#this is way too many words for me to say ‘Hunter doesn’t talk as much in season two and I like it but also I am

[heyclickadee]

Some Hunter thoughts I can’t articulate worth shit right now but I’m going to try anyway:

There’s something about how much more withdrawn Hunter is and yet doesn’t just disappear out of everyone’s lives in season two, and I don’t know what. He’s still making calls, mostly to not get involved and keep their heads down, but those are still decisions, still trying to keep what’s left of his family safe, still trying to find ways to put food on the table, still being Omega’s dad and having an active presence in her life. He’s still going through the motions of his role.

But he doesn’t talk much, not even to Omega. All those sweet one-one-one conversations he had with her last season aren’t nearly as much of a thing. Part of that’s just because of the practicalities of storytelling; this season had more emphasis on Omega’s relationships with Echo and Tech, so a lot of those one-on-one parent-child conversations went to either Echo in the first half of the season, and Tech in the second. In fact, the only direct parent-child conversation Hunter has with Omega this season (not the only conversation he has with her, just the only one that’s one of those, “Something difficult’s happening, let me help you talk it out,” talks) is is the one at the very end of the season for which neither Echo nor Tech are present, because Echo needed to be alone and Tech’s…MIA. But it’s more than just the shift in character focus.

A lot of the Omega side of The Bad Batch story is told from Omega’s point of view. Not exclusively, there are definitely a lot of scenes and even entire episodes from other perspectives, and Crosshair is pretty much the point of view character of all the Crosshair stuff, of course, and it’s not the same as it would be if the Bad Batch were a first person novel with Omega as the narrator character, but the show does hover around Omega’s perspective a lot, at least. And one thing I do kind of like about this is that it means there’s stuff happening that we don’t see, or that we’re not seeing right now, anyway. Even if we didn’t assume that Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo were having conversations out of Omega’s earshot, we’re given enough context clues and bits and pieces (and one occasion the entirety) of conversations Omega does overhear to know that that’s the case and to sometimes get the gist of what those conversations were about. The shift in Tech’s attitude from “Replacements” to “Cornered” (from being hellbent on finishing that brain scanner, which they would need if they did go back and get Crosshair, and being the first to pipe up and say that Crosshair’s chip is probably influencing his actions in one episode to sadly noting that Crosshair won’t be needing his comm device in the next) implies that the group had a conversation about the Crosshair situation that Omega (and we) didn’t hear—or that Wrecker, Tech, and Echo realized that Hunter wasn’t going to talk about it and discussed that amongst themselves. We can guess from the interactions between Hunter and Echo this season (as well as that, “Remember what I said,” line which is so frustrating in the best way because what?? What did Hunter say to Echo???) that the, “We should be doing more,” conversation didn’t stop with the one Omega overheard.

The conversations Omega—and by extension, we—don’t hear are probably mostly the more adult ones. And by adult, I guess I should clarify—I don’t necessarily mean the “adult” in that sense, though those conversations probably happen, too. I mostly mean the difficult conversations, about the darker side of the war, how bad their situation could get, Echo deciding to leave, how close they are to flat broke, how many meals they’re going to have to skip so at least Omega can go to sleep with a full belly, that sort of thing. It’s not that they’re trying to keep Omega in the dark, exactly. Their lifestyle doesn’t allow for that luxury. But they are trying, and Hunter’s really the one trying the hardest, to build Omega a childhood out of whatever scraps they can. And part of that, for Hunter, anyway, means keeping some conversations out of Omega’s earshot.

And honestly the last few paragraphs are just a long winded way to say that because a lot of the show hovers around Omega’s perspective, if we see Hunter talking to and around Omega less, that probably means he is talking to her less in universe. This is probably off base, but I kind of think the reason is pretty similar to the reasoning I gave for why they have some conversations out of Omega’s earshot above. Hunter’s really just…not having a good time in season two; he’s depressed at best and his hunker-down-and-ignore-the-star-war-of-it-all attitude comes across as a mix of guilt (over the Crosshair situation) and trauma response. He’s lost and buckling under the pressure to lead his squad in through this strange new reality, and I honestly think that he just doesn’t want Omega to know how bad things in his head are, because she’s a child and he’s her dad/big brother and it is not her responsibility to deal with his problems (1). But he’s so, so bad at faking things, and Omega’s a perceptive kid, so instead of keeping up appearances and trying to pretend that everything’s fine all the time, he withdraws. Just a little bit.

And don’t get me wrong, it’s not a season three Kanan Jarrus situation, where Kanan has to adjust to a new disability and can’t, so he falls off the face of the map (2). Hunter’s still extremely present in Omega’s life, still quizzing her on her homework, still making sure he’s there to catch her when she throws herself off a ledge, still there to look all sad and jealous when Omega starts copying Phee but trusting Omega enough not get in the way of her make a new friend, still there to grab Omega and make sure she doesn’t die in the cable car crash, and so on. He’s always sure to be there whenever she needs him. He just…doesn’t talk with her as much. He moves a quarter-step into the background. And I have some kind of feeling about that, but I’m not sure what it is.

1. This is totally off topic, but this actually one of the things I really liked about Stephen Universe, just…in reverse. I had a hard time getting into the first few seasons of the show (I know, I’m sorry) because the adult characters all sort of talked to Stephen—and each other, but mostly Stephen—like they were all trying to win at therapy, and it kind of drove me crazy. Aaaaaaand then I got to the movie and Future and it turned out that that was kind of the point. Every adult in Stephen’s life sort of used him as a live-in therapist, and it really messed him up and made it difficult to heal from his own trauma.

2. Just to be clear, I’m not dogging on Kanan here.

[inoreuct]

horse girl zoro/prince sanji au that @redgitanako and i talked about way back when because it suddenly crossed my mind OKAY HERE WE GO

zoro’s a travelling bounty hunter with three horses. yes, three. don’t tell kitetsu and enma but wado’s his favourite

wado was kuina’s horse; when kuina died she was so sad because she didn’t get why kuina was gone and for a while zoro had to emotionally support a horse AND himself, but horses are smart creatures. wado understood by herself after a while. they don’t really talk about it.

on that note, zoro talks to his horses. people look at him like he’s a few crayons short of the whole pack but they don’t say anything because he looks scary as hell; built like a brick wall, one eye gone, gnarly scar across his chest and all

(they’ll never know that he’s having an argument with enma about buying supplies where one party is contributing in possibly-misinterpreted horse looks. the crayons aren’t missing— but it’s admittedly a little hard to prove they’re there, zoro, we can’t keep defending you like this)

sanji's the third prince of the kingdom that hires him; sora’s the queen, and his siblings are all decent other than regular sibling assholery. judge is on the run and they’ve made the collective decision that they want his head on a stick.

zoro expects sanji to be a stuck-up priss because he LOOKS like a stuck-up priss— look at his perfect hair. his clothes. his heeled boots and his stupid curly eyebrows

but NO. well, yes, sanji IS a little bit of a stuck-up priss but also, he’s good with horses?? wado takes to him like a DREAM and zoro's flabbergasted because anybody who has ever tried to coddle her other than zoro or kuina has gotten kicked in the head, but sanji's petting at her neck and cooing at her in baby-talk and she's licking sugar cubes and apple slices out of his palm. zoro feels so betrayed.

like of COURSE his horse had to take a liking to the boy he hates OF ALL PEOPLE.

(zoro. at this moment the horse is smarter than you. listen to her.)

reiju’s the princess here, but sanji’s the one who got all the magic-esque affinities. animals LOVE him. he would be a literal disney princess if not for the fact that he doesn’t love them back

like SQUIRREL. WHY ARE YOU SHITTING ALL OVER MY YARD. GO AWAY. WHY IS A DOG TRYING TO LICK MY HAIR. WHYYY IS THIS BIRD BRINGING ME STICKS ALL THE TIME. he’s trying to fall asleep. he hears a TSKTSKTSKTSKTSKTSKTSK. he sits up and gets right out of bed and starts yelling at the lizard on the ceiling.

he does have a pretty mare called maple, though! (and zoro can’t help but love her too; it’s a sign that the mosshead doesn’t clock until much, much later)

and then zoro comes into his life with his three horses and sanji yanks him in by the collar like "listen up, swordsman. i do not CARE how sweet your horses are. i do not CARE how— how— WHATEVER you are. if you stink up my stable i will make you sleep in it, are we clear?" and zoro just nods because he’s having a bit of a gay crisis

sanji is 1. pretty 2. entirely able to hold his own and 3. Wado Approved™ and zoro does NOT know how to deal. at all. he’s holding onto wado’s reins for dear life. he wonders if the same ultimatum would apply if he swapped out the word stable for bed and immediately wants to dunk himself into the horse trough.

meanwhile sanji isn’t spared at all. sora sits on her throne, one eyebrow raised as her son goes on and on about how "mother i hate the swordsman you hired. he's green. and ugly. like a troll. like an OGRE. his hands are too big. his boots are too shiny. his earrings are cute but only because i want them. his EVERYTHING smells like horse. he might as well be a horse with how strong he is, did you know how many hay bales he carried at once??" and she’s just like,,, "honey are you sure this is hate"

she certainly wouldn’t mind them being together. zoro is rough around the edges and does smell a bit like horse, admittedly, but he was clearly raised right— he’s respectful in his own gruff way and he does things with immense care. sora’s noticed. she knows her son well enough to know that he’s noticed, too.

one day sanji bumps into zoro on his way out of the baths and wow. okay. so he doesn’t smell like horse ALL the time and oh his hair is damp and there's a towel around his waist and he is very, very shirtless and sanji turns around in a panic and walks face-first into a pillar.

he watches zoro care for his horses, carefully brushing through their manes and coats as he speaks to them softly, and alright. maybe this guy isn’t all bad. animals, sanji has noticed, are brilliant judges of character; horses especially can be testy and temperamental, and they don’t hesitate to kick anybody they don’t like.

zoro’s horses love him, and it’s obvious. maple looks forward to the snacks he slips her when he thinks that nobody’s looking. that says a lot more about his character than anything else.

after a few days zoro has a solid plan down and sets out to find judge, and suddenly the stables are empty. sanji finds himself going out with maple more and more, exploring the woods around their forest to pass the time because he needs something to keep his mind occupied and there’s only so much he can cook. judge might be a piece of shit, but he’s also an evil genius, and sanji refuses to admit he’s worried even though he is.

and then zoro comes back with judge’s war helmet wrapped in a cloth, gore dripping off the bottom edge as he sets it at sora’s feet.

he’s a little banged up, tired as hell with a couple of scratches here and there— nothing serious, but sanji still drags him to the infirmary and cleans him up perhaps a little more emotionally than either of them had expected

he passes out for a good few days afterwards but sora invites him to stay for a little longer, a time frame that nobody specifies. zoro just kind of… doesn’t leave. it’s strange for him; he’s wandered, always. he gets antsy staying in one place for too long, but this blond prince that is strangely kind and gives back as good as he gets is really something else.

the days pass. they race and bicker and soon enough, all three of zoro’s horses have brass name plaques tacked above what are now their stalls. he had a room in the palace and a place at the dinner table. sanji’s hair has grown long, now, and neither of them talk about the way that zoro’s stay has become something that feels more permanent—

until zoro finally finds the balls to give sanji one of his earrings as a courting gift. it’s the first one of many, but at that moment sanji just looks at it wide-eyed and zoro starts to shrink back all like "if you. don't want it that's alright. i'll get you something new, something else—" because look, he knows he’s not much. he has money, but not enough to give sanji something really nice. not enough to get something that’s more impressive than all the jewels and gold that the prince could have at a whim. he’s a bounty hunter that came from dirt and this earring is the most precious thing he has to offer, but he understands if—

sanji kisses him. yells something borderline incoherent along the lines of about fucking time as he shakes zoro by the shoulders, but he’s smiling very brightly and he’s very beautiful and zoro has a feeling they're going to be just fine.

(sora and the siblings breathe a collective sigh of relief, because the pining looks and dejected sighing were really getting a little ridiculous.)

(they speak too soon. after they get together it somehow gets WORSE.)

this was a ride… (get it. get it.) okay i’ll stop HOPE YOU ENJOYED HEH i know a lot of places are having a flu season/covid wave going around rn so make sure to hydrate and eat well!! muaks 😽

[stargazedwinchester]

Begin Again | Sam

This one is part of my Taylor’s Version series! View the masterlist here <3

Summary: After leaving a toxic relationship, your facade of a white picket fence life can’t fool the eyes of your friendly neighbor Sam Winchester.

Warnings: Small flashback regarding toxic relationship

This one is a little different from the original Supernatural storyline at the start, Sam does have a white picket fence life and is still a hunter, just in case it's not clear enough in the story :) also part 2 maybe?? let me know!!

"I've been spending the last eight months Thinking all love ever does Is break and burn, and end But on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again"

Word count: 1,082

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

“Fuck!” You shout, only just dodging his hit. You see the rage glow in his eyes, your cheeks are flushed maroon and your forehead sweating. “I’m gonna fucking kill you,” he states, his eyes fixated on you. He lunges forward with his fist clenched so hard his knuckles are white.

“No!” you shriek, taking the blow. You try your best to defend yourself but end up staggering into the china cabinet. You cower toward the floor, tensing your arms and legs hoping to be able to cover yourself from any more hurt.

It doesn’t help.

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

A few days had gone by at this point and you’re finally allowed outside to go grocery shopping. Carrying the bags from your car, the sun shines lovingly on your face. Birds are chirping. There’s a couple of kids out playing fetch with their dog on the street. Sometimes days like this don’t make you feel any better than the Hell you’re living in. If anything, they help emphasise your insecurities that are made a hell of a lot worse because of that dipshit back home.

You don’t want to go home.

“Hey,” a voice startles you from behind. You turn to the left and see your new neighbour walk down the porch stairs. “Oh, hey Sam.” You greet him, a half-forced smile planted on your face as you squint from the sun.

“How you doing?” He asks, placing his hands on his hips, acting completely naturally. You nod hesitantly. “Yeah, I’m good. You?” Conversations with him are a little awkward for many reasons. He had just moved in last week. He had probably heard what happened the night before and he’s also extremely good-looking. You can’t look him in the eye. It’s too daunting.

“Yeah, uh, I’m sorry to bring it up—“He gets cut off and your boyfriend slams the front door and shouts something over at you. His face reveals that he’s mad and this time you have no idea why. “I’m sorry,” You whisper, “I need to go.” You finish, rushing off and leaving him standing there. His eyes never left you. Sam sighs and turns around to go back inside, keeping his gaze fixed on you to ensure that you make it inside without your boyfriend making a scene.

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

It had been a couple of weeks and Sam had tried to talk to you about what he heard that night, but you never brought it up again. Maybe he had a change of heart and thought that if he brought it up, it could cause an issue, or even have upset you. Sometimes bringing things back up isn’t worth the hassle.

You haven’t seen him much, except for this 1967 Chevy Impala that parks outside every other day in the early hours of the morning where you can have a tiny bit of freedom from your everyday life. Window-watching and reading books in the moonlight has been your escape for as long as you can remember. But this time, instead of Sam, and you assume his brother, leaving toward the car, he makes his way over and attempts to peer through your window. Although he can’t see anything, he turns to his brother and says something, pointing back at your window.

Out of pure curiosity and some courage, you attempt to open the window without your boyfriend noticing. You slide it up, turning around to check on him each time. You’re damn lucky he’s a heavy sleeper.

“What are you doing?” You whisper-shout, confused as to what they’re talking about.

“What do you mean? Why are you awake?” He shouts back.

“You’re at my window, pointing at me with this strange man. So tell me, what the hell are you doing?”

The guy who’s with him huffs, shrugging his shoulders. He mutters something to himself and looks offended. “What’s his problem?” you reply, and Sam smirks.

“Strange guy?”

“Yeah?”

“What do I look like, a kidnapper?” He mentions, and it makes you chuckle quietly. “Listen, lady, are you coming down or what? Prince Charming here wants to rescue you from your... palace.” Sam looks at him, eyebrows furrowed. “What?” He questions, his mouth slightly agape, as he just cannot believe his brother outed him like that.

“Just come down, will you? Pack some things.”

♱⁺. ⋆˙✧⋆✧˙⋆⊹.♱

You had practically moved across the country to live with Sam and his brother, Dean. Sam knew exactly what was happening back home and had made a deal with himself to get you out, even if it killed him.

This morning, the pair of you walk down to a cafe near a motel you’re currently residing in. Whilst ordering, Sam tells you to go find a seat and he’ll bring your drink over. You agree and find a booth in the corner. He brings your drink over and sits opposite you.

His demeanour is calm, yet like he needs to ask you something. You dismiss it though and assume it’s because he’s dealt with a lot within the past few weeks. And so have you.

“Y/N,” he starts, taking a sip of his black coffee. “Can I ask you something?”

“I feel like it’s gonna be a tough question.” You laugh, and Sam smirks. His dimple deepened into his cheek. “What made you want to leave your old life behind? And to just trust me after only knowing me for a month?” He asks, a genuine question you haven’t even thought of answering. You struggle to find an answer, because truly, there’s nothing that comes to mind.

“I mean... you want the truth?” You ask, and he nods. You update him what exactly what happened, who did it and why you thought to just say ‘fuck it’ and have the balls to finally have a chance to escape whether that meant losing your life for it. Sam has been concentrating on you telling your part so much that he looks emotional himself. His eyes are soft and understanding. They’re glossed over as if glazed with icing sugar. You can tell just from his aura he’s a sweet guy. Putting your trust in him seems like the right thing to do.

You both share your childhood trauma and as much as it hurts to bring it back up, you both poke jokes and find a little humour in all of it.

But at least in this little cafe on a random Wednesday morning, this place, this atmosphere, and Sam allows you to begin again.

[dancinglikebutterflywings]

Apartment 13 | Seo Changbin

-> Pairing: Seo Changbin x Witch!Reader

-> Request: No. This is a repost from my old account. It was part of my Halloween special.

-> Synopsis: Y/N finds out she's moved next door to a possible witch hunter but at least he's cute.

-> Warnings: Rumours, nosy neighbour, mentions of witch hunters.

-> Word Count: 982

-> Requests: Open.

Changbin Masterlist | Tag List Sign-Up | Requesting Guidelines

©️ 2024 dancinglikebutterflywings - do not copy/modify/repost anywhere. Likes, comments & reblogs are welcomed and appreciated, thank you.

“I’ve heard some rumours about her?” A neighbour confronts Changbin as they stand outside their apartment building. Changbin was waiting outside for Bang Chan to drop off his coat that he left at his apartment. The nosy neighbour has caught him curiously watching her. “You might not want to get involved with her.”  

Changbin looks towards at the nosy neighbour before his eyes shift back to the new neighbour that’s having a conversation with the building’s doorman. There’s a friendly smile on her lips and a kindness in her eyes as they seem to be talking like they’ve known each other for a long time.  

“The thing about rumours is that most of them are usually false,” Changbin says looking back at the nosy neighbour with an unimpressed look.   

This woman is well known in the building to be the biggest gossip and the one to spread any rumour she heard whether it be true or false. He’d heard her weekly book club gathering is nothing more than a gossiping session. Every time Changbin sees her, she has something new to talk about and he was getting sick of listening to it. Her speaking to him ended today.  

“And unlike you, I can form my own opinion about someone without having to listen to rumours and gossip,” he says and walks over to Chan’s car, who just pulled up. Chan not having much time to exchange pleasantries on his way to work, he takes his coat and thanks him before heading back inside the building.  

He makes his way onto the elevator and just as the doors are about to close, they reopen and his new neighbour steps on.   

“I really thought I was going to miss that,” she speaks, her voice soft and almost too quiet for him to hear. After seeing the button to their floor has already been pushed, she turns to him and holds out her hand. “I’m Y/L/N Y/N. I just moved into apartment 13.”   

‘Unlucky number,’ he thinks in his head as he introduces himself. “Seo Changbin, apartment 11.”   

“I don’t think 13 is an unlucky number,” she says. His reaction causes her eyes to grow wide in shock as she realizes she said it out loud.   

He looks at her confused, a little curious and somewhat weirded out. “I never said it was.”  

Her eyes grow wide, her cheeks flushing red from embarrassment and panic sets in as she realizes she had said that out loud. “I uh... People usually... 13’s always been known as an unlucky number so... Thank you for saying what you did to that lady out there.”  

Now Changbin looks even more confused. The apartment building doors were able to cancel out most of the noise coming from the outside street. There’s no way she would have heard the two of them talking from where she was standing talking to the doorman inside.   

“She’s the building’s gossip queen,” he tells her in almost a warning. “If you don’t want to get caught up in it, you should avoid her the best you can.”  

“I’ve already heard what she’s been saying about me,” she admits, her gaze falling to the floor of the elevator but not out of embarrassment. She’s been many places where she became the subject of people’s idle gossip. The rumours follow her wherever she goes. All she can do is ignore them the best she can. “I guess you’ve already heard it. I’m cursed. I’m a witch. I made my ex fall in love with me and then sacrificed him in some satanic ritual.”   

“I’ve heard. It doesn’t mean I believe it,” he says looking at her, his eyes scanning her from head to toe. She didn’t look or seem like the murderous type, but this is the first time they’re talking. He doesn’t know a thing about her.  

“Maybe you should,” she whispers as the elevator doors open, and steps outside.  

He frowns in confusion and steps off the elevator just before the doors close again. He looks down the hall. Y/N is no longer in sight. The floor is empty aside from him.  

“Why does he have to be so cute?" Y/N says scolding no one in particular, after she teleported herself into her apartment. She hurries into her bedroom, the diary her mother left her shooting from its hiding spot into her hands.  Flipping through the pages, she stops on the one she’s looking for. Handwritten in bold letters is Changbin’s surname with witch-hunters and cursed written next to it. Going through the pages again she tries to find answers to the questions running through her mind.   

“If he’s a witch hunter, then why can I hear his thoughts? He also never mentioned the mark,” she continues, looking down at the black swirl pattern covering her arm. "Was he pretending not to see the mark? Can he still see the mark if I can hear his thoughts?"

From what she’s been taught a witch hunter’s thoughts are protected from witches but the only way a witch hunter could tell if someone is a witch was the tattoo like markings that cover their left arm. A light witch, with her final breath, had added it to the witch hunters curse so no more innocent humans were killed due to a hunter’s hatred for the supernatural being.   

“What if the witch hunter curse has ended? Can it end? So many questions, and no answers. I thought this was meant to help me, mother.”   

She tosses the diary on her bed just as there is a knock on her apartment door. Exiting her bedroom, she walks to the door and looks through the peephole finding Changbin there with what looks like a bag of food.  

“Again, why does he have to be so cute?” she quietly groans and against her better judgement, opens the door to greet him.   

Tagged: @staytiny2000 - @kpopmenace143 - @alexxavicry - @jedi-dreea - @rainydayteacups

@tinyelfperson - @laylasbunbunny - @skz1-4-3 - @pinkies-things - @kayleefriedchicken

@everythingboutkpop

[draculasfavoritewife]

Hunted

Summary: Tatooine is a planet filled with old ghosts, and when one of yours rears its ugly head again, your Mandalorian takes matters into his own capable hands.

Pairing: Din Djarin x fem!Reader

Warnings: Canon-typical violence and minor OC death at the end. Allusions to hunter/prey roleplay and bondage, my voice kink makes a couple of cameo appearances. I the writer was particularly thirsty for Din Djarin the day I wrote this and thus take full responsibility for the results.

This is really one of the most blatantly self-indulgent things I've written, born of many long daydreaming sessions and my love for any episode where my man rubs elbows with the delightful and despicable denizens of the OG desert planet. I truly can't explain it, Tatooine Din™️ just hits me different, so please enjoy this very long fic about it.

*Translations of less common words/phrases in Mando'a at the end

You step into the crowded main street of the city, taking a moment to let all of your senses adjust to the stark difference. The last week or so has been spent on the ship in a cold vacuum, the gleaming blur of hyperspace and the steady thrum of engines a constant gentle halo in the background. It was nice, if a little quiet for your personal taste. Your partner certainly doesn’t talk much, and you tend to spend much of your time alone with him less conversationally inclined as a result.

He’s rubbed off on you that way. 

Now the twin suns of Tatooine scorch down on you from above, making eyes that have become accustomed to soft darkness sting. A throng of street vendors, lowlifes, and ne’er-do-wells streams through the ragtag market on all sides, moving bodies chattering nonstop in floods of Basic, Huttese, Aqualish, Droid, and snatches of more exotic tongues. 

A moment, and you feel yourself suddenly at ease again, as your brain resets back to your old lifestyle in the Core Worlds. It feels like putting on a well-loved shaak-leather coat that remembers all your contours just right. 

“You look happy,” the Mandalorian observes from beside you. 

You always wonder about him, how he's actually faring under that helmet, so shiny in this harsh light that you come away with spots in your vision after glancing at him too long. Din walks with the easy confidence of a man that’s walked these alleys many times before, but you know him more personally than most. He’s a quiet man under that shell, one who vastly prefers his solitude and finds the company of most beings in the galaxy a soul-stealing chore after two minutes. 

And unlike you, he never relaxes. 

“I am.” You side-eye him, briefly admiring his prowling stride as he diligently scans the moving figures surrounding the pair of you. “Sometimes I really like big crowds.” 

“You’re crazy,” he remarks. “This many people add too many variables.” 

“Your comment stands.” You draw closer to him in order to reach into the satchel slung across his body and ruffle the Kid’s long ears. “But to me, it’s almost easier. I can usually read people’s intentions pretty well. Bodies speak louder in crowds.” 

“I suppose.” He hasn’t stopped his surveillance yet. You can guess at how his eyes are darting here and there beneath the visor. He probably has at least two escape routes planned out already, if not more. 

You want nothing more than to tell him to relax and enjoy himself — you’re not even here on hunter business, simply to refuel and stock up on supplies before your next run — but you know that’s a useless endeavor. 

“I found that strangely hot, by the way,” you say instead, since it HAS been taking up space in your mind for some time. 

“What?” 

“Finding out you speak Tusken. That’s VERY attractive.” 

It was. When he had to negotiate with the scouts on your way into town, you couldn’t deny the fluttering in your stomach at hearing his low, smoky voice bark out the harsh sounds as he supplemented his meaning with crisp sign language. 

And besides the sound of it, you certainly find it very hot for a man of his stature to be so willing and ready to communicate and settle fraught situations peacefully. 

“I — what — I don’t — ?” 

It still makes you grin, how easily flustered he is when you catch him off-guard with flirting. 

“Don’t you think so, Grogu?” You poke the Kid’s tiny nose. “Isn’t it attractive when your buir talks like that?” 

The little one squeals enthusiastically in response, probably more to your teasing than the actual question. 

“Stop that, don’t encourage her.” Din casts a disapproving look first at the Kid and then at you; it strikes you as funny how well you can translate such a simple tilt of the helmet. “And don’t you ask him that, he’s just a kid.” 

“I think you’re blushing under that bucket,” you smirk, sidling away. 

“I’m not.” 

You subside with the teasing for the time being, and the Mandalorian releases a sigh of relief as you start wandering, letting handmade jewelry and stoneware snatch your attention away from him. He’s getting better at keeping up with your rapid changes of interest, but somehow your more romantic moods still manage to get the better of him when you’re out in public. 

He blames the environment. When it’s just the two of you alone, he can see what’s coming in the slant of your lips or the way you suddenly decide to plant yourself right in front of whatever he’s working on. And he’s almost as likely to initiate now, so long as the Kid’s not in the same room. But out here, as his field of vision constantly shifts in the sea of bodies, and his right hand drifts between Grogu in his satchel and the pistol at his hip, he just doesn’t possess the bandwidth to also process what the kriff could possibly turn you on so much about his language skills. 

He tucks that particular piece of information away in a metaphorical corner, to dissect and possibly use at a later time. 

You return to him after your little side trip, flirtation seemingly forgotten for now. “I saw a ring at that one booth —” you gesture over your shoulder “— that I’m almost positive is dolovite. So pretty. I’m not even sure the vendor knows what he’s got. It’s tempting.” 

“I bet.” He notes the tone of your voice, the way you glance back one more time as the pair of you move on. 

“But we are here for the essentials, first and foremost. Maybe if it’s still there by the end of the day.” 

He nods thoughtfully, and listens as you ramble through the list of what the three of you need, both in terms of provisions and to keep the ship flying. 

The sooner you’re all able to leave this crowd and noise behind, the better. 

He doesn’t care for the feeling that his little clan’s safety isn’t completely under his control. 

Hours later, stewardship of the satchel carrying the Kid has passed over to you. Din carries the day’s purchases, slung from either end of the pole balanced across his wide shoulders. He watches affectionately from behind his immobile visage of beskar at the sight of you spiritedly haggling with a Twi’lek vendor over the price of fruit. The arm not being used to illustrate your point cradles Grogu, half-asleep, close to your torso, and it touches something deep inside him, to see you care for his foundling so naturally. 

The image almost — almost — lulls him into something resembling a dangerous sense of peace.

Almost, but not quite. 

Which is why, when the blaster bolt narrowly misses your shoulder and instead blows a crate of produce into a violently sticky explosion, he’s only a half-second slower than he normally would be as he pivots sharply and yanks out his own weapon. His shot drops the sniper leaning out of a second-story window across the street, a Rodian crumpling to the ground in a tangle of ragged cloak. 

His armor-clad body is positioned in front of you in another second, keeping you and the Kid sandwiched between the booth and his beskar as he rapidly searches for any more guns to rear their ugly muzzles. 

The market has dissolved into chaos around you, but no more fire is heard. 

You slip your DL-44 out of your back holster with one hand and push the satchel carrying Grogu further out of the way with the other. The road had cleared in seconds, the trembling fruit vendor ducking down behind his wares. The atmosphere is suddenly quiet, too many people holding their breaths all at once. 

“See anything?” you whisper to Din. 

“Negative,” he mutters back. “He was acting alone, or else the others have retreated. Looking for heat signatures is useless, they’re everywhere here.” 

A grim suspicion starts to rise in your chest, but you keep your voice removed as you step from behind him and give him a sharp nod. “Cover me? I need to take a look at our shooter.” 

He stalks behind you as you cross, your trigger finger settling into its well-worn spot in readiness. Grogu is silent; only the tips of his giant ears poke up from the top of the bag. 

For a kid, he’s been in enough firefights to know the drill by now. 

Arriving beside the smoking form of the Rodian, you flip him over and push aside the cloak, your hand drawing back when you see exactly what you were afraid you would find. 

The sigil of a sand ape emblazoned on his jacket in red. 

“Talk to me,” Din urges, voice tight. “Do you know why he was targeting you?” 

You straighten up and bite your lip for a second, struggling over the best way to break the news to him. You’d thought it was long enough ago that old scores would be forgotten, but on Tatooine, grudges rarely die, instead simmering deep beneath the filth like a krayt dragon awaiting its next meal. 

And now you’ve unwittingly brought your riduur and his ad’ika into danger. 

“I lived in Mos Eisley for a bit at one point.” You sigh. “And I left under…difficult circumstances. I’m a bit of a loose end as far as a local gang is concerned, Din. They paid well for some mercenary jobs — it was a nice temporary setup. Last hit I was hired for turned out to have a Guild bounty on him though, and they paid more to have him delivered alive. I saw a business opportunity and didn’t look back. But I made some powerful people here pretty angry.” 

“Dank farrik.” He curses under his breath. You can nearly hear his exasperated thoughts — can’t I have ONE uneventful outing? Just ONE? — but he shakes it off swiftly and is soon all business again, his next query clipped and brusque. “Does he have a tracking fob?” 

You shake your head. “They don’t want Guild here anymore, if you recall. No, it’ll be a more intimate affair, I’d bet my blades on that. This is about revenge and closure; if there’s a reward payout it’s from the boss man himself, and probably only advertised by word of mouth.” 

The Mandalorian refocuses his thoughts from where they ever so briefly derailed at your casual misuse of the term “intimate affair” and grunts his acknowledgment. “I gather the boss man wants you alive, then?” 

You laugh, a dry, ironic sound. “Oh, he will. I have a feeling he wants to watch me suffer a bit before he kills me. Or who knows?” With a shrug, you shove the body into an alleyway and return to where you both left your purchases, only the dance of your tense fingers across the grip of your blaster giving away your readiness to protect yourself. “Maybe he’ll make me his own personal slave instead. I knew all that club dancing I did would come in handy someday.” 

Din makes a hissing sound of annoyance at your flippant tongue as he follows. There’s something about the way you can talk so carelessly about such degrading fates that truly distresses him. He knows you don’t need his protection on the same level the Kid does, but the thought of either of those options actually befalling you under his watch makes his hands clench into fists, leather gloves protesting as they stretch across his knuckles. But he knows too, that dark humor is often your way of dealing with stress, so he endeavors to let it slide and not see red. 

“Do you know where he is?” he demands suddenly. 

“The boss man? I used to. And there are people I could ask.” You take the satchel with the Kid off and hand it back to him, opting to take the parcels instead. He can fight with a baby strapped to him better than you can, and knowing you’re the primary target this time, you’d rather keep him safer. “Why?” 

“Later.” His voice has gone tense again, he must have seen something you don’t. “Right now we have to get out of here. You’re too exposed.” 

Your gaze falls on a nearby speeder bike with no obvious owner nearby. “They’ve gotten lax without me around,” you smirk, straddling the bike and revving its powerful engine. “Leaving their valuables all helpless and unattended. It’s a real shame.” 

The Mandalorian is staring at you, the drop of his shoulders suggesting surprise at your brazenness. 

“Get on,” you encourage him, laying the carrying pole across the seat behind you. “You’re getting twitchy, so there must be trouble. What’s got your cape in a twist?” 

He takes a seat behind you and settles his pulse rifle across his knees. “There’s a couple more in similar jackets closing in,” he reveals in an undertone. “And I just haven’t seen you…steal a vehicle before, is all.” 

A shot pings over his helmet before you can properly react to that. 

“Drive!” he orders, pivoting to return fire. 

You oblige, gunning the motor and tearing off down the main thoroughfare. “There’s still a few things you haven’t seen me do, Cyare,” you toss back as he dusts one of the gang members on your way past. “You and the Kid made me go soft.” 

He huffs doubtfully and nods to a narrow opening between buildings up ahead. “Can you get us out of sight?” 

“If you hang on tight enough.” You execute a tight turn at the last moment and shoot down the alley, glad the bike is compact enough to follow the cramped tunnel between the crumbling dwellings. “It’s gonna be rough ’til we’re in the open, though.” 

Din doesn’t answer in words, but his free arm wraps around your waist and you can feel the Kid’s small body tucked between the two of you. 

And it’s almost an oddly pleasant feeling, outrunning any would-be pursuers with the two of them held so close. 

By the end of the hour, supplies have been loaded into the ship and Grogu has been left in the doting care of Peli, who as always is more than happy to entertain the little guy as long as you and Din keep trouble far away from her repair station. You and the Mandalorian are now camped out on a rooftop overlooking the marketplace, a tattered fabric canopy mercifully providing some scant relief from the sunlight if not the oppressive heat. As always, your riduur appears totally indifferent to such a thing as physical discomfort, leaning out from under the awning to scope the street below through the sight of his rifle. 

Does his armor have an internal cooling system? Or are Mandalorians really just that tough? 

“You know, we could just leave,” you finally suggest. “It’s not like this particular group ever goes off-world.” 

“We could.” 

You can tell there’s a reason why he won’t. 

“But I return to Tatooine semi-frequently. And I don’t want you to constantly be looking over your shoulder every time.” 

You sit back with a sigh, idly tuning up your blaster. His ways are still foreign to you sometimes. Before your partnership, you made a life depending on adaptability and quick thinking. Having only yourself to worry about, and knowing there was no one else out there worrying about you, made it easier to simply uproot and go elsewhere whenever the heat was on you. 

Din is nearly the opposite. If there’s a way he can make things more secure for those in his care, if there’s a good enough reason, he won’t ever back down from a struggle.

He already has his mind made up. 

It’s just a bit jarring to realize that you’re the good enough reason this time. 

“What are you thinking, then?” you prompt. 

He doesn’t break his focus on the area below as he answers. “I’m thinking I just killed a couple gang members and got some interesting information out of them. I’m ex-Guild and looking for work, and being a ruthless mercenary, I might just be willing to turn on a crew member if the price is right.” 

You can’t help your sudden intake of breath at his ingenious plan. “And once we get there?” 

He finally turns to face you, his next words cold and hard as tempered beskar. “Then we kill him.” 

And there’s something a little bit more menacing in there than simple pragmatism. He has taken on the role of cabur for you and the Kid; this isn’t just about keeping trouble off your backs in future. 

Someone has threatened you, and he will not rest until that threat has been put down.

That is his duty, and he will not shirk it. 

“I love you,” you murmur, barely above the hot breeze that rakes through your hair. 

He rises to his feet, shoulders his rifle. “And I you. Which is why we’re going to have to make this look convincing. You get a two-minute head start. Whenever you’re ready.” 

You swipe a dull sand-colored cloak from a stall as you pass, immediately diving into the heart of the throng, which seems to have recovered from the earlier incident. Mos Eisley is nothing if not desensitized to crime and violence, and for a moment, you almost lose yourself in awe at the apathy of the average citizen as you let the flow of movement carry you along. Nobody cares what happens around here, so long as it doesn’t happen to them. 

It’s…odd, to remember how it felt to think that way. 

Shaking yourself back into the moment, you weave between beings of all shapes and sizes, focusing on making yourself forgettable and not appearing in too much of a hurry. You know Din will find you no matter where you end up — he’s just too good at his job not to. So for the moment you let yourself enjoy this little game, a moment spent as the quarry of a very desirable predator. 

It would be a lie to say you haven’t fantasized about this before. 

A ripple passes through the crowd to your left and behind you, people shifting to make room, like river currents split by a large stone. Only one person you know could possibly cause such a stir.

Only idiots choose to stand in the way of a hunting Mandalorian. 

Which means he’s here. 

Your heart accelerates and you try to think of a way to stall him just a little longer. Reluctantly pulling a few credits from your belt pouch, you regretfully let them scatter in the dust, knowing the only thing that reliably beats fear is greed. The people nearest to you devolve into pushing and shoving in their eagerness to get their hands on them, a writhing wall springing up between you and your pursuer. 

With a grin, you slip backwards, drifting in the opposite direction of where you had been headed before, catching the barest glimpse of sun glaring off metal as you pass. 

That's a little longer. 

He’ll expect you to be thinking the way he thinks, not the way you do, so you stamp down the inclination to think that way and instead travel into a seedier part of town, seeking out more raucous company. Wandering through cantinas and gambling dens, you pick up a refreshing blue milk along the way and almost start to let the tension ebb from your muscles. But when you see him emerge from the street and gaze through the window of the same building you were just about to exit, your adrenaline shoots up again. A dash through a maze of alleys and one stolen ride on the back of a droid rickshaw later, and even you aren’t so sure what part of the city you’ve made it to. 

The twin suns are finally beginning to sink lower in the sky as you thoughtfully chew on a piece of bantha jerky and walk through a crowded residential section, no doubt where the lower classes live. It’s much quieter here, the low-income strata not having the credits to spend on frivolities at the market. 

It’s almost…too quiet. 

You hear him before you see him, an almost deceptively musical clink of the explosive charges on his belt against his vambrace as his arm brushes past. There’s nowhere to run anymore, so you pull back your hood with an admittedly dramatic flourish and discard your savory treat, hands sliding to the twin vibroblades sheathed at your thighs. 

“So, its finally come to this, Mando.” You pull your knives and take up a fighting stance. “No use in trying to sweet-talk you out of this, is there?” 

He doesn’t answer, just pulls his own blade and gestures with his chin as if saying “Try me”. 

So you do. 

The pair of you has sparred many times before, and this altercation is brief but outwardly brutal. Finesse is nice, but necessity calls for any potential advantage to be pressed and pressed hard. For the agility your much lighter choice of clothing grants you, you can’t dent him when fully armored, so finally you resort to simple but effective tactics and throw dust in his face. 

Even a visor with a heat sensor takes a second to recalibrate from that. 

You do, however, have a scripted ending for this outing, and as you sprint off, his grappling cable snakes around your hips and down your legs, dropping you in the sand. He strides up to you, tosses a pair of binders down next to you. 

“Cuff yourself,” he orders, breath coming in heavy pants after your scuffle. “I’m taking you in.” 

And since it’s him who just captured you, who would have captured you eventually no matter what because he’s just THAT good, you don’t mind. 

No, you reflect as he hefts you over his shoulder and walks away from the few scattered spectators your fight drew out, you really don’t mind this arrangement at all. 

Maybe you’ll have to tell him that, later. 

Your former employer’s headquarters are still where you remember them, and you almost smirk at the sense of uncomfortable familiarity when Din lowers you to the floor and unties your legs. Still cuffed — and a bit tired after spending the afternoon trying to outwit the best hunter in the parsec — it’s not difficult to look angry and beaten down, kneeling there in the dust. 

The boss man rises from his seat at the table, a hulking Devaronian with a chipped horn and a hungry grimace. He swaggers over, nods at the Mandalorian standing behind you. 

“I suppose I can turn a blind eye at the loss of a few good men for this. You have absolutely no idea how this one little troublesome scavenger has been occupying my thoughts.” 

Din remains silent, simply holding out a hand, a wordless demand for payment. 

Your old boss grins, nods to a couple of lackeys to bring over the credits, hauls you to your feet by the back of your shirt. 

The Mandalorian’s hand brushes past your leg as you move, and one of your knives is quietly returned to its sheath. 

“Since you turned tail and ran so quickly after disobeying me, I assume you have some idea of what I do to clever little turncoats, don’t you?” sneers the Devaronian, leaning altogether too close for your liking. 

Your cuffed hands lower in seeming fear as you shrink beneath his intimidating glare. 

“This is going to be fun,” he threatens, a hand drawing up your neck and along your jaw. “You need to learn some respect, and I’m going to —” 

The vibroblade sunk deep into his chest cuts his words off rather suddenly. 

There’s a lot you can still do, even in binders. 

The outraged lackeys are swiftly dropped by precise shots from Din, and the two of you are left gazing at each other in a now oddly quiet room. 

“I don’t know if I’d call that ‘fun’," you remark to your limp ex-boss, crouching to retrieve your knife. “A little anticlimactic, actually. Bit of a shame I had to do that. But also satisfying to see your plan turn out so well, don’t you think, Mando?” 

Din doesn’t answer right away, tucking away the bounty that he earned by catching you. “We should be on our way,” is what he finally grunts. “There’ll be more gang members swarming this place any minute now.” 

“I agree.” Rising to stand in front of him, you hold out your arms expectantly, casting a flirty smile up at his dark visor. “And, much as I enjoyed being your prisoner for a day, you can let me go now.” 

There’s a long pause. 

He stares down at your bound wrists, up at your face, down at your wrists again. He appears to be pondering something very intently, and your breath turns a little choppy for some reason. 

“I don’t think I will,” he says simply, after a little more consideration. 

“You won’t?” 

“Not yet.” His large hands tenderly find your hips, and he throws you over his shoulder again, walking out the exact same way you came in. “You’ve caused me quite a day here, you know. Keeping track of you like this might be the only way to make sure we don’t run into any more trouble.” 

“What would happen if I screamed ‘Help, I’m being kidnapped!’ as you carry me down the street?” 

He snorts. “No one’s going to help you here, Cyar’ika. Who’s going to challenge a Mandalorian over his prisoner?” 

You smirk. “No one in their right mind.” 

“Besides, you just said you enjoyed this.” There it is, a sly edge to his filtered voice, the indicator that he has more going on in his mind than simply staying out of more trouble. 

“Oh no, caught by an attractive bounty hunter! I’ll probably never see the light of day again.” You groan dramatically and drape yourself a bit more comfortably as he loosens up into an easier stride. “I’m completely at his mercy — who KNOWS what devious things he’ll do to me behind closed doors?” 

“This bounty hunter is hot and tired, and in need of a shower, if that gives you any consolation.” 

“Ah.” You poke him in the back. “Are you saying you’re all sweaty under this shiny shell, Cyare?” 

A hand slides up the back of your thigh, a subtle reminder that you ARE currently at his mercy, as you just said. 

Undeterred, you try again, knowing he must be getting more riled up than he lets on. “Have I ever told you how much I like it, when you take all these awful layers off for me and you’re all sweaty underneath…?” 

“I would rein in my suggestive tongue a little, if I were you.” He’s still looking straight ahead, but the edge beneath his words is a bit more strained now. “If you behave for me until we get back to the ship, maybe I’ll even take those binders off.” 

“And if I don’t?” 

He sighs. “My belt compartment back there. Take a look.” 

You manage to get it open, and can’t quite stifle a delighted sound as you pull out the dolovite ring from much earlier. “You sneaky son of a — ! How — ?” 

“I gave you a two-minute head start,” he shrugs, by way of explanation. 

“I adore you,” you inform him as you slip the ring onto your finger, admiring its burnished color. “I’ll be a good little prisoner for you, Mando, I promise. And who knows…,” you nudge him again. “Maybe I’ll let you keep these binders on me after all, since you’ve been so good to me today.” 

He can’t find anything to say to that, but by the fact that you can see the flush creeping up the back of his neck in that tantalizing gap between cowl and helmet, you know he’s definitely sweating now, if he weren’t before. 

“Is my big bad bounty hunter at a loss for words?” you tease softly. 

He clears his throat. “Just saving my voice, Mesh’la. If you’re REALLY well-behaved, I might — possibly — be persuaded to talk Tusken to you later. Possibly.” 

The idea takes a moment to fully crystallize in your brain; Din, and a shower, and binders, and if you just stop teasing him so naughtily in public he might actually bring that unreasonably provocative language into the bedroom? 

You finally let yourself relax into his hold, and after a bit you hear his breathy sigh of relief that you aren’t going to keep tormenting him anymore for the moment. 

After all, he has put forth an offer you can’t refuse. 

Ad'ika = Little One/Small child

Cabur = Protector

[wandasgf]

II. DARK LEGION. mdni. 18+. series masterlist

pairings: wanda maximoff + mutant!reader

summary: you and wanda talk... kind of

warnings: slight violence

wc: 1.8k~

< previous chapter | next chapter >

It’s a stupid question, Wanda knows that. Of course you know about the prophecy, why else would you be here? There is no way that you just happened to show up out of nowhere without knowing. You nod, and you’re happy your hands are occupied in your pockets to stop them from twitching or fidgeting, you haven’t had this many eyes on you in, well, a while. “Agatha spoke to me about it briefly,” you pause for a second, “but I’m not entirely familiar with what it seems to be talking about.”

You hope Wanda understands what you mean when you say that without having to say it explicitly. You’re familiar with who Chthon is, but what you don’t know is what exactly the Darkhold means by Wanda being ‘born from Chthon’ and simply because of the nature of the God, you’re not sure she would be willing to discuss it so openly and in front of everyone. You’d been thinking about it for a combined few hours now, trying to figure out what exactly is meant by the word ‘born’. You were actually largely confused by the fact that this prophecy was in the Darkhold at all. That, however, was something you could think about later.

Agatha cuts in before Wanda can speak and effectively seals both of your fates, “Wanda, dear, why don’t you take our Hunter to the library? You two can discuss the prophecy while the rest of us come up with a plan. Maybe some of Tony’s gadgets can help track down Lilith.” She smiles after she’s done and you both know you can’t say no because it wasn’t really a question. You should just leave, really, go back to that middle of nowhere town and forget all of this even happened, but you still can’t shake that nagging feeling in the back of your head. The one that tells you this is something you have to do whether you want to or not.

It’s quiet as the two of you walk to the library, the only sound being your footsteps on the floor and the occasional bird chirping outside when you walk past an open window. It’s not an entirely awkward silence, it’s just that neither of you are particularly willing to start a conversation. You’re focused too much on trying to remember exactly where the library is just in case it becomes useful in the future, and Wanda’s trying not to focus on the way her heart speeds up when you're near.

In order to ignore the way your own heart seems to be beating out of your chest, something that hasn’t happened in a long long time, you attempt to make small talk. “What,” you pause for just a second, trying to figure out which question you want to ask, “did Tony mean when he said ‘new’ loverboy? And what’s so funny about me not being a boy?” It comes out a little awkwardly, not used to talking with people lately. And, admittedly, you realize you sound a little childish asking this particular question and something tugs at the nerves in your forearms when you do. It gives you a feeling you’d rather not think about.

Wanda merely glances at you, “I don’t believe that has anything to do with the prophecy, does it?”

You inwardly wince. Wrong question to ask, then. Your people skills clearly need work, but Wanda is also clearly guarded and doesn’t seem to want you around. She’d sounded unhappy, but cordial at best when she greeted you merely ten minutes ago. You can’t blame her, though, you’re not that happy to be here either. However, you can be cordial, too. There’s no need to act familiar with her, because even if it feels like you are, you’re not. “Of course, my apologies. That was rude of me to ask.. I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped.”

It really is none of your business what Wanda’s past relationships were or if she had any at all, you’re not sure why that was one of the first questions you asked, it wouldn’t usually be. What you do know is that the pulling in your nerves has shifted to a pulling at your veins that spreads through your body and you’re certain that it has nothing to do with Wanda now. You try not to let it show, but something outside of the compound is beckoning you towards it, calling for every essence of your being.

Your head snaps to the side and quicker than Wanda can even open her mouth to ask why you’ve stopped walking, your dagger is unsheathed and lodged into the chest of some… thing, pinning it against the wall and watching as the holes where its eyes would be glow green before they go dim and the creature turns to ash with a shrill screech. You’re not sure what it is and neither is Wanda, but the pulling in your veins has stopped and you feel the tension leave your body.

“What was that?” Wanda’s eyes have widened slightly as she looks between you and the pile of ash on the ground. “I…” you’re hesitant to say it, not wanting to face the facts, “believe it was sent by my mother.” You re-sheath the knife when you’re sure that was the only one. Wanda hadn’t even noticed you had it, otherwise she might have been more hesitant than she already was to go to the library alone with you. Even though she has no reason to suspect you’ll hurt her. In fact, part of her knows that you would never.

“What a—” Wanda thinks of what to say, not wanting to say anything to offend you, but knowing a thing or two about bad ‘parents,’ “nice welcome present.” She settles with, and you actually laugh a little. It’s quiet and it’s mixed with a bit of disbelief, but it’s a laugh and Wanda almost doesn’t hate the way it makes her feel warm inside. “Yeah, it almost makes up for the missed birthdays.”

The rest of the walk to the library is quiet and uneventful. Since there was only the one creature in the hallway and you couldn’t sense any more, the two of you decided you’d just tell Agatha after she was done whatever it was she was doing and perhaps she could tell you what it was. It wasn’t quite so tense with you and Wanda now, a little joke goes a long way, but neither of you attempted to make any small talk afterwards. You don’t feel the apprehension radiating off of Wanda anymore and she doesn’t feel the need to run away radiating off of you.

The library is nice if not a little dusty, as if the Avengers don’t make use of it nearly as much as they should. If you had a library like this you would be in it all the time. The bookshelves are a deep brown color and you run your fingertip across the length of one of the smaller shelves. Real wood. The room itself is huge and the walls are lined with bookshelves. There’s space in the center of the room with a large wooden table and a few chairs, but the rest of the space is filled with rows of bookshelves. You wonder just how many topics are covered in all of these books and if any of them have anything to do with what’s going on right now.

Your fingertips graze the spines of a couple of books as you make your way to the table, stopping to peer around the room. Wanda doesn’t speak, just observes as you take in the compound’s library. She had been enamored with it when she first moved into the compound and it seems to have the same effect on you. She’s noticed that the older books are the ones that catch your eye and for reasons she’s largely ignoring, files that detail away for later.

You reach into your back pocket and grab the envelope, taking it out and setting it on the table without really looking. It slides a little when it hits the wood before stopping. You don’t speak at first and neither does Wanda, waiting for you to figure out what you want to do, watching the wheels turn in your head as you look up at the ceiling. You take a breath before you look at the witch. There’s not exactly any point in keeping secrets, you decide.

“You know, I wasn’t going to come. When Agatha sent me that letter,” you gesture to the wrinkled envelope on the table, “I was fully prepared to ignore it. After all, it’s not exactly custom to agree to help someone you haven’t seen or spoken to in fifteen years, but there was something nagging me in the back of my mind, telling me I had to at least figure out what it was she wanted. But now that I’m here… I don’t think that’s what it was at all.”

Wanda’s breath catches because she knows what you’re going to say next and she doesn’t know if she wants you to or not. She feels it, too, the pull in her chest, and it’s like she can almost see the energy that connects you to her and her to you. She doesn’t entirely hate your presence anymore and it’s scary. It’s scary because it’s only been about 30 minutes and she can’t tell if these are her own feelings or if she just thinks she’s feeling this way because she’s supposed to. It’s scary because no one had ever made her feel anything more than indifference in less than a week. Up until she’d met you, hell, up until ten minutes ago, she had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t want anything to do with you, but now that you’re here she doesn’t know if she can ignore that pull. It’s almost infuriating. It was something she was going to ignore until you brought it up, but now that you have—

“I still don’t really know what I’m supposed to be doing here, but,” your voice pulls Wanda back to the present and she knows she has to stop you before you continue. “Don’t… please,” it’s a plea because she knows once you say those words there’s no taking them back, once the universe knows, there’s no taking it back, “I know, but it hasn’t even been a day and I,” her next words make bile rise up in her throat, “I have Vision.”

[clu-ven]

I don‘t know if your Requests are open, but if they are could you write one where the Reader is a Jedi and traveling with the Bad Batch and when they meet Rex in the Bar she finally reunites with him and the Bad Batch just being so confused that a Jedi and Clone were in a relationship while the Republic was still there.🤗

That Familiar Feeling

word count: 3.4k

tags: vague mentions of dealing with grief and order 66, self-doubt, crying, many happy kisses

~and before anyone points it out, lemme just say this doesn't exactly match the scene of Rex reuniting with the Batch (for obvious reasons and because I forgot little details which is annoying me lol)~

Something’s… off.

Entering Cid’s Parlour, the feeling of the force overwhelms you. It’s as if someone has thrown cold water over you, the force welcoming you with an eerie friendliness. It makes you falter, stopping abruptly as the sensation ambushes you.  

“Oof-” Echo walks straight into you, bumping against your shoulder. He takes a step to the side, his surprised expression quickly becoming one of concern “You ok? What is it?”. 

“I… I’m not sure,” you answer honestly, before trying to ease his worry “It’s probably nothing, I’ll be fine in a few minutes”. 

Echo isn’t convinced but he gives you a nod, not wanting to pry. “If you’re sure…” giving you a swift once over to make sure you didn’t get injured on the mission, he carries on.

It’s been a while since you last connected with the force, becoming hesitant to reach out ever since it happened. You tried in the initial days after the order was given but the overwhelming pain and grief that greeted you each time made you pull away. 

It’s not something you could deal with then and it’s not something you can deal with now, the wounds still fresh in your mind.

But this is a different feeling. It’s the force you used to know, something that worked with you and not against. It’s familiar… and that puts you on edge. 

With this familiarity brings a fear of the unknown. When you worked hand in hand with the force, you could have located what’s causing this in a matter of seconds… but nowadays, where you go from week to week without reaching out to the force, it’s much harder, with the subtle shift in atmosphere being your only warning that something is different.

Your eyes scan the parlour, though there’s nothing out of the ordinary. The usual crowd is here, drinking their problems away and playing Dejarik.

Unfortunately, the Batch has gotten back later than expected, so the limited sunlight that graces Cid’s parlour during the day has vanished. Now, you can only rely on the frustratingly dim lights to help your investigation.

“C’mon, this way,” Cid cuts off your search, walking past you as she gestures to her office. Everyone begins to follow her, though you’re more reluctant. 

Hunter catches your eye and you know he can sense it too but through a different method. Exchanging uneasy looks, you both make a silent agreement to stay on high alert before trailing after Cid and into her office. 

Thankfully Cid isn’t in the mood for nonsense (when is she?) and so she gets straight into business. You stay quiet during the debrief of the mission and the accompanied discussion of payment, your mind elsewhere.

Although the feeling isn’t as strong in here, it’s still undoubtedly nearby, invading your every thought. Even when Cid’s focus turns to you, the feeling’s hold on you doesn’t fade.

“What’s her problem?” her voice is faint, as if she’s far off in the distance. 

You don’t react. While this feeling is certainly daunting, a part of you is scared that if you push it away, this sliver of familiarity will slip through your fingers and disappear forever.

More talking ensues, though it’s more like mumbling to you, and you presume Cid has brushed past your reserved demeanour.

The harder you focus on the force, the quieter their voices become. Closing your eyes to further centre yourself, the feeling slowly becomes intelligible. You’re so close to uncovering what is causing this when it happens.

The sound of blaster fire is so sudden, you accidentally let go of the feeling, your body tensing at the noise. Your eyes dart open and for a split second, everyone freezes, the realisation of conflict sinking in before military training quickly takes over. 

You reach down, instinctively going to grab your lightsaber but instead find a blaster in its place. Turns out, carrying a lightsaber in a galaxy where Jedi are seen as traitors isn’t the best idea.

Hunter takes the lead, charging out of the office and into the main area. Cid keeps up his pace, ready to defend her business with everything she’s got. You’re next in line, alongside Echo. Tech and Wrecker are the last out, both keeping Omega close.

As the other patrons scurry out, a hooded figure stands by one of the tables. Placing their blaster down on the metal surface, their armour immediately catches your attention. You almost didn’t notice the colour painted on to the plastoid, the dim lights distorting the shade of blue. 

It can’t be. Surely not. 

As much as your brain wants to rationalise it as being someone else, the instantly recognisable blue of the 501st is hard to deny. Before the figure pulls down their hood, the feeling finally reveals itself to you. 

This familiar feeling is not one to fear. It is not the grief of losing one’s you admittedly became attached to or the terror of how the war ended but instead, it’s the exact opposite. 

It’s a reminder of why you fought so hard. It’s the warmth people can bring, the safety you give others and is fondly reciprocated. But it’s more than that. It’s love. It’s Rex.

“Who are you?” yells Cid, gesturing to him. The others are still on high alert, with not even the likes of Echo noticing the comforting blue paint.

His gloved hands cautiously pull down his hood, revealing the face you’ve longed to see again. He looks uncertain, his eyes glancing over everyone until finally landing on you. 

Although his face is sullen with a mist of hesitancy shrouding his expression, you can still see his gaze soften for you. And that’s all you need to know it’s actually him standing in front of you, not some brainwashed soldier or distraction sent by the Empire. It’s truly him, the Rex you know and love.

Despite always wanting to hold out hope that you would meet him someday, you couldn’t deny the facts stated on the Empire’s records. You remember the ache in your chest when Tech read it out, solemnly stating that Rex was reported dead.

Tears sprout from your eyes, a mixture of pure happiness and relief washing over you. Echo opens his mouth to speak but you get there first, taking the words out of his mouth.

“Rex!” his name comes out as a choked cry, your knees starting to buckle as you close the distance between you both, Hunter and Cid automatically stepping out of your way. 

You don’t think you’ve ever felt so much emotion at once. Even when you first heard the news that Rex supposedly perished with the others, you suppressed your emotions. Though that was more out of fear, unsure if you could control the power of the force while facing so much grief. 

Perhaps that’s another reason why you distanced yourself from the force, scared that the constantly lurking presence of the dark side might have used such powerful yet negative emotions against you.

You know Rex isn’t a big fan of PDA, especially around his brothers but as you throw your arms around him, you feel him hold you back. His strong arms wrap around your waist, one hand running up your back to keep you as close as possible.

It’s a surreal moment to feel him against you, his hard armour hidden underneath his cloak digging into you as you try to press yourself even closer to him. Not that you particularly care about that right now. The only thing that matters at this moment is Rex. 

Burying your face into his neck, the warmth of his skin soothes you and for the first time in months, you relax. 

“I… I thought you…” you want to say a million things at once, your brain unable to pick one coherent thought to say “I heard what happened… the mission report said you were… Oh, Rex”.

Giving up on trying to speak, you move to see that handsome face of his again, your hands instinctively coming up to his jawline.

The look in his eyes isn’t what you’re expecting. A mixture of worry and fear shines in his gaze, his eyebrows pinching together as he wordlessly looks at you. It doesn’t take a jedi to figure out why this is his initial reaction. Considering the recent event between all clones and jedi’s, it’s understandable for him to be nervous. 

He’s scared that you won’t trust him, that what you once had together has died alongside the Republic. There’s only one way you can think of that can give Rex the reassurance he so desperately yearns for. Using your hands to keep his head in place, you kiss him. 

At first, you feel him tense. The shock that not only are you kissing him in general but in front of his brothers making him freeze. But just as you wonder if you made the right move, Rex melts into the kiss, his grip on your waist tightening as his lips begin moving against yours.

Unbeknownst to you, as your lips touch your beloved Captain’s, the Batches' mouths all happen to fall open. Well, most of them anyways. Tech is too busy doing something on his datapad to witness the kiss. 

Wrecker, who stands next to Tech, gives his brother a nudge. Tech looks up at his shocked face before looking over at you and Rex… and then casually back down to his datapad. 

“Wha- Tech,” Wrecker tries to whisper “are you seeing what I’m seeing? Or was I hit on the head too hard?”.

Tech glances up again just in time to see the end of the kiss and you affectionately bury your head back into the crook of Rex’s neck, the both of you whispering sweet nothings to one another.

“Considering her reaction when I informed her of the Captain's supposed demise, this isn’t a surprise” he shrugs, refocusing on his datapad.

Despite Tech’s statement that this isn’t a surprise, it most definitely is for Hunter, who stands there in complete shock. Even with his heightened senses, Hunter didn’t expect this. He isn’t sure what to do or where to look but thankfully, Omega grabs his attention. 

She lets out a small gasp as she makes her way to the front of the group, looking up at the others before a large grin spreads across his face.

“They look like good friends” she gives Hunter a wink and he rolls his eyes, subtly placing his hand on Omega's shoulder so he can swiftly cover her eyes if you two kiss again. 

Just like his brothers, Echo’s mouth falls open too but his lips quickly form a smirk. Memories come rushing back to him as he remembers the rumours that you two liked each other as well as the countless number of times Fives would try to get the Captain to admit his feelings.

It’s a strangely satisfying moment to see you both wrapped in each other’s embrace, finally getting some closure to what was once seen as a far fetched piece of gossip.

Speaking loudly so you’ll both hear, Echo pats Hunter on the back “C’mon, let’s give them some space”. As you pull your attention away from Rex, you watch the others silently agree, most of them giving you a reassuring nod before retreating to the bar area. 

Within a matter of moments, you lead Rex to one of the quieter parts of the parlour, your hand in his as you sit on one of the lumpy couches. Rex sits beside you, hand still enclosed around yours. 

You watch the Captain with adoration in your eyes, giving him a moment of silence as he gathers his thoughts. Your gaze lowers to his neck, noticing how his Adam's apple bobs anxiously. But then, he speaks.

“I… I thought about you every rotation, no matter how painful it was” Rex keeps his gaze down, watching how his thumb begins to rub the back of your hand “I wasn’t sure if you… well, if you made it. I tried searching for you through mission reports but when the Republic fell, my code was denied access to all official reports”. He huffs out a laugh “I was surprised the Empire was smart enough to do that”.

Giving his hand a small squeeze, you smile, though Rex doesn't notice, his eyes still cast downwards “Tech was able to hack into it. I’m marked as missing in action and uh, well, you’re actually marked as deceased”. You’re unsure how to deliver such news, unable to tell whether being labelled as dead is a good or bad thing, both choices having some pro’s and con’s.

Rex nods, quietly taking in this new information, though right now, he’s not that bothered by what the Empire has him marked as. Rex has more important things to address, the Empire surprisingly being at the back of his mind.

Staying silent, he lets the moment pass. Rex knows why you’re telling him this and he finds some solace in how you want to give him any intel you have. But there’s more important matters… or, well, relationships to discuss. 

Yet despite its importance, Rex is hesitant to bring this up. On one hand, he doesn’t want to mention Order 66 or the horrors it caused but he can’t just ignore it either.

As much as he wants to bask in his ignorance, oblivious to what you’ve been through since then or how you feel about the clones, it’s not something he can do. He has to know how you feel.

Speaking rather abruptly, the words spill from his mouth “I’m sorry for showing up without any warning”. 

You’re taken aback by his words, not seeing a reason why Rex should be apologising. Taking a deep breath, he elaborates “I’m not sure where you were when it happened, or what you’ve been through… I don’t even know if you want to see me and if you don’t, I’ll go”. 

Finally Rex looks up at you, his eyes glossy as he tries to keep his composure. But his voice betrays him, his tone cracking as he continues  “I want you to know that, you won’t hear from me again if that’s what you think is best. You have that choice. I don’t want to put you through more pain, especially after everything this face has done to you”.

You know he’s referring to the clones in general, doing a small gesture to his very recognizable face. Although Rex wasn’t with you when Order 66 was put in place, he has some understanding of what you’ve been through. 

Rex has had a lot of time to think about this, to picture how his brothers suddenly turned on you and tried with all their might to kill you.

It was this very thought that made him hesitate when you first entered the parlour. He was going to call out to you but then the doubts crept in. Maybe you wouldn’t see him but instead simply see the face of a clone, a face that tried to kill you, albeit not him specifically.

You’re sure you can feel your heart ache, watching as Rex tries his best to keep his emotions at bay. Bringing your hand up, you gently cup his face.

Before you can even speak, Rex leaves out a shaky breath, your touch comforting him in ways he didn’t know was possible.

Your voice is stern, determined to get your point across so Rex will undoubtedly understand how you feel. “The only thing this face has done is love me, cherish me, care for me when I’m injured…” you list out as Rex closes his eyes, hanging on your every word “carry me to bed when I’m too stubborn to rest, cheer me up when I’m sad and it’s this face that’ll go to the most dodgiest looking parlour in all of Ord Mantell in the hopes of finding me there”.

He smiles at that last part, a stray tear running down his cheek as he opens his eyes.

You’re quick to wipe it away, mirroring his smile with one of your own. Needing to keep you close, Rex rests his forehead on yours, savouring the sensation of your breath hitting against his face. “You’re sure?” He asks in a low whisper.

“Positive” you confirm, unable to resist the urge to capture his lips in another kiss.

Over at the bar, Wrecker tries his best to inconspicuously look over. Keeping his gaze fixed on the two of you, he nudges Hunter, causing the Sergeant to groan. “They're kissing again” he announces.

Echo rolls his eyes, poking Wrecker with his scomp link “Stop gawking at them, will ya?”. Wrecker flinches away from him, almost stumbling on to Hunter “Hey! Watch it with that!”.

“You’re the one who needs to watch it,” Echo retorts, his gaze drifting over to you two as he repeats his sentence in his head. “Actually, no, don’t watch it or well, them” he tries to clarify, huffing at himself before hastily stating “you need to watch where you’re staring!”.

“I’m just keeping an eye on her!” Wrecker snaps back “I didn’t think Regs and Jedi’s were on good terms anymore”.

Hanging his head low, Hunter tightens his grip on his drink. “Will the two of you shut it?” he huffs, feeling the inklings of a headache coming on. 

Echo opens his mouth to say more but stops himself, not wanting you and Rex to join them mid-argument. Instead, he decides to take another swig of his drink.

“Wrecker does have a point,” Tech chimes in “Rex could still have his inhibitor chip in place”.

Echo wastes no time in jumping in again, determined to defend his Captain. “Oh yeah, he definitely looks like he’s still chipped,” he replies sarcastically.

“Perhaps another defective chip? Or maybe the control the inhibitor chips possess are only for a limited time” Tech thinks out loud, purposely ignoring Echo’s response. 

“This is one long kiss,” Wrecker comments, causing Echo to once again roll his eyes as he realises Wrecker is still looking over “you don’t think they're going to uh… y’know… take it further? They know we can see them, right?”.

Echo doesn't even warrant that question deserving of a reply. 

Almost causing Hunter’s heart to jump out of his chest, Omega chirps up “How would they take it further”. She looks up at the Batch with an excited smile, the adrenaline of another clone being here yet to settle.

Hunter shoots Wrecker a glare, hurriedly fishing a few credits out of his pocket. “Here, kid” he drops the credits into Omega’s hand “do me a favour and beat Wrecker in a few games of Dejarik”. 

Omega’s eyes grow wide at the credits as she leaves out an “Oooooh” noise. Barking out a loud laugh, Wrecker beams “C’mon best of three, loser has to buy the winner Mantell Mix”. As the two of them wander off to another part of the parlour, Hunter leaves out a silent sigh of relief. 

The abrupt sound of Wrecker’s laugh catches both you and Rex off guard, causing Rex to reluctantly break off the kiss. His eyes dart from your face to where the others relax at the bar. “Was that directed at us?” he quietly mumbles, heat racing to his cheeks.

Giving him a reassuring smile, you peck his lips one more time “I doubt it, Rex”.

Rex gives you his signature lopsided smile in response, something you’ve ached to see for months. It makes you want to kiss him again but you can sense the others glancing over. 

“You ready to go over to them?” he asks, though judging from how his gaze lingers on your lips, you’re not the only one with the urge to kiss. 

“Yeah,” you nod, giving him a playful nudge as you add “the sooner you say hi to your brothers, the sooner I get you all to myself”. 

Rex chuckles in reply, standing as he tries to compose himself. “Oh you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to get you alone” he offers you his hand, shooting you a mischievous wink as he does.

“Well, Captain, you just have to wait another twenty minutes and I’m all yours” taking his hand, you stand, ready to reunite Rex with the Batch.

[amerricanartwork]

I saw your lilypad art post, and I got curious: why do you enjoy lilypad? it's not a common RW ship, so I'd be interesting to hear what about it you enjoy!

Hear me out, guys... I must explain myself before I get onto the Lilypad essay.

I made that original comment because, at the time, I wanted to just get the aforementioned headcanons out as soon as possible. Understand, my reluctance wasn't because I didn't want to talk about Lilypad, but rather the exact opposite: I had so many feelings about it, yet had put so little effort into expressing them in a coherent, presentable format that I just knew it'd distract me for the next week or two if I let it rent too much space in my conscious thoughts. But now that little comment has left me with several people asking me to share those thoughts, and, both thankfully and unfortunately, I simply can't resist indulging in thoughts about the characters I love—!

Keep in mind, I haven’t finished Saint campaign yet, and even then I’ve found like less than half the broadcasts in Spearmaster campaign yet, so there’s likely some extra canon info I may be missing that could add to or change some of what I say here. I also apologize if some of what I write here seems really out-of-character. I try not to let my passion for my little headcanons and scenarios make me disregard the canon, but even so, I might slip and think up some weird things occasionally. Nonetheless, I feel like I’ve got enough of the picture to start confidently enjoying this ship, so I’ll talk about it anyway! 

As always, feel free to add to these ideas if you can! Without further delay, enjoy this 3381-word essay, with a few initial headcanons sprinkled in, on why I adore Lilypad!

Oh, and just in case, if you couldn’t already tell, major Hunter campaign spoilers below.

Quetzalli on Loving Lilypad

I’m gonna start this out with a preface: I can generally find the appeal in a lot of different ships and the art other fans make for them, but for me to ship something enough to actively draw it and make my own headcanons about it and such (outside of, perhaps, gifts for other people), it usually has to contain a variety of “ship tropes” that I personally fancy. Many of my most-favorite ship tropes tend to be the ones that aren’t just cute, but that carry narrative significance and seem poetic in some way, usually because they can facilitate character arcs in the involved characters. The more of these a ship has, or the more ship tropes I can portray it with without it seeming too out-of-character, and the more I like those specific tropes, the better. This principle is a major reason why I’ve gravitated towards Artimand as my main slugcat ship, but for now, I’m going to focus on which of these I see in Lilypad — in canon content, other fan-portrayals, and my personal headcanons — that, as opposed to other iterator ships, has currently won me over.

I’m gonna describe the main general things I like seeing in this ship. Some of them are more due to fandom portrayals than what’s in the canon, but they all play a big role in my current love for Lilypad. 

Synergy

I’ll begin with how I really appreciate just how much synergy Looks to the Moon and No Significant Harassment are shown to have, at least in fan content! I always like seeing pairings where the characters aren’t just romantic, but also work really well together as a team or even just as friends. After all, just because the characters may be romantically in love doesn’t mean they must only show it in explicitly romantic ways. To me, Lilypad strikes me as a relationship where Sig and Moon would make an amazing team in many aspects of their lives, whether it's collaborating on projects, sharing their interests, or trying to maintain order in the rest of their group. And their compliment is just really sweet to me, though I’ll get to that later.

A Shoulder to Lean On/The Lady

One of my favorite ship tropes is “character with a lot of weight on their shoulder who finally gets to lift it off and be ‘normal’ for once when around the other”. I’ve always found it sweet when characters like this, especially ones who are normally very selfless, finally get a chance to indulge and enjoy themselves for once! And once again, this is another thing I imagine in Artimand too, and you could project this onto Trafficlights given Suns’s implied high status, but I think it works especially with Lilypad, given Moon’s role as group senior means she objectively has a lot to manage all the time with no permanent escape from it. Even beyond the whole Five Pebbles rot drama, Moon probably had a lot on her plate just in terms of maintaining order between the rest of the group and setting a good example to the younger generations, especially as the group expanded over time, not to mention trying to find the solution herself. Combine this with how I picture her to be the kind of person who cares a lot about her image as a “proper” and  “dignified” leader, and someone who often sacrifices her own desires to promote the group’s welfare, I just find it really soft for her to have someone to lean on, metaphorically (and in a worm-off-the-string scenario, literally), and who better to go to than her best teammate, who knows the power of a good laugh and will stop at nothing to have fun with those he loves? Not to mention, since I headcanon Sig as slightly younger than Moon (2nd gen, specifically), I just find it rather cute in an ironic sense that the older, more serious Moon is soft around the younger, far more chaotic Sig, especially as Moon would go through the realization that she actually kinda likes this little troublemaker! 

This also comes back to something I mentioned in the tags of that beepsnort post, which is that one of my other favorite ship tropes is “guy who loves/is good at making people laugh x girl who has a REALLY weird/embarrassing laugh”, and that just works so well with Lilypad! It’s admittedly a very headcanon-based thing for me, but given how I’ve already explained my perception of Moon as very proper and serious, I imagine one of the best ways Sig takes the weight off her shoulders is by being the only person who can consistently make her laugh so hard! And with the beepsnort headcanon it’s even cuter, because of course Moon would be super embarrassed every time she even so much as gives a half-chuckle at one of his jokes, because Sig is relentless when it comes to getting the giggles out of her, and he won’t stop until she’s rolling and shaking on the floor of her chamber, her beepy-snorts filling the room! My GODDD I love this trope so much, and for beings who are inherently such workaholics, I think getting to genuinely relax and have fun for a bit, once she gets over the initial shock and embarrassment, would be something Moon would really come to value.

Inverses Attract/The Tramp

I’ve mentioned it in my last Artimand headcanons post, but one of my absolute all-time favorite ship tropes is the classic “opposites attract”, although I prefer the name “inverses attract”. As I like to portray it, the trope not only involves characters who are opposites personality-wise, but those being opposites of the same core aspect, and ultimately helping balance each other out by offering the other half of the equation to each other (hence the name “inverses”). The trope I just wrote about above is how Sig helps Moon to relax and have fun, but as I try to do with all ships, how does it work the other way too? Well, I really like to imagine Sig learning to be more openly serious and dedicated! Don’t get me wrong, Sig is a hard worker (it’s pretty much the nature of all iterators), but given he seems to pretty strongly reject the quest for the Triple Affirmative, I imagine the next problem would be in him finding a new purpose to strive for. And what better new purpose than in standing by and protecting the group senior he thinks he just might wanna be more than friends with?

It already works because Moon, of course, would work to keep Sig in check and make sure he doesn’t go too overboard with his shenanigans. But just imagine how inspired he’d grow over time seeing Moon work so hard to keep the group together and keep them striving for their purpose, even if he doesn’t agree with it. I imagine it’s why Sig’s methods are still rather controlled rather than purely chaotic, and there’s a reason to his rebellion. Thanks to Moon, rather than slaving away at a seemingly impossible solution until his mind collapses with his structure, he’ll use his talents to, at the very least, keep the local group together as long as possible, because even if they’ll all be gone one day, that doesn’t mean they have to go alone!

It’s why I’m also labeling these two tropes together as “the Lady and the Tramp”, yet another ship dynamic that gets me every time! It’s a specific instance of “inverses attract” where the noble, proper lady finds a taste of freedom and courage from the dangerously charming tramp, who from her finds a new sense of purpose and honor! And in my opinion, Lilypad is most definitely the best opportunity for this dynamic among Rain World ships!

The Fated Couple

Slow-burn couples seem to be pretty popular in many fandoms, but what about a really slow-burn? There’s something just so romantic to me about the idea that Moon and Sig, from the moment they met, have always just clicked so perfectly, and have been by each other’s side so constantly ever since, to the point it seems practically inevitable to everyone (except them of course) that they’ll eventually get together romantically. Of course, there are two main roadblocks to their romance being 1.) their whole objective and purpose for being created is kind-of fundamentally opposed to strong attachments like love (I mean, if Karma 3 is Companionship, wouldn’t romantic love be considered the worst example of that?), and 2.) even if they did reject this purpose, being massive immovable structures with the only humanoid part stuck deep inside a box, a budding romance seemingly couldn’t really go anywhere anyway. In fact, because of these roadblocks much of my Lilypad imaginings take place in the ever-popular “worm-off-the-string” scenario, especially since the next couple of reasons for why I like the ship play a lot into the themes I like to incorporate in this story concept. 

However, these issues towards such a romance are also what make it so sweet in the end! Just think of Moon, alone in her chamber, beginning to worry about how she’s actually kinda sorta, maybe, hypothetically, possibly, just a little bit starting to like the carefree and charismatic Gen 2 in the local group as even more than just a work partner and a dear friend, but oh no, that’s indulging in a Karmic Sin, and as group senior she can’t just throw away their purpose like that and set such a bad example to the rest! What’s she gonna do?? And then on the other side, Sig puzzling in his chamber, pining so hard for the group senior yet seemingly unable to confess, because, even disregarding Karma 3 and the fact that giant immobile calculators aren’t about to be snuggling any time soon, why would someone as perfect and powerful as her want someone like him, so dismissive of their core purpose and unorthodox in his methods? Is there even a point in having these feelings at all, when they might very well end up simply fading to dust along with the rest of his structure?

Maybe, they both think, it’d be better to just keep these feelings to themselves and quietly love from a distance. That is, until…

Moon’s Collapse and the Slag Reset Keys

The fourth reason is, of course, the most steeped in canon. It goes back a bit to the “shoulder to lean on” concept, but even aside from that, there is something just so romantic about this on both sides.

Firstly, from Moon’s perspective. There’s no doubt that the collapse must have been very traumatic for Looks to the Moon physically, but I like to think about just how much it’d affect her emotionally, too. I mean, being so painfully destroyed by your own brother, with seemingly nothing that can be done to stop it and no one to help you? And then consider how lonely it must have been in her final moments. The only comfort she does get is from Spearmaster’s visit, and even then she sends him off to go deliver her final words, which has still got to be really depressing. And finally, think about how betrayed she must have felt, trying so hard throughout her operation to help her citizens and the local group and be kind to everyone, only to have it be repaid like this, forced to collapse in on herself, being buried under her own body, unfathomable pain all around, and with not a soul to help her.

So then, think about just how shocking and heartwarming (literally, if you think about it) it must be when that lovable Gen 2, always so playful and carefree normally, is the one to give her a second chance and being her back when all hope seems lost, and using such a unique delivery method no less! I mean COME ON, Sig literally brought her back to life, how could one NOT fall in love with someone who did that for them? It links back to the “shoulder to lean on” idea, in that, for once, someone finally looked out for Moon and gave back to her for all the kindness she gave to the world. Think about this as the moment she truly realizes she’s in love with No Significant Harassment, and how tragic it’d be knowing now, it’s too late to say it. But, even so, if he’s willing to go this far to make sure she’s okay, then maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance her love at least wasn’t alone.

Now, my thoughts about this from No Significant Harassment’s side (which also kinda turned into a mini NSH appreciation paragraph that links back to the earlier Inverses Attract and Lady and the Tramp segment), I think it’s very poetic to see him going out of his way to take his messenger concept, originally used for no more than a trivial prank and at most a very experimental and unfinished alternative communication method, and turning it into a noble last-ditch effort to rescue the one he loves. It doesn’t just clearly show how much he cares for Moon that he worked to save her when no one else did (and if that’s because the odds of being able to do anything seemed very low to the rest of them, that makes it even more sweet) I think it shows off a lot of Sig’s character beyond just being a jokester. Like, I’d seen this kind of personality for Sig in the fandom content before, but this action and the other broadcasts are what first made me truly realize not just that it is based in canon, but that, more importantly he’s not just stupid or unfocused, he’s rebellious. He doesn’t joke around because he just doesn’t care, it’s because he’s independent, he’s got other places he wants to go and plans that don’t fit into what most of his peers are used to. He makes light of the world because he sees what others don’t, and it’s honestly pretty frickin’ funny how blind others can be most of the time (case-in-point: him making a slugcat from a messenger, which no one else thought to do because those creatures seemed too “dull” and “primitive” to ever be capable of such a thing). So think about how significant it must be when he’s openly taking something seriously. This is where that dynamic of the Tramp, and how Sig would benefit from this relationship is really highlighted. I just adore it when the easygoing, carefree character finally finds purpose in their lover, and springs into serious action like they never were before! And it makes sense too given what I said about them not getting together before: seeing Moon collapse would show him directly that even beings as durable as iterators don’t last forever, so if he’s got these feelings for Moon, he’s got to make a move while there’s still a chance! And what better way to show his love than to bring her back when all hope seems lost? Which brings me to the final aspects I’ll talk about here, first of which is…

True Love’s Kiss

Yes, you read that right. The real reason I love the slag reset keys as a plot element so much is not just because it shows Sig’s secret strength of character, not just because it finally gives reward to Moon’s kindness, but because it is a real fairytale come true! 

I know this sounds crazy and probably totally unrelated to Rain World, but think about it! You guys have probably seen Snow White and Sleeping Beauty before, or at least one of the two? Isn’t the whole trope that the beautiful princess, fairest maiden in the land, gets cursed through some means or another to die (or in Aurora’s case, fall into an indefinite sleep), which is only undone when the strong and brave prince, riding upon his noble steed, awakens the princess by giving her true love’s kiss? I already love both those movies on their own for various other reasons, but after my description, is this starting to sound familiar in another way?

I mean, with everything I’ve said about Moon in this post so far, there’s no doubt you could perceive her as the “fair princess”, who through unfortunate circumstances is put to a premature and indefinite death. And there’s no doubt Sig fills the role of the brave prince by working to save her with the slag reset keys, which in this metaphor are undoubtedly the “true love’s kiss” that ultimately conquers all, always longed for, and finally delivered! And hey, given Hunter is the one to carry the keys to Moon, a small yet courageous beast who stops at nothing to meet his goals, Sig even has his own “noble steed”! And even if Hunter is technically the one to actually deliver the green neuron, and the death the “princess” succumbs to wasn’t out of genuine malice towards her, I think the sentiment is still there and the parallel is close enough! 

But yes, as strange as it may sound, the fairytale parallel is the main reason Lilypad resonates with me so much! Those classic fairytale-esque romance tropes and that poetic storytelling found in Disney’s first feature-length animated films has always been dear to my heart, and is even more so now that I’m older and can truly appreciate the beauty of them. So now, even in my fandom experiences, ships that win my appreciation over all others are often those that manage to embody those classic romance tropes and themes as best as possible, and frankly, even Artimand loses ever-so-slightly to Lilypad in this regard! Or, as I also enjoy calling them, “Lifeline”, for reasons that are probably obvious now. 

And it’s even better when you consider…

Some Things Never Change

Another trope I’ve recently begun to love is the idea that some phenomena in the world never truly disappear, but simply manifest in different ways, sometimes unexpected ones. And given the whole Triple Affirmative quest and the Ancients’ mass ascension philosophy, this idea is something I especially love seeing in Rain World content. Even the canon events show this idea, but think about how wonderfully it would work with Lilypad beyond just the slag reset keys, especially taking up that “worm off the string” iterator AU concept some have explored in this fandom already.

Just think about how sweet it would be when Moon and Sig, operating primarily through their puppets now, get to finally hug and kiss and be with each other so directly now! Think of the way Sig would speak to Moon about how, even after her collapse, she's still somehow beautiful as ever, and Moon returning with how even all the trouble the group has faced hasn't put a dent in his charm! And it's even sweeter when you consider it’s against everything their creators stood for! Think of Moon, after everything she’s been through and how much she’s probably changed at this point, now willing to give some of these “worldly attachments” a chance, because you can never truly get rid of them, but she knows better than anyone that you won’t be around to experience them forever, so why not enjoy it while you’ve got the chance? And it’d make sense too, not just for her own benefit, but for Pebbles and the rest of the group’s sake too! She’s always strove to set a good example for them, and since their original quest has left them with nothing but pain and trauma, why not show them that maybe all these attachments aren’t so bad after all?

I just think it’d be really interesting to see Moon joining Sig in that rejection of the Triple Affirmative, and what better way to do that than by finally embracing that love they’ve felt for each other for so long? Because love never truly dies, it just appears in new people. And maybe they don’t have to spend their whole lives as grand iterators, the vast infinitely-advanced mechanical deities who embody perfection in almost every way. Maybe, even just for a bit, they can just be people, falling in love just as their creators did all over again!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

And with that, I think I’m FINALLY done here. HOLY COW, this is easily my longest post yet, and I hope it doesn’t disappoint! Part of the reason it took so long was because I was trying to find the perfect way to express all these ideas without it just spilling out onto the page in some weird half-coherent mess. But eventually I just said “ah screw it, let’s just ramble about this ship and see where it goes!” and my god, did it go far! And I still managed to somewhat organize it, so yay!

But aside from that, thank you SO MUCH to everyone who asked for my thoughts on Lilypad, and everyone who made it to the bottom of this essay! I’ve never really gotten a chance to openly ramble about one of my favorite ships to the rest of the fandom like this, so seeing that some fans, even if it’s ultimately not a huge amount, actually wanted me to do it was such a welcome surprise!

I hope you all enjoyed the drawings and the art! I’ll be around in case someone wants me to write another ship essay or something! And who knows, it’s likely I’ll find more reasons I like Lilypad as time goes on and I see more fan-content and find the rest of those broadcasts! But at least this was a starting point! 

Expect more LIlypad content to come in the future, but until now, thanks again for the opportunity!

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Shouldn’t Have Traveled

Yandere Diluc, x chubby reader x yandere Zhongli

Words: 5,700+

warnings: poisoning mentions, slightly descriptive murder, unwanted touch,  reader made fun of by others, physically clingy Diluc (you can pry that from my cold, dead, hands)

Took a pic of where the ending scene is for clarity. 

Sorry if anyone (besides Donna, Diluc, and Zhongli are ooc. Idk their personalities too well yet.

I’ve decided to leave Mondstat. Not for any reason anyone would think. It’s rather awkward and I’ll never admit the real reason to anyone. I can’t really stand being around Diluc anymore. Donna and other’s words are starting to get to me. 

What words? The scathing words of “He’d never like someone like you”. They say that’s due to my different appearance. The words never really hurt, but it’s getting irritating, and I’m unsure how much more I can hear them talk about it before I snap and deck one or more of them. That’s also why I can’t be around Diluc. Just seeing or interacting with him also brings up their words again.  

A few final things are being packed tightly into my large bag. My plan is to just stay at the hotel for a week or two and come back. Then again that plan might change, who knows? If somehow a job comes up and they’re welcoming, I’ll maybe live there instead. 

Thankfully I kept Mora saved up for a while and quit my job at Good Hunter. Being a cook there was exhausting too. One of Donna’s friends also being there obviously made things worse as she framed me for a lot of things, making the others not too happy with me. Think one of the only ones who do still like me is Barbara when they tried to frame me for making her food extra spicy. 

Another glance in my bag. Hmm… I’m a little low on things to drink on my travel to Liyue. Some grape juice would be nice, so I head towards Angel’s Share. 

The group of Diluc-obsessed parasites try to block me. 

“Yeesh, you guys still have a whole fence shoved up your asses? I should have known you have a poor tree up there now too. Sad it had to die for your personalities. All I’m doing is buying grape juice for travel.” I reply and give an eyeroll with it, entering Angel’s Share. 

Their insulted faces a sight to behold being the last thing seen.

A certain redhead was working, catching me by surprise. Really wasn’t expecting for him to be working instead tonight. Fuck. Ah, screw it. A last chat won’t harm anything. 

“Diluc?” 

His head whips towards the door instantly. His eyes zoning onto the bag I’m carrying. They almost seem to narrow. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to be working tonight.” I inform, sitting down in the free seat in front of him. My bag being placed onto the floor. 

Diluc places the glass he had in his hands onto the island and looks me in my eyes. “I decided to give Charles a break for the night.” 

“That’s one thing I admire about you-” His eyes widen slightly, meanwhile I mentally smack myself for letting that slip. “I- well- It’s how you treat your workers. Unlike many I’ve seen, you’re not as harsh with them, and more thoughtful.” 

I cross my arms and mumble “If only Good Hunter stayed the same, I would probably have stayed.”

He rather firmly slams the glass back on the island I didn’t notice he picked back up. “You’re leaving? Alone?” I could almost swear his voice slightly raised like he was worried. Maybe he is? Kaeya has told me he does care about others. As just said how he’s letting Charles have the night off. He  just doesn’t show emotions very well most of the time. 

“Yeah, I was planning on heading to Liyue early in the morning. I was hoping to get some grape juice for on the way there though. It would need to be in something portable. Bottles or even jars would be fine. Of course, I’d pay the fee for those too.”

Diluc’s frown deepens.  

The door open and closed, but I think nothing of it. 

“If you don’t have any, I could go find some and come back for you to fill them, if that would be alright. I don’t want to overwork you.” 

He shakes his head. “No, that would be fine. Believe it or not, it’s not the first time someone has asked for transportable items to be filled. I’ll work on it. You won’t have to worry about carrying them since I’ll be coming with you tomorrow.”

Wha- no! The whole reason I’m leaving is involving him!

“That’s alright. I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’re quite a busy person as it already is.” 

His eyes narrow at me. “I’m not taking “no” as an answer. I’m going with. You need a guide.”

His tone scared me a little, I won’t lie to myself. 

He crosses his arms and closes his eyes for a second, taking a breath in before looking at me again. “You don’t even have a vision. You also don’t know where you’re going, and I am worried, whether you believe it or not. I also was planning on going to Liyue as well to visit someone close to me.” 

I hate everything he said was nothing but logic. I would just ask him if I could ask a knight or something to come with, but knowing his strong dislike for them, it would be a bad idea. 

It stays quiet between us for a minute. 

“... Why don’t you go rest up for the night? It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

I wonder if I could get far enough before he could catch me if I left tonight.

“You’re giving away what you’re thinking. You better not. I will catch up. Don’t test it.” 

Ugh, fine. I’m still worried since he’ll be tired tomorrow. 

While leaving, the group comes up yet again with bottles in their hands. The door opening and closing must have been a friend I didn’t notice was there. 

They hold out the empty bottles towards me. 

… are they serious? What makes them think I’d trust them? They probably put poison or something in these. Doesn’t help they’re not see through. Yeah, no. I’m not using these. Their smirks are just making me more tired and not wanting to deal with their shit.

“Oh, you guys already know I’m leaving? Uh, thanks…” I take them, already knowing they’re going in the trash. 

“Just a little goodbye gift~” 

Wow, how thoughtful. 

They leave giggling. Probably from malicious intentions. 

“Would you like me to take those, (Y/N)?” suddenly asked a voice. I turn to see Charles. 

“You haven’t left yet?” I asked him. 

“I stayed to clean up a few final things in the back. It’s not my place, but I don’t trust what those women gave you.” 

I glance at the 3 glasses in my hands again. “That makes two of us. Are you sure they won’t be dug into by the cats and dogs around? That’s my main concern if I throw them.”

“I can assure they will be taken care of properly.” He informs. 

I mentally shrug. Eh, whatever. He’s reliable. I pass him the bottles and go to my house one final time. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I feel a hand on my shoulder as I prepare to exit to the bridge with Diluc. Diluc’s not here yet though. Oh archons, if I ever come back, I’m not going to ever hear the end of I took their “precious Diluc”. Turning around, it’s Venti. One of the closest friends I made here, and only ones left. His face is far more serious than I’ve ever seen it. 

“... Stay safe out there,” He cautiously looks around. I do as well, and the nuisances are not around for once. Diluc however is seen with his own bag coming up. “Especially from him.” He quickly takes his hand off before Diluc could see. 

Diluc glares at Venti while walking up to me. “We better get going.” A hand of his is on my lower back, gently pushing me forward. 

----------------------------------------------------------

Numerous quiet hours pass, and my feet are starting to kill me. I’m starting to think Kaeya lied to me it was an easy day trip. 

Looking at Diluc, he doesn’t even seem to be the slightest bit uncomfortable. The only noticeable thing is the bags growing under his eyes. 

I’ve been trying to think of things to make it less awkward, but nothing comes to mind. He hates small talk. 

“So… should I find a way to message you or something if I want to come back to Mondstadt?” 

Diluc stops for a moment. “... I’ll inform who I’m going to meet.” 

Okay. well, that was a good talk, I guess. 

About an hour later, I’m at my limit. Curse everything and whoever created pain. My feet are going to be sore for weeks at this point. How the hell do people wander like this? 

Diluc still stays vigilant and glares around at every direction like something will pop out. I’m more worried about him collapsing from exhaustion than anything. 

… why do I feel like I still would before he would at this rate? 

“When should we set up a small camp for rest for a while? I only brought my small one for more easy transportation, but I think we could both squeeze in.” though I’d much rather not. 

It’s already near sunset. Holy fuck I’ve been walking ALL day. 

Diluc gives a stare off into the distance in though,, then nods. “I’ll get some firewood.” 

I nod and dig out the tent. Fortunately, slamming the sticks in deep enough was pretty easy and I remember how to set it up from camping with a few friends years ago. 

Diluc comes not long after with an impressive amount of wood, and drops it onto the ground not far from the tent. He piles a few together and scrapes dirt into a pile around it. He then lights his claymore and holds it onto the wood until it starts to burn. 

I begrudgingly have to admit having someone with a pyro vision likely makes traveling a lot easier.  

We both crawl under and it’s so phenomenally awkward. Him closer to the back and I in the front. It’s really crowded just between us. We’re both just staring awkwardly at each other in the eyes. 

… something drops onto the tent. Then another, then several- it’s raining. How did we not notice that sooner? There was no point in making a fire. 

Nope, it’s now already pouring. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” I mumble, but the close proximity likely made him hear it. 

“I never need an umbrella, so I’d be fine. Hopefully the temperature won’t drop too much.”

The temperature does rapidly starts to drop though. Now I’m wishing I brought a second blanket with. My arms get tucked together, trying to keep a bit more warmth. 

Arms grab my sides, making me let out a surprised noise. “Wha- Diluc! I’m not sure if-” 

“Don’t care,” His arms quickly wrap around my back, squeezing me close. “I’d rather you not get sick while we’re on our way.” His great smelling cologn from proximity hitting my senses hard. 

The heat that rushes to my face is even warmer than the warmth radiating out of his clothes. 

“Uh…” What the fuck am I supposed to say? “Ooh this is nice!”??

It’s definitely not! Ugh, why did he have to be the one for this? I should have lied about when I was leaving… 

He tightens his grip when I uncomfortably try to squirm free. “Quit. Moving.” 

I stop and mentally sigh. It better not rain again tomorrow night. 

He never loosens his grip.

------------------------------------------

The tightness around me while slowly coming back makes me try to squirm free again, while the memories of last night catch up.

Diluc’s arms tighten more than last night. Looking at his eyes, he appears to still be asleep. 

The way I’m so torn between enjoying this, and being disgusted is wild. Donna’s words trying to come back. Thankfully the little I know about Diluc is he will never talk about this out loud, even with a blade pointed at him. 

For a second, I wonder if I should wake him or let him sleep. But he should probably get ready to get back to Mondstadt ASAP. 

Well, since it’s not raining anymore, and I’m still uncomfortable at this, I’m waking him up. 

Fortunately, my arms are free. I reach up and shake his shoulder. “Diluc, it’s time for us to continue.” my feet throb in protest at the idea. 

He lets out a sigh, almost like he was disappointed. He lets me go and I roll off onto the ground, then getting up. Checking my bag, it thankfully stayed dry.

I pack my bag back together, and we head off again, much to my feet’s displeasure. But from Diluc informed me earlier, we should be about halfway there. Luckily we’ve only encountered some hillachurls, and he gets rid of them so easily it makes me almost feel bad for them. 

The sights have been beautiful though. Almost to the point I could ignore the still-growing pain in my feet. 

“Here.” 

I turn to notice a clear bottle of grape juice handed to me and take it, finally realizing I haven’t drank anything in a while either. I drink it quickly. 

“It’s better to stay up with fluids and food for long travels. I’ve… learned my lesson before.”

Well, that’s a can of worms I’m not opening. In speaking of bottles though… “Sorry to change off that, but did Charles give you three that weren’t clear?”

Diluc frown gets worse. “He did, and told me how Donna and the others gave you them,” His voice dipped like he was disgusted even thinking about it. “Had them drink from the poisoned bottles they gave you. Unfortunately, it won’t kill them, but it better make them think twice about their actions. Next time I won’t be so lenient.” 

So they were poison- wait, what??? He’s fucking insane! I mean, sure, they were pretty bad and wanted to poison me, but poisoning them back isn’t right either! I force myself to stay calm. I can’t outrun him anyway, and I don’t know where I’m going either if requiring to leave the path. This does open my eyes more on him though. 

A secret part of me is touched he did such a thing for me though. 

“That’s a bit far, isn’t it? Couldn’t you get in trouble for that?” 

“I have my connections if they decide to try anything.” 

I shrug. Eh, whatever I guess. I am still staying a bit away from him, which he seems to notice. He comes over and grabs my bag, pulling me right beside him. 

“I also don’t think me being this close is necessary.” 

“You’d be surprised how quickly an ambush could happen. Especially if we encounter a ruin guard or abyss mage.”

Fat chance a ruin guard would be on the main path. Even I know that. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Yet another day already flies by. I plop my backside onto the ground, take my shoes off, and rub my worsening sore feet. “Ugh, I’m not usually one for complaining, but holy Celestia my feet hurt. Smack Kaeya for me next time you see him for lying it was a rather short trip.”

Diluc jabs the stake quite deeply into the ground and is setting up the tent this time. “I’m surprised you got this far without complaining. If it’s really bad though, do you want me to carry you tomorrow?” 

Gods no. I could never deal with that embarrassment if anyone traveling were to see it. “No. You’d have a lot more to carry than just your bag already. Me and my bag is too much to ask.”  

He gives me a look I can’t understand. Kind of annoying it’s always been rather hard to understand whatever he’s feeling since he hardly shows it. 

“It wouldn’t be.”

“I’d rather not test it. Besides, we should be there by tomorrow noon, right?” 

He nods.

Looking at the darkening sky, it’s likely not going to rain this time. I glance at the tent, not wanting to stand up and walk to it. 

Diluc seems to notice and comes over, crouching down. An arm wraps under my knees, making me instantly realize his intention. “Wait- stop! I can do it!-” 

He puts his other arm behind my back, and easily stands up fully. “Don’t struggle.” 

I feel like I’ve heard stuff like that more the past few days than all my life before combined. 

He places me down on the blanket and sits next to me. Too close next to me. Honestly? I’m too tired to really care at this point. 

An arm wraps around my torso, keeping me closer. What is his obsession with touch!? He never is with anyone anymore, not even his own brother! 

A very gentle squeeze to my stomach makes me whip my head to look down at his hand. 

??? When did he take his glove off!? 

“... I’ve heard what many have been saying. If moving is really what you want, I can’t stop you. However, if you ever wish to visit again, both the Winery and Angel’s Share are always open for you to stay. As for me, I’m angry what they’ve been saying.”

I can’t look at him. I should have known someone like him would so easily catch on.

I begrudgingly have to admit his shoulder is a lot more comfortable than the ground. At least not laying on his chest this time. 

“Who do you have to see, anyways?” 

“Someone you could say I’m very close with. I have something urgent to discuss with them. 

I let out a light chuckle. “Wonder who in the Teyvat got the attention to be cared about by the great Diluc. I’ll surely have to meet them.” 

“You will sooner or later when in Liyue.” 

Not going to tell me? Alright, he can keep his secrets. Not like he has a lack of them. 

----------------------------------------------------------------

I could kiss the dock we’re walking on to enter Liyue. The guards stand down pretty quickly upon seeing Diluc, so they likely know him. 

We get to a hotel and both order rooms. Diluc disappears not too long after, and I stay in my room to rest. I wonder if I should ask someone a tour of Liyue since I know very little about the place. 

But first, some rest.

Several hours later, I’m wandering around again, more refreshed. There seem to be a lot of great restaurants to try. 

“Hey partner! I reckon you’re new here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.” 

I turn around to see someone with two ponytails walking up to me. She feels rather friendly, but still got my guard up a bit just in case. 

“Is it really that obvious?” I ask. 

“Yeah, But you don’t have to worry. We get a lot of people from all over visit here. So, what were ya lookin’ for? I might be able to help.” 

“I was trying to think of where to eat something, honestly. But uh… I’m not really sure what’s right to start with.” 

“That’s easy! You can try something at Wanmin Restaurant! I’m sure my friend there would love to figure out something ya might enjoy! C’mon!” She gestures for me to follow her. 

It doesn’t take long to get there, and there’s a girl cooking very enthusiastically. 

“Heya Xiangling! Got a new friend here for you to figure out what they’d like.” 

She whips her head up. “Xinyan! Ooh, a new person, huh? Where you from!?” 

“From Mondstadt.” 

How hyperactive can someone get? She somehow gets even more excited at the news. 

“Mondstadt!? Ooh! Just let me finish these orders, and I’ll try something you’d like!” 

Sooner than later she finishes, and makes something else I’m confused of, especially from never seeing such ingredients being used in food before. 

… Eyes are on me from behind. I decide to ignore it. It’s probably just someone curious or rude and not worth my time.  

Xiangling passes me something finished I’ve never seen before. I’m a little reluctant to try it, but eventually do after a moment’s pause. It’s delicious. 

I say so and nearly scarf it down. 

They smile back at me. 

“I guess you got another to try your new foods!” Xinyan pipes up. 

Oh hell yeah, I’m willing to try others she makes.

I jump out of my skin as a hand rests on my shoulder that isn’t Xinyan’s or Xiangling’s. 

“Oh Hey, Zhongli! Been a bit. Ya able to show the newbie here around Liyue? You’re a lot better at that than anyone.” 

“I would gladly show a tour around Liyue. I suppose it’s not unknown for me to be the one to do so anymore. Thankfully I’m free to do so now.” 

Hot damn that voice. Dude, don’t stop talking.  I turn to look at the man who was-

… I don’t like how he’s looking at me. It’s not aggression, disgust, etc. It’s more like wonder? Fascination? Something more like that which worries me worse than something negative or neutral. 

He offers his hand to me. Is it to give a handshake or to help me stand up? I reach out to grab his hand. I guess I’ll find-

He grabs it gently, and brings it to his face, kissing the back of it. 

Aw fuck, it was the weird 3rd option. Well, he’s a gentleman at least. 

“Are you ready for the tour, my dear?” 

My- my dear??? A little quick on the draw, Doesn’t he think? 

I stand off the chair. “Yeah! Even though I just got here, I can tell I like it here already.” 

He smiles like he’s very proud of that.

---------------------------------------------------

Great. I have a bad headache now with everything he’s tried to show and inform to me. This feels like something that should have been spread a few sessions. It was great to know, and I enjoyed it all, but this is too much. I can’t decide if Zhongli talking is helping or worsening the pain. 

I rub my forehead. Well, at least it takes away the pain in my feet. “Zhongli?” I cut him off on yet another story of information overload. 

He stops and looks at me. “I’m sorry to cut you short. I really like everything, and am totally down to know more, but it’s too much in one setting for me. Would you… maybe be free to continue tomorrow?” 

His eyes widen slightly. “Ah, I do apologize. I suppose giving more than just the best tour spots was too much. It appears to have given you a headache. Would you like to come to my place for a bit? I have some tea that would help.”

How about No? Have you ever heard of “stranger, danger”? Seriously, I could be a thief or you could be a murderer for all we know. 

“I’m good. Thanks for the offer, though. Just really want to go to bed.”

“Fair enough. Shall we meet at Wanmin Restaurant again tomorrow?” 

I nod and turn to head to my room. 

“See you then, (Y/N).”

A chill comes over me. Could have sworn my name was never mentioned with him. Or maybe I did? Ugh, head says no thinking. 

A group of girls come up to me. “You know, someone like you shouldn’t be interacting with someone like Zhongli.”

Ugh, seriously? He was just showing me around. He really seems to love this place and know the insides and outs. And they should shut up. Their voices are grating my nerves.

A shorter, younger looking woman with them rolls her eyes and almost seems to be playful about it. She comes up to me. “Hey! I’m Hu Tao! It’s nice to see a new face around here!” 

I blink a moment, trying to register how she’s super friendly to me already. Trying to sense if she’s just doing it to stab me later, I can’t feel anything off about her. Her being genuine makes it more jarring. Still keeping guarded though, I smile back at her. “Name’s (Y/N). Visiting from Mondstadt.” 

Hu Tao gives a massive mischievous smirk, like she knows something bit I don’t. “Mondstadt, huh?...” 

“What’s that look for?” I ask. 

“Nothing~”

----------------------------------------

It’s finally around noon when I exit my room. Something from the side jumps out. 

“Ha-what- Hu Tao! What was that for!” 

She giggles. “Nothing serious! It was just funny! 

Yeah, so funny to scare someone just exiting their room. 

“So what are you here for?” Might as well change whatever that was about. 

“To see how you like Liyue so far!” 

I was… not even here for a day? “Well, good so far. Though Zhongli feels a little odd.”

Hu Tao gives me the same massive smirk. “I Don’t know… I think Zhongli sure likes ya!” 

I try not to laugh at the impossibility, but the bark of a disbelieving laugh still comes out. “Yeah right. Not even in my dreams could that happen. I mean, look at him, and look at me.” I joke, while in the proximity of some girls making fun of me earlier. They’re around too, so may as well give them what they want, though it probably won’t help. 

She shrugs. “So? You’d be surprised!”

Thanks for the hope, but no. 

She runs off without another word. 

“I hope you’re well rested?” Inquired the too-familiar voice of Zhongli. 

Oh for fuck sake I just woke up for all this.

“Yeah. Weren’t we going to meet later, though?”

“A friend of mine informed me You’d be around here. With your headache from last night, I guessed it was going to take you a long rest before leaving. Would you like to eat somewhere before we continue where we left off?” 

My stomach growls in agreement. Ugh, stupid thing. “Sure. lead the way.” 

We reached a different restaurant.

One of the girls from before “Hey, look out everyone, they’ve come to eat all your food!” 

Yeah? And what if I do? I’ma nibble all your food for making fun of me. May you always have a mysterious bitemark in everything for eternity. 

A hand is placed on my shoulder. “I would like it if you’d refrain from such vulgar outbursts about someone innocent who’s come to visit Liyue.” Zhongli pipes up. 

The woman’s face was either red with embarrassment or anger at me. Maybe both. 

He lead me to a different one instead, and we ordered. 

I notice he keeps looking at me while we eat. What? He got a staring problem? I’m getting mixed signals of what he’s like. 

Someone came for the mora for our meals. 

Zhongli couldn’t seem to find his, making me nearly facepalm. Whatever, he’s a good man so far, as paying is just a favor for his touring I guess. 

“Ah, there. I apologize it took a bit to find.” 

The waiter didn’t seem to mind and left. 

“Well that sure took a bit to find. Having a hard time remembering where you put your mora doesn’t make sense to me.” I tease.

He nods at me. You’d be right. Thankfully someone very close to me has been watching out for my forgetfulness.” 

Good thing someone is for him.

He showed me the rest around the harbor, and even some grounds out of it. One place being the strange really tall statues by the thing in the sky, named the Jade Chamber I guess.

It was starting to get dark out.  

Zhongli looks over to his right, then stands in front of me. “Apologies, but I will have to cut this short. I need to… take care of something important.” 

His voice dipped into something that almost seemed to show anger. Yikes.

--------------------------------------------

I was still restless after hanging out with Xiangling for a bit again, and left right out the town. It should be safe enough being so close.

The giant statues are visible all the way from here.

A pungent smell hits me as I walk the path. My eyes catch sight of a fight not far up ahead, making me hide behind the rock wall to make sure they wouldn’t see me. I peek up to see

!? Diluc and Zhongli… KILLING people!? The moonlight clearly showing their faces. Neither have psychotic smiles, making it all the more unnerving. Multiple dead Treasure hoarders dead, while one of the women that made fun of me already lying on the ground presumably dead too, and being burned. The pungent smell likely their burning flesh. I can’t believe they’re killers!” 

Zhongli pierces through the chest of the final woman still standing is the one who made fun of me earlier. She opens her mouth to scream, but Diluc covers her mouth.

“Surprised you’re helping. Doesn’t your contract prevent you from harming your Liyue people?” 

“That would normally be the case,” Zhongli then easily pulls his spear from the now corpse of said woman. Her body flops to the ground. 

I’m frozen in my spot. I want nothing more than to move, but my body won’t let me. 

“But that’s a good thing many don’t fully read contracts anymore. They broke my contract I made with them. They originally weren’t Liyue people. I could already tell from how they were not too kind to Liyue by making snide comments that they were nothing but trouble. The contract involved no demeaning remarks anymore, or they shall be removed from Liyue one way or another. It’s not hard to tell where they must have skipped. And they tried to damage Liyue’s newest, finest jewel.”

What the fuck does that mean!? I have to get out of here! Come on body! move!

Diluc sets fire to the corpse. “Suffer the wrath of the rock. Much better than that nuisance of a bard’s.” 

“I agree. I do also admit, I wish you could be here more often than around him. You’ll have plenty of time though. As for making you and our dear like me, that’s still a work in progress. Are you still sure you want to go through with it? Immortality can cause mourning of losing many.”

“I’m not close to many anyways. You’ve not been to Mondstadt, but outside of my work, I’m not well liked by many. They’re not exactly quiet when speaking their opinions. Besides, (Y/N) is in the picture now.” 

Me!? Their behaviors make so much sense now. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! I REALLY have to leave! 

My body can finally move, and I take a slow step back. Hiding might be the best option since there’s no way I’ll be able to outrun them. 

*Snap*

Their heads whip towards the sound. 

OH MY GODS WHY WAS A STICK THERE!?

I can only hope they think it’s not a human. I hold my breath.

“In speaking of our dear, come on out. It’s safe now. I saw you try to hide earlier.” 

I don’t move. 

The sound of long strides comes towards me. 

I don’t get time to try to bolt before being grabbed by my wrist tightly, but not enough to hurt. My eyes get locked with Zhongli’s, who seem to almost glow a bright golden yellow.  

Diluc comes behind and rather loosely wraps his arms around me, his heat radiating off onto me with his close proximity. It slightly tightens before loosening again. A warning. A threat, showing he won’t hesitate to tighten his grip if I try to struggle free and run. their colognes combining almost making me dizzy. They’re not bad, but both at once is powerful.   

Zhongli reaches his hand and folds it under my chin, making me look up at him. “You must be quite lost, dear. I said we wouldn’t hurt you. And that was a promise.” 

He brings his face to mine and kisses my lips. I was so shocked I didn’t think of biting him until he pulled away. “Now, let’s get back, shall we? I’ll inform of what went on here, then I’ll join the both of you in cuddling. I’m patient, yet I cannot wait.” 

I should have just stayed in Mondstadt.

--------------------------------------------------------------

An: I’m sorry I made Diluc so physically obsessed or it seemed too repetitive to a point. I like to think due to his past, he’s touch-starved to the MAX. He just only shows it to a rare few how much he craves it. Yandere Diluc being even worse. That and I’m rather self-projecting of wanting my favorites being so obsessed with touch with reader lol. 

Not my proudest work, but screw it. Debated whether or not to post it lol. Was trying to write a more self confident chubby reader since apparently a lot of people are annoyed when they’re not. Even though I’m not self confident at all. Oh well. 

Also, writing full fics still feels like pulling teeth

[i-heart-hxh]

Reason for Hope: A Gon and Killua Meta

I’m surprised by how frequently I see people saying that they think Gon and Killua’s story arcs are over for good; that we likely won’t see them again in the series, or if we do it’ll only be brief and they won’t reunite.

After spending years obsessively analyzing Hunter x Hunter, I disagree with this viewpoint, and I wanted to lay out some reasons as to why I anticipate an eventual reunion and reconciliation between Gon and Killua. This will be long, but bear with me!

The Separation

So, after thousands of pages of development between Gon and Killua, many things unfinished and unresolved between the two, at a point where the audience is expecting a big, maybe tearful reconciliation between Gon and Killua, instead we get…a mere 5 pages devoted to their separation. Many of the words on these five pages aren’t even dialogue between them, but rather setting details about the World Tree.

What we get is complicated; they seem on good terms, but it’s also somewhat fraught–they must have had a conversation before this, when they initially reunited, but Togashi opts to skip that entirely and only show us the aftermath, what’s happening right as they’re about to go their separate ways. 

Killua teases Gon about that painful line where Gon told Killua it wasn’t his business, and Gon quickly apologizes, but this is a very light conversation where Killua is clearly prodding Gon to make him feel bad. In the original Japanese version, Killua then says that Gon “already (もう/mou)” apologized, which implies they did talk enough for Gon to apologize in another conversation, but clearly this prior conversation also wasn’t in-depth enough for Killua to explain how Gon was healed and by whom. I also assume in this conversation that they discussed parting ways, as their parting doesn’t seem to be a shock or surprise to either of them.

Togashi is known for his anti-climaxes to arcs–often he’ll build an audience expectation up, only for things to go a completely different way than what it initially seemed he was building towards. It’s one of the things that makes his writing brilliant. It applies to this scene, in a way, in that he doesn’t give us the big, cathartic, emotional conversation we’re expecting at this point, and much is left unsaid between the two boys. However, I don’t think Togashi’s tendency for anti-climax means that this is it, the end, all we get is this parting with ambiguity and Gon and Killua’s arcs are over. There are a bunch of questions left unanswered here, even though they’re not stated outright. The central one is: Why, exactly, are they parting ways?

There are a bunch of reasons one can come up with, both emotional and practical: Killua may need a break from Gon after all of that (because he feels unwanted/rejected by Gon or he just needs to heal, or he may feel it’s unfair to Alluka/Nanika to split attention); he may feel he can’t be with Gon and also fully focus on protecting Alluka/Nanika; he may be concerned about Illumi pursuing them and the danger this may pose to Gon; he may simply feel he has no excuse to be with Gon any more now that Gon is about to fulfill his mission and Killua found something he wants and needs to do (going back to the promise they made under the stars previously); he may feel he’s already failed at protecting Gon (particularly after what Bisky said in Chimera Ant Arc) and what right does he still have to be with him? It’s possible Gon has reasons for them to part too–we’re not given reasons so we have no choice but to infer. It likely could be a combination of these reasons, too.

It’s hard to feel closure with a parting that we don’t even entirely know the reason for, and I do think eventually Togashi intends to give us more answers. He even indirectly makes us a promise, through Alluka.

I come back to this line over and over again, and I truly think this is Togashi reassuring the audience that this isn’t forever. I think that’s 100% what this line is here for.

There’s a lot of ambiguity in these few pages, between Killua teasing Gon in a way that feels pointed at times (the instance I discussed above, as well as the scene after Alluka says she’ll let Killua go, where Killua tells Gon he’s second place to Alluka), to the specific word (仲間/nakama, essentially teammate or comrade) Gon quoted from Kite being tied to Killua’s “friend vs teammate” concerns, and where we leave off is with a lot of tension and uncertainty even if overall they leave off on good terms.

It is made clear several times that neither of them fully want this parting to happen: Gon’s “I’d better go… Any longer and I’ll…” (Not be able to let you go, it implies.) Gon looks crushed. Killua agrees, also with a sad/resigned expression. Gon also says, “Wish you could go [meet Ging].” Both of their expressions change to sadness as soon as they turn away from each other. Neither wants to show the other how much this hurts. We get the sense that there’s a lot more they want and need to say to each other, things they’re saving for another time, once they’ve had some time apart to heal and grow on their own.

These are two of Togashi’s main characters, and the two he has spent the most time developing and portraying throughout the story. This parting is confusing, bittersweet, ambiguous, and unresolved. It’s dense and thought-provoking even in its brevity. It also doesn’t feel like a permanent endpoint.

Apologies

Ging tells Gon, “There are rules when you apologize to friends. You promise what you’ll do next time. And then you keep that promise!!”

Gon is talking about Kite when Ging says this, but even within the same conversation, Ging tries to tell Gon that what happened to Kite is not his fault. When Gon apologizes to Kite, Kite also asks “Apologize for what?” 

I don’t think most of the audience blames Gon for what happened to Kite. The narrative makes it clear that Gon, Killua, and Kite were all simply outclassed by Pitou’s strength, they had been ambushed suddenly, and Gon and Killua fleeing was the only way they could survive. Gon didn’t even flee willingly, Killua made that decision for him.

So, why include this whole lesson on how to apologize to a friend, when neither the audience, nor Ging, nor Kite think Gon needs to apologize to Kite?

Isn’t there someone else Gon needs to apologize to–someone Gon did in fact hurt deeply with his actions?

As stated above, Gon likely did apologize to Killua, especially because he already brought up that he needed to in the conversation he had with Leorio in the car. Chances are, he did that as soon as they were reunited. But…also as stated above, there’s likely a deeper apology that Gon needs to give Killua; one where he fully understands what happened, and one where he can promise not to hurt Killua like that again.

I believe Togashi included this whole dialogue and conversation with Gon apologizing to Killua in mind, not Kite. We never saw this apology, and I believe it’s something that will happen when they see each other again.

Unfinished Plot Threads

While Gon and Killua’s original goals have been achieved, there are still a number of plot threads dangling for both characters. If the parting between them was supposed to be the end of the road for these characters, why bother building up so much unfinished business for both of them? Here are just some of the things in the story related to Gon and Killua that have not yet been addressed:

Gon meeting Gyro, which Togashi explicitly says is supposed to happen.

Gon fighting Hisoka again (assuming Hisoka survives the Black Whale).

What will happen with Gon’s nen? Will he remain nen-less forever or be able to restore it?

What will Gon do with his life now that he’s no longer hunting Ging? Hopefully not do homework on Whale Island forever!

Don Freecss and how he may or may not relate to Gon’s story.

Nanika came from the Dark Continent, something only brought up after Gon and Killua part. This gives Killua a direct link to the Dark Continent arc. How did Alluka come to be possessed by Nanika, an Ai creature from the Dark Continent? Will Alluka have this incredible power via Nanika forever (I suspect not)?

Illumi vowing to hunt Alluka/Nanika down, and also generally will Killua manage to cut ties with his family altogether, to have the kind of future he wants?

Kalluto, now with Illumi and the Phantom Troupe on the Black Whale, has mentioned wanting to bring his brother home, presumably/most likely Killua.

Gon’s mother or origin remains a mystery. While Gon himself didn’t want to know, that doesn’t mean the audience is satisfied by the non-answer.

While none of these guarantee a reunion between Gon and Killua, they certainly signal that Togashi is not done with these characters.

Killua’s Birthday

When Togashi gives his characters birthdays, he does it thoughtfully–imbuing them with both numerical and other symbolic meanings. Killua’s birthday is Tanabata, a Japanese holiday wherein two separated lovers are reunited every year. There’s an excellent piece of meta here that explores a lot of the parallels between Tanabata and Killua’s story and character trajectory, as there’s more to this than I can easily explore in this meta. Note how many similarities exist between the legend of Tanabata and Gon and Killua, particularly in the Zoldyck Family arc.

Gon and Killua have been separated once and brought back together again. With the legend of Tanabata, there are many meetings between the separated lovers, so the motif tends to lean towards them separating and then reuniting again, as they already did once in the Zoldyck Family arc. This leads me to believe that their parting is not forever.

Togashi Exhibition Promotion Video

As a lead-up to the Togashi Exhibition, a video showcasing Gon and Killua was released with newly recorded lines by their voice actresses from the 2011 anime, Megumi Han and Mariya Ise. The vast majority of the lines in this video are actually re-recorded major lines from the series summarizing the relationship between the two. But there are a few brand new lines. One of these is, essentially, “We’re so far away from each other right now, but I believe we’ll meet again someday!”

This video is a promotion for an exhibition devoted to his works, so Togashi himself must have approved this video. Why would this be one of the only brand new lines in the whole video if he has no intentions of reuniting them within the series? It would have been a simple matter not to mention any sort of reunion between them, but the fact that it was one of only a handful of truly new lines feels important and noteworthy.

Off-Screen

Just a small point, but one worth considering. At the end of the Yorknew City arc, Leorio and Kurapika go their separate ways as they fade out of the focus of the story for a while, only to be put in the same stage together once it’s their turn to be a point of focus again. (Never mind that they haven’t gotten much time together in this arc yet, but I’m sure they’re in the same place for a reason.)

One of the reasons Togashi may have chosen to separate Gon and Killua at the end of the Election Arc is that they, too, are out of focus for a while. This makes sense if you think about it–Togashi spends all this time developing the relationships between these two pairs of characters, having them remain together while the focus is not on them means the audience would miss out on developments and interactions between them. It’s easier to separate them and then reunite them again when it’s time for them to have the spotlight again.

The Little Detours

This is more abstract than the other points, but I think it’s just as important.

One of the most prominent themes of Hunter x Hunter is summed up in Ging’s words, “You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Because that's where you'll find the things more important than what you want.” This is what Gon learns when reaching his goal–that the most important things in life are not the achievements you make nor the way your journey ends, but the people you meet along the way, the enjoyment of the journey itself, all the places it takes you, continuing to seek more throughout life.

Gon meets Ging at the end of the Election Arc, his original goal, but is this truly the heart of Gon’s story? Killua finds something to do, as he told Gon he wanted to do, but is this truly the heart of Killua’s story? The heart of their stories is finding each other, the ways they changed and helped each other, the joy and solace and pain they found in each other. That’s ultimately what their stories are about–not simply achieving their goals. To say that their goals are achieved and their story is done now misses what Togashi is trying to say.

Hunter x Hunter is filled with characters whose life trajectories were changed by an encounter with one important person. Many of these characters also had their life trajectories changed by losing those people. Togashi can be a harsh storyteller at times, but I don’t believe he’s crafting a story in which his two main characters find each other and change each other so deeply, tragic circumstances and painful misunderstandings happen between them, much remains unsaid, and then they simply part, never be seen again in the story.

In my viewpoint, the only major obstacle standing in the way of an eventual reunion between Gon and Killua is Togashi’s health and how that affects his ability to tell what he has planned of the series. He has stated a commitment to finishing the series to the best of his ability, so it’s just a matter of what his body’s limitations will allow him to do.

At the very least, for all of the above reasons and more, I do think Togashi fully intends to give us a reunion between Gon and Killua in the future. I hope that in time, we will get to see him share the rest of what he has planned for these two characters.

[suuuupernovaaa]

plltxe

plltxe [p·ḷ.ˈt’·ɛ] v. speak

Anonymous Request: Can I request a Lo’ak fic where his female mate is scared to love and open up to him as she finds it hard to trust people, and he is so patient with her and doesn’t pressure her in any way. He sees her crying one day and is gentle with her and is so happy that she is finally opening up to him and being affectionate with him?

Y/N has a stutter, and Lo'ak is furious when someone makes fun of her for it.

1,296 words

Sometimes, even though the words are perfectly strung together in my head and I know exactly what I want to say, it takes so long to get them from my mind, past my lips.

Some words get twisted, others I get hung up on, and I have to speak in as few words as possible so that I can get my point across.

As a child, I was teased mercilessly for it. For quite a time, I stopped talking, and I focused on perfection in every single area of my life, besides speech.

I am a profoundly excellent hunter, a beautiful flyer, I can weave beautiful tapestries on the loom, fish enough to feed the clan, create fine jewelry and clothing, and braid hair in ornate patterns for special occasions.

The only thing I cannot do, is speak. Not without great effort, and great anxiety.

Lo'ak has never cared. He talks enough for the both of us, and any spoken sentiment I send his way, he sits patiently and attentively, listening.

Lo'ak is kind, and generous, and too good for me. I know I have kept him at arm's length, but it's a habit. No one has ever had the patience for me before - not even my own parents - so it's hard to imagine that he will not get sick of waiting for me to say what I mean.

Soon, we are to be mated. He asked, and I replied with one word: yes.

Still, it feels as if I haven't really let him in yet.

--

Lo'ak returns from a long hunt with his father and brother, dragging a sled behind him with their kills. They drop the meat off at the fire pits to be prepared and used later that evening, and without hardly a goodbye, he turns and leaves his family, looking for her.

She is not in her hammock, so he checks the next place he thinks he'll find her, and he has luck.

There is a small pond, not too many paces from home tree, where children swim during the day. It is too shallow to be of much use besides that, but there is a branch that hangs over, just tall enough to sit on and dangle your feet in the water; she comes here a lot.

Lo'ak approaches, but she doesn't notice. As he gets closer, he realizes why. She's crying.

He has never seen her cry, and he stops in his tracks. Y/N isn't a woman of many emotions. She smiles and laughs a lot, but she keeps her true self at a distance from everyone.

He knows why. He saw how she was treated, growing up, because of her difficulty with speech. He never understood why it mattered to anyone - he thought she was smart, talented, skilled and beautiful.

Lo'ak approaches slowly, but announces himself as he steps onto the branch.

"Y/N," he says.

With a gasp, she turns to him. She places her hand over her heart, indicating that he startled her.

"Sorry," he whispers, sitting next to her. "What's wrong, Y/N?"

She turns back to the water, her wet cheeks reflecting the moonlight.

"You can tell me. Anything, you can tell me."

To Lo'ak's surprise, she leans over, placing her head on his shoulder. Without hesitation, he wraps his arm around her waist. Even though he's concerned for her, he can't deny that he's thrilled to be holding her so intimately.

"Come. Come home, and we'll talk," Lo'ak says. "Away from anyone."

She nods, and takes his hand, allowing him to lead her the short walk to the alcove they have carved out of the side of home tree. Once inside, Lo'ak is relieved to see that she is no longer crying, but he still wants to know what happened.

"Did someone hurt you, Y/N?" he asks.

She shakes her head, and grabs his arms. She sinks to the floor, crossing her legs below her, and pulls him along. He sits in front of her, and her hands move from his arms, down over his elbows and forearms, and finally, they hold his own hands.

He grips tightly to her.

"You can tell me. Take your time."

She takes in a deep breath.

"I... went hunting," she says, in the slow cadence she usually adopts. "It was good." She stutters on the word good, stopping and starting a few times, until she finally gets it out. She takes another deep breath, and closes her eyes. "I brought the kill to the pits. Marek thanked me," she pauses her. Sometimes, Lo'ak has noticed, when she really gets into a story, the words come easier. Her cadence picks up, just slightly. "He said, I must like to spend time with animals. Because, they don't care... I can't talk."

As she finishes her story, tears pool in her eyes again, and she looks down, her face ashamed and embarrassed.

The rage that overtakes Lo'ak's entire body is powerful, unlike anything he's ever felt before. Childhood teasing is one thing, but Marek is a grown man, making fun of a woman - his woman - for providing for their clan.

Lo'ak sees two choices ahead of him. The first is to get up right there, find Marek, and beat him so badly that he himself never utters another word. Maybe he could grab Neteyam on the way, and make sure Marek never does anything again, at all.

Though he feels momentarily blinded by rage, he knows that's not what his future mate needs.

She needs him here, now.

"I will kill Marek later," Lo'ak says through a tense jaw, and a ghost of a smile crosses Y/N's face. "Your skills at the hunt are unmatched, Y/N. You provide for us all." He reaches down, touching the ornately woven rug below them. "You have woven beautiful rugs that nearly half the alcoves in home tree are adorned by. People see them, and think of you, gratefully. Kiri and Tuk tell everyone that it is you who so beautiful braids their hair for every dance and feast, and they've told me how jealous all the other women are of your talents. It is true, Y/N, that you speak differently from the rest of us. You do not speak worse. You speak differently. It is slower, and it is worth waiting and listening to. Everything you say holds meaning. Every word out of Marek's mouth is useless garbage, and it would be better if none of us ever had to hear him again."

He could go on, and on, all night if she needs - but she falls forward into his arms, crawling into his lap, heaving sobs into his chest.

Shocked, he wraps his arms around her, and presses a soft kiss to her forehead.

"I will kill him tomorrow," Lo'ak whispers.

Taking deep breaths, Y/N looks up at him. "Not sad," she replies, and points to the tears on her face. "Happy. Feel lucky, to be your mate."

The rage in his chest subsides, replaced by an overwhelming wave of pride and love towards his amazing woman in his arms. He leans back against the wall, and she settles between his legs, resting on his chest.

Her breathing slows, in and out, and he thinks she may be drifting off. It is not lost on him, that this means she is comfortable with him, being vulnerable to him for the first time ever.

He stays awake half the night, just reveling in the feel of her laying on him, the soft sounds she makes in her sleep, the way she lays so still on him. He hopes it means she's comfortable.

He will kill Marek tomorrow, and hopefully every night after, they will sleep like this.

[not-a-space-alien]

Desperate Daybreak Chapter 3

In this chapter: Valen talks to vampire cops and meets a new ally.

Warning for this chapter: use of a homophobic/transphobic slur, misgendering throughout, police intimidation

MMSS masterpost

DD masterpost

On AO3

***

Valen wasn’t sure how many different ways there were to say “I didn’t kill my husband.”  He’d said practically every variation of it so far.

After the initial rounds of Who the hell is this? and Does Mrs. Kithrara have a brother? and Valen having to literally pull out his ID to prove he was in fact the recently widowed Valen Kithrara, the two officers sat him down in the foyer and refused to stop grilling him and asking him the same questions over and over again.  He was sure if Lex and Ari weren’t there, he would have broken down and simply confessed to the murder just to make it end.  He really wished he could hold one of their hands, but making sure they had their silver armor so none of the vampires around could touch them was much more important than that.

The two cops had obviously watched too many movies glamorizing solving complicated murder cases.  They had even designated themselves as good cop and bad cop, which was as patronizing as it was stupid.

The one who’d designated himself good cop tapped his pencil on his notepad.  “Look, we know you killed him, so why don’t you make this easier on all of us and just tell us how you did it.  This doesn’t have to be hard.”

Valen squirmed in the uncomfortable elaborate embroidery on the upholstery of the fancy chairs of the Kithrara estate’s sitting room.  “For the last time.  I wasn’t even on this side of the border.  I was hundreds of miles away.”

“You hired somebody, then,” bad cop insisted.  “If we pulled up your phone records, we wouldn’t find any suspicious calls to this side of the border?”

The idea that Valen could have hired a human to kill him, from one of the many, many vampire hunters he surrounded himself with, was so far from their minds that they just assumed Valen would have had to contact a remote vampire assassin to pull it off.  Humans were just so non-existent as a threat in their minds.  He almost wanted to point it out, if it wouldn’t have just opened another can of problems for him.  “I only cross the border to come buy supplies, and I barely ever call anybody over here.”

“So if we pull up the phone records, we won’t find anything suspicious?”

“No, I’m positive.”

“So you wouldn’t have a problem with it if we pulled up the phone records?”

“For God’s sake, pull up the phone records then, if you must!”

“Maybe we will.  It’d be easier if you just told us, though, you know.”

Valen struggled to hold back tears.  Don’t let yourself be humiliated in front of these men.  Not more than you already have.  “If I had anything to tell you, I would have.”

“Hey,” Ari butted in with a growl.  “Can we get this over with?”

One of the cops looked disdainfully at Ari.  “Mrs. Kithrara, can you keep your thrall quiet?”

Ari scowled.  Valen went to put his hand on Ari’s arm, then withdrew before he could burn himself on the silver.  “It’s all right, dear, just let me handle this.”

Lex leaned over to whisper comfortingly in his ear.  “You can do this.”

Despite finding massive comfort in the words, Valen looked up and was horrified to discover the two men were giving him a bemused expression, like they were watching a fully grown man be comforted by his mother, or perhaps a pet.

They thought he was pathetic, it was obvious they did.  He was on the verge of a breakdown just talking to them, and he seemed to need the comfort of a human.  He might as well have just pulled out a coloring book and crayons for how it changed their view of him.

But as much as he hated it, he knew that sometimes that could be to his advantage.

“I don’t even know how I would kill someone,” Valen said, finally letting the tears leak out.  “How could anyone even do such a thing?  It’s unthinkable!  To kill my husband?  Such violence… It feels like just yesterday I was right here beside him…”

The two cops softened, now that he was behaving how they expected.  Submissive.  Womanly.  Cowed.  Weak.  He hated it.  Oh, he hated it.  But it was working.  He dabbed at his eyes.  “I’m sorry for losing my composure… I’m just not mentally well, you know.”

“We know,” one cop said sympathetically.  “You poor girl.”

“I can only imagine you need some comfort,” the other said.  “I’ll give you my phone number for if you find yourself lonely now that he's gone.”

“Jesus Christ,” Ari muttered.

“Mrs. Kithara, is it really necessary to have both your thralls here?” He said it like it was gaudy and in poor taste.

Valen went red.  “Surely they aren’t being that disruptive.”

“No, no, I get it,” Ari said.  She tapped her knees and stood.  “I can’t keep my mouth shut, so I’ll wait outside.”

The two cops looked at her funny, like she was a dog walking itself by holding its own leash in its mouth.  “Uh-huh.”

“Do be careful,” Valen muttered, having nightmare visions of someone accosting Ari outside the door.  “Don’t move too far away.”

Ari waved him off casually and opened the door.

There was another vampire outside–way across the grand entryway, frazzled as though looking for something.  His head snapped towards Ari as soon as the door opened, and with the preternaturally fast clackclackclackclack of dress shoes on tiled floor, he was in front of Ari blocking the doorway immediately.

“There you are,” he said, and Oh, that’s Tessie’s voice, and Valen should have guessed by the subtle gold nail polish and the just barely noticeable discomfort at being in men’s dress clothing.  Valen wouldn’t have recognized it if he hadn’t seen the exact same thing in the mirror every time he put on women’s dress clothes. This was undoubtedly the Tessie he'd spoken to on the phone. “My client has the right to legal counsel!”

The two cops rolled their eyes and snickered.  “Sure.  So where were you?”

“I told you to come get me when Valen arrived at the estate, but apparently you can’t even be trusted to do that!”  Tessie stormed over and plunked into the chair beside Valen.  She was taller than him, although that was hardly a feat.  She had ashy, dark skin and eyes that were leaning more towards golden than red.  “I was looking for you because I had to hear that Valen was on site from one of the maids.”

“Sorry.  We couldn’t find you.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure you looked all over the grounds.  Convenient that it gave you a few minutes to terrorize my client without my being here.”  She dropped a manila folder of documents onto the table.  “Any questions for Valen will now be addressed to me, and Valen will consult with me about the answers before you get them.”

Relief swept through Valen.  Oh, Tessie was a superhero.  Finally, someone who could and would just stand between him and this whole situation.  “Thank you,” he said meekly.

“Now.”  Tessie threw one leg over the other.  “I understand neither you nor the Kithrara family want me or Valen here, but Valen has the legal right to this estate and he has the legal right to an attorney, so we’re–”

“She,” one of the cops broke in.

Tessie’s manicured fingers stopped on the documents she was shuffling.  “What?”

“She has the legal right to an attorney.”

“The man has facial hair and everything,” Tessie muttered.  “Heavens above.”  She cleared her throat and raised her voice again.  “Anyway, the legal right to an attorney, so unless Valen prefers a different legal consultant–”

“I don’t,” Valen broke in quietly.

“–Which she doesn’t, you have to talk to me if you want to question Valen about the circumstances of her husband’s death.”

The two cops scowled.  “Fine, though I don’t know why they let someone like you be a lawyer anyway.”

Tessie peeled her lip into a smile that looked more like an animal snarling.  “Have you explained the basic facts of the case to Valen yet?”

They both fidgeted.  “That’s not how we were–”

“Members of the nobility have the legal right to have the established facts of a case in which they are a suspect explained to them fully before being obligated to answer any questions about it.  Decree 1,489 section 3 clause 8.”

“But we were just gonna–”

Tessie whipped out a notebook and started jotting things down.  “Officer… Davis… refused… to… establish… case… facts…”

“All right, all right, sheesh.”

“Oh, I like this one.”  Ari shut the door and sat back down. 

Valen swept his hair out of his face and crossed his legs with renewed confidence.  “Yes, if there are case facts, by all means I would like to hear them.”

One of the cops sighed and took out his notepad, flipping it back to an older page.  The bastard had a stack of notes ready to go, but hadn’t told Valen about it until someone came and threatened him with legal action!  Valen was so outraged he almost forgot to pay attention. 

“On the morning of May 4th, at 3:30AM, an incident occurred with four males of the Kithrara family who were together on an outing–Xavier, Priscus, Mordecai, and Sebastian.  There were four witnesses:  Xavier’s coachman, Priscus’s limousine driver, and two passersby.  The Kithraras were exiting the grounds of a theater and returning to the private lot to get to their vehicles when an unknown assailant propelled a wooden stake through the chest of Mordecai Kithrara, followed immediately by a second through Xavier Kithrara.”

“The limousine driver ran off at this point,” the other cop broke in.  “As did the two passersby.  Cowards.  No loyalty to their betters at all.”

“The coachman hid in the carriage but reportedly heard multiple gunshots, which according to him incapacitated both Priscus and Sebastian.”

“He didn’t go out to check until several minutes had passed,” the other cop sneered.  “No loyalty at all.  Cowardice.”

Even the first cop was looking annoyed by the commentary at this point.  “Anyway.  By the time police were on the scene, Xavier, Mordecai, and Priscus were all dead from wooden projectiles.  Sebastian’s body hasn’t been recovered yet.”

“He’s dead?”

“He’s presumed dead, but no one knows where he is.”

“Goodness,” Valen said.  “I hope he’s all right.”

The cop who’d designated himself as bad cop slammed his hands down on the table, making Valen jump.  “I bet you do!” he accused.  “As if you didn’t orchestrate this!  The order of assassination is perfectly lined up in such a way that it would be clear Priscus would inherit Xavier’s estate in the moments before his own death!  Mordecai dying before Xavier eliminated him as an heir, and the gap between Xavier’s murder and Priscus’s murder ensured the estate would go to you.”

Oh, so that was why they were convinced he must be behind it.  Valen did have to admit it looked suspiciously convenient that he would end up benefiting so much from this extremely specific series of murders.  But…

“I had no idea Priscus bequeathed the estate to me in his will,” Valen protested.  “Even if I’d wanted to kill him, I had no way of knowing it would benefit me!  I hadn’t been in contact with him for months!  When was his will last updated?”

“That’s besides the point,” came the reply.  “It’s also convenient that Sebastian Kithrara, the only person in any position to contest your claim, is conveniently missing.”

“I would never hurt Sebastian!” Valen gasped.  “You can’t be serious!”

Tessie stood, her chair scooting back.  “These are some very serious accusations to make without any evidence, officers.  Do you have anything that will hold up in a court of law?  Need I remind you that the nobility are explicitly entitled to the assumption of innocence in the absence of evidence, as per Decree 981, section 106 clause 4.”

“Mrs. Kithrara married in, and they've been separated, so she hardly counts as nobility, right?”

“Priscus Kithrara explicitly declined to sign divorce paperwork on multiple occasions and stated he didn't wish for their union to be dissolved.  And women who marry into nobility are entitled to all the legal rights of a born noblewoman, as per Decree 367, section 33, clause-”

“You and your clauses,” said Cop #1.  “I’ll show you claws.”

Tessie sat back down and started writing.  “Officer… Davis… threatened… physical… assault… against… a practitioner… of nobility law…”

Cop #1 crossed his arms stormily.  “Whatever.  We’re not gonna get anything out of the missus while this yahoo is here.  I think we’re done here.”

“I think we are.”

“Well I thought we were, first!”

“Well I concur!”

“Well you’re probably a faggot anyway!”

“Officer… Davis… leveraged… crude… language…”

“Don’t think this is the end of this.  The investigation is ongoing.”

And with that, the two cops absconded out the main entryway.

Valen watched them go with some relief.  “Goodness,” he murmured.  He unclasped his hands to find that they were sweaty.

“I don’t know where you came from,” Ari said to Tessie, “but thank you for saving our asses.”

“This is Tessie,” Valen said.  “We spoke on the phone earlier.”

Lex’s eyebrows went up.  “Oh, you’re Tessie?  Valen was so excited to meet you.”

Valen blushed, trying not to look excited for anything.  It wasn’t proper.  “Mrs. Tessandrax, these are my associates, Alexis and Ariana.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you!”  Tessie went to grab Lex’s hand, before Ari broke in:  “Bad idea, sorry.”

Tessie pulled back.  “Oh?  You–Oh, you armored plated them!  That’s so clever.”

“I know they aren’t entirely safe here,” Valen said.  “I would rather no vampires touch them without permission.”

Tessie clasped her hands together, as though trying to restrain herself from shaking their hands anyway and burning herself.  “Very clever.  Yes, it’s so good to meet you.  I haven’t gotten to meet many humans who were, er, cognizant.”

“Right,” Ari said.  “So, pardon me for bein’ rude, but to get right to the point:  Why are you helping Valen?  Why’d you call him here and bust in to beat those cops back?”

“Right!”  Tessie's hair bounced as she gave a little hop, then she seemed to settle down, mimicking Valen’s attempts to restrain his enthusiasm.  “I know an opportunity when I see one!  This whole affair with the Kithrara estate is going to take years to untangle, and you’re going to need a good lawyer to guide you through the process.  And one who, perhaps, can help you navigate this in a way that benefits humans, as well.”

“Really?” Lex said. 

“I’m sympathetic to the plight of humans, and I’ve heard Valen is, too.  If we play our cards right, we might be able to shut down the blood farms entirely.”

***

Taglist

@tomato-whump @dragonfireridge @taterswhump @whump-cravings

@scoundrelwithboba @pigeonwhumps @whumpsday @whumpy-writings @fuzzydarkpebble

@melodicnommer @thecyrulik @snake462 @gt-daboss @appelsiinilight

@star-rott @mottinthemainpot @corvidat @melancholy-in-the-morning @whumplr-reader

@honeycollectswhump @dragonqueenslayer6 @whumpycries @starfields08000

[phant0msworld]

I'm unsure if you write smut, but if you do can I please have some sub!crosshair and dom!femreader. You don't have to write this if you don't do smut.

You asked you shall receive, if only written smut once and it was with crosshairs.But I hope I got it right.

Anticipation

Summery:Being the medic for a group like clone force 99 wasn’t always easy.But you didn’t mind, and you especially did t Monde a certain white haired clone.

Warnings:only smut

Notes:so this is only my second attempt at writing smut I hope it’s okay btw English is not my first language

Currently you were looking at him, at Crosshairs. You liked him more than you would like to admit, but what you had going on with him was something special.

You knew it was. Maybe he also knew.

He was currently cleaning his rifle, his longe and thin hands working the deathly weapon like an instrument.

“What you’re looking at?” He was annoyed, you were amused.

“Oh nothing you know, just you.” Crosshairs could hear the smug smile in your voice,he could feel the warmth spreading to his body at your direct attention.

He likes you and he knew it, he likes your quick remarks, your teasing but in general he just likes you. It was embarrassing if he’s being honest, how he always had to go the refresher after being with you for a long time.

Like a virgin school boy who can’t keep it in his pants.

“Well stop it.” He said a bit too quickly.

“But you’re so pretty to look at, besides I like looking at you “ you knew he wants you, and you want him so what better way than to show it directly.

“Look Cross, I like you and you can’t deny that there is something between us.”

As he heard that you like him his eyes widened, maybe he miss heard you, why would you like him. He’s a defected, he’s mean to not only you but everyone, he could understand if you went for Hunter, Echo or even tech but him.

“It’s alright if you don’t feel the same I don’t want to pressure you or anything, I just thought you know, that we’re good together.” Your voice was sincere,something he noted even when you said you like looking at him.

“Look doll, it’s not that I don’t like you, I just don’t understand why me. I’m a clone ,a defected one at that, I’m mean to you , you shouldn’t like me.”

In the perimeter of his eyes he could see you stand up and make your way to him.Standing before him you looked even more beautiful, he looked up at you and you looked down at him.

“I don’t care about any of those things, more the opposite it is why I like you. And besides me and your brothers know you don’t really mean anything you’re saying. Why don’t you let me show you just how much I like you tonight.”

For the first time Crosshair was speechless, and it made you smile. Besides the fact that he said he also likes you, the fact that you made him speechless made you feel like a schoolgirl talking to her crush.

He heard the suggestiveness in your voice,you wanted him as badly as he wanted you. How many nights did he beat his own cock in his hands to the thought of you, and now here you were not on,y admitting that you like him but that you want him.

“I would like that, but usually you take someone out for dinner before taking them to bed don’t you?” and as quick as he was gone he’s back, your crosshair.

You can only giggle at his words, and smile.

“Who said anything about that, you have a dirty mind Cross, a dirty mind. So how about this, we go out tonight somewhere to eat, and if something happens then it happens and if it doesn’t then it doesn’t.” You were glad that you and the boys were staying on this planet for a bit longer, because back at Kamino finding privacy was not so easy.

“Okay doll, but you don’t know what you’re getting into.” He was challenging you, buy you don’t mind a little challenge, still standing before him you smiled done at him and said.

“ oh no cross you don’t know what your getting into, let’s meet at eight at the ramp.” And then you were gone, he’s glad you had gone somewhere else because if it weren’t for his codpiece you could have seen how hard he was underneath. Eight couldn’t come sooner.

You were glad you packed something a little more nicer this time, but only cause you knew that it would come to hand. One way or another.

It wasn’t a dress but still nice enough and still practical, it was a nice pair of dress pants that clung tight to you and highlighted your curves. For the top you opted for a nice red blouse with a deep neckline which showed of your cleavage just the right way.

As you went to the ramp your path crossed with hunter he gave you a knowing smirk and said “About time the two of you go out.”Lu only smiled at that and continued your path to hopefully an eventful night.

He heard you coming down the ramp, and when he turned around he was in heaven. Cause there you stood, and looked beautiful as ever only know you dressed up only for him.

“You look good doll, you ready.” He himself didn’t look to bad himself, he was wearing black pants and a black turtleneck, you could only dream about what was underneath.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, I’m ready let’s go”

You both decided to go to a local restaurant and eat there, you talked and it was just like it was meant to be. The conversation was intimate, you talked about the feelings you’ve had for each other and that you both would like to see where this would go. It soon came to an end and you now stood outside of the small restaurant.

“ So I liked this how about we finde something more private,I saw there was a small hotel on the way here.” You were holding his arm and pressed your chest against him more and whispered those words into his ear. He tensed under your touch and his breath hitched, your breath was hot against his skin.

“What are we waiting for then.” His voice was a bit strained and breathless, anticipation running through his body.

Your desire was running through your body, you could feel yourself already getting slick with anticipation on what was to come. Arriving at the hotel you asked for one room for one night, you quickly payed and went fast to the room that was given to you two.

Crosshair closed the door behind him and immediately your lips were on his, his back hit the door behind him. Your hands were behind his neck and grasping the hair on his neck, he kissed you back with desire, his young asking for permission to enter your mouth. Toungs fighting for dominance, he was moaning into your mouth, his hands were grasping the flesh of your ass and kneeding it.

“As much as I am enjoying this how about wo go the bed and have some more fun.” As soon as you pulled back to say those words, his mouth was at your neck.

“I agree.” Was the only thing he said when you lead him to the big bed, but before you could hit the bed with your back you switched positions.

As you straddle his lap you could feel his hard member against your heated core.

Grinding your self on him you could see his expression clearly.His eyes were full of want and desire, pupils dialated and eyes half open.You smiled at this, his Hipps were bucking against your core.

“Pleas take those of.” He was begging his voice breathless.

“I said I will show you how much I like you didn’t I.” And with those words you went down his body, your fingers trailing along his chest before hooking into the waistband of his pants.

His breath quickened, you were so near to where he needed you the most.

His cock was throbbing underneath and when you unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down he whimpered.

You could see the dark spot on his briefs and you felt yourself clenching around nothing. You knew your panties were ruined.

You kissed the dark spot that was on his briefs before also pulling them down.

His member sprang free, his head was a pretty shade of pink, you could see pre cum leaking from it and dripping down.

“Eager aren’t we.” He didn’t even register your words fully cause as soon as you finished these words you were licking the precum that was leaking out of him.

After licking him clean of his own mess,your lips attached to hi tip and sucked.

“Hah~ please ahhh please “ his hips were bucking into your mouth,you firmly hold his hips,down with your hands and pulled away from his throbbing cock.

“Use your words if you want something.” You hope your voice was firm,you were shaking from desire and clenching, your panties were soaked and you could feel it.

“Ahhh~ I need you please.” As he looked down the sight he was seeing was sinful. There you were between his legs his cock lying heavy on your face and a sinful smile adorning your puffy lips.

You kissed his tip and stood up, he whimpered at the loose of you.

He could see you turn around, bending to take off your pants giving him a full view of your clothed cunt. They were soaked as he saw this he moaned.

“See when you use ur words it’s easier,now take off the rest of your clothes.”

He did as you said and took off the rest when he looked at you again, he nearly came. You were completely naked, he could see everything.The way your breast moved with you as you claimed the bed like a hungry animal, the glistening slick between your legs, and all the marks that made you.

“No be good boy for me yes, can you do that for me?” You were hovering over his cock, he nodded eagerly and yes that came out more like a whimper left his lips.

With a firm hand you took his throbbing members into,your hand and glided it up and down your dripping folds. Coating it in your, it catches you clit and you let out a small moan. You knew you were slick enough for him without preparing yourself, he was big but not to thick just how you like it.

As you lowered your self onto him he was gripping your hips to not buck into you, you when he was fully seated inside you, both of you let out a moan.

“Mhmm so big , stretching me just how I like it.” He shuddered and whimpered at that. You placed your hands onto his shoulders pushing him down against the mattress, lifting your hips and slamming down again made you see stars.

Allowing him to touch your breast he played with your hard buds pinching them and twisting them in his rough fingers.

He could feel you clenching around him,he knew the moment he was inside you that he wasn’t going to,last long. You were using him but he didn’t mind in fact it turned him on even more. The small breaths and moans he could hear from you would have been enough to bring him over the edge if he would have let go. But he didn’t want it to be over so soon, bunching and grinding on his dick you looked like an angel in his eyes.

“Doll ahh I don’t think I will last longer at this ahhh pace.”

“Mhmmm don’t worry about that me ahhh too.” You sounded beautiful , he was mesmerized by you.

You could feel him everywhere, he was hitting the spot inside you that made you see stars but you knew it wouldn’t be enough for you to cum.

Taking one of his hands from your breast you moved it between you body’s to your clit, and quickly his fingers were circling your clit, he was making you see the stars.

You pace quickend, you breath became heavier the knot tightened in your abdomen and he could feel you squeezing him. He was tipping over the edge with you, he let out a sinful moan and you whimpered in his ear as you feel him filling you with his seed. You fall onto his chest, his cock still throbbing inside you and both of your juices flowing out of you.

He turns his head to you and places a small delicate kiss on to your Tempel.

“Thank you doll.” His voice delicate and sweet, his arms were holding you and his hands were stroking your back.

Lifting your hips he slid out and rested now between your body’s, you didn’t care that you were sticky and that cum was covering your abdomen and thighs.

You were happy with spending the rest of your time like this if it meant spending it with him.

Notes :so I hope this was okay

[holylulusworld]

God vs the Devil (1) - Crash, boom, bang

Summary: God and the devil are after you. Someone messed shit up and you are on the run from a bounty hunter and a mercenary.

Pairing: Lloyd Hansen x fem!Reader x God

Warnings: angst, chasing, scared reader, language, mentions of characters death

Rating: Mature

Square filled for @sebastianstanbingo​​: Bounty Hunter AU

Square filled for @anyfandomdarkbingo​​: “Why aren’t they waking up?”

Word Count: 1,3 k

Crash. Boom. Bang.  

That’s how your life feels right now.

You crashed.

Your world exploded.

Bang. Gunshots follow your every step for days.

“Come out, cupcake. It will be over soon if you come here and be a good girl,” one of your pursuers coos. 

You’d believe him if you didn’t witness the death of your former boss not hours ago. 

Not that you liked your boss very much. He was an asshole and loved to grope your ass. But watching his brain end up on the wall behind him wasn’t how you imagined your day would turn out.

“Muffin don’t make me mad. People want to talk to you. I promise not to hurt you,” he huffs as you won’t leave your hideout. The man chased you around town for the better of a week. Always two steps ahead.

You made the mistake of turning toward your boss. He always bragged about his connections and weapon collection. Sadly, he refused to borrow you a weapon to defend yourself. 

“I’m slowly losing my patience here. You know this is the end of the rope. I will get my hands on you. If you force me to find you and drag you out of your hideout, I’ll break more than your fingers.”

He moves closer to your position, tapping the door to the broom closet you are hiding in with his gun. “I can fire through the door, toffee.”

A heartbeat passes, and another. You are about to just give up and put your life in the stranger’s hands when another voice catches your attention.

“What are you doing here?” the first man grunts. You can hear another gunshot. This time it’s not aimed toward you, but at the second man. “This is my hit.”

“I’m God, and you are not going to steal my hit,” the other man threatens. You wrap your arms around yourself. This is the end. You know it. One of them will survive and take your life.

“Well bad news, sunshine,” the first guy yells. “Litte miss cupcake is my job. I give you five seconds to move your ass out of my sight.”

“I’m God, the bounty hunter, and this is my job,” you’d like to chuckle at the second guy’s stoic demeanor. He gives a shit that the other guy threatens his life. “Get out of my way. You are not my job, but I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“Did he hire you too?”

“I don’t talk about my clients. Now, move aside, or I’ll make you move,” God says. “We have talked enough, Lloyd Hansen. This is the second time you have tried to steal one of my kills. I won’t have it.”

“What? Are you accusing me of murder theft?” Lloyd retorts. “I was here first, and I’ll relocate her now. Get the fuck out of my way.”

“Try me,” God bites back. “I bet you wasted all of your ammunition scaring the girl.” He drops his eyes to Lloyd’s gun. “More will come. We should settle this here and now.”

“I got more than enough ammunition left for you.”

You listen closely. If they fight, you might get the chance to sneak out of the room and get away. 

God unlocks his gun. He thinks about his next steps as Lloyd tries to remember how many bullets he carelessly fired at you. “You will die.”

“You will die,” Lloyd mimics God. “I will-“ he groans as his phone starts ringing. He raises one finger, expecting God not to shoot him while he takes the call. “What is it, Suzanne?”

God watches his opponent with curiosity. He doesn’t understand Lloyd’s behavior.

“Hello,” Lloyd snaps his fingers at God, “your phone is ringing. I bet they want to tell you too that someone messed shit up. This is not the target.”

God reluctantly answers his phone. He doesn’t say much but rather listens to his handler. “Not the target. Abort mission. Got it.”

He ends the call and puts his phone back in his pocket.

“Well, shit,” Lloyd grunts. “What now? She saw our faces and we kinda killed people all over town to get hold of her.”

“The target got eliminated,” God monotonously replies. He looks around the room, shaking his head. “Who are all these people?”

He points at your dead boss and his secretary. “Collateral damage,” Lloyd shrugs. “Leave the girl to me. I give you the chance to get away today.”

God harrumphs. He looks at the silver ring around his finger. “I considered your suggestion and decline it. She’s mine.”

Lloyd aims his gun at God. “I told you to get the fuck out of my sight. She will come with me. I’ll take good care of her.”

“No.”

God takes a step toward Lloyd. 

“I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

Lloyd hesitates. He knows this man is protected by powerful people, but he already lost a kill today. He won’t give up on you too.

God just stares at Lloyd. He doesn’t know why, but he wants to take you with him. “No.”

“Fuck this.”

Lloyd kicks the door to the broom closet open. He ignores his concurrent and goes straight for the goal. He grabs your wrist, threatening to kill you as he drags you out of your hideout.

“No, let me go,” you scream and cry while wiggling in his hold. You try to break out of his iron grip, fighting for your life as your eyes land on the other man. “What do you want from me?”

“Shut your mouth, cupcake or I’ll make you shut up,” Lloyd grunts and pushes you down to your knees. You whimper and try to crawl away from the men.

You’re breathing heavily, and your heart hammers in your chest but you keep on crawling until you come eye-to-eye with your deceased boss. “Oh, my god.”

“She knows my name?” God asks. “Did you tell her my name?”

“Christ, can you shut up for a moment?” Lloyd grunts. “She didn’t mean you.”

“No…no…” you stare at the bodies of your former co-workers. “You killed them all…no…no…”

“Nonsense,” Lloyd pokes your boss’s leg with the tip of his shoe. “They are fine….just tired.”

You stare up at him with wide fearful eyes. “Why aren’t they waking up?” 

“Hansen, leave her to me,” God crouches down next to you to press something to your neck. You gasp and scramble away, staring at the man in horror. “Stop. Girl.”

“Leave me alone… go away…” you are shaking in fear again. “Please. I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Fuck off,” Lloyd grabs your upper arm. He brings you to his chest to look at your neck. “What the fuck did you put at her neck?”

God doesn’t answer. He lifts his hand to show Lloyd the ring around his finger.

“Control.”

“You’re a sick little bastard, huh?” Lloyd grins. “Problem is, this is my prey. I didn’t get the kill, but cupcake is mine.”

“No.”

Lloyd sighs deeply. He’s just done talking to the dull man in front of him. “Yeah, I don’t give a shit about your opinion, sunshine. I’ll take her with me.”

He presses your trembling body to his chest with one thick arm and points his gun at God, silently warning his opponent to threaten his claim on you. 

“No.”

“Hey, uh-while you fight over…me,” you choke out, “can I use the restrooms? I need to pee for a while. You don’t want me to piss on your shoes…right?”

“No can do, cupcake.”

It was worth a try. You can’t outrun these two, so you must try to outsmart them.

 “Give her back,” God aims his gun at Lloyd. “Last warning.”

“Fuck off!” 

You scream and drop to your knees as the men start to fire at each other. Lloyd misses his opponent by inches. He grunts in pain as a bullet grazes his left upper arm.

“Why is this happening to me.” 

You crawl toward a corner of the room and wrap your arms around your legs.

You rock back and forth, praying to whoever is listening to shelter your life, or at least end it fast…

>> Part 2

Tags in reblog.

[the-bi-space-ace]

Alright strap in I’ve got Crosshair headcanons and thoughts and you are being subjected to them hi hello enjoy:

Really craves friendship. Wants friends more than anything but for the life of him has never been good at making them. Mostly bc his defense mechanism is to be mean to keep strangers at arms length. Choose to have them dislike you before they even get a chance to make that decision themselves. It’s hard to penetrate those defenses.

AND YET this man contradicts every word he says. He hates regular clones huh? Then explain Cody and Echo and Mayday to me Crossy. Explain them to me bro. You even like Rex when it’s all said and done and that man PUNCHED YOU IN THE FACE. Explain yourself Crosshair.

Is pretty quiet for the most part but when he gets chatty it’s a mile a minute. He’ll sit next to his brothers or follow them around and just talk talk talk talk talk. Only happens once in awhile but when it does happen they all just stay quiet and listen to him. First time he did that to Echo it was completely out of the blue and he came up behind Echo and just started ranting. Echo stared at him with wide eyes for like ten minutes like ‘is this real? Is he okay?’ Before just sitting down and getting stuck in an hour long chat where he did like zero talking.

Gossipy bastard. Loves to gossip. Loves hearing it. Loves telling it. He’s so quiet most people forget he’s there and they say wild shit in front of him. He tells the 99 everything.

If one of his brothers asks who his favorite is he changes his answer depending on who has annoyed him most that day. ‘Oh you want to know who my favorite is? Wrecker, clearly. Hunter is my least favorite bc he took too long in the shower and used up all the hot water.’

Massive sweet tooth. Keep this man away from a candy store he’ll give himself cavities.

If they’re training playing with fake blasters he makes a ‘pew pew’ sound when he ‘shoots’ it. Super quiet and under his breath but he does it.

He has a game where he tries to see how many tiny rolled up pieces of paper he can get into Hunter’s hair or armor before Hunter catches on. Oh the amount of times he’s been yanked from his bunk after being caught is innumerable.

Loves listening to Tech infodumping but will never admit it out loud. He has learned so much and has found a lot of it fascinating but prefers to sit quietly and keep his eyes closed while Tech talks.

Him and Wrecker have so many more competitions than just the one. They compete all the time. Who can run the fastest. Who can name the most planets. Anything. As long as it’s a competition.

Pretends to be asleep so people don’t ask him to do things and then promptly actually falls asleep.

Cries. Like a lot. Well. Not a lot just a lot more than you’d think. While most people would think he’s too aloof for that I think he picked up a good habit of letting out big bursts of emotion because he always saw Wrecker do it. And he trusts Wrecker. Doesn’t like crying in front of other people but will hide to get some emotion out before rejoining the group.

Secret softy. But in the way where he’ll make fun of his brothers while doing something nice for them. He’s picking up their fave candy from a shop? He’ll throw it at their face when he gives it to them. They’re upset? He’s going to find a way to make sure they get a good meal and have some company but he’s going to be aggressive about it. ‘You haven’t eaten since yesterday. You’re being an idiot. Eat the fucking burrito I went to three different places to find one that would give me the salsa you like now don’t waste my time.’

His toxic trait is acting like he hates when one of them is hugging him as they are hugging him. ‘Ugh get off of me. You’re the worst.’ As he’s tightly hugging them back. Crosshair, honey, why are you like this?

[spectres-fulcrum]

Some Palia crumbs and gut feelings I need to type out

Okay so I met the last “villager” I had left to meet yesterday(as I fell asleep while typing this). Tamala. I didn’t even like her in the promo art, and I had to go to her cause she never comes to town. I knew from promo stuff, she was an adult, a potion maker, and Hassian’s ex, so I was willing to be like some of my initial ick was jealousy. She just gives me SUCH bad vibes.

Like vililan vibes. And I’m intrigued but she grosses me off. Then my mind goes “If all magic is bad then does she even do dark magic if ALL magic is dark? And all you know now is that she does beauty and youth-ew, we will get there- potions.”

But she gives bad news vibes like sirens. Like there’s a reason she’s forced into the northern parts of Bahari Bay and none of the villagers dare to go to the north. Not even Hassian or Hodari who live in the Bay.

And we know it wasn’t always like that-Hassian and Tamala. They were lovers. And he’s a young adult. How young? Idk. I feel like 23/24ish. He feels like middle of the young adult age group characters. Kenyatta and Nai’o feels like the youngest, and Jel and Reth seem the oldest to me. Tamala is classified as adult and looks, idk, 30s, early 30s, and probably spun a web, but I saw in Discord she referred to an event 40 years ago, so she’s what, 45? 50? 60? Like how old was she 40 years ago is the question. (They clearly classified her by her appearence, smart)

So she;s idk how old and seduced the young hunter from the village-red flag. And she uses potions to hide her true age-red flag. And in our daily chat she was like, charming potions are so nice. They compliment you so much/hang onto every word you say/smth. And I’m just like. Angry. Cause is that what you did with Hassian, Tamala? Potioned him into “loving” you? Cause That’s so fucking noncon. Crosses so many lines. And it’s just like-Disguising.

If my gut feeling is right. That whatever they had was dressed up in potions of youth and charm and was never real at all but felt real-felt real enough. Like I grew up on Speak Now enough to know when to say “Alexa play Dear John.” Ow. I can see Hassian and Sifuu having a falling out over this gorgeous woman in the “my mother accused me of losing my mind but I swore I was fine.” Because they’re both so much more… fire…. Than Taylor and Andrea. Like full blowout argument, they don’t talk for weeks. Until Hassian realized it was all pretend and he’s broken and going home and mom doesn’t say I told you so like he’s picturing, but just has hugs and cuddles when the tears comes and it feels likes it’ll never be okay again but that’s…

And Reth once told me Hassian plays cards with Auni? Why? To keep an eye on him? So she can’t sink her claws into a child next? How often does Hodari thank the dragon that Najuma would never have any interest in witches promises beauty and love potions? Is part of why Jina can’t move the red tape an inch because Hassian accidentally moved them and touched magic too intimately?

Idk. Just theorizing some gut feelings and crumbs. I don’t expect the game to delve into any serious shit like this-doesn’t mean we can’t. Also it’s not going to anger as many people cause it’s younger man/older woman vs the other way around. I’m very well aware of that. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t gross me out.

So now I’m like. Tamala will clearly move the plot forward and I want to know what I can gleam from her. And my character doesn’t know about her and Hassian or anything. She just knows her as the recluse who makes potions in north Bahari Bay and she doesn’t like her but is also intrigued. I’m intrigued but enraged and I don’t like how she is. I also don’t like how Taylor put Mean after Dear John on Speak Now. Fucking whiplash.

We’ll see. I just needed to get this out. I am thrilled to write it though but as a game character I do not want to interact with Tamala. And there’s people who romance her??? Well, I imprinted on Hassian and I don’t typically like the goth witchy types so…