#''proposition'' for what? of what? i don't ship it. you know i don't. i've said it at length. what proposition?

[meirimerens]

i see a fellow rareshipper. grabs you.

proposition: vlad jr/andrey/grief.

i am overjoyed to learn about rareship(per)s because the game is our oyster and at its core We Ball (<- human philosophy) but i don't know if there's some kind of social convention wrt to ships i'm supposed to partake in now or if there's something in particular you would want me to say (if i'm being honest, i don't even know why people come at me with "hey what about [ship]" because i'm not sure what they want. validation? reassurance? none of these make sense to me, but maybe, again, there is some kind of social convention or transactional discourse i'm expected to partake in but i don't Get it i really don't Get it) so besides my usual response of "the world is your oyster + baller + let's fucking gooo" i don't know what to tell you. i don't know what you want me to tell you. because for what feels like the 10th time and what might be,

what proposition? a proposition for what? what part am i supposed to play in this exchange which i know the answer for

[all-pacas]

Can you talk more about the whole "Chase and 13 as siblings" deal? I've seen it everywhere,but they seemed more like ordinary friends to me. Neither of them gave me the "found family" vibes.

To be clear, it's totally fanon. They are not found family in canon, they aren't even super good friends. I'm pretty sure it comes from the common perception in fandom that they're House's favorites/the ones who view him and/or are viewed by him as his children. Which I guess makes them siblings? (I don't even think, technically speaking, that's true — House doesn't think of either of them as his kids tbh.) I am a huge enjoyer of it, though, so I can only give my reasoning; the short version is I think they have a lot of potential in this direction.

So first of all, the two of them are like. Lowkey so alike. Like the venn diagram of them is sort of just a circle. They both had traumatic family histories involving mothers who died young and who they resented/'hated.' They're both intensely private people, 13 going ahead and making that a meme but Chase just as good at it as she is. They both have histories on the show of sleeping around and engaging in reckless behaviors as a reaction to depression/trauma; they do both have close relationships with House, I think it's overstated a little in fandom but it's also true; House and 13 are obviously very close but Chase has a whole pair of S8 episodes highlighting the same; he's also the fellow House has known the longest, who stayed the longest. They're both perceptive and bright and have similar senses of humor.

As you said, they are friends. They enjoy one another's company, we see they have fun hanging out. 13 alludes to going drinking with Chase sometimes in Last Temptation. After Hours proves that Chase knows where 13 lives, that she can call him past midnight and he'll show up no questions asked. Despite both being super private and secretive, they know one another's darkest secrets: Chase is the only person besides House 13 has told about killing her brother and going to prison. 13 is the only person besides Cameron Chase has told about Dibala. (House and Foreman figured that one out on their own. Also, last time he told someone it ended his marriage, so it's kind of Insane he tells 13. Like. Wow.) 13 went a year not telling anyone her name, Chase wouldn't even confirm he was catholic when House guessed it, and yet these two tell one another things. Even in Private Lives, before they really knew one another, Chase and 13 were having serious heart-to-hearts about the divorce and whether or not Chase was pretty; these just… aren't conversations he, at least, has with other people.

Also, let's be frank. The show was setting them up to fuck. I think some of this is meant to be ship tease, in all honesty. Chase outright propositions her. One of their earliest bonding episodes is Private Lives, which has a sort of flirty bit at the end and is all about their failed romances. But thankfully — because we all know how much the show sucks at romance — it never happened. So what we're left with is two characters who are weirdly close, have a weird amount of heart to heart moments and bonding (like… compare Foreman and Chase, who have known one another forever but never have these sort of sincere 'moments'), and are incredibly similar. And who also are often framed specifically as 'House's children,' if not as as unit: Chase is the prodigal son, 13 calls herself the prodigal daughter. 'siblings' make sense. People also don't really like to ship them, myself included, although tbh they make a good amount of sense on paper. Maybe because of the built in messiness (she's Foreman's ex, technically; she leaves the show for long stretches; the show sucks at romance), maybe because people love found family, maybe because folks definitely prefer to lean into 13 dating women. And because people don't want to think of them as romantic options for one another, how do you define a relationship between a pair of very attractive people without letting that be a factor? Make them siblings!

For what it's worth, I don't actually think they're siblings, or that they think of one another as that. I think they're good friends. But they're also so alike, and open up to one another in pretty unique ways (especially for Chase), and get along well. In a weird way, I think the fact that they probably were attracted to one another and could have slept together but didn't makes them closer in my eyes: they both sleep around at the first chance, so that they didn't (by chance or choice) means they got to build an entirely different relationship. They're both lonely, they've both outlived family, they're both lowkey sort of depressed. And the idea that they could have a family in one another (Chase, for one, admits in S8 he pretty badly would like one) just really appeals to me. (With the added tragedy, of course, that it could only last a decade or so) I think they're good for one another, in that they have a "no questions asked" friendship, they know one another's worst secrets, and those secrets run parallel enough that they get it. And so even though they aren't siblings… I kinda want them to be, you know? :)

[fightingalgth8rs]

Hear ye, Hear ye!

I am absolutely chuffed to see such an enthusiastic response to the Detective AU proposition. I've already started writing it before I get round to publishing anything there are somethings I wanna get in the clear and some things I wanna ask you guys.

So first, Disclaimers and Announcements:

This is purely a piece of fiction. Any resemblance to real living people dead or alive is a coincidence.

This is hardly a 'fanfiction'. It's an original piece of fiction (neither part of any general 'fandom' nor deriving from any previously established piece of work). The characters are 'casted' as real people as one would do for a film or a TV series one is writing

The story will be broken down into a bunch of separate but inevitably interconnected mysteries and adventures. Maybe I'll end of making it like those "new episode new adventure" thingies but it's too early to say anything!

It's going to get dark so trigger warning for those who like rabbits and rainbows and sunflowers....

Lesbians. Lots and lots of lesbians so don't @ me

I want G's character to be dark and powerful. I know we want a 'girl trying her best to succeed' but we live in a patriarchal society where there's way too many girls trying so so hard and not enough girls who are commanding, dominant, dark and seriously sexily fucked up (in a dark way). [I'm saying dark too much have I turned into batman?!]

Non-badass male characters. I'm talking wet, sopping, physically weak and emotionally vulnerable. They need the gals to save them. (Yes I'm pushing some strong feminist agenda here)

It won't be sanitized. There might be stuff which might be a tad bit controversial (like cannibalism) but like I said 'enter if you dare'

Yes there will be a lot of pining and some really beautiful heart warming romantic shizz.

Now for the stuff I wann ask you guys:

where do ya'all want me to publish it. AO3 or here on Tumblr?

Public call for ideas: Interesting names for the title!

If you want to request an adventure or a ship in the story just let me know!

If this is successful then I will write more. Let me if you're up for that

What kind of length do you guys want it to be. I mean is it okay if I write a long, novel-like, full-fledged thing.

🌞Meena. x

@do-angels-dream-of-starry-seas @dtmsrpfcringe @sakuranova07 @reloha I need your feedback and ideas!

[mahiiimahiiii]

Generator

Named Durge (Avarice) x Gortash (gn relatively! Durge has boobs and a pussy :] )

A/n: Durgetash drabble because I'm in bed and I don't want to grab my computer

Cw: piv, sexual discussions, gort domme, praise in slayer, slight humiliation, squirt zone part fourty, enver has a severe breeding fetish, non prepped sex, slayer form jumpscare, quickie in a cramped space.

+-+

The docks were silent for the most part. In the early hours of the morning, the most activity it got was fishing ships casting off into the bleak.

The hit of heels on the brick paths, the glint of the lovitiaar crest under lamp light. They looked up from their knotwork, the figure a mere shadow with glinting silver hair. Their face looked almost too perfect, blurred in the recesses of their memories. Overt glamor.

They pressed a button and the gate opened, the tail of their coat swishing behind them.

You found him half awake but still functional at his foreman desk, your fingers tracing the outines of his spine and ribcage. He awoke with a start, drool cascading down his chin.

"working hard little tyrant?" You purr, tracing the shell of his ear, a small onyx earring hanging off his lobe. Your thumb cleaned the drool off his chin thumbing at his bottom lip.

"work is hardly work when you enjoy what you do." He cups your hand to his face, a soft sigh uttered from his lips. "why have you come to visit?"

You paused for a second, you didn't know. "I was drawn, I think. Like a moth to a flame, or perhaps a fly to a gentle spiders web."

"and who is who?" His smile was teasing "perhaps our previous encounter was delightful enough that you've returned for another early morning tryst." He tilted his head "or perhaps that's why I'd like to think you've returned."

you chortle. "Perhaps, dear Enver, perhaps." You seat yourself on his desk, your thighs framing his shoulders. "I am more.... What is the word- I'm not familiar with it... Worried, about your recent habits. That is an odd feeling for me, worry."

His brow raised, "have you taken a shine that much? Has your father said anything?"

"I consulted him and fel, I sought his attention through pennance. My requests, the answers have been silent. I am, uncertain." You scratched your inner wrist, a delightful sting of pain grounding you.

"hm." He set back in his chair "then you have sought me for advice, I am most honored!" He cracks a little grin.

"I'm not sure- genuinely why I have came to find you. You are quite easy to stalk, and a delight to toy with." You paused finding your next words "more delightful than I've found anything, refreshing, satiating even."

His brow arched higher "I could same the same...are you propositioning me bhaalspawn?" He shifted in his chair, a hand finding your thigh.

"I don't know what I'm doing- just what feels right." You grab his neck forcing his chin up, he exhales, his eyes wide. His lips are salty and cracked, his pulse thrummed beneath your fingers, his face pulsing red.

His stubble scratched against your skin, glamor magic fading quickly, you want your face known and memorable. He keened quietly at the realization, his hot breath quickly absorbed between your lips.

"closet- closet." You trilled guiding him to one within the foreman's chamber. He mimicked your trill at a higher pitch, one of excitement.

Once in the cramped space his hands found the back of your robes, unclasping the zipper and pulling it down. The robes fell from your shoulder, even in the dingy light his eyes glittered.

"By banes hand... Every time I see you, you become more and more exquisite." He exhaled through his nose. His lips found your neck, his calloused and warm hands palming at your chest. He groaned inwardly trying to lap up all hallmarks of your scent on his lips. He sucked at your skin with another whine, desperate to please.

Your hands worked at his buttons, rolling his jumpsuit over his shoulders,and over his hip dips. his belly stuck out under his undershirt. Your hands traced the fluffy outline of his thick happy trail, he rarely wore boxers these days. His thick cock tapped against the side of your hand radiating heat onto you. He gurgled quietly, his lashes lowered and fluttering.

"inside?" He warbled softly, "please?"

"I haven't been prepped" you sighed dreamily, turning around and wiggling your hips "gods of course now."

He gurgles again, his cock-head warm against the flush of your ass. He strokes the tip of it against your folds, he spread them with two fingers, directing himself between, holding onto the hem of your robe to stabilize his legs he tutted and shushed you as he invaded your walls. A shuddering pain held your hips, prodding and poking at your soft walls. A defensive cramp held him in place with a groan. A hand covered your mouth as she slotted himself inside of you, his front pressed up against your back. You bit down on his hand, a shuddering groan fell from his lips as his hips pushed in again.

"my poor assassin." He whispered, "bhaal has chopped off your tounge hasn't he?" He kissed the crown of your head, his arm wrapping around your hip sickened with something. It traced fond circles around your sensitive bud.

He chuckled into your ear, another shallow thrust to break the taught muscle down. He nibbled on the shell, a pleased sigh coming from your lips.

"that allows me to talk as long as I want, hm? I believe- you wanted this so bad. You tracked me down. I can feel you, gripping my cock- like a steel vice. How bad must you want me- to milk my, ngh- cock like that. Dear bhaalist- you are mine to take from." He massages hips forward, further stretching your walls out around him. The gasoline that laced his fingers made you dizzy, his cockhead nestled against your bladder. The pressure in your abdomen was blinding.

Your walls memorized his veins, his blood vibrating with your visage. Sloppy kisses against your neck, a hand at your mouth that you bit at drawing out beads of coppery tasting blood. The other gripped at your hips.

"arch your back my beloved spawn, gods just like that for me you vile thing." He huffed, "you're so pathetic, like that hm?" He rolled his hips at the insitance of your keens, short thrusts against your spongy tissue made your vision glaze over. "You poor delirious little thing." Your chest bounced with his moments, he quickly pulled out rubbing his cock spitting on it before stretching your walls out again.

His hand smeared the spittle from your lips onto your cheek. Finding a place in your hair he groped at your roots, his hips finding a bruising pace. "gods gods gods" he repeated, his voice choking and warbling into your ear. "fuck yourself onto me avi- oh my dear spawn- delicious- you are... better than divine." His balls slapped against your clit, a sting from the stretch drove you insane.

"so close-so fuckin close- banes right hand- fuck- dear spawn please take our accursed children into your unholy womb-! Bless me- bless me with our union-" he stammered, his hips snapping quickly, filling the small space with wet slaps. You groaned into your arms, your eyes rolling back. Your spine tickled, skinny burned and itches as the wood of the shelf splinters under your grasp.

"Enver-" you groaned, your hips rocking back to his. Your skin flexed, the bones of your spine prodding out into your chest. Your voice becomes less understandable, a feral howl careening through the space.

"come- turn around it will be easier as you change-" he crooned, your skin stretching and budding under the pressure. He left you again, a cry erupting from your maw. He opened the door allowing you to lay as he admired you. "I'm afraid I'll sound odd when I say this, I've dreamed of taking you like this, you look glorious."

He kissed down your sternum your claws scratching at the hardwood under you. You gnashed your teeth as he pushed in, your innards clenching around him. You squealed loudly, teeth clattering together. He chuckled darkly, giving a tentative thrust. He bottomed out quickly his nose pressed into your taught stomach. Your limbs clicked and undulated, every sensation heightened in this form, you screamed at him again, clenching around him.

"god you are gorgeous- beautiful- elegant-!" He bit his bottom lip, his eyes shaded by the sweat slicked curls. Your tail twirled and thumped beneath him, pressing your thighs back, he entered at a new angle.

your maw opened again, tongue lolling out the side. He could tell you were so close- To snapping and changing back, to your soft fleshyness.

"Eh-n-vhEr." You warbled, in almost a human way.

"so close dear one- so so close."

You became ridgid as you rode out an orgasm, your skin stretching and shortening as you warped between forms. He keened again, shoving himself inside of you. He came inside of you, his tip nestled against your cervix, his hips shook slightly.

You found it, your skin glistening under a sheen of sweat. He pulled out shooting the rest of his load onto your stomach and labia, his hands quick to finish himself off. He continued bucking his hips into his hands, years budding from electricity of overstimulation. He bit his lower lip as his haunches shook, his tip against your entrance again as he rode out another orgasm. He painted your walls again, his hands scrunched close as his breath rattled in his chest.

He huffed a soft smile playing on his lips as she scooped up his cum and pressed it into your hole. The excess dribbed around his fingers.

"we should perhaps have a bath then- avi?" He hummed a little. Shifting on his heels he swore softly.

His knees began to hurt.

[thesimquarter]

Some Unused Urbz (GBA) Dialogue

I was looking through the string table in the Urbz for GBA and noticed some dialogue that goes unused in the actual game and decided to catalogue it and share it because I just love things like this.

If you see an '@1', in the dialogue, that's just a placeholder for the player's name (or at least for all of THESE. Sometimes it's used for other things.)

As a side note, the dialogue for this game is pretty well-organized and all the characters have distinct enough voices (TS2GBA DO NOT INTERACT) that it's incredibly easy to figure out who said what. There's also a lot more unused strings, but I'm just focusing on the dialogue right now

First of all, all characters, not just those you can have as a roommate, have roommate acceptance dialogues. So, here are all the unused ones.

BAYOU BOO: Gosh, that's fine idea. Don't mind if I do. BERKELEY CLODD: Sure I'll move in with you. What a splendid way to meet a whole new set of clients. LINCOLN BROADSHEET: Sure, I'll live with you, buddy. But be warned: I stay up late. CRAWDAD CLEM: You know, It'd be real fun to share accommodations with you for a bit. Sure. EPHRAM EARL: To haunt your house with your permission, this I will do. PRITCHARD LOCKSLEY: Sure, so long as you help me memorize my lines. HARLAN KING: Of course I will. How wonderful! LOTTIE CASH: Okay! That'd be killer! We're going to have such an awesome time. LUTHOR L. BIGBUCKS: Sure, why not. It'll be just like college all over again. MAMBO LOA: I would gladly share accommodations with you. When do I move in? Now? MAXIMILLIAN MOORE: Sure, why not? So long as you don't mind the smell of bleach. OLDE SALTY: You're darn tooting! I'd be your roommate any day. CRYSTAL: Okay! I can't wait to redecorate your dumpy pad. POLLY NOMIAL: Yes. To maintain a domicile with you would be most enlightening. GIUSEPPI MEZZOALTO: Why not, right? It'll be loads of fun. I'm moving in today! ROXANNA MOXIE: Sure, why not? It'll be fun, you know? A real laugh. THERESA BULLHORN: Yes! I would love to share your life of glamour and fame. DARIUS: Heck yeah, dawg. We can kick it together. DADDY BIGBUCKS: You betcha! DET. DAN D. MANN: It's an interesting proposition. Hm… Consider it done! LILY GATES: An excellent plan! Your place is much closer to where I work! KRIS THISTLE: You want me to move in with you? After all I've done? Wow. You're great. GRAMMA HATTIE: What a grand idea. Your house will be a great place to hold meetings.

There is also an unused set of rep group-related dialogues. These ones most likely being used if you managed to get an exceedingly poor rep with your rep group.

DARIUS: Hey, @1. Check yourself before you wreck your Rep. The Streeties are getting sick of you hanging around. LUTHOR L. BIGBUCKS: Sorry to be the one to break this to you, @1, but the rest of the Richies think you're getting a tad uppity. Clean up your act or we'll boot you. POLLY NOMIAL: Our patience with your gradual assimilation into our social sphere is waning. Progress or be excommunicated from the Nerdies. ROXANNA MOXIE: A few words of advice @1. Shape up or ship out of our group. End of story.

These MAY not be unused, but I've never heard of anyone getting any of these messages, and, for the life of me, I could not get them to activate through my own twiddling. There exists no dialogue for actually kicking you out of the rep group. So even if this WAS used, it would just be an empty threat. (I mean… it's implied that it was your rep group that picked you up after you crash landed in Miniopolis, which is why you're apart of it despite not really knowing anyone.)

As a side note, when I was going through getting to -10 rep points with the Richies, after about -6, every time I lost a rep group point, Roxanna Moxie kept on giving my silver plaques. RICHIE silver plaques. Using the Artsie silver plaque dialogue. By the time I was done testing things out, I had five of them. Strange glitch?

So, the Urbz GBA, for whatever reason, doesn’t let us romance the elderly. That doesn't mean that there isn't flirting and kissing dialogue for the unromancable characters! The first dialogue is flirting, and the second one is refusing to accept a kiss.

EPHRAM EARL: A piece of human interest seems to be the loving way. EPHRAM EARL: I cannot kiss that which I cannot touch. HARLAN KING: Eh? Does that have a saucy secondary meaning I am not aware of? HARLAN KING: Ugh! No! Your breath smells like everything but fresh! OLDE SALTY: Arrr, you've cracked my barnacle encrusted heart! OLDE SALTY: I'll kiss no one! Not until you proves your devotion! DADDY BIGBUCKS: Hello there… do you mind if I buy you a small island? DADDY BIGBUCKS: Get away from me, you pest! I'd sooner kiss a sneezing dog. GRAMMA HATTIE: Stop it this instant. I know you're just trying to fool with an old woman's mind. GRAMMA HATTIE: Ack! Help! Help! Police! This boy is trying to inhale me!

Related, when a character accepts a hug or a kiss in-game, they don't say anything. However, there is actually unused dialogue for this event. Almost all of it is just "Aw!". However, there's a few exceptions.

BAYOU BOO: Aw! BAYOU BOO: Plant one right here, girl! BERKELEY CLODD: Come hither and embrace me, @1! BERKELEY CLODD: Ah! LINCOLN BROADSHEET: Come here, you! LINCOLN BROADSHEET: Oh! EPHRAM EARL: If arms were ribbons consider this my bow. EPHRAM EARL: Ah! EWAN WATAHMEE: Hugs are free, yes. But they are also round. EWAN WATAHMEE: Ah! PRITCHARD LOCKSLEY: It's so good to see you too! Let's do lunch. PRITCHARD LOCKSLEY: Ah! LOTTIE CASH: It's fun to be this close to me, huh? LOTTIE CASH: Oh! LUTHOR L. BIGBUCKS: Wrap your arms around me, baby. LUTHOR L. BIGBUCKS: Yeah! MAXIMILLIAN MOORE: You washed your hands before you hugged me, right? MAXIMILLIAN MOORE: Eek! CRYSTAL: Gee, thanks. You're sweet. CRYSTAL: Oh! OLDE SALTY: That's right, give poor Olde Salty a nice hug. OLDE SALTY: Yay! DADDY BIGBUCKS: Normally I don't let people touch me if they're not wearing an expensive coat. But for you'll I'll make an exception. DADDY BIGBUCKS: Normally I don't let people kiss me if they're not wearing fruity lip gloss. But for you'll I'll make an exception.

The first dialogue here is accepting a hug; the second is accepting a kiss. All characters not listed here just has "Aw!" as a response to both being kissed and hugged.

There seems to be a scrapped interaction, most likely called 'Talk about Pets.' from the subject of the replies and the fact that it was tucked between 'Talk about Ninjas' and 'Talk about Politics,' which would make the placement alphabetical. I wonder why it went unused!

Not every single character had a line for this. The following characters do not: Bayou Boo, Crawdad Clem, Ephram Earl, Ewan Watahmee Harlan King, Luthor L. Bigbucks, Mambo Loa, Misty Waters, Olde Salty, and Theresa Bullhorn. Some of these characters do have other lines that refer to owning a pet; they just don't have a dialogue here.

BERKELEY CLODD: I looked into buying a talented chimpanzee, but very few know how to pick pock- er, pick their nose. LINCOLN BROADSHEET: I have my pet rabbit to thank for my interest in journalism. Why? Well… isn't it obvious? PRITCHARD LOCKSLEY: I was so proud my pet lizard Harvey was cast as the lead in a new gladiator film. Sure he beat me for the role… but he was wonderful! LOTTIE CASH: I have a cute little pug named Paris. You don't think I'll get sued for that, do you? I hope not. MAXIMILLIAN MOORE: Sooner or later, every disease that pets get will jump to humans! The end is near! CRYSTAL: I totally want a pet dolphin so it can protect me from sharks. PHOEBE TWIDDLE: My mom was a cat lady and my dad was a dog guy, so I learned to love pets very early on. But I'll never forget the smell. POLLY NOMIAL: Your colorful colloquy is highly amusing. GIUSEPPI MEZZOALTO: If I tell you I like snakes, you'd better not make any jokes. Got it? ROXANNA MOXIE: Come by the carnival sometime! There are lots of needy animals there. SUE PIRNOVA: I'm not organized enough to take care of another creature. The best I can manage is feeding ants. DARIUS: I like goldfish. What? DADDY BIGBUCKS: Yuck! There is nothing worse that a sniveling, drooling, hairy servant who cannot follow orders. DET. DAN D. MANN: When people don't clean up after their pets, who do you think has to do it for them? Huh? I'm asking you because I don't know the answer. LILY GATES: Every time I buy a pet, I get so busy I forget to feed it. And then… well… I shouldn't own any pets. KRIS THISTLE: Don't remind me! My landlord doesn't allow pets, so when I moved here I was forced to sell my ferret. CANNONBALL COLEMAN: I owned a crow a few years ago. He made enough noise to scare ghosts away. I miss that old bird. GRAMMA HATTIE: I'm definitely a cat person. And a dog person. And a chicken person too. I'm really a pet person. DUSTY HOGG: I used to own a small python and a small dog. Now I just own a bigger python.

'Talk about Pets' does not show up in the list of interactions earlier in the string set.

Lincoln Broadsheet has some mission dialogue that, again, may not be unused, but I have never seen, and I have never seen anyone else talk about it.

YOU: Mister Broadsheet, would you help me write a thesis? LINCOLN BROADSHEET: Gosh, I would if I wasn't so busy. Tell you what I can do though: I'll let you use my computer to log in to my research database. That should give you some good ideas. LINCOLN BROADSHEET: Hey, have you heard the recent news? A local TV station is filming a new Reality Television Show. YOU: Interesting, but I don't watch much TV. LINCOLN BROADSHEET: Me neither, but don't let that stop you from going up to Paradise Island and signing up. If you do well I could write a big article about you. YOU: Are they still letting people sign up? LINCOLN BROADSHEET: I think so. Head up to Paradise Island and see for yourself. And if you do well Id love to write an article on you.

Note: I have been informed that the first two lines in this section actually can happen in-game!

It is also appears he would have given the player the Reality TV Show plotline.

And finally, ‘The Bad Ending.’

DADDY BIGBUCKS: People around here call me Daddy Bigbucks. If you like what you see in Miniopolis, it's a good bet I own it.

This is actually listed next to all the character introductions, so this would have been how Daddy Bigbucks introduced himself, if he were to actually introduce himself. There are placeholders for the other characters who don’t get to say a proper introduction as well (Kris Thistle, Det. Dan D. Mann, Crawdad Clem, Harlan King), but they’re just placeholders. No text of relevance.

[kingsmoot]

I would like to please here about the TheonAsha sex please.

your wish is my command i've been dying to talk about it. halfway through writing this i got:

so no less than two (2) people want my scroll unrolled.

i'll start by explaining why it will never happen in canon and why it shouldn't, since that's the first thing i said in my reply:

theon's pursuit of "esgred" and asha's sexual humiliation and assault of him throughout acok is evidence of theon's failure as a greyjoy, and of their total familial disconnect.

theon doesn't recognize asha. doesn't know the names of any of the captains of the iron islands or their ships. doesn't notice the locals paying deference to their princess. he's totally willingly blind to his environment and to his sister.

asha, in turn, is disconnected enough from this young stranger that she propositions him, humiliates him, and assaults him. because he is not her little brother, he is just some wolfbrained greenlander.

i'll let someone else summarize this more concisely:

^ managing monsters by marina warner, screenshot originally posted by @/amourdoloup

which, of course, is why when they reunite in adwd

this is what i meant about theon's arc having what could be a sound and narratively satisfying conclusion in adwd. after spending all of agot and acok in denial and in willful ignorance of his own identity, the old gods gave him back his name. asha is not a stranger to him anymore, nor is he to her. he knows who he is. he knows his name.

interestingly, i think this is a great narrative parallel to cersei and jaime, who are convinced they are one soul in two bodies, totally inseparable, both the warrior and the maiden, as familial as it gets, but who ACTUALLY do not know one another at all. and i think their narrative arc will conclude similarly, when this inability to truly recognize one another is destroyed and they die in one another's arms. but that's neither here nor there.

ok. theon and asha. BEAUTIFUL. we love it. a masterpiece as always. george, i owe you my life.

however,

under the cut for rape and sexual assault and consensual rape kink at the end and also thramsay mentioned and also nsfw text

as to why i started shipping it this is very simple i thought asha pretending to be a rando named esgred to assault her baby brother was hot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i thought it was hot before the asha reveal and i thought it was way hotter afterwards

i would lurve for them to have fucked during acok before theon left to go conquer da norf BUT

(a) i don't think if asha had propositioned him again that theon would have taken her up on it. he's very sensitive to humiliation and very prickly about being talked down to, especially by his family who he is already pissed did not miss him while he was away. i actually think asha does proposition him again in the great hall when she grabs his penis and he immediately flushes with rage at the invasion. he is no longer open to fucking her because she is seeking to (and succeeding at!!) belittle him, and he cannot tolerate that. but i think if he hadn't raged out on her she would've been down.

(b) i think if they HAD fucked (and i use that word v broadly here so like any version or degree or base of "hooking up". like if they had gotten physical in some way that involved mutual erotic and sexual pleasure) before theon left, he would have gone with asha when she stopped by winterfell to call him a pathetic failure and offer him a ride home. i think it (hooking up) would have been enough to either convince him that she did care for him (even if only as a lover and not as a big sister) or engender an affection for her in him that would have been greater than his pride. i think what makes theon stay at winterfell when all hope is clearly gone and what makes him scrap his one chance at survival/rescue is that he resents asha for being a better more desireable heir than him. while being a woman!!! so he lets her leave him even though he knows it means his death. because he will not concede to be coddled by her. just part of the relentless pride and arrogance that dooms him 🖤🖤🖤

why would i have loved for them to hook up during acok even though it would not work narratively? because it would be hot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i don't want or need this to happen in canon i can just enjoy and produce one shot fanfiction

the latest room in my mind palace is one in which while they're stuck snowed in at stannis' camp asha coaxes theon into playing the aggressor in her rape kink fantasy and she does this with sweet sisterly motivations of sexual healing

this is also just because i think it would be hot

like theon has been gang + solo raped and tortured in a shipping container for upwards of a year. i think it would be affirming and validating for his first consensual sexual experience after all that to allow him to play aggressor. and asha likes playing victim in her rape kink, like... it writes itself.

this is too cutiepie honeybunch to be canonically plausible but that is ok with me i don't need george to write it i can write it myself!! i hate all his sex scenes anyway so this is much preferable (also unsurprising that a 70yo straight man has a different concept of The Erotic than i do. i forgive him for making me read all that shit.)

ummmmmmm i also like the idea of someone restoring theon's confidence enough that he would put his shortened fingers inside of them AND I WOULD LIKE THAT PERSON TO BE ASHA. again too cutiepie honeybunch to ever happen but perhaps jon snow will pull through in this regard I'M SURE WE'LL FIND OUT WHEN TWOW DROPS THIS YEAR

[apomaro-mellow]

Part 1

Steve was at least given the privilege of cleaning himself up and dressing before being brought before his father in his study.

"I thought I made it abundantly clear-"

"But I didn't go out in a ship", Steve said, quick to defend himself.

"Diving into rocks isn't what I would call a grand back up plan either!"

"I know how it looks, but-" SLAM

Steve stopped when his father's hand came down onto his desk and couldn't help but flinch.

"No, you don't know how it looks. To have the crown prince, first shirking his duties to go out to sea and then nearly drowning before the sun even rises. What it looks like is either you're trying to run away or end your life."

Steve shook his head but didn't speak. It wasn't either of those things. But how could he say what it really was? His father would have him locked up for trying to make contact with a sea creature.

"I've been too lenient. Given you too much freedom. Starting today, your studies and training will increase. And I will be attending as much as I can."

Well, that part didn't sound too bad...

"And you are to never go near that ocean again."

"That's-! How am I supposed to never go back?! We literally live on the shore."

"Those are my orders. You are dismissed."

"Father!"

"I said dismissed!"

Steve's fists clenched and he stood there for a moment, shaking, before bolting out. He slammed the door once he got to his room and flung himself onto the bed. Keeping him from something so close was a tall order, but he believed his father was capable of it. He was the king after all. He'd probably sooner shackle Steve to the bed then let him near a puddle now.

Through his sobs into his pillow, he almost didn't hear it. But there was an audible hissing nearby. He looked up to find he wasn't alone. There were two rather large snakes, coiling up in the middle of the room. Steve quickly grabbed the dagger under his pillow, ready to fight when the snakes began to speak in tandem.

"Don't act so brassshhh."

"We have come with a proposition from our massster."

"A....a what? Who is your master?", Steve asked, dagger still raised.

"He'sss been watching you and sympathizesss."

"He wants to help."

"It's what he doesss."

Steve was skeptical, but he was also running low on options. Even if his father let up, going to the ocean by boat or by cliff hadn't gotten him any closer to finding the owner of the voice.

"Okay, I'll meet with them and see what they have to say. Where are they?"

"Follow ussss."

They slithered through the room and towards the window that Steve realized was now open. They went out and down and when Steve looked out, he saw the vines that covered this side of the castle had grown thicker and more sturdy. Enough for him to climb down and follow the snakes. They took him through the thick of the wood, so dense that sunlight got weaker and weaker.

The snakes led him to a gave with red gemstones embedded into the walls, giving it a bright glow in the darkness. The light from the stones seemed to beat like heart.

Steve entered, but kept from touching them. They looked sharp as knives. They got to an opening at the cave that widened into what appeared to be a living space. And also a center for witchcraft. Steve saw someone moving about on the other side of the room, a clawed hand running across the spines of books on a shelf.

"Uh", Steve cleared his throat. "Hello? I-I was told that you could help me with my problem."

"Yes", the person turned to reveal a nose-less face. Strange vines, or where they tentacles? protruded from them. And Steve realized there were odd, moving vines all around. "Ah, the prince with the ocean obsession."

"It's not the ocean, really. It's-"

"The merman with the hypnotizing voice."

"Yes! But how did you-"

"It's my job to know. People have come from all corners of the world, pleading 'Vecna, I need this', or 'Vecna, I want a spell for this'. I'm very much a charity."

"So, you'll help me?"

Vecna moved around the room, grabbing various things with his vines as he did. "I will."

....."How?"

"You want to find him, don't you? I will give you a spell that will turn you into a merman for three days." Vecna began pouring the ingredients he had into a large cauldron in the middle of the room.

Three days didn't sound like a lot, but Steve was sure he'd know them as soon as he heard him speak. "Alright. Deal."

"Not quite. We need to discuss your payment."

Steve crossed his arms. "You said you were a charity."

"You can't get something for nothing."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Okay, what do you want?" As a prince, he had a little money to burn. And he'd pay any amount to meet his mystery guy.

He didn't feel the vines creeping up on him until he felt something tickling his ears. He cringed and slapped them away.

"Those."

"My ears."

"I require no flesh. What I want in exchange for my magic is your hearing."

Steve touched his ears. "But if I can't hear, how can I find him?"

"He's seen you, hasn't he? After he saved you? Let him find you. And true love is the strongest force in the world. I daresay you could find him deaf and blind. But I'm only asking for one sense. You find him, he confesses his love, and then you two can live out the rest of your lives in bliss."

It all sounded too good to be true. Which was what had Steve still hesitating.

"What happens in three days if I don't find him?"

Vecna pretended to look for another ingredient to toss in so that he could hide his expression from Steve. "If you don't, then you become one of my treasures. Vecna's claws made a clinking sound against the gems on the wall and then Steve understood why it seemed like they were beating like hearts. They were souls. Ones that couldn't come up with whatever sum was needed and paid with their lives.

If Steve didn't succeed, he would become one of them. But if he gave up now, that was all he would be in essence anyway. A shiny jewel in his father's crown. Even if he would be working against time and without the one sense he was sure of, he had to try.

So he nodded. And held out his hand for Vecna to shake. He swooped across the room like a shadow and grasped Steve's hand, then wrapped his vines around his body. It was a horrible sensation but Steve fought his instincts not to struggle. He was brought closer to the cauldron, bubbling and filling the room with a green vapor.

"I want you to focus on his song", Vecna said. "On the sound of his voice."

That wasn't hard to do. Even with leagues of water separating them, it had sounded beautiful. Last night when he heard them above water, it had been the sweetest sound. He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in it. When he opened it, the caludron looked seconds from exploding and Vecna was grinning, and all the vines around were slithering in excitement but he couldn't hear any bit of it.

As jarring as that was, what was happening below his waist was even more shocking. He only had time to see his pants begin to rip and the start of his legs fusing before the cauldron reached its tipping point and exploded. Steve himself was thrust into the air and he was afraid of hitting the roof of the cave. But he kept going higher and higher, through the trees until he was above even them.

And there it was. A mer's tail, in shimmering blue. He had but a moment to admire it when he felt himself fall back towards the ground. He had been shot right above the ocean and while it wasn't as bad as hitting rock, falling from that height had shocked his system.

He knew he had reached the ocean floor; could feel the sand under him. But he didn't fully come to until he felt someone strongly nudging him. He blinked his eyes only to come face to face with the most handsome man he had ever seen.

Part 3

[whichcouldmeannothing]

minnie's Very Good icemav fic rec list!

icemav is such a massive ship but its hard to find fics for it :((

so here are some i liked :))

(this list isnt definitive i have not read a lot, i know there are good ones I missed pls tell me If u have any good recs!!)

fics by @boasamishipper

when i see your face (oneshot, 1k+)

In which Maverick Mitchell wakes up from surgery, high on painkillers, and hits on his husband.

sweet! very cute! maverick rly is a dumb dumb boy

Word on the Street (oneshot, 1k+)

Sharon looks down at her wedding ring and says a prayer for the handsome Navy pilot that’s heading their way. He’s got no idea what he’s in for. / Or, Iceman and Maverick versus the Real Housewives of Fallon, Nevada.

look i also know nth about housewives but this is adorable and hilarious and sometimes we need an outsider pov, est relationship btw!

baby, baby i'd get down on my knees for you (co-written with @academicgangster or simplecoffee on ao3, multi-chapter, 18k)

Or, the Wooing of Iceman Kazansky by a Very Smol Mr. Darcy

(Five times Maverick proposed to Iceman, and one time Iceman accepted.)

OH M,YGOD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THIS FIC MAKES ME LOSE MY MIND AN DIE AND CRY AND ITS SO SWEET AND ADORABLE AND I MISS THEM SM HGBGKLDS

between the lines of fear and blame (oneshot, 1k+)

Out of all the things Maverick had expected to eventually kill him — getting caught in someone’s jetwash, being shot out of the sky, his plane’s engine exploding — getting shot by one of his students in a civilian bar didn’t even make the top ten.

He never expected Ice to take a bullet for him, either.

There's a first time for everything.

extreme whump extreme, most icemav fics hurt mav and i think mav deserves a little better. just a little. this is good also

fics by @susiecarter

and gamble for the sun (one-shot, 1k+)

It's like this: Maverick and the Iceman make bets, sometimes.

OH MY GODDD OH MY GOD THE TENSION THE IDIOTS IDIOT OT LIKE 3K ITSLOVELY AND SO SO GOOD PERFECT TENSION AND EVERYTHING (in my notes I wrote that they write rly good summaries I just wanted to tell you that)

A Shared Cup (one-shot, 7k+)

It was only a training exercise.

It was only supposed to be a training exercise.

hard 2 exp but its a soulbond au and I LOVE THOSE I LOVE THOSE I LOVE THOSE READ THIS NOW AND GO INSANE W ME

fics by @compacflt

this isnt like a thing about the fics but on ao3, the profile says commander of the pacific fleet (wouldn't that be hilarious if the actual compacflt were on ao3? national security hazard) and that's possibly the funniest thing I've read today

Easier Said Than Done (100k+, series)

"So you just wanna be the best at everything, huh?"

"Yes," Kazansky says seriously, then, confused, squints at him. "Don't you?"

"Of course not," Maverick says. "I just wanna be the bestpilot."

"Huh," says Kazansky, wondering if there's a difference betweenMaverickandMitchell. "Maybe you shoulda stayed at TOPGUN, then."

(Or: Tom Kazansky rises through the ranks while trying to stay a good man. If he ever was one to begin with.) (When We Get Around To Talking About It, 65k+)

"We can start here, I guess. If we're talking about us," Pete says. "Nineteen-eighty-six. The first thing I thought, when I saw you in that O-club, was: Iceman isoff-limits.Capital O, capital L."

Despite himself, despite the fear, Tom laughs a little. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, first off, we were competition. And yeah, you were attractive, but then you opened your mouth and I swear. You were just an asshole. Goose is trying to introduce you to me and here I am thinking about how much of an asshole you are. Shut up about Cougar, asshole."

"It was supposed to be a friendly competition!"

"Yeah, right. So that's what I was thinking: he's attractive, clearly doesn't know how to talk to other men, might be into the proposition if I framed it the right way. But he's an asshole, so this competition is just gonna befriendly." Pete pauses. Then he says, "Ice, you wanna get married?"

And that's how they start talking about it.

(Or: they finally get around to talking about it. And Maverick's got a couple extra memories.) (Debriefing (& Other Stories), 60k+)

look its rly long. but this whole series is wonderful. if ican ever print out one top gun fic to have and to hold irl I would buy more paper and print both of these ones. absolutely lovely and it doesn't feel long its just a good good good time and the classic icemav fic

ALSO HONOURABLE MENTION

Kings of the Air (@fabula-unica, 20k+)

Fighting and fucking: two things he did extraordinarily well. How could he have known what the effect would be when you combined the two?

ABSOLUTE HERITAGE FIC EVERY ICEMAV SHIPPER HAS TO LIVE AND BREATHE THIS FIC OH MY GODDD SO LOVELY SO SO SOS LOVELY read this fic. it has been waiting 12 years for you

ao3 etiquette is in order, if you liked it, leave a kudos and a comment :D I hope you enjoy these fics as much as I did !

[devsgames]

Starfield Has A Direction Problem (A.K.A. 3000 words on Starfield)

(This was cross-posted from my Patreon. Please consider supporting to help support the work that I do and get early acess to articles and game prototypes! Also there will be spoilers for Starfield in this post, so avoid reading if you care about that!)

I want to paint a picture for you.

---

I enter the secret United Colonies space station, taking stock of the cargo workers mulling on around me. For all intents and purposes, they think me and my associate Andreja are one of them, unloading cargo from an unassuming freighter. In reality however, we're on a mission for the Crimson Fleet - the nastiest pirates in the galaxy who are willing to blackmail, cheat, and steal their way to riches. We're here to pilfer some top secret ship technology; if we don't get shot trying.

I enter a room and in my haste one of the guards stop me. They question me, and my answers fail to meet their scrutiny. They realize I'm not one of them and start firing at me. Things are about to get ugly.

Before I know it, my companion Andreja and I are weapons hot, firing a hail of bullets at the soldiers who stand the hallway across from us. It's now do or die to get our hands on this tech - and I'm not planning on dying today. We cut through the cargo bay, crossed by fleeing and cowering dock workers, scientists and engineers. Sure, they're innocents in our battle, but this is a dirty job and they're witnesses to our larceny; they have to go. "You won't get away!", Andreja screams at them at the top of her lungs before firing a few quick shots of her beam rifle into their face. Another problem dealt with.

Next to their still-warm corpses I notice a stack of medical supplies ripe for the taking amongst the cargo, and I pilfer them as they're sure to come in useful on the way to our objective.

Suddenly I hear Andreja's voice chime in from behind me, the derision audibly coming in thick through her teeth: "What? We're resorting to stealing now?!", she asks while harbouring zero semblance of irony or awareness.

---

This was extra confusing considering that when I first joined Constellation - essentially the 'explorer's guild' of the Starfield universe as well as the main story faction - its leader Sarah Morgan pulled me aside and explicitly said 'we don't care who you are or what you get up to, as long as you're interested in discovering the secrets of the universe you're a welcome member here :)". My character Nicoletta was a no-nonsense, get-it-done-by-any-means-necessary type of person, so the proposition sounded great! I could do whatever I want and as long as I was exploring the universe Constellation wouldn't mind!

Little did I realize this was only true insofar as they wouldn't kick me out of the main story for being evil - however, it did mean that every single main story character would hate my guts for doing anything that bordered on criminal or non-morally-resolute.

If it seems like a confusing direction choice to penalize a player for deviating from a standard moral code in a game ostensibly labelled a "roleplaying" game where you play as a character of your own creation that's because...well, it sorta is, and at 30+ hours in that's really been the bulk of my experience with the game.

I wouldn't go so far to say that as an experience Starfield is "good" or "bad" - it certainly has its ups and downs and I've found about as much to enjoy from it as I have to dislike. However, I have a ton of feelings about how it chooses to present itself, and it's something I haven't been able to stop thinking about in the few months I've been exploring it. In fact, my 30+ hours of Starfield has felt like a series of similar confused themes and decisions that create what I can only describe as an intensely fascinating identity crisis.

According to the The Washington Post for Starfield, Todd Howard described Starfield as addressing the question "And now man is living amongst the stars: what does that mean?". I think to some extent I would agree that Starfield is fundamentally about people. While it's a sci-fi game set in the year 2310, you can tell its focused on people and their experiences with the world and tries to focus in on what that would mean. Characters will have mundane, everyday conversations on the backdrop of a gorgeous alien landscapes or utopian cities, side quests often involve solving minor disputes or helping folks with very mundane human problems, your character's animation features them adjusting a small interface panel into position to accommodate themselves as they settle into place in their pilot chair. To some extent the game is aware that people living in this world is a core part of its identity.

But on the other hand, it doesn't carve quite enough into what that really means, and many of these ideas feel like they didn't provide themselves with a leg to stand on.

Take the worldbuilding itself; it's only been two hundred and fifty years since mankind left Earth, and no one really mentions where they came from. There's colonies and factions people will identify themselves as, but nothing really outside the lore of the Starfield universe. There is no concept of old nationalities, rivalries, religions or anything of the like - as if the intention was to completely wash itself free of Earth and all it entails in order to have a blank creative slate.

Heck, as far as Starfield is concerned there are now only three religions:

- "Enlightened", basically space humanists

- "Sanctum Universum", essentially a Monotheistic God religion (sorry Muslims, Christians and Jews, etc. you're Sanctum Universum now! Don't ask about plural religions I guess)

- "House Va'ruun", a fictional religion around a Snake God

While it might work for something like The Elder Scrolls which is more focused on 'fun' worldbuilding and not grounded in realism, it's baffling to me for a game to claim to be about people and boil down the core element of the modern day world like this.

I mean, in our modern world people still harbour feelings, biases and grudges going back hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of years, and Starfield would somehow prefer you to pretend simply because the Earth no longer existed all those things are no longer a factor. There's some hints that some people might know about their original Earth ethnicity or nationalities...but also people still clearly have skin tones and different (often heavy) accents! It seems like an essential step of worldbuilding to include stuff like this in a very near-future space game, especially if the direction for your game claims to be about people. In the span of 200 years oral history is somehow largely gone, and Earth to most is a distant curiosity as opposed to a place of origin. What it really feels like is that it wanted to be relevant to the modern day, but so far removed that it doesn't have to deal with the real-world baggage that might entail.

I think this is sort of a pattern Starfield establishes for itself though; desperate to say something, and yet constantly puts itself in a position where it refuses to say anything at all.

You can tell even in its visual direction which Lead Artist Istvan Pely describes as "NasaPunk". Now, putting aside my absolute disdain for the habit of people arbitrarily tacking "-punk" on aesthetics to create aesthetics that aren't counterculture in any sense: Starfield is certainly about NASA. Main story missions have to explore old NASA facilities, you find NASA products as loot, and read NASA logs about previous space missions. NASA is mentioned many times by name, and features prominently in the game. The art direction of the tech in the game certainly seem inspired by modern NASA technologies extrapolated to a near-future setting.

And what does it do with this fixation on bringing NASA tech into it's world? Well...it proceeds to tell a story featuring (spoilers) unrealistically expansive city complexes, multi-dimensional space travel and alien races beyond human comprehension. It stylizes and builds upon """NASA-punk""" into its aesthetic and then tells a story via scenarios that feel very irrelevant to that fixation. It grounds itself in the modern world and chooses to abandon that entirely. NASA here serves a brand activation (and, if I'm honest, like someone on the directorial team just happened to think NASA is cool). Whatever NASA is to this game, it's not a game direction.

To that end, the story of Starfield runs a similar gambit. Now, you might be surprised when I tell you that I think Starfield takes some of the most bold and impressive story and gameplay choices I've seen in a big-budget video game in recent memory. You might be less surprised when I tell you it does absolutely nothing with them, and in fact winds up making them ultimately incredibly rote.

For example, in a story mission you suddenly find yourself hopping between dimensions (a la Titanfall 2). You stumble through a facility trapped between two dimensions, talking to people on either side, and have to eventually choose which dimension to save and which to sacrifice in order to stabilize the continuum between them. It's actually pretty cool! There's interesting puzzles to solve, an interesting moral choice to make, fun variety of combat encounters - it was altogether interesting to play!

However, at the end of it all the 'save a dimension choice' is intensely mechanical in a video-gamey sort of way: One dimension gives you a new follower, while the other gives you better loot. Nothing outside of the one location you do the mission in changes, no one outside the facility is different or comments on the choice you made, and honestly the follower you get for making the one choice isn't even that interesting or core to the narrative. On the outside world for all intents and purposes you'd never know you *changed dimensions* at all.

Another point midway through the game has your group, Constellation, under attack by an unknown alien presence. You have to make a choice between two locations to try and save your companions at. In either case, one main cast companion whose affinity is highest towards you will die if you don't choose their location.

It's pretty bold to kill a main member of the cast mid-way through the game, and I'll certainly give Starfield credit for trying a move like that! However...you're now missing the one member of the cast you ostensibly liked the most, only for them to adopt a moderately antagonist role later. Maybe it's because I struggled to gain attachment to any member of my crew, but this moment felt incredibly flat thanks to how the main narrative had presented itself up to that point.

Take Constellation: Constellation itself intrudes itself on the game in a large way, both by being tied heavily in with the main story, and also insisting on the player a specific path to take. As I mentioned, none of the members of Constellation are comfortable with you doing evil, but all of them are very happy when you do good. Because you frequently have a member of Constellation lurking over your shoulder as you go about exploring the world and doing their quests, you'll frequently be backed into a moral corner of "doing the right thing to make your associates happy"; you end up following the path the story wants you to take more than carving your own. In fact, many members of "Constellation" get upset with you if you express that you're not really interested in the premise of "exploration" and "mysteries of the universe" that they present to you in the first place, especially since it's near exclusively the only thing they ever talk about.

In many cases - perhaps unsurprisingly give Constellation's affiliations - the moral choices the game seems most happy for you to take are exceedingly middle-of-the-road and good-aligned (but ultimately centrist) ones. In one instance when I discovered the corrupt leader of a mining colony was an asshole who was making all the worker's lives a huge pain in the butt, I blackmailed him and got him fired with the hopes it could help inspire change for the workers...only for a high-ranking military man to butt in and arbitrarily take his place instead. It felt like a shallow victory, yet one that the game seemingly expected me to be happy with.

I've also found much of the dialog with the members of Constellation to be a slog because...well, they're always talking about Constellation and the events that are occurring in the story. Now this isn't inherently bad, but so many conversations with them feel like "Telling" instead of "Showing".

The limits of your interactions with the cast involve a follower tapping your shoulder to say "Boy I cannot believe [x major story event] just happened!", to which you respond, "Yeah crazy right" and then you go on with doing whatever you were doing. Each will have a major story mission to do for them, but often it feels like they're just props set in place to remark upon major story events and not really contribute much in a way that feels impactful to you. On top of this, the bulk of the main story missions involve going to the same landmarks scattered across the world to unlock powers in the exact same manner as the last time. The game clearly really really wants you to care about Constellation and everything happening to these people and the events around them as they're central figures to the whole game, but the way this is presented to you so rarely feels like it seeks to justify that to the player.

Again, this isn't to say there's nothing redeemable about these interactions! Initially, I actually really enjoyed my time talking to Sarah Morgan about the events that transpired. I loved the cast of characters and how human they all felt, until I realized how rote those conversations were as I repeated the same conversations with each of them individually with each and every member, talking about the exact same event seven different times. It's a muddy and confused mess of systems that chugs along with the weight of itself, but not implicitly one without purpose.

Sort of like the planet exploration too. In this day and age, making a space game almost has to come hand-in-hand with exploration, and it's evident that the weight of open-world exploration isn't one Starfield could technically deliver on with its constraints. Every planetary area is limited and auto-generated on entry; it's not seamless like No Man's Sky, though it is technically very open-ended as you can land anywhere on the surface of a planet.

But the more I play of it the more I wonder...why would I? I can earn money for scanning everything on every planet, sure. But the wildlife is largely similar to one another on each planet. I've explored an "Abandoned Muybridge Pharmaceuticals Lab" and "Abandoned Mining Platform" about six times now. Every planet has roughly the same encounters, events and landmarks. It's probably more true to life or """NASAPUNK""" this way (I mean, most planets are definitely just going to be big empty rocks, right?) but functionally I have seen enough at this point that I feel no obligation to explore anymore. It clearly had this ambition to provide untethered space exploration and what it entails, but didn't seem interested enough in that to maintain that commitment longer than it needed to.

Even to the cities and populate locales this is an issue. I was admittedly shocked to learn that if I stood in the middle of a major metropolitan area and shot my guns at people's feet no one would bat an eye. Civilians would continue to go about their day, Security forces would continue their conversations. Unless you're explicitly murdering people, no one cares how loud or disruptive or hostile you seem in the cities in the game. In a world that visually feels so real and goes to great extents to claim it wants you feel like there are humans here, it certainly struggles to convince you of its humanity.

---

You can tell I've clearly been thinking about Starfield a lot. I have no idea why. As I said, I don't really like it nor do I dislike it. It's not incredibly noteworthy, and probably bound to be forgotten.

I think I'm captivated by it because I can see the work put into it - it's definitely the least buggy Bethesda games I've ever played (an impressive feat for a game so large in scale), and there's a lot of heart to be found in certain moments of it. I didn't work on it and likely will never know exactly what happened in its production but to me it feels like evidence that a game can be technically impressive, with a huge budget and good design choices, but if the high-level vision of the game can't be established or maintained throughout it then it's only going to struggle to remember what it's trying to be.

I can't stop thinking about Todd Howard's description of the game's premise, and how it perfectly summarizes my feelings on Starfield: "And now man is living amongst the stars: what does that mean?".

Though Todd probably felt that Starfield was supposed to be the answer to that question, it really feels like Starfield ended up being that question in itself.

You're right Todd, "what does that mean?".

[minminyoonjii]

Stray Love Haven Day 18 : [Lee Minho/Lee Felix]

🔗https://archiveofourown.org/works/42120486

💗Series Masterlist

🌹CW Consensual Somnophilia|Drug Use|Rough Sex|Creampie|Multiple Orgasms|Messy Sex|Aftercare

💌 This is a work of fiction, I by all means don't force ship anyone. They have the right to love whomever they want.

🍄Wordcount: 1.3K

"Minho hyung?" Felix questioned, peeking his head into Minho's bedroom. Minho walked up behind Felix, towel wrapped around his waist "What is it Pixie?" he asked. Felix flinched, turning around "Hyung you scared me," he huffed, holding his chest. Minho chuckled, pushing open his room door, "I'm sorry, Lix," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "So, what do you need me for?” he asked, sitting cross-legged on the edge of his bed.

Felix coyly straddled Minho's lap, "Well, I have a proposition," he said, smiling. Minho raised an eyebrow, wrapping his arms around Felix's waist, "Is that so?" he asked. Felix nodded, brushing Minho's damp hair "I've been watching some of Sungie's hentai and I found something," he said, lazily hovering his arms over Minho's shoulders. Minho sighed, "You know what happens when both of you scroll through the tags on that page," he said, smacking Felix's ass with a sharp spank.

Felix whined, jutting his lips, "I know but hyung there's so many things to explore," he reasoned. Minho pinched the bridge of his nose, "The damage has been done," he sighed. "Be forward on what you want Lee Yongbok," he added, stroking Felix's cheek. Felix giggled, "Somno," he said, playfully biting Minho's thumb. Minho pressed his thumb on Felix's bottom teeth, making his jaw slack "I expected worse," he said, smirking.

Felix pulled Minho's hand away, "Oh hyung, I meant somnophilia with drug use," he beamed, smiling innocently despite the filth that rolled off his tongue. Minho's eyes widen, "Channie hyung is not going to approve of that," he said. Felix smirked, "Channie hyung said yes if it's with you," he retorted. Minho scoffed, furrowing his eyebrows, "Call him right now. As much as I love you pixie, I don't trust a single word you say when it comes to stuff like this," he said, pinching Felix's cheek.

Felix groaned, putting Chan on a video call, the phone rang "Hey, Pixie. What's up?" Chan asked. "Did you give Lix permission for somno with drug use?" Minho cut in, covering Felix's mouth. Chan's jaw dropped as he cleared his throat, "Well, if it's with you. I'm sure he's in good hands," he said, rubbing the back of his nape. Minho pressed his tongue against his inner cheek, "I'll do it but on one condition," he said, pulling his hand away.

"What is it?" Felix asked, tilting his head. Minho smirked, "You have to show your wings. That's your signal," he said. Felix gulped, "Can't I use a plush toy or perhaps another item?" he asked, batting his eyelashes. Minho shook his head, firm with his choice, "Nope, that's the only way," he said. Felix sulked, pondering over the condition "You're so mean, hyung," he pouted. Minho chuckled, "I'm being reasonable," he said, lightly flicking Felix's forehead.

Felix hissed, sighing "Fine," he complied. Minho smiled, kissing Felix's forehead "With that settled, I'll be waiting," he said, lifting Felix off his lap to get dressed. Felix grumbled, hanging up the call with Chan as he snuggled under Minho's sheets. Minho looked over his shoulder, chuckling "Aw, pixie. Don't be mad," he cooed, rubbing Felix's back. Felix huffed, curling up into the blankets "Meanie," he sulked. Minho wrapped his arms around Felix, pulling him towards his chest, "Brat," he whispered, nipping Felix's ear.

Nightfall came. Felix took a sip of his potions, one for slick production and another as a sleep inducer. He stretched, shivering as webs of thin crystal wings grew from his back. Felix rubbed his eyes, sleep slowly dawning over him. He wore Minho's oversized sweater with nothing beneath. Felix smirked, fluttering his wings, watching as the shimmer faded into a blur. He curled up, holding his pillow between his arms, drifting into a deep sleep.

Minho walked in, minutes after. He already knew the effects of Felix's potions and was assured that it was completely safe. He gulped, raking his gaze on Felix's vulnerable body. Plaint and innocent. "Stunning," he whispered, tracing Felix's wings. They fluttered, sensitive to any graze or touch. Minho chuckled, gently shifting Felix on his back. He lifted Felix's hips, sliding the pillow previously in his arms, under his ass.

A shiver of adrenaline rushed down Minho's spine when he stared down at Felix's bare cock "Fucking menace," he growled, gripping the bearings of his sanity. Minho traced his hands on Felix's inner thigh, drawing an unconscious whine from him. Minho halts his movement, watching Felix's every expression before kissing his thighs. He chuckled, watching Felix's cock twitch weakly against his abdomen, growing harder with each tease and foreplay.

Minho pressed three of his fingers from the get-go, feeling slick gush onto his palm, "So hot," he hissed, spreading Felix's pulsing walls. Felix mewled under his breath, wings thumping onto the bed like a bunny in heat. Minho bit his bottom lip, easing his pace as he watched Felix drift back into his slumber. He added another finger, slick making his ministrations easier. Minho grunted, cock throbbing behind his clothes.

He pulled out his fingers, reaching forwards to swipe his slicked fingers onto Felix's lips. Felix unconsciously smacked his lips, tasting his own slick on his tongue. Minho growled, head spinning with arousal, "Sweet boy," he whispered, stroking Felix's semi-hard cock. Felix squirmed but laid plaint for Minho to pump his cock. Beads of precum dripped past his slit, adding to the mess of fluids coating his skin.

Minho hissed, stripping off his clothes, "My sweet pixie," he growled, tilting his head back as he stroked his own cock to Felix's flushed cheeks. He groaned, hooking his arms under Felix's thighs, and pressed them close to his chest. Minho chuckled, drunk at the feeling of Felix's tight walls wrapping around his cock. He moaned, rolling his hips as he filled Felix to the hilt. Felix shuddered, slick producing more from the pleasure building in his abdomen.

Minho fucked his cock at a quick tempo, hips snapping against Felix's. "My filthy baby boy," he groaned, thrusting his cock mercilessly. Heat filled the room, fogging the mirrors. Minho growled, feeling Felix clench around his cock as he stirred awake. He pounded his hips erratically, chasing that familiar aching pleasure. Felix choked up a sob, eyes rolling back from the sheer force of Minho's cock fucking into his sopping hole.

Tears spilt down his cheeks as his body twitched. “Hyung" he wailed, screaming as he came undone. Cum tainted Minho's sweater white and sticky. Minho growled, clenching his jaw, veins on his neck protruding. Felix wrapped his legs around Minho's back, sobbing from overstimulation. Sounds of cries and smacking flesh echoed throughout the room. Minho arched his back, lips forming a silent groan as he came. Flooding Felix's loose rim with more fluids. His hips stuttered, slowly coming down from his high.

Felix sniffled, pulling Minho closer to his body, pressing his cock deeper into his hole. His hole spasmed and contracted, drawing another orgasm from him. Minho pulled Felix in for a kiss, tangling their tongues together. Felix giggled into the kiss, his body still quivering from the aftershocks of his orgasms. "You feeling alright, pixie?" Minho rasped, stroking Felix's tear-stained cheeks.

Felix nodded, giving out a deep purring sound "I'm feeling great," he slurred, smiling. Minho chuckled, "I didn't go too rough did I?" he asked, holding Felix's hand. Felix shook his head, "No, I love feeling every inch of you buried in me, hyung," he said, kissing Minho's palm. Minho blushed, scoffing "That filthy mouth of yours is horrible," he muttered, burying his face in the crook of Felix's neck.

Felix chuckled, rubbing Minho's back, "I know," he said, sighing contently at the pleasant stretch of Minho's cock spreading his hole. "Are we going to get cleaned?" Minho asked, yawning. Felix shook his head, holding Minho closer, "We can clean up in the morning," he said, conjuring up a blanket to cover the both of them. Minho whined, "It's going to be crusty in the morning," he huffed. Felix chuckled, "If so, I'll just run you a bubble bath," he said, kissing Minho's cheek.

Minho closed his eyes, pressing his cheek on Felix's shoulder, "You better," he grumbled, falling asleep. Felix cooed, "Sweet dreams," he whispered, shutting his own eyes.

[riorangedeezguts]

"Listen up, bastards!"

Here's some blog ground rules (may edit them over time) 🤩

There will definitely be some triggering topics here! I'll try to put trigger warnings where I see fit, but they may slip my mind so please be careful! 🥺

I've actually made what I call The Ranger Severity Scale that you can look at for reference here so that I won't answer asks with anything you're uncomfortable with! Please use it! 😵

Nothing explicitly sexual please! Dirty jokes are fine, smut is not (I mean, do you see my url?) 😬

Ships are allowed, just be mindful of who we're talking about (obviously no underage) 🧐

Biggest rule: Do not ask if you should harm yourself in any way. You all know Rio would encourage it 😔 and I am not here to harm anyone, only to have fun 🥳

Lastly, you better have fun! Yes, that's a rule. If you don't follow it, I will find you 🙃

Oh, and this will not be a spoiler free blog! I recommend playing Your Turn To Die all the way through at least once before interacting here! (and also viewing the Kai minisode tbh, there will def be spoilers for that! I'll be sure to tag 'em with "yttd mini episode spoilers" or "kai minisode spoilers" though! Something of that nature)

P.S. If you ask me anything we don't have an answer to in the game itself yet, I'll try my best to answer it! Just know it's all fanon at that point lmao

(also can someone please find me a better url, I can't take myself seriously with this one but "ask Rio Ranger" is too boring for my (and his too probably) taste)

(spoilers under cut btw ^^)

Last chance to turn back if you haven't played yttd!

.

Did they leave?

Okay, good.

So I have a proposition. Let's pretend Rio lived for a hot minute. And lets pretend we live in a world where he and all the others (mostly) made it out of the death game. That being said, you guys can also address asks to Laizer :3

We support bending canon to fit our needs here. In fact, we encourage it!

So yeah! Just specify who you're talking to in your ask and I'll answer it as either Ranger or Laizer. You can also ask for both of them to answer your question, or I could always surprise you if you don't care which!

[intothecest]

Haven't posted much lately, but I might attempt to post more random shippy thoughts and concepts, see how that goes.

First up, Demon Slayer.. IDK if I mentioned it on here before, but since I started watching it I immediately started shipping Tanjiro/Nezuko, the two sibling characters. He came home one day to find his family murdered except his sister who was turned into a demon... only his sister seems almost unique among demons in that she can control her demonic bloodlust (especially when something is in her mouth). Tanjiro started a questi to join the Demon Slayer Corps in large part to find his sister a cure, and she usually travels in a box on his back (to protect her from sunlight, which kills Demons). And it's not super shippy in terms of their interactions, but it's like so sweet how devoted they are to each other it's shippy by default?

They're also not the only shippable cest couple in it, some of the demons are as well especially Gyutaro/Daki who take closeness to a whole new level as Gyutaro often spends time in his sister's body!

Okay, alll that's just background. Cause I'm not here to talk about them. See, one of the weird thing about Demon Slayer is that it has a semi-official AU, called Kimetsu Academy. I think it started as a gag in the closing parts of manga chapters but then spun off to its own thing (which, much like the end-chapter jokes are super short jokey stories), set in the modern day where all the major characters are just normal students in a high school. Now I'm going to state up front I'm mostly talking out of my ass here… I don't even read the spinoff manga (or the original manga), and although I've seen the Kimetsu Academy specials released in English on Crunchyroll (they total I wanna say 20ish minutes), I don't know a whole lot about the lore behind it, but from what I've seen that it's mostly a mundane world, 'demons' don't exist, and although demon characters are present they seem to be portrayed as general 'bad kids'. Like Gyu/Daki are apparently there but just as the ttroublemaker students that function as semi-antagonists. It was really reading about them that started me on this thought train, and wishing we had a real, serious anime AU along these lines so I could see them all interact, but as I said, I don't know a whole lot about the REAL Kimetsu Academy. Assume everything I say from this point on is just me imaging things in an AU LIKE that, with those basic conditions, that has only passing similarity to the actual manga.

But I couldn't stop thinking about how the 'demons = bad kids' dynamic works with respect to Nezuko, since her whole thing is that she's a demon, but she's managed to keep her humanity under control, despite all the demon urges. As far as I know in the amanga Nezuko's just an innocent sister who (instead of the bamboo the mainstream universe has in her mouth to help control her urges) always seems to have a stick of french bread in her mouth… but what if you played with the 'demon stands in for some kind of socially unacceptable behavior' concept a little more? That would men her socially unacceptable behavior is under control, but always there beneath the surface, struggling to get out. And why would she always have something in her mouth? I know, because it's funny, but I'm imagining something a little deeper, and (because it's my nature), something that's shippy with her brother.

Then the thought hit me… what if she's got something in her mouth because if she doesn't, she'll make the filthiest propositions to her brother? Like, maybe she's literally got some variety of Tourettes, the kind which mostly presents with Coprolalia (involuntary swearing or saying inappropriate things). And it's not JUST her brother, but that's why she tends to keep her mouth busy, because it helps contain the urge… and with her brother she's almost always likely to offer to perform sex acts on him or beg him to perform them on her. And although Coprolalia doesn't always represent true opinions and desires, in this case it does or allowed her the chance to try something she never would otherwise dare.

But Tanjiro's SO understanding, he knows about her condition, still always tries to include her in his life and keep her close, but just ignores the outbursts when they happen because he KNOWS she doesn't mean it, it's just her condition. And Nezuko absolutely means most of what she says (at least in terms of extreme fantasies, not all of which she specifically desires to happen but would probably be willing to at least try) but since this started Tanjiro completely ignored her most outrageous ticks, pretending she hadn't said anything at all when she slipped and asks to give him a blowjob or whatever… she assumes that's a polite rejection from her perfect big brother who couldn't possibly have feelings for his sister, even though she's totally in love with him, love means she doesn't want to make uncomfortable… which is why she's more determined than ever to control herself and not bother him… but she can't help the urges. and maybe has a secret stash of erotic manga or video games themed on incest that she binges on late at night and lets the demon out, and maybe he hears her through the wall sometimes talking ot an imaginary oni-chan and he can't help picturing her talking to him and tries to ignore it, but if he ever let himself think that it wasn't just a neurological disorder, who knows how he might react.

IDK even where I'm going with this, just rambling I guess. But I've enjoyed playing with this thought the last week or so and I thought since I'd be trying to post more and share more random cesty shippy thought I might as well start here.

[aquarelliwrites]

What Kind Of Woman Do You Take Me For?

SHIP: Charles Leclerc x Reader

SUMMARY: After a dinner date at your apartment, Charles is forced to sleep over as to not get caught up in a snowstorm.

CONTENT: Mention of alcohol, domestic fluff, you/yours pronouns with fem!reader, no use of Y/N.

1.1k

"Well, this was lovely."

Charles used his napkin to wipe the corner of his mouth. You leaned back in your chair, your elbow coming to rest on the backrest of the one next to you. A vague silence washed over the dining room of your apartment, both of you observing the snowfall outside.

The view out of the dining and living rooms of your apartment was spectacular, and half the reason you were paying such a ridiculous price for it - the sprawling cityscape and background of rolling Swiss Alps breathtaking on evenings like this.

Was it really even evening anymore? You had sat down for dinner four hours ago - really, the date had actually started in the early afternoon. He had come in bearing gifts, with the first snowflakes adorning his coat, hair, and eyelashes. Then, he spent the better part of a few hours helping with dinner.

If you could count his sitting pretty on the barstool, drinking wine, and distracting you with gossip the entire time helping. You had a good reason to keep him away from the stove, however - the man was many things, but a culinary expert he was not.

"Is there anything we forgot to talk about?" You joked, tearing your gaze away from the panoramic view to the, arguably, far better one across the table.

He, to his credit, did take a moment to consider. You liked the way he looked when he was deep in thought. "I... don't believe so. How long has it- oh, wow. Midnight already?" The shock on his face, like all of his other emotions, was visible as soon as he caught sight of the clock hanging in the living room behind you.

"Nearing it." The snow outside was bad now - Switzerland was used to snow, sure, but was Charles? At night? In that sports car you saw him drive here? "You should stay over."

"Yeah?" His smile was teasing while he picked at a few crumbs on the tablecloth. "Are you propositioning me? Is that what this is?"

You scoffed, rolling your eyes. "Don't be ridiculous-"

"I came all this way-"

"Charles-"

"-all for an elaborate booty call? Really? Thought you were better than that, amour." Combined, the twinkle in his eyes and the smirk tugging upwards at the corners of his lips made you want to jump across the table and do unholy things to him. Not that you’d readily admit it.

You gestured to your matching empty glasses and plates. "Well, technically, I’ve been wining and dining you. Not a booty call. Come on, what kind of woman do you take me for, Leclerc?"

He shrugged, now picking at the tablecloth itself.

Clearing your throat was more uncomfortable than you’d thought. "The guest room situation isn't- um. I've got my office in there."

"Right, yes."

"...And I have a queen bed." That you didn't know if you wanted to share with him. This was- what was this? The third date? He had said he wanted to take it slow, get to know you. This wasn't exactly planned.

"Oh."

Another silence fell over the room. You felt like you were drowning in it.

"You can take the bed. I just changed the sheets this morning," you offered.

"No, no, I couldn't take that from you."

"I insist."

"No-"

"You're a houseguest. Fae rules."

"What? Fae rules?" He sputtered in surprise.

"Yes." You were smiling smugly, and he pointed it out.

"It's not a problem, chat." The tips of his ears went a little red at you calling him 'cat', but you continued. "The sofa’s comfy. I made sure when I was buying it just in case my, how did you put it, ‘booty call’ could be comfortable."

An extended quiet passed by before he nodded. "Alright."

"Alright."

You cleaned up together - he washed dishes, you dried them; he offered a piece of gossip about the people in his life, you returned one about an office affair you nearly got caught up in; he gasped in disbelief, you nodded solemnly; he caged you against the counter when you were done, you reciprocated his kiss sweetly, slowly.

He tasted of alcohol and dessert, mostly, then of mint after you brushed your teeth together and stole a final kiss. And your pillow.

"Bonne nuit." You whispered against his lips.

"Bonne nuit, amour."

To your credit, you managed to get incredibly cozy on the couch - spare duvet, blankets, pillows galore. You allowed yourself the luxury of imagining him lying in your bed, daydreaming about the way you’d look there with him. You then spent a good quarter of an hour debating with yourself whether joining him there would be uncomfortable for both of you or not.

Oh, god. Had he seen your stuffed animals? The thought nagged at you as you drifted off.

A click of a door roused you from sleep. You couldn’t really tell what time it was in the dark, but the room being so dark and the snow still falling heavily suggested it hasn't been more than… what? Two hours?

"Amour?" He whispered from the doorway. You hummed, acknowledging his presence, but not exactly comprehending it yet.

"Wha's up?" The only word your half-asleep mind could really think of to describe him then is cute - hair a little messy, shirt a little askew, sweatpant cuffs riding up a little on his legs.

He didn't answer, instead stealing one of the top-most blankets covering you. Before you could protest, he moved - sort of clumsily, which prompted a snickering laugh from you - to lay down on top of you. After he got comfy, you were pressed into the couch - his legs tangling with yours, his arms enclosing around your waist under your shirt, his head resting on your chest.

A more conscious you would probably hesitate a little, and a more conscious he probably wouldn't  have done what he did. Alas, tired people do stupid things, and you embraced him back quickly. You helped him cover himself in the stolen blanket, and your hands carded through his hair a little while neither of you were asleep yet.

"Thank you." You heard him whisper, and you made a little noise of agreement. 

"Didn't know if you'd want to sleep together."

"Hah, I thought you didn't want it, amour?"

"With you? Don't be ridiculous. If I had more confidence, I'd be throwing myself all over the opportunity." Your finger twirled a longer strand of hair, and you got to enjoy the way his fingers were mind-numbingly warm drawing patterns on your waist.

This was miles better than any sleep you could have gotten on your own.

NOTE: these fics keep getting shorter and shorter but i'm not lying when I say everything that could have possibly gone wrong while writing this went wrong. I'm truly shocked and appalled.

Rivals to lovers Max fic is hopefully still on the way - alas i got too ambitious with it and now it's looking like it's going to be the longest thing i've ever written. not yet sure if i should be excited or worried?

Liked this? Check out my masterlist!

[sea-of-monster-s]

Sea of Monsters: The Crews Beguining

Chapter 5: Craby Buisness

 Both creatures arrived at the port, it was a buissy day, a lot of creatures were ither selling usefull stuff or were just walking past

-What do we do now?- Whisper said

-We are now looking for my buddy- 

-How does he look like?-

-Well hes a lobster, a pretty big one but he prefers to be called a crab-

-Why?-

-I dont know, its his thing so just go along with it-

Spike and Whisper proseed and walk into a small alleyway,it was a gamble alleyway where all kinds of gambling was happening, there where a lost of sound that were other happy scream or losing cries,a voice can be heard among them, a voice that's pretty… wet

-wo ho ho ho! whos ready to lose next?- the lobster said in a confident voice

His eyes looked suddenly at Spike, he then smiled and the conversation begin,

-SPIKE! My great companion, what are you doing hire?-

-Morning Crabs- they shaked hands -i have a proposition to ask-

-go on, tell me!-

-you see, i've explored every little part and little hole on this island, i think that we should start exploring the oceans and seas-

-aww but mann, i like it hire, i win all the time-

-i know, but you have move on, maybe someday we can return hire-

Mr. Crabs seams to just noticed Whisper hiding behind Spike

-whos that little fellow?-

Whisper clong harder into Spikes arm, his claws where visible to Crabs, they looked really dehydrated,

-found him in that old dragons den, poor thing was considered a monster by the locals- Spike gently pushed him on from, revealing his odd beauty

-h-hello- he mumbled

-Hello there little guy! What are you??-

Whisper looked at himself, a bit puzzled. His whole life his main nickname was a monster, so he didn't truly known what he is 

-I-i dont re-really know what i am-

Crabs looked at him with a bit of guilt in his heart, him and Spikes once faced the same treatment but not so severe as his

Crabs looked at Spike

-alright, but we need a boat-

Spike looked confused

-but we have a boat, not even a boat a ship-

-lost it-

-...WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST IT!?-

-OI DONT YELL AT ME, THE DUDE CHEATED AND RAN WAY-

the argument continued, causing whisper to ran away, he exited the alleyway and just kinda stood there. he started to overheat a conversation between two seagulls

-you've heard? there is an abandoned ship north from here-

-really? What happened to it?-

-i don't know, possibly a failed enchiant deal but this can be a trap-

-might be right, what are the conditions-

-pretty good, it only stayed there for a few days-

-no movement?-

-no movement-

-weard-

Both creatures were now too far away to hear, then it hit Whisper,this can be a ship that they can over take as their own, he returned to the alleyway to find Crabs and Spike panicky searching for him.

-where the hell is he?!-

-well if you wouldn't open your mouth he wouldn't gotten scared-

-but you lost our god dam ship man, that's not cool-

They both noticed him

-there you are-

Spikes grabs him by his arm and drags closer to them

-g-guy, i t-think i know a ship-

-really?-

-i overheard two white birds, north from hire it is-

Spikes thinks for a moment then his attention focuses on Mr. Crabs,

-oh no no no, i'm not going to do this-

-you have to, you broth this upon your self

-what is going on?- whisper asks

-you'll see little guy-

[isabellafoster13]

This was requested on AO3 by Pup.

This is the last oneshot, for the time being. I loved writing these and hope that you aren't too upset about this collection ending. 

As for this ship. I quite like Meredy x Lucy. I think that it's cute and I definitely think that they would be a pretty good couple. I really like this ship and wish that I could find some fics about it. 

I hope you enjoy!

You're as Intimidating as a Butterfly (Meredy x Lucy)

Lucy hid behind the open door that led to the main room of her apartment. She grinned to herself as she waited for her girlfriend to enter. Meredy had been away for a few weeks, finally able to come back to Magnolia for a visit after defeating several dark guilds. Lucy's plan was to wait for her girlfriend to walk through the door, then she would jump out and scare her before their cuddle session on the bed. 

She listened as the front door opened and Meredy sighed, evidently tired, before hearing the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs and approaching the main room where her blonde girlfriend was waiting with a mischievous grin. 

It wasn't long until Meredy walked through the door and called out, "Lucy? Where are you?"

Lucy waited until her girlfriend had taken a few more steps into the room before she quietly stepped around the door and crept up behind the pink-haired woman. In a swift movement, she placed her hands on Meredy's shoulders and exclaimed, "I got you!" 

She hadn't been expecting Meredy to scream, but she was expecting her to at least get startled and jump. However, neither of those things happened. Instead, Meredy simply calmly turned around and smiled at her, saying, "hey, Lucy. I was starting to think that you were at the guild." 

Lucy raised an eyebrow in confusion. She whipped her head around to look at the door that she was hiding behind. There was no way that Meredy could have seen her, so why hadn't she reacted to her scare attempt? Lucy turned back around as her girlfriend asked, "is something wrong?" 

Lucy questioned, pointing with her thumb at the door behind herself, "did you know that I was hiding there?" 

Meredy's pink eyes glanced at the door for a second before flicking back to Lucy and answered, "no, I didn't. Why?" 

Lucy dropped her arm to her side and gave her girlfriend a defeated look before she gave a small huff and walked over past her to sit on the bed. "What's wrong? Was I supposed to see you there?" Meredy followed after her, a hint of worry in her voice. 

Lucy shook her head as she plopped down on the bed and sighed. "Nothing's wrong. I was just trying to give you a scare." 

"Oh...would you like me to come back in so you can try again?" 

"What? No! It's fine, Meredy, I promise!" Lucy chuckled at the proposition, an amused smile gracing her features. She then stated, "you're difficult to scare, aren't you?" 

Meredy shrugged. "I guess." There was a slight pause before she added, "or, it could just be that you're not intimidating enough." 

At that, Lucy stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, and huffed in mock anger, "I am too!" 

"Lucy, you're as intimidating as a butterfly." The deadpanned way that she said that was pretty comedic, Lucy would admit. She almost laughed. 

"What? That is not true! I can intimidate people!" 

Meredy gave a chuckle, her lips stretching into a smile. She then looked back up at Lucy and responded, "you? You're too nice-looking to do that. You just don't look like you can do any harm." 

Lucy countered, "wouldn't that be a good thing, though? I'm a strong wizard and can fight very well. Being, as you said, 'nice-looking' just makes me easy to underestimate, which means, I can more easily get the upper hand against my opponents." 

Meredy chuckled. "I didn't say that it was a bad thing." She then sat on the bed, closely followed by her girlfriend. "Besides, you do have a point. I've encountered quite a lot of men who didn't take me and Sorano seriously because of how pretty we are. They were never difficult to defeat." 

Lucy gave a laugh at that. "Did Macbeth ever get the same treatment? He kind of looks like a girl, after all." 

Meredy gave a small chuckle. "Don't let him hear you say that. Erik once said that and it ended with him being thrown through a window." The couple shared a laugh before Meredy finally answered Lucy's question, "I only know of a few times in which some dark wizards thought that Macbeth was a girl. None of those times ended well for the dark wizards, though." 

Lucy laughed some more at that, clutching her stomach as she eventually was able to get control of herself. She took a few moments to breathe before she commented, "I've seen Freed get mistaken for a girl a few times." 

"Really? He doesn't look like a girl." 

"Maybe not from the front, but from behind, he kinda does." 

"Has any of your guildmates tried to put him in a dress? Sorano and Erik have tried to convince Macbeth to go undercover as a girl four times now." 

"Not that I know of." After a few moments, Lucy finally realized what her girlfriend had said, and she went back into a laughing fit. It took roughly a minute to regain control of herself and she responded, "never ended well, huh?" 

Meredy grinned as she shook her head. "Nope. The last time it happened, Erik ended up with a few broken ribs, and Sorano was too scared to look at Macbeth for a while." 

The two women laughed together for several minutes, exchanging funny stories about their guildmates. Lucy told about the time Natsu got his head stuck in the upstairs railing of the guildhall, ending up with a head covered in butter. She also told about when Erza went on a rampage because of a destroyed strawberry cake and the time Gray and Juvia accidentally sent each other on a wild goose chase due to separate elaborate romantic gestures that they each planned. 

Meredy, in turn, told about the several times Jellal tired and failed to show his feelings to Erza, the time Erik got himself captured because he let the dirty jokes his opponent was telling in his head get to him, and the time Sorano somehow got her hand stuck in a vase. 

The night of laughter ended with Lucy and Meredy snuggling up together, warm and comfortable in each other's embrace. They quickly fell asleep with calm smiles on each other faces. 

[layce2015]

The Mandalorian (Din Djarin x Female!Reader)

Chapter 7: The Reckoning

Previous Chapter / First Chapter / Next Chapter

(Y/n) was rocking the Child to sleep in her arms as the Razer Crest continued on its travel through space. Mando looks over at them and smirks as he sees the Child sleeping in her arms.

But the moment is short lived as a hologram message pops up. The two hunters look over and see that it is Greef Karga.  "My friend, if you are receiving this transmission that means you are alive. You might be surprised to hear this but I am alive too. I guess we can call it even. A lot has happened since we last saw each other." Greef said and the two hunters share a look.

"The man who hired you two is still here, and his ranks of ex-Imperial guards have grown. They have imposed despotic rule over my city, which has impeded the livelihood of the Guild. We consider him an enemy but we cannot get close enough to take him out. If you and your partner would consider one last commission, I will very much make it worth your while. You have been successful so far in staving off their hunters. But they will not stop until they have their prize." He continued but (y/n) could feel that something was off about this.

"So here is my proposition: Return to Nevarro, bring the Child as bait. I will arrange an exchange and provide loyal Guild members as protection. Once we get near the client, you two kill him, and all of us get what we want. If you succeed, you and your partner keep the Child and I will have both of your names cleared with the Guild, for a man of honor should not be forced to live in exile. I await your arrival with optimism." Greef finished and the message finished then Mando turns to (y/n).

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Din." (Y/n) said. "Yeah, me too." He said as (y/n) looks down at the Child. "But...if we don't do something...they'll keep coming..." Mando said and (y/n) frowns then let's out a sigh. "We're gonna need backup." She said and he nods. "Agreed." He said and he turns back to the main dashboard and sets a course. Then the ship jumps into hyperspace.

Minutes later, they arrive in Sorgan and Mando lands the ship in a clearing. Then the two hunters, after setting the Child in the carrier, head out.

In the common house, Cara Dune was in a laser tethered boxing match against a male Zabrak. They trade blows until she was able to knock him out and the crowd cheers. "Pay up, mudscuffers! Come on." Cara said and the patrons began paying her. "That's mine, thank you. Thank you." She said as Mando and (y/n) walk in.

"Looking for some work?" Mando asked her and she smiles at them then gestures towards a table.

Sometime later, after getting some spotchka, Mando and (y/n) begins to explain their plan. "It seems like a straightforward operation. They're providing the plan and firepower, (y/n) and I are the snare." Mando said. "With the kid?" Cara asked. "That's why we're coming to you." (y/n) said. "I don't know. I've been advised to lay low. If anybody runs my chain code I'll rot in a cell for the rest of my life." Cara explains.

"I thought you were a veteran." (Y/n) said, questioning, as the Zabrak boxer comes up and drops some coins on the table. "Come back soon." Cara said to him, sweetly, and the Zabrak walks away. Cara turns back to the hunters and said. "I've been a lot things since, most of them carry a life sentence. If I so much as book passage on a ship registered to the New Republic I'm--"

"We have a ship. We can bring you there and back with a handsome reward. You can live free of worry." (Y/n) said. "I'm already free of worry. And I'm not in the mood to play soldier anymore. Especially fighting some local warlord." Car said as she picks up her cup.

"He's not a local warlord. He's Imperial." Mando said and Cara stops and looks at him then she starts to smile, slowly. "I'm in." she said and takes a sip of her drink.

"Does your contact need to vet me?" Cara asked the hunters as they sit in the cockpit of the ship, as it traveled through space. "Doesn't know you're coming." Mando said. "Really? That can be a problem." Cara said. "It won't. But if it is, that's his problem." (y/n) said and her and Mando leave the cockpit and Cara follows them.

"He all right up there alone?" Cara asked, referring to the Child, as Mando opens the weapons vault. "Yeah." Mando and (y/n) said, in unison, and Cara ogles the weapons.

"Pick one." Mando said and Cara begins to inspect the weapons. "You trust the contact?" Cara asked the two hunters. "Not particularly." Mando said as (y/n) shakes her head. "We've had a run-in last time we were there on some Guild business." Mando said.

"So then why are we going?" Cara asked. "We don't have a choice. You saw what happened on Sorgan. They'll keep sending hunters. The kid'll never be safe until the Imp is dead." (y/n) said. "And you two are okay with bringing him back there?" Cara asked them, her eyebrow raised. "Not really. That's why we're bringing you." Mando said. 

Suddenly, the ship shakes and banks, making everyone stumble a bit. They climb up into the cockpit to find the Child playing with the ship's controls. Mando grabs the Child, hands it to (y/n) and stabilizes the ship.

"We're gonna need someone to watch that thing." Cara said as she nods at the Child while (y/n) rocks him. "Yeah..." Mando and (y/n) said. "You guys got anyone you can trust?" Cara asked them and Mando and (y/n) share a look, coming to the same conclusion.

"Whoa! Easy, Whoa!" Kuiil said to the creature as the Razer Crest lands near his moisture farm. Moments later, Mando, Cara and (y/n) enter Kuiil's residence with the Child in a floating crib.

"It hasn't grown much." Kuiil said, gesturing at the Child. "I think it might be a strand-cast." Mando said. "I don't think it was engineered. I've worked in the gene farms. This one looks evolved. Too ugly. This one on the other hand..." Kuiil said then points at Cara. "...looks like she was farmed in the Cytocaves of Nora." 

"This is Cara Dune. She was a shock-trooper." (Y/n) explains and Kuiil looks up at her. "You were a dropper?" he asked. "Did you serve?" Cara asked him. "On the other side, I'm afraid. But I'm proud to say that I paid out my clan's debt and now I serve no one but myself." Kuiil said then IG-11 enters the building with a tray.

Mando, Cara send (y/n) jump up and draw their blasters on the droid. "Would anyone care for some tea?" the droid asked and Kuiil gets between them. "Please lower your blasters. He will not harm you." Kuiil assures.

"That thing is programmed to kill the baby." (Y/n) said in a low tone. "Not anymore." Kuiil said as IG-11 places the tray on the table. "It was left behind in the wake of your destruction. I found it, laying where it fell, devoid of all life. I recovered the flotsam and staked it as my own in accordance with the Charter of the New Republic. Little remained of its neural harness. Reconstruction was quite difficult, but not impossible. It had to learn everything from scratch. This is something that cannot be taught with the twist of a spanner. It requires patience, repetition. I spent day after day reinforcing its development with patience and affirmation. It developed a personality as its experiences grew." Kuiil explains.

"Is it still a hunter?" Mando asked him. "No. But it will protect." Kuiil said as IG-11 lifts up a cup. "Tea?" it asked and everyone gives each other confused looks.

Later, Kuiil was tending to a blurrg when Mando comes up to him. "I've run into some problems." he said. "I figured as much. Why else would you return?" Kuiil said. "I wanna hire your services." said Mando. "I'm retired from service." Kuiil reminds him.

"I can pay you handsomely, Ugnaught." Mando said. "I have a name. It is Kuiil." Kuiil said and Mando nods, slightly. "I need someone to protect the little one, Kuiil." he said. "I'm not suited for such work. I can reprogram IG-11 for nursing and protocol." Kuiil said. "No! I don't want that droid anywhere near him." Mando said, firmly, and Kuiil turns to him.

"Why are you so distrustful of droids?" Kuiil asked him. "It tried to kill him." Mando explained. "It was programmed to do so. Droids are not good or bad. They are neutral reflections of those who imprint them." Kuiil said. "I've seen otherwise." Mando growls, and Kuiil looks up at him.

"Do you trust me?" Kuiil asked him, curiously. "From what I can tell, yes." Mando replied. "Then you will trust my work. IG-11 will join me. And we do it not for payment, but to protect the Child from Imperial slavery. None will be free until the old ways are gone. Forever." said Kuiil. "Okay." Mando said. Kuiil nods then starts to walk away.

"And the blurrgs will join me as well." He said. "The blurrgs?" Mando asked. "I have spoken." Kuiil said as he walks off.

After getting some blurrg's in the ship, the Razer Crest begins to take off and leave Arvala-7 behind. Minutes later, Mando and Cara start to arm wrestle to pass the time while Kuiil, (y/n) and the Child watch on. "I got you, Mando." Cara said as the two struggle to take their opponent out. "Care to double the bet?" Mando asked and (y/n) shakes her head at this.

the Child looks on, worried, then looks up at (y/n), confused at why she wasn't doing anything. So he turns back to Mando and raises his hand. At that moment, (y/n) felt that odd sense of power again just as Cara begins to gasp for air. Mando jumps at this then him and (y/n) look at the Child before both of them go to him and grab him.

"No! No no, stop!" (Y/n) said just as Mando said. "We're friends, we're friends! Cara is our friend!" Then Cara was able to breath as she begins to gasp for air while Kuiil watched this with curiosity.

"That is not okay!" Cara exclaimed. "Very curious." Kuiil said and Cara looks over at him in anger. "Curious?! It almost killed me!" she yelled. "The story you told me of the mudhorn now makes more sense." Kuiil said as he turns to Mando and (y/n).

"What is it?" Mando asked him. "What it is, I don't know. But what it does, this, this I've heard rumours of." Kuiil replied. "What? When you worked for the Empire?" Cara growls. "When I was sold to the Empire, in indentured servitude." Kuiil said. "Yet somehow, you walk free." Cara grumbles.

"I bought my freedom through the skill of my hands and the labour of three of your human lifetimes. Do not cast doubt upon that of what I am nor whom I shall serve." Kuiil said as IG-11 approaches and it and Cara stare at each other.

"Tell you what. I can really use your craftwork right now. Can you pad this container so the Child can sleep better?" Mando asked as he gestures towards the Child's carrier. "I shall fabricate a better one. Then perhaps this dropper can see how one can win their freedom with the skill of one's hands." Kuiil said and moment later, he got to work on it with the Child by his side.

"So we're going to Nevarro." Cara said as her, Mando and (y/n) sit in the cockpit. "Have you ever been?" (y/n) asked her. "No. We lost all of our forces there. The city's dug in pretty deep. There's no cover when you drop in. Stayed in Empire control till the end of the war." Cara replied.

"The warlord we're taking out was an Imperial officer." Mando explains. "What station?" Cara asked. "Hard to tell. No insignia anymore. We took out the safehouse when we snatched the kid. More Imps have reinforced since." (y/n) said. "There is something more going on." Cara said. "Maybe. We'll find out more when we land." Mando said just as IG-11 enters the cockpit.

"I have prepared second meal. Would you care to be served here or below?" The droid asked. "I'm not hungry." Mando replied, flatly, while Cara and (y/n) shake their head and the droid leaves.

"Under no circumstances does that thing leave the ship." Mando said, firmly. "You got a real thing for droids, don't you." Cara remarks. "I got a real thing for that droid." Mando said. "The Ugnaught said he rewired it." Cara said. "That droid was designed to kill things. I don't care how much wiring he replaced, it goes against its nature." Mando said and Cara frowns a bit at him. "Well, shouldn't be a long job anyway. You take out the head Imp, the rest will run like rats." Cara said and she leaves the cockpit. 

(Y/n) looks down then turns to Mando. "What if that droid has changed?" She asked and Mando sighs. "Don't you start." He said. "It could be possible..." (y/n) brings up. "A droid is a droid. As I just said, it goes against its nature." He said then he turns to her. "You know as well as I do that droids are killers." Mando said and (y/n) starts to have a flashback of the day her and Mando's parents were killed.

She sighs, turns her head away and looks out the window as they head to Nevarro.

Eventually, the Razer Crest approach Nevarro and lands as Greef and three of his associates were waiting. After landing, Mando, Cara, Kuiil and (y/n) exit the ship, mounted on blurrgs. "Sorry for the remote rendezvous, Mando. But things have gotten complicated since you were last here. It appears that introductions are in order. It seems we've both provided a security detail. I recommend the shock-trooper guards the ship, these lava fields are lousy with Jawas." Greef said. 

"She's coming with us." (Y/n) said to him, firmly. "But the town is now run by ex-Empire. If a rebel dropper is with us, they'll all get their hackles up." Greef tries to argue. "She's coming." Mando said, firmly, and Greef sighs. "Fine. Fine. At least cover your tattoo. No need to flaunt it. Now, where is the little one?" Greef asked and Mando has the floating crib move forward and opens up, revealing the Child.

"So...this little bogwing is what all the fuss was about." Greef said as he takes the Child out of the crib. "What a precious little creature. I can see why you didn't wanna harm a hair on its wrinkled little head." He said then he places the Child back in the crib. "Well, I'm glad this matter will be put to rest once and for all." Greef said and Mando recalls the crib.

"The sun drops fast on Nevarro. We can walk for a spell and camp out on the river bank, then make our way into town at first light." Greef said and the group began to travel.

That night, they make camp and have a fire with some meat on a spit. One of the bounty hunters scoops up some lava for the fire and Kuiil feeds the Child while everyone eyes each other, suspiciously. "I guess the little bugger's a carnivore. Never seen anything like it. They were ready to pay a king's ransom for that thing. Must be for some kind of highfalutin menagerie." Greef said to Mando and (y/n).

"Let's go over the plan again." Mando said. "The three of us enter the common house. We show the client the bait. We join him at the table, and you kill him." Greef said. "Tell us about his reinforcements." (Y/n) said, curiously. "They're all ex-Empire. As soon as they lose their paycheck, psh...they'll all scatter." Greef said.

"And what if they don't?" Mando asked him. "They will." Greef assures. "That's not good enough." Mando said. "If, for argument's sake, a few of them don't realise that I'm their best path to alternative employment, and they elect to react impulsively, then these three fine Guild hunters along with that battle hardened shock-trooper will cut down anyone who bucks." Greef explains.

"How many will there be?" (Y/n) asked. "No more than four." Greef said as he gets up. "He travels with, at most, a fire team. Trust me, nothing could go wrong." Greef said.

Suddenly, a winged creature swoops in and grabs the meat from Greef's hands. Everybody starts shooting at a pack of dragons, Mando closes the crib as one of the dragons grabs a blurrg. "No! Let go of her! Drop her now!" Kuiil shouts and then it goes quiet for a moment.

Then one of the hunters was grabbed and another dragon grabs a second blurrg. "Drop her!" Kuiil shouts as everyone continues to fire at the dragons then both the dragon and blurrg were killed. Another dragon goes to attack (y/n) but Mando goes to protect her by fighting the dragon with fire, making the creature disappear.

Greef falls back on the ground, injured. "He's hurt badly." Kuiil said as he goes over to Greef. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Ow!" Greef said as he holds his arms. "Hold still." Cara said as she looks at his arm. "They got you good." she said.

"How bad?" (Y/n) asked her. "Bad. The poison is spreading fast." Cara replied and Mando and (y/n) share a glance, (y/n) giving him a worried look. "So this...this is how it happens." Greef said before he laughs, weakly. "Don't be so dramatic." Cara said to him then she turns to the others.

"I need another medpack. Got any other medpacks? Anyone?" she asks as the Child walks over. Everyone looks around but couldn't find another medpack. "I'm guessing that's a no." Greef mutters as Cara scans his arm. "It's still spreading. This isn't working." she said and the Child comes up beside Greef.

"Get this thing outta here." Cara said, gesturing at the kid, but Kuiil raises a hand. "Wait." he said and the Child places his hand on Greef's wound. "He's trying to eat me." Greef said but his face relaxes and everyone watches as the wound closes. The Child sits back, tired, and (y/n) picks him up and everyone continues to be in shock and awe about what just happened.

The next day, the group keeps on walking when Cara turns to Mando and (y/n). "You think they're having second thoughts?" she asked them. "Could be. I need your eyes." Mando said. "I'm watching." Cara said and the group halts a short distance from the town.

"I guess this is it." Greef said as the bounty hunters close in behind Mando, Cara and (y/n), blasters drawn. Suddenly, Greef spins, drawing two blasters, and shoots both hunters then raises his blasters in capitulation. Mando, Cara and (y/n) keep their blasters trained on him though.

"There's something you should know. The plan was to kill you and take the kid. But after what happened last night I couldn't go through with it. Go on, you can gun me down here and now, and it wouldn't violate the Code. But if you do, this child will never be safe." Greef admits. "We'll take our chances." Cara said.

"The Imperial client is obsessed with obtaining this asset. You tried to run, but where did it get you?" Greef asked Mando and (y/n). "This is ridiculous." Cara sneers. "Perhaps you should let him speak." Kuiil said to the two hunters.

"Listen. We need the client to be eliminated. Let me take the Child to him, and then you three--" Greef started to say but Mando and (y/n) say, in unison. "No."

"Let's just kill him and get outta here." Cara said but (y/n) looks over at Mando, who turns to her. They stare at each other for a moment before Mando nods and they lower their blasters. "He's right." Mando said and Cara turns to him.

"What are you doing?" She asked them. "As long as the Imp lives he'll send hunters after the Child." (y/n) explains. "It's a trap." Cara said, slightly shaking her head. "Bring us." Mando said as he and (y/n) step froward.

"Bring both of you?" Greef asked, confused. "Tell him you captured us. Get us close to him, and we'll kill him." Mando explains. "That's a good idea. Gimme your blasters." Greef said and they hand him their blasters.

"This is insane!" Cara exclaimed. "It's the only way." (y/n) said. "Well, I'm coming with you." Cara said. "No, no, no. That would make them suspicious." said Greef. "I don't care. I'm coming." Cara said. "Tell'em she caught us." Mando said. "Fine. Then she can bring the Child." Greef said.

"No. The kid goes back in the ship." Mando said. "But without the Child none of this works." Greef said. "I have a plan. Kuiil, ride back to the Razor Crest with the Child and seal yourself in. When you're inside, engage ground security protocols, and nothing on this planet will breach those doors." Mando said and Kuiil walks up to him and holds up a comlink. "Here's a comlink. I will keep the Child safe." he said then he turns to Cara.

"Don't forget to cover your stripes." He tells her and she nods. "Let's go." (y/n) said and Mando gives Greef a couple of handcuffs and Greef places each one on Mando and (y/n). Cara covers her tattoo and Kuiil takes the Child  then they leave in opposite directions.

Later, Mando, Greef, (y/n) and Cara arrive at the gate of the city where Stormtroopers stand guard. "Chain code." the Stormtrooper said to Greef. "I have a gift for the boss." Greef tells him. "Chain code!" The Stormtrooper said, firmly, and Greef produces his ID card, which the trooper scans.

"I give you 20 credits for the helmet." the Stormtrooper said. "Not a chance. That's going on my wall." Greef said and (y/n) turns to him. "On your wall...?" she asked him, softly. "Go with it." Greef whispered and the Stormtrooper turns to them. "Go ahead." he said and they move into town, where there were alot of Stormtroopers. 

"You said four. There are more than four troopers." Cara said as she looks around. "Four guarding the client. Many more here in town. Things got really heated once Mando and Manda crashed the safehouse." Greef said. "Slip them their blaster." Cara said but Greef shakes his head. "Not yet." he says and then they enter the common house.

"Here we are." Greef said as they enter the house. "You see...four." Greef said as he gestures at the four guards then they approach the client. "Look what I brought you. As promised." Greef said and the client comes up to them and starts to caress Mando's beskar armor.

"What exquisit craftmanship. It is amazing how beautiful beskar can be when forged by its ancestral artisans." He said then he goes and looks (y/n) over before he turns to Greef. "Can I offer you a libation to celebrate the closing of our shared narrative?" He asked. "I would be obliged." Greef said. "Please sit." the Client said and Greef shoves Mando and (y/n) into the booth as more Stormtroopers enter.

"It is a shame that your people suffered so. Just as in this situation, it was all avoidable. Why did Mandalore resist our expansion? The Empire improves every system it touches. Judge by any metric. Safety. Prosperity. Trade. Opportunity. Peace. Compare Imperial rule to what is happening now. Look outside. Is the world more peaceful since the revolution? I see nothing but death and chaos." The Client said then he turns to Greef.

"I would like to see the baby." he said. "Uh...it is asleep." Greef said. "We all will be quiet. Open the pram." The Client said but then a Stormtrooper comes over and whispers something to his ear. "Don't think me to be rude. I must take this call." the Client said as he stands up and he walks away while Mando and (y/n) loosen their cuffs under the table.

"Give us the blasters." Mando whispers to Greef and he passes the blasters to them. "You get one shot." Greef whispers. "This is bad. You said four." Cara said, nervously. "Well...there are more. What can I tell you?" Greef said as the Client goes into the portable hologram and bring up a hologram of a man

"Yes, Moff Gideon." He asked. "Have they brought the Child?" Moff asked. "Yes, they have. Currently it is sleeping." the client said. "You may wanna check again." Moff said then he makes a gesture and suddenly the client goes down, fatally hit as blaster shots are fired through the window, killing everything in their path.

Once the shooting stops, Cara, Mando and (y/n) move out of cover to both sides of the window. They see an Imperial firing squad outside with another transport full of Stormtroopers incoming. "Four Stormtroopers?" Cara grumbles towards Greef as more stormtroopers flood in from the adjacent streets, surrounding the common house.

"This is bad." (y/n) mutters as Mando turns to the comms. "Kuiil, are you back to the ship yet? Are you there? Do you copy?" Mando asked. "Yes!" Kuiil said as he continues to ride on the blurrg, getting closer to the Razer Crest.

"Are you back to the ship yet?" Mando asked him. "Not yet." Kuiil said. "Get back to the ship and bail! Get the kid out of here. We're pinned down!" Mando said and Kuiil pushes the blurrg harder but two Stormtrooper, who were listening in their conversation, began to chase after Kuiil.

Then a TIE fighter arrives and lands and a man, Moff Gideon, exits the ship and walks towards the front of the common house then stands. "You have something I want." Moff said, loudly.

"Who is this guy?" Cara asked but everyone shakes their head. "You may think you have some idea of what you are in possession of. But you do not." Moff continues as Mando turns to the comms.

"Kuiil, are you back to the ship yet? They're on to us. Kuiil, come in!" Mando said, a bit panicked, but Kuiil doesn't respond back as he continues to get closer to the ship but the Stormtroopers close in.

"In a few moments, it will be mine." Moff said. "Kuiil, do you copy?! Kuiil..." Mando said, quickly. "It means more to me than you will ever know." Moff said as (y/n) gives a worried and scared look towards Mando as he continues to call Kuiil.

"Kuiil...Are you there?! Come in, Kuiil! Kuiil, come in Kuiil! Are you there?! Do you copy?! Kuiil! Kuill!!" Mando said but it was too late as Kuiil, who almost made it, was shot in the back by the Stormtroopers. The Child was dropped on the ground and the second Stormtrooper comes up and grabs the Child and they make their way back to the town, leaving Kuiil's body behind.

@that-one-spn-girl @avatarkanemi