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eee-isat-au-blog · 11 days ago

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Encore Et Encore: Act 1, Chapter 1: Terminal Velocity

Full Game Spoilers for In Stars And Time, including Twohats!

CW: Mentions of death, Vauge references to suicide, Vauge references to allergy related death, Mental spiralling, Brief panic attacks

Siffrin walked. In what direction, he couldn't tell. All around him was lightless, he could've been walking inside out for all he knew.

Oddly, the lightlessness of the void around him didn't seem to translate to himself. He looked down and was able to see himself as if he were in…

He struggled to find the right mental analogy. A sunny field? That worked well enough. Regardless, the point was he was brightly lit in shades of darkless.

Wait, why was he thinking about the color of his robe or whatever?? Where was he right now? He racked his brain, trying to think of the last thing he remembered.

Right. He died. Come to think of it, he knew this place was familiar. Back when he was in the loops, he always hovered here for a moment before looping back. But this.. this death was different. What was it? He was with his family, he remembered that much.

...Oh.

Old age, huh...? He was surprised he'd died before Odile… looking back on it, the loops definitely played a part in that… Welp. Not a bad way to go out, surrounded by your family, after living a long happy life.

What to do now, though? Was he just meant to wander this void forever? Stars, this wasn't going to be fun.

✦: "You could say that again, stardust~"

...Huh?

Was that..??

✦: "The one and only~"

The voice snickered, as if what they said was a joke.

Siffrin whipped their head around, and who else do they see standing in the void but Loop, holding open their arms in a welcoming gesture. Loop was here?? He guessed that made sense, they were both Siffrin after all. Seems eternity in the void wouldn't be so ba-

He cut himself off. To his surprise, he had jumped into Loop's arms to give a hug, that they returned. Something was wet on his cheek, that checks out, he was crying, after all.

✧: "Oh, Loop, you don't even know how much I've missed you!"

✦: "Heh, you're giving me a pretty good idea of it at least, stardust~!"

He pulled back and wiped his eye, still sniffling.

✧: "Where are we...? Is this where you went after you disappeared?? Oh stars, I'm so sorry-"

✦: "Ah-ah-ah, none of that now~! I believe there's someone else who wants to talk with you."

☄: "SO GLAD YOU COULD JOIN US, SIFFRIN."

A voice spoke loudly in Siffrin's head, as if his own brain was a speaker. From the look on Loop's face, seems they heard It too.

They both turned to where Loop was standing in front of. There was a figure Siffrin hadn’t noticed before. …or maybe It didn’t want to be noticed before.

The figure was… large. Or maybe they were very close up? Siffrin couldn't tell. They wore a long cloak, not unlike his own, but instead of the simple darkless of his, the figure’s cloak was like that of a galaxy, constantly swirling and moving around their lower body, with stars and lights occasionally twinkling among the…. colors.

The colors? Right, he remembered seeing one of those “colors” when he turned on his friends all those years ago. But these… these were different. Unlike the near death experience met with confusion like last time, this time he immediately understood them. The blues, the greens, the yellows, all of it woven within the tapestry. Woven within the figure Itself.

Looking up to where the figure’s head would be, what sat atop the shoulders was… an abyss. An abyss with a singular eye dead set in the center. A lightless orb with pure light swirling around to resemble a long hat, and shaggy hair. It looked familiar.

It looked like him.

Something about that made Siffrin finally realize that he looked the exact same as he did back during the loops. Not old anymore, looking as young and dumb as he did when that rock first crushed him.

He started to panic. Was he gonna go back again?? He couldn’t, HE COULDN’T!!

He felt two hands on his shoulders. Looking up, he saw that one belonged to Loop.

✦: “Stardust, look at me, it's ok..! You aren't going back…” The look in their eyes seemed to tell otherwise.

The other hand belonged to the figure. One of Its hands held his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It helped a bit.

☄: “MY APOLOGIES FOR THE CONFUSION.”

It spoke in Its booming voice, unaffected by any laws of physics. Siffrin had a feeling It’d sound the same no matter where he was in this void. The figure put all 3 of Its hands to Its chest, they floated aloft, not attached to any limbs, and none of them seemed to be right-handed or left-handed, somewhere in between.

☄: “ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. IN A WAY YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.”

One hand gestured to Siffrin.

☄: “YOU ARE THE TRAVELER.”

One hand gestured to Loop.

☄: “THEY ARE THE STAR.”

The final gestured to Itself.

☄: “I AM THE UNIVERSE.”

Siffrin stepped back hearing that, and Loop did the same to match. This being... that looked like him... was the universe?? Loop didn't seem nearly as surprised.

☄: “PLEASE, STEP FORWARD. I WISH TO DISCUSS WITH YOU.”

Both Loop and Siffrin stepped forward again. Loop didn’t look happy.

The Universe

spoke.

☄: “THE LOOPS. A TRAGIC CONSISTENCY, NO? OUR OWN INSECURITIES HAVE DAMNED US TO ADVENTURE.”

Siffrin looked up at the figure, confused. It paused, then held Its hands up.

☄: “I SEE. LET ME SHOW YOU.”

All three hands snapped their fingers, and Siffrin saw as the void around them showed… versions of himself. Some with slightly different clothes, some with slightly different party members, some with their own versions of Loop, some without, all trapped within their own loops.

Crushing. Crying. Slipping. Slicing. Choking. Freezing. Losing.

Dying.

Siffrin’s face turned to one of horror. A face The Universe seemed to have memorized all too well.

☄: “I WAS THE FIRST, YOU KNOW. THE FIRST TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THIS. MY MISTAKES CAUSED A RIPPLE EFFECT UPON THOUSANDS, MILLIONS, BILLIONS OF SIFFRINS. IT IS A CURSE TO BEAR. BUT IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO ASSIST EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM.”

What...? The Universe Itself was one of you too...? Then why...

✧: "Why even put us through the loops?? Why torment us like this???"

☄: “...THINK OF IT LIKE SO.”

☄: “IT IS THE NATURE OF THE GAME.”

☄: “WIN ONCE, AND TIME SHALL FLOW AGAIN.”

☄: “YOU WILL NOT START YOUR QUEST ANEW.”

☄: “YOUR BODY FREE FROM SCARS.”

☄: “YOUR MIND HEAVY WITH THEM.”

☄: “THE ONLY WISE ONE IN A WORLD FULL OF FOOLS.”

☄: “MANY HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD THIS MESSAGE. TO MEAN THEY MUST BEAT THE KING. I CANNOT BLAME THEM FOR THE CONFUSION. BUT AS YOU KNOW, THE KING WAS NEVER A FACTOR.”

☄: “WHEN PLAYING A GAME, THE GOAL IS TO WIN. BUT IT IS THE GOAL THAT IS IMPORTANT, NOT THE WINNING. TO WIN IS TO OPEN ONESELF TO YOUR FAMILY.”

☄: “THE UNFORTUNATE PART IS OUR EQUAL STUBBORNNESS.”

Siffrin looked around, wide-eyed at all the other versions of themself, eventually meeting eyes with Loop, who looked away uncomfortably.

✧: “...Aren’t there any that have escaped besides me and Loop?”

The Universe snapped their fingers again, cutting the ethereal ‘footage’ to be replaced with an equal amount of different siffrins, living different lives, but all are happy with their family. The ones that got away.

☄: “THERE AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF SIFFRINS THAT HAVE ESCAPED THEMSELVES AS THERE ARE ONES CHASING THEMSELVES. THOSE ESCAPED, THOSE TRAPPED, ALL TRAILING OFF TO INFINITY. SOME OF THE FREE ONES ARE WITH THEIR LOVED ONES, SOME ARE DEAD, AND HAVE HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH ME BEFORE.”

Loop felt Siffrin’s heart sink in their collective chest as he spoke.

✧: “B-but why tell us all of this?? Why make it feel like we can’t escape??”

The Universe

was silent

for a moment.

☄: “YOU MISUNDERSTAND. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO DISCOURAGE YOU. THIS IS MEANT TO TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR CHOICE.”

✧: “My choice…?” Siffrin spoke in confusion.

✦: “His choice…??” Loop parroted the statement.

☄: “NO, THIS IS A CHOICE FOR THE BOTH OF YOU TO MAKE, INDIVIDUALLY. YOU CAN PART WAYS HERE, OR YOU CAN CHOSE TOGETHER.”

The Universe held out two objects in two hands, with Its third at Its chest.

One object was an orb shaped star, sparkling in Its grip.

The other was a crystal ball, displaying…

The Island. It was populated by various different Siffrins and Loops all wandering and waving at each other like a community. The land was rich and colorful, oh Stars above, it was all coming back to him now.

[image of the universe holding the two options]

☄: “I SHALL STATE THIS PLAINLY.”

☄: “YOU CAN CHOOSE TO START AGAIN, ASSISTING ANOTHER SIFFRIN IN THEIR JOURNEY BEFORE MEETING ME HERE AGAIN TO CHOOSE ONCE MORE.”

☄: “OR YOU CAN CHOOSE TO QUIT THE CYCLE, LEAVING YOUR LIFE BEHIND AND JOINING THE FREED IN THEIR PARADISE.”

Siffrin felt a tug on his throat, he resisted the urge to start bawling.

Loop took a moment before kneeling down to get on eye level.

✦: "Stardust. It's gonna be ok. Breathe with me." They both breathed in, and out.

✦: "I'll be with you no matter what, ok?" Despite the lack of a mouth, Siffrin could tell Loop was smiling reassuringly.

After a moment, Siffrin pulled back, looking up at The Universe.

And reached out his hand.

#encore et encore #in stars and time #in stars and time au #isat spoilers #isat siffrin #isat loop #eee loop #eee deloop #isat the universe #eee eve ruins

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swinging-through-the-stars · 1 year ago

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*beats down your door like weirdo Big Bird* SPEAK TO ME OF YOUR SITH!LUKE AU, LAY IT ON ME, go Charlie conspiracy from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on me

OH MY GOD you know EXACTLY the image of how I've been feeling for so long about this especially in the past week you are IN FOR IT

Since your question is so broad, I'm just going to dump all the very basics, the core of the AU in my mind if you will, which honestly might be the best starter for anyone who's interested in this concept that's been rattling around my brain.

I started making the AU in 2021 mostly as a joke or fun concept, and the Lego Star Wars Terrifying Tales of that year that had a bit of Luke joining the Empire just added to the flames.

Soon I was thinking about that "what-if" thread -- what IF Luke was a part of the Empire? What if he grew up there? What WOULD his relationship with Vader be like? What about everyone else? What about the Force?

I based a lot of the story on my head on the canon events of the Original Trilogy and Mandalorian (mostly season 1-2). I pull a little bit from Legends (especially since I've been reading through Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy) and from my own Dinluke obsession because -- uh this is MY AU and if I want Dinluke to happen it'll happen. I've even thought about where the AU would go in the Sequel Trilogy timeline because I do like the Sequel characters, and by then the AU has changed so much that I basically do what I want.

A lot of what I think about has less to do with the trajectory of the war in the galaxy and more about who Luke Skywalker would even BE if he were raised to go down the path of the Dark Side -- and how his relationships with his friends, family, etc. would change or stay the same.

The point in time where the AU basically starts is when Luke is taken by the Empire as a baby and raised by Darth Vader to become his apprentice. Luke spends his life idolizing his father, almost to an unhealthy amount. He's a mold of Vader and JUST VADER, and yet, somewhere down the line, Luke begins to carve out his own destiny, his new sense of self creating tensions with his father.

These tensions meet their peak when Luke and Leia cross paths. Their meeting sets them both off on journeys of self-discovery, of questioning what family is, of finding their places in the galaxy's war, and of their relationships with the Force. The Death Star funnily enough is what brings them together and drives a wedge in their relationship from the very beginning. Luke for a while had been growing a disdain for Palpatine and his idea of "might makes right", his interpretation of the Dark Side of the Force that Luke fundamentally disagrees with -- because at the core of him, despite the changes, Luke still is an idealist at heart, he still has HOPE and trust in the Force that no one else has. When he finds his lost sister, sees that Palpatine uses his power to destroy Alderaan, all that Leia had, it's the final nail in the coffin for him. Leia grows up very similarly the way she had in canon, though meeting with Luke leads her to question what family is meant to mean to her. She gains an intense curiosity of the Force, of the powers she has, because she sees how it affects Luke's perspective, a way of seeing the universe at war that she can somehow understand. Because she eventually walks the path of the Jedi, alone, she struggles with the responsibilities of holding the New Republic together, protecting her friends/family like Han and Chewie, and finding herself and her part in the Force in the midst of ALL of that, mirroring the same kind of struggle that Luke goes through as well. It's VADER in particular that keeps the twins at arms length. To Luke, he is the man that is everything Luke looked up to his whole life, the only family he had, and a victim of Palpatine's control, who he knew they both hated. To Leia, Vader is the man that willingly acted as an arm of power for Palpatine's war, the man that held her back on the Death Star as it destroyed the only home and family she knew.

Luke spends a lot of time trying to fix the wrongs of the Empire against Leia, and Leia sees this, and she knows that Luke has a core of GOOD in him somewhere. However, he can't let go of Vader, he can't let go of the Dark Side of the Force, and Leia cannot sit well with that.

After that, a lot of what I'm interested in is post-Palpatine's defeat, when Luke takes over and makes a new empire from the ground up (The Neo Galactic Empire). He's fixated on renewing the Sith religion, in negotiation versus acts of force, in finding more of his family history, in letting the Empire heal as the Force intends. He wants to be a conduit, not a controller, of the Force, even from the Dark Side. He becomes attached to all of it, and slowly, it consumes him. This is basically the part in the story where I make a lot of stuff up as I want to, like with Din and Grogu becoming a part of Luke's life, Leia's journey as a Jedi and Council-Member of the New Republic, and the outlying Imperial Remnant that remains a threat to both the New Republic AND the Neo Empire.

Through all of this I'm also interested in dissecting the Dark Side of the Force itself, how someone as idealistic as Luke Skywalker would interpret or mold its ways, especially when it comes to power and attachments, and how Luke uses this knowledge in his rule, his relationships, and later, his own teachings.

Later in his life Luke really starts to become a whirlwind of questions of who he is. How much of himself is the Force? How much of himself is Vader? How much of himself is that undying light that lays dormant inside of him, the light that Leia continuously reminds him is there somewhere?

I've compared Sith Luke Skywalker multiple times to a red giant star, a star that quickly grows, trying to give off as much light and warmth as possible, but that scorches everything it touches, before its life ends in a destructive supernova and supermassive black hole. I'm tearing Luke Skywalker apart piece by piece, rebuilding him, seeing how much of him changes, what is left, what causes everything else to break down. It's also me having fun with what-ifs, with angst in relationships, with cool ideas with the Dark Side that I don't think normal Star Wars likes to touch.

AND THAT'S THE GIST OF IT.

I'm really slow at writing all of this in fic form proper, but I am glad I got around to putting everything down in an outline. I draw here or there too, anything that's creatively more my jam than writing just to get concepts out and formulate my ideas better.

BUT PLEASE--I always want to just talk more about it if anyone has any other specific questions or curiosities! And if anyone does want to read what I have gotten down so far, that's over HERE.

And again thanks for the ask @kuiilandtorch -- I haven't gotten an ask yet and I've been itching for one all week!! Hope you liked my lengthy overview!

#sithlukeau #sith luke skywalker #star wars #luke skywalker #darth vader #leia organa #thank you for the ask

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edapparently · 9 months ago

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Ok so I wanna get the ideas I've had for this off my chest

The basic premise is:

There's a Human/Robot duo that travel through space on their ship. They've been sent out as a survey team by Galaxy Central to go to a list planets they've been given and check up on how things are going down and meet the local Alien or whatever population.

So each new episode/story would have them landing on a new planet.

I've also had some story ideas that I think would work well which are these...

(also for now I'm going to refer to the human character as Aron and the robot as Volts. Just to make the descriptions easier while I'm still making up my mind)

One Small Step: the duo's first mission. They land on a seemingly lifeless planet and decided to split up to get the survey done faster. While roaming a rocky bit of wasteland, Aron accidentally steps on what looks like a small model spaceship. That is until it starts flying and it stuns him with its laser and drags him away.

Volts also stumbles across evidence of life, coming very close to treading on a barely action figure sized alien that pleads with the (relatively speaking) giant machine to not destroy their city. Believing Volts to have come from another faction of the local aliens that they are at war with. And are also the same people that captured Aron earlier.

When he wakes up, Aron is still being dragged by the foot. Except he is now in the centre of a miniature city in an underground cavern. And he sees that on the small streets there are smaller people gawking at him. The ship stops in front a grand building in the centre of the mini metropolis, where the leader of this faction of aliens emerges and talks with Aron. Explaining the war and attempting to pull Aron into joining their side. Stating how easy it would be for Aron to simply walk into the other faction's city to destroy it. He obviously refuses and the leader orders him to be taken away and brain washed into serving them.

It's now a matter of time for Volts to track down Aron and stop the two alien factions from destroying each other.

We Don't Go To Mengos IV: on the titular planet, a group of scientists are beginning a test run of a "time drive". The experiment goes horribly wrong. And with a flash of light all evidence of the population of the planet vanishes without a trace. Leaving nothing but thick jungle and swamp land.

4,000 years later. The planet has been discovered by Galaxy Central and has a reputation as a "ghost planet". Where mysterious voices and blurry images of people and buildings are seen floating through the vines and trees.

Aron and Volts are mid way through travelling to their next mission when they receive a distress call from another survey team that have crash landed on Mengos IV and their ship is now slowly sinking into the swamp (I will refer to these characters as Emmie and Screws (yes another human/robot duo. Don't judge me)). Aron is hesitant at first but the two swiftly change their ship's course to intercept.

They initially struggle to find a place to land on the planet's overgrown surface but find a giant tree that has fallen down, wide enough for the ship to set it's landing legs down on.

The two now have to find their crashed co-workers in time and end up uncovering the mystery behind the ghosts that wander the planet.

The Reign Of Baltek: with Emmie and Screws safely aboard Volts and Aron's ship. They decide to drop them off at the closest human colony, so that they can contact Galaxy Central to send them a new ship.

Upon arriving the 4 characters are scanned by a robotic drone. It seems to have no issue, until it scans Emmie. Whom it calls an "outsider" before teleporting her away. Concerned for her safety; Aron and the robots attempt to find some kind of prison or law enforcement centre that she could have been sent to but can't find anything. Aron tells the robots to ask around the colony and to keep looking for her while he attempts to gain an audience with whoever is in charge.

Meanwhile; Emmie reappears at the base of a cliffside. And is forced to wander through a grey and cold wasteland filled with nothing but rock and mist. That is until she comes across a curved line burned into the surface of the planet. She reaches out her hand to touch it but is stopped by a mysterious figure calling out from behind her.

Back in the colony: Aron has managed to get into the command centre and meets Baltek. The leader of the colony. Who has turned the chamber into a strange kind of thrown room. Aron demands to know where and why Emmie was teleported by the drone. Baltek refers to his security computer "Nervon" which again coldly states that she is an "outsider" and has "the mark". A scar, it explains, on the side of the arm that all outsiders are found to have.

Volts and Screws report back to Aron via an ear piece. And state that the population of the colony seem to be living in perpetual fear and hate of those deemed "outsiders". And that there is a disturbing lack of people of colour, religious, disabled and LGBTQ+ citizens in the population.

Aron realises that the reason Emmie was teleported away was because she is African-American. And that Baltek has been abusing his power to create a twisted and bigoted society based upon his own hatred. He becomes furious at Baltek and begins ranting. He accidentally lets slip that the only reason he wasn't teleported with Emmie is because the drone can't scan his sexuality. At which point Baltek pulls out a laser pistol and threatens to kill Aron if he moves. Before he can another robotic drone teleports Aron to the same cliffside where Emmie appeared.

Trapped both inside and out of the colony. The two groups of humans and robots must work together to tear down the bigoted subduction of the "outsiders", free those within the colony from Baltek's rule and uncover the secrets behind "the mark" and "Nervon".

Duplicatia: in need of a good, long, break after freeing the human colony and finally getting Emmie and Screws back to Galaxy Central. Aron is excited that after their next mission they get to survey the planet Duplicatia. Known for its natural beauty, calming atmosphere and populated entirely by friendly robots.

Aron speeds through their next mission and is back on the ship in record time. Volts is taken aback by his enthusiasm as they take off. Aron goes to his quarters to rest peacefully knowing he can take as long as he like on Duplicatia thanks to his quick work.

The next day as the ship enters orbit around the planet. Volts is surprised to find the Aron has overslept and is behind schedule despite his previous excitement. Eventually he emerges and Volts asks where his enthusiasm went. Aron appears confused by this and claims he doesn't know what Volts is talking about.

The duo decide to ignore it for the moment as they land the ship on the beautiful planet and begin the survey. While talking to one of the local robots, Volts expresses their concern for Aron. They decided to go looking for him to ask if everything is alright. When they do spot him, he's being dragged into a building by two other robots.

Volts follows in a panic as the kidnappers place Aron onto a robot repair table. Volts is forced to watch through a thick glass pane as one of the robots pulls out a spinning saw blade and cuts Aron's arm off. Revealing him to have been a robot copy.

The kidnapping robots explain that they were commissioned to build the robot copy by a representative of a near by planet. Coincidentally the same planet the duo were up next to survey.

Volts and the robot copy of Aron must now go to the planet to try and find the real Aron and uncover why the duplicate was made in the first place

That's all I have for now. Sorry this was a VERY long post

Also apologies for any spelling/grammar errors I missed. I am very much dyslexic lol

Worried about narcissism

So for context:

For a little while I've had a retro sci-fi inspired personified version of myself that I use as my avatar online. And also a robot character called Cabins as his buddy

And recently I had this idea for a premise that surrounds the two and I already have like 4 different story ideas based on it rummaging around in my head

But I worry that if I ever made any of it as an actual project then it would come off as really narcissistic to have a literal representation of myself within the story as a main character

And because of that it's not really sitting right with me. To the point where I'm now considering making a new Human/Robot duo to go on the space adventures instead

Not really sure what I'm gonna do. Chances are it might remain on the shelf forever unless I can make my mind up

#sci fi story

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fortunate-hal · 2 years ago

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"Do I have my sweet sister to thank for that?"

Chapter headers for Tyrion, Cersei, Theon, and Asha as illustrated by Jonathan Burton for the Folio Society editions of ASOIAF

#valyrianscrolls #tyrion lannister #cersei lannister #theon greyjoy #asha greyjoy #artist: jonathan burton #source: book scan #this set was such a galaxy brain idea that i struggled to find a pull quote that was not demented #i do wonder how the progression of theon's identity will manifest in his chapter headers in folio society adwd

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roguetonorth · 2 years ago

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Through the dark

Requested by: @jbbuckybbarnes - #1. "Stay." & #10. "Is that a drawing of me?"

pairing: din djarin x reader

warnings: tons of fluff, the helmet comes off, kissing, and all the soft stuff we love so much <3

summary: You hadn't seen din, but when his features become familiar to your touch, your imagination wonders what laid under the helmet; though the last thing you expected was him to find that out.

word count: 3.486k

a/n: i have no idea what this is but there's so much fluff it barely makes sense

• masterlist • send me a request! •

First, he gave you his name.

Then, the first time he kissed you, it was through beskar.

But the first time you saw him, it was in the dark.

And you saw him with your touch, with your heart.

Your palm met his skin, soft, warm and welcoming skin. Little curls swallowed your fingertips at the nape of his neck. And you felt Din's pulse run as wild as your own under your touch.

Soft pants of breath tickle where they meet your wrist, setting your chest aflame and seeding a wave of haze through your veins. Peaceful silence dangled between you and Din as he let you map out his features at your own pace, his eyes ever locked with yours despite the lack of light. You held back for a few moments, scared of somehow pushing him, yet too afraid of missing the moment you found yourself in.

Before you realized gravity pulled your thumb to brush against the length of his jaw, strong and curvy angled, the stubble your digit ran over made you smile. You stroke his neck, struggling against patience, wanting to know more of what you thought you’d never have. Your mandalorian stripped bare of his beskar for you, the protection of the dark as the only dome for his creed. He had trusted you wholeheartedly and you wanted to show him he could keep on doing so.

Feeling your hesitancy, Din chuckled softly, the sound rumbled deep in chest as he brought your hand to cup his cheek. He shivered when your fingers found the spot below his eye. Your warmth was overwhelming in contrast with the cold heavy feeling of the beskar— the only welcome touch he’d had in ever too long. Even as you repressed your touch, meeting his skin ever so lightly, it was as if you had the entire galaxy right there.

Din leaned further into your touch, until you felt short lashes as you brushed carefully over his eye. Little wrinkles framed the corner of them and they were a little bit hooded, you realized as he blinked beneath the pad of your finger. His brows lost its concerned furrow as your thumb traced them. He did frown a lot as you had thought, the evidence of it remaining there even as he leaned further into your touch, amused even. Though not even forever would be enough for you to absorb all of this, you moved on to his nose, tracing its delicate yet firm curve. Bridge to tip carved in your brain as you pictured it to be the most remarkable feature of his. Then your fingertip found its way to his lips. Dry and plush, the bow of it spaced and curvy. They met your thumb in a tiny motion, your mouth fell agape both from the kiss he pressed upon your thumb and because of the scruff that adorned his upper lip. And you bit the stupidest smile ever to yourself.

Though it was hard to make out something in the dark, you felt like his cheeks had grown red.

Time carried on leisurely— it could have been an age and it could’ve been a second. Right there, as din pulled you closer, leaning to rest his back on the wall of your now shared cot, you were sure you were the closest to heaven you’d ever be. You accepted his arms on your back, finding a way to be as close to him as possible without making yourself embarrassed. You sat next to his form, still facing him, the awe you found yourself in so strong your brain was still short-circuiting. Din, though, was still silent, lost in the moment just as you were. It was only when you lifted another hand to his face that you noticed he’d been holding it, causing you to chase your breath once again. You ignored the heat creeping to your cheeks upon the realization of his gaze burning through you to lift your intertwined hands to hover over his face. As your skin meets his for the second time, it feels natural.

You take his face in your hands to bring him back to reality. And you were so close to him. Strands of fluffy hair fell over his forehead as you leaned in the furthest you dared, leaving a reverent kiss between his brows, "You, Din," you whispered to him, brushing the unruly curls back into place, "You’re my star."

"Yours?" he whispered back, tenderness sparking through his tone as he let out a breathless little chuckle.

"Umhm," you hummed positively as you nuzzled into his neck, hand cradling his hair.

And this time it was Din's turn to smile to himself.

The next morning you felt fluttery as a summer breeze. The flashbacks of him wrapped in secrecy within your being even as sleep left your system. As you shifted from your spot in the cot, It took you some minutes to realize if that had really happened or if it had been a fever dream— until you felt comforting warmth in the sheets that could only be Din's.

Then, you saw him in the hull, sitting on a crate, addressing his vambraces to his wrists, and when his helmet tilted up to look at you, you felt like something had shifted between the both of you.

You had always cared for him, and him for you. You saw the way he was kind, brave and everything else. He was something you wished but thought could never have. You felt like he shared such thoughts. Though you wouldn't care to admit, the greatest of your fears in this moment was that Din regretted letting you get so close, letting you know him.

You approached him silently, and he didn't say anything either. His mind was running a thousand miles on everything you could have thought of him amidst the dark. Was he like you expected? Well you hadn't exactly seen him. But it actually did feel like you did. Din hadn’t received such affection ever since he was a child. And he was sure it didn’t make a difference for him— But then he met you. Maker, he’d started craving it.

Since the beginning he knew you were different. It started off with some mutual liking, but then he started feeling shy. Every smile, every brush of hands and every glance you’d give him was enough to have his chest warming. Right now, as you offered him a small smile and placed a hand on his shoulder, you had him feeling a whole new way.

The hardest thing he’d been through was to fight sleep with his arms around you. But if he was to be honest, he hadn’t gotten any rest at all. Din of all things was also an overthinker, and every possible reaction you could’ve had upon actually seeing him —which you hadn’t— trundled to his mind.

And he thought about you seeing the real him more often than he thought he should.

Of course you had been curious naturally, but you never had asked him about the helmet. You had never wondered too much about what he looked like underneath it, above all because you respected him. So It didn't feel right. And now that you had that precious bit of him, though you wished to have more, you couldn’t be happier.

You didn’t think seeing or touching him would change something between the both of you as you loved him in any and every way. But now, after he had given you more of him than you thought he would, Din felt a little bit more real. A little bit more yours.

Rising up from the crate to grab his stuff, he stopped in front of you. And you held a sweet smile on your face as you took a grab of his arms to bring him closer. Din mirrored your actions, bracing himself with a hand on your side. The pace of his heart was almost settling when you pulled him for a hug, which he embraced eagerly.

You felt him unconsciously leaning into your touch.

“Everything’s alright?” you ask, pulling away just enough to stare at him, trying to somehow catch a glimpse of the softness hidden by the dark visor.

He draws in a breath as if he was going to say something, but decides just to nod at you instead before moving his arms to pull you closer again. “I have to go,” he says almost inaudibly, more of a reminder to himself than to you.

“I know. I'll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, cyare.” You feel him give you a kiss in your temple, with warm lips you could only long to have against your own. The motion is soft and tender; it almost feels like you're melting onto him. “a lot.”

You searched his eyes again and you could feel din staring at you the same way you did. You didn't know where you gained the courage from, but before you knew you placed a peck to his helmet, where you thought his mouth would be.

"Come back.”

The next thing you heard crept to your mind hours after he left the ship; his shaked, timid voice, the beskar barrier failing to hide the shift in his tone as he gave you a tiny nod in his flustered manner. "always."

—

The following nights were somewhat difficult.

It had been one night. One night embraced and drowned in your mandalorian's scent and warmth and not having him for the next one was maddening. And you found yourself longing for the darkness of his bunk each day more. That night, submerged in the dark you didn't have the stoic, intimidating mandalorian who threw bounties in carbonite you’d heard of in the streets of Nevarro. You had din— a gentle, tender lover whose presence had become your anchor in such a stormy galaxy way before than you overstepped the line of being friends.

And in the dark, with din, not even the light of all of the stars could light up your heart brighter than he did. You had dreamt of that moment before it happened, and you kept dreaming of it after it did. Even in your sleep, you couldn't get enough of tracing every feature of him. And you felt pretty much like drawing a map of territory you had claimed your own.

He'd been gone on his journey for days now, and besides the child’s coos, when the silence within the crest had grown loud as ever, that thought came back to your mind.

You were familiar to his skin. you knew every line of his under the pads of your fingers, you missed him like your loving memories had just been a dream, and you had just woken up.

It was a little odd to try to picture him like that, though it was more like translating. You already knew him, and the idea materialized to action when he was gone, and your only distraction was to relive the memories you'd kept sacred locked within your very soul. Though you didn't know exactly how he looked like, you were sure din was the sweetest creature you’d ever lay your eyes on. If you ever did.

It started naturally. You had your sketchbook in your hands, and you were human. Although it took a bit of work, you put all of those memories into that page, every line of his you could remember translated into lines of coal.

Of course you knew the treacherous situation you were getting yourself into. Wondering about what din looked like under the helmet, and further than that, leaving evidence of it in your sketchbook. You didn’t think it would put up much of a problem anyway.

Replaying your favorite moment with him made you dizzy. Those moments he'd let himself be soft with you. But especially the night his helmet was nowhere near—It kept you trapped under a spell, one so good that worked even when all you got of him were mere daydreams. You didn't even hear the ship's ramp lowering as your mind focused solely on two tasks.

At first, din was confused when he stepped up the ramp and found you nowhere in sight as he scanned the hull. You must’ve been up to something, he concluded, stripping out of his weaponry while he stared at the ladder, waiting for any kind of movement.

If he was to be honest, he was a little bit disappointed you weren’t the first thing he saw as he entered the ship.

It had been a long hunt. He might have some wounds to be patched, though he hadn’t stopped to pay mind to them just yet. Din waited a little longer, pacing in the hull trying to decide whether he should go after you or not. Then, with a long suffering sigh he decided to go look for you in your quarters. You were definitely up to something, he thought to himself.

You jumped when you heard little pats against metal.

With your heart pulsing in your ears, realizing the noise was din coming up the ladder, you teared the page you were working on from your sketchbook the quickest you could, putting it in the nearest book you found struggled to get all your material hidden beneath your pillow before you closed your book over the drawing, rising from the bed to find shelter for it.

The second the doors slid open and the sight of him blessed your eyes, your hand loosened and the book fell onto your feet with a thud.

You quickly bent down to grab it as you felt the heat rising to your cheeks, turning around to put the book in place. You just forgot to mind the edge teared piece of paper floating to din’s feet the moment you did so.

You only noticed the tragically comic scene after you stared back at him, following the direction of his visor with wide eyes. his glare fixed in the ground. The drawing next to his feet.

Din was frozen like an statue. he- was it? there was no way- right? You couldn't- you wouldn't-

"Is that a drawing of me?" Din blurted out before he even realized.

First things first, he wasn’t supposed to see that drawing. Second, if he did, he wasn’t going to question it. And last, both were happening. You stammered, opening your mouth to answer but nothing came out.

You gazed at the t of his visor for what felt like an eternity awkwardly as ever, thinking of some excuse for that. But the truth was that you hadn’t any. Your mind went blank. You weren’t prepared for this. All you knew was that you had no idea how you got into this situation and how to get out of it.

It was only then that his words hit you. And you stuttered a gasp, “d-does it look like you?”

He remained silent, staring at the drawing. It did. You had always seen him. Though he also knew you’d understand if he decided not to deny or confirm it.

But you were wrecking him. Standing there with your face contorted in a look somewhere between regret and anxiety, he embraced the thought he had been fighting for longer than he thought it was right to— the thought he had every time he looked into your eyes.

This was nothing like din had planned it to be. And had he planned it. He still had two more fobs. He'd do it after the third, longest and hardest hunt. He would come back to you on the ship and he’d give you all of him. This, because he wanted it so badly, but courage would fail him every time he’d think about it.

You wrecked him, you ruined his plans and still, the feeling that grew in his chest was the best he ever had. All din wanted right now was to let you see for yourself his reaction, which you seemed scared of; but all the feelings he kept from you as he sustained the silence were obvious in the foolish smile din held beneath his beskar.

A shaken sigh fell from your lips as you casted your gaze everywhere but to the mandalorian. Despite you being used to reading him even through the dark, that silence was doing no good to you. You were already bracing yourself for the thick tension that would follow you for months, or maybe even the worst; the end. And it would be your fault.

As your cheeks burned torrid as well as the nervous tears you held back, a different kind of heat crept to your skin when you found his visor turned in your direction.

Din’s hand was hesitantly holding the lip of his helm as he was going to lift it off. “Din, no—,” You trailed off, panic suddenly fogging your brain, “I'll—.” Following your instincts you didn’t let yourself finish the thought as you sought to leave your bunk. That was when he stepped in your way, blocking the door with his broad frame.

“Stay.”

You oblige, freezing in front of him, your heart pounding in your throat before you found the courage to force your words through it. “I don’t— you don’t… have to do this, I wasn’t—, listen, I know I shouldn’t have-”

“Do you not want to look?” Din cut your lisped words softly.

“No! I mean, kriff, din. I do. it’s just… you shouldn’t. It feels like I'm pushing you and that’s not how this is supposed to happen. I'm thankful for every bit of you I got to have. You don’t have to do this until you truly want it.”

Though his voice comes out small, there’s just pure honesty in it. “I’ve wanted it for a long time, now.”

Din watches your gaze lit up, your mouth falling open in a breathless gasp before you stop to give yourself a moment to process what you’ve just heard.

“Only if you're fully and completely sure, din."

And was he.

You could never not be mesmerized. As the edge of his helmet revealed him, bit by bit, the warmth within your chest grew to be overwhelming. You knew what din’s decision meant, how hard it was and everything he was waiving off for you. Little did you know, he never thought it would be so easy to let go of everything he held onto his entire life. Little less would he think that it would feel so right.

Your gaze trails down to where the dim light of your bunk touches his scar-littered skin. His lips —which you had touched and longed to kiss ever since— framed by the amusing short stubble he kept, to the curve of his nose.

It’s only then that your gaze meets his for the first time ever as he lifts off the helmet completely from his head.

And Din’s eyes looked as kind as you knew his heart was.

As their warm brown shade gleamed back at you lovingly behind its little fleck of light, —though you knew it from the start— you realized you were right. You’d always known his features suited the duality of who your mandalorian was; a contrast of soft and sharp. Din Djarin actually was the most enchanting, intensely beautiful thing you’d ever lay eyes on. And something, whatever it was, just as intense drew you closer to him in a way that you’d thought he could hear the moment all remaining air you had was drawn from you wholly.

“Does it look like me?” Din quietly broke the silence, his voice, softer than it usually sounded through the modulator of his helmet, made your stomach swirl.

“No art could ever capture how beautiful you are, Din.” You shook your head, smiling widely at the sight of the man you adored so much grinning back at you for the first time of many. “Both here,” you placed your palm on his beskar covered chest, where his heart galloped underneath it. “And here.” you added, settling your hand above his cheek.

There was silence as the both of you savored that moment, your eyes never leaving din’s. He smiled wider, touching your foreheads together. “I could kiss you right now.”

“Shouldn’t you have had, already?”

“Yeah.” He nodded with a smile you could almost feel, a gloved hand settling upon your cheek.

And then Din kissed you. Not in your dreams, not through beskar— he really kissed you. It was a little bit tentative, his lips shallow and lingering before sealing them slowly and fully just as passionately against yours.

And just as everything about Din, the kiss felt as sweet and real as the love you shared, whether it was through the dark or burning bright as the stars.

#i love him #din djarin #the mandalorian #din djarin x reader #din djarin fanfiction #din djarin fluff #din djarin x reader fluff #din djarin x you #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #mando fic #fanfic #star wars #pedro pascal

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coalitiongirl · 3 years ago

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Fic Recs (under 300 edition)

So I wanted to get back to reading Swan Queen fic regularly, and I asked people to rec longfic that they'd read (not written) and loved that had fewer than 300 kudos! I haven’t read most of these, but I’ve collected them here so y’all can go through the list and discover some new fics with me! Please try to kudos and review every fic that you read! It means the world to the writers and will keep em writing, and then we all win. 😁

Atonement by SgtMac (M): With Regina's magical heart failing thanks to years of previous evil, Emma and Regina and Henry (and Granny!) set out to save her life by traveling to the Enchanted Forest and requesting help from ancient magical beings known as the Guardians. Given a mission as simple as it is impossible - to achieve atonement by creating peace - the ladies find themselves joining a rebellion and fighting for the very soul of the Enchanted Forest all while trying to help Regina to understand that the self-loathing and guilt which have driven most of her actions don't have to doom her chance for a new beginning or even, a chance to live and love again. A S4(ish) SQ love story set against the turmoil of war and the chaotic savagery of the old world.

Blood and Sand by cheshire6845 (E): A/U The Savior is a slave forced into the role of fighting as a gladiator for the House of Hearts. The odds are against her survival as she will have to win in the arena, navigate Cora's schemes, outlast a general's vengeance, and not be killed out of spite by the current House of Hearts Champion - Regina the Undefeated. This story follows the major plot points of Starz Spartacus with some twists along the way.

But what if there was no time by KizuRai (M): When she wakes up, it's dark. She can't move, she can't see, she can't feel and she can't hear. Where am I? She feels a forceful oppression, pressing her down, draining her of her energy and she's powerless to stop it. How did I get here? The question of here is relative, she's not even sure where here is. What happened? There must be some reason for being stuck here but her memory is fuzzy, like all her thoughts are being sifted through a filter. Who am I? She's not sure if she actually exists or she suddenly became sentient in the darkness.She hears a voice reverberating in the distance, it's distorted and quiet but she hears it all the same. It breaks the monotony of the silence. Someone's coming for her, they will get her out. She's just not sure she wants them to as the price might be too great.

Finding Home by evl_rgl (T): “I wanted to remember you so badly that I pulled back your cursed town just so that the memories would make sense. I needed you so badly that even when I had no memory of you, I still tried to find you.” Regina gave Emma and Henry memories of a happy life together before they fled Pan’s curse, leaving them with no memories of their lives in Storybrooke. However, when the memory spell shows signs of failing, threatening to rip apart the minds of both Emma and Henry, Regina makes a drastic choice to go back and fix it, understanding that it will mean living alone in a world where her son doesn’t know her. Was the spell really faulty, though? (swanqueen)

Five Flames by MariaComet (U): In the past, Emma Nolan disconnected from her peers in high school, preferring to keep to herself. In her sophomore year of high school, she decided to try and join the boy’s wrestling team because she was bored. She didn’t expect herself to become the champion of the most bullied kid in school or the secret best friend of the school queen. She also didn’t expect to join a club that would change her life. In the present, Emma is trying to cope with a humiliating loss in her martial arts career. She claims to be “training” but is stuck in limbo between wanting to retire and try again. She is isolated from her former best friend, Regina Mills, a local celebrity chef and the rest of her old friends. When one of them calls her with an idea to honor their deceased teacher, she is confronted with unresolved feelings and questions about how powerful love truly is.

A Glamour of Truth by PrincessCharming (T): After 2x10, Regina uses magic to show Emma the obvious truth. A tentative trust forms between them amid hilarious bickering. With Emma's help, Regina struggles to regain a place in her son's life... until Cora arrives, wanting her daughter back. Pieces of Regina's past emerge showing that the board was set long before the game started. The final battle begins soon.

His Dark Materials 'verse by MoonlitMidnight (M): A modern Alternate Universe in which Dæmons (the external physical manifestation of a person's 'inner self' that takes the form of an animal) are present. In which Emma and Regina have led slightly different lives and they make slightly different choices.

How Many Miles to Avalon? (WIP) by RavenOutlander (E): Regina would do anything to save Emma from the darkness and bring her back home safe and sound. Even put up with the two idiots, Captain Guyliner and a bunch of dwarves she decidedly wanted to drop off at the nearest exit. But in their search for Emma, they find that she might not need that much saving after all. Caught up in a search for the infamous Philosopher Stone, an all out war between DunBroch and Camelot, and ghosts from the past to haunt her every waking moment, Regina finds herself scrambling to keep her and her family's happy endings from falling apart.

The Hyperion by FrankenSpine (M): After wishing upon what she believes is a shooting star, Emma Swan finds herself aboard the Hyperion, the royal starship of an alien Queen from a faraway galaxy. She quickly learns of the tensions between the Queen's people and her own, but the Queen takes an interest in her and agrees to take her away from Earth forever. Adventure awaits. *(Loosely based on Guardians of the Galaxy with just a hint of Farscape)*

If Wishes Came True (It Would've Been You) by Angeii_K (M): After Regina films a guest appearance on her friend Neal’s popular show, he invites her to spend the weekend with him and his girlfriend. What she never expected was to actually like the woman. Sparks fly between the two, which results in them questioning everything and making choices they will later regret. 4 years later, they meet again in the most unexpected of ways. Now co-stars on the same show, they are forced to work through the emotions from their last encounter. What will happen next? Only time will tell.

The King Doesn’t Have To Know (WIP) by highheelsandchocolate (M): The White Knight had never seen anyone like her before: the Queen was nothing short of mesmerizing. Her possessive yet neglectful husband, however, was another thing entirely.

The Lich by Dangereaux (M): Gay disaster Emma, exasperated Regina, and a monster. A Halloween special.

Maybe if We Close Our Eyes we Can Reach the Stars by wellthizizdeprezzing (T): Emma is a lonely astronaut. Regina is an adventuring alien. Their paths cross leading them onto a journey of new discovery. Between galaxies and many miles of cold black space, despite not speaking the same language, they manage to fall for each other. An out of this world love story.

A prisoner long forgotten by sugarsweet_19 (M): ‘I wish I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood and as black as the wood of the window-frame. Soon after she had a little girl, who was as white as snow, with lips as red as blood and with her hair as black as the ebony of the window-frame. She was therefore called Snow-white.” This is how our story starts but how will it end?The evil queen as been locked up in a tower and forgotten that is until princess Emma looks for a place to hid from her parents after they tell her she has to marry Neal the son of the dark one.

Revenge of the Three Little Pigs by mskyo (M): Regina and Emma find themselves alone and looking for the rest of their party. The Evil Queen must face the consequences of her past actions. Will Emma come to her aid, or understand that justice must be served... *Some chapters have fairly graphic sex, and violence*

Things I Almost Remember by cheshire6845 (T): A/U Despite an oncoming war between the Dark and the Light, Emma and Regina are best friends growing up in the Enchanted Forest. When war does come, they find themselves on opposite sides. Regina will have to defy her mother to save Emma. Will Emma be able to save Regina when Cora curses her daughter to live in the Land without Magic?

What We Make (WIP) by DiazTuna (M): “My mother.” He says calmly. He’d known all along, she’s aware. But he’d known that today would be the day that would get this going. She wants to ask what it was like, to have woken up this morning, laced up his boots and walked into hell just knowing. “It’s programmed the cyborg to kill her. Before I have a chance to be born.” -In which the leader of the future sends his best soldier back to the past to save his mother from a killer cyborg. Terminator AU.

The Wrong Way by pcworth (M): Takes place right after Zelena steals Regina's heart. Zelena offers Regina a chance to go back in time with her and change both of their lives for the better. But what will be the price of that decision. Slow-burn to SwanQueen

zombie trash by 13pens (T): Zelena could have her brain and eat it, too. Fic operates on three premises 1. this takes place in any universe where zelena is a reformed asshole 2. zombies are a thing and exist iZombie style 3. i have NO chill

#swan queen #fic rec #ouat

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canichangemyblogname · 3 years ago

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I want to do a TBB fix-it; change everything about the story and the canon to make it a compelling story.

And I'm starting with their damn designs.

Next, I'm going to write it so we don't erase all of Echo's history with the 501st (you're telling me he wouldn't commemorate his fallen brother or Fives?).

Then I'm moving on to the idea that a character's strength is their weakness. I'm going to do that for their strengths/mutations:

Crosshair's mutation is that he has extreme farsightedness, and needs high-strength special lenses just to read. Maybe it's like a fish-bowl effect? His spatial vision is different, somehow. Maybe he can see in really low light too? Dunno.

Hunter's mutation causes sensory overload to the point of severe pain and it also causes skin irritation and immune issues--so he breaks out into hives all the time.

Wrecker's mutation causes hypothyroidism. He's sensitive to cold, his metabolism is slow, and he's prone to weight gain. He also has issues with his connective tissues and if he's not careful, could be prone to tears.

I'm giving Tech ADHD because I have ADHD. His brain is hardwired for novelty and the rigid structure and tedium of the military makes it difficult for him to function or pay attention.

But I'm also going to do this for their character traits:

Crosshair is unyielding and severe, but he functions the best out of all of them in a military setting. He keeps their sights on the objective, reminding them of their goal.

Hunter is loyal with a strong moral compass and team-work mentality, so he is always able to remind his men of their 'higher' purpose and keep them working together and getting along. But these traits also make him uncompromising and he has a tendency to feel affronted.

Wrecker is charismatic as well as heartfelt. His charisma doubles as boisterousness and his kindness as too trusting. He tries to make himself smaller--maybe to conform--and so is a little unfamiliar his size and so ends up a bit clumsy. He's also something of an eternal optimist, too kind in a new world that encourages taking advantage of that. He sees the best in everyone, so is quick to let his guard down.

Tech's super smart, but he lacks patience-- he's quick to judge and quick to frustration and quick to act. While he's usually right and full of information and quick to solve a problem, he struggles with pivoting and with focusing on tedious or new tasks.

What would this do? It would give them compelling strengths and weaknesses, thus making them more human and less OP.

Then I'm moving to the nature of their squad:

They're now a special operations squad specific for small missions. They work with several other similarly-sized squads behind enemy lines for rescues, prisoner exchanges, intelligence retrieval, and 'asset neutralization' (fancy terms for capturing Separatist leaders to bring them before Republic tribunals for justice).

What would this do? This would establish that they're called in to assist for missions like on Skako Minor, but it also establishes that they're good at--well--getting important people out of precarious situations and dangerous places.

And that is what the crux of the plot will then be. While they try to find their place and as the seeds of Rebellion sprout on planets all over the galaxy, they are called forth to use their skills to pull important future leaders of the rebellion out of the Empire's grasps. This can include Omega!

And then Rex gets wind of their movements and pays them a visit to ask them that they help him do the same with their brothers. And we get a story about Clones helping Clones escape the clutches of the Empire. And maybe they partner with someone--an old friend?-- somewhere with access to medical facilities to help de-chip escaped clones. And it becomes a story about survival and family and freedom.

Then all these free clones go on to lead or supply/train/command some of the first armed rebellions against the Empire.

#The Bad Batch #Crosshair The Bad Batch #Hunter The Bad Batch #Sergeant Hunter #Echo The Bad Batch #Corporal Echo #Wrecker The Bad Batch #Tech The Bad Batch

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galactic-magick · 3 years ago

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Oblivious: Tech x Reader

Request: Could u possibly do a Tech x Reader where the batch is on an ocean planet of sorts and tech and the reader are nerding out over something like tide pools and the rest of the batch is like “how are these two so smart yet so oblivious to their feelings?”

Summary: You and The Bad Batch settle on an ocean planet for the night, and you and Tech seem to know everything except your own feelings for each other.

Words: 1000+

Warnings: none

Author’s Notes: Had to do some research on tide pools for this one lmao, and I made up a bunch of fake star wars science that probably doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, earth science experts don’t come at me pls XD

Laying low has been incredibly difficult for you and The Bad Batch, none of you are exactly the type to “blend in.” You’ve been hopping all over the galaxy, until you come across a planet almost entirely covered in ocean. It’s habitable, but not many people live on it due to the lack of large segments of land.

Thankfully though, you find an island that’s big enough for your ship and make a landing. You run out into the fresh air, the smell of salt water and cool breeze filling your nose. Tech follows close behind, analyzing the planet’s climate and resources, and the rest soon after.

“The tides are going to get much higher over the next couple hours, we’re going to lose much of the land we have right now,” Tech says, moving down the beach. “Don’t set anything up past this point,”

“Can we build a fire?” Wrecker asks excitedly.

“Why would we need a fire? Our ship has a heating system,”

“Because I want to!” he crosses his arms. “And what if the ship runs out of heat?”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Omega pipes up. “I’ve never even seen a campfire before,”

“You haven’t?!” Wrecker takes her hand and points to the small forest of trees on the other side of the island. “C’mon, let’s go!”

“Wait!” Tech calls after them, but they’re too fast. “Ugh. The wood is going to be too wet to use anyway, they’re wasting their time,”

“Hey, it doesn’t hurt to let them try,” you smile. “Besides, we’ll only be here a day or two at most, right?”

“I suppose,”

You skip across the rocks and sand, finding a couple tide pools with several sea creatures in them, “Look over here!”

“Careful, those are incredibly slippery,”

“I’ve never seen anything like these,” you poke at one. “Wait, didn’t you say high tide is later? That means the water will go even farther than this, we might be in trouble,”

“Not exactly. Tides are different depending on the gravitational pulls and phases of the moons, and this planet has three,”

“So?”

“So we’ll be fine,”

“This water is fresh, Tech. I don’t see how more moons changes the fact that these waves are going to drown us in a few hours,” you sigh. “Look, I get that you’re the intellectual around here, but I had ones like these back on my home planet, I know what I’m talking about,”

“Every planet is different, this one isn’t due for another tide that high for at least a couple weeks, the pools must just be deeper than average,”

“I guess you’re right,” you trust him, so you refrain from bickering any further. “Oh look! I think I’ve seen that fish before!”

“Really?” he cocks his head, looking towards where you’re pointing. “While interplanetary travel of non-sentient species is uncommon, it’s not impossible, although in most cases it’s considered an invasive species-“

“Nevermind,” you say as you lean closer. “It just looks similar,”

“Ah, I see,”

“You know, I love the kind of creatures in here, somehow they manage to survive despite the harsh conditions,” one of them crawls onto your hand. “They just stick to anything they can so they don’t get washed away by the water,”

“Especially somewhere like this,” he nods.

“What are you lovebirds going on about now?” Hunter exhales, walking up to you and barely holding back a smirk.

Both you and Tech immediately stop talking, avoiding eye contact. Sure, it’s true you fancy him a bit, but no way are you lovebirds of any sort. You bicker too much to ever admit your feelings anyway, and all your conversations are friendly or just exchanging thoughts and facts. Nothing special.

“You know,” Hunter continues. “You guys are the smartest people on the crew, but damn are you oblivious,”

He walks away, leaving you two in silence.

Against all odds, Wrecker and Omega actually do manage to make a fire for the evening. Omega’s eyes are glued to the flames, watching in awe and drowning out everything else.

You and Tech haven’t talked much since being called out by Hunter, not necessarily because you’re mad or bitter, but simply because you don’t know what to say.

Was Hunter right? Were you actually super into each other and you were just too stupid to see it?

Now that you think of it, Tech definitely treats you differently than everybody else. Not just because you’re not one of his brothers, but he genuinely goes out of his way to help and care about you. He’s super sweet when he wants to be.

As it gets later, most of the crew heads back to the ship to sleep. You’re honestly not that tired, so you stay by the fire, and Tech doesn’t leave either.

“Hey,”

“Hello,” he nods.

You scoot over until you’re sitting next to him, “What’s going on in that brain of yours?”

“Just…thinking,” he keeps staring forward at the fire. “For the first time in my life, I’m completely unsure about something,”

“How so?”

“Well, all my life, all our lives for that matter,” he gestures to the ship. “We’ve been born, raised, and trained to be soldiers. We’re literally created and grown for that purpose. We accept early on that we’ll probably never get the opportunity to live a normal life on our own terms. We don’t get the luxury of going where we want to go, staying where we want to stay. We don’t even get to choose our clothes or our food most of the time. We don’t get our own home, we don’t get to pick our jobs, we-“ he pauses. “We don’t get to fall in love,”

A quiet “oh” leaves your lips.

“Now that the Republic is gone, and we left the Empire, we’re not just soldiers anymore. We have the freedom to do all those things we couldn’t do. But how do I know what I should or shouldn’t pursue? How do I know what parts of normal life I should experience?”

You quickly lean in and kiss him, “You try it, Tech,”

He stares at you stunned, struggling to process what just happened.

“I…I think I should try it again. Just to be absolutely certain,”

“Of course,” you chuckle, kissing him again.

#tech x reader #the bad batch x reader #tbb x reader #tbb tech x reader #the bad batch #star wars #the bad batch imagine #tech imagine

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officerjennie · 3 years ago

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A touch brighter for you, my love

CW: None? Jaskier had a bad day at his office job

Summary: Jaskier has a tough day at work, but Eskel does his best to make it a bit better.

Taglist: At the bottom - let me know if you want on/off it!

For @kueble for playing my guessing game and having a galaxy brain. I still have no idea how you guessed right xD

It had been several years since Jaskier had settled into office work, putting aside his career as an actor for the much more dull and much more stable desk work, and yet he still couldn't say which was the worst: the days that ran him ragged, or the day he sat staring at the screen desperate for anything to do.

Today had somehow managed to be both. He kicked the door shut behind him, stopping just inside his home, dropping his head back against the wood and just staring at the ceiling for a time.

Nothing for hours, and then one crisis call after another. A page or two of dull data, and then an emergency call with the regional manager that lasted a whole hour. His mind was exhausted and his body had been cramped in his chair for far too long, long legs stiff and in need of a good stretch he didn't have the energy to give them. Who could honestly do even a quick jog around the block after fielding stupid question after stupid question, after checking his empty inbox after half an hour to find ten new emails, each more thinly veiled than the last.

He'd been offered a promotion - of sorts, kind of. With a sigh he pushed himself off of the door, kicking his shoes to the side and dropping his work bag in the loveseat as he walked past it and straight towards the bedroom. Didn't matter that his boss thought he'd do the position justice, he couldn't handle this job. Didn't want to handle it, any of it.

"Where are you going, love?"

A hand caught his gently, and Jaskier let himself be stopped. Eskel was good at not showing his concern, his eyes soft, hair pulled back in a messy bun that told Jaskier he'd been home for quite a while now. Work must have put him so out of it that he hadn't even seen Eskel's car in the driveway.

"Tough day, I'm afraid." He have a weak excuse of a smile, but Eskel's was genuine when he pulled Jaskier's hand up to his lips, kissing his knuckles before holding his hand to his cheek.

Jaskier stretched out his fingers to cup his cheek properly, and easily melted into his arms, resting against his broad chest and tightening his free hand into his baggy sweatshirt. With Eskel's arms wrapped up tight around him, he could let go of part of his day. Not all of it, the stress keeping his brow knitted up tight and the muscles in his back tense, but Eskel was already working on soothing the knots away with his hands running down his back, fingers finding the spots that Jaskier always carried his stress in and digging in just right.

"Go lay down for a bit." Eskel pressed the words into Jaskier's hair, though Jaskier only responded with a soft hum. "I'll start the bath. Red or white wine?"

"White." Jaskier wrinkled his nose, then cracked his eyes just enough to pout up at Eskel. "No, wait, red. Just a little? Oh, and the chamomile bath bomb - it's the one without glitter, top shelf, right in the middle."

Eskel chuckled and reached down to pinch his ass, giving him a wink and a 'yes, sir' before shooing him off to their room. And when Jaskier sank right onto their duvet, struggling out of his button up and tossing it to the side to deal with later, well. Maybe his day hadn't been made all better, but as he heard Eskel humming one of his old songs and setting the bath up just for him it certainly felt brighter.

@fontegagrilledcheese @damnbert @mothmanismyuncle @geraltrogerericduhautebellegarde @jaskierswolf @sulkyshengshou @trickstermoose67

#jaskel #eskier #eskel/jaskier #jaskier/eskel #eskel x jaskier #jaskier x eskel #the witcher #the witcher fic #the witcher fanfic #witcher fic #witcher fanfic #mywriting #witcher fanfiction #the witcher fanfiction

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inessencedevided · 4 years ago

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A very overdue cql/mdzs fic rec list

for @accidental-child

I am so sorry this took me so long Axel! The pandemic has really done a number on my time-management skills and things like this often fall behind :/

The fics complied here are the ones i have not recced in the list for @helianthus21 before. You can find that one here, so you can check it out as well :)

The Wei Wuxian makes a wish series by natcat5

My attempt at a summary: this is a madoka magica AU (which i had not watched prior to reading this fic). Cultivators, in this universe, are created when a teenager makes a wish to the creature named Kyubey, which than grants them their wish and the power to fight witches, strange and destructive creatures of despair that lure people into their labyrinths. Wei Wuxian, at the beginning of the story is not a cultivator, but his friends are and so is the mysterious new student at his school, lan wangji, who follows him everywhere and seems to be obsessed with preventing him from making a contract.

My comment: my attempt at a summary does not do this story justice and is really just a setup. Honestly i cannot put into words how much I loved this story. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It made me laugh, it made me cry for entire chapters, it drew me into it's world so much that I freaking dreamed about it! (I'm not kidding, I really did) Honestly, this fic deserves so much more attention than it is currently getting. Not only is the plot expertly crafted, with reveals that shock you and leave you reading, but the author also just gets the characters. The best thing an AU can do, in my opinion, is take familiar characters, put them in unfamiliar situations and then manage to make the way they react believable. And this AU nails that! The conclusion and the choices that Wei wuxian and lan Wangji make in the end felt exactly right. Not to mention, it has a stellar ensemble cast! Everyone is here (except Xichen sadly and I kind of think it is deliberate because without him, Lan Wangji lacks a support system). Again, I cannot recommend this story enough. It is, without doubt, my favourite fic series in this entire fandom. (Caution however: Do read the warnings in the tags and notes and take them seriously. They are there for a very good reason.)

Agapé (home is in your arms) by estel_willow

Author’s summary: Lan Xichen is in isolation. Wei Wuxian visits him. Together they find their way back to happiness, to clarity and to home.

My comment: This one focuses on both Lan Xichen’s and Wei Wuxian’s issues and lets them resolve them together. I am such a fan of their characterisations in this fic, as well as Lan Wangji’s even though he is not the focus. I love it when non-romantic relationships are the focus of fics and especially when they are central to the character’s resolving their own issues and moving forward in life and that is exactly what happens here.

until you're big enough by lostin_space

Author’s summary: Lan Zhan is sad and not hungry; Lan Xichen asks Nie Mingjue to help him.

My comment: This one is a really short and sweet read about how Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue parent the their younger brothers. I just really liked how the author portrayed todler Lan Zhan, as well as these two teenagers doing their best to be the parents that both he and Nie huaisang lack.

Night Music by Manogahela

Author’s summary: There is a music that plays in the night at Cloud Recess....but there isn't suppose to be. Lan Xichen investigates the mysterious dizi music that can be heard from the Jingshi at night following the Siege of the Burial mounds.

My comment: I absolutely adored this one, mainly for two reasons: 1. I love an outsider perspective and Lan Xichen’s, at this point and with his limited knowledge is absolutely wonderful. First, he isn’t even sure is what he thinks is happening really is happening and when he is sure, his feelings are, understandably very conflicted. 2. The author’s style compliments this fic so well. Since most of it happens at night and Xichen isn’t entirely sure that he can trust his senses, there is a certain dreamlike quality to it that the author writes beautifully. This fic is part one in a series. Part two is a WIP, but also very much worth the read!

Company by WithBroomBefore

My summary: In which Wei Wuxian is whipped within an inch of his life by Madam Yu when he is fourteen and comes to stay at the cloud recesses. He and Lan Zhan become friends.

My comment: My summary once again does not do this fic justice. Because it is so much more than just that. It’s such a beautful exploration of friendship and love and bodily autonomy. Wei Wuxian has a lot to work through in this fic, but really, so has Lan Zhan who has the opportunity to make friends at a much more mellow pace than in the novel/show and panics a little less because of it. The war still happens but has much less dire consequences. All in all, this fic left me with a wonderful warm feeling in my chest.

you are safe / loved / worthy / enough by everythingispoetry

Author’s summary: One of the more timid-looking posts, in pale greens and creams and yellows, says Hello, I'm managing to be fairly high functioning right now but I'm really not doing as well as it may appear, and Lan Zhan feels as if someone sneaked into his mind and read his most secret thoughts, the ones he's never even dared to admit to himself.

(In which Lan Zhan, to his own dismay, finds himself with the help of the most obnoxious, cheerful, cheesy self-care instagram account known to men.)

(And Wei Ying.)

My comment: Listen, I have a complicated relationship with fics that depict mental health struggles in characters. They are all so incredibly valid and I’m glad they exist (every single one of them, no matter if i like them or not) but due to the fact that they tend to come from the author projecting their own issues onto characters (which is NOT a bad thing! that is what fanfic is for!) they are often hit-and-miss when it comes to characterisation. But this story ... it just GETS Lan Wangji. If someone told me a scenario in a modern AU that leads to him developing an anxiety disorder and depression, this is what I would have come up with. Because let’s be real, Lan Wangji is a perfectionist to boot, insanely competitive and needs to live up to his family’s expectations, while also not having much of an emotional support system outside of his brother and uncle. That’s a dangerous cocktail in the modern world and just screams of a burnout waiting to happen. So Lan Wangji, off to university, living alone in a strange city for the frst time, spends all his time in a carefully calculated study routine but slowly realises that the path he set out on was not one he chose because he liked it but simply the one that was laid out for him by his background and family, which then leads to him questioning the reason behind what he does. That reads as incredibly real to me. A good AU, in my opinion, takes the characters and their inherent characteristics and lets them meet new and unique challenges that they never would have encountered in canon, which then leads to new and interesting character developement. And this AU manages that perfectly! (Plus, if you are a university student like me who sometimes suffers from crushing anxiety about the path they chose in life, this is insanely relatable. What? I never said I wasn’t biased :P)

porn (but not actually) and waiting (a lot of it) by hyacinth4maria

Author’s summary: Lan Xichen sighs as he settles into the couch next to Lan Wangji.

"What are you looking at?"

Lan Wangji, without pausing from typing the names Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian in the Love Calculator 3000, says, "Porn."

Lan Xichen chokes.

- Lan Wangji has a crush. Lan Xichen hadn't realized his little brother was growing up.

My comment: this one was hilarious! Just Lan Xichen being both absolutely exasperated and amused by wangxian’s pre-teen drama. I almost choked laughing at the line that coined the title. The author has these characters down to a T and they used their powers to attack my laugh-musccles :D

the field meets the wood by astronicht

Author’s summary: Wei Wuxian is a dark shadow in the barley. Wei Wuxian is sorry for the kind of compassion that he is about to hand out.

(in which Lan Wangji is stolen for salt, and Wei Wuxian unravels the world, a little)

My Comment: HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS SO GOOD. Do you ever read a story and just marvel at the author’s mind? This is one of those. The sheer genius of giving Wei Wuxian the ability to pull entire beings into non-being! The absolute galaxy-brain idea to link the canon mythology to modern astrophysics!!! Wei Wuxian creates a motherfucking black hole in this one!!! And it’s SO well written, too! The author does not shy away from Wei Wuxian’s sharp edges and his darker side but goddamn if he is not still loveable anyway. Just GO READ THIS FIC!

Abandon your post by StarsAlignNomore

Author’s summary: After months as Chief Cultivator and separated from his soulmate, Lan Wangji follows Wei Wuxian out into the world. He searches for him. He finds him. He kisses him. They reunite, they talk, they resolve. Sometimes Bichen lends emotional support. Chenqing bites. Little Apple is there too.

Your typical Post-Canon-Reunion-Fic with much more emphasis on their spiritual weapons than expected.

My comments: This one just left me with a lot of mushy feelings. Also I adore the way the author emphasised the relationship between Lan Wangji and Bichen. And by the end, Wangxian finally figure shit out through actual open communication. Absolutely beautiful!

#cql fic #cql fic rec #mdzs fic #mdzs fic rec #mdzs #cql #wangxian #wangxian fic rec #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan xichen

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actual-fucking-clown · 3 years ago

Note

I just heard that you're doing requests!!! I already love your content and fully agree that Natsuo Todoroki is King~!!! If I may bother to ask a request? Just all the hcs you want to write about Ice Man bc it's getting to June where I live, and I don't mind cooling down~

Tera, my beloved, I'm going to be honest I literally fucking screamed upon seeing this request!!! I’ve been reading your fics before I even had like an acc here, so we vibin :) Also after the day I’ve had I need some fucking Ice man in my life n hopefully doing this will help me write my way out of the writers block that has been plaguing me for months!!!!

Future Blue here to say I had up to like all done last night and then my internet ate shit and I lost everything after 5. smfh. Woulda been done last night but the loss of my writing got me fucked up lolololololol. N e way

Warnings: cursing obvi, uh like nsfw for a hc or 2, my unorganized hcs that really follow no succinct line of thought and might not even be actual hcs???????

So Natsuo,

There is not a thing I wouldn’t do for this man, bc honestly after all the shit he’s put up with he deserves the world and then some. But I digress.

1. I think he’s a hesitant but attentive boyf. Like he seems like a genuinely friendly dude but I think it’d take him a while to properly warm up to someone enough to date them. And even then I think he might struggle to open up to his partner about anything like, emotionally. Not to say he’s entirely emotionally closed off or anything but somethings are just harder to trust people with. The main thing being his familial issues. And of course that’s were most of this stems from.

Now for the attentive part. His family dynamic has set a precedent on what not to do in a relationship so he’s always hyper aware of the things he or his s/o does, trying his best to avoid making any of the mistakes his parents made. Of course if he finds the right person he’ll be surprised to find that having a non-toxic relationship can be less stressful than he thought. It’s like a huge weight was just lifted from his shoulders.

2. He’s fucking hella romantic. Like he’s shitty romance movie romantic. He’s out here trying his best n woof. Gimme gimme. On date nights he pulls out all the stops. Sometimes it’s a nice classic dinner date at a pretty nice restaurant downtown, or it’s a picnic in the park at noon, or it’s stargazing from the roof of his or his s/o’s dorm/apartment/house, or driving out to a beach just for a long walk at sunset, or road trips to nowhere in particular. I could go on, I really could but you get the gist.

3. He’s got shitty pickup lines for days. Whenever I say shitty I mean like “god I hate it but at the same time I love it” kinda shitty. But yeah he likes to see his s/o’s reaction to his stupid pickup lines, whether they get flustered, or die laughing, or groan and make a snide remark, he’s here for it. Shoot one back at him and he get’s so absolutely red. Mans wasn’t ready. Mans will never be ready.

4. This just came to me but let’s be honest a lot of us here, myself included, have some sort of fucking daddy kink and like, I get it obvi but in this situation never call this man daddy. I feel like for him that is an instant turn off. I’m sorry to everyone I’m letting down but sometimes daddy issues don’t lead to a daddy kink.

5. But on the topic of kinks I think this man is pretty vanilla, he doesn’t scream “freak” to me, you know? Just normal amazing sex. Oh but he does enjoy hella praise both receiving and giving.

6. Hopping off that train of thought and onto another I think he kinda tries to keep his s/o as far away from his family as possible. He doesn’t hate them (when I say them you know i mean everyone except Enji bc he avoids that man like the plague and like keeping his s/o far far far away from that man was a given), no he just likes to have something so utterly untouched by his family issues. Mans needs a breath of fresh air.

-These next 2 I think will veer off from being hcs a bit and just like shit that I like to think about in general. Does that make sense? Who knows lololol. N e way. I like to think a lot about two aspects of this man, well 1 aspect of the man himself and one....dynamic? It’ll make sense in a few so just hear me out.

7. Ok so like I saw this post somewhere eons and eons ago. It was long before current manga events, maybe around the time we’d just gotten Natsuo in the manga. My memory of this post is hazy at best so bear with me as I stumble over my thoughts. Obvi at this point in time we had little to nothing on this beautiful, beautiful man, so people were left to theorize. So this one post, was really that shitty meme where it’s like “small brain if you think such n such, bigger brain if this, n galaxy brain if this, etc., etc.” Where in essence it was like, “He probably has a weak ice quirk but what if some sort of ice based healing quirk or no quirk at all!” N i think about it a lot to this day. I don’t believe that either of those are true but I do think it is absolutely immaculate food for thought so uh do with that what you will.

8. I guess this is back on hc territory but Natsuo isn’t picky with who he dates, as long as you’re not an asshole he’s kinda set, good to go. Now most of the fics for him you’ll see are like “ay yo, you’re another college hoe or like you’re just a civilian” but like what would the dynamic be if he dated a hero?????? I don’t think he hates heroes but his father has definitely had an impact on his view of them. He’s not enamored with them like I guess the rest of the population is so what if hero s/o?????? Perhaps?????? Have I suddenly had a fic idea??????? I like the idea of Natsuo with a like super popular Pro hero s/o or with like a super lowkey underground hero idk this whole post has been me spitballing shit.

9. Back onto proper hcs, it’s a common one that mans runs cold and ugh pls yes. It is also June rn and while the past few days have been cool and sexy the weeks prior had been hellish and on top of that I despise summer so give me all of that. Mans is your personal ac, he’s not opposed to his s/o just spending a hellishly hot day laying on top of him as they watch garbage reality tv.

10. Can we talk love language? Physical touch. He just radiates that energy. Probably touch starved, obviously due to you know what. But yeah definitely a hard physical touch. (Which is actually my least favorite love language considering I’m quite ✨𝓣𝓸𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓻𝓮𝓹𝓾𝓵𝓼𝓮𝓭 ✨but hey I’m not here to project I’m just here to tell you what I see n therefore think) He likes to be touching his s/o like 24/7. Out in public shopping or some shit? Holding hands, linked pinkies, arm around the shoulders or waist. At home? Sheesh be ready to be smothered bb.

TLDR: What a man 🥵

I think I’ve gotten most if not all of my thoughts about our beloved ice man out. I hope you enjoyed my nonsensical ramblings :)

Have a good morning/afternoon/night!!!!!

#natsuo x reader #natsuo todoroki x reader #natsuo todoroki #mha xreader #mha #bnha #bnha x reader #BNHA Headcanons #mha headcanons #asks #god i hope at least some of this made sense #thanks for the request I had a fucking ball writing all this shit #:)

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subbing-for-clones · 4 years ago

Text

The Alpha and The Omega Part 1

Alpha!Maul x Omega!Reader

Word Count: 4.5k

Summary: A Jedi Padawan prepares for her trials to become a knight but learns something new about herself that leads to her having to leave the order. With a fear of the large galaxy and a new, unexpected companion she has to learn to live with herself and how to survive an unforgiving environment.

WARNINGS: fear, going into heat (no sex), nudity. A/B/O dynamics

A/N: Maul is not actually in this chapter. He shows up in the next just so everyone is aware. This chapter establishes what my version of an alpha and omega are. No y/n

NEXT MASTERLIST

You had never been so hungry in your life. Master Plo Koon, Master Qui Gon Jinn and your fellow padawan Obi Wan all watched you in various levels of amazement and bewilderment as you worked on your third helping of whatever kind of stew the cafeteria had prepared. Your master however, was chuckling under his de-oxygenator.

“Are you alright little one?” Qui Gon asked with a brow quirked. If you paid attention, you’d have guessed he was more impressed than his horrified padawan at the immense amount of food you were consuming. You couldn’t pause between each spoonful long enough to answer him so your master spoke.

“For the last few days, she’s been utterly insatiable.”

“Are you quite sure you don’t have a parasite or something?” Obi Wan asked with a concerned frown. Your only response was shooting him a glaring look before continuing to eat ravenously. Clearing your bowl, you stood and went to drop off your empty dish with the rest of the dirty dishes followed by your friend.

“I am starting to become concerned for my padawan. At first I assumed that the rise in her nerves were caused by her upcoming trials for her knighthood but I’m not so sure.”

“What else is going on with her?” Qui Gon eyed you as you left the cafeteria followed by Obi Wan, no doubt to continue your studies.

“She’s always struggled with controlling some of her stronger emotions but she has made immense improvements over the years under my tutelage. However, the last few days it almost seems like she’s reverted back. She’s not outward with them in the least but I can sense them through our bond. She’s incredibly quick to anger and sadness specifically.”

Qui Gon furrowed his brows and sat pensively for a moment before asking, “you don’t think she could be pregnant, do you?”

“No, that’s not an option. She hasn’t left the temple in months except for her training mission on Hoth and it was just the two of us. Over the last few months, she has been fervently preparing for her trials bouncing back and forth between the archives, the meditation gardens and sparing with various willing masters. Even if she did find the time, with how emotional she’s been I would’ve sensed something but I don’t think she even has any idea what’s going on.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. I’ve always liked her and appreciated her friendship with my padawan. Have the healers take a look at her if you can convince her to let them.”

“Yes, that might be a good idea.”

You had in fact spent the remainder of the evening in the archives with your long-time friend Obi Wan attempting to study while dodging his various inquiries to your condition. At the end of the night, you fought the urge to slam the doors behind you while you urged him for the hundredth time that you were fine. Walking back to your sparse room in the living quarters you realized that you were in fact not fine. You had never felt anything but safe living here at the temple, surrounded by your peers and masters. Now though, a sense of dread formed in the pit of your stomach. You hadn’t the slightest clue as to why. Yes, your trials were approaching in the following months but you felt completely prepared for them.

Your skin felt hot under your robes and the second you entered your private quarters you stripped out of them, hopping through a quick cold shower. It only granted you a temporary relief and by the time you left the ‘fresher you were burning up and feeling way too exposed, even within the confines of your small room. You watched your hands pull the mattress off of its rails and onto the floor. Gathering up all of your spare blankets and robes you had, you bunched up a makeshift perimeter along the edges before climbing into the center and curling up, not bothering to dress before-hand.

Rest did not come to you that night. You woke frequently in cold shakes and waves of fear despite your best efforts to push them away, panic always on the edges of your mind and intense cramping in your abdomen.

The following morning when you had not come down for your first meal Master Plo reached out to you through the force, when he sensed your terror, he practically ran back to the living quarters, banging on your door. When you only answered with chocked whimpers, he unlocked the door with the force and drew his lightsaber. His initial worry was sated momentarily finding that you were alone but was quickly replaced when he saw the state you were it.

You lay in the center of your clumsily made ‘nest’ naked and covered in a thin sheet of sweat shivering violently. The only sounds that left you were terrified, incoherent mumbles, eyes widened in alarm.

“M- master… help me. I -… I don’t know what.. what’s happening,” you sobbed.

Plo removed his large brown cloak and quickly covered you with it. When you were properly concealed, he lifted you in his arms and rushed to the healers. Utterly confused by your state.

Hours of examinations and blood tests did nothing to sate your unease but did well to expand it. You had begged your master to stay by your side, clutching onto the one person you felt remotely safe around. He only left when one of the healers came to your bedside and beckoned him away with a worried look in her eye. It took several attempts to assure you that he would be right back, utter panic setting in once again once he left but you could feel the waves of tranquility he sent you through the force.

“What do her blood reports show?” he asked with his arms crossed.

“Well master that’s where it gets kind of tricky. She seems to be exhibiting symptoms of a heat cycle.”

“But, humans don’t go through heat cycles. Wait, do they?” Plo asked.

“No, they don’t. I tested her for exposure to various strains of the sex pollen but they all came up negative. To ease her pain, I gave her a dose of a common suppressant that some of our resident Jedi use to help their own cycles but it didn’t take. That led me to perform a genome test.”

“And did you find anything?”

“Yes, she has the Omega gene.”

“Oh… Oh. Well, that is, unfortunate...”

“She’s terrified and feeling exposed. I wanted to tell you first so you could decide if she should hear it from you or me. She seems to feel safest with you.”

Plo thought for a moment, “I think I should tell her.”

“What the fuck is an Omega gene?!” you were still shaking, trying to fight off the arousal that had taken root in your belly that swirled with your fright.

“It is an uncommon genome; its sole purpose is to ensure survival of a species. Most commonly men develop the Alpha and women the Omega although there are records of it being the other way around. Almost every species in the galaxy has at least a few Alphas and Omegas.”

“And the suppressants didn’t work because..?”

“Because it is stronger than a common heat cycle. It is a mutation that developed not just to ensure frequent breeding but survival of a species on a grand scale.”

You broke out into uncontrollable sobs; when your master tried to soothe you with a touch to your shoulder you jumped and growled at him, surprising you both before falling back into your distress.

Over the following weeks you could feel the change in your peers’ attitude towards you. They would snicker if you passed by and taunt you silently behind your back. You could feel the unease the masters felt when you came into close proximity. Even Master Qui Gon was hesitant around you. You did however still have Obi Wan. Still the loyal friend he had always been.

It took more searching than you thought but with his help you were able to find information cataloged by only one author.

“Did you really build a nest?” he asked, void of any judgement, looking over your shoulder at the writings.

“Yes, I did,” you said without taking your eyes off of the tome. “It says here that its genetic and pops up every few generations…”

“Your birth mother probably had no idea.”

“No, I don’t suppose she did. It says here I have scent glands? On my neck, my wrists, between my breasts and on my hips..” Obi wan leaned in and gave you an undignified sniff, you smacked him away.

“I can’t smell anything, just that minty shampoo you like so much.”

“That’s because you’re not an Alpha bantha brains,” you flustered.

“You don’t need to be rude about it,” he chuckled, “I’m just trying to lighten the mood here. You’ve been so sad since you found out. What, your heat will come once every few months right? It can’t be that bad.”

“It really is terrible; you have no idea. It’s not even the heat that I’m worried about.”

“Well, what has you so worked up then?”

“It says here that being an Omega is dangerous, the Alphas are often times violent and that they can smell me long before they see me… I’m safe here at the temple but what if they kick me out of the Order?”

“You’re not going to be kicked out.”

“I very well could be!” you pushed yourself out from behind the desk and huffed, “being a Jedi means no attachments, be one with the force, calm and collected, rational and compassionate. I am none of those things when the heat comes and no suppressants can stop it. What if it’s enough to pull me to the dark side? What if the council decides I am too big of a risk to everyone here to keep me around? Needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few.”

Sure enough, it was less than a week before the council called you to stand before them. The room was silent, the faces that painted the members was grave. You could tell that whatever decision they came to was a long argued one. It was the look on your Master’s face that made a sadness ring through your heart.

“Do you know why we called you here?” Master Windu asked.

You inhaled deeply and sighed, “I think I have an idea..”

“Please understand padawan that if we had known you were an Omega, we wouldn’t have recruited you to the Order. We simply can’t have an Omega or an Alpha within our ranks.”

“I…I think I understand Master.”

“Understand how you feel, we do.” The Grandmaster said with a grave tone and a nod.

“Forgive me Master but, no, you don’t. With reason or not, I have had my birth family cast me out into your care because I was force sensitive and now, my second family does the same because of a gene I carry.” Your eyes flashed angrily. Abandoned again because of what you were. “I will gather my things and be gone before nightfall,” you turned on your heel and strode out of the council chambers, leaving the heavy sighs behind you as you fought tears.

When you finally reached your quarters the dam broke. Fat tears and wailing sobs poured out of you while your heart bled. Fear, pain, self-disgust all swirling in your mind. You had no idea what you were going to do, where you were going to go. You barely heard the knock against your door while you tried to wipe the salty wetness from your eyes. When you composed yourself as much as you could you opened the door to your Master and Obi Wan, both looking solemn.

“May we come it?” your master asked. Standing aside you allowed them entrance. “I voted no. I don’t think the council is making the right choice in this matter.”

“Thank you Master but the result is the same, with all due respect,” you pushed past him and starting shoving your sparse belongings into a travel bag pausing only when your friend stood in your way.

“I-I’m going to miss you..” he looked down at his feet.

“Oh Obi,” fresh tears wet your lashes. “I’m going to miss you to,” you pulled him into a tight hug. “I know you still have a few more years before your trials but; you’re going to make a wonderful knight.” His only response was to hug you tighter.

“The council has allocated a small fund for you young one. Because of the nature of your departure and the fact that you never broke the code or did anything wrong…” Master Plo held out a large purse filled with credits, “I hope it’s enough to get you settled somewhere until you can find something to do..” you took the purse and wrapped your arms around your Master’s waist.

Thanking him silently for everything. For raising you, teaching you everything you knew and again for advocating for you. You gathered your one personal item aside from your clothes, a holo-pic Obi Wan had taken of you and your Master standing on a cliff overlooking the water on Naboo. At the time he said he took it because you looked like a knight with your straight back and hands clasped behind your back, mirroring Plo perfectly. You thought him silly at the time but now; you felt grateful.

Months later you found yourself waitressing in a dirty little cantina on one of the lower levels of the city. The credits given to you were enough to pay for a dingy little studio apartment and the owner of the cantina owed Qui Gon a favor for some reason. Giving you a job made them even. You were drifting through your new life. Every night you would show up in your too tight, too short uniform and serve various drunkards and bounty hunters. Every morning you would stumble your way back to your new home utterly exhausted. When your heat hit your boss was understanding enough to give you time off so you could cry and feel the terrible pain and loneliness in peace.

A few days after your last heat, the third one you had ever experienced; you were back to work. It was a pretty slow night. The atmosphere was surprisingly calm in the run-down little bar. You heard the door creak open while you were in the kitchen grabbing an order for a young starry eyed Rodian obviously new to the city. You looked around the kitchen smelling something strange, something incredibly strong, smokey and musky. It only got stronger when you dropped off the plate. Your eyes met the new customer’s, a lone Duro looked up at you from under the lip of a worn wide brimmed hat. A smile grew across his face as you approached cautiously.

“Hey there little lady. Where’s your Alpha?”

A serious trepidation squeezed your insides as you realized exactly what it was you were smelling. The man in front of you was an Alpha. There was no doubt about it, if he could smell you, it was true. Your feet moved faster than your brain and carried you out of the bar, ignoring your boss’s bellowing. You pounded into the duracrete until you reached your little room. Opening the door as quickly as you could with trembling fingers you slunk into a shadowy corner. Tears pricked in the corners of your eyes as the cool night breeze drifted through the window.

Window. As soon as you thought the thought his scent flowed through it, he followed right behind, slinging his lithe body through the opening. Standing silhouetted in the flickering streetlights, you backed up until you hit the door. His long leather trench coat fluttered around his calves. You could hardly process how he lifted his palms up to you and tried to calm you down.

“What in the seven hells’ the matter with you ‘mega?” you lifted your hand and force pulled your light saber into your grasp and ignited the blue blade.

“Whoa whoa whoa there little lady. Calm down I’m not gonna hurt you.. been a while since I seen another one a us. Outside Corellia at least.” His voice was smooth with a rasp to it, his eyes glowed bright red in the low lighting, your saber casting a blue glow over the room.

“Never seen a Jedi ‘mega before,” he started.

“I’m no longer a Jedi,” you spat. It was the first thing you could say to the Alpha before you.

“You gotta calm down girl. I told you I’m not gonna hurt you,” he was inching closer to you.

“What do you want with me?” you tightened your grip and clenched your teeth, causing him to halt again on the stained floor.

“Where’s your Alpha? I can’t smell him.”

“You’re the first one I’ve met.”

“Listen I wanna help. Obviously if you’re here the Jedi gave you the boot. I’m gonna go out on a limb here, they found out when the suppressors didn work on ya.”

You sheathed your blade and lowered your head in sorrow.

“How long you been on your own?”

“A few months,” you looked up and wished you were back in the temple. You missed the gardens, you missed the archives, you missed your friend.. The Duro eyed you carefully like he could read your history just from your face before he scrunched his eyes up in confusion.

“Diddn they even tell you shit or did they just give you a pat and ‘good luck’?”

Your lack of a response was response enough; he sighed and muttered curses under his breath.

“Listen, most of us Alphas aren’t dangerous. We’re leaders, protectors. Omegas aren’t weak, you’re our second in command so to speak.” Your eyes widened at him. “I wanna help you.. I kinda feel like I have to. My mate would’ve if she was still around…” his eyes dimmed, “some of the Alphas can be shitty but it’s the others you gotta worry about. Slavers like buying your kind up and sellin em to the highest bidder. Sometimes they got a paid Alpha to sniff you out, some of em got hounds that can pick out your scent. If you stay here, you’re sittin pretty an ripe for their pickin.”

“What happened to your Omega?” your voice was quiet and cautious. You didn’t know if you could trust him or not but if he found you, others would be able to soon too.

“Trandoshans… I was off on a hunt; left her at home. Thought it was too dangerous for her to come with… I tried to find her, looked everywhere, called in every favor, went broke on bribes… never found her.”

Some primal, instinctual part of your heart broke for him. You had no idea what it was like to have a mate but you thought you’d rather die than lose yours and the look on his face confirmed that, he would too.

“Look, take it or not but this is me reaching my hand out. Tryin to make sure that what happened to her, doesn’t happen to you. Bounty huntings lucrative if you nab the right contracts. I can get you set up… the moving around ‘s safer than sitting still.”

You thought for a few minutes, pondering the information this man dumped on you all at once. Your Jedi brain told you not to trust him; that this guy was bad news, but you weren’t a Jedi anymore. They were the reason you were sitting here trying to decide if you could trust him or not. So, you listened to your Omega gut and it told you to go with him; and that’s what you did.

You spent a year with Cad Bane and if you were being honest, it was the best year of your life. He introduced you to the Bounty Hunters Guild by the name ‘Mega. Told you if they found out you were a former Jedi you wouldn’t get contracts so you went with it. There was even a whole house of the guild that was dedicated to Alphas and Omegas a secret little society that you had been welcomed into. He taught you how to use a blaster, damn well too. Your light saber was a hidden last resort to use only if you were about to be killed and you left no survivors. The two of you galivanted across the galaxy bringing in dangerous, high paying bounties.

He taught you about the sub culture of the Alphas and the Omegas and helped explain some of the odd tendencies you showed but didn’t understand. He was respectful during your heat and let you wait it out locked in the cabin while he slept in the cockpit. Occasionally you’d ask him to put a hand on the back of your neck to cool you down. His cold-blooded hands were the perfect ice pack for your fevered skin.

Not once did he ever try to scent you. To say he was friendly though would’ve been a lie. You had a companionable silence most of the time. You could count the times you made him smile on one hand. Most of which were when you got extra rough with a difficult quarry. The only other time was when some guy tried to hit on you in a cantina while you and Bane celebrated the largest reward you had ever gotten. You pressed the barrel of your blaster into his balls so hard, without even looking at him, he cried. Life was… good. Life was actually good. After the costs of resupply and fuel he gave you half of whatever was left over.

That’s how you got to where you were now. On Corellia in a ship yard looking to buy your own transport. Bane had introduced you to the Guild Master on this planet, long having gained membership with him as a sponsor and you got yourself a few of your own pucks. He stood beside you now as you tossed the credits to the seller and loaded up your new; well new to you, ship.

“Better than my first ship that’s for damn sure,” Bane said as he walked around it. It wasn’t large, it wasn’t small either, but it had a kitchenette, a cabin and a carbon-freezing chamber in the small cargo bay below deck. “That freezers gonna let you pick up a few bounties at a time,” he noted, leaning against the doorframe of the cabin, watching you put away your clothes and setting up the holo-pic of you and Plo by the large bed.

“That’s the plan. Move around as much as possible. Get rich on these dumbasses,” you moved to toss the pucks into your bag.

“Listen ‘Meg,” he straightened up, clenched his jaw and looked at the floor, “it was shitty goin for me for a long time. It’s gonna get shitty again and stay that way for the rest of my life but; well, you made it less shitty,” he was visibly uncomfortable.

“Don’t go getting all warm blooded on me now Bane,” you shot him a sad smile. You had to move on. He wasn’t your Alpha and you weren’t his Omega. You didn’t really think you would find a mate of your own but you could feel it through the force; as much as you relieved some of his stress, you made him miss his mate.

“Don’t get your hopes up sweetheart, I like you but not that much,” he smirked, “you got my commlink channel set up in there right?” his thumb pointed to the cockpit.

“Yeah I got it.”

“Don’t hesitate if you get in over your head kid. I mean it ‘Meg, don’t be so proud you go and get yourself killed.”

“I won’t, I promise Bane.”

“Good,” he walked over to you and for a second you thought he was actually going to hug you; what he did was a bigger shock. He took his hat off and placed it on your head. Your eyes widened to saucers and you looked at him almost confused. A grin cracked your lips when he pulled a new, bigger one out of no where and shrugged his shoulders.

“I like this one better anyway,” he turned to leave the hull but not before rasping out a “see you around ‘Meg, give em all seven hells out there,” over his shoulder.

You made your way to the cockpit, pulling Bane’s hat down tighter on your head and running your finger across the brim; watching him leave the shipyard through the view port with one last swish of his coat. You were sad to watch that gun slinging bastard go but thanked the maker he found you, thanked the maker that you followed him that night.

You ran through your preflight checklist and started her up ‘The Wolf.’ You liked the way it sounded. Pulling up into the atmosphere and punching in the coordinates for Lothal, the highest priced bounty in your current collection. You pulled back the lever, shooting you into hyperspace. You made your way back to your cabin and picked up the holo-pic of you and your master. You wondered what he was doing right now. If he had taken in a new padawan. You hoped he had; he was a wonderful master; the best you could’ve asked for. You wondered if he thought about you as much as you thought about him. You smiled, probably. He always had trouble not forming attachments. You set the picture back down and pulled another one out of your bag. You had tried to keep it a secret from Bane but you were sure he knew about it.

It was from the night you almost took off the nuts of the guy who tried flirting with you. You had bought a round for everyone in the small cantina out of your own pocket, you were so excited about taking down the biggest quarry the two of you had seen to date. Several beings of different species all raised a glass of various liquors in your honor while Bane faced the bar not looking at you, the smallest smirk on his face below the rim of the hat you were wearing now. The smile you had on in this picture might be the biggest you’ve ever made. You set it down next to the one of you and Plo and compared the two, hardly believing you were the same person. You weren’t, but they were both you.

You kicked your boots off and plopped down on the bed, arms crossed behind your head and the hat tilted over your eyes. This was it; this was living.

#maul x reader #darth maul #Star Wars AU #TPM au #a/b/o #a/b/o dynamics #no y/n #darth maul x reader #star wars #the phantom menace

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insomniamamma · 4 years ago

Text

Prickle: Ezra x F! Reader

A/n: Okay, so don’t know what the hell this is. I was trying to go to sleep a few days ago and this just kind of popped in there, the idea of Ez giving the reader a weird nickname. I swear I have a more serious, put together fic in the works, but this demanded my attention first. I meant this to be short, but I suck at keeping things short.

warnings: language, angst, mild violence, lil bit of fluff, no beta

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He calls you Artichoke. Since hiring you on, Ezra has thrown a string of nicknames at you, mostly botanical or avian, some referencing things you have never heard of, and this is the one that stuck. Cee is Little Bird most of the time, until she indulges in teen-age surliness and then she's Channel Rat. You are Artichoke. Which would be fine, except you don't have the foggiest idea of what an artichoke is. Nothing about the word triggers anything in your brain.

You are not so well-travelled as Ezra and Cee. You grew up on Falnost, a dusty little fly speck of a moon, only colonized because it orbits a gas giant with lush rings, perfect for ice-mining operations. Falnost has one port city that caters to people who come downworld on leave. The rest is cattle and corn. Nothing to do but pull rocks out of the ground, dig irrigation ditches and spread the sandy dirt with live bacteria concentrates in hopes of convincing the ground to grow something. Not a place for fancy words or much beyond a standard technical education. You scrimped and saved and bought your passage off-world as soon as you could, and you've been drifting ever since. Puggart Bench was the closest you've been to civilization, and even that seemed overwhelming and a bit weird. You suspect artichoke is something from the inner worlds, but you have no idea what it could be. What if it's something bad, or nasty like a channel rat? What if Ezra's been making fun of you, calling you this name? It started two drops ago on Sammana. You were there to harvest lattice corals. Sammana once had a deep liquid ocean, but now all that was left were vast, glittering salt-flats. It was hot on Sammana. The air, while not toxic, stank like sun-dried shit. The corals themselves were fragile and you had to dig through the salt-pan with hand tools to get to them. By the end of the first day, your hands were raw and sobbing from a hundred salt-burnt cuts. You were hired on as muscle, but Ezra's been teaching you the trade as well. Many hands make light work, he said, and dimpled at his own joke, being down one hand himself. The dig did not go well. The corals you were finding were few and of mediocre quality at best. Enough to keep you fueled and flying, but little else. There was less than a cycle before you had to catch the slingback and even Ezra's mood was dark. "I'm callin it," he said, after a small and brittle coral crumbled in his hand. "We got enough to get us onto the next job. Fueled and flying, right?" "Fueled and flying," you echoed back, grabbing the railgun and taking point. Camp was some ways and the sun overhead felt like a physical weight grinding down on you. The railgun was heavy, sweat ran into your eyes and pooled under your body armor. So much miserable effort for so little reward. Today's pull was a pittance, a little extra fuel, a little extra data bandwidth and that's all. You swiped the sweat from your eyes for the hundredth time today. You were over it. Camp resolved itself out of the heat-glitter rising up from the salt crusted ground, the drop pod sitting in a crater of shattered salt, the tent next to it, hooked up to the pod's RTG by a thick braided cable. The tent's flaps were open. Someone was moving inside. "Oh, hell no!" You pelted towards camp, railgun raised, the figure paused, and then continued rifling through the tent. He had your trophy case at his feet, what little you've been able to collect over the last cycles and this bastard meant to take all of it. "Hands in the air motherfucker!" The thief dropped his haul and raised his hands. "The fuck out of the tent, right fucking now!" You felt Ezra and Cee behind you, heard their hard breaths. "I didn't mean nothin," he says, "I thought this camp was abandoned--" And something snapped in you. Never in your life had you been this angry. "Bullshit you did! Abandoned with the pod still hot?" You primed the railgun, and aimed through the scope right between this dumbass's eyes, and then you felt Ezra's hand on your arm. He spoke low and close to your ear. "Ease up on the rails, there, Artichoke, ain't no need for bloodshed yet." And for as angry as you were, you did as he asked, relaxed your stance some. Ezra walked toward the kid, no mercenary, this, just some dumb local. "My friend here wants to shoot you," Ezra said, "And she is well within her rights to do so. We have toiled long to get what little we could out of this bitter ground." "I'm sorry!" said the would-be thief, "I didn't mean nothin--" "What you meant or didn't mean is not the issue here," said Ezra, "What you do next is going to determine whether you walk away or I tell my over-eager associate here to indulge her violent nature. Here's what is going to happen. My partner, Cee, knows every stitch of equipment we own. You will dump your pack for her, turn out your pockets and give back everything that's ours. One aggressive move and Artichoke here will kill you. Rely on it. You do what I say and you get to walk away with your life. Clear?" "Clear," he said. He dumped his pack as instructed and Cee picked through the contents, reclaiming several items. "We're good,"said Cee, and gave the thief a shove, "Get out of here." He turned and started running, you fired a few shots that crackled into the salt-pan at his heels. Later, as you broke camp, you and Ezra got into the first real argument you'd had. So far you've managed to keep things professional, but the anger was still there, hot and pulsing behind your eyes. "You should have let me shoot him," "It doesn't always have to come down to shooting," said Ezra, "Things turned out right in the end. We kept our harvest and that foolish boy gets to keep on breathing." "He was trying to steal our whole harvest," your voice rose, "Gods be damned, Ezra, you know what that means. You of all people--" "He was a kid," Ezra's eyes were wide and dark, "Not much older than our Cee. Would you have that kind of blood on your hands?" There was no good answer. Ezra had all the words, you struggled with them. There was no way to speak back. Ezra sensed something shift in you, something in the slump of your shoulders. He laid his hand on your upper arm, gave a brief squeeze. "It's alright, Artichoke, We're all safe. It's alright."

Since that crazy day on Sammana, you've been Artichoke, and you don't know what to make of it. You can't ask Ezra directly. Ezra has ten different words for everything. You don't always understand him. You don't know if he's doing it on purpose, but sometimes he makes you feel stupid. You can imagine his self-satisfied smile as he explains the why of your nickname. You're not about to ask him. So you decide to ask Cee. It's morning and you hand Cee a dented metal cup with fake coffee in it. Ezra shoots you a look and you shoot him one right back. You shouldn't give her coffee, he'd said, it'll stunt her growth, to which you'd said, Kevva's sakes, she was processing Jhata Balu at twelve. I think she can handle a cup of coffee. Ezra is a morning person, one of the things about him that infuriates you. You and Cee have barely joined the land of the living and he's up and about and doing maintenance on his suit. One handed, he struggles, but you've learned not to offer help. You did once and the look he gave you made you want to strap your body armor a little tighter. So you just tune out the string of muttered curses coming from the other end of the tent. You've learned to tell when Ezra is talking to himself. "Hey, Cee?" "Mmmh?" "What's an artichoke?" You pitch your voice low, but there's heat prickling in your neck. Cee sips her coffee and smiles, a slow, one sided grin, like she's been expecting the question. "It's a Terran plant," she says, and pulls her battered notebook and pen from under her pillow, furrows her brow as she sketches. She turns the notebook so you can see. "It looks kind of like this." And now you are even more confused, presenting with what looks like a scaly ball on a thick stem. What this has to do with you, you can't even guess.

"Why does he call me that?" You ask, and Cee just stares over her coffee cup like she's staring into the black hole at the center of the galaxy, "Cee! Why does he call me that?" Cee smirks and jerks her head up. And the fact of the relative silence hits you, Ezra's muttered string of curses is done and you hear him chuckle close and behind. You bow your head, heat rushing to your face.

"If you wanted to know the reason for your moniker you could have just asked," says Ezra, you're not looking at him, but you can practically hear him smirk. He's gone and done it again, set a snare of words, and you've bumbled into it. You clench your hands and jaw and turn to face him, best to absorb whatever little humiliation he has planned for you so you can get back to your coffee. "Fine," you say, and it comes out angrier than intended. It is too early in the morning for this. "Why do you call me Artichoke?" His brows furrow briefly and his smirk softens into a warmer smile, the kind that crinkles his eyes at the corners. He squeezes your upper arm, like on Sammana, but there's no body armor between you. "I call you Artichoke because I believe that, like an artichoke, you conceal beneath your prickly exterior a tender, delectable heart." He drops you a wink and then jams his helmet on and out the tent flaps into the sticky heat of day. "Good one, Ez," Cee calls to his retreating back and the purr of the zippers pulled back up, "Real subtle." "What. The. Utter fuck?" You mutter into your cup of shit fake coffee. You shake your head. You and Cee suck down your coffee in silence for a beat. "You know he likes you, right?" Says Cee. "Well, I should hope so," you say, "We're crew." Cee is giving you a look of pity and condescention that somehow only teenagers can manage. Oh. "Oh. Oh no! No no no no no!" The realization comes pouring out of you and Cee giggles. "Nope! Not in a million years! Hard no!" But part of you thinks this is wrong even as you say it. Part of you likes the idea of being Ezra's artichoke, his tough and prickly thing with soft insides. Part of you wonders what would happen if you let him in beneath your spiky outer layers, just a little.

#ezra prospect x reader #ezra x reader #ezra x you #ezra prospect #cee #cee prospect #prospect movie

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mollymauk-teafleak · 4 years ago

Note

“don’t do that. don’t shut me out.” + Jupeter

I wrote this for @spiky-lesbian because she’s had a rough week so here’s some angst babe, go figure

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“I’m getting too old for this.”

Juno was pretty sure PIs were supposed to think that sort of thing when they were doing something cool and dangerous, like leaping the gap between the cars of a moving train or ducking behind crates at a harbour to avoid laser fire.

Rather than crawling on their stomachs to get their pet sewer rabbit’s favourite ball out from behind the sofa. But hey, it was his day off.

Then again, Small Fry did look delighted when he straightened back up with a loud groan and the cracking of some vertebrae, whiffling her nose and hopping excitedly, shaking the floorboards of their little apartment. Smiling fondly, Juno threw the ball off down the hallway so she could chase it, squeaking happily.

“Next time that happens I’m not getting it out for you! You can go make goo goo eyes at your daddy for a change,” he called after her, brushing dust from his curls and his shirt. But the smile didn’t fade from his face, even after she had rounded the corner to go and cause mischief somewhere else. Anyone who said keeping a massive sewer rabbit in a modest Hyperion apartment was a bad idea was just too afraid of cleaning up the occasional broken lamp or gnaw marks on the walls.

He was about to straighten back up and go back to the book he’d been reading, he got so little time to do things like that these days but his husband was still at work, the boys were asleep and Bianca was happily playing in her room, giving him a rare hour or two to himself that he didn’t want to waste. He was mildly tempted to crack the lock on the drawer where Nureyev stowed away any case files he brought home so he couldn’t continue working himself ragged outside of his own office but, contrary to the size of the lock and the dedication with which his husband hid the key, he really was getting better at giving himself time off.

After all, it had been a hell of a long time since work was the only thing he had to keep him going.

He was about to do that when something else behind the sofa caught his eye, something that wasn’t just a toy of Bee Bee’s that she’d forgotten or one of Small Fry’s hordes of left socks that she liked to build nests out of. He was about to sigh and mutter something about the wonders of having three kids being that you’d find trash in the weirdest places but something wary ran its way down his spine. Something that was maybe instinct, maybe his detective brain putting pieces together and proving yet again that the years spent theoretically on the other side of law and order hadn’t dampened his skills.

Whatever it was, it made him reach out, once again feeling the twinge in the base of his spine, using his hip to nudge the couch further out so he could snag it and bring it out.

It was a small bag, something designed to be inconspicuously held at the waist or over the shoulder, dark in colour so it wouldn’t catch the eye. Juno frowned, the wariness growing stronger as he sat on the couch and opened it up.

He recognised the precision and fastidiousness immediately, like it was rolling off it in waves like too much perfume. It was in the way everything was crammed in so tight there wasn’t a spare inch of space, everything chosen for its shape and size so it would go in seamlessly like a game of tetris. It was in the items themselves, every possible scenario accounted for; dried rations, iodine pills to purify water, vouchers for shuttle tickets that would take you anywhere in the galaxy, tightly rolled stacks of genuine honest to god Earth currency to take you even further than that, no questions asked, clothes folded so tightly they looked like napkins at first. And, in an even more closely concealed pocket on the inside seam, fake documents, fake IDs, fake cards loaded up with fake creds.

And a knife. If Juno had been entertaining any doubts, any lingering threads of uncertainty, then seeing his tired reflection in that razor edge snipped them neatly away.

He sighed, long and low, filing through the emotions rising in his chest, sending away any that he knew weren’t helpful or were just offshoots of his anxiety, counting backwards from ten like Buddy had shown him until all the messiness sorted itself out.

He didn’t pick his book back up. He watched the clock and waited for his husband to come home.

Nureyev really enjoyed working at the salon. He kept waiting, expecting to get bored or frustrated with it all, but it hadn’t happened yet. He just laughed at the conversations with his colleagues more and more, got more familiar with the smell of hairspray on his clothes and felt a small spark of pride at the ache in his ankles at the end of a long day.

It was enough to make him feel something approaching hope.

He slid off his shoes, not wanting to track any dust from outside into the apartment. Living on Mars had meant needing to get used to the fine red silt clinging to his soles every day and turning up in the most inconvenient places, no matter how careful he tried to be. Juno, the Aurinkos and Rita barely even seemed to notice it. Nureyev assumed that came from growing up with the stuff.

The apartment was surprisingly quiet, enough that he was already getting ideas before he walked into the living room and saw his wife sitting on the sofa.

“What exactly have you done with our children, my love?” he grinned, “Bought us some alone time?”

Juno started a little at his voice, even though he should have heard him come in, the door closing, his keys rattling into the bowl. And when his eye lifted and met Nureyev’s, it was immediately clear that his ideas had been far off the mark.

“Yeah, Rita has them,” Juno’s voice was even, not full of scowls and snarls as usual, not in any way a ‘we’re in serious trouble’ voice but Nureyev’s veins still flooded with adrenaline as he rooted to the spot, a discordant clashing in his ears, “I did want to have some time with just you and me.”

“And yet you’re still dressed?” Nureyev was a little impressed with himself, how his tone came out still perfectly light and joking, like he wasn’t completely gripped by panic and his brain wasn’t scribbling blue prints behind his eyes.

It would seem hairdressing hadn’t lost him all of his skills.

“Babe, listen,” Juno sat forward, eye gentle, “Just come and sit with me, okay? Nothing’s wrong, nothing bad has happened or anything like that. I just want to talk.”

Nureyev frowned. Maybe he had lost his skills a little. Or maybe they’d just never worked on Juno.

But he did sit, stiffly, still braced for something awful in spite of his wife’s reassurance. And when Juno wordlessly produced one of his getaway bags and set it on the coffee table between them, he was ready to run.

But Juno didn’t let the moment build, he didn’t keep him hanging. He simply sighed and reached across the gap between them to take his hand.

“Peter, I’m sorry.”

“What?” Nureyev looked up, certain he must have misheard.

But Juno’s expression was firmly set in penance, mouth turned down, brow fallen across his eye which was soft and sad, “I never once asked you if you were struggling to adjust to the way our lives are now. I never thought to check in with you. I let you down in that and I’m sorry.”

“I...what?” Nureyev was well aware he was falling short of his usual articulation but no more words were coming in to fill the blank gap in his mind, “You’re not...you’re not upset with me?”

Juno frowned a little, shaking his head, “No. No, why would I be?”

“Because…” Laughter, of all things, raw edged and disbelieving bubbled up in his chest, “Because the only thing to take from this is that I’m insane or I was going to leave you?”

“Are either of those things why you’ve got these bags?” Juno asked evenly.

Nureyev winced, “You found the others?”

“No but I know you enough to assume.”

Nureyev took a shaky breath, “I’m not leaving you. And...and I don’t know whether I’m insane or not, honestly.”

The sadness in Juno's eye deepened and he squeezed his husband’s hand, “I don’t think you are but we need to talk about this. What exactly were you trying to prepare for with these?”

“I...I don’t know…” Nureyev didn’t like this one bit, this reversal of their usual roles, Juno being so calm and collected and even while he sat here struggling to leash his emotions, “Nothing! I...I wasn’t…”

Juno exhaled, something cracking through his calm, “Don’t do that. Nureyev, please, don’t shut me out. That’s the one thing I need you not to do right now.”

Nureyev felt his throat close and he couldn’t have said anything if his life depended on it. He didn’t want to shut his wife out, he really didn’t, but it was so hard to unlearn something that had been your first line of defence since childhood.

But if there was anyone who understood that, it was Juno.

“Listen, Nureyev, there’s no answer you can give me that will make me angry with you or upset me. I just want you to feel safe here with me and with the kids and...finding this, it’s just made me worry that you don’t?”

Nureyev forced his lungs to pull in air and turn it into words, determined to not be the man who had shut Juno out for years, the man who had packed those bags.

“I do feel safe here, I am happy here,” he promised, feeling the truth of it and drawing strength from that, “It’s just been so long since I stayed in one place, since...since I could feel safe. And sometimes it feels like another cover I’m wearing for a little while, like something’s going to change and I’ll have to run again. And I guess I just wanted to prepare for that, even if it isn’t what I want. Even if I’m praying it never happens, I just can’t let myself be unprepared. It’s not how I was raised. And having those bags...I can breathe a little easier. I can settle into this more because even if the absolute worst thing happens, I’ll survive.”

Juno nodded slowly, eye never leaving his husband’s face, “Nureyev, we both knew this was going to be a change. And change is hard, even if it’s for the better. And if this helps you settle down, I’m fine with that.”

“But I’m not,” Nureyev croaked, wanting to wipe his eyes so the tears there didn’t fall but also not wanting to let go of Juno’s hand, “I don’t want to live my life like it’s not mine. This isn’t a cover, it’s my family and my home and I want to feel like that.”

Juno squeezed his fingers, “This is yours, Nureyev. I’m your wife and they’re our kids and this is our home. No one is taking any of this from us, I promise. And if you need me to remind you of that, I will, every single damn day for the rest of our lives if that's what you need. And it fucking sucks that everything you’ve lived up until now is telling you different.”

“Yeah,” Nureyev mumbled, the tears falling and dripping off his nose now but they hit Juno’s hands before his own and he didn’t flinch, “It does.”

“Come here…” Juno murmured, pulling him close, wrapping his arms around him as their bodies fit themselves together, “You can cry, it’s okay.”

Nureyev did. Because he believed Juno when he told him it was.

They spent the rest of their rare evening alone pulling out all of the getaway bags Nureyev had stowed over the first week of their retirement from the Carte Blanche, all of the stockpiles of food as well, everything he’d hidden underneath their new life with Mag’s voice and the voice of a hungry child guiding his hands. They didn’t get rid of it, he wasn’t ready for that yet, but it went into a box under their bed instead.

And Juno still told him he was proud of him.

Nureyev thought there was always going to be that part of him that had Mag’s rules in it’s mind and a constant hunger in its belly. All he could ever do was fold it up as small as he could make it and find space for it in the back of his brain.

But with Juno’s arm around him and red dust on the soles of his shoes, that felt easier than it ever had before.

#jupeter #tpp #the penumbra podcast #post canon #angst #hurt/comfort #angst prompts #juno steel #peter nureyev

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yelena-bellova · 4 years ago

Text

Hush, Hush - Poe Dameron x Reader

Plot: Poe and Y/n have to keep their relationship secret, but that’s easier said than done.

Warnings: implied smut, language, just steamy in general 🔥

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: I was listening to ‘Hush, Hush’ by The Band Camino and inspiration hit, hope you enjoy 😉

————-

I caught your eye across the room

No one can feel the tension between me and you

Poe was trying to kill me, I was convinced of it.

Here we were, seated amongst our co-workers listening to the General talk about the upcoming mission, and he had the nerve to unzip his flight suit. He tied it around his waist revealing his tight grey tank top and muscular arms. When someone next to him turned to see what he was doing, Poe mouthed ‘It’s hot’ and returned to appearing as innocent as ever. I was left trying to focus on whatever General Organa had been saying, but to say Poe was a distraction was an understatement. He knew exactly what he was doing and he was damn proud of it judging by the small smirk on his lips.

My eyes flitted between the General and Poe, each time I stole a glance, his eyes were already waiting to meet mine. Smug bastard…I decided to return the favor. I conspicuously fiddled with a button on my shirt until it was undone, revealing the slightest bit of my bra. Poe and I were seated across from each other, giving him the perfect view of my cleavage when I leaned forward. I looked up out of my eyelashes to see him staring straight at me, his eyes visibly shades darker than their dependable chocolate brown.

Two could play at this game.

Don't touch they're looking your way

If anybody asks, we left alone

The aforementioned mission was successful, we’d managed to take out a small First Order base. That meant a party being thrown out on the tarmac.

I was on my second drink enjoying the sight of my friends celebrating when I felt someone come up behind me,

“Have I ever told you how gorgeous you are?”

I smiled before turning to face Poe, “Not tonight you haven’t.”

His lips quirked up ever so slightly, “Well, you do look fuckin’ gorgeous tonight, sweetheart.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself, Dameron.”  Poe leaned in closer to me and his hand magnetically found my hip. I appreciated the contact out of instinct, but in my slightly buzzed state I’d forgotten we were in front of all our friends.

“Poe,” I pushed his hand away and it fell lonely at his side, “People could see, you know we can’t.”

“I know but,” his eyes raked over my body hungrily, “Sometimes I can’t help myself.”  I bit my lip and gazed up at him, he looked downright irresistible tonight. His white shirt revealed a large patch of his glistening toned chest, his curls fell freely and his face was covered in scruff. I was having just as hard of a time not slamming him up against a wall and molding my body to his.

“C’mon,” he whispered, leaning past me to throw his empty cup in a trash bin and brushing my ear with his lips, “Let’s get out of here.”  I scanned our surrounding area to see if anyone was close enough to have heard his brilliant idea. Nobody.

“Go now, I’ll meet you back in your room in ten minutes.”  Poe flashed his signature killer smile, “It’s a plan, baby.”  It's 2:45 AM we're finally all alone

All our friends went home

I can finally lay you down and let it show

I hadn’t realized how late it was by the time I left the party. Rey and Finn had left just after Poe had but luckily their rooms weren’t anywhere near his. I’d arrived outside his door without anyone catching me, entering the code quickly and the entrance whooshing open to reveal Poe waiting.

“Hi,” he greeted as he pulled me into his room by the waist, a small squeak leaving my mouth. He swallowed the noise as he connected our lips roughly, shutting the door without breaking the action.

I cradled the back of his neck as his hands gripped my hips, squeezing tight enough to leave bruises. It wouldn’t be the first time, Poe littered my body with temporary marks regularly and I loved every single one of them. His tongue swiped over my bottom lip as he pushed me up against the cold steel of the door. I opened my mouth slightly and he dove in, our tongues battling for dominance against each other. My hands moved up to his hair and I tugged slightly, enjoying the sensual groan Poe gave in return. The sensation had spurred him on further and his hands slid down my rear to my thighs. He tapped his fingers to signal what he wanted, I jumped and helped him wrap my legs around his waist.  “I missed you,” he mumbled between kisses.

“You just saw me ten minutes ago-oh…” I moaned as he plunged into the crook of my neck, working the sensitive skin between his lips.

“Not the same,” he said against my skin before turning and walking us towards his bed.

Poe lowered me down onto the mattress, he tugged his shirt off revealing what had been on my mind all evening. He trapped my body under his and came back down on my mouth. My fingers glided across his back, feeling each muscle contract with his movements. Our heated kisses slowed after a moment when Poe dropped his head,

“What’s wrong?” I asked hurriedly, worried I’d unknowingly done something to ruin the moment.

When he looked back up at me, his eyes were watery and his expression was serious, “I know we have to keep us a secret, but it really does hurt that I can’t tell everyone you’re my girl. I want to hold you, kiss you, tell you I love you and not have to worry about somebody finding out.”  The look on his face was heartbreaking, we’d kept our relationship secret for months now. The longer we were together, the more difficult it got to not tell anyone. It didn’t look great for a Commander and a lower ranking officer to be in a relationship, but Poe and I hadn’t let that stop us.

I traced the sharp curve of his jaw, “I know, it’s hard on me too. But if this is the only way we can be together, then I’ll do it for however long we have to.”

Poe stared down at my face lovingly, his gaze alone was enough to make feel like the most special woman in the galaxy. He dipped down to my lips and melted them together, this time slow and sweet rather than our previous rough and hurried ones. Poe broke away after a moment to trail down my skin until he was back at my neck, nipping at my most sensitive spots.

“Poe,” I moaned in his ear as I gripped onto his biceps, “I need you.”  His deep chuckle sent vibrations through my skin, “Don’t worry, baby,” his voice low, “We’ve got all night.”  Hush, hush

Don't give it away

“What’s on your neck, Y/n?” Finn asked cluelessly.

The four of us were sitting in the mess hall eating breakfast the next morning when Finn pointed out the deep purple mark on my skin.

I tried not to let my fear show as I remembered I hadn’t covered up the hickey Poe had left.

“Oh, I fell this morning,” I racked my brain for a more detailed explanation, “I was a little hungover from last night.”

Rey chuckled and nudged me with her elbow, “I don’t think that’s it at all. I think there’s someone you’re not telling us about.”  I struggled for words as the metaphorical spotlight was set on me, worried Rey would sense that I was lying.

“Guys, c’mon,” Poe chimed in, “Y/n is a terrible liar, if she was hooking up with someone, she would have slipped up by now.”  Finn pointed his fork at me, “That is true, you can’t lie to save your life.”  I chuckled and put my hands up in surrender, letting the conversation drift to other topics. Once Rey and Finn were engaged with each other, I glanced up to Poe who shot me a wink. If only our friends knew just how good a liar I’d grown to be…

—————

Star Wars Permanent Taglist (open): @paintballkid711

#poe dameron #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x reader

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