#'the allies and the enemies! the ups and downs! the journey! the community that you find in it!'

[yandere--stuck]

Could you write a few Yandere headcanons for Ragnvaldr? I'm interested in your interpretation of him

🍖 Born with the Soul of The Tormented, Ragnvaldr always knew his life would be forever marred with struggle. Even from his youngest years, nearly dead by his own father's hands during a famine. The thing he had to do to survive… Best not to think too hard about it. As he grew, though, he became optimistic. Comfortable. Happy with the family he had made and the community he had grown into. For once, things were looking wholly up for the Outlander. But, of course, he should have known better. He should have expected tragedy to strike at some point. His family. His people. His home. All gone. All gone, by the command of a fair-haired captain who slaughtered and stole from his people. Consumed by bloodlust and revenge, Ragnvaldr promised to himself and those he lost that he'd get revenge. That he would kill that man with his own hands…

🏹 The Outlander certainly hadn't planned on making friends during his journey into the dungeons, but after coming across you in the courtyards, he found himself drawn to you. Years of experience and tragedy behind him left him with a certain amount of distrust toward others, but something about you lowered those walls, made him want to be by your side. And he had to agree with you - there was strength in numbers. It certainly made the trek deeper into the dark a lot less lonely and just a bit more comforting. It also helped that you were easy to talk to. When you had moments of reprieve, you'd talk about your life on the outside, what brought you both here, what your interests were… Ragnvaldr wasn't exactly ready to spill his soul and bloody past to you (not to mention the exact reason he was there), but… He was able to be himself around you. He talked about things he'd never had the chance to utter in so long. Hell, it'd been ages since he last really conversed with someone, and… Talking to you was both a comfort and a relief.

🍖 The deeper you delved and the closer you grew to one another, the harder and more desperate Ragnvaldr began to fight. This was no longer about just the Knight captain, this was also about protecting his newfound comrade. No matter how strong, skilled, or adept in magic you are, Ragnvaldr will encourage - or, all but force - you to stay behind him or hide to keep you out of the way of danger. It came to the point where he nearly killed the stray wolf down in the catacombs, if it hadn't been for your offering of rotten meat to quell the beast. All the more reason why you made such a great team! Ragnvaldr was a man of action, and someone who was able to step back and attack trouble from a different angle was refreshing and, much as Ragnvaldr loathed to admit, good for him. Good for the both of you, even.

🏹 The closer you grow, the more desperate Ragnvaldr's behavior becomes. He even goes so far as to begin devouring the bodies of enemies so as to allow most of the food to go to you, designating the rotten food to Moonless. He fights with even more determination and fury, not even daring to allow a chance for an enemy to get a hit on you. If you give any signs of wanting to part from him, Ragnvaldr will at first try to subtly redirect your or change your mind, but it won't be long until the Outlander will be begging for you to stay, threatening to harm himself or any allies you've met on your journey. He may even begin to align himself with Sylvian in an attempt to successfully become a marriage with you, if he really believes you'll leave him.

🍖 Whether Le'garde is alive or dead, it doesn't change the outcome. You knew full well by this point why Ragnvaldr is here, and whether you agreed with his methods or not didn't matter… He… He was your friend. He deserved closure. He'd beat Le'garde to death, until his fists were bloody and he was shaking with effort and spent rage. He'd keep going until Le'garde is unrecognizable. The floors, walls, Ragnvaldr himself… All covered with blood. Even if Le'garde was already gone, he'd brutalized the man's body until he's satisfied. Afterward, he'd acknowledge that the captain was good for something, at least - meeting you.

🏹 You are what soothes Ragnvaldr's tortured soul. You're all he had left now. You and Moonless. He couldn't just let you leave! Without you, there was nothing. No reason to go on. You couldn't part now! Meeting each other had to be fate. He could take care of you. Please? You don't think you could really just say no to him, do you? When he was strong enough to break all your limbs or saw them off, leaving you dependent on him forever. Please, just make this easy on yourself. On him. He's been through so, so much. He just wanted to have you. Love you. And he would do whatever it takes to make you realize you and he were meant to be. He'd been through too much to start taking the easy route now…

[vibrantbirdy]

No Survivors: Kylo Ren x Female Reader Fic

Title: No Survivors Fandom: Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Genres: Sci-Fi; Action/Adventure; Enemies to (almost) Allies; Hurt/Comfort; Romance if you squint Setting: Pre The Force Awakens Characters: Kylo Ren x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: 3k Warnings: Detailed (probably inaccurate) descriptions of injury/aftermath of injury (non-fatal impalement); descriptions of (probably inaccurate) emergency/makeshift medical treatment; mild descriptions of death from a crashed ship; mild sexuality; mild/canon typical swearing

Summary: You are Resistance fighter who has been captured. You are in transit aboard a First Order transport destined for an Imperial prison on the swamp moon of Delka 6. When a violent electromagnetic storm brings down the ship, you appear to be the only survivor. That is until you come across Supreme Leader Snoke's primary warlord, Kylo Ren, amid the wreckage. The volatile Ren is injured and you have to decide whether you can put your reservations aside to help him in the aftermath of the crash.

You open your eyes and your vison is blurry. Your head pounds. As the world languishes into focus, you realise that you are staring up at the clear night's sky.

But something is wrong. The constellations look strange tonight. Where is Sheyn's bow? And why does Terrin's saber have several stars missing from its hilt?

Slowly, you realise you are not lying on the soft grass in the meadow by your family's farm. Your sister is not here beside you. You are not laughing as you star gaze together and make up silly names for your own constellations.

Pekka's left knee. Channa's wonky nose.

You are not at home on Bakura at all.

Instead, you are wet through and frozen to your bones. You are lying in a marshy puddle, and sharp, thick reeds are stabbing uncomfortably into your flesh. Your saturated clothes are plastered unpleasantly to your cold skin. With each inhale, the damp smell of rot and sodden earth fills your nostrils. A cloud of tiny insects swarm around your face and bite at your skin, feasting on your blood. Then, you notice that your ankle is throbbing dully. You sit up to examine it, cringing and shivering as filthy bog water drips from the tangled mess of your soaking wet hair and down your back.

Not broken. Good.

The fuzzy outline of your memories start to take shape. This must be Delka 6, your destination. You remember the storm already raging as the prison transport juddered through orbit and into the moon's atmosphere. The sky alight with white fire flashing violently through the slit of a window in your cell. You hear the shouts and cries of others, the unholy metal screeching cacophony of the ship as rips itself apart around you spiral down helplessly into the black abyss.

You must have been thrown clear of the wreckage.

The transport had been moderately sized, equipped for long journeys with living quarters and communal areas for the Troopers and cells for twenty prisoners. Only six of these were filled by the time you reached Delka 6.

You didn't know any of them, at least not to begin with. But stuck with nothing else to do in a miserable cell for days on end, you'd joined in sharing tales through the bars with the rest of them. Stories of your family and friends and life before the First Order when you thought you might one day complete your medical training and become a doctor.

Your heart breaks for the lives lost. God speed rebels. Brave men and women of the Resistance, fighting the good fight, just like you.

That is until a botched recon job on a backwater world in the Outer Rim lead the First Order right to you...

You spot a flash of brilliant white a few meters in front of you, shocking against the grim landscape. You realise it's the helmet of a Stormtrooper, broken and smashed and sullied by the thick mud. You're surprised to feel a twang of of unexpected sympathy for the Trooper and his fallen comrades.

As you stagger to your feet, you wander aimlessly for a time, feet sinking and sticking in the marsh. Amongst the debris you come across the bodies of more Stormtroopers and fellow prisoners alike.

Here and there, fuel fires still burn ferociously, eerie little funeral pyres in the dark water.

Suddenly, a drawn out howl of pain and rage echoes across the marsh. You spin around, trying to pinpoint the location of the cry and spot a torn-off section of the transport.

You wade through the bog. It's unpleasant, especially with your aching ankle which complains as you have to rip it free of cloying, stinking mud with every step.

As you reach the remnant of the the vessel, you have to duck and weave under sparking wires and clamber over and under pieces of jagged metal. When you finally make it inside, the interior is surprisingly intact - an officer's personal quarters - and it's an odd and surreal juxtaposition to the hellish wasteland outside.

A tall young man, about your own age is half sitting, half lying on his bed. He is barefoot, clothed in simple sleeping attire of three-quarter length black pants and a loose long sleeved shirt.

He has a full head of thick, shaggy raven hair which falls in waves around his long, interesting face. His prominent, aquiline nose sits well with his other features - deep set eyes, full lips and a sharp well-defined jawline.

Under normal circumstances you would have considered him to be handsome, but you recognise him immediately even without his fearsome mask.

Kylo Ren.

You've heard the stories. Ren is Supreme Leader Snoke's formidable dark apprentice. Powerful with the Force, an elemental warrior driven by a mixture of blistering internal rage and radical First Order doctrine.

It all makes sense now. The strange, tense atmosphere between the Stormtroopers on the ship. They'd been so uptight, hardly deigning even to making a passing jest at the expense of their prisoners. All because Ren had been on the transport. Kriff knows why he needed to visit a backwater swamp like Delka 6.

Ren is propped up at an uncomfortable angle as if he has been interrupted while rising from the bed. Oddly, he is framed by a variety of metal spikes, as if the bed has been designed to resemble some dark, otherworldly throne.

After a moment, you realise that these spikes are actually durasteel rods from the ship's internal frame work. They must have slammed through the wall of Ren's sleeping quarters on crash impact.

With a jolt of horror, you suddenly understand that one rod is jutting upwards through his back and out through his left shoulder.

Ren is panting with exertion, breathing hard through his teeth. His brow is ridged in a deep furrow of pain. Sweat is dripping from tendrils of black hair into wild, anguished eyes and down his neck.

Sensing your presence, he looks up at you. His face is unguarded and softened by distress. In this moment, he appears disarmingly like any other young man.

"Please," he says quietly.

His tone is low and firm, but it is filled with a humility you don't expect. Still, you hesitate in the doorway, saying nothing. Your resolve solidifies and you stare coldly at him, wondering at the Universe's poetic sense of justice.

Ren's face hardens. Any hint of vulnerability present in his expression vanishes in an instant. His eyes darken like storm clouds as he comprehends that you are not going to help him out of his well deserved predicament.

He turns his attention back to the rod embedded in his shoulder . He puffs out his cheeks and gives a long, juddering exhale through his lips before wrapping two large, shaking hands around the pole and wrenching upwards.

It budges, but marginally, the slight movement serving only to send a new wave of agony tearing through his body. Ren snarls in pain and slams his head back against the wall in frustration, eyes squeezed shut.

After a moment, he plants both palms flat against the mattress and draws his knees up towards his body, positioning his feet flat on the bed below his bottom.

Your stomach lurches as you realise that in his desperation, he is going to try and push his body up and off the rod.

Kriff knows what he'll do to himself if he tries that and gets it wrong.

"Don't!" You shout out before you can help yourself, moving towards him instinctively, palms outstretched.

Ren looks up, narrowing his eyes and squinting at you, clearly startled to realise that you're still there.

You curse your medical training for kicking in automatically, but you know you can't leave him like this. As much as you'd like to. As much as it would be a fitting punishment for Snoke's war dog.

But you've made your decision. You stride over to him and put a hand on his heaving chest.

"Stop moving."

You are surprised as he immediately does as he is told. You look down into his pain clouded eyes and are surprised to find that they are not the black, emotionless pits you'd expected. There is a golden, amber light behind them and you realise that he really is just a man.

Climbing up on to the bed, you straddle Ren as if you are lovers. You rest a knee either side of his hips, sinking into the soft mattress and bringing yourself to rest gently on his lower abdomen. You are careful, but you feel his whole body vibrating with pain beneath you.

He looks surprised, but you ignore it. With how Ren is positioned and the need to avoid the other sharp pieces of metal jutting out dangerously from the wall, this really is the best and easiest way to assess the damage. You have a direct view of the exit wound in front of you, and you can appraise the entry wound in his back by leaning over his shoulder, all with a low chance of impaling yourself in the process.

Still, you can't help but feel a flash of satisfaction as his uncertain face flushes when you move around on top of him.

The placement of the wound is not the problem. There will be no permanent damage and Ren is extremely lucky that the metal didn't pierce a lung, or his heart.

If he has a heart, you think sourly.

The real issue, you realise, is that the pole is stuck fast through the back of the durasteel wall, gripped tightly in molten, twisted metal. No wonder he couldn't move it. You'll have to cut it and he'll have to pull it out in quick succession.

Now you know what you're working with, you grab the front of Ren's shirt and tear it open, revealing a chiselled torso. You can't stop the heat that creeps up into your cheeks and despite the pain he must be in, the most irritating ghost of a smirk flickers across Ren's face.

Now it's your turn to feel uncomfortable.

You strip him to the waist, carefully working the fabric away from the areas where the foreign element is impaled in his body.

"Where's your laser sword?" you ask.

"What?"

Ren speaks the word so quietly, but there is a sinister, cold edge to it. Suddenly the energy in the room feels heavy and oppressive.

"We need to cut this or you're not getting out," your words tumble from your mouth and you are furious that you've allowed this sudden change in his demeanour to ruffle you.

You clear your throat and the next time you speak, you've regained some composure.

"I haven't come across any actual medical equipment in this hell hole, so your lightsaber will have to do."

His expression is full of suspicion, but you hold his gaze defiantly. After a moment, he appears to acquiesce that he has no real choice.

"By the door."

He lifts his chin in the direction of the twisted sheet of metal that had once been the door to his quarters, and you see the weapon hanging from a belt on a hook on the wall.

Carefully, you extract yourself from Ren, trying not to hurt him further. It's difficult as the soft mattress bends and shifts under you. He places a big hand on the curve of your waist to help guide you and you try to ignore the glance that passes between you.

You walk across the room and unclasp the weapon from it's belt. You examine it, fascinated. The black hilt is an odd shape, roughly made, with its wiring exposed. It is far from the elegant thing you've heard described in the old tales of the Jedi Order.

But then, Kylo Ren is no Jedi.

You take up some of Ren's torn shirt, rip a length off and coil it into a something for him to bite down on. He looks at you, weary and resigned, before he takes it and positions it into his mouth, pliantly.

You make sure he understands that when he comes to pull the metal out, he must do it all in one go and make sure he follows the exact angle of the rod's path through his body.

You get him to sit up slightly. A growl, low and long resonates in his throat as he gingerly props himself up. The gap he has manged to make between his upper back and the wall is small, but you should be able to cut through the pole quickly without catching him with the blade.

Ren grips the base of the rod as close to the exit wound as he can. He takes a couple of deep, heaving breaths, clenches his jaw, then nods.

You flick the activation switch on the lightsaber's emitter and the laser roars into life, crackling and sputtering. You are suddenly overcome with an ugly feeling of power as you wield this deadly weapon. And you suddenly understand how vulnerable Ren is right now. Paralysed and defenceless before you. You could end his life in a second right here and no one would be any the wiser.

You'd be a hero of the Resistance... And a murderer and a coward for striking down an unarmed, wounded man.

So you don't.

Instead, you use the spluttering, fiery blade to quickly cut through the durasteel pole which impales Ren to the wall. The metal gives way like butter under a knife.

Ren doesn't hesitate. In one swift movement, he rips the pole from his shoulder as soon as you sever it. He gives a roar of anguish which hitches in his throat somewhere, and throws it across the room where it lands in a corner with a metallic clang.

Finally free, he leaps up from the bed as if distance from the place of his injury might help quiet the white hot pain flaring through his body. He staggers wildly and you step back out of the way, realising for the first time the enormity of his height. He collapses in a heap on the ground with a thud then rolls onto all fours, spitting the cloth out of his mouth.

Ren lets his forehead come to rest against the cool metal of the durasteel floor. He is gasping in deep, shuddering lungfuls of air, nostrils flaring with each ragged breath. You get the distinct impression he's trying not to throw up. His dark hair cascades about his face. One hand is pressed flush against the wound in his shoulder, the other, supporting his body weight, is clenching open and shut against the floor, fingers clawing at the metal tiles.

"Thank you," he utters, finally.

He doesn't move, he doesn't even look at you, but you are taken aback by the sincerity in his voice. He means it.

"Don't thank me yet," you snip coolly, "that's bound to get infected. Bacta spray?"

Ren shakes his head, although in his exhaustion, he doesn't bother to lift it from its resting place against the floor. The tip of his long nose graces the metal tiles with the movement. Ren is bleeding freely down his back and rivulets of crimson are seeping through his fingers where he is pressing against his shoulder. Bright red drops spatter on the metal floor.

You need to do something soon.

The hilt of Ren's lightsaber is still in your hand and you reignite it. Ren's head snaps up and you realise you've made a dangerous mistake by arming the blade without consulting him first.

You've heard stories about how he can hurt people, throw them about like ragdolls with just with his mind.

"We need to cauterize the wound," you explain quickly, "I can't see another option right now."

You think you see a shadow of panic cross his face, but he quickly composes himself and he nods once in reluctant ascent. With great effort, he pushes himself up to his knees and sits back on his heels. With resigned, laboured movements, he reaches out and picks up the throng of twisted fabric, placing it back between his teeth.

You move behind him. His shoulders rise and fall rapidly as his heart rate quickens and adrenaline surges through his body. Just a touch should do it, you don't want to cause more damage.

Grimacing with concentration, lightsaber feeling clumsy and unwieldy in your hand, you press the searing blade lightly against the entry wound in his back.

Ren throws his head backwards, muscles tensing down his long neck. A muffled scream escapes through the material in his mouth, but he doesn't move. He is gripping his knees tightly and you notice his knuckles are white.

You crouch down in front of him and prepare to cauterize the exit wound. He locks his gaze on you, the unstable red beam of his weapon dancing like fire in his golden eyes. He reaches out grasps the emitter, large hands coming to rest upon yours, enveloping them. His touch is almost gentle.

It's a silent plea for a moment to brace himself. It's back again, you realise, that sliver of humanity in his expression.

He inhales deeply, readying himself, then lets go of you. Without wasting time, you press the blistering blade against his shoulder once more.

This time he makes little sound, save for a low keening in his throat as he grits his teeth against the twisted length of fabric in his mouth. He keeps his penetrating gaze fixed on your eyes. You don't look away.

After it's done, you give him a small nod of approval and allow the trace of a smile to form on your lips. He did well.

You both sit down on the bed again and you set to work, using the rest of his tattered shirt to fashion a sub-par bandage which wraps around his wounded shoulder and across his muscled back.

"You're a medic."

It's not really a question, but a statement.

"I was," you say sharply, "before the First Order turned the hospital I was training at into ashes."

Silence.

You finish your work on his injury.

"There, try not to move it too much."

Once you've finished, he rises and you notice in alarm the way he towers above you. He looks down with an odd, appraising look on his face, as if he is trying to make a decision.

"Come with me."

You don't see how you can argue. You both clamber outside and you recoil as the stench of rotting vegetation from the swamp hits your nostrils. Still, you welcome the cool air on your face after the heat of your exertions and the metallic smell of Ren's blood.

"A rescue vessel will arrive soon," Ren states.

You say nothing. Some rescue.

"There is a settlement ten klicks west of here," he muses, almost casually.

"I came to look in to reports of a Resistance faction operating on this moon," he continues, "But having had the opportunity to thoroughly investigate, I will be able to report back to the Supreme Leader that this is no more than mere rumour. For now."

Ren turns to you. There is a smirk on his face and a spark of humour in his eyes. It makes his expression boyish and almost charming.

There it is again, you think. That light in the darkness.

You can't bring yourself to thank him. The words refuse to leave your mouth. But you do allow yourself to give him a reluctant half-smile of your own in return and an inclination of gratitude with a bob of your head.

With that, you set off across the bog and into the unknowns of Delka 6.

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

Kylo Ren watches as you limp westwards across the marsh. You disappeared into a cover of stunted trees and out of his sight.

Behind him, a Lambda shuttle descends. He holds the emitter of his lightsaber in one hand and his mask in the other, both salvaged from the wreckage.

Boarding the ship, Ren ignores the almost imperceptible turn of heads from the Stormtroopers who line the durasteel ramp as he traipses slowly up it bloody, filthy, shirtless and barefoot.

As he passes the Captain at the top of the ramp he utters two words in a flat, level monotone.

"No survivors."

[hiuythn]

Hi, how are you? If you don't mind me asking, what are your top 7 favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before...... Thanks....

hi! I'm doing great, thank you for asking! I haven't thought of a top 7 before so that's interesting to think about. hm...I guess it would probably be:

1. Haikyū!! (it's so simple but it's so good. I heard Furudate created it to get people into volleyball and I'm confident in saying that he succeeded. there's just something so refreshing about it, but underneath everything, it still manages to communicate a thoughtful message that where you are today is not where you'll be tomorrow, and that the journey brought on by your passion—while it may not get your end—still has meaning in its pursuit.)

2. The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Meatbun doesn't Eat Meat (xianxia danmei. my god, I went into this novel thinking it was another low-hanging fruit enemies to lovers type bait where the ML is basically abusive and the MC is a weak backboned twink, but no. no the story had me screaming, sobbing, and begging the author to stop because it hurt too much. I was in tears and I was laughing and I was in love and I was praying for them to be happy so, so bad. it's actually insane. NOTHING will beat how Meatbun managed to make me reconcile Chu Wanning's cold exterior with his soft heart, and Mo Ran's past life with his current one. I was actually baffled by how many fucking revelations, foreshadowing, and plot twists (that made sense and didn't come out of left field entirely) this book managed to have. Meatbun expertly weaved humor, tragedy, horror, mystery and romance all into one misleadingly-packaged book and I feel delightfully bamboozled.)

3. Turning by 쿠유 (Korean historical bl novel. Still reading this one, but the deep unspoken trust the MC and ML have for each other is really awe-inspiring, and they're also very competent at what they do. The relationships with their subordinates and allies are also really heartwarming. The plot is sufficiently interesting as well, and not just something cobbled together to make the characters kiss lol—not that that's bad intrinsically, but it can get old after a while.)

4. Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rock Riordan (everyone knows this one. I love it because I grew up reading it, and then reading it to my sister out loud with the voices and everything. I love an MC that just consistently doesn't know what he's doing and yet sees things through to the end, and whose motto is just "fuck it, fuck this, and fuck you". and again Percy and Annabeth have that "bantering duo who trust and balance each other out and are also very, very good at what they do" type relationship that I'm such a sucker for.)

5. Bleach by Tite Kubo (one of the Big 3 manga serialized back then. I'm down bad for the art, he's one of my favourite mangaka in terms of art style, and also it's nostalgic. I grew up watching ichigo fight through impossible odds with just his "fuck you don't touch my people" mentality. are you starting to see a pattern with me and protective, headstrong MCs? the cast of side characters are all pretty memorable, despite its growing size down the line and again, i love their designs. I know people gripe a lot about the plot and continuity errors, but I enjoyed it regardless—except for the accursed ending and Epilogue Dad Haircut..)

6. Montmorency by Eleanor Updale (victorian crime fiction novel. I was sent this as compensation in, like, 5th grade when the Scholastic Fair delivered the wrong order to me. I didn't expect to like it but it was surprisingly a good standalone read. i used to reread it loads but it's been about a decade now so some details are blurry, but i am very fond of it still.)

7. A Quiet Place (horror movie, though for me it's less horror and more of a family-centric movie. I'm awful with horror, I'm such a wuss, but this movie was so good with its character dynamics and the ending was so fitting that I couldn't help but rewatch it and have it engrained in my head. I haven't watch the other movies in this series and tbh I fully believe the first movie is sufficient on its own, not to say the other suck, I just have no urge to watch them. this movie was such a palate cleanser for me in cinema.)

thank you for your ask, had a lot of fun coming up with this list!

[theuniversesofuniversefalls]

“since Rex deactivated his tumblr some time ago, he sent his old UF finale fic to me to post here, as he wanted his goodbye to UF to not be lost”

Original post:

Consider this my farewell to Universe Falls. You don’t need to read it if you don’t want to, maybe this was mainly written for myself, but, well, I needed a way to say goodbye. Thank you, MiniJenn, for creating this fic that helped me through my teenage years. Thank you to everyone who made up its community. I will never forget you, any of you. I wish everyone luck, with every project they take on next. Atop the roof of the Mystery Shack, Dipper Pines looked to the sky, studying its clouds and patterns, pondering all he had learned and feared throughout his latest summer. Things would be different, from now on, he could tell. He wasn’t sure how, but… he knew, deep down, his journey, finally, was at peace. After all the suffering, all the fighting, he was victorious. He could be happy. And….

Dipper looked to his left, where Stonemason, now in his own body, was also sharing his look of contentment. They’d been enemies, reluctant allies, and now… friends? Clones? Brothers? It was hard to describe the bond they had, but neither of them would give it up for the world.

Stonemason caught his glance, turning his head towards his counterpart, his serious gaze melting into a warm chuckle. “Thinking about how everything will be different from now on as well, are you?” he asked in that voice, the one where you could never tell if he was trying to put on a vaguely British accent to sound smarter, or if that was simply how he naturally ended up speaking.

“I think so,” Dipper admitted, looking at the ground before turning his gaze to the sky. “I think…. I think we’re done, I guess? Like, as in all the threats are… gone. So, I-I think--” “That we won?” Stonemason said, cutting him off, gazing up to the sky as well. “… After every struggle, thinking back on them,” Dipper added on, trying to process his thoughts, “… its just…. why do I remember the good, instead of the bad? Like, I, we, w-we suffered, you know that. We suffered, and were in pain, yet now….. now, after all of it, … I just think about the Summerweens, the movie nights, and training days, the--”

“For once in my life I don’t want to know why, Dipper,” Stonemason replied, cutting him off once more. “I can’t place it either, but I’m happy to have faced it all, the good and the bad, with you, and everyone else.”

Dipper smiled, pulling his brother into a hug, looking out to the sky with him. Stonemason smiled as well, watching as the night sky began to roll in. One chapter has closed, and yet…. “And whatever comes next, no matter what, we’ll face it together as well,” they both said together, allowing their fears and pain to melt away. Goodbye Universe Falls, thank you for everything. If I ever need to check in, I know where to find your chapters, just west of wierd.

[triumphantfury]

So, rare pair ask! (Even though you never asked for this) What are your thoughts on Heather/Eret? I mean I think I saw hints of them in your Dance of Power Trilogy and so I think you're at least aware of the ship?

What head canons would you give them? How did you find out of this ship?

What would you rate them from squick/nOTP to OTP?

And the most important question of all: Do you think they deserve more fanfiction?

I think this ship would just be very sexy and so is your writing so I thought of you. Hope your having a great day, and that it gets better after you see this ask!

Thank you! I love this!

Yes, I am aware of the ship, and I have included it in the first two books in my trilogy (so far). I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and they never actually meet in canon, but I honestly always thought this ship was a good one regardless. I first stumbled across it in a fic on FFic.net forever ago. I can’t remember what the story actually was, and I don’t think I even read it all the way through as it was a little rough around the edges structure wise, but I do remember this ship standing out. It resonated enough with me that it was pretty much the ONLY thing I remember about the story. They absolutely need more fanfiction, imo! Lol

As for head canons…

Heather and Eret have such similar character personalities that it’s hard for me to not picture them together. Both of them are very able warriors with a heart of gold, who simply want to find a place they belong. They both have clearly defined baggage and difficult pasts. They both go through similar(ish) journeys as they evolve from untrustworthy enemy, to loyal ally and honorary member of the gang. Heathlegs never really made much sense to me in the long run, as they are just too different. Heathret seems to make more sense in my mind.

I see them being one of those disgusting couples that challenge each other constantly, but rarely actually fight. Unfortunately both of them seem the type to close up and run instead of communicating their feelings anytime a problem or conversation tweaks a painful nerve or memory, which is difficult for a relationship. Thankfully they are also both uniquely positioned to understand EXACTLY why the other is skulking off. I bet after any fight, one of them would probably hunt the other down and refuse to let them hide, while at the same time not forcing them to talk about it while they are both upset. Just holding them and reassuring them that they are here, and aren’t going anywhere.

I also see them coming to Astrid and Hiccup for advice, A LOT. The four of them would absolutely become ‘couples friends’ where they get together with their kids and have camping trips, and game nights, and family barbecues (something that I actually don’t really see Hiccstrid doing with Rufflegs). The four of them just click, and they compliment each other so well. I’d love to see fics of their family shenanigans as their kids grow and play and get into trouble together. I think it would be hilarious and adorable, and they would all have the most beautiful babies! OMG!

Lastly, I think Eret and Heather would be healthy for each other. Eret is a little more reserved and thoughtful, while Heather is a bit more abrupt and reactive, but they would both be fiercely protective of the other (and their kids). They would balance each other out, and could give each other the stable homes and families they so crave. Of course there would definitely be some struggles at first as they tried to figure out exactly who wore the pants in the relationship, but I believe they’d work through that eventually too.

Now you know where I stand. I’d be very interested to hear your opinions/head canons. Perhaps you could even write a short Drabble about one of those head canons… 😉 (no pressure of course, but your writing is quite beautiful so… 😛😅)

[amanda-lopez]

The Thrill Continues in Diablo 4 - A Tour Through Its Exciting Endgame Elements

The Thrill Continues in Diablo 4 - A Tour Through Its Exciting Endgame Elements

Diablo 4 is one of the most anticipated games in recent years, and for good reason. Its endgame content promises to be some of the most exciting and rewarding gameplay experiences in the genre. In this article, we will take a closer look at some of the key elements that make up Diablo 4's endgame content, and why they are so important to the overall experience.

The Endgame Starts Early: Leveling and Preparation

One of the great things about Diablo 4 is that the journey to endgame content starts right from level one. The game's progression system is designed to be both fun and engaging, with plenty of loot drops and tough enemies to fight. But at the same time, it's important to start thinking about endgame content early on. This means carefully considering your build, your gear, and your playstyle, so that you can start preparing for the challenges that await you down the line.

Challenging Endgame Content: Dungeons, Bosses, and More

When it comes to endgame content in Diablo 4, you can expect a variety of different challenges to test your skills. This includes top-tier dungeons that require careful planning and execution, as well as epic boss battles that will push you to your limits. But the game doesn't stop there - there are also countless side quests and activities to explore, making the endgame experience a truly immersive one.

Deep Customization: Skills, Runes, and More

To truly succeed in Diablo 4's endgame content, you'll need to master the game's deep customization system. This includes selecting the right skills for your character, as well as finding the perfect combination of runes, enhancements, and passives to complement your playstyle. But this is just the tip of the iceberg - the game's extensive crafting and itemization systems mean that you can create truly unique builds that reflect your personal style of play.

Community and Multiplayer: Making Friends and Teamming Up

Diablo 4 isn't just about solo play - it's also a great game for teaming up with friends and making new ones. The game's multiplayer features aren't just tacked on - they're an integral part of the endgame experience. Whether you're taking on a tough raid boss with a guild, or just running some quick bounties with a random group, Diablo 4's multiplayer systems make it easy to find new allies and build lasting relationships.

Conclusion

Diablo 4's endgame content promises to be some of the most exciting and rewarding in the genre, with challenging dungeons, epic boss battles, and deep customization options. But perhaps most importantly, it's a game that values community and multiplayer, making it a great choice for gamers of all backgrounds. So if you're looking for the ultimate endgame experience, consider giving Diablo 4 a try.

Reference: Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo 4. https://diablo4.blizzard.com/ 出处：NoneFrom its origins to its current uses, it has a rich history that is worth examining diablo 4 endgame content.

[autiezo]

6, 12 and 28 for the ask game :D

heyyyy Riem! Thanks for the ask :D

I used to care a lot about my YouTube stuff but not anymore lol. Not caring has been super freeing.

The best parts about being online are the fantastic fanart on stuff I love, and the wide variety of amazing comedy.

The worst part is seeing people argue about stupid celebrity drama I don't care for. Urgh. I'd literally pay money to never hear anything about USA singers against my will. AJR is the only exception, I love AJR so much.

Also billionaires should shut the fuck up about money, and just donate to the poor, and stop fucking around with humanity. Every time I see news about a billionaire, my mood gets soured for at least 10 seconds.

hmmmmm...

a) All that positive talk like "Be yourself", "The power of friendship", "Forgiveness and Love are the answer.".... I find that many people don't relate to them, because they are hurt. They are tired. They have been burnt too many times before. I was one of those, kind of, a little. I only started believing in goodness, when I was further along in my own healing journey. I only learnt it after years of therapy and emotional support from loved ones, and there's no shame in that.

b) To get people to change their mind, shaming or accusing them of being the bad guy is... a very bad idea. It almost never works. You'll instead need to meet them half-way, and try to understand their point of view first. Then you can structure your side of the discussion, in a way they can understand.

For example, I was homophobic when I was a teenager, so more than a decade ago. To be fair, I didn't know any better and only heard about LGBT from the bible and misguided christians. When people told me to fuck off or insulted me about my views, they didn't really explain why. Even if they did, they would have already lost me, because they viewed me as an enemy. Teen Zo's response to that was to double down, see the 'haters' as enemies in return, and then follow more extreme Christian stuff.

The way I was very slowly convinced to be a LGBT ally, was by people sharing their personal stories about their sexuality. By education that gave me the benefit of the doubt. By LGBT friends who weren't afraid to be themselves.

Of course, there will be people who will never listen to your opinions, no matter what you do. In that case, telling them to fuck off is incredibly justified. I'm just saying that a "Two strikes and you're out" system is probably better than instantly insulting a jerk.

c) If you are a teacher, don't punish your student for simply speaking their mind or asking questions. They're exploring and learning more about the world everyday, of course, they'd test the waters. You should only correct them when they are being intentionally disrespectful or malicious. However, most children don't really do that. It's much more likely that they're trying to have fun, or that they are parroting a phrase they don't really understand.

Treat the youth like humans, like your equals. Their opinions are valuable even when they sound silly at first. They'd respect you more in the long term.

d) Do not befriend fake people or those who like to talk smack about others behind their back.

e) The NSFW / porn online community is weird as fuck, and the number of creeps and gold-diggers on there are much, much higher. If you venture there, it's best to be a lurker.

Yes, there are good people, but it's still a dangerous place...

f) If you wanna get started with voice-acting, you can the Audacity audio editing and recording software. It's free and very useful. All you need is that app, and either a cheap microphone or good headphones with a mic, plugged into your computer.

g) For voice acting again: If you are trying out a new voice, and if your throat feels scratchy after a few minutes, stop using it. No new voice is worth sacrificing your throat for.

besides disco elysium fanart? Nope lol. Does my decorating Livly Island game count? Probably not

[canongf-archive]

Me reading the tags of your post: 😏 Oh? 😏

~ @nikkzships

ASDKJFLKASJDLKFA listen @nikkzships...

it was just really nice... like. he and i have only ever really talked in passing but this time we just connected. we talked for for like 5-6 hours straight. we were talking in a group with the rest of the party and then we kinda branched away and talked, just us. about tv shows and movies and sports and human nature and religion and politics and our passions and likes and dislikes and we opened up about how we both sort of feel like we're in a transition state, we talked about our fear and uncertainty of the future. it was like all very intimate and deep but at the same time it was really easy and natural and we laughed a bunch and i don't know! i don't know! it was really nice! also he's got dark hair and dark eyes and nice teeth and he's like 6'5... much to think about.

[itsmoonpeaches]

TW: mentions of racism

Why POC leave fandoms, an essay that for some f**king reason needs to be written

There is one thing that a person thinks of when entering a fandom: "What can I do in order to consume more content related to this piece of media that I enjoy?"

A fandom, at its core, is a community of people from all walks of life that happen to adore the same thing. First and foremost, there is pure, unadulterated excitement. What comes next depends on who you are and what you consume, and unfortunately, depends on what kind of people are in a particular fandom.

When I say "what kind of people", I don't mean demographics. I mean the kind of people that are either decent or not.

You might be surprised that I'm implying that there are indecent people in fandom. You might be thinking, "Media now is so much more diverse than it was years ago!" And thus you might additionally be thinking, "Since it's so diverse now that means fandoms attract diverse people! We're so inclusive now and so accepting. Everyone is decent."

Well, if you are one of those people, I envy you.

It's correct that media is more diverse and that more diverse people are active in fandoms, or at least are more open about being a minority in the general population. What might be hiding underneath all that? Racism.

Repeat after me: Just because a piece of media is diverse doesn't mean that its fandom is inclusive.

POC are being more represented now than they were in recent years, but there is a constant exodus of POC from the very fandoms they helped to cultivate.

Their cultures and practices are being white-washed, twisted to fit the benefit of fanfic authors or fan artists, and terribly misunderstood. POC characters are written or drawn in such a way that their identity as POC is eclipsed by the fact that they are suddenly someone they never were. And while it's OK to not know everything about ethnic groups and other minority groups, it isn't OK to ignore what they say when they point out that you are wrong in their portrayal.

Not everyone will be right about everything. Not everyone has the resources or the patience to research things, but there is something so wrong about pushing POC to the side and telling them that their views on their own cultures shouldn't be taken into consideration because it might not be part of the content creator's original plan. This is even more messed up when the original piece of media that the content was created for was either heavily researched or created by POC for POC.

That's not even the last of it. How POC react in fandom to media versus the rest of fandom is different and often criticized.

Take the storylines in media for example. (Spoilers I guess.) For this I'll highlight two:

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Fire Nation takes control of parts of other nations, perpetuating a war for 100 years. They try to wipe out other kinds of benders that aren't firebenders, and try to colonize. - POC often see the Fire Nation for what it is. That being a colonizer nation. They recognize the effects of cultural genocide, i.e. near-total genocide of the Air Nomads and the near-genocide of the waterbending culture of the Southern Water Tribe. Meanwhile, POC have been criticized and bashed for pointing out the Fire Nation's flaws, and for not loving the enemy nation the best.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Sam refuses to become Captain America at first and takes a whole journey to finally end up in a place where he realizes he can be. - POC, especially BIPOC, point out the significance of Sam's journey. He realizes the trust and enormity of Captain America's shield. He refuses it not necessarily because he doesn't think he's worthy, but because he doesn't feel right. He believes America isn't ready for a black Captain America, and that maybe, they don't deserve it yet. POC are criticized because they see this story and empathize with Sam. Meanwhile, the rest of the fandom hops on Bucky's side and claims that Sam had no right to do what he did because it wouldn't be what Steve wanted and Bucky understood this etc. while refusing to understand that Sam's reasons were because of the backlash and racism he thought he could face. (By the way, it was explained explicitly in the show that Bucky understood later on why Sam couldn't do it at first.)

This all ultimately leads to things like gaslighting, blatant name calling, and you know, actual f**king racism.

"You don't know what colonialism is," a fan might say to a POC fan in the same fandom. "You just don't get that XYZ character has a lot of mental health issues," another fan might say to a POC.

This leads to tone policing.

A POC might say something in a conversation like, "You're being racist and disrespectful. Stop it." But others in the same conversation might say things like, "I think we all just need to be nice. Can everyone calm down?"

All these things are a part of a complicated problem, a problem that is being ignored, just like POC are.

POC leave fandoms because of all of the above. They leave because no one listens to them, and even when they are listened to, they are threatened in a DM. They are tired and angry and hurt.

POC are afraid to speak out because when they do, they are sent triggering pictures in their inbox, asked to leave, told to hurt themselves, told to direct their frustrations with a racist individual elsewhere and not where everyone can see.

Just like everyone else, POC enter a fandom because they want an escape from real life. Yet, they are being confronted with issues that they already face on a daily basis in their real lives, and in many cases in a worse form.

POC stop wanting to speak out. Allies sometimes want to stop too. Why? Because it becomes dangerous.

It becomes a vicious circle. People say that there are no POC in fandoms. POC try to join fandoms, get harassed out, and then people repeat that there are no POC in fandoms. They want content from POC, input from POC...and then this happens again and again.

What exactly does a fandom want? Diversity? Because it sure doesn't feel like it.

[linkspooky]

Wild Tiger - Gojo and Yuji

If Megumi and Geto together represesent the black yin, then their respective counterparts Yuji and Gojo both embody the white yang. Thus, Yuji and Gojo as mentor and student are two characters who are very similiar in nature. Rather than passive, feminine,  yin standing in the shadows they both are active, masculine yang standing in the light. More on the foiling between Yuji and Gojo underneath the cut. 

1. The Strongest

There are a lot of similarities between both Yuji and Gojo you can point out right away. They are both light haired. They are both the more lighthearted person in the duo, the cheerful, silly ones in comparison to their dark haired more self serious counterparts. Yuji and Gojo both tend to come off as normal teenagers, they drop pop culture references, flirt with girls, read manga. If Geto and Megumi tend to be the more brooding ones, removed from the world around them and stuck inside their own heads it’s Gojo and Megumi who are actively taking part in the world as much as they can.

Basically, in any situation they’ll be the ones less inclined to take that situation seriously, whereas Geto and Megumi are prone to be the ones to take the situation too seriously. Despite the fact that Yuji and Gojo are the more childish of the duo and act like teenagers (Gojo acts like a teenager even as an adult, isn’t he impressive) and more prone to being emotional rather than overthinking there’s also a serious level of distance between themselves and their feelings. 

Gojo notices this about Yuji right away, despite the fact that curses are by some definition “alive”, Yuji doesn’t show any hesitation at all in fighting against them and killing them. It’s odd for what was a normal teenager before this point to act this way, to not even be a little scared by curses. Gojo marks Yuji out as one of the “crazy ones” like him right away because they both suffer from this disconnect between their head and their heart. 

Yuji and Gojo are parallel. Yuji’s craziness is Gojo’s craziness. They even go on similiar journeys before becoming the strongest. In the beginning of Yuji’s character development, and the flashback chapter for Gojo they both experience the same thing. First, a near death happens at the hands of an enemy. Until this point Yuji and Gojo have always been the strongest. Yuji has always been like olympic levels of athletic (for some reason), both Yuji and Gojo were always good at whatever they tried when they were younger and never tasted a serious defeat. 

That is until they experience their near-death and taste weakness for the first time. 

After this point they both flip. Rather than being humbled by their near defeat they become arrogant. Yuji’s flip is more literal, he flips from the dominant personality Yuji, to the other personality within him the curse Sukuna. Gojo, after unlocking the secrets of reverse jutsushiki and perfecting the unlimited becomes more arrogant. These moments are meant to be paralleled to each other, we’re supposed to see Sukuna’s arrogance in Gojo’s apparent flip after becoming the strongest because they both quote the same text “ Tenjou tenge yuiga dokuson. It means “Above heaven, under heaven, I am alone worthy of honor”.

These scenes are further paralleled, because they also fail to save someone. Gojo fails to save Riko, because he let Toji through when he promised Geto that he would cover his back as the strongest.

Yuji similiarly fails to save Junpei, after offering him a chance to come back to Jujutsu High with him and fight together. They also both fail to save the person they wanted to save for the same reason, because they failed to take the situation seriously enough and got sloppy. Yuji forgot Nanami’s warning to him to watch out for the patchwork faced spirit, and Gojo got so arrogant he dropped his guard around Toji.

After these failures however, Yuji and Gojo’s solutions is always to become prouder rather than to humble themselves. They always end up seeking out more and more strength. When Yuji loses Junpei, his response is to flip to being angry and killing Mahito. When Gojo loses Riko, his response is to go on a power trip. They always both double back on strength. This is a parallel to this. 

Which is why Gojo and Yuji click and get along so well, they think the exact same way, they both are convinced the solution to every problem is to just try to be the strongest so you will never lose. Yuji and Gojo have this weird understanding of each other, Yuji thinks Gojo is an admirable person and is always listening to him just because he’s the strongest, Gojo thinks Megumi should learn to swing for the fences more like Yuji. 

2. I Alone Am the Honored One

Yuji and Gojo’s strongest character trait is both their pride, the pride they take in themselves, the pride they take in being the strongest. However, pride isn’t a sin. It is for the both of them a strength and a weakness. Yuji and Gojo are both people dedicated to improving themselves, to lifting themselves up to be the best individuals they can be. While they’re obsessed with becoming stronger, they also use their strength pretty unselfishly. Megumi and Geto are both people who choose who to save. Geto only cares about sorcerers, Megumi only cares about what he arbitrarily deems as good people.

 Gojo is someone who is constantly working to save the masses, he does the most missions out of all the jujutsu sorcerers and is constantly busy exorcising curses for the sake of everyone to the point where his job is his whole life. He also, doesn’t just force everyone to submit to his strength by killing all the higher ups until he’s left. He’s not a tyrant. He works within the system to help people because he’s always choosing his actions along the lines of what will help the most people possible. 

Gojo and Yuji are both self centered people who use their strength in an unselfish manner, though for different reasons. Yuji is emotionally moved to helping people, and Gojo is tied down by using his powers responsibly. However, despite using their strength for the sake of other people they are also both strongest when they are alone and this is a weakness for them. 

They both make the same decision and the same mistake in the Shibuya arc, which is to run off ahead alone even when they have back up they could have waited for because they assume that everything will just be better if they handle it entirely by themselves.

Gojo goes all the way down to the subway alone and gets boxed. Every fight that Yuji faces alone in Shibuya arc (against a name character that matters) he loses. He loses to Choso, as a result of deciding to run ahead of Megumi instead of waiting for backup. He was completely losing to Mahito, and would have died had Todo not shown up to give him backup. Kamo Noritoshi Sr. even tells this to Yuji directly to his face, you alone are not enough. 

Yuji fails to get Gojo’s box back by himself, and once again has to be saved by people working together as a team, the Kyoto students led by Utahime (somebody Gojo dubbed as weak) showing up to interrupt the fight. Yuji and Gojo are both the most active characters always running off to save people, however strength isn’t enough to save people, especially when they’re acting alone. This leaves both of them feeling insecure, because they try alone, and fail alone, they believe that they themselves are not enough. 

These scenes once again are parallels. They try to save people, and then when they fail hold themselves entirely responsible. Their habit of acting alone also comes from this distance between themselves and their emotions which I described earlier. Yuji and Gojo only see themselves in their utility to the other people around them. Yuji has to be doing something in order to help others. 

Both Yuji and Gojo are consumed by what I am going to dub the “chosen one complex” where they have to believe there’s a reason that they’re given such tremendous strength. They have to use their strength in order to help others. Otherwise, why do they exist? Neither of them allow themselves to exist unless it’s in service of others. Yuji can’t live on unless he’s helping people like his grandfather told him. Gojo HAS to hold the whole Jujutsu World on his shoulders. 

In other words they see themselves and their relationships with others in this way. People can’t simply like Yuji and Gojo, they need to need them. Yuji is surrounded by allies because he is useful to them, because he’s strong enough to be around them. They see everything even themselves through the lens of strength. Nobody would want to be with them if they were weak. Geto didn’t like Gojo, they were only together because they were the strongest together.

If you’re not strong people will leave you behind. That is the only way Yuji and Gojo can comprehend their tangible connection to other people. That’s also why we see a similar emotional denseness for both Gojo and Yuji. It’s not that Gojo is uncaring, he does actually take notice of people’s feelings and tries to be considerate in his own way.

They both notice small little details about people while missing huge ones. Gojo noticed something was off about Geto because he was interested in him and observing him that close, but he took him at his words that he was fine when he was in the middle of his mental breakdown and was caught completely offguard by it. There’s an entire chapter about the small little details that Yuji notices about people. 

However, Yuji and Megumi fail at basic communication and are constantly hiding secrets from each other, the same way that Geto and Gojo once did.

They are at the same time extremely observant, and emotionally dense, and this is entirely about how they see themselves. Yuji and Gojo can only exist in service to others. They’re only going to be surrounded by people if they are strong enough. Which is why they also wish for what is exactly the same thing. Yuji wants to die surrounded by people, and Gojo wants allies that are just as strong as he is. However, they both go about it in the entirely wrong way. What Gojo wants is people who are as strong as him to be equal with him. However what Gojo needs is to emotionally open up to people and allow other people to be equals with him on an emotional level because they don’t need to pass some physical test of strength. 

Gojo and Yuji are both characters who want to be surrounded by people, and yet they’re always running off ahead of everyone else to die alone. That’s the contradiction about themselves they need to fix, in order to keep living as more well balanced people. That’s why they both need Geto and Megumi as the other halves of the equation, because they can’t solve it on their own. 

[alfredolover119]

I looooove your zukka rec lists! I recently became Avatar-obsessed, never got a chance to watch it as a kid and only just got through it all! I was wondering if you'd consider doing a specifically angst rec list? I love fluffy zukka everything, but sometimes you just gotta have your heart ripped out of your chest and put back in after being thoroughly blended.

thank you! i relate heavily to “recently became Avatar-obsessed” haha. as for the angst list, i sure can try! warning: all of these have happy endings because im a crybaby who can’t read unhappy endings. also, p much all of the fics in the completed section were featured on my other lists but this is specifically the ANGSTY ones >:^)

angsty zukka wips

first, most obviously, feels like we only go backwards by @oldpotatoe

-currently at 102k with 19/27 chapters posted; rated teen

-the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. the amnesia fic. you know. i haven’t actually read it yet because, as previously mentioned, i’m a crybaby and am waiting for it to finish up but, from my understanding, this fic will murder you in a dark alleyway with no remorse. if u like zukka angst, you’ve probably already read this, but just in case!

An injury leaves Sokka with amnesia. His last memory is of the failed invasion, of leaving his father behind in enemy territory on the Day of Black Sun. Of hopelessness. Rage. // But then he wakes up, and the war is over. Suddenly, he must come to terms with the fact that years have passed, and that he's somehow the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador to the Fire Nation. He is also supposedly friends with banished-Prince-turned-Fire-Lord Zuko, of all people. Close friends.

Yeah, nah.

and i’ll do anything you say (if you say it with your hands) by @goldrushzukka

-currently 38k with 6/8 chapters posted; rated mature

-holy shit. holy SHIT. modern au based on the “my cat likes my fuckbuddy and i am falling in love” trope(?). maybe it’s just because of how the last chapter ended, but oh my god. this one made me cry. made me want to commit violence. when it’s not angsty as hell, it’s pretty funny, but holy shit. ao3 user nebulastucky please.

It’s supposed to be a one night stand. Pick up some guy at a bar, barely remember his name and never learn anything real about him, send him packing in the morning with a thanks for the ride and a cup of coffee to-go. That’s how it’s supposed to go. // But then it’s the best sex Sokka has ever had, and he thinks he’ll hate himself if he never gets to have it again.

Violet Blossoms and Celestial Objects by @hollypunkers

-currently 15k with 2/? posted. rated teen.

-this is the sequel to blue (an angsty, zukka rewrite of book 2-- go read it if u havent!)! !! this is a book 3 rewrite. only two chapters in and mrs hollypunkers is really abusing the miscommunication tag, as zukka writers seem to enjoy doing. im excited to see how the world and story develops with the changes to the story! you should be too!! its very good! obviously spoilers for blue lmao

Having sided with the Avatar in Ba Sing Se, Zuko not only must navigate his new relationship with Sokka but returning to the Fire Nation as a banished enemy. His own journey of self discovery and personal growth must now coexist alongside the personal struggles of every other member of the Gaang as together they blaze a treacherous path toward an unsure victory against Zuko's own father and nation.

breakable heaven by @fruitysokka

-currently 71k with 9/11 chapters posted. rated teen

-swt ambassador zuko! soon to be chief sokka! fake dating ur best friend to get out of an arranged marriage! what could go wrong!!! i also haven’t read this one ((see: i’m a crybaby who is being hurt by too many zukka wips already)), but it has been hanging out in my marked for later for months. from what i understand, this fic has: angst.

With his twenty-first birthday looming just around the corner, the Southern Water Tribe Elders have decided that Sokka, next in line to be Chief, needs to get married. Sokka does not want that, but he does need to get them off his back until he can figure his way out of it. What better way to do that than to pretend to date his best friend (and newly minted Ambassador to the Southern Water Tribe) Zuko? // Seriously, this is a foolproof plan. Maybe one of Sokka's best. Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

angsty zukka fics (completed!)

(i’ll put these in wc order)

lighthouse beam by @incorrectzukka

-7k, rated g

-a modern college au!! zuko’s inner-monologue is very angsty in this fic. typical zuko. also per usual, theyre both fucking dorks. they sort themselves out in the end, but not before The Angst. zuko is semi-deaf in this fic and also he has a bit of internalized homophobia.

Sokka’s breathtakingly beautiful and he’s smart and makes other people laugh. Zuko has a half-burnt face and a deaf ear. It’s not rocket science. // Or, Zuko falls in love with the boy in his Philosophy class.

This Isn’t My Idea of Fun by @khaleeseas

-9k, explicit

-moon spirit/nwt prince!sokka, no war to be found here! admittedly this isnt THAT angsty but like. the angst IS present. zuko is still the prince. a lovely childhood friends (though they hated each other for a minute haha) to lovers story. 

If you asked Zuko, he and Azula saw far too much of Chief Hakoda of the Northern Water Tribe’s children growing up. It wasn’t until they were older, and Azula pointed out that - duh - their families were trying to set them all up, that he realized why. // He was told by his mother to be polite. These people were their friends and allies, and though their nations were as different as they came, harmony between nations was the most important thing. // It wasn’t his fault the Chief’s children were so annoying.

put your lips close to mine (as long as they don’t touch) by @celestialceci

-9k, teen

-modern au! zuko and sokka are college roommates. zuko goes to spend the summer with sokka. again,, not really that angsty but-- its there!! the detail and feeling of Home in this story make me happy. zuko is insecure as hell here too. if ur into that. 

Zuko hates his home. He likes college alright, but he likes Sokka even better, his assigned roommate turned best friend. Spending the summer with Sokka will be fun, a welcome change of pace he desperately wants. It probably won't awaken anything in him... right?

the thing about dancing by anodymalion

-9k, teen

-yes. this one right here officer. it makes my heart ache. also trans sokka! which is cool. but the zuko angst in this one. hurts me. not so much relationship angst as it is zuko learning he deserves happiness angst. i’m sure u know The Type.

The first time a attendant spills Zuko’s tea and doesn’t immediately fall to her knees, begging the Fire Lord’s forgiveness, it is not anger but a resounding warmth that fills his chest.

i could (never) give you peace by @zukkababey

-10k, mature

-OUCH. OUCH OUCH OUCH. boys please learn to communicate im begging u. also zuko.. zuko, dude. as the tags of the fic say, hes “really going through it” in this one. YOUCH. post-canon.

Zuko almost said it. He almost said the words I think I’m in love with you, but he choked them back down at the last second. // Zuko would never be able to be what Sokka wanted. They might have needed each other during the summer, when two boys with too much weight on their shoulders found comfort in each other in the only way they knew how. // But now Zuko was Fire Lord, and Sokka was leaving.

this love burns so yellow (becoming orange and in its time, exploding) by @meliebee 

-18k, teen, major character death 

-i lied. THIS is the one, officer. found family.. good mai and zuko and toph friendships.. . ozai escapes prison and tries to overthrow zuko. OBVIOUSLY angst ensues. poor boy. he Does heal in this but it gets worse before it gets better. angst angst angst angst.

Ten months after Zuko is crowned at seventeen, he faces his first coup.

Anything for You by beersforqueers

-23k, explicit

-istg. this is probably one of my favorite zukka fics. its PAINFUL. modern au where theyre broken up but sokka hasnt told his family yet so zuko goes home with him for kataang wedding. a bit smutty, but the plot oh my god ohgm y fuvk. made me cry the first time i read it. (see: crybaby!me) insert that one picture of the horse with the caption PAIN. 

In which Sokka and Zuko have broken up but Sokka hasn't told his family yet. So when Katara and Aang's wedding weekend rolls around and he doesn't want to break Gran-Gran's heart, he asks Zuko to pretend to be his boyfriend for one last weekend. // Things don't go as planned.

Moving Mountains by @thefangirlingdead

-64k, mature

-so. when i read this the first time it was in one sitting. soulmate au set within canon era / the comics, to an extent. soulmates can hear each others thoughts. i will happily say this is slowburn, jesus christ. champagne without the cham. 

Soulmates are chosen by the spirits and can hear each other’s thoughts. Sokka thinks it’s cheesy and dumb. Zuko thinks it’s poetic justice that he doesn’t have one because he doesn’t deserve it. Cruel irony is finding out that the prince of the Fire Nation (and the person currently hunting you) is your soulmate.

In the Soft Light by @voidcenturyscholar and @romancedawning

-83k, teen, graphic depictions of violence

-moon spirit!sokka living in the northern water tribe. zuko is sent to the northern water tribe as a cultural liaison. iroh is the fire lord but while he is away taking care of lu ten after his injury ozai steps up. i cannot express how many emotions this fic made me feel. background yuetara. i would almost say found family?? but. anyway. plenty of angst to spare here with a healthy dose of enemies to friends to lovers.

As the newly appointed cultural liaison to Northern Water Tribe, Zuko is the first Fire Nation Citizen to step foot inside the city's walls in nearly a century. He's determined to prove himself—to the Fire Lord and to his father—even if the Water Tribe's spirit-touched prince seems to want nothing to do with him.

That Midnight Sky by @zukkababey

-103k, teen

-now now now. tms... modern college au where sokka agrees to tutor zuko in physics because zuko has to maintain straight a’s and physics is just not doing it for him. so. thats cool but THEN azula moves in, randomly, with zuko. to hide the fact that sokka is tutoring zuko, they fake date! what could go wrong!! the mutual pining in here combined with the angst... wonderful, tasty. everyone read it rn. also SLOWBURN 

In Zuko’s strict family, needing a tutor is just about the worst thing you could do. Failing a class, however, is even worse. The only rational solution? Take up Aang on his offer to find him a physics tutor and have Sokka—beautiful, smart, handsome Sokka—tutor him in secret. // When Azula’s arrival threatens to reveal Zuko’s secret, it’s up to Sokka to convince her this definitely isn’t what it looks like. See, he’s actually… Zuko’s… boyfriend? // Hmm. There’s no way this could get complicated, right?

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

Fave 1D fics?

Hello! This was very fun to put together and I really enjoyed my journey down memory lane in doing so🤗 Full disclosure, this list is all fics from 2016 or earlier bc I stopped regularly reading fic around then, but these are my very favorites. These are all either AO3 or PDF links because some have been deleted, and I'm sure I'm missing some (it's hard to keep track when so many have been deleted and my AO3 bookmarks are not as comprehensive as they could be). Happy reading, friend!

Wear It Like A Crown (zarah5, 141k, E): The first fic I ever read in this fandom and it remains my very favorite to this day! Royalty AU in which Louis is part of a team of PR fixers hired by the royal family to spin a photo of Prince Harry getting some with his bestie, Zayn. Enemies (ish) to friends to lovers, grand gestures, tragic backstory, and remarkably well-written communication issues. Zarah is one of the most beloved fandom authors and has written some classics, but this one is my personal favorite.

These Inconvenient Fireworks (mdasch & everydaysalike, 190k, E): The OG fandom classic for a reason. Louis is a drama teacher and Harry, an aspiring photographer, starts coaching soccer football at the same school part-time. Friends with benefits ensue, but there's a lot of angst as they try to figure out what the fuck they're doing and what they really are to each other. Major OT5 feels, funny as hell, heartbreaking - it's everything you want in a fic.

Allies in Heaven, Comrades in Hell (rockinaintnowalkinthepark, 265k, E): Catholic school AU. God, this one just punches you in the dick. I love it so fucking much. Louis and Harry are classmates and Louis realizes he's really into Harry. Unfortunately, his father is violently homophobic, and when he and Harry get together, he's terrified of the possible consequences. Major warnings for violence and homophobia, so if that's not your cup of tea you might want to stay away. I however am a sucker for angst with a happy ending and this fic delivers.

And Down the Long and Silent Street (whimsicule, 89k, M): THIS! FIC! God. I love it so much. Historical AU - Victorian England. Louis is selling newspapers on the London streets when he crosses paths with Harry, a wealthy young gentleman. They start an affair and fall in love, but unfortunately, a serial killer on the London streets is targeting poor young men - in particular, as it turns out, Louis - which complicates things. Plotty, heavy on the hurt/comfort, and keeps you on the very edge of your seat. I reread this one all the time.

Pull Me Under (zarah5, 140k, E): Another Zarah fic and also incredible. This one features Louis as a professional footballer trying to navigate coming out. Liam is Louis' agent, who suggests he be in a long-term relationship to ease the coming out process. Luckily, Liam's boyfriend Zayn has a friend named Harry who'd be perfect as the fake boyfriend. Fake relationship ensues. Beautifully written, also a classic.

Butterfly Gun (eravain, 100k, M): 1940s AU, set around WWII. In 1940, Harry and Gemma were evacuated from London to stay at the Tomlinson farm. Harry and Louis become friends, but as they grow up and learn more about themselves, there's the possibility for something more - except Louis' grandpa is a dick. Harry and Gemma are sent to another home to stay, and after the war, Harry goes back to see Louis in an attempt to rekindle their relationship and see what's actually there. Beautifully written and clenches your heart in the best way.

Coax the Cold (mediawhore, 86k, M): Another Victorian AU, this one featuring professor!Louis, whose focus on the supernatural has resulted in professional ridicule. He stumbles across ads for a circus sideshow that supposedly has a mermaid, so he goes undercover as an employee to obtain proof of the mermaid's existence. He definitely obtains proof, but his goal shifts as he gets to know said mermaid (Harry, obviously) and instead of proving his existence, he needs to free him and keep his secret to protect him.

College AU series (whoknows, 75k, E): This is a two-fic series that's just fun. In part 1, Harry and Louis are in an epic prank war - well, at least Louis is engaged in a prank war, while Harry calmly retaliates. Louis is a fucking menace in this one which I just adore. Dialogue is NEXT LEVEL. Friends with benefits (or at least, that's what Louis thinks it is) that (obviously) becomes a relationship (which is what Harry has thought it was the whole time). The last scene (before the epilogue) is one of my favorites in any fic. Part 2 is pretty much more of the same - sex, banter, and planning for the future.

Give Me Truths (iwillpaintasongforlou, 110k, E): This fic HAS. IT. ALL. College AU! Hurt/comfort! Punk, confident, psych major Louis! Sad Harry! I just! Love it! In this fic, Harry is in an abusive relationship and Louis helps him gather the strength to leave his abuser. In the process, they end up falling in love, and Louis helps Harry regain his confidence and self-esteem. I love this one especially because it was written at a time when the common fic trope was that Louis hates himself and Harry is the manic pixie dream girl who makes it better, so the role reversal in this fic was very refreshing. But it's also just such a good story and so well-written. (And again. PUNK LOUIS.)

Relief Next to Me (dolce_piccante, 333k, E): Okay. This fic is a MONSTER. It's really just 333k words of slice of life as baker!Harry and graphic designer!Louis become friends with benefits and then fall in love. I read this as a WIP (which I rarely do) just because there's barely a plot, they're just having a great time living life and having sex. Chapter 17 in particular is my comfort reread, I just love it SO MUCH.

Love Is a Word, You Gave It a Name (hattalove, 21k, T): Pure fluff, canon compliant. It's Christmas time and the boys are celebrating with their families and each other and getting ready to take a major step in their relationship - that is, publicly coming out. OT5 and family feels all over the place. This fic just gives you such warm and fuzzy feelings and I always smile the whole way through reading it. Also features a reunion with Louis' infamous geography teacher and also him being jealous of Ed Sheeran's cat.

Soft Hands, Fast Feet, Can't Lose (dolce_piccante, 113k, E): College AU in which Harry is an (American) football star for a Texas university and Louis is a dancer at the same school. In everyone's favorite 90s teen flick trope, Harry's friends bet that he can't get Louis to fall in love with him. You can guess how this plays out. It's very fun and especially good to reread during college football season.

[theuncommoncorner]

Random Naruto Soulmate AU

(Naruto x Female Reader)

Note: I found this chilling out in an unknown corner of my Google Drive. No idea what this was for. If this was for someone I'm sorry! If it wasn't for someone, please enjoy!

I don't know if this was for a headcanon request or scenario and I can't even find a related message in my email.

Sidenote: You can connect asks to your email so you never lose anything. Luckily, I haven't had things disappear like others. 🤔🧐

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Soulmates can feel each other's emotions through a mental connection. Some can see and even converse with them via dreams but it is extremely rare.

》♡》♡》♡》

Naruto knew she was there. He could feel the small trill of her emotions. He wished he could know what she felt all the time but that only happened when someone found their soulmate.

He reflects on their interactioms during the Pein arc and afterward.

He was grateful he still had a grip on her in his dreams during that time. He couldn’t, and still can't, see her face but he’s just happy he had her presence there.

They’ve been able to communicate in broken sentences that come out as whispers. No matter how wide he can see her mouth open all he can hear are whispers. Her voice is quiet and soft like the small trill of emotions he feels everyday.

He cherished those conversations they had. He wished it would have been possible when he was younger but his anger and hate for the people in the Leaf Village consumed him as a child. He remembers when he first felt her emotions and that gave him hope. That someone cared for him. Someone that was meant for him. The nobody. The screw up. The goofball shinobi.

He looked forward to those conversations whenever he took a nap or laid to rest for the night, but then his training started. He had to get a handle on the Nine Tails and barely had time to rest. He missed her. He missed her voice. He could still hang on to the small trill of emotions though.

It was weird but he felt her while speaking with his mother. It was like a constant buzzing behind him. Like she was actually there with them somehow. His mother took note of his slight distraction and told him to hang on to that buzz. Having a soulmate while handling the Nine Tails made it much easier for him.

Talking to his mother about everything was a lot. Being able to talk to her about his soulmate gave him hope. She thinks they truly were meant to be together. She’s never heard of someone being able to contact their soulmate in dreams.

Naruto wanted to sit and reflect on what he was told. He wanted to at least have time to himself for even a minute but then they had to fight Kisame. He hoped there would be a short amount of time but then they had to head to the battlefield to fight a war.

For some reason the dreams stopped. He couldn’t reach her. The small trill was weaker. All Naruto could do was defeat their enemy and hope.

=-=-=-=

Naruto sighs while sitting in Kakashi-sensei’s office. He would come there to think in the corner when something was bugging him and Kakashi knew from the way his mood had turned after the war what was bugging him.

Kakashi gives Naruto a long side glance. He’d been there all day. Kakashi knows that having to watch all of his friends find their soulmates so easily made it worse.

Kakashi gives him a special mission to go and find his soulmate. He wrote it up as a search and rescue 'mission' to keep close ties with other villages. Make them see that the Leaf is still an ally post-war and that they want to spread good faith between the main villages.

Naruto knew it was a weird way to word the mission but he didn’t question it.

Kakashi told him, "Go find them and be happy. I hate to see one of my students look so heartbroken all the time."

Naruto sets out and it's a good 7-8 months of traveling, seeing old friends in other villages, and enjoying different ramen varieties. His hair is a bit longer and he looks handsome as hell! (SCREW THE BORUTO HAIRCUT. I SAID WHAT I SAID)

He starts to doubt the entire journey because he hasn't seen her in his dreams and hasn't felt that small trill of emotions. He thinks that maybe something happened to her during the war.

Naruto decides to go to the Sand Village next to see Gaara, they are the greatest BROtp after all. While walking through the entrance he feels it. He feels her emotions but it's like a strong gale. An invisible force that mentally rocks him.

After recovering he heads straight to the Kazekage's office like planned but he's going to ask Gaara and his partner about it.

We all know Gaara has Naruto's back so he helps him but then his s/o gets roped into it which causes his s/o to get Temari and Kankuro roped into it.

Naruto is rightfully fired-up about it all. Why couldn’t he feel her emotions until he got there? Was something wrong?

Unfortunately, for Naruto the feeling of her emotions doesn’t change. It stays strong and it's a constant feeling, like someone holding a taut rope.

This poor child, he can barely sleep. His soulmate is somewhere in the village and he can't even narrow it down or speak with them through dreams.

He gets AGITATED and the Sand Siblings can tell as the days go by. (Our poor sweet sunshine boy. 😭)

He's hanging out with Gaara after they ate dinner at a local restaurant. They'd been searching for two and a half weeks at this point and Temari suggested they take a little break for the night.

Naruto sighs, "maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow."

He breaks off from Gaara and heads to his temporary quarters, but he suddenly feels her emotions. The same strong force of emotions hits him hard. Right as Naruto reaches up to caress the side of his head he roughly rams into someone, and starts to fall forward on top of them.

Mid-fall Naruto places his hand behind their head to cushion their fall.

They both start to apologize until Naruto pushes himself up a bit and--

"It's you!"

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

person who left the "Impulse & Skizz as the final 2 in 3rd life or Impulse kills Skizz for knowing too much" prompt here. Just read your latest fic so could you do the one where the final 2 are Impulse & Skizz? Thx ^^

thank u so much for asking for this. it became quite self-indulgent but i hope it’s still good :D

cw blood, suicide

…

“Martyn!” cries Skizz, seeing his friend and only remaining ally stumble into Dogwarts, a bloody wound in his chest.

He dashes forwards just in time to catch Martyn as he stumbles. As he lowers his friend down, he inspects the wound. It’s clearly a stab wound, and it’s been bleeding for a while.

“Martyn, oh my gosh…!” Skizz’s voice cracks as he cradles Martyn in his arms. “Stay with me, Martyn! Stay with me!”

“I don’t have long,” rasps Martyn, his face pale. “S-Skizz, listen-”

“You gotta stay with me! W-We gotta win this together!”

Martyn weakly shakes his head. “I’m d-done for. Skizz, please… Impulse is on his w-way here. You gotta kill him. End this.”

Tears spring to Skizz’s eyes. “I… I can’t lose you, Martyn…”

“I’ll b-be okay,” Martyn whispers. “I’ll be with R-Ren again. G-Good luck, Skizz. Thanks for e-everything.”

“No…”

Martyn’s head falls back, his eyes closing. But it’s the buzz of Skizz’s communicator that confirms what he already knows.

InTheLittleWood was slain by impulseSV

His only remaining friend and ally is gone.

Skizz hangs his head and cries, hugging Martyn’s body close to him. They were so close to winning this. Two vs one; it should’ve been so easy. They could have won this together. They SHOULD have won this together.

They were so close…

Finally, Skizz gently lays Martyn’s body down and shakily stands up, his hands and armour smeared with blood. He takes a moment to wash them clean in the pond, before collecting everything he could need for the final fight.

There’s only two people left now. Just two. Skizz…

…and the friend who betrayed him.

After enchanting some fresh diamond armour, using the Renchanting table for the last time, he climbs the ladder onto the wall of Dogwarts, equipped with Martyn’s shield, Ren’s axe, and Etho’s bow. It helps to have a part of them with him as he enters the endgame. He can feel their presence, their strength, cheering him on. With the prospect of either killing or being killed by his best friend looming over him, it makes him feel a little braver to have this extra strength.

After several excruciating minutes of waiting, Skizz spots a figure coming towards him from the direction of BigB’s house, down the mountain. Its pathing is too specific to be a mob.

This is it.

Skizz nocks an arrow and aims it at the figure. If he can get a shot on Impulse here, he might be able to gain an advantage.

Impulse gets closer.

Skizz doesn’t shoot.

Impulse gets closer.

Skizz can’t bring himself to shoot.

“Hey, Skizz,” says Impulse, stopping close enough to the wall that a shot from here would kill him. “How’s it going?”

“You here to collect the full set?” snarls Skizz. “Killing Ren and Etho wasn’t enough for you, huh? You just had to take Martyn from me too.”

“I’m not gonna back down now, Skizz. Not after everything I’ve done to get here.”

Skizz’s grip tightens on the bow, causing Impulse to let out a laugh. “C’mon, do you really want to fight me?”

“Of course I don’t, you jerk,” whispers Skizz shakily. Louder, he says, “I’m not gonna back down either. I’m gonna beat you for Dogwarts.”

“Dogwarts is meaningless,” scoffs Impulse. “A fake kingdom with a fake king that’ll die as soon as this world does.”

“Ren was more of a king than you were of a friend!” Skizz snarls back. “Ren, Martyn, Etho — they’re all better people than you!”

“Really? Then why are they not here now?”

“BECAUSE YOU MURDERED THEM!!!!”

Skizz’s roar shatters the otherwise quiet air and he lets his arrow fly. It glances off Impulse’s armour and does no damage, but Impulse stumbles back anyway, clearly taken by surprise by Skizz’s unexpected attack.

While Impulse is distracted, Skizz leaps down from the wall and charges at him with his — Ren’s — axe. Impulse only just manages to raise his shield to block the attack, but he’s off-balance and Skizz’s strike shoves him backwards.

Impulse’s cry throws Skizz off guard. For a brief moment, he feels the urge to rush over to his best friend and make sure he’s okay.

But then Impulse recovers and charges at him. In his haste to get away, Skizz forgets his shield and simply dodges to the left, but Impulse’s own shield catches him in the jaw, causing him to taste blood in his mouth.

“You’re so annoying!” Skizz growls.

“Good. So are you.”

Remembering his shield this time, Skizz blocks Impulse’s next blow and lashes out blindly with the axe.

Impulse screams as the blade digs into the exposed part of his arm. It’s not a deep cut but it’s enough to throw him off.

“The Red Winter Axe finally tastes enemy blood,” says Skizz triumphantly, as if the spirit of Ren is giving him the words.

“You’re so PATHETIC,” Impulse snarls, clutching his arm.

“GOOD!” Skizz screeches back. “SO ARE YOU!”

Clearly now infuriated, Impulse resumes his attacks.

Normally, Impulse would be much better at PVP than Skizz. But 3rd Life has changed something in both of them. They’re both exhausted, but it’s more than that. Their motivations have changed. Impulse has done so many bad things; he’s lost himself, and it reflects in his fighting style. Whereas Skizz has improved, and he has something to fight for. So now they’re on more equal footing.

Finally, Skizz finds himself fighting extremely close to the edge of the hill, at the bottom of which a river flows at its deepest part.

But as Skizz tries to move out of the way, Impulse charges again and in his haste to dodge, Skizz loses his balance. He grabs hold of Impulse’s wrist as he topples backwards, bringing his former friend with him. The two both lose hold of their weapons as they tumble down the hill towards the river.

Skizz lands heavily but cleanly in the water and sinks rapidly. The shock of the impact stuns him — not for long but long enough. He struggles to swim upwards but his strength is almost gone. The utter exhaustion is finally catching up to him.

As Skizz sinks further down under the water, he can’t help thinking that this is it. This is how he’ll die. The coldness of the water grips him and pulls him down, weakening him. He’s about to run out of air. This is the end…

…

No.

It can’t end like this.

It won’t end like this.

Pushing off against the bottom of the riverbank, Skizz breaks the surface of the water with a loud gasp, taking in a gulp of oxygen. He manages to swim to the edge of the river and climb out. His chest and limbs are aching but he knows he can’t afford to stop now. He crawls away up the hill, choking and gasping for air, not daring to even look back. Every bone in his body is telling him that Impulse is right behind him, about to kill him in one shot. The bloodlust, the drive to win, it’s all coming to a head.

But just as Skizz reaches the top of the hill, his communicator buzzes.

impulseSV drowned

Skizz has to read the message no fewer than a dozen times before he properly realises what it says.

Impulse is… dead. He’s gone. He must have hit his head when they landed in the river, knocking him out.

After a while, Skizz lies down on the ground, his chest heaving with shallow breaths. He doesn’t know whether to cry hysterically or be relieved. Impulse’s death was indirectly his fault, considering he’s the one who caused the two of them to fall into the river. If he had noticed his former friend’s predicament sooner, maybe he could have saved him. Should he have tried to save him…?

But then he remembers the way Etho’s voice cracked when he talked about how Impulse had betrayed him. Ren’s scream as Impulse buried his axe blade in his chest. The sight of Martyn bleeding out in Skizz’s arms.

He pushes himself up off the floor and, exhausted and almost completely out of energy, limps over to his cracked shield, lying where he had dropped it. Picking it up, he turns his face upwards and lifts the shield to the sky. A triumphant gesture devoid of triumph.

“For Dogwarts,” he rasps.

This gesture drains the rest of his strength and he drops to his knees, head spinning, the shield falling to the ground beside him. He’s fought so hard for so long. All he wants now is to rest.

He manages to pull himself to the edge of the hill that has no water at the bottom. It’s time to finally end this, once and for all.

Skizz straightens up and takes a final deep breath. Holding the Dogwarts banner tightly in his hand, he leans forward and lets himself fall.

Skizzleman fell from a high place

And with the final death notification, broadcast to a world of ghosts and memories, the 3rd Life journey comes to an end.

[hello-that-happened]

How She-Ra, Wrong Hordak, and I Deconverted in Six Steps

Alright y'all, it's time for my fourth essay exploring how She-Ra and the Princess of Power (SPOP) used Christian themes and parallels to provide a humanist message.

My first post named 9 major messages of SPOP that contradict Christian fundamentalism.

My second gave the historical context of how our generation and Noelle's are growing up to overthrow Christian fundamentalism after it became such a powerful enemy in the U.S.

My third discussed the parallel between Horde Prime’s rage at Hordak’s self-naming and the Christian idea that everyone is an instrument of God’s will.

Now I want to discuss how Adora's and Wrong Hordak's journeys defections from the Horde parallel my story, and potentially others', of leaving Christianity. Adora and Wrong Hordak experience many of the same stages in his journey out of the Horde as many ex-Christians experience leaving Christianity.

My own experience leaving Christianity was a journey into atheism, so I will interpret Adora's and Wrong Hordak's stories through that lens. Plenty of people who left toxic/conservative Christianity behind still believe in God, in heaven, and/or in the value of Christian communities. I do not want to minimize or dismiss their experiences, and I welcome progressive Christians as allies in the fight for LGBT+ rights and social justice generally. But when I watched Adora and Wrong Hordak leave their belief in The Horde behind, I saw myself leaving Christianity behind. I want to tell my story through/alongside theirs. I hope some of you can relate, but it is okay if you cannot, regardless of your religious beliefs or lack thereof.

Deconversion in Fast-Forward

Adora, Wrong Hordak, and I escaped from the organizations that raised us and its worldview in six somewhat-distinct stages:

Multiple major characters' arcs in She-Ra begin with rethinking their loyalty to The Horde. Wrong Hordak and Adora both lose their faith in The Horde after a lifetime of indoctrination into its ideals and goals. Their journey away from The Horde mirrors many young Americans' away from Christianity, with at least one notable exception: time. Deconversion takes multiple years for most ex-Christians, but only takes a few days for Adora and Wrong Hordak. Their de-conversion basically represents a speed run of most ex-Christians'.

Full Breakdown of Each Stage

(tw: mention of depression and suicidal ideation)

Adora takes delight in pretending to beat up an imaginary princess in the show's first scene, and later calls princesses "violent instigators who don't even know how to control their powers." She believes in the ideals of The Horde, and feels excited to rise through the ranks to become Force Captain. Obedience to Horde authorities comes fairly naturally to her, and she even chides Catra for being "disrespectful."

Wrong Hordak consistently repeats his loyalty to Horde Prime throughout his first episode and beyond. Even while being attacked by his fellow clones, Wrong Hordak affirms that "We serve Horde Prime's will." Unprompted in the next episode he happily announces, "I believe in Horde Prime!"

I felt proud, as a kid in Sunday School, that I could answer more questions about the Bible than any of the other kids. My church's youth group was the most enjoyable part of my middle school years especially because I got to hang out with the guy I only recently realized I'd had a huge gay crush on. I started viewing "feeling happy" and "feeling the presence of God" as identical. I wrote in my 2011 "Faith Statement" for my church's Confirmation that "I fell in love with God," and that "I thank God that I was born into a good Christian family and was raised to honor God."

Adora is kidnapped by the Horde's enemies and taken away from her home, separated from all of the voices reassuring her that The Horde is a good organization with a just mission. Shadow Weaver is not around to give her orders or map out her future anymore, leaving her alone with her enemies and her thoughts.

Wrong Hordak's connection to the hive-mind he knew for all of his life is severed. "I am…alone?" he asks in shock, then breaks down and cries, "I am alone!" For someone who grew up living in the same mind as his entire communal "family," suddenly losing that connection to everyone he knew would be traumatizingly shocking. The best equivalent I can think of in human experience is being suddenly ripped away from your family and community and then never seeing them again.

I kept conflating happiness with my faith in God for years, even after my crush moving away drove me into suicidal ideation for a couple weeks in 2011. My mental health recovered for a year before settling into a long-term depression in 2012. Because I conflated happiness with the presence of God, my depression felt like something had taken away the presence of God.

Adora defends the organization that raised her by quoting her highest authority: "Hordak says we're doing what's best for Etheria. We're trying to make things better. More orderly." Glimmer argues against Adora's worldview by showing her (1) that princesses are just people instead of dangerous violent monsters, and (2) what The Horde has done: first the ruins of a village destroyed by The Horde, and then that the village of Thaymor which she was told to attack was peaceful, innocent, and happy.

Wrong Hordak grabs Entrapta by the hair for the crime of "trespassing," and enjoys saying, "Prime shall hear of this, and his punishment shall be merciless." But once Bow’s arrow disconnects him from the Horde’s hivemind, he is simultaneously stranded away from the people who constantly reinforced his belief in Horde Prime’s goodness and stuck with a group of people opposing Prime. For a long time, Wrong Hordak simply pretends that the Best Friend Squad™ serve Horde Prime just like everyone else he ever knew. Every line of his dialogue in “Taking Control” is a quick, snappy motto he took from Horde propaganda, like “I believe…in Horde Prime” and “True nourishment comes from the favor of Horde Prime.” [see footnote 1]

I was well aware, growing up in a progressive suburb, that plenty of my high school friends were nonreligious. After my depression sunk in, I found myself arguing about religion with a brilliant but very smug British friend who consistently refuted my arguments in ways I could not dispute. Searching for arguments to support my pre-existing beliefs, I started reading Christian apologetics, but found nothing my friends could not easily refute. [see footnote 2]

Adora sees the ruins of the site of a Horde attack while with Glimmer and Bow, and at first rejects what Glimmer tells her about what she sees to preserve her worldview: "This doesn't make any sense. The Horde would never do something like this…You don't know them like I do." But when she sees The Horde attack Thaymor, the belief system painstakingly constructed by The Horde and drilled into her over 15 (or so) years comes crashing down. At first she can rationalize away her experiences to preserve her beliefs, but when the evidence of her own senses becomes overwhelming she cannot resolve the cognitive dissonance between her belief in The Horde's goodness and her direct experience of The Horde attacking the innocent town of Thaymor. Her worldview cannot explain what she experienced.

Wrong Hordak keeps his belief in Horde Prime's all-powerful nature for a long time after joining the Best Friend Squad. However, when until the Best Friend Squad catches him in a contradiction. He tells them what he was told: that Krytis does not exist. As soon as they start questioning the contradiction he was fed, he becomes extremely uncomfortable. He maintains his denial of Krytis' existence even after they land on the planet, until he can no longer deny the evidence that Horde Prime is not all-powerful.

I grew up, like many of you, on the Internet. My depression began during the heyday of the online atheist movement—and by “heyday,” I mean “seemingly inescapable presence,” especially on YouTube where I hung out. I kept running into comments asking questions that I could not answer: Why does Christianity seem to promote belief based on internal feelings instead of observable evidence? Why would an all-loving god send anyone to hell forever? Why did I believe claims from Christian doctrine and doubt claims from every other religion? Why has Christianity seemed to cling to the past instead of embracing a progressive future? The questions overwhelmed me. I found myself terrified of my own growing doubts. Eventually, my belief was based entirely on two emotions: nostalgia for past happy experiences I associated with Christianity, and a fear of losing the vague hope those experiences gave me.

The first time that Bow and Glimmer met Adora, they immediately labeled her “Horde soldier!,” and the label stuck through the first three episodes. Adora has always identified herself primarily as a soldier serving The Horde, echoing the messages she has heard for her whole life: “Shadow Weaver said it didn't matter who I was before, that—that I was nothing before Hordak took me in.” The language of “I was nothing” reflects cult dynamics where a group tries to retain someone permanently by making them think of themself as nothing more than their worshipful loyalty to the group. Similarly, it is a common Christian belief that “without Jesus we are nothing.”

After realizing that Horde Prime fes him lies, Wrong Hordak collapsed into a sobbing mess. “Who am I if not an exalted brother of Prime?,” he bawled, still thinking that the only legitimate kind of identity is one based on fully devoted worship of an all-powerful authority. Per Entrapta, “It seem[ed] that Wrong Hordak has begun to question the meaning of life.” She later described Wrong Hordak’s breakdown as an “existential crisis,” which happens “when individuals question whether their lives have meaning, purpose, or value, and are negatively impacted by the contemplation.” Without an all-powerful father figure to value him, Wrong Hordak thought, who would?

I identified myself fundamentally as a Christian for my entire childhood and teen years. I found joy, purpose, and a sense of self in my religion. Leaving my religion behind felt like burning the bridge to who I was behind me. When I de-converted from Christianity, I felt like I was standing at the brink of a void. I thought that without finding goodness in God, I might find no goodness at all. [see footnote 3]

When Wrong Hordak finishes (digitally, but also emotionally) processing the Krytis data logs of Horde Prime leaving in defeat, he explicitly renounces his old loyalties and declares his opposition to the organization and beliefs that he used to believe in with all his heart: "Brothers! Horde Prime lied to us. He is a false ruler. We must rise up against him, and free the universe from his unjust reign!"

After Adora betrays the Horde at the Battle of Thaymor, she pledges her loyalty to Bright Moon in her battle against the Horde: "I’ve seen for myself the atrocities the Horde has committed against the people of Etheria, and I’m ready to fight to stop them. If you give me the chance, I know I can help the Rebellion turn the tide of the war."

I didn't have an explicit declaration statement like Wrong Hordak or Adora. However, on 5/5/15 I arranged a meeting with my very friendly and understanding youth pastor as a last-ditch effort to save my faith. I hoped that he would crush my worrying doubts. Instead, actually encouraged me to become agnostic and to look into non-Christian beliefs on the subject of religion. Rather than feeling terrified of what I might find and wishing that someone could indoctrinate me into my old belief system, I started on a path to discover the truth wherever it might lead me.

Footnotes for Context

Christian fundamentalists’ similarly simplistic snappy phrases have been labeled by ex-Christians as “thought-terminating clichés… brief, highly reductive, definitive-sounding phrases” where “Simple labels are attached to something you like or dislike, and they are the start and finish of all thought on the subject.” Such black-and-white “totalistic” thinking is common in Christian fundamentalism, especially how it labels complex political topics as somehow being merely a cover for “spiritual warfare” between the totally good/Godly side and the totally evil/demonic side.

Specifically, I started reading an “Intelligent Design” propaganda apologetics book by Lee Strobel called The Case For A Creator. A self-proclaimed former atheist, Strobel wrote his The Case For series using my same research strategy: Only do research using sources that already agree with you. Whereas Strobel exclusively talked to other Christian apologists, though, I at least tried talking to atheists. Anyway, I walked into school one day with a confident smile and a copy of Strobel’s book and sat down with some friends. One of them, another brilliant atheist but with a far subtler and humbler personality, noticed it and his face immediately sunk into the expression of someone exhausted by the topic as he braced himself for my bullshit. When I confidently asserted a creationist talking point trying to dismiss the findings of some old experiment, he not only knew the experiment but immediately dismantled my talking point. I had no reply. What struck me most was not just his swift rebuttal, but his weary tone: My arguments were not only bad, but so bad that he was genuinely tired of them.

Around the same time, I became obsessed with the character of Kefka from Final Fantasy 6. To me, Kefka represented what I feared most about leaving Christianity behind — that I would lose any sense of meaning, purpose, or morality in my life. ("Life… Dreams… Hope…Where do they come from? And where are they headed? Such meaningless things!") Edgy, I know, but in my mind that kind of absurdism seemed to be an inevitable result of abandoning my religious beliefs. Fortunately, I came to understand that there is plenty of meaning, purpose, beauty, and goodness outside of the particular religion that I happened to be born into.

[lavendersb]

Our Ultimatum

Chapter 3: Sandstone

Boba Fett x Fem!Reader

Summary: As Boba prepares for his trip to Jagba, you start to find your feet in the palace.

Warnings: Nothing too bad right now, some mild threats to the reader, blaster firing

 That night you struggled to sleep.

After the incident in the throne room you had eaten with Raab in the communal dining hall, where he had explained that you would need to work without him for a few days. He had been asked by Boba and Fennec to help them prepare for their journey to Jagba, and this took priority over the weapons log. You were flattered that Raab thought you capable enough to run the armoury by yourself, but you couldn’t help but ask the questions that the day had left you with.

“What actually is the Kostah deal?” you had asked tentatively, hoping you hadn’t overstepped.

“It’s a deal with the Kostah brothers,” Raab responded flatly.

“I gathered that, but why’s it so important?”

Raab finally looked up from his plate of food. He sent you an unimpressed look before sitting up in his chair and letting out a steady sigh.

“The Kostah brothers dominate the spice trade in the outer rim-” He relented “it’s been their industry for years. We’ve been able to co-exist with them for a while now, but recently they’ve gotten… ballsy”

“Ballsy how?”

“They’ve been aggravating certain crime syndicates, being lenient with others. Boba thinks they’re trying to generate allies so they can overthrow him,” Raab explained.

“But then why would he want to form a deal with them, if he thinks they’re plotting against him?” You leant across the table to talk, not wanting anyone else to overhear what you assumed was sensitive information.

“You sure do like your questions, huh?” Raab huffed “Well what is it they say… keep your friends close and your enemies closer? That’s all it is. Don’t worry yourself about it”

You had sat back up, sensing that was all you were going to get from Raab for now and chose instead to mull over your food.

Now you lay in your bed sleeplessly whilst trying to process the events of the day. You were still interested in the Kostah deal, what Raab had told you so far was enough to fuel your interest in the business of Boba’s empire.

You flip the pillow to the cold side and pull your blankets higher, trying for the umpteenth time to get comfortable enough to sleep. You wanted to be well rested tomorrow, keen to make sure you did your best on your first day working alone.

 -

You woke up late the next morning.

Frantically you had leapt out of your bed, swearing and berating yourself as you dressed in a hurry. You couldn’t remember when you had eventually drifted off, but considering how groggy you still felt, you assumed it was much later than you had intended.

You didn’t have time to run to the dining hall, instead you grabbed a few stray ration packs you had lying around your room and promptly exited for the armoury. You hoped desperately that you wouldn’t bump into Raab before you arrived, not wanting him to think you were rushing.

The journey to the armoury didn’t take long. Rounding one last corner you come to the brassy metal doors of your workplace. You stop when you reach it, sighing and silently thanking the maker that you got here in good time.

Just as soon as your heart rate starts to settle, it suddenly spikes again. You notice the keypad, usually when you arrive the light above it is red, indicating the doors are sealed. Now, however, the light is gleaming green. The doors are unlocked.

You feel yourself begin to panic, perhaps Raab had decided to swing by before he leaves you alone for the day? Somehow you’re not convinced, Raab wasn’t one to baby you, he had given you a job and hadn’t told you to expect him, besides, he was busy helping Boba and Fennec prepare for their journey.

You quietly slipped through the door, not wanting to alert any potential intruder until you found out who they were. As you emerge into the large maze of weapon crates stacked high you wonder if you should go and find help.

You still. Somewhere in the armoury you could hear movement, the sound of somebody pushing the crates and boxes around. Your heart rate spiked; There was no way it could be Raab, but who else could have gained access?

You weren’t entirely sure what to do. Raab had assured you that nobody was allowed into the armoury without his permission, and he certainly would have told you if you should be expecting somebody whilst he was gone. Instinctively you reach for one of the smaller cases, as quietly as you could you flicked it open and pulled out the simple blaster it housed.

Feeling somewhat better protected, you continue to weave your way through the stacks of crates, getting closer to the source of the noises. As you round a corner you come upon the back of a person. They’re hunched over a crate, rummaging through it’s contents.

“Hey!” You snap, raising your blaster. The figure stilled but didn’t turn to face you.

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” you add, hoping to get more of a response.

The figure straightens up and you adjust your grip on the blaster rifle, keeping it trained on their back. You hope desperately that you won’t have to use it. Even at this close proximity you don’t have much faith that you’ll hit your target.

“You should watch your tongue when you speak to me.” The intruder turns to face you. It’s Yovu, the temperamental zabrak from Boba’s clique and despite the fact he’s a familiar face, you don’t feel at all comforted by his presence.

“You don’t have permission to be in here,” you insist, refusing to acknowledge his comment to you “I think you should leave”

Yovu curls his lip at you, pushing himself away from the crate and stalking slowly towards you.

“I’d be careful with that blaster little one,” he mocks “you might hurt yourself”

You bristle at that. From Boba that pet name feels like a gentle caress, both soothing and exciting your soul in the same way his gentle touch does, however from Yovu it’s the most disgusting thing you’ve ever been called. You elect to ignore his comment, you will not be threatened in your own workplace, especially not on your first day working alone.

“I said you need to leave. Now” you say, in what you hope is a decently assertive tone.

Yovu just scoffs at you. He continues to walk towards you, stopping briefly when his chest hits the barrel of your blaster before stepping closer to you, pushing the weapon towards your body.

“Boba may have picked you to be his little plaything, but that doesn’t make you special kid. You’re nothing, and you don’t get to make demands of people like me” He’s gotten so close to you that you can see every scar and line on his leathery, orange face. You refuse to back down despite the nerves you feel, instead you opt for pressing the blaster harder against his chest in warning.

As soon as he feels the pressure Yovu’s hand snaps up, grabbing roughly onto your upper arm and yanking you viciously. You cry out instinctively as pain erupts through your arm, crumpling slightly into his grip.

“What’s happening here?” A low voice calls from behind you. Relief rushes through you as you can tell without seeing him that it’s Boba.

Yovu looks slowly from Boba back to your face. He doesn’t release you straight away, opting instead to give you one last warning squeeze.

“I just came to see how our newest addition is settling in, that’s all” He says with false sincerity before quickly releasing you. You stumble back, trying to put as much space between you and the zabrak as possible.

Yovu stalks away, acknowledging his employer with a tight-lipped “Fett” and slinking from the armoury. When you’re both sure that Yovu has left, Boba turns to you. Between the blaster in your hand and the look of distress you’re sure is still plastered on your face you reckon Boba easily figures out that there’d been a little bit more than a pleasant chat between you and Yovu.

“Are you alright?” He asks, coming closer to you and offering to take the blaster from you. He moves in a similar way one would act around a spooked animal, but you can’t find it in you to mind all that much. You offer the blaster to him which he takes with one hand and reaches out to you with the other. You’re all too happy to let him rub away the residual pain Yovu left on your arm, and the gentle way he touches you has you practically melting into him.

“Yes, thank you,” You say, truly grateful for his intervention.

“What did he want?” Boba asks, you can tell that behind his visor he’s looking at the opened crate that Yovu had been searching through.

“I’m not sure. He was searching for something I think, and didn’t appreciate me telling him to leave”

Boba hums at your answer. He takes a deep breath, moving his hand from your arm and rest on your lower back to give it a comforting rub. Much to your embarrassment you can’t help but press against him, enjoying the protective stance he’s taken.

“What about you?” You pipe up, breaking Boba’s gaze away from the weapons crate and bringing it down to you. “What did you come here for? I thought you’d be busy preparing to fly to Jagba”

Boba huffs a laugh and breaks away from you. You’re embarrassed at how your body attempts to follow him without thinking but you hold your ground, watching instead as Boba crosses to the open crate and peering inside.

“I came here to see you,” Boba says casually.

“Me?” you parrot, your heartrate spiking suddenly.

“Yes you, little one. I wanted to apologise for cutting our conversation short yesterday.” He closes the crate’s lid and turns back around to you, leaning slightly against the now closed box.

He studies you with measured amusement, you’re sure he can tell how flustered he’s got you right now. You swallow, determined to not make a fool of yourself.

“That’s alright. I saw how important that deal was, you needed to go” you manage.

“But we were also having an important discussion,” He says, but you honestly can’t think about much that was said yesterday other than the way he had touched your leg “and you never answered my question.”

His voice was laced with humour, teasing in a way that seems much too tender for this hardened warrior.

“What question?” You ask through a slight laugh.

“About if you wanted me to teach you to shoot,” He answers, raising the blaster he had taken from you in his hand.

“Oh.” The conversation comes flooding back to you, and you find yourself blushing furiously.

Boba waits for your answer expectantly, but inside your head there’s a conflict of interests gathering momentum. On the one hand the possibility of spending more time with Boba is almost too intoxicating to deny. On the other, the thought of him seeing how pitiful you are with a blaster is more embarrassing than you’d ever care to admit.

“It might take a while to teach me, I’m really not that good” You joke instead of answering.

That doesn’t seem to perturb Boba. With one hand he reaches up and removes his helmet, turning to place it on the closed crate behind him.

“You can’t be that bad”

You huff out a nervous laugh because you absolutely can be that bad and watch as Boba crosses over to you, offering the blaster back. You shoot him an unconvinced look, but the almost tenderly amused way he’s looking back convinces you to accept. You tentatively take the blaster from him.

“Shoot my helmet” He instructs, stepping back to give you a good view of the green beskar.

It’s not that far. Realistically you should be able to hit it, but the nervousness caused by having an audience you so desperately want to impress has your vision practically swimming.

“You could start by lifting your blaster”

You jump a little as Boba’s voice snaps you out of your internal monologue, only to find that he’s come to stand behind you. His arms wrap around you to gently grip your forearms, raising the blaster for you. Your back is pressed firmly against beskar chest, and you’re convinced that even through all that metal he can probably still feel the tremor that runs down your spine.

You readjust your grip on the blaster, aim it as best you can, and pull the trigger.

You shut your eyes to the bright red charge emitted and the force with which the blaster goes off rocks you further back into Boba’s chest. His arm wraps around your waist to steady you and stays there as he lets you come back to yourself. You eventually open your eyes, only to be faced with the sight of Boba’s visor staring back at you, unmoving from its spot atop the crate.

“Huh” Boba says beside your ear “Well, good thing I’ve got time to spare”

You blush wildly with embarrassment at his words. You’d been fighting since the first time you met him not to make a fool of yourself, but despite your best efforts that hasn’t been going according to plan. Now you have to deal with the fact that the best warrior this side of the galaxy knows you are his exact opposite, the single worst shooter in existence.

“When I get back from Jagba I’ll arrange a proper training session. I’ll have you shooting like a pro in no time,” He says, giving your hip a firm squeeze before going to retrieve his helmet.

“Don’t set your standards too high” you say lightly, attempting to joke away your embarrassment “I think I might be a lost cause with a blaster”

Boba pauses at that, huffing out a tiny, amused laugh before fixing his helmet back over his head. He turns to you, swaggering back over and stopping dangerously close to you. You refuse to step back, even as his hand comes up to gently hold your jaw in place.

“I could turn the dullest gungan into the best marksman this galaxy has ever seen if I wanted to. I’ll make you a good shot, Princess. Don’t worry.” His voice is low, dangerous and full of exciting promises that have you utterly intoxicated, if he wasn’t holding your chin so firmly you reckon you would have melted into the floor.

Boba lets you go, and you watch unmovingly as he disappears towards the exit of the armoury leaving you entirely transfixed and far too distracted to think about your work.

So much for knocking this silly infatuation.