but watch Anakin begin his journey on it, like a slow motion collision. (It hurts even more after the Mortis arc in TCW, because you know this isn’t what Anakin wanted. God, TCW was so good for the prequels.)  You see how Anakin’s fear of failing, how the Jedi Order’s complacency, how politics can destroy that which is light and good. And yet ... and yet.  “The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.”

1.2: Rogue One - God this movie just punched me in the heart. The cast was amazing, I love that they gave us this whole phenomenal movie to answer one plot hole, I love/hate the ending, and goddamn Vader was awesome (even if they should have had Hayden come back). I’ve rewatched this one a lot. I don’t even have anything more to say about it, I just love it.  

1.1: Return of the Jedi - The happy ending! Vader is finally (fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally my god that man has suffered) redeemed. Ewoks! Yub Nub! this is the first Star Wars movie I remember seeing (I technically went to ESB but I was in utero, so I was a little preoccupied at the time lmao), and I will always love it. It will always be number one for me. I have zero opinion on the Sebastian Shaw/Hayden Christensen fight, I like both endings. I liked older Vader, but I could see the reasoning for the new, I don’t think it utterly destroyed the movie. /shrug  Anyway, RotJ has always been my favorite and will always be my favorite. (And you know what, I’m adding the two Ewoks movies here because I goddamn love ewoks and yes give me more of them.)

[rcfekjwtaardby-moved]

Rules & Muses

ACTIVITY

- Activity on this blog will be sporadic at times. Sometimes I’ll be here firing things off at lightning speeds and other times it will take me ages to get to things. I’m slow. Sometimes super slow. Please be patient with me.

- I have work and real life that could distract me. I’ll be more active during weekends.

- I have work, real life and two other blogs (@redlineoffate(multifandom multimuse) and Jiraiya from Naruto @frogprinceus). So I could be slow at times. So please be patient with me.

- Activity also depends on the number of drafts I have (here and on other blogs). If there are a lot of them, it may take a while before the blog will be active again. I prefer to catch all the drafts and queue them up. This is so I don’t get overwhelmed with the amount of threads I owe at any point of time.

FOLLOW & UNFOLLOW

- I am selective, but not mutuals only. If I don’t follow you back, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t want to interact with you. It just helps keep my dash neat. Don’t be shy to send me asks or IM me.

- I rarely unfollow people. But sometimes tumblr did it without me knowing about this. If you notice that I am no longer following you, the tumblr is probably buggy again. Please let me know about it!

- But there are two things that will make me unfollow you.

- I’ll unfollow if you don’t cut your posts. Nothing personal, but when one post occupies ridiculously half of my dash, it’s not convenient. I may rp with you, but without following.

If you unfollow me, I’m most likely unfollowing you too. If you follow me again, I follow you back. I think it’s fair.

OC & CROSSOVERS

- I’m extremely OC friendly. I really love OCs! There is one thing I ask you - please have about page for your OC. It helps a lot in our interactions.

- I love crossovers. A lot! I am multifandom trash so there is a big chance that I know your canon. And I love good Aus. Let’s have a lot of AUs together! I also have a lot of crossover verses.

MEMES & IMs & DISCORD

- IMs and asks are the fastest way to start interacting with me. Seriously, just jump into my IMs or throw your muse into my Inbox and let’s chat/plotting/play with memes!

- I LOVE memes. I don’t care if I reblog that meme ages ago, send me one or maybe 10! As long as you send it with a description it’s totally fine.  I don’t care if you already send me 100500 memes, send me another one! I love memes! It’s the best ice breaker!

- If you want to turn asks into threads, you’re welcome. Just  make a new post for it.

- I don’t practice reblog karma, but please reblog memes from the source if you don’t want to send me something.

- Discord is available for mutuals. Sometimes I rp there too.

- Sometimes it takes me a while to get to IMs or Discord. Sometimes I’m too busy, have no mood to talk to anybody or just forget to answer. I’m not ignoring you on purpose. I’m just bad at keeping in touch. I’m sorry about that. I try my best to fix it.

NSFW & TRIGGERS

- There will be NSFW, smut, dark themes and canon violence here. All of this will be tagged.

- Triggers will be tagged as ‘tw: trigger.’

- If you have triggers tell me about it and i will tag it. I am human and sometimes I forget to tag things. If I don’t tag your trigger, please tell me about it.

- I don’t have triggers myself.

SHIPPING

- This is a multiship blog. The only exceptions is Anakin (Padme only), R2D2 and baby Yoda (well for obvious reasons)

- I love shipping! There will be a big chance that I ship our muses too. But there are some important things before we jump into shipping hell:

Chemistry is important. No chemistry, there won’t be shipping.

We should have some interactions before shipping, to test chemistry and know your muses well.

Please talk to me about shipping beforehand.

REPLIES/THREADS/ETC

- You don’t have to match my length. My length depends on my inspiration. Today I can write a few paragraphs, tomorrow I can write only a few lines or even a one-liner. But this does not mean that I will not put an effort on our threads. It just means that sometimes the length will vary.

- I very rarely drop threads, but sometimes it happens. When I do this (if I’m overwhelmed with them or I completely lost my muse for it), I will definitely inform you about this in a new post or via IMs.

- Please let me know if you drop our thread.

- If you want a thread, feel free to like one of my starter calls. It’s always open.

- I love plotted threads. If you have any good ideas for our muses, feel free to jump into my IMs and let’s talk about it.

- There is no limit on how many threads I could have with a partner. I like to have a lot of interesting ideas. This is especially true for multi-muses, when it is interesting to try the interaction of several muses. But it could change if I’ll become overwhelmed with drafts.

- Don’t reblog my threads, if you are not  part of it!

SPOILERS

- I will tag spoilers as ‘canon spoilers’ - the mandalorian spoilers, etc.

PASSWORDS

- I don’t send passwords. I have read your rules and I always re-read them prior to interaction.

PERSONAL BLOGS

- It’s okay that personal blogs follow me. They don’t bother me.

- Personal blogs who will reblog my threads more than once will be blocked without warning. Consider this rule your first and last warning.

- Unless you are the main blog for a side-blog don’t touch my threads/starter calls!

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MUN

- Hi! You can call me Mitsuki!

- I am female and use she/her pronouns.

- I am 25+ years old - my birthday is March 28th.

- I am from Russia and my time zone is UTC+10.  

- English is not my first language, but I’ll try my best to not make gross mistakes.

- I use Yona (Akatsuki no Yona) for mun fc.

- This blog run by shy mun who are afraid of you more than you of me! :D

- Don’t be shy to say hi! There are big chances that I want to interact with you, but I’m too shy to approach you.

Muselist

Clones

Rex.

Cody.

Fives.

Echo.

Jesse.

Kix.

Waxer.

Tup.

Hunter.

Jedi

Anakin Skywalker.

Ahsoka Tano.

Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Grogu.

Luke Skywalker.

Others

R2D2.

Din Djarin.

Hera Syndulla.

[littlesouthblog]

July 30th - August 2nd 2020 | Lulworth Castle, Dorset

Family friendly Camp Bestival announce huge line up for their 2020 festival within the beautiful grounds of Lulworth Castle. Headlining artists include Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada, Friendly Fires, Becky Hill & Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Event info

What the promoter says

we are over the moon with excitement to announce our momentous and mighty line-up appearing across all the stages of your favourite stages at Camp Bestival 2020. Step into the world of the silver screen with marvellous entertainment for all the family, including headline sets from music favourites Fatboy Slim, Liam Payne and Groove Armada, as well as a special guest set from indie rock legends, Friendly Fires.

“We can’t think of a style of music that isn't on the bill this year - from rave to grime, classical to pop, guitars and reggae. From the original party-starter Fatboy Sim and indie royalty Friendly Fires through pop stars Liam Payne and Becky Hill to Groove Armada and a special Sophie Ellis-Bextor show with Sink The Pink, not forgetting our new and breaking acts like Georgia, Biig Piig and Self Esteem. It's not just about music - it's all going off from CBeebies to skate ramps, an outdoor cinema, tree climbing, Wild Tribe screen-free adventures into nature, yoga, meditation and explosive science shows! Get ready for Camp Bestival 2020!” - Josie and Rob da Bank

Other smash-hit stars taking to the stage include Becky Hill and rising star, Georgia, pop royalty Sophie Ellis-Bextor, radio legends Sara Cox and Jo Whiley, as well as YouTube sensations and 2019 X Factor Finalists, Max & Harvey. 

“This year at Camp Bestival will be special one for me as I am bringing my daughter for her first festival. Infantile grown-ups, watch our children grow and glow as we attempt to teach them about the festi-love, dancing and laughter…” -Fatboy Slim 

"I've heard amazing things about Camp Bestival and I can't wait to head down to Lulworth Castle to join the party." - Liam Payne

“Camp Bestival is absolutely me and my family’s favourite weekend of the year...can’t wait to return & put on another cracking 80s party. Last year the tent was bouncing with all ages, love seeing kids on their parent’s shoulders raving along to Wham! - this year’s gonna be even bigger & better.” - Sara Cox 

"I’ve had so much fun at Camp Bestival over the years. It’s an incredibly fun, beautiful and vibrant festival and I couldn’t be happier to be bringing my 90’s Anthems show to all the party people who’ll be there. See you down the front!" - Jo Whiley

The party doesn’t stop there – Camp Bestival are proud to welcome back CBeebies with appearances from Kids’ TV faves Mr Tumble, Mister Maker and the Shapes, and Rebecca Keatley with much more to be revealed soon. Youngsters can also get down and dance with a back-to-back line-up from the likes of the legendary Dick & Dom, Britain’s Got Talent superstars Boogie Storm, CBBC’s Sam & Mark and not forgetting a rave with the UK’s favourite family ravers Big Fish Little Fish. Why not channel your inner artist with Aardman Model Making Workshops or put on your science goggles and get ready for the weird and wonderful with live science shows by Brainiac Live and TheDadLab.

Go back to nature and discover Wild Tribe, the screen-free field returning for its second year with Spinney Hollow’s Craft Village, bushcrafts and bivouac building, drumming circles, immersive theatre from Mossy Crow, water slides, zip lines, tree climbing, campfires, calm spaces and Hortisculpture. What’s more, young environmentalists will be able to join in activities with Youth Strike 4 Climate, founded by climate change activist Greta Thunberg. 

Encompassing the glamour of Hollywood, Camp Bestival will transform into the most enchanting film set for the weekend. New to 2020, festivalgoers will enter the world of magical movie mania with AV shows featuring well-loved cult movie classics remixed by DJ Yoda, acting workshops from Stagecoach and The BRIT School and a Sunday finale like no other with Son et Lumière fireworks and projections on Lulworth Castle. Be sure to also not miss the Full Moon Cinema, an out-of-this-world outdoor cinema to celebrate the full moon on Saturday, plus who better to talk through his career in screenwriting than Irvine Welsh.

Get ready for some belly laughing comedy from comedian and best-selling author of ‘This is Going to Hurt’, Adam Kay, and side-splitting stand-up from the Scummy Mummies. Wide Awake Club/Wacaday TV legend Timmy Mallett brings his hilarious live show to Lulworth, and there will be readings on the chaos and comedy of real-life parenting from Man Vs. Baby.

The Magic Meadow will come alive on Saturday evening with Camp Bestival’s biggest ever circus performance with a huge High Wire Spectacular featuring dazzling displays of balance and circus feats complete with a live choir providing musical accompaniment. Then step into the Pink Flamingo for evening flamboyant cabaret featuring Cheryl Hole, Madame Galina and Her Only Friend(s) and Witt ’n’ Camp.

Adding to the spectacular entertainment for all the family, treat your taste buds to an array of award-winning food and drink. Tuck into the delectable offerings from The Feast Collective and DJ BBQ and become a foodie aficionado with Mother Earth’s Open Kitchen, Live Fire Cooking Demos, Temper barbecue chef Neil Rankin and hear from Omari McQueen, the UK’s youngest Vegan food entrepreneur and chef. Watch this space with lots more mouth-watering delights to be revealed… 

Fancy a detox? Head to Slow Motion and unwind with a series of relaxing and rejuvenating experiences on offer for all ages. Leave the outside world behind and opt for Ayurvedic workshops, meditation, sound healing and gong baths. Don’t forget to also take part in two genuine festival firsts: a Holistic Triathlon, consisting of meditation, 5k run and a session calming yoga to finish, and make sure to pop on the gloves and sign up for a Family Boxing session!

Line Up

Fatboy Slim

Groove Armada

Liam Payne

Friendly Fires

Sophie Ellis Bextor ft. Sink The Pink

Becky Hill

The Sugarhill Gang

Grandmaster

Melle

Mel & Scorpio

Dick and Dom

Sara Cox

Jo Whiley's 90s Anthems

Adam Kay

Irvine Welsh

Brainiac [live]

Son et Lumière 

Castle Fireworks Spectacular

Max & Harvey

Level 42

The Sherlocks

BRIT School

TheDadLab

Heather Small

Full Moon Cinema

Stagecoach Performing Arts School

David Rodigan

The Selecter

All Hail Kale Presents: Hypochondria [live]

DJ Yoda Presents: Filmstock

Reef

Space

Mr. Tumble

Norman Jay MBE

LTJ Bukem

The Sol Cinema

Mister Maker & Rebecca

Cheryl Hole

Gengahr

Spinney Hollow Craft

Self Esteem

Georgia

Sam & Mark

Holistic Triathalon

Scummy Mummies

Tim Burgess

Mr. Motivator

Glowie

Goldierocks

The Cuban Brothers

KIDS FLY

Adamski

DJ BBQ

SamSam Bubbleman

Klaus Blatter

Jaguar Skills

Bushcraft

Dub Pistols

Big Fish Little Fish

The Wurzels

Junior Jungle

Man vs. Baby

Blingo

Aardman Amazing Scene Machine

Bowie Disco

London Stage Orchestra

Plastic Mermaids

Thrill Collins

Cirque Bijou

Deptford Northern Soul

via littlesouth

[iximaz]

Blood-Forged ch7

Summary: Din takes his young charge to a new planet with a new plan to hide. It quickly goes sideways after he meets another Mandalorian who has never seen her own kind.

Characters: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), Baby Yoda, enby!fem!OC

Pairings: Slow burn Din Djarin/OC because it turns out I’m a thirsty hoe

Warnings: Eh, right now it’s just in light PG-13 territory. Mentions of family death, some blood/violence/bodily harm. Will probably end up becoming smut later.

Word Count: 1751 (indefinite chapter count coming)

Part 1, Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 (you’re here!)

They ditched the speeder in the undercity slums and proceeded on foot. Din wrapped the kid safely against his chest so one hand was free to hold his blaster and the other arm could support Aysa as she limped along. She didn’t make any sounds aside from whispered directions, but he could feel her trembling under his arm. The tips of her fingers were worryingly pale against the black leather of her gloves.

“You with me?” Din asked, and Aysa responded with a faint nod.

“Almost there,” she said, barely audible. He felt her falter and caught her before her knees hit the ground. “Yellow door.”

Din helped her over to it and Aysa feebly rapped her knuckles against the metal.

A slat in the door opened and a pair of vivid purple eyes peered out, framed by green skin. “Aysa?” the woman gasped, and the door was wrenched open.

Aysa stumbled over the threshold and a Mirialan with a cybernetic arm and long black hair tied in an elaborate weave of braids caught her. Din hurriedly stepped inside as well, shutting the door behind him.

“Need to lay low a few hours,” Aysa mumbled as the Mirialan led her over to an upturned crate that was doubling as a bench, helping her to sit. There was the faint hiss of the neck seal as she removed her helmet, setting it to the side.

Din’s eyes widened in alarm when he got a good look at her face. She was white as a sheet and her lips had a faint blue tinge to them. “We need bacta,” he said as the Mirialan let out a shrill whistle. She helped Aysa lay back against the containers behind her as a GH-7 droid came zipping up to her.

Din pursed his lips as the droid began administering a bacta spray.

“She needs fluids,” the droid hummed, bending over Aysa to work.

The Mirialan looked up at Din, glowering at him. The glower softened when she took in his armor. “Another Mandalorian?” she asked in awe.

Din just watched her from behind his mask. Every line in his body was taut, and he shifted so Baby was held on the other side of him, away from the droid and the stranger.

“He’s a friend,” Aysa said faintly, and the Mirialan took her hand, running her thumb over the back of Aysa’s knuckles. “Mando—Fareesi. Fareesi, Mando.”

“Don’t you have a name?” Fareesi asked, eyebrow quirking up.

Din ignored her question. “We need to get back to the Dusklight Hangar as soon as it’s safe,” he said, but Fareesi crossed her arms.

“Look, I don’t know if you’re her long-lost dad or what, but she’s in no condition to move any time soon,” she said. “How’d you two meet, anyway?” she added, glancing back down at Aysa.

“He punched me in the face and then I tried to shoot his kid,” Aysa said, chuckling weakly.

Din tilted his head. It wasn’t technically incorrect.

Fareesi looked between the pair for a moment before shaking her head. “Right, forgot your lot were supposed to be warriors,” she said. “So what, you two are friends now or something?”

“Or something,” Din said when Aysa’s eyes fluttered shut again. “Droid—how’s she doing?”

“Her vitals are stabilizing,” it replied as it carefully stitched up the cauterized wound on her leg. “She lost a lot of blood.”

“Yeah? Tell me something I don’t know,” Din muttered.

“That would be a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality,” the droid droned, and faltered when Din pointed his blaster at it.

“Don’t be funny with me,” he said shortly. “I’m the next best thing to family she has, so—“

Fareesi barked out a laugh as she moved to stand in front of the blaster. “You? Her family?” She was barely five feet tall, but she carried herself with a presence almost commanding enough to make him take a step back. Almost. “I don’t know where you’ve been all her life, but as far as I’m concerned, pal, I’m her family. I’ve been looking out for her since long before we came to this skughole, just like she’s been looking out for me.”

Din hesitated, glancing at Aysa. Her face was white as a sheet, and she seemed barely conscious. “Aysa—“

“Trust… Reese,” she whispered. “Trust D… Mando. Guys…”

Fareesi sized Din up. “Fine,” she said, a little sourly. “But I think you’d better start at the beginning.”

Din stifled a groan of annoyance. He had better things to do than explain himself to this child, but it looked like she was Aysa’s best chance of survival, and he wasn’t about to lose her so soon after finding her. So he talked, describing their encounter in the bar, Aysa agreeing to shelter him, the hunters that had interrupted him.

“Why’s the kid so special, anyway?” Fareesi asked, leaning slightly to the left for a better view of Baby. Din shifted, trying to block her, but Fareesi moved with him so she could see. “Looks a bit like a pond-hopper.”

“I don’t know,” Din lied. He had some idea at this point, but he certainly wasn’t about to go blabbering it to everyone. “But whatever he is, he’s got a hefty price on his head. I thought we’d be safe moving away from the Outer Rim, but that’s been a bust. We’ll head out once Aysa’s back on her feet.”

Fareesi’s face fell. “She’s going with you?”

Din nodded.

“But she—“ Fareesi bit her lip. She glanced back at Aysa and sighed. “She always hoped she’d meet more,” she said quietly. “Kept taking jobs I told her were too dangerous, but she said it was the best bet to find another Mandalorian.”

“I’m not forcing her to come with me,” Din said. The child began to fuss, and he glanced down at him, shushing him gently.

Fareesi looked at the kid, at Din, at Aysa, and sighed. “I know,” she said grudgingly, and stood up. “You couldn’t force her to do anything if you tried.” She gave the droid a small pat on the head as she passed, moving deeper into the warehouse. “Come on, I’m sure there’s something the kid can eat.”

Din followed her with one last look at Aysa, hand drifting towards his blaster in a clear warning for the droid. Try anything funny with her. I dare you.

“Sorry about the mess,” Fareesi said, stepping over a pile of scrap metal. “Wasn’t expecting guests.”

“What is this place?” Din asked, stepping over it as well.

“My workshop,” Fareesi said, flashing a grin at him over her shoulder. “Black market cybernetics. You won’t find these mods in any respectable merchants’ hands.”

“I assume you’ve modded Aysa,” Din said, and Fareesi nodded.

“Kitting out hunters is fun,” she said, and eyed his own armor. “If you wanted any work done…”

“No thanks.”

Fareesi grinned. “You probably couldn’t afford me if you’re hiding out, anyway.”

“No special rates for friends?” Din said dryly.

“Ooh, friends. That’s a good one,” Fareesi said, kicking aside an empty crate and wrenching open a door that led to a grimy kitchen. “Look, Aysa’s been like a sister to me for ages now, but I can’t hide you guys here for long. Last thing I need is the New Republic breathing down my neck for helping you.”

“I understand,” Din said, distastefully eyeballing the bowl that Fareesi pulled out. “We’ll be out of here before long.”

Fareesi took a grimy rag and wiped down the equally-grimy bowl, squinting at it before shrugging and opening up the cooler, beginning to mash up some meiloorun with a fork. “Got anywhere you’ll go?”

“Not yet,” Din said. “Besides, I’d rather not say.”

Fareesi snorted. “I’m not going to tell anyone who’ll come looking.”

“Maybe not willingly,” Din said darkly. “There’s ways of getting information.”

“You can say torture, you know,” Fareesi said, glancing up at him. “I’m not so delicate you gotta dance around the subject.”

“Torture,” Din said. “Truth serums. They might destroy your workshop.”

Fareesi was quiet.

“Where are you from?” Din asked.

Fareesi shrugged and handed him the bowl of mashed fruit. “Don’t know,” she said. “My parents sold me off when I was born. Aysa and I met on Nal Hutta when we were ten.”

“That’s a long way from Mandalore,” Din said quietly, not sure he liked where this was going.

But Fareesi shrugged and headed back out into the workshop proper. “Doesn’t really matter now it’s gone, does it?” she asked. “You ever see it, Mando?”

“Yes,” Din said, balancing the kid on his hip and supporting him while he ate. “I was a Foundling—I only lived there a few years before it was destroyed.”

“That must’ve been awful,” Fareesi said.

Din remained silent, a heavy cloud settling in his stomach. He’d gained a new family and lost so much of it so soon after. And now the tribe needed to flee their stronghold because of him. He could only hope that most of them managed to survive.

Aysa was sitting up when they reached her again, and a little color had returned to her cheeks. “How long was I out?” she asked. Her voice quavered, but it was stronger than before.

“Not long,” Din said, sitting down beside her and adjusting Baby so he was settled comfortably on his lap. “You look like hell.”

“Nice to see you, too,” Aysa muttered. “Reese—“

“Glad you didn’t die on me,” Fareesi said. “I’d have killed you if you did.”

“Not if I killed you first for letting me die on you,” Aysa said, reaching out to punch Fareesi’s arm. “Listen—I know your specialty’s cybernetics but we could really use an engineer for our getaway ship.”

Fareesi’s eyes lit up. “You’ve got one, then? What model?”

“Razorcrest,” Din said, and Fareesi snorted.

“Well, at least it’s off-grid,” she said. “Aysa, you know I’d do anything for you, but—“

Aysa reached into her belt pouch and pulled out a handful of credits, tossing them over. “I know. I got you.”

Fareesi grinned as she counted out the money. “This’ll do great. I’ll fix you up before you go, if you like.”

In response, Aysa unlaced her flak vest, tugging it over her head before unzipping her flight suit down to her navel, shrugging out of her shirt. Fareesi’s arm whirred as a multi-tool extended from her fingertips, and the skin on Aysa’s arms unfolded.