#I didn't make any for this current batch

[alunimoon]

🌱 little chicken planter 🌱

[bellybiologist]

Since I didn't owe any stream rewards, I used tonight's stream to finish a batch of YCH poses!

They'll be going up in the commission form during the first week of January (I'll make an announcement) and they'll be priced as waist up YCH figures ($20 each currently, like the belly bump individuals).

I've decided to use the basic styling, and among them is the 1st Trio set, too, which can also have the visible parts ordered individually.

Let me know what you guys think! And I'm always accepting suggestions for YCH poses. I don't get a whole lot of suggestions even when I ask for them, so if there's a pose (even from other pieces i've drawn) that you'd like made into a YCH pose, please let me know! Hopefully, it won't take me years to get the next batch done. 😭

[mrs-bucky-barnes106]

☆｡.:*･ﾟ Sweet Nothings ｡.:*･ﾟ☆

pairing: tfatws!bucky x baker!reader

warning: fluff, multiple mentions of cake, mentions of Bucky with children

a/n: Ahhh I had this idea before going to bed and literally stayed up two hours working on it. I finished it this morning, and I've gotta stay I'm proud of my commitment because I usually take at least a month to finish a fanfiction. Hopefully, there's more where this came from. P.S. I'm not a baker, so I'm sorry if I fudged any details. Feedback is always appreciated but please be kind. Likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated but no reposting without credit <3

word count: 1.6k

summary: Reader is a baker and Bucky gets a cake from her to take to Sam's picnic party on the docks (scene from tfatws).

☆｡.:*･ﾟ

The bell jingled as Bucky entered Sweet Nothings, the bakery you had started from the ground up. He was instantly enveloped by the sweet scent of baked goods from the array of desserts neatly displayed in the glass case by the counter. Underneath the sugar, he smelled the new chai latte you had just added to the menu. It had been an instant hit, totally trumping the one at Starbucks that everyone raved about. Chai had been a nostalgic drink for you and a completely new one for Bucky. He now had an affinity for it, however, and asked for it every time he entered the shop after you made him the first honorary taste tester of the drink. Now, the shop was bustling since it was happy hour.

Soft music played in the background. Bucky recognized the voice of Taylor Swift, one of your favorite artists. She was one of Bucky's favorites now too. You had impeccable taste, and any song you loved became his favorite. The album that was currently playing was Midnights, the one you had told Bucky he was most like. He loved that about you, how you would associate things like albums and songs with him. It made his heart swell, knowing you thought about him in relation to music, which had a special place in your heart.

You were nowhere in sight, so he assumed you were in the back checking on your bread dough. Bucky approached the barrier that led to the backroom for employees and pushed the door open, hoping to surprise you while you were working. Once he entered, he found you bent over your proving drawer, checking on a fluffy batch of bread dough. He tiptoed up to you and grabbed your waist, lifting you off your feet and causing you to let out a yelp of surprise. Bucky spun you around, chuckling at your reaction (what did he expect when he literally attacked you with a bear hug from behind?).

Finally, he set you down on your feet and spun you around to face him. His eyes were crinkled with laugh lines as he took in your disheveled form. Your hair was in a low messy bun with a few strands astray in the front. You donned a cream-colored beret and a blue long-sleeve over which you had on your cheeky apron that read "Kiss the Cook." It was, of course, gifted to you by none other than your doting boyfriend. A light dusting of flour over your entire being gave you an angelic glow. In Bucky's eyes, you looked more heavenly than all of the desserts in your shop combined.

You blew your hair out of your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest before attempting to glare at Bucky. You didn't last long, however, as his sheepish grin caused you to look down, so he wouldn’t catch you smiling.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on me,” you admonished him half-heartedly. “Bakers can be dangerous when startled, you know.”

“Sure, doll,” Bucky still had on that cheeky grin. “I don’t know about dangerous, though. Former assassin here, remember?” He pointed at himself with his index fingers as if you didn't already know. "I think I can handle a blow from a rolling pin." He picked up the nearest tool his hand landed on, which, unfortunately for him, was a basting brush, making his joke fall flat. He sheepishly put the brush away as you tried not to laugh.

You gave him a warning look before turning your back to him and smiling wide. You may pretend to be annoyed by his antics, but they truly brought joy to your heart and brightened up your bland days. You loved your job, but you loved your man most of all.

“I’ve got the cake ready for Sam’s. Just gotta put the finishing touches on it. Did you bring the Oreos, baby boy?”

You turned around to find his face in yours. Had it been anyone else, you would’ve found it incredibly infuriating. But with Bucky, it left you blushing to your core.

He wrapped his arms around you and held up the blue plastic box. “Right here, sweetheart.”

It was a generic nickname that every single boyfriend in the history of the world had called his girlfriend at some point. But somehow, it was almost erotic coming from his plush pink lips with that deep timbre. You sometimes wondered if Bucky knew the effect he had on you.

“Thank you,” was all you trusted yourself to say as you took the box of cookies from him and started peeling off the plastic cover. You moved away from him and carefully placed six cookies on the cake, one on each of the iced rosettes on the border.

“Alright, Buck, I think it’s ready for the party. Lemme just get a box for it, and we’ll be on our way.”

Bucky smiled as he watched you tenderly place the plastic casing on the cake as if it was your baby. In a way, it was, along with all of your other creations.

“Alrighty then, doll,” Bucky grabbed the cake in his gloved flesh hand, then put his metal arm around your shoulders, pulling you in to plant a kiss on your temple. “Thank you so much for making this, baby cakes.”

You turned pink hearing him use your favorite nickname of all time. “Oh, it’s nothing,” you mumbled bashfully, suddenly shy again in the crook of his arm.

“It’s a Sweet Nothing, which means it’s the opposite of nothing. Doll, this cake is quite literally everything to me.”

“Buckyyy,” you playfully swatted him away. Sure, you were proud of your work, but you still got flustered when people complimented you, especially your boyfriend, who took every chance to make you feel like you were the biggest star in his world.

You eased yourself out of his embrace momentarily to hunt down your assistant. “Lemme just tell Nico to take over the closing shift tonight.”

Bucky nodded and waited patiently by the door for you to rejoin him. You returned and looped your arm around his waist to steer him out of your shop.

☆｡.:*･ﾟ

Bucky drove the both of you from the bakery to the docks in his pickup. You held the cake securely in your lap with your right hand and entwined your left with Bucky's. When you arrived, you let go of his hand and moved to open the door, but Bucky reached over you to close it again. Then he climbed out of the truck and rushed to open your door.

"M'lady," you rolled your eyes at him but couldn't help smiling as he took the cake from you so you could climb out of the car. He shut your door behind you, then took off with the cake balanced precariously in his flesh hand.

"Bucky! Be careful!" Your cries were drowned out by Sam's nephews, who were happily trailing Bucky at the sight of the cake. They tried play-fighting with him, pretending to punch him in the face, to which Bucky pretended to stagger backward from the force of impact.

You sighed and let the corners of your mouth lift as you watched your lover boy, totally enamored by his way with children.

Bucky ran to the nearest picnic table and finally placed the cake down safely. You let out a breath of relief you didn't realize you had been holding in and walked over to him.

☆｡.:*･ﾟ

Bucky returned to entertaining the kids a little while after everyone had eaten. He stood atop a picnic table, talking to you and Sarah with his metal arm extended out. Sam's nephew and his friend hung off of Bucky's arm. You were trying your hardest to concentrate on what he told you about his days in the Navy, but you couldn't help giggling softly at the sight of him effortlessly holding up two children using only one of his arms.

When you could finally steal a moment alone with him, you handed him a beer and tugged his arm to lead him to the pier's edge. You plopped down and let your feet dangle, the bottoms of your boots grazing the water's surface. After a moment, Bucky crouched down to join you. He scooted closer so his thigh was pressed up against yours. He put his arm around you, and you sighed softly, leaning into his shoulder and staring at the setting sun. Nose pressed against Bucky's shoulder, you inhaled, reveling in the warm scent of freshly-cut pine and the sweet undertones of amber and musky vanilla.

You leaned up to wrap your arms around his shoulder, suddenly needing to be closer to him than you already were. He seemed to understand and gently twisted to the side, snaking one arm around your lower back and using the other to bring your legs into his lap. You moved in to kiss him tenderly. Your hands were in his hair, his hands were on your hips, and everything felt perfect at that moment. You could still taste the Oreo cake on his breath, and you broke away from the kiss slowly, smiling all the while. Bucky returned your smile warmly as you turned to look at the sunset.

Bucky watched it paint your face the most gorgeous shade of pink and thanked his lucky stars at that moment. Somehow, life had brought you to him. He had never thought of himself as fortunate, but he was ecstatic now that you were in his arms, and he damn sure was never going to let go of this beautiful thing he had with you. He pressed his lips to your forehead and tightened his hold on you, whispering sweet nothings into your ear.

☆｡.:*･ﾟ

[eriexplosion]

Tech Lives: An Ungodly Long Essay

(AKA: Turns out that my Tech Lives compilation post comment was actually a threat.)

There have been hundreds if not thousands of posts since Plan 99 aired wondering if Tech might have made it after his fall - it's probably been brought up more than any other hanging plot point, even after season 2 scooped up Omega and left us on a massive cliffhanger. Now that season 3 has started, though, Omega and Crosshair are home (for now) but we have received an almost aggressive lack of Tech info. So, I've gathered up some of the stronger Evidence for why Tech might be fashionably late but still on his way back from The Void!

THE LEAD UP

So to start, let's go back to what came before the whole Incident. This will focus mostly on season 2, seeing as that was definitely Tech's season to shine, but with bits about plotlines in season 1. Which brings us to our first bit, that's not really evidence so much as some gentle push-back on a common argument.

Doomed By Character Development?

We've all seen this particular situation before - a character is slated for a tragic death, so just before it happens the writers gives them a little extra relevance to the plot to make sure the audience really feels it when the time comes. The Clone Wars was especially good at this, giving characters like Fives an arc of his own that ended in his tragic death. Season 7 gave us a better look at Jesse, first in the Bad Batch's intro arc and then again through the Siege of Mandalore, all to bring us to the chip activation that led to his ultimate death.

When season 2 started off with one of the two intro episodes spotlighting Tech and our first breather episode of the season also spotlighting him, people started to get worried. So is it fair to say that his spotlight in season 2 was setting him up for a permadeath?

Looking at it, I don't think so, for multiple reasons. For one, Tech didn't just get a spotlight episode, his development dominated a good chunk of the whole damned season, often taking priority over the other characters that wouldn't be dropped into the mists. While giving a little bit of character development to a doomed character can be a good move, giving ALL your development to a doomed character ends up feeling like a good portion of your season was actively pointless.

The Bad Batch is not an open ended show. It seems to have been planned for the three seasons it got, and they would have gone into it knowing they had a set amount of time to work with. Dedicating so much time to developing Tech in preparation for a character death takes away all of their opportunity to develop, well, anything else.

But, along with the amount of time that was dedicated to Tech as a character through season 2, they also didn't develop him in the ways that most often get used for a doomed character. Namely...

That Sure Is A Lot Of Open Plot Lines

And not one of them got tied up. Currently, Tech has two open plot lines to himself, both started in season 2, as well as a key place in the overall show narrative arc. As the overall show narrative arc takes precedence, we'll start with that.

The Bad Batch sets up a few different narrative arcs very early. One is if clones can be more than soldiers - this is the central thing that we see them struggling against from the start, they've been created to be soldiers and don't know much else about how to function in the world. Theoretically this arc can be fulfilled with one or two of them still dying as soldiers, as long as a few of them make it to find a new life for themselves.

The arc that can't be fulfilled without everyone though is the ongoing thread of reuniting the batch. Much of the show is geared towards making the viewer want this specific end result, as soon as they talk about Crosshair, Omega says they'll just have to get him back and complete their family. The end of season 1 teases us with this only to pull it away at the last moment, then season 2 teases us with it again only to yet again pull it away, this time seemingly permanently.

Ending one of your key narrative threads you've been using to draw audiences in only 2/3rds of the way into the show and without ever resolving it... well it would be a choice. If Tech is gone for good then the last time we saw everyone together would be the end of season 1. Rewatches would lack impact because something that was made to seem so vital ended up going nowhere, and the series finale would never quite reach the height that hearing the full batch theme kick in over the team fighting droids together did. It absolutely destroys the central narrative to leave him gone without ever having reunited the family.

And then there's his personal plots.

Let's start with the obvious one. Tech got a whole potential love interest this season and they absolutely did not resolve a damn thing about it.

Again, this takes a trope that we all know - the young army man that's going to go home and finally marry his girl, who has his whole life ahead of him, but dies tragically in his final mission - and seemingly intentionally subverts the beats. Because what makes the trope work is that the plot line is resolved as soon as that young man decides how he's going to move forward. He can't die uncertain of if he's going to marry his girl, he has to make a decision, and the longer we spend on the relationship to his girl the stronger the decision has to be to consider the narrative line resolved and free him up for some tragedy.

Tech/Phee is a tentative little 'will they or won't they' romance. They're flirting, they're feeling each other out, they're seeing if they're compatible. To tie up this narrative line we would have to find out if they are or not, get a yes or a no on the question. Will they or won't they? We simply don't know because the writers didn't put a resolution in.

We do get the traditional pre-mission scene with them, which would normally be when we get the first kiss or perhaps the promise of a date, either of which would have had me digging Tech's grave for him to fall into from the second it happened. Or even a 'we can't do this right now, but maybe some day it will be the right time' which would have been a kind of lukewarm resolution but would have at least represented a decision.

Instead we get a scene that almost aggressively refuses to resolve anything. They have an awkward interaction, but not one that says they won't get together, no promises are made for the future, no decision point is reached, and the plot line is still dangling wide open when Tech falls to his supposed death. If we truly leave it off here, well, what was the Tech/Phee subplot for? Why did we spend precious time on it when it could have been spent on something else, if it was meant to make Tech's death hit harder why did it not go further?

A second subplot with Tech is that he certainly made the most progress on seeing options outside of the Empire - it starts early on in Ruins of War when he meets Romar and gets his eyes opened to the idea of cultures that existed unconnected to the war. Serenno existed before the war and before the separatists, and Romar introduces Tech to that idea of an ongoing culture. He gets a taste of racing in front of a cheering crowd, leans further into his teaching of Omega and gets new insights from her regarding their lives as soldiers, his relationship with Phee picks up right when he finds out that she is interested in the preservation of cultures. It's a quiet little subplot, but Tech was seeing the full scope of what the galaxy contained beyond being a soldier in a war.

But, like the Tech/Phee, it never resolves. He never decides to settle down, he never chooses to stop being a soldier or even openly discusses the idea of what life will look like after. Rescuing Crosshair isn't positioned as a final mission that they have to complete in order to give up their lives as soldiers. Without that decision point being reached, the plot stays open, we never find out what he Would Have Done so we don't get a sense of the future that he would lose by dying, which is what the purpose of these types of plots is for a planned permadeath.

The Kaminoans don't create without purpose and writers working on a three season timeline don't typically write without it either. So if we spent the time on Tech/Phee but Tech is dead before it ever went anywhere, if we spent time on Tech's relationship with being something other than a soldier but he never really pursues it, what is the payoff?

Too Much of a Survivor To Die?

There's also the matter of how they chose to build Tech's character this season. Namely they beefed that man's skills up incredibly high making it intensely unbelievable that he's dead without seeing some sort of concrete proof. Things we know about Tech as of the end of season 2 include:

Incredible pain tolerance - Tech fractures his femur in Ruins of War and seems shockingly unbothered by it. The femur is frequently listed as one of the most painful bones to break. This is not a broken toe the man is hobbling around on, he fractured the strongest bone in the body and kept going through the woods. He physically fought and killed a man with that busted femur.

Lightning fast mental processing - this is of course on display nowhere so much as Faster where he's put up against droids and wins by taking calculated risks that no one else is willing to try.

A cool head in stressful circumstances - this one is hilarious because he outright says it, but Tech does demonstrate time and time again that when it comes down to it, he's able to keep calm no matter the circumstances.

Essentially, we spend the entirety of season 2 setting up why Tech is the perfect person to drop out of the sky and have him survive. He has the ability to keep calm and come up with a plan in seconds and he has the grit to keep moving even if he's grievously injured once he hits the ground. When you set a character up like this, you can still kill them, but you have to work harder to do it convincingly. Leaving Tech not at the moment of death but with probably at least a minute to act in and then not showing us the body is the exact opposite.

We have a moment in The Crossing showing us Tech's precise aim, and it comes up again to brutal effect when he shoots out the connection on the rail car. If moments through the season were used to set up that particular instant of the finale, then we can't discount the numerous scenes demonstrating his survival skills as being irrelevant to his chances.

Plus, looking back at Ruins of War - one of the big moments in the episode is towards the end, where Romar tells Tech, "I'm a survivor. Remember?" The camera then lingers on Tech for a long moment. It's not the kind of action that demonstrates his capabilities as above, but it works to associate the words with Tech in the viewers mind. Romar is a survivor, and Tech is a survivor too. And when you intend to kill someone off, it's kind of an odd choice to spend that whole season setting them up as a survivor.

THE FALL

Which brings us to the scene itself. Plan 99, implied to be one of the last ditch plans that they have. It's absolutely a heartbreaking scene, and one that can be tough to analyze when it's so well done, because it's rough to watch repeatedly. But, it's worth doing, because the scene itself is FULL of questions, some structural others more based in the visual presentation.

What is Plan 99?

Well, that's just it, we don't actually know.

We know what it's implied to be, a self sacrifice plan where one of the batch gives their life for the others to get away. But in show it's never actually defined, leaving the full meaning of Plan 99 up to interpretation. It could be as simple as what it's implied to be, but that brings up questions like 'why not provide any lead up or foreshadowing for it?' and 'does killing yourself actually count as a plan?'

Removing the assumptions from it gives us room to speculate. Is the plan actually that they leave him behind, dead or alive? Hunter ordered them to do so without a plan number in season 1, but he is the sergeant, so plan 99 could easily be something that bypasses his authority - if a batcher calls a plan 99, you go and you don't question his decision. It's certainly closer to a plan if there's something they are supposed to be doing from their end rather than just an announcement of intent.

It's not strictly evidence one way or another, but it is something of note when Tech's entire sacrifice is based around a plan that we're not privy to the details of. TBB has hidden its twists in ambiguity before, so it would not be the first time that it let us assume something only to pull the rug out later. But ambiguity is not the only thing that makes this scene stand out in the raising questions department.

Pacing Goes Out The Window

Generally speaking, a self sacrifice is the climax of an episode. Think Kanan, Hardcase, Gregor, Hevy, etc - Even a minor character sacrificing their life tends to make up the most climactic portion of any given episode, let alone one of the characters from the title squad. It gets to be the big central moment, the big rush of music and feeling, the pinnacle of the viewers attention.

Tech's sacrifice is not. It happens around 5 minutes into the episode, is rapidly moved past with barely a moment to think, and then the actual climax is Omega's capture on Ord Mantell. They even repeat the music when Omega is captured, except much stronger this time, making it clear that this is the emotional crux of the episode, this is the scene that is supposed to stick with you.

The opportunity to make it the climax of an episode was certainly there. The storyline could have been adjusted to put Tech's fall at the end of The Summit, allowing more time in Plan 99 for processing his loss and making it feel final. The pacing choice is one that doesn't allow the viewer to process the loss, only giving us maybe a couple minutes of time with actual emotional reactions before we're barreling off to the next plot point. Why was Tech's death de-emphasized within the episode if it is indeed our last moment with this central character?

Tarkin, Eriadu, & Saw Gerrera

A lot goes into the set-up for Plan 99. We have Tarkin's base on Eriadu as the setting they're working within, going up against Tarkin for the first time since early season 1. This is the big leagues, and something that's come up in multiple interviews is that when going into the den of one of the franchise's big bads we have to have consequences, something to demonstrate that Tarkin is not to be trifled with.

Sounds reasonable enough. Except Tarkin doesn't actually do anything in either of these episodes. The thing that actually threw them off was Saw's planning mixing in with their own.

All Tarkin does upon finding out that the batch is stuck on the rail is order an air strike and ignore that this would kill many of his own men. This is certainly evil, but it's standard Imperial evil. Rampart would have given that order. Hemlock would have given that order. The guy in Tipping Point that we know for 5 minutes before he fried himself would have given that order.

So if the point of this finale was to demonstrate Tarkin's power, then bringing Saw in both complicates the plot and devalues what they're claiming they are trying to show. So is the point to get them to Tantiss? No, because they fail in that. They don't plant the tracker, they're no closer to finding Crosshair than they were before.

By all accounts the point of the whole endeavor is in fact just to drop Tech off a sky rail for reasons unknown and injure Omega to force them to go back to Ord Mantell. These two things could have happened anywhere in any way of course, so why choose Eriadu and why choose to complicate the plot by introducing Saw rather than letting Tarkin handle the job?

They're questions we don't have answers to yet, but they're very hard to get answers to if Tech is dead and completely out of the picture. Having a dead body on Eriadu is fairly useless to the plot, having a living Tech on Eriadu though? That has potential to move them huge leaps forward in a very short amount of time once we bring him back in. Especially given his conversation with Saw prior to everything going downhill - Tech was in favor of gathering intel from the facility rather than destroying it.

And what about Saw, anyway? If he was genuinely there to cause problems and fly away, again, that's a plot wrinkle that isn't needed and took time away from everything else. If he's there because they needed someone to pick Tech up though? There's potential there.

Did Tech's Sacrifice Mean Anything?

In universe, Tech's sacrifice means everything, of course. It's a decision made in the moment to risk everything to save his family. It's a noble deed and one he does without hesitation. But pulling away from that narrow scope of an in universe perspective, what did we accomplish narratively with his fall?

Well... not much actually! They got over the bump in the road that they encountered all of five seconds ago and promptly crashed headfirst into another, different bump in the road. Tech's dramatic sacrifice didn't allow them to escape unharmed, it didn't allow them to find Crosshair, it just allowed them to move a few steps forward, after which Omega is almost killed and then captured, which is a fairly weak reason to sacrifice a whole major character.

But not every character death is exclusively about narrative, sometimes it's about the character arc itself. So does this close out anything for Tech's character development? Again, not really. Tech has always been completely loyal to the squad and would have risked anything for his family. He never had a choice not to fall, it was either just him or the whole team, and he is an endlessly logical actor. The action would have played out the same had it happened in the series premier or the season 1 finale, or any other time in the show. If anything it's a backtrack on his character by putting him solidly back into the soldier box that the show is trying to let the clones grow out of.

Maybe it's not about Tech's character though, maybe it's about everyone else's! Does his death change anyone's trajectory? Again... no, not really. We'll get into season 3's lack of mentioning Tech later, but in the immediate aftermath of his fall, no one's course or actions is majorly changed because of his loss. Hunter wants to go back to Pabu where it's safe, the same thing he wanted to do before they ever left for this mission. Omega puts herself in danger to save her brothers, which has been one of her defining traits since season one. Wrecker is following Hunter's lead, same as he always did. (We get very little of what Echo hopes to do, but the opening of season 3 reveals that they went back to work with Rex, exactly like they were doing before.)

So narratively nothing required him to die, the character's arc isn't completed, and the other characters aren't motivated to change. If Tech dies here, it's the picture of a shock value death. It doesn't complete or inform his character, it doesn't need to narratively happen in order to put Omega on the path to being captured, and thematically it exists just to give the viewer an unnecessary gut-punch when just the failure to rescue Crosshair and the loss of Omega would have been enough.

Framing is Everything

In a death scene there's nothing more powerful than our final shot of a character. The very last we'll ever see of them, the image that will linger in our minds when we think of that character from then on. This is especially important in animation where everything has to go through several iterations before deciding on what that final look will be. You want it to be impactful, you want the audience to have one final connection to the character before they're gone for good.

So why does Tech die with his helmet on?

If there's one thing TBB is good at, it's their expression work, and a death scene is a perfect place to show off their full range, which is why most deaths meant to have a heavy impact occur with faces unobscured. Crosshair loses his helmet and takes Mayday's off so we can see both of their faces as Mayday dies, Slip, Cade, even Clone X and Wilco, all die helmetless. Looking into older series you have Kanan dying without his mask, Fives, Hardcase, Waxer all dying helmetless with one last good look at their faces and expressions.

And while Tech's helmet gives us a good look at his eyes, the rest of his face goes unseen, and Wrecker's face as he watches this happen is completely obscured. We're denied a look at a lot of their expressions as the decision is made and Plan 99 is executed, rendering it less personal than it otherwise could have been. Tech could have lost his helmet in the blast that knocked him from the rail, Wrecker could have had his helmet knocked off at some point to give us a good look at his expression. TBB isn't known for pulling its punches, so why leave our final look at Tech's face back in The Summit and not here?

Then there's the framing choices. We get some absolutely amazing shots of Tech during the fall, from taking the shot to falling backwards towards the cloudy cover - but here's where some interesting choices are made. Rather than letting our last shot of him be a face up shot that keeps eye contact with the camera as he falls, they make the choice to have him flip over, and we hold the shot as the rail car goes down after him, partially obscuring him.

Which means instead of our last glimpse of Tech being something like this.

We end up with something closer to this.

Which, while we all love those Tech crotch shots is somewhat less impactful emotionally. These frames go through multiple departments and get multiple eyes on them before going through final animation, and no one thought that leaving him face up and unobscured until he disappears into the fog would stick more firmly in the viewer's memory?

The Flip Might be Intentional

And I don't just mean out of universe, as every detail of animation is often intentional, but in universe as well. If you look closely at Tech as he falls, he seems to roll his shoulders back in order to begin flipping over. It was a specific enough detail to send me searching for a reason and I found it in instructions on how to survive a long fall - the first thing that you're supposed to do? Get into the arch position like a skydiver to slow and control your fall.

The flip was important enough to not only include but to include the small detail of Tech intentionally flipping himself over into said position. It's not a confirmation but it's an interesting detail, and one that has very few other reasons to exist.

THE AFTERMATH

Image chosen because even thinking he's alive I didn't want to pull from Omega reacting to the fall on Ord Mantell. Looking at her makes me Sad. So the fall has happened, the rail car has rushed forward and crashed, and Omega fades in and out of consciousness until finally waking up on Ord Mantell to the bad news.

"What if he's hurt?"

Omega is our POV character for the show. We may sometimes see things she doesn't, but emotionally she remains the center of the narrative, the character that the target audience will see themselves in. Her ultimate thoughts on a situation are the closest we have to a clear indicator of our intended takeaway.

So it's interesting that the first thing we hear out of her, having heard that Tech 'didn't make it,' is a firm denial. He can't be gone, he might be hurt, he needs them and they need to go back for him. And, despite Hunter continuing to talk with her about it for a bit, we never actually hear Omega explicitly take it back or verbally acknowledge Tech as dead. The closest we get is 'lost' which she also uses for Echo in The Crossing.

Now, here's where the interpretation between the adult and child audience will likely differ. From an adult perspective, this is a reasonable reaction for a child her age. It comes off as very natural that she doesn't want to accept it and that she doesn't have time to really process that it's true before the scene moves on. It makes sense from an in universe perspective.

However, the main audience is still children who actually are Omega's age and who are being presented with her as their window into this world. And their takeaway, seeing that same scene, is likely to be that Omega is correct. They don't know that Tech's dead, just because an adult says it doesn't make it true and just because Hemlock says it DEFINITELY doesn't mean it's true, they have to go back and check.

If they wanted the main audience to think that Tech is dead for sure, they could have had Omega be the one to say that he's gone, with Hunter simply confirming it for her. Alternatively, Omega accepting it when Hunter tells her would also function in the same way - ultimately, as the POV character, if Omega doesn't accept it there's a strong possibility much of the audience won't accept it either, especially without other evidence.

No Body?

And, as we all know, we simply don't have other concrete evidence. Not only are the batch given no time to look for Tech's body or any confirmation that he died, but we get a whole scene with Hemlock and the goggles where he also confirms verbally that he doesn't have a body either. There's very little reason to have him say this outside of putting a bug in the viewer's ear that he might not be gone for good.

Not only do we have that verbal confirmation, but we have multiple places where a body could have been included or implied without adding much to the runtime.

Easiest place would probably be when Omega passes out - there's a trooper's corpse right there in front of her, and it would have been very easy to make that identifiable as Tech. Have one of the boys check his pulse like Crosshair did with Mayday and then be forced to leave after confirming he's dead. Would it require a little bit of fudging the details of how he landed so close to them, sure, but it would have been narratively streamlined and easy.

Have Hemlock bring his helmet rather than his goggles (and damage it in a way clearly incompatible with survival) or confirm that he did find a body but has no use for the goggles.

Put the body in Hemlock's lab when Omega is brought there at the end of the episode. Have a sheet covering him even if you want and just one of his hands hanging out, especially the one with the distinctive light on the back of it. Give us her reaction to that.

These are just the ones that don't involve adding scenes or making major changes - instead, in a franchise known for bringing back everyone and their grandmother especially if there's no body, they chose to leave it extremely vague.

Reused Score

The soundtrack for Tech's sacrifice is fantastic, I don't think anyone can argue that. In fact it's so good that it's used occasionally used as a reason for why he's dead for real. If it's a fakeout, why go so hard on the music?

It almost sounds like a reasonable argument, except that the music isn't even unique to Tech's fall. We get the same motif later in the episode with Omega's capture, and it actually comes in even harder and more impactful there than it did with Tech falling.

Reusing bits of the music has two results. It lessens the impact of hearing it with Tech if it is in fact his Death music, because it makes it clear that he is not the central feeling of the episode but rather, Omega's capture is. As mentioned before, deaths are usually the climax of their own episodes partially to avoid them being upstaged by any other plot points, but here Omega's capture is fully prioritized over the loss of one of our central characters.

The second result is that it changes the meaning of the music. It's no longer meant specifically to underscore a tragic death, but rather a more general one of loss and separation. And if it's simply about that separation, then it no longer requires Tech to be dead to have that same impact. They're apart from each other, and that's painful enough.

SEASON 3 SO FAR

Which of course finally brings us to season 3! We're five episodes in as of the posting of this, so a full 1/3rd of the season down, which gives us a good idea of how they're handling the whole grief aspect of this scenario.

They Aren't!

That's right, we simply have not directly acknowledged or dealt with the whole 'watching your squadmate fall to a presumed horrible death' thing even once in five episodes. Tech has been mentioned by name twice, we've seen his goggles once, and Wrecker makes one sideways reference to him having not made it back.

In universe, there is a several month timeskip and it seems to be implied that the majority of the grief milestones happened in that gap. For example, we don't see Crosshair finding out from Omega, we don't see Omega grieving her brother, we don't see Phee finding out (more on her in a bit) despite her fledgling romance. Months of grieving and processing skipped over and what comes out the other side is single line mentions that go by in seconds.

This is especially apparent after episode 5, where we got something to compare it to. Crosshair has a long, painful moment of grieving with Mayday's helmet when they return to Barton IV. It's deep, personal, and intimate and we take a minute with him gathering up the helmets of Mayday and his men to set them up on the crates the same way that Mayday had honored them.

Mayday is a one episode character that was important to only a single character, Crosshair - Tech is a core member of the team present through two full seasons and shown as close to every member of the squad. Yet the single scene grieving Mayday is longer and more emotionally gripping than every short mention of Tech so far in season 3.

Narrative Grief

Seeing characters grieve their loved ones onscreen is about more than just the characters themselves. It's also part of the viewer experience - through the characters' grief, we're able to process our own grief at the loss. It makes it feel real, it makes it feel personal, and the amount of grieving needs to be proportionate to the character's importance in the story.

This is especially true in a show written for children like The Bad Batch. Kids don't typically have the same experience with death as adults, and a well written main character death within a children's show will need more time and energy spent towards making the loss feel real. We see this with deaths like Kanan's; it wasn't Jedi Night that told the viewer that Kanan was really, truly dead, it was Dume, where the characters mourned him and dealt with the aftermath.

Currently, with Tech, we do see holes in the team that make us miss Tech but they remain completely unaddressed by the characters. We see Tech's goggles, but Hunter isn't looking at them, he's looking at Lula. Omega mentions Tech having taught her all the plans, but without any real sadness on her or Crosshair's part. The closest we get to actually bringing it up are Wrecker saying 'not everyone came back' and Echo mentioning the datapad would be difficult without Tech, and both of those are only seconds long before moving on. They don't serve as any kind of catharsis for the viewer, relying more on gut punch impact and keeping the wound open rather than allowing it to heal. The difference between the treatment of Tech's death and Mayday's just makes it more stark.

How Do You Like Yearning?

Interestingly, though, it strongly resembles the writing team's handling of another situation: Crosshair's departure from the team in season 1 vs Echo's in season 2. The show even drew a lot of flack for the lack of discussion on Crosshair's betrayal, as outside of a couple conversations the matter often went unremarked on. Echo leaving, on the other hand, got a whole episode dedicated to processing the loss immediately after it happened.

So what was the difference? Crosshair's departure is part of a long term plot point. We're supposed to want him back, we're supposed to want the team to talk about him, anything that would ease the tension. The writers on the other hand want that tension to remain until it's time to actually resolve the plot. So we get those slow drips in between bigger encounters, we get opportunities for Crosshair to come home that he doesn't take, and we don't get the catharsis of the team actually talking about any of it. We're left to want and imagine it, using the yearning to keep it on people's minds more than anything.

If Crosshair had been discussed on screen long enough for the characters to actually come to terms with his absence, though, that would have made the plot feel more settled and resolved early on. It might be conversations we want to see, but it doesn't keep the viewer on edge and craving a resolution. Best case scenario we're just not as desperate for Crosshair to come home - worst case scenario we accept that he won't be returning and find the fact that he eventually does to be unrealistic.

Echo on the other hand gets their absence processed immediately, because their absence from the team is not meant to be a huge plot point. It's something the team has to deal with, yes, and the viewer wants to see them again just like Omega does, but Echo returning isn't meant to be a maybe, and it's not supposed to keep the viewer wondering and worrying. It's a when, not an if.

Similarly to Crosshair, Tech has never felt like a resolved plot point. We don't get confirmation on his death, we don't get any long term grieving, and we get drip fed acknowledgements that pry the wound back open. If we actually see the team discuss and come to terms with their grief and loss, the plot point closes, the wound closes and we begin to fully accept a team without Tech in it, which makes it harder to reinsert him into the storyline if he is in fact alive.

If he's truly gone for good, what is the point of denying closure to the audience? We know that they are capable of writing an intense mourning moment that feels completely in character for otherwise emotionally repressed men such as Crosshair, so why not give us that with the team mourning for Tech? A memorial, an intimate moment with the goggles, a short scene of Crosshair finding out about the loss, or anything at all really? Once again it's something that makes sense if he's alive and we're simply not being shown yet, but makes very little sense to not capitalize on if he's dead.

What's to Come

We have ten episodes of season 3 to go, and a lot to cover. Reviews have indicated that Tech is not explicitly brought up in the first eight, so the earliest we could possibly have a survival reveal is in episode 9. Will it actually happen? Maybe, maybe not. Though interestingly episode 9, The Harbinger, is almost exactly one year after Plan 99, just like The Return aired almost one year after The Outpost. Could mean nothing, but they do enjoy their anniversary dates.

One thing we do know for sure is coming up is Phee's inclusion - she's seen in the official trailer, as well as briefly in a recent twitter spot. This is interesting as Phee is, of course, Tech's teased love interest, and her connection to Tech has been emphasized multiple times, including on her Databank entry and the official 'what you need to know about season 3' guide. When she comes onto the scene, it's very likely that more information about Tech will too.

MARKETING, INTERVIEWS, & SOCIAL MEDIA

I wanted to keep this mostly focused on what can be seen within the show itself, but it's impossible to talk about whether or not Tech is alive without pointing to the absolutely bizarre messaging from the cast and crew, as well as the marketing choices surrounding his sacrifice. (Example: the Instagram Mourning Filter they layered over him in the official trailer, as seen above) I won't get quite as detailed here as in the above, but it does have to be mentioned.

Constant Focus

In between the end of season 2 and the posting of the season 3 trailer in late January, there were several posts on various official Star Wars media. The majority of them were about Tech and Plan 99. In fact, I don't think I ever saw anything mentioning the giant 'Omega's been captured' cliffhanger, just Tech. Over and over again.

Once a character is dead, marketing generally stops caring about them. They're forward focused after all, they want you coming back for what's to come not lingering on what won't be relevant again. So why the constant focus on Tech?

And it wasn't just the social media either - a huge portion of the trailers and reels included old footage of him too. For the most part this was from Plan 99 and bringing up his fall again to rip open those old wounds, but in one case they included action footage from The Summit. This was an interesting case, because the majority of people watching wouldn't have recognized it immediately. Fittingly, the entire comment section was full of nothing but 'Was that Tech?' style comments, which they would have known was going to be the case to start with.

So why are we so focused on a man that's supposedly dead? If he's genuinely never going to show up again why keep putting him in? Everything? While not even bringing him up all that often in the show? If he's dead, this is a truly bizarre marketing decision.

Never Say Die

In interviews or in official material. For several months the word 'dead' was never used for Tech anywhere, not in interviews, not in official material, nowhere. It took until January 23rd for all of the databank entries to be updated, and among all of the main cast he's only referred to as 'killed' once, and it's on Hunter's page not even his own. Then, the Friday before the premier, an interview came out referring to him as dead - on the part of the interviewer, not the creators themselves.

Everything else seems to use a variety of euphemisms. His sacrifice, his absence, his loss, he 'plummeted out of sight', he 'fell from a tram car', he did absolutely anything it's possible to do except outright die apparently.

It's an odd choice when there's known controversy over if he's dead or not. The standard operating protocol of course, in a planned comeback, is to refer to them as dead anyway and allow fandom to fuel its own speculation, but with a fandom as devastated as TBB's was, it's quite possible that the odd behavior had to be introduced just to keep speculation going. The only interviews that sound remotely final came out right before the episodes started coming out - if they had done that from the beginning, the chances of people outright refusing to come back to the show likely would have been higher.

Much like the marketing, this is not necessarily proof of anything - but in combination with the multiple odd things in the show itself, it's certainly suspicious. Speaking of suspicious...

What an Odd Thing to Say

The cast and crew themselves have not been skimping on making strange comments when it comes to the Tech situation.

There is of course the well known Joel Aron (lighting director for the series) tweet that came out the day of the Celebrations panel (AKA when the Tech trauma was at an all time high) and in direct reply to a fan that was having a hard time with Tech's death. It's hard to take it as anything but a reference to Tech given the timing, and it was certainly taken as being about Tech in the quote tweets. If it's not about Tech, why tease the fandom with it? And the specification for it being a mid s3 episode as well...

Also from the day of Celebrations, and from the panel itself, we have Michelle Ang saying in front of God and everybody, that Tech "doesn't come back... in this episode, at least." At the time there was a possibility she didn't know and was just leaving it open, but with that only being ten months ago and the extremely long timeframe of animation, it's almost certain that she would have been done with all primary recording by that point. If you know he's not coming back, how do you accidentally imply that he is with no one correcting it?

Dee Bradley Baker, when asked for a farewell message from Tech at a con, came out with "the life of a soldier is fulfilled by fulfilling his mission and supporting his brothers. And this was the end of mine. And that's a good thing." Which was a perfectly serviceable goodbye right up until he said that the end of Tech's (life? soldier's life? mission?) was a good thing.

During an instagram interview we have Deana Kiner, one of the composers, in response to the interviewer talking about the final episode containing a major loss, saying, "It's kind of a loss... It's complicated." The claim on twitter was that this was about Omega, because everyone knows that when someone mentions the major loss in Plan 99 they're definitely talking about Omega.

So is Tech alive? Is Tech dead? We still don't know. But while one or two of the above might be a coincidence, having all of them at once coalesce around this single character death is a lot to chew over. The Bad Batch team has shown willingness to address grief and loss prior, as well as a willingness to show us death onscreen and front and center. So why, with such an important character, sidestep it all in order to keep it vague? Why keep it from sounding final for so long, if the intent the entire time was for him to be dead for good?

We won't know until he either shows back up or the show ends. If Tech's alive, all of the above starts to make sense. If he's dead... well a lot of things will just never quite add up. I feel that this team has shown enough willingness to follow up on their trailing plotlines that they've earned my trust. Fingers crossed for a satisfying resolution for all of us, and for our boy Tech, whatever that resolution may be.

[questforgalas]

The Bad Batch and Rex Reuniting with Their Jedi Partner After Order 66

I go absolutely insane for Jedi x Clone relationships, and thinking about a Jedi reuniting with their clone after Order 66 gives me the ultimate rollercoaster of emotions so here ya go (wow it feels good to get the writing juices going again)

G/N reader. I made myself cry with all of these, you're welcome

On AO3

You were a Jedi shadow who occasionally accompanied the Bad Batch on missions. You were with them on Kaller when Order 66 happened but you got away with Caleb. Once Caleb is safely away from the Empire, you make your next move to get any information you can, and the only contact you trust at the moment is located on Ord Mantell. Cid offers you asylum and a place to lay low while you figure our your next move

One day while you're trying your best to reverse the many health code violations in Cid's bar, you feel a presence in the force that hits you like a punch in the chest as 4 clones in black and red armor enter the parlor

Hunter calling your name as you leapt over the river haunted you since Kaller

Seeing him standing in front of your made you unable to breathe

He sensed you the moment he walked in, whether it was your scent or your heartbeat you weren't sure, but he turned his head to you slower than you've ever seen him move before

The small blonde girl next to him noticed him stare, and she followed his eyesight, spotting you across the bar. "Is that a friend?" she asked

He didn't answer, just took a step forward like in a trance, but stopped immediately when he saw your hand instinctively hover where you hid your lightsaber

Slowly he raised his hands like placating a cornered animal, "They didn't activate, sweetheart. You're safe with us. You're safe with me."

You sensed it in the force, the truth in his words

He resumed his slow walk to you, the Batch holding their breath behind him

When he was an arms length away, you jumped into his arms, wrapping yourself around him and nuzzling your face into his neck. You felt him squeeze his arms around your waist, finding the crook of your neck, taking all of you in

No tears were shed. Just relief - slow, long breaths you've held since Kaller leaving you both

You stayed that way, wrapped in each other's arms, nuzzling as close as you can get

"Alright, you four, follow me. Clearly, these two need a minute," you hear Cid say from the safety of Hunter's shoulder

Four pairs of feet shuffle past you, a soft pat on your shoulder gives a warm, brief greeting, Echo most likely, before you're both left basking in each other's warmth

"I've got you, sweetheart. We'll figure this out together," he whispers in your ear. You snuggle closer in response

Wrecker wasted no time shoving through the group as soon as he saw you standing on the other side of the bar, eyes wide with shock

"Maker, what're you do..."

He immediately halts when he sees your hand reach for your hip

Of course, the last time you saw him was Kaller, he should've known you'd be suspicious

"It's ok meshla, ours didn't activate. Our chips are defective. Tell them Tech, tell them they're defective." You watch as he looks back at Tech with pleading eyes, body practically vibrating with his need to hold you

Without moving your hand, you move your eyes to Tech's who gives you an affirming nod "He's telling the truth. Our inhibitor chips failed to activate, and we are currently deserters of the Empire"

You didn't hear that last part though as you rushed to Wrecker who met with you equal enthusiasm halfway across the parlor

You were only crushed into his chest for a second or two before he was peppering your face with kisses

You felt yourself freely laugh for the first time since Kaller, playfully shoving him back so you could take in his face

He cupped your cheeks with his big hands, bringing your eyes to meet his

"Maker, I thought I'd never see you again, meshla. I'm so glad you're home"

Home. He was home, and you had no plans to leave ever again

He didn't notice you at first, too caught up in trying to figure out who Cid is

He continued on with his brothers, convinced this was the place for the Jedi contact

While he continued bantering with Hunter and Wrecker, you caught the eyes of Tech which widened when he saw you, but he remained quiet for Echo to discover for himself. His reassuring nod though told you all you needed to feel safe

You waited for the group to stop arguing, but when you saw things hadn't changed and no end was in sight, you couldn't help but laugh

Your laugh, as brief as it was, stopped him short

His back was to you, frozen, and he didn't turn around at first

The rest of his brothers turned in your direction, and Hunter's eyes darted between the two of you, warm smile on his face

What you didn't see was Echo close his eyes, telling his mind to stop playing these cruel tricks on him like it had been since Kaller - hearing your laugh, your soft singing on the marauder while they traveled around

When he finally turned around towards the source of the sound, he dropped his helmet

You gradually make your way to him as he remained frozen on the spot

The rest of the Batch shuffle to make room so you can get to him

As you get closer, your smile slowly grows with each step, tears welling

His eyes never leave yours, remaining wide and unblinking as if you're a mirage that's going to disappear

Finally, you're a hands length away from him, and you slowly raise your hand to rest on his cheek

As soon as skin meets skin, he releases the breath he'd been holding, and leans into the touch, closing his eyes and relishing in it

You let out a happy sob at the sight, your Echo back with you

Faster than hyperspeed, he snakes his arms around you, crushing you into his chest

His hand holds you in place while his scomp rubs soothingly up and down your back

You're full crying now, burying your face in his neck, thanking the Maker for not making you lose him a second time

"Shhh meshla, I've got you. I'm here. I'll always be right here. I'm not losing you again"

You can thank his observation skills and need to take in every detail of a new environment in order to study it for him spotting you right away

You were a bright spot compared to the many health code violations hiding within the bar

You waited on the other side, making your own observations, ready to reach for your lightsaber if needed

"No need for that, darling. Our inhibitor chips did not activate. They appear to be defective, possibly due to our mutations, and we were able to escape the Empire. Hence, why we are here"

You ease at the information, walking to meet Tech in the middle of the parlor

When you're close enough, you see something gleaming in his eyes. Happiness? Pride?

"You don't seem surprised to see me" you say to him, reaching for his hand

"Statistically, once you made your escape from Hunter on Kaller, and knowing your capabilities, I knew it was improbable that you would fall victim to Order 66. Although, finding you in a less than reputable bar in the Outer Rim is certainly a surprise"

Oh Tech, your Tech. So matter of fact and to the point

His explanation makes you laugh and shake your head

Not able to wait any longer, you grab him and pull him towards you

He softly smiles down at you as he cups your chin, bringing your lips to his

"What's the probability of us being separated again?" you ask him without pulling apart

"Very low. 0% in fact" he says before softly kissing you again

You reunited with the boys on Ord Mantell and stuck around with them as they figured out the new galaxy. Once you all sprang Crosshair free of the Empire, you removed his chip, and you stayed by his side the whole time as you waited for him to wake up

Every form of meditation in the galaxy could not calm your nerves

Crosshair's chip was removed 2 days ago and he'd been unconscious ever since

You never left his bedside, only eating and drinking when Echo or Omega brought you food and water

You'd laid your head down to rest some time ago when you felt his hand stir, yours laying on top of it

You shot up, holding yourself still as you watched him wake - groaning as his eyes adjusted and he took in the room

Slowly, they made their way to you, and you both froze

Every cell in your body wanted to throw your arms around him, but you gave him time to take in his new reality

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes"

The laugh that came out turned into a sob as you squeezed his hand

You're patient, spending the next few hours working through his guilt, helping him voice his insecurities, his doubts, his self-hatred, ready to combat each negative notion that dares make itself known

Hours later, you're both sitting in his med bed, leaning against the wall with your head on his shoulder

He has his arm around you, rubbing circles along your arm

After months of explosive run ins and uncertain truths, you bask in the quiet between you both

Whenever the tears escape, he quietly wipes them away, shushing them with soft kisses in your hair

In the night, a quiet confession

"I fought it. Every time I raised my rifle or pistol at you, I fought it. I could feel myself hesitating, yelling at myself in my own head"

You squeeze him tighter to you, nothing to say but letting him know that no matter what he reveals, you only want him closer

He brings you into his lap, legs curled over his, tucking you into his neck

"Thank you for never giving up. Thank you for fighting for me, even when I wouldn't fight for myself"

He places a gentle kiss in your hair before he tucks you further into him, resting his head on yours, letting the peaceful night settle around you both

You were a Jedi shadow in love with a certain captain and who occasionally accompanied the Bad Batch on missions. You were with them on Kaller when Order 66 happened but you got away with Caleb. Once Caleb is safely away from the Empire, you make your next move to get as far away from the Empire as possible

the blaster hole in his pauldron makes me so emotional ok anyway

it would take awhile, weeks even months before the reunion would happen with both of you trying to lay low as long as possible

Rex had the advantage of the Empire thinking him dead, you weren't so lucky

You only used the force once after the events, after you found yourself safely heading towards the outer rim, to reach out and search for Rex's signature

Once you felt it and felt it hadn't changed, unlike the other clones you knew, you immediately cut yourself off from the force going into hiding

It broke your heart cutting yourself off from him, but you knew it wasn't safe for him to be near you - and you still had a lot of questions

Later, settled on a backwater planet far from the Empire's reach and with the galaxy continuing on, you risk a short connection with the force with one thing in mind

You feel him, faintly, but he's still there and he's still your Rex

Months later, one day when you check on him, his signature is the strongest it's been since the war

You're too curious and too lonely, you hold onto it, knowing what you're risking, but follow it through the forest and to the clearing a few kliks from where you've established home

A small, abandoned farm greets you. A ship waits not far from the homestead, and two figures stand just by the porch. He shares the face with millions and is all the way across the clearing, but you'd recognize him anywhere

He's with another clone, and softly you reach out with the force to check their signatures - both unchanged, both not filled with hate and confusion like so many of the other soldiers after the war

It only took two steps into the clearing before you saw him stiffen and whip his head in your direction.

Of course he could sense you without you even opening yourself up to him.

You keep walking. He doesn't take his eyes off of you

Suddenly, like his brain needed a minute to catch up, he breaks into a sprint to you, the clone left behind laughing as he watches the stoic captain appear to finally lose it

You don't see him approach you since tears blocked your vision as soon as you saw him start running

Half attempts to wipe the waterfalls from your cheeks are halted when your feet leave the ground and you're crushed into a hard chest, arms wrapping around you tighter than a force choke

Pulling back, you're both crying and laughing, not fully believing this is actually happening

You try to wipe the tears from his cheeks, he pushes the hair that's fallen in your face away

Words are being whispered, whatever can be kissed is kissed

Eventually, you both manage a deep breath, and Rex brings his forehead to yours

For the first time since the war ended, you feel a calm in the force you never thought possible again

[emeritusemeritus]

Rough sex with reader with both Weasley twins? Just after a hard day at Weasley Wizard Wheezes, both men are pent up with the amount of problems that had in just literally one day. This could range from a customer to you possibly trying to tease the shit out of them before fleeing away. 🤭 I hope this isn’t too big of an idea and I’ll leave the rest up to by you. 🫶

Hi Anon! Please accept this offering as a token of my appreciation 🖤 I set it at Christmas time for reasons unknown to me, mostly because I thought it would be super busy?

Warnings: SMUT. Piv, blowjobs, oral (f&m receiving) use of Angel/baby/sweetheart/princess. Slightly Dom/sub behaviours. Rough sex. Cumplay. Polyamory, kind of?

Word count: 3k (of pure smut)

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was bursting with shoppers since the moment the doors had opened that morning, a sea of people already lined up right down the street stretching all the way down past Ollivanders. Since the moment the doors had opened, it had been non-stop work with customers who were packed in like sardines across all five floors of the shop, desperately searching for Christmas presents for their loved ones.

Although he was always thankful for the success of their business, Fred was completely exhausted and a little worn down by the relentlessness of the day.

He'd been up early, having to leave the two warm bodies in the comfy bed, and had dressed quickly, not even stopping to get a cup of tea or any breakfast and had gone straight to the office to sort out a cash discrepancy he'd noticed upon closing last night. After recounting all the gold from yesterday and revising all the paperwork, he had eventually found the accounting issue and then had to redo all the paperwork.

George turned up to help with opening the store and they'd quickly discovered that they were running low of the Peruvian instant darkness powder crystals which would be a devastating loss to their business this close to Christmas with it being one of their best sellers and the top money spinner.

Fred had once again climbed the multiple stairs to the office and had checked in the books, seeing that a shipment was actually due to arrive this week but when he looked at the number ordered, he realised the grave mistake he'd made. Instead of ordering it in individual batches like usual, he'd confused the numbers and had ordered 60 crates instead which would be a massive overbuy and therefore a massive overspend. It was imported from Peru and the cost of shipping was astronomical, so he had really made a grave mistake. Not only that but the darkness powder had a relatively short shelf life compared to some of their other products and so it could be a complete financial loss.

Running his hands over his face and through his hair, he made his way down the stairs to begrudgingly tell his twin of his error, only to realise that the store was already open and the shop was already packed with customers needing help left, right and center. He'd not taken a single break that day nor stopped for any lunch, working right through as the heavy flow of customers never dwindled. A kid had knocked over a display of wonderwitch products requiring a massive cleanup, even though the child's mother had cast a spell to prevent the rest from falling and it had fallen to Fred to clean up the mess, seeing that his twin was currently helping a large family, Verity was stuck with a line of customers at the till and their temporary Christmas staff were all dotted about busy with other tasks.

He'd thought multiple times during the day to send you an owl to ask you to help out, but he'd never actually got the chance to slip away for long enough. He knew you'd come if he asked but he also didn't want to bother you on your day off, knowing that you were spending it at the Burrow with his mum, busy making preparations for Christmas next week.

When the doors to the shop closed around 7pm and the last of the customers trailed out of the store around 10 minutes past, Fred let out a sigh of relief as he flicked his wand and cast the closing spells, locking the doors.

He couldn't even bring himself to make conversation with his twin, who in striking contact to himself was buzzing from the successful day. He trudged up the stairs, not trusting himself to apparate into the office in his exhaustion; the last thing he needed today was to get splinched because he wasn't paying enough attention.

He was nearly finished with the nightly paperwork when the door to the office creaked open and you walked through with a wide smile on your face, seeing him for the first time that day. Usually he loved to see your smile, even more so when he knew it was because of him, but after the day he'd had and the foul mood that had settled within him, the smile on your face only exasperated how he was feeling, resenting the fact that you'd had a much easier day than him.

"Hey Freddie," you said with a smile, walking over to him and hopping up on the desk. He looked dishevelled to say the least, his jacket thrown off, shirt sleeves rolled up his forearms and tie hanging loosely around his neck, clearly having been loosed hastily. He looked unbelievably hot, like his hand had been repeatedly running through his hair making that ultra sexy dishevelled look.

He hardly looked up, which you thought was strange, simply nodding his head as if to tell you that he'd heard you and acknowledging your presence.  Realising he was busy, you move to hop off the desk ready to walk away, immediately feeling like you were intruding and bothering him.

"Princess wait,” he says, stopping you from walking away, casting his arm out to grab at you. He pauses when he feels your bare skin under his hand, your dress having ridden up when you climbed onto the desk. For the first time, his eyes flick up to you, specifically your bare thigh that his hand is wrapped around.

The sudden change in atmosphere seems to affect you almost instantly. His eyes are piercing, dark as they look at your skin under his hand and you don’t need to be a skilled occlumens to know exactly what is going through his mind. When his hand squeezes down on your flesh, you know exactly what he’s thinking and you can’t help but feel a little flushed with the influx of arousal that spreads through your body.

For the first time, his gaze travels across your body and up towards your face until he’s looking in your eyes. It’s tense for a moment when nothing happens until he suddenly stands from the chair, right in front of you and nudging your legs apart until they’re pulled taught either side of his hips. His tongue pokes out and wets his lips as he gazes at you hungrily and you can almost see your chest rising and falling with the sudden need to take deep breaths to calm yourself.

“Wanna be my good girl?” He says, leaning down slightly, towering over you as his hands dance along the hemline of your dress, thumbs teasing the skin of your thighs as your legs part even wider automatically. He smirks to himself, not missing the way your body always submits to him so willingly as he takes a step back. You nod, staring up at him with wide, imploring eyes awaiting your instruction.

Your gaze follows his hands as they pull away from your thighs and go straight to his belt, unlooping it, opening up his belt buckle and pulling open the buttons until he can free himself. He reaches into his underwear and pulls out his hardening cock as you watch on desperately, mouth watering at the sight.

“Suck it baby,” he says with a slight coo, “want your beautiful lips around me.”

You do as your told almost immediately, maintaining eye contact with him as you slip down off the desk so that you’re eye level with his perfect clock. Ensuring that he’s watching your every move, you timidly stick out your tongue and lock all around the head of his cock, watching closely as his eyes close on their own accord, a heavy breath falling from his lips. You take his rapidly hardening cock into your mouth seconds later, as much as you can and give one long, drawn out suck that causes him to let out a low, breathy moan. You bob up and down on his cock, running your tongue against the prominent veins underneath and try to take more and more in your mouth just like you know he likes. His hand rests in your hair but he does it to feel, not to control as gorgeous intimate moans fall from his lips, his eyes flicking between watching you and closing in pleasure.

“Well this is a sight,” you hear from behind you, making you moan against Fred’s cock. You pull off Fred’s cock, a string of spit trailing between you and his swollen member as you turn your head towards George who looks at you with a lustful gaze. You’re buzzing with arousal, being caught with a mouth full of cock, feeling so dirty by the thought.

“Princess,” Fred says, pulling your attention back to him as you slowly lick all up the sensitive underside before taking him back into your mouth.

George appears by your side in moments and begins unbuckling his own suit trousers, freeing himself and reaching down for your hand as he moves to stand beside Fred. Your hand wraps around his length and you stroke it just how he likes, feeling him harden in your hand.

Both of them moan out at the same time when you switch sides, taking George in your mouth and wrapping your hand around Fred, feasting on them both. You alternate between the twins, your hands never leaving their cocks as you give them pleasure, enjoying the glorious sounds they are unashamedly making.

As soon as you take Fred into your mouth, George slips out of your grasp and reaches for your dress, tearing at it and pulling it open until your breasts spill out, having taken off your bra the moment you got in. You gasp, feeling your nipples harden under the cold air and the feeling of being exposed and it’s mere seconds before George’s hands greedily grab at them.

Fred pulls you off his cock, his hand gently cupping your jaw as he looks at you with lust blown eyes for a second before turning to his twin who seems to have the same idea.

In a manoeuvre so slick it surprised you, Fred picks you up and exits the office with a slight slam of the door, carrying you bridal style all the way through the apartment until he places you on the bed. You watch as George steps through the doors, looking at them both eyeing you hungrily with their cocks still out and you have to bite your lip, so overwhelmingly aroused and untouched that it’s near painful.

George steps forward first, crawling up your body on the bed until he leads you into a surprisingly passionate kiss. Whilst you’re kissing George, you feel Fred reach up your dress and pull down your underwear, the wet gusset feeling heavy, drenched in your arousal. Your hips flail trying to make contact as you spread your legs, hearing Fred curse at the sight in front of him.

George pulls away and gives you a little smirk before he begins to kiss down your body, stopping to feast on your heaving chest before he carries on further and further downwards until his lips ghost over your mound.

The second his tongue laps as your heated, wet flesh you cry out, back arching in pleasure. You look down and see his eyes watching you as he feasts on your cunt, lips and tongue already working you perfectly as he sucks and slurps at your clit.

Fred appears next to you and holds out his cock for you to take back into your mouth, the angle a little awkward but your make do. It’s so sinfully dirty having one twin feasting on your cunt whilst you suck off the other one and you can’t help but feel your climax building already, so worked up.

“I don’t think so Angel,” George says, pulling away from your weeping cunt, hips undulating desperately as your climax fades. “When you cum it’s going to be on our cocks.”

Both twins pull away from you as they quickly throw off the rest of their clothes and you sit up on the bed, tits exposed in your ripped dressed waiting for them.

George gets to you first, pulling you in for a scorching kiss as his hands wander, gathering the material of your dress in his fists. It’s quick and oh so arousing when he suddenly reaches out and manhandles you, flipping you over until you’re on your front, hips high in the air for him. He pushes up the material of your dress, completely exposing you to their gaze and you bite your lip once again when you hear their breathy moans, curses and playful banter, talking about your pretty little wet cunt.

George’s cock slips between your wet lips with ease, your gasps only fuelling his desire to get inside you. The second he slips inside you cry out in ecstasy, finally feeling full just like you needed. He’s rough and sets a brutal pace almost instantly, both of you keyed up enough to take it.

“You like that Angel? You like when I’m rough with you?” His deep voice says from behind you, making your clench around him. “Mmm yeah you do, dirty girl.”

Fred slips beside you on the bed and captures your lips into a blistering kiss, his big hands squeezing at your bouncing tits, thumbs stroking over your hard nipples. You cry out about into Fred’s mouth as George shifts and gets even deeper.

“Fuuuuck that’s it baby, use me just like that, fuck yourself on me,” he cries out when you begin to meet his hard thrusts, arching your back further.

It’s dirty and messy, the feel of their hands on you, Fred’s on your tits and George’s gripping your hips tight as he controls your movements. You can feel him start to lose his tempo, thrusts getting sloppy and harder until he’s fucking you with force, no doubt watching as your ass jiggles for him.

“Fuck gonna make me cum Angel, oh fuck!” He cries out as you clench him again, making your pussy even tighter around his sensitive cock.

You reach out for Fred’s spare hand as George starts to cum, hips slamming into yours as your moans mix with George’s and echo through the bedroom. You feel like you can feel every single shot of cum filling you as George roars, his load shooting deep inside you as he continues sloppily thrusting in and out of you.

Fred gives you almost no time to recover when George pulls away breathless. He pulls you up, pulls you into a dangerously arousing kiss as he peels the useless fabric away from your frame, leaving you completely nude for him. He turns you around and lays you on the bed before slipping inside your open legs, grabbing them and throwing them over his shoulders.

You’re already oversensitive pussy burns in the most delicious way as you feel the weight of his impossibly hard cock hitting your clit. You cry out, reaching for your breasts as he devilishly taps his cock on your clit, rubbing and giving you the most delicious friction just like you need. He slips his cock inside you and you scream out, feeling him deep inside you, deeper than George had been, your body so sensitive and needy for an orgasm. He leans forward and puts his hands either side of your head, contorting you exactly as he wants you, leans down to give you a single kiss and a smirk before he draws his hips back and slams back inside you. Your whole body rocks with the movement, his pace already fast and brutal as he fucks into you for all he’s worth. It’s nasty and dirty, the mix of his brutal thrusts and teasing smirk and you claw at his back as you cry out. He curses and groans with each thrust as your pussy grips him, climax building deep in your belly.

“Fred, fuck!” You cry out, his cock staying deep inside you as he gives you short, hard thrusts, your clit rubbing deliciously on his pubic bone.

“That’s it sweetheart, fuck you’re so tight, cum for me baby, cum on me.”

Your orgasm hits you out of nowhere, his voice so arousing, his words so demanding that your body submits to him instantly. You can’t stop moaning as he continues to fuck you through your orgasm, his own rapidly approaching. His arms bulge under his own weight, a delicious sight as you canter your hips to meet his thrusts, watching as his eyes close, his face scrunching up.

“Freddie cum for me, cum Freddie!”

It’s a shock when his blistering hot cum suddenly shoots out and hits your chest, your tits covered right across to your neck and your chin. He pants, slipping back into his knees as he looks at you, so perfectly defiled and covered in his cum.

“You’re bloody perfect,” he says breathlessly with a slight laugh, the sensations overwhelming him as he looks at you. When you take a single finger and trace it across your breast, scooping up a little bit of his cum before bringing it up to your lips to suck on he looks at you in amazement, mouth contorting into a little ‘o’ shape.

“Dirty girl,” George says, making you turn in his direction, so consumed by Fred that you’d not even considered where he’d gone. He runs a warm washcloth over you, cleaning up his and his twins mess as you smile at him tiredly. “You did so well for us.”

You laze in between completely naked and free between the two equally naked bodies for a little while, your legs feeling like jelly as George strokes your hair and Fred holds you tightly.

“So did you steal us any Christmas cookies?”

“On the counter,” you say tiredly with a knowing smile.

It takes less than three seconds before both twins race out of bed and run straight towards the kitchen as you laugh at them, their very naked arses jiggling in the gentle lamp light.

[indiefilmfatale]

one, two, three (eddie munson x steve harrington x afab fem reader)

gif by acecroft ^ READ PART TWO HERE <3 plot: a casual smoke sesh with you, your boyfriend eddie, and your best friend steve turns into something...... less casual lol content warnings: smoking/drug use, voyeurism (eddie loves to watch), dirty talk, heavy petting, begging, fingering, overstimulation, eddie calls reader baby word count: 2.6k a/n: i hope yall like my first one shot! the ones been brewing for a while. it's pretty drawn out but i think its worth it smut below the cut!

Eddie's bed was probably your favorite place in the entire world.

It was an odd choice for a favorite place. His mattress wasn't anything special, probably over a decade old. His pillows are too flat for you. He doesn't even have a top sheet, just sleeps with the same old quilt every night. But damn it, every time you got in it, you either got high or got fucked. So yeah, it was your favorite place in the world. And it only gets better when your favorite people are in it too.

You sat on the end of the bed, facing the headboard, your legs criss-crossed. Eddie was on your left, laying down but propping his torso up with his elbows. His feet press against your hip, occasionally rubbing them softly against you, just to let you know he was thinking about you.

Steve was to your right. He laid flat on his back, hands plopped casually on his chest. It was rare, just the three of you hanging out without Nancy or Robin. Not that you minded, it was nice to have the occasional smoke session without Robin's constant babbling. She got ten times more talkative when she was high, but you'd also be lying if you said you didn't miss it a little bit.

Still, you were content. Sitting between your favorite boys, passing around the second joint of the hour. You were all substantially stoned already, but it was a Saturday, and the second joint was just sitting there.

And in the midst of the smoke, and jokes, and Eddie's little touches– the conversation seemed to have somehow drifted into unknown waters.

"Is it weird to not want to cum for like, a while during sex?" Steve eyes are staring at the ceiling. "Like I like it when a girl," He paused, not because he didn't know what to say, but he didn't know if he should say it. "Makes me.... wait for it?" His hands fly to his face, pressing against his eyes firmly. He lets out a groan, "I don't know what I'm talking about, nevermind."

You found it intriguing that Steve was so skittish when he talked about sex, since he seemed so experienced. Your mind drifted to the image of a girl on top of Steve, grinding slowly, tortuously slow, as his face contorts. You felt a twinge in your core, then pushed the thought away.

"No, it's not weird at all." You comforted Steve, your voice dragging slightly due to the pot. Eddie, who currently had the half-gone joint in his possession, nodded to agree with you– His lungs too filled with smoke to speak.

Steve didn't take his hands off of his face. "Well what do you know about this? You're a.. girl. You don't have to worry about cumming because if you do–" Steve raised his arms to emphasize, jerking them in a circular motion. "You can just do it again. And again."

Eddie cuts him off, "And she does." They burst into a fit of drug induced giggles.

"Eddie!" You exclaim, surprised. Both of you rarely mention any details of your sex life. But you didn't scold him, instead just playfully rolling your eyes. Something inside you didn't mind that Steve knew, maybe you were even a little excited about it.

His hand outstretches toward you, handing you the joint as the laughter dies down. "Sorry, baby, I think there's truth serum in this batch from Rick."

"You might be onto something there." Steve says as he sits up, leaning against Eddie's headboard. You watch him as you take a hit, adjusting himself to get comfortable. He finally rests his head back, staring forward in thought.

You didn't realize you had even been staring for that long until you saw Eddie in the corner of your eye, head rested in his hand, watching you watch Steve. You catch his gaze and his mouth flicks into a small smile. Then you watch him turn to Steve, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Isn't my girlfriend fucking gorgeous Steve?" Eddie asks as you take another hit. You chuckle modestly at your boyfriend, then watch Steve's eyes focus on you. You hand him the joint, but don't break eye contact.

A sweet smile spreads on Steve's face, holding the joint close to his mouth but not bringing it between his lips just yet. "Yeah, she's beautiful, Eddie." He agrees, nodding. He smokes.

You look back at Eddie, who's full-on smirking at you now. Eyes scanning your body hungrily. Hovering his hand casually over his mouth, he grazes his bottom lip with his thumb. You could tell he was turned on.

You got an idea just as your eyes traveled back to Steve, who was still looking at you. Not in the same way Eddie was, more like he was trying to figure something out. Like he had somehow never noticed how pretty he found you. It had always been secondary to his relationship to you. He knew you were with Eddie, so it didn't matter if he found you beautiful or horrendous. Until now.

He handed the almost-roach to Eddie, who was a master at smoking the very last bit of anything. He finished it off and pressed it firmly in the ashtray on his nightstand. For a moment, as the smoke whirled above all of you, nobody knew what to say. You were all stoned and confused and a little bit horny.

You decided to make the first move.

You unfold your legs from under you and walk on your knees towards the head of the bed. Eddie scoots over to make room for you, his eyes not leaving your face for a moment as you focus in on Steve.

You smile sweetly at him. You watch him let out a small exhale. A calmness washes over him. He suddenly remembers, Oh, right, it's Y/N. Nothing to be nervous about.

"Can I kiss you Steve?" Your voice is barely above a whisper.

Steve's jaw drops only a bit. You watch his eyes dart to your lips, then meets your eye. He nods.

Before you lean in, you look at Eddie, who's pupils have dilated more than you've ever seen. His mouth is also slightly ajar, just like Steve's.

You flick your brow up, silently making sure you have his approval. Eddie nods, bringing his hand around and caressing your shoulder.

You turn back to Steve. You both lean in, very slowly, but there's a hesitance between you. You think, Fuck it. You press your lips against his, firmly. It's a bit awkward at first, but then you open your mouth to kiss again, and suddenly you are sinking into it.

You had figured Steve was a good kisser– You can't really invent make-out spots without being a good kisser. But it still felt like a pleasant surprise.

His hands know exactly where to go. One is behind your head, pulling on your hair to the rhythm of the kiss. The other hand holding your waist. His tongue, ever so shyly, slips into your mouth. You return the favor.

Steve's lips drift to your cheeks, then to your neck. You let out a soft moan, and the small sounds ignites something in everyone. You turn your head to the left slightly, both giving Steve a better angle and you a better view of Eddie.

Your eyes traveled down Eddie's tattoo'd arm, down to his hand, where he was groping himself over his jeans. Your mouth falls agape.

Steve pulled away, hand still holding your waist. You turn back to him and place one slower, more sensual kiss. You then leaned down and held your face close to Eddie's, hovering in front, eyes darting from his eyes to his lips. "I love you." You whispered.

The hand that was on his groin reaches back up to the back of your head. "I love you so fucking much." He kisses you, and it's like you're returning to him after a long trip. You grip both sides of his face, pulling him into you.

You underestimate your own balance and when leaning into Eddie you tip your whole body to land flat on your back between both of them, with a giggle. Eddie giggles with you, and you sink into his kiss again. He's now at the perfect angle, lying sideways toward you, right hand roaming your body like a man on a mission to find something.

You feel another hand snake around your waist, and soft breath against your neck. As you kiss Eddie, Steve plants wet kisses from your ear to your collarbone, where the neckline of your shirt is.

You felt goosebumps rise on your legs and arms. You had never kissed anyone while someone else kissed your neck, and it felt so good you began to breathe hard.

Your core is aching at this point, begging to be touched. When you open your eyes from the kiss, and Eddie's head pulls back a bit, you notice Steve has gotten into almost the same position as Eddie, just on the other side of you. He's still kissing your neck.

"Too many," You pant, your eyes fluttering shut.

"What, baby?" Eddie asks, an amused smile on his face. He lovedseeing you so turned on you couldn't function properly. And no one had even touched your pussy yet.

You huffed as Steve went to town on where your neck meets your shoulder, leaving a dark spot when his lips released the skin. "Too many clothes." You finally managed to get out.

Steve and Eddie chuckle in sync. Steve lifts his head, looks at your shirt, then looks at Eddie. "Do you want to do the honors?"

"Hey, I get to do this, like, everyday. Go right ahead my friend." Eddie jokes.

Steve's brows furrow for a moment, then he looks at you. "Jesus christ, every day?" He asks you.

You, completely blissed out, shrugs. "More or less."

"You guys are like bunnies, seriously. Okay, here, sit up." Steve slides his hand under your back and pushes you upward. Gripping your top and lifting it over your head in the process. Steve's eyes are glued to your tits as he tosses the shirt to the other side of the room.

You watch him watch you as you take your bralette off. Then you look at Eddie, who has the same dumbstruck look on his face every time you take your bra off in front of him.

"Well I'm not going to be the only one with my tits out." You reach for Eddie's Hellfire shirt and pull it off him, exposing his toned chest. Steve takes his shirt off quickly and efficiently. You glance down at the hair thats grown over his pecs, and can't help but bite your lip.

"God I'm the luckiest girl alive, aren't I?" You ask nobody in particular.

Eddie smiles widely, placing a sweet kiss on your cheek before all three of you lie back down.

"Can I?" Steve lies down in closer, his hand waiting patiently for approval a foot away from your boob.

You smile, then nod. His hand reaches up and slowly massages your left one. His head leans down and places a soft lick on the nipple. You puff out an exhale, your head falling back.

As Steve sucks on your nipple, his hand pinches and brushes the other. You remember your boyfriend's hard cock and reach for it, gripping him through his pants. Eddie lets out a soft groan, sending fireworks to your slit. You feel your wetness soak into your panties.

Your legs tighten against each other. "Somebody touch me, please." You whine.

Steve looks up at you excitedly, then at Eddie who had that same amused smile on his face. He begins to unbutton your jeans. "She likes it when you rub her clit really slow at first." He pulls down the pants zipper.

He then reaches for Steve's hand, that was still resting on your boob. Steve is confused, until Eddie brings the hand down to where your panties peak out of your pants. Eddie lifts the fabric and guides Steve hand into your folds.

You're watching in total awe, until your feel firm fingers circle your clit. Both boys turn their attention to you, their hands lap in your underwear together, as you let out your first real moan. It's high and needy and raises in tone at the very end like a question. Your eyes flutter shut.

"Slower," You hear Eddie instruct, and Steve follows.

Your body jerks, your head pressing hard against the pillow in pleasure. "Sh-it." You groan.

Eddie's face breaks into a smile once more, this time with a sense of pride. He loved that he knew how to pleasure you so well that he could teach it to somebody else and still drive you wild.

"Now one." Eddie gripped Steve's pointer finger and guided it downward toward your entrance. Slowly, Steve's finger glides inside you. You let out a guttural moan.

"Two." Eddie says. Steve adds a finger. You moan even louder. "Fucking shit," You say under your breath.

"Does she always swear this much?" Steve mumbles to Eddie, chuckling.

Eddie grins, "Pretty much, yeah."

“Shut up," You whine between breaths. Eddie is pumping Steve's fingers into you. Then Eddie's hand lets go of Steve's and returns to your clit, circling around it at the same slow pace as before.

"Oh god, Eddie, fuck," Your back arches. "This feels so fucking good."

Eddie, never losing tempo with Steve, kisses your neck, paying extra attention to the sensitive spots he can see Steve already covered. You couldn't stop moaning, your hips now grinding against both of their hands. Eddie's head rises, his lips a centimeter away from your's. "Are you ready baby?" Eddie asks, and you know exactly what he's talking about. You nod furiously.

Eddie looks at Steve, and with his free hand, holds up three fingers. Steve takes his hand out of you and looks at your eyes.

You smile at your best friend and kiss him on the lips, placing a hand on his cheek. "I need you, Steve, please,"

Steve smiled, and obliged. Slowly at first, he slides three fingers into you. You gasp, gripping onto Eddie's shoulder. Eddie has to hold back a laugh, he just loves seeing you like this.

Steve pauses, waiting for you to exhale, before moving his hand again. He curves his fingers upward, touching the roof of your pussy and brushing your g-spot just how you like it.

"Yeah, just like that," You whine. Steve leans down and once again paints your neck with wet kisses. The only sound in the room is the quenching of your soaking wet pussy around Eddie and Steve's respective hands, and your feral moans as you feel your climax growing closer.

Eddie's clit rotations grow faster, and Steve matches his pace. Eddie's lips press into yours, your kisses sloppy from lack of focus. Suddenly, another wave a pleasure washes over you. Your mouth falls open, lips still touching Eddie's but unable to kiss.

Your eyes squeeze shut, and Eddie's goes even faster. You hear Steve groan against your ear, and his hot breath hits your neck, and suddenly you're seeing stars. Your moans are drawn out and lazy and loud, and your body goes stiff with pleasure. "Fuck me, I'm cumming."

Eddie's smile grows wide, and he slows down. Steve follows his lead, waiting a beat than pulling his fingers out of your pussy. You sigh, blissed out.

"The three of us should smoke together more often." Steve jokes, lying back next to you. Eddie does the same. The three of you stare at the ceiling.

You hum, then sit up. "Okay, your guys' turn."

[jiveyuncle]

"Fuck." Pidge hisses. "The ship's got an encryption software on it. Downloading any information off of it is going to scramble the information. It'll take days to decode."

"We can't wait days to go after him." Keith growls.

"I don't even know if we can wait for it to download." Hunk warns. The fire burns higher, inching its way up the body of the craft. "Pidge you gotta hurry."

"It's downloading! It won't go any faster!"

Keith slams the exit controls on his lion, and closes his helmet's face shield to switch over to using the suit's oxygen.

As the ramp extends out, Lance radios in. "Keith, what are you doing?" His tone is laced with nervous warning.

Keith pulls himself into the burning ship. "We don't need to download or decode if someone can just read the damn data, right?"

"While true, hypotheticals don't really help with our current situation." Pidge says with a bit of anxious exasperation. "I can't read Galran."

Keith finds Pidge in the cockpit, looking up at a small data screen. "I can."

"Keith, no." Lance breathes.

They don't have time for secrets and the hesitation that comes with keeping them. Fuck his history. Allura can strike him down so long as they get Shiro back.

Surprise! I drew/added one more artwork today! Here’s the last batch art from the fic.

Okay. So. The things I feel that the Humans-are-descended-from-Alteans plot would answer in canon:

+why Alteans look so Human,

+why a lion was hidden on Earth specifically,

+why Altea and Earth both have identifiable *lions* as fauna (headcanoning that lions were Altean pets/house guardians and that some were brought with them while fleeing),

+why Keith could sense the lion of Voltron in the desert,

+why all the locations around the lions glowed when they got near,

+why a crew of all humans were the chosen operators of Altean-made weaponry,

+why Lance got the Altean marks at the end of the show,

etc.

ALSO

Copy/pasting this rant I had about why I love it even more for this reincarnation AU:

Keith's current mom can absolutely still fit the canon version. It would make double sense that she didn't want the Galra to find the lion on Earth and why she left if the planet is crawling with [what she suspects is] the Galra's # 1 enemy (of which she's in love with) - to protect them. And with Keith being the child of a Galran and an Altean, it would make the storytelling symbolic side of my brain happy for him to be the reason they find the lions - the literal embodiment of unifying the two biggest enemies being the one to sense/wake the thing meant to bring peace? The person they thought started the whole Galra vs Altean divide being the evidence that they can in fact get along, and then living it himself? Uhg. Love. I wanted to write hints of it in the fic and even reveal it (I had several ideas of how and where), but it felt like too much to cram in. So, I'll probably just continue it with comic stips and doodles later.

Fic: Sure and Indelible on AO3:

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

Tired dad!Lucifer AU - Part 1

(This was written before the Gamigin event, so there are OOC elements. Not proof read, fuck it we ball)

Lucifer never saw children before, so he just assumed that the small devils where just... like that. One of them was sleeping and the others were running away from the one with blonde hair and dark skin who was holding a massive centipede in his hands. Lucifer turned to his assistent/most trusted general while never taking his eyes away from the rascals.

Lucifer: Morax... what are these?

Morax: I'm not sure, your majesty... they look cute, though. Can we keep them?

Lucifer: I don't think we have much of a choice.

One of the children bumps into Lucifer and looks up at him with his blood red eyes.

Asmodeus: Daddy?

Lucifer looks with disgust at the almost naked child, blessing the loin cloth for preventing him from seing what he didn't want to see

Morax: Aww, he thinks you're his dad. No, little falla, his majesty Lucifer isn't your daddy. You're daddy is up in the sky and He's constantly watching everyone. But He's currently busy with the angel revolution, so He has no time to look after you.

Leviathan: Does he care about the angels more than us?

Morax: Not neccessarly, but they're very loud, so He has no choice but to listen.

Satan: AAAAAAAAAA

Instinctively, Lucifer kicked Satan in the stomach. Instead of groaning in pain, Satan came up to Lucifer again and started jumping.

Satan: Again! Kick me again!

Lucifer: What even are these creatures? Are you demons?

All the devils in unison: Yes!

Leviathan: You're angels, aren't you? Filthy angels...

Morax: Actually we're demons now as well.

Lucifer: You know Morax, sometimes I wish that it was your mouth and not your eye that was missing...

Morax: I apologise, your majesty.

Lucifer: If you ment it, you would have shut up a while ago. Anyway. Devils, I am Lucifer Morningstar and it is my God given duty to look after you. My job is to make sure that hell becomes as prosperus, if not more so, than Heaven itself. I have heroicly endured great tragedy to reach you and I- what are you doing, how did you climb on me. Take that repulsive organism away from my visage, do you have any idea how unsanitary it is to have a Biota Eukaryota Animalia Eumetazoa Protostomia Arthropoda Mandibulata near your mouth!

Beelzebub: I like your funny words, magic man.

Asmodeus: Shove it in his eye! That'd be hot!

Morax tryes to gently remove Beelzebub, who had climed on top of Lucifer trying to force the bug in one of his holes. The other children were laughing, even Leviathan slightly smirked at seing the former angel's struggle.

Lucifer: You, are the worst batch of brats I've ever seen. I am calling God and demanding to be taken back to Heaven! You filthy little idiots.

Morax: Ok, kids, today we learned an important lesson. Don't try to force centipedes in Lucifer's eyes or he'll be very sad. You don't want to make people sad. No no no. Sad is bad.

Lucifer was impatiantly calling God who wasn't answering. Unbeknownst to him, Gabriel changed God's sim card. Morax on the other hand was very condecending to the young devils, but it wasn't out of disrespect, that's just how he usually talks.

[bl4cktourmaline]

☔ . 風鈴 — your secret admirer ft furina & raiden ei

✿ — ♬ ⌨️ᶻᶻᶻ : x is typing... ✉!

✿ — ↻ SYNOPSIS : First Meet[Desert edition] w/ Furina & Raiden !

✿ — ♯ GENRE : Fluff/Platonic

✿ — ↠ NOTE : Wowie, my second(?) time writing Raiden !! For this fic, it'll be ei as the shogun doesn't like sweets ^^

✿ — ♪ REMINDER : reblogs & likes are appreciated, in doing so will motivate us to continue delivering stories to you, thank you for all of your supports ~ !

✿ — ♭ ⁿᵒʷ ᶜᵃˡˡⁱⁿᵍ... : @reilly34

✿ — ► ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Furina & Raiden x reader

☔ . 風鈴 — Furina

𝅘𝅥𝅯 You were an immigrate from Inazuma, who had recently reach the borders of Fontaine. You've heard stories of Fontaine selling many sweet pastries and always wanted to try it for yourself.

𝅘𝅥𝅯 Which was why when Inazuma first opened its' borders again, you immediately set sail to Fontaine.

𝅘𝅥𝅯 Upon arriving, you immediately went to check out every store while admiring the court of Fontaine as it looks nothing like Inazuma at all.

𝅘𝅥𝅯 Now you were in a forest, trying to see if you could make any new recipes with Fontaine's specialties to attract more customers. Which was when you encountered a white-haired girl...

You were currently traversing in the forest near Opera Epiclese to find ingredients. You heard that Bulle Fruit would be a great addition to be added into your recipe, as it was said to be sweet and refreshing.

Based on your brainstorming of innovating new recipes, you thought of using Bulle Fruit to make your deserts feel really refreshing to help cool a customer down or to sweeten things up a bit more healthily for people who have a big sweet tooth.

You also thought of trying to gather some Marcotte's too as they have a rich scent and you've seen Fontainians use them inside food recipes like "Consomme Purete" or "Seabird's Sojourn". However, unlike those recipes which are suppose to be meals. You were going to use Marcotte's to decorate your deserts instead.

"There we go.. I think that should be enough ingredients for now.."

You mumbled to yourself after picking out the last Bulle Fruit from the tree. You placed the fruit into your bag and began counting your gathered goods.

54 Bulle Fruits and 29 Marcottes..

That should be enough to do some test runs and batches to sell. You quickly made a fire and began baking to test out if your recipe needs any adjustment and is safe.

After some time went by, your pastries have finished baking and smelt really good. Which made you check the criteria of it being appetizing. Just as you were about to decorate and do the presentation of the cake..

"Ya..!"

You turned around to see a hilichurl standing right behind you. It seems like your cake caught unwanted attention..

"Ya, Odomu buka guru-guru.. Mi kucha.."

Before the hilichurl could say anymore or worse, attack you. You quickly slain the enemy down and watched it's ashes slowly fade away.

RUSTLE RUSTLE

You quickly swing your sword to where the sound came from. Only to halt when you realised it wasn't a hilichurl again.

"EEEK!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that"

You quickly retracted your sword and held a hand up to the fallen girl on the ground. She had white hair with blue streaks in a jellyfish hairstyle. As well as really pretty heterochromia eyes.

The girl quickly took your hand and got up to her feet again.

"Ehem, that is a felony! I'll have you know I could throw you to the gardes anytime for that misconduct towards me!"

"Ahaha.. Sorry about that. I thought you were a hilichurl.."

"Excusez-moi?! I'll have you know I'm more fabulous than those-"

"Ah no no! You mistook what I meant. I was attacked by a hilichurl earlier.."

You bashfully replied. Feeling embarrassed about this encounterment..

"I'll let you slide just for once. Anyways, I came over here cause there was a delightful smell that I wanted to investigate about. Could it perchance came from you?"

"O-oh! Yeah that was from me.. I didn't expect the Marcotte to work that well to attract this much attention here.."

You replied, lifting up your batch of cake to let this white-hair girl see.

"I-Is that cake?! ..Though I've never seen this before in Fontaine.."

"Ah, that's because I made the recipe myself! It's suppose to be a pastry to make someone feel refresh after a long day. I haven't tested it out yet so I'm not sure if it'll make the consumer feel that way.."

"Well then, allow me to do the testing!"

You cut a piece of the cake and used your mixture of cream you made earlier to quickly decorate the cake before giving it to her. Which she immediately took a bite out of.

"..."

"Well.. How is it..?"

"Its' taste is quite astonishing! It is exactly how you described it. Tell me where is your bakery in Fontaine?!"

"Ah about that.. I haven't opened my business in Fontaine yet. I came from Inazuma.."

"That explains your outfit hm.. Well then."

The white hair girl did a twirl before putting a hand on her chest while doing some exaggerated movements.

"From here onwards, I, Folcalors, will give you a place in Fontaine to set up your business for free. In the return of this oh-so generous act of mine. You would have to provide me with some of Inazuma's delicacies once in a while."

'Wait.. Folcalors?!'

"W-wait you're the archon of this nation?!"

"Indeed, however as my future provider of sweets. You shall address me as Furina. As part of our business I'll be taking this sample of yours~"

While Furina was happily walking away with your first batch of baked goods. You were going through a slight mental breakdown for pointing your sword on a god..

☔ . 風鈴 — Raiden Shogun

∞ You were an immigrate from Fontaine coming over to Inazuma. Hoping to try and sell pastries from your nation.

∞ You decided that Inazuma is probably the best way to start a business, considering the nation had open its' borders again and that the people living inside haven't tried other delicacies apart from their own!

∞ Upon entering, you decided to check out pastry shops out first as you always enjoyed sweet treats and will give you some inspiration to make your own recipes! That was when you first met a purple-haired girl, who was trying out their Dango Milk with a really scared owner in front of her.

∞ However, already seeing her about to milk the store dry with nothing left to sell. You decided to step in..

You were settling in Inazuma, trying to see where you could potentially open up your own bakery filled with Fontaine's and other regions delicacies. You turned left and right only to see every store to be taken and not up for rent.

You sighed as you decided to give up the search for now to go and get some Inazuma specialties to try and make up your own recipes that may attract Inazuman's to come and try out your future stall..

Only for your train of thoughts to be disrupted.

"H-here's another one!"

You looked up to see a frantic person being frightened by a purple-haired girl's presence.

It seems like she really likes those bottled drinks. You went to the store to look at the drinks and pastries which were really different from all the sweet things you tried.

There was a triple rice ball looking things on a stick while the drinks the women enjoyed were on a lower shelf.

The drinks were labelled as dango milk which was a completely new thing to you. What even is a 'dango'?! Before you got lost in thought again. You saw the women picked up another dango milk to drink over and over.. Till there was only two bottles left. She was milking the store dry!

That was when you decided to save the owner from this mishap..

"Hey, I've seen you drank at least 7 of these bottles. Are they really that good?"

You asked. Only to get the store owner and some passerbys to look at you in terror, which you sweat-dropped about.. What is so terrifying about communicating...

"Hmm? Ah yes, I find them to be quite the delicacy and delicious. It's like a sweet porridge. Here, it's on me"

She said before picking one of the last two bottles to hand it to you to try. You opened the bottle and began drinking it. It was.. Sweet and just like how she had said it to be. It felt like you were eating instead of drinking.

"Mm.. This is pretty good. It's way different from the other nations I visited.."

Coming over was the right choice after all. You got to try something really unique. Only.. What could you do with this information? Milk Macarons?

..No that would be disgusting.

"Ah the other nations. I haven't travelled to any of them in a long time.. I wonder how are their deserts now.."

"Oh? I could totally whip you something up from Fontaine! I was actually trying to find a place to set up my business but that can wait for now. We should probably go somewhere else so I could bake in peace.."

"That'll be delightful. I do know a spot where we won't disturb the others and is quiet."

She said, as she started strolling in another direction. You quickly trailed behind her.

After some time, you both reached your destination. You quickly whipped up 'La Lettre a Folcalor' for the fine lady to try, which you were quite proud of being able to bake.

Once it was finished with its decoration for presentation. You gave it to the purple-haired women to enjoy.

You did see her eyes lit up for a moment before finishing the entire plate.

"I see that Folcalors has a cake named after her.. Maybe I should follow her lead and have one named after me as well.."

The women pondered. Before you could ask what she meant by that she spoke again.

"Ah pardon my manners, may I get your name?"

"It's [name]! Could I get yours?"

"[Name]... Thats a pretty name. You can call me Ei, but the people knows me as the Raiden Shogun"

...Wait..

"You're.. THE Raiden Shogun?! Her Excellency, the Almighty Narukami Ogosho, God of Thunder?!"

You have never said a sentence that fast in your life.. If you knew you were baking for a god you would've bought fresh ingredients first..

"Yes, anyways I remembered you said you were trying to set up business. How about setting up in Tenshukaku? I could help promote your stall."

You didn't know if you should faint from this encounterment later..

[webslinger-holland]

The Sergeant's Senator | Chapter 3

Summary: Returning to the senator's home, the Bad Batch quickly realizes that they are under attack. They have to act fast if they want to catch the shooter.

Warning: assassination attempt, destruction of furniture, various weapons used, sniper/shooter mentioned, someone getting shot, slight talk of blood, slight moment of panic for reader, concussion symptoms discussed but not confirmed

Pairing: Hunter x Fem!Reader Senator

Type: Short Series

Word Count: 4.8k

Series Masterlist

Only a few hours later, the sun had dripped below the line of the horizon and the moon began to rise into the skyline. Though the hours of the night fell over Coruscant, it was a place that truly never slept. The planet's skylanes directed the air-traffic of airspeeders via auto-navigation system that moved the speeders along preprogrammed routes.

In the Senate District, Senator Rayna possessed an apartment in one of the high-rises. Her place was situated on Level 60, which meant it was a little over halfway until one reached the top of the high-rise. Upon entering the apartment, there was a large spacious living area adorned with fancy plush couches, custom woodwork tables, and dainty priceless knickknacks.

A single bedroom was located near the back of the apartment. In the living room and bedroom, there were grand windows that overlooked the vast expanse of the city. It was quite similar to the architecture of her office not six blocks away. These windows were installed to promote plenty of sunlight during the daytime and a scenic view of the city lights during the nighttime.

It was a quite spacious and luxurious space; a fitting living situation for the planet's senator.

Walking into the apartment by following the senator, the Bad Batch took a moment to take in their surroundings. They felt out of place like they didn't deserve to even step foot into the apartment. Everything looked too expensive to touch.

"Smells weird," Wrecker noted. His nostrils flared at the odd scent.

"Because it's clean," Echo retaliated.

The senator only smiled at them. She gestured towards them with a wave of the hand, silently inviting them to take a few steps further in. She saw the door close behind them.

"This is my place. I don't really spend a lot of time here," Senator Rayna insisted. She took note of how each of them were looking at something different. Whether they were glancing out the window, examining a random figure on a table, testing the feeling of various textures, or looking directly at her.

Given that she was finally home for the day, Y/n had lifted her leg behind her until she felt her shoe come in contact with her hand. She steadily removed her heel before mimicking the notion with her other leg. Once her shoes were removed, her stance dropped down another inch in height.

The senator proceeded to remove the tie from her braid. She weaved her fingers through her hair to undo the braid and work out any knots. As her hair began to fall around her face, Hunter felt this fire ignite in the pit of his stomach. He thought her hair looked much better down.

"We'll give you some privacy," Hunter quickly noted.

"Make yourselves comfortable. There is food on the table if you're hungry," Y/n stated. She gestured to the table where a bowl of fresh fruit lay.

"I'm always hungry," Wrecker claimed. He eagerly made his way over the the table and grabbed the nearest fruit. He stuffed it into his mouth without hesitation.

With that, the senator went to turn towards her private quarters. She did not catch the way the sergeant's eyes followed her form as she entered her room or how they stayed on her until the door was fully closed. His mind was still lost until one of his brothers spoke up.

"Your thoughts are painfully loud," Crosshair grumbled from across the room. He was currently standing beside the large window, which was an indication that he found a decent perch for a sniper's view. He began to assemble the parts for his rifle.

"I don't know what you mean," Hunter lied through his teeth. Looking over his shoulder, Hunter had a feeling that Crosshair was rolling his eyes at him from behind his helmet.

"Oh please. Don't play innocent," Crosshair scoffed. He proceeded to remove his helmet, setting it down on a table beside him. He plucked a toothpick into his mouth. "You're practically drooling all over her."

Meanwhile, the other three clones watched the brothers interaction. Their gazes switching between the two of them. They often didn't get along so this was nothing new to them.

"You jealous?" Hunter teased. An all knowing smirk graced across his lips. He always knew how to push his brother's buttons.

"Not in the slightest," Crosshair went to cross his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall behind him. He further explained himself. "Not my type."

"What? Coruscanti?" Hunter wondered.

"Politicians," Crosshair corrected him.

"Fair point," Hunter agreed. He redirected his attention to look back at the closed door.

"Be careful, brother. Don't get too attached," Crosshair warned. His voice sounded like it was laced with venom, but his words rang in his brother's ears.

Ignoring this comment, Hunter went to approach the window in the living space. His gaze lowered towards the city below them, looking at all the airspeeders moving rapidly. He remained stationed by the window, but his senses picked up what was happening next door.

Behind him, Wrecker continued to consume the entire bowl of fruit greedily. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, somewhat content with the quality he had eaten. Then there was Tech who was currently fidgeting with his data pad. He made some minor adjustments with a miniature screwdriver.

By the window, Crosshair had just finished setting up his sniper's rifle. He opened the window before carefully lifting his long rifle to rest on the ledge. He peered through the scope to examine the city. Finally, Echo was still taking in some of his surroundings. He found himself walking around the spacious room, glancing at little figurines and art pieces on the walls.

For a brief moment, Hunter silently wondered if he should tune out what he was hearing. He glanced down at the helmet in his hands, which was customized to help him drown out noises if he switched a setting. Tech had made this feature for him a long time ago. This helped the sergeant when his senses grew overloaded, bringing him a sense of calm and comfort.

After some contemplation, Hunter chose to not put his helmet on. He closed his eyes to focus in on the sounds he was hearing, permitting his heightened senses to take over. The first thing that he noticed was a soft humming voice coming from the other room. His lips twitched into a smile.

The sergeant also heard the soft patter of feet making its way across the bedroom, accompanied by the soft swish of a fabric. As the footsteps grew a little louder, Hunter turned his head to face the door as he presumed she was walking towards it. Sure enough, the bedroom door opened to reveal the young senator wearing a long white nightgown. A blue silk robe hung over her shoulders.

Without thinking, Hunter's eyes dragged down the entire length of her body. He tried to commit the littlest of details to memory. He quickly placed his helmet over his head in hopes of hiding the way he was staring at her. He cleared his throat.

Opening the bedroom door further, Senator Rayna invited him into the confines of her room to speak privately with him. He silently obliged to this, shifting forward in order to enter her room. They left the door open, but kept distance away from the doorway for the privacy they sought. The two of them turned to face one another.

"So what's the game plan for tonight?" Senator Rayna intrigued. She crossed her arms over her chest, hoping to maintain a modest appearance for her sergeant.

"We think it would be safe for us to stay here one night," Hunter stated plainly. "Get a feel of things. Make sure you can get some sleep tonight," Hunter added.

"Alright," Y/n agreed with a firm nod of the head.

"Tomorrow, we will only have one person stay with you. We'll rotate and take turns," Hunter further explained. "Clone barracks are only three blocks away should we need to call for backup."

Upon hearing this, Senator Rayna felt the air getting sucked out of her chest. She inhaled sharply. Her body grew quite tense. Almost immediately, Hunter saw the uneasiness in her expression. He heard how fast her heartbeat picked up. He was quick to reassure her.

"Not that we expect to call for backup regularly," Hunter tried to bring up her spirits.

"No, but it is good to be prepared for anything."

"I agree," Hunter nodded.

Unbeknownst to them, a masked figure had made their way to the rooftop of a building across the way from the high-rise. With a large package in hand, the mysterious person made their way to the ledge of the rooftop. They peered over the edge to look down at the steady flow of traffic.

Setting down the package and unlocking the box, the pieces to a rifle lay incased within it. They quickly began to assemble the sniper rifle, clicking the parts into place. Now looking over the side of the ledge, the sniper raised it's weapon to rest on the ledge. They focused the scope to get a better view.

The scope's view shifted past the various windows of the high-rise, searching for one in particular. It eventually settled on the right window, spotting the infamous senator standing in her own quarters. It looked like she was talking to a clone though it was awfully hard to see his armor.

The sniper took the time to watch the clone turn around in his place and begin walking towards the door to the room. He only got a few steps away before the sniper proceeded with their original plan.

Lowering the scope slightly, the unknown sniper fired a single shot at the window. However, it wasn't a blaster shot. It was a small magnetized explosive. The explosive latched onto the surface of the window without difficulty, activating a timer that blinked red.

In that exact moment, Hunter can to an abrupt halt in his steps. He could hear the steady beeping sound of the explosive from outside the window. He surveyed his surroundings, searching for the source of the noise.

"Sergeant?" Senator Rayna inquired from behind him. "What is it?"

Upon realizing what the sound was, Hunter only had one second to act quickly. He spun around on the heels of his feet and ran directly for the senator. Next thing she knew, a body had forcefully slammed into her and tackled her to the ground. She felt her head hit the floor hard, but she didn't think that mattered at the moment.

Because the explosive had suddenly detonated and destroyed the window glass. A million shards of glass threw across the room, landing as far as the other side of the bed. With the shock from the explosion, Hunter did his absolute best to use his body as a shield as he lay on top of the senator. He covered her head with his hands, keeping her face tucked into his chest.

In the other room, the other clones had seen the explosion through the open door. As if this was a battle simulation, they drew their weapons and quickly got into their respective positions. Wrecker had grabbed the large wooden table and hoisted it up onto its side. He dropped down to take cover behind it with Echo and Tech following suit.

By the window, Crosshair had the smallest bit of coverage by a pillar. He peered through the scope of his own rifle, desperately searching for where the explosive could have been fired from. His scope focused on every single rooftop.

Wherever the assailant was, they suddenly began firing blaster rounds into the now open window. The blaster shots began striking the back wall where the senator had once stood. They hit nobody.

Hearing the blaster fire directly above him, Hunter could only heavily rely on the protection provided by the bed beside him. He could hear it drawing closer as it now grazed the blankets on the bed. Attempting to keep the senator safe, Hunter pressed his body further into hers and squeezed her tightly. He could feel how desperately she clung to him.

Finally, Crosshair's scope was able to find the exact rooftop where the assailant was located. He could barely see a figure peeking from the ledge, but he saw the rounds firing from the weapon. He fired a single shot, which struck the ledge right below the weapon. The assassin quickly cowered out of view.

Knowing this was far from over, Hunter went to press the comm attached to his wrist. He spoke over the comms. "Bad Batch Plan 100," Hunter ordered.

Receiving their orders, Wrecker and Echo seized the opportunity to leave the apartment in order to pursue the assassin across the street. The two of them began running as fast as they could. The plan entailed them hurrying to capture the assassin while the others tried to distract them in the meantime.

Suddenly, the unknown assassin popped their head over the ledge once again. However, this time, they fired a single shot towards the window in the living room. The explosive latching onto the window once again. With little time to waste, Crosshair took cover right beside his brother who was still behind the table. The explosion shattered the glass, sending it across the room.

Now, the assassin began firing blaster rounds through both of the open windows. They seemed to be alternating between the two rooms, firing a round of shots before switching to aim at the other room. The shots kept coming with the clear intention of trying to hit someone.

"Tech," Wrecker's voice sounded over the comm channel. "Where is this guy? Have you gotten a lock on his location?"

"I'm working on it," Tech replied back.

He sneakily peered around the edge of the table. He pressed the side of his helmet which dropped the scanner over his eyes. A very distinctive red heat signature appeared on his scanner on the same rooftop. The smoke spewed out of the tip of the rifle, signifying it's overuse.

"West Tower Level 64 Mark 329," Tech called out.

"Roger that," Echo replied through the comms. "In pursuit."

Switching targets, blaster fire began pouring through the living quarters. It began striking the back walls, destroying the paintings, and ripping holes through the furniture. In response, Crosshair and Tech remained hidden behind the table in hopes that it would continue to provide them with protection. They couldn't hold out forever.

Recognizing that the blaster shots weren't coming through the room at that specific moment, Hunter carefully placed his forearms on either side of the senator's head. He pushed himself upwards slightly, pulling his armor plated chest off her own and peering down at her small frame.

The small specks of glass were sliding off his back and falling to the ground around them. He could feel his muscles aching in pain, which pulled a soft groan out of his mouth.

"Are you alright, senator?" Hunter inquired after her well-being. His ears were burning from the sound of the blaster fire streaking through the room next door. "I need you to use your words, sweetheart. Are you alright?" Hunter asked once again.

"Y-Yes. I-I-I'm alright," Senator Rayna stumbled over her words. She nodded franticly. It almost felt like her heart was about to burst out of her chest from how rapidly it was beating.

"Everything is going to be alright," Hunter reassured her. "I'm gonna get you out of this."

Peering around his own body, Hunter spotted his two brothers in the other room. The two of them took turns firing shots around the table they had taken refuge behind, shooting blindly at the assailant on the rooftop. They took cover again just as the blaster fire was returned to them.

"As much as I enjoy this position," Hunter spoke while turning back to face the senator laying under his body. "I need to go help my brothers."

"What about you? You're going to get shot if you go out there," Y/n exclaimed.

"Don't worry about me. Our mission is to protect you and that is exactly what we are going to do," Hunter replied.

Finally, Hunter further lifted himself up until he wasn't laying on her anymore. He brought himself into a crouching position for a brief second before switching to lean against the side of the bed for more cover. He retrieved the blaster from his holster.

"Stay here. Stay low," Hunter ordered.

When Tech went to look around the table, he felt a single blaster shot whiz right past him. He just barely managed to dodge the shot, sitting back against the table to maintain coverage for the moment. That shot was much too close for Hunter's liking.

"Wrecker, Echo," Hunter called for them over the comms. "How are we coming along here?"

"We are nearly at the top," Echo replied. He glanced up at the long staircase, guessing that they only had a few more floors to go. They had been climbing the long staircase for a few minutes now.

"So many stairs," Wrecker panted from behind him. He went to lean his body against the railing, wanting nothing more than to take a short breather. The two of them continued to climb the staircase, getting higher and higher with each step.

"We need to do something; we can't just sit here." Crosshair explained from his position. While Tech agreed with him, there was little any of them could do until the others reached the shooter.

By lifting his head, Hunter spotted the light hanging from the ceiling in the other room. Without hesitation, he raised his blaster to shoot the light out. The sharp shards of glass shattered around the light, falling to the floor. Naturally, Crosshair and Tech flinched from the sound of glass breaking directly above them. They covered their heads to protect themselves.

"What the hell are you doing?" Crosshair shouted at his brother from the other room.

Ignoring his comment, Hunter proceeded to shoot out the light hanging above the bed. The sound of glass breaking filled the room and blaster fire halted momentarily. Both of the rooms were now protected under the veil of darkness.

"Can't shoot if you can't see," Hunter explained. Even though Crosshair rolled his eyes at his remark, he only did so because he knew he was right.

Sure enough, the shooter had a hard time finding a target in the darkness. They moved the rifle to point at one room before switching to point at the other room. The shooter tried to look for any sign of movement, eyes narrowing behind the scope.

Seizing the opportunity, Hunter moved upwards until he was just peeking over the edge of the bed. He pointed his blaster, firing a couple shots in the general direction of the shooter. Though Hunter's shots missed the target, they did get dangerously close to the shooter which caused them to cower behind the ledge once again.

The sergeant returned to his position behind the bed, thinking carefully about their next move. He knew that the shooter wasn't hiding anymore and had gotten back behind the scope. Then it suddenly clicked in Hunter's head: the shooter was watching for movement.

Formulating a plan, Hunter realized that he might actually be able to take his guy down if he played his cards right. He'd have to distract the shooter, fire his shot, and hope that the others reached him before he could get away. He knew what he had to do. He turned to face his brothers in the other room.

"Stay down," Hunter commanded them. They gave a nod.

Now, Hunter went to pull his vibe-blade out of his wrist holder. He reared back and tossed the blade into the other room. The blade was propelled forward and lodged itself into the wall on the far side.

Upon seeing the movement through the corner of their eye, the shooter quickly moved their scope to face the other room. Their eyes searched desperately for a target and their finger shifted to the trigger.

With the shooter distracted, Hunter rose to stand at his full height. He aimed his blaster and pulled the trigger to fire a single shot. The blaster shot managed to strike the shooter directly in the shoulder, sending them to the ground. A wave of relief washed over him.

A moment later, Wrecker and Echo burst through the rooftop door with their blasters drawn. They looked around the rooftop to survey the site. From the high-rise, Hunter watched his two brothers walk around cautiously. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Talk to me," Hunter asked them.

"That's just it," Wrecker replied. He shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "There is no one here."

The shooter had disappeared behind the ledge when the sergeant shot him, but he couldn't imagine him getting too far with his injury. He would have seen him stand up so he must have crawled away. It didn't make any sense.

"Search the place," Hunter ordered them. Echo knelt down by a small patch of blood on the ground. "He couldn't have gotten far."

Knowing Wrecker and Echo could handle themselves, Hunter decided to direct his attention back to the person he was assigned to protect. He saw that she hadn't moved from her position, laying on the glass riddled floor and propping herself up on her forearms. Her eyes twinkled with fear.

Approaching her, Hunter heard the glass breaking and cracking underneath his boots with each step taken. He knelt down beside her, knowing that she was feeling extremely uneasy. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder in hopes that it would bring her some comfort and calm her nerves. He also removed his helmet to set it down.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Hunter questioned.

"I-I'm fine," Y/n's voice quivered. She pulled herself into a sitting position with the sergeant making sure she didn't hurt herself on the glass.

For some reason, Senator Rayna couldn't seem to bring herself to look him in the eyes. She could feel her heart beating so loud in her chest that it was almost painful. She tried to use every muscle in her body to stifle a whimper from escaping her lips so she covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself. But the tears began swelling in the corners of her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. She was so overcome with emotions that she was falling apart.

"You don't have to be," Hunter reassured her. He stared down at her with the utmost sympathy behind his eyes.

Wrapping her arms around herself and drawing her legs to her chest, Senator Rayna began rocking back and forth subconsciously for comfort. Her head dropped down until her chin touched her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut just as the sobs began to rack over her body, causing her shoulders to shake violently.

Knowing words would bring little comfort, Hunter brought his arms around her body. He had one arm looped behind her backside and the other one slipped under the crook of her legs. He hoisted her body into his arms, rising to his feet in order to carry her. He went to turn around in his place and entered the other room.

"We can't stay here tonight," Hunter explained to them. "We'll go to the Marauder for now."

"We'll lead the way," Tech agreed with a firm nod of the head. He made sure to keep his blaster drawn just in case they ran into the assassin.

"Rendezvous at the Marauder," Crosshair spoke through the comm system for the others.

"Copy that," Echo replied. "No sign of our shooter."

As they made their way to the platform, Hunter glanced down at the weary senator in his arms. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were still red and shiny from her tears. Her head was resting against his solid chest plated armor and her hand was pressed against where his sternum would be. He readjusted her slightly in his arms, lifting her up a little more to take sure he wouldn't drop her.

With great caution, the Bad Batch made their way to the landing platform on the other side of the high rise. They secured the perimeter as well. The ramp lowered for them; they ascended into the ship's main hull. They made sure to secure the ramp behind them, locking them in for the night.

Entering the cockpit, Hunter brought the senator over to one of the chairs beside the control panel. He lowered her body into the seat as carefully as possible. He took a single step back away from her to allow his younger brother access to assess her.

Now Tech kneeled down right in front of the senator with a medkit in hand. He riffled through the box in attempts of finding the tools necessary for a thorough examination. When Tech lifted his head to look at the senator in front of him, he faltered slightly upon seeing her red eyes. He quickly rifled through the medkit again before retreating a single tissue.

Slowly, Tech offered the tissue to the senator which she gladly took to wipe her tears away. The other clones watched the interaction from a few steps away.

"I am going to perform an examination to take sure you are unharmed. Will that suffice?" Tech inquired. She nodded her head in agreement, but didn't look him in the eyes.

For a brief moment, Tech took his time looking over her body. He gently lifted each arm to inspect under it before switching to the other one. After checking every seeable part of her, Tech had come to a conclusion. He typed the data into his device.

"You are unscathed. I am surprised you weren't hurt from the glass," Tech noted. The senator's eyes slowly drifted up to the sergeant who sent her a small smile.

Carefully, Tech took hold of the senator's wrist. He pulled the sleeve of her nightgown back to reveal more skin on her wrist. He pressed two fingers there to feel her pulse. He waited a minute before recording his findings on his data pad once again.

"You're heart rate is rather fast," Tech concluded. "Understandingly though."

Reaching back into the medkit, Tech pulled out a small flashlight. He clicked the button the activate the light, raising it slightly to shine it in the senator's eyes. He hummed quietly to himself.

"Are you perhaps feeling dizzy or are you having trouble seeing?" Tech wondered. He put the flashlight back into the medkit.

"No," Y/n spoke softly. "Why?"

"Hunter says you hit your head," Tech stated. He recalled their brief conversation when they were walking back to the ship. It was the whole reason why Tech decided to do an examination in the first place. "I am merely making sure you don't have a concussion. Though we can monitor your vitals in the next couple days to see if any symptoms arise."

"Right," Y/n nodded.

"Everything appears to be in order. My only concern is the severe sleep deprivation," Tech explained. He saw the heavy bags under her eyes. "You need sleep."

"I-I don't know if I can. Not after that," Y/n tried to make them understand.

"You can sleep in my bed," Hunter offered. "I'll take the first watch."

"That will do nicely," Tech agreed.

After a few minutes, Hunter escorted the senator into the back room where all of their bunks resided. Luckily, Hunter's bed was the lowest one with Echo's bed directly above him and Tech's bed right above that one. He pulled the blankets away, which allowed the senator to crawl into bed.

Hesitantly, Senator Rayna laid down with her head resting on the pillow. Her sergeant brought the blankets up to cover her body, checking to make sure she was extra comfortable. It did feel nice to be in a bed even if it wasn't her own.

"Just try to get some sleep," Hunter requested. She nodded her head in agreement. He took a single step back. "We will be in the cockpit if you need us."

Just as Hunter turned to walk away, Senator Rayna sat up in the bed. She called his name frantically. He looked back at her expectantly, raising his eyebrows in question.

"T-Thank you," Y/n sputtered. "For saving me."

"Just doing my job, ma'am." Hunter stated professionally.

“Please,” Y/n spoke softly. She wanted to roll her eyes because she was so used to being addresses like that. “Let’s not worry about formalities.”

“Alright,” Hunter agreed with a curt nod. “Get some sleep, Y/n. We’ll make sure you’re safe.”

“Thank you.”

The door to the bunks slid open which granted him access to step into the cockpit. He left the room without another word. The door closed behind him and the bunks fell into a soft darkness.

Slowly, Senator Rayna proceeded to lay back down on the bed and pulled the covers up to her chest. Shifting to lay on her side, her head sunk into the soft pillow and her hand slipped under it for extra padding.

The sergeant's natural scent invaded her senses, bringing her an odd bit of comfort. It smelled rather woody, which was fitting for his personality. Even though the bed was stiff, the senator found herself drifting off to sleep and dreaming of the sergeant.

In a dark alleyway, the wounded assassin was resting his body against the wall. He nursed the wound inflicted to his shoulder, wincing in pain. The rag he used soaked up more blood and the stinging sensation grew with the smallest touch.

This particular person wasn't well known in the galaxy for bounty hunting because he was still new to the scene and was trying to make a name for himself. He pulled off a few jobs until he finally found someone who'd be willing to pay a hefty price for his services.

The first few attempts were orchestrated to instill fear into the senator with the enemy's desire ultimately being her resignation. However, Senator Rayna refused to step down from her position in the senate. She was stubborn after all.

The next attempt ended up taking the lives of her guards, which meant that she would be without protection. This made it the perfect opportunity to strike, but now, there was a new problem presented before the enemy.

Lazily, the mysterious man pocketed the dirty cloth and placed a bacta patch over it instead. A moment later, he proceeded to retrieve a device out of his pocket. He pressed a button on the side which ignited the familiar figure of Count Dooku.

"Is the deed done?" Count Dooku inquired with a cocked eyebrow.

"Afraid not," the assassin hissed from the pain in his shoulder. "She's got a new security detail with her now. A batch of clones like I've never seen before."

"A poor excuse for failure," Count claimed.

"You didn't see them. They're smarter, stronger. One of them protected her before the bomb detonated."

"Hmm," Count Dooku hummed to himself. He pondered carefully as if trying to understand what he was now up against. "How many are there?"

"Five, sir."

"This creates a unique dilemma," Count began. He stroked the beard on his chin in thought. "The senator is scheduled to present her at the end of the quarter. I had hoped to have her silenced before she'd be able to sway the senate's vote."

"I-I can take her out," the assassin reassured him; the eagerness to prove himself was the main thing driving him.

"No," Count Dooku shook his head in denial. "I will contact you when the time is right to strike. Until then, lay low and learn more about these clones."

"You have my word, Count Dooku."

CHAPTER FOUR HERE

Taglist:

@justhavingsomefun1 @totally-not-your-babe @jedipoodoo @gyllord @roam-rs @totallyunidentified @redheadgirl @mrcaptainrex @whore-of-many-hot-men @graciexmarvel @qweenrogerina @arcsimper5 @queenofspades6 @cadihyo @jediknightjana

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family miscellaneous collab scans - part 1

I'm back with more HD scans! 😁 Since it doesn't look like we're getting another SxF artbook with new collab/promotional illustrations anytime soon, I thought it would be fun to make scans from other scannable sources like postcards, stickers, etc.

First, the "house painting" designs used for merch at this year's Jump Festa. I only got stickers of Twiyor but Anya and Bond have designs as well. These are some of my favorites, their poses are really dynamic and I love how the white looks with the bright paint colors ❤️ I got acrylic stands of these designs as well, which I'll share in a future merch post.

Next are the camping designs that I got postcards of at a recent Animate promotion (got acrylic stands as well). Loid doing the cooking and Yor getting firewood is fitting! Not sure what Bond wants to do with that pinecone though 😆

Next are cute chibi designs from the movie! They were used on box art and merch for the Meiji chocolate collab.

Next is postcard art from last year's Tower Records collab.

And lastly for this post, the Waku Waku Park promotion that's currently going on! I've had no luck getting acrylics with these designs but I got a clear file at least...didn't think it would scan well but it actually came out pretty good 😃 I love the pink/blue/white color coordination of their outfits (and Bond's bowtie!)

---

I have another batch of collab art scans that I'm going to share soon, and I plan to make more of these posts whenever I get a good amount of scannable items with promo/collab/merch designs that haven't been available in any artbooks.

[jedi-enthusiast]

Ok, I know that I already reblogged @antianakin's post about why Anakin didn't need to murder an entire Tusken village because 2-3 of them killed his mom (original post here), but I just feel the need to talk about one of the most damning examples of why Anakin has no excuse for that response.

Post Order 66 Jedi/Clone interactions.

Let's just say, for the sake of the argument, that the entirety of the Tusken village--including the literal babies and children--all took part in the torture/murder of Shimi Skywalker. No exceptions.

Anakin's response to his mother's death is to murder everyone with no remorse or a second thought. Even when he confesses what he did to Padme, the RotS novel clearly shows that he doesn't actually feel bad about what he did. Most of his worry is about what others will think of him and, ironically, about how he's a "good Jedi" that should be better than this.

Now let's move on...

Every clone took part in Order 66 in some way.*

The clones murdered every single Jedi they could in cold blood (albeit without a choice), including the children, with only a miniscule few survivors. How many do we canonically have right now that didn't get captured and become Inquisitors? Obi-Wan, Quinlan, Cal, Caleb/Kanan, and Gungi are all I can think of at the moment.** That's 5 Jedi, out of thousands, that survived--and that's not even mentioning the destruction of their places of worship/cultural artifacts and the shitty propaganda spread about their culture.

* I'm not including the Bad Batch because, my own opinions about the show/characters/writing/etc. aside, we can all agree that the only reason their chips didn't activate was because they're Filoni's beloved OCs and he has a habit of trying to make his OCs "special" in some way.

** I'm not including Ahsoka in this because, like she says repeatedly as of Season 7 of TCW onward, she isn't a Jedi and doesn't see herself as such--and for the same reason I'm not including Grogu, since he's like...a Mandalorian apprentice now and not technically a Jedi. I'm also not including Luminara because she eventually gets captured and killed pretty early on and I'm trying to only include Jedi that are alive for a significant amount of time in the Imperial Era.

So, how do the Jedi treat the clones after they murder their entire family and destroy their culture? Let's look!

-----

Example One:

Obi-Wan Kenobi never learns about the inhibitor chips, as of current canon. He is 100% under the impression that Cody and the 212th (as well as all of the other clones) just up and betrayed him and the Order for no reason. He also watched the security tapes that, yes, showed Anakin killing children, but also would have shown the clones killing Jedi as well.

In the Kenobi show he runs into a clone veteran of the 501st--a veteran who, in all likelihood, probably stormed the Temple and was a part of its destruction.

Does he spit in the clone's face? Call him a murderer? Kill or harm him in any way?

Nope!

He gives the veteran some of his credits, even though it's made a point in the show that Obi-Wan is now working with limited funds and is very poor at this point in time. He doesn't have credits to spare and he is supposed to be looking for Leia, but he takes a moment to give some to someone who took part in the genocide of his people.

He also routinely thinks about Cody and the 212th in the comics! He remembers them fondly and still connects Cody to the feeling of hope, even though they tried to kill him! Even though he has no idea that they never wanted to!

-----

Example Two:

Kanan Jarrus/Caleb Dume knows about the inhibitor chips, but in Rebels it's made very clear that he thinks that it's just something the clones made up so that they didn't have to take responsibility for their actions.

In Rebels, Ahsoka makes the (objectively bad) decision to send Kanan out to find her "old friends" to help the rebellion.*** Kanan then finds out that her "old friends" are three clones, only after he gets there and sees them. He reacts in a panic and ignites his saber, clearly freaking out a bit.

*** I'll probably expand on this later, because I have a lot of opinions on this particular decision of hers, but anyway-

Does he try to hurt and/or kill them? Do they have to fight him off? Does he even lunge in their direction or deflect Wolffe's blaster bolt at him?

Again, nope!

He steps in front of Ezra in a defensive position and, when shot at by Wolffe, deflects the bolt into their ship. Then, when Ezra steps in and says that Ahsoka said to trust them, Kanan de-ignites his saber and they all have a conversation about them helping in the rebellion--even though Kanan clearly doesn't trust them at all and is dealing with his PTSD while being there. Eventually he even comes to get along with/trust Rex, albeit in later episodes.

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Example Three:

Gungi, in the Bad Batch, meets up with the Batch and immediately recognizes them as clones. Now, we don't know his opinion on them and their betrayal because it's never really expressed, but it's safe to assume that he has no idea about the chips (at least, until Tech tells him) and it's clear that he's very scared at that point in time.

What does he do?

He hides in the corner of the ship and is wary about the food they offer to him.

That's literally it.

And then later in the episode he works together with TBB and trusts them enough to let them help defend his village.

-----

So, even with most of the Jedi either having no idea about the chips or likely doubting that story, we're shown over and over again that the Jedi never seek revenge against the clones or try to kill them after Order 66. Even though their lives were ruined by what the clones did/took part in, they're never shown to be actively trying to cause them harm.

So there is literally no way you could possibly justify Anakin killing an entire village of Tuskens because of his mother's death, when--in arguably the same/a worse situation--the Jedi are actively shown not doing that.

[witch-off]

“How to heal a broken bone.”

SPOILERS FOR THE BAD BATCH S2

Rating: Explicit +18

Pairing: Tech x (F)Reader

Synopsis: Tech is very frustraded after breaking his femur, to say the least. He can’t go on missions. He can't fix his ship. He can't even walk straight with crutches. Luckily you are there to help him.

Warnings: Established relationship, poly relationship with the rest of the Batch, a little bit of angst, smut, fingering (female receiving) and oral sex(male receiving).

You hear Tech sigh for the 10th time. Or maybe it was the 15th time. You were already losing count.

Your eyes move from your current task to Tech sitting in the pilot's chair. He seemed bored while staring at his datapad, which was something unusual. "Bored" was one of the last words you would use to describe him. He always seemed to be involved in some research or working on something with his hands. But now he was navigating through files in a distracted way in search of some interesting information.

The culprit of this situation was the cast that went from his foot to half of his left thigh. Luckily, the fracture in the femur wasn’t serious, it would take 3 months for him to recover, but with the help of AZI and a lot of bacta Tech would be back much sooner. Unfortunately, this also meant that he couldn’t go on missions for quite a while.

The others had left early to explore for supplies, but you had chosen to stay and make some improvements to the ship. But it was an obvious excuse to stay with Tech and take care of him. You hated the idea of leaving him alone, especially in these conditions.

Tech lets another frustrated sigh escape and you can't help but copy him.

"Do you need anything, darling?" You ask from your place on the floor where you been fixing some wires on the wall.

"I don't think you can fix my leg. So no, thank you." He answers without even looking away from the datapad.

"Watch your tone, Mister. I know you're upset, but it's no reason to talk to me like that." You use a warning tone and Tech quickly turns to you with a guilty expression.

"My apologies, dear." He says in a softer voice this time. That’s more like it."I didn't mean to sound so rude. It's just that I'm so..."

"Bored?" You suggest.

"Frustrated. But ‘bored’ also works."

You shake your head slightly, getting up to go to him. Tech's mind it’s never quiet, it wasn't a surprise that he was so antsy. His good leg kept bouncing up and down nonstop while he was reading. You were afraid that at any moment he was going to snap and rip out his own cast.

You put one hand on your waist, using your other forearm to prop yourself against his chair to get a good look at what he was reading. From this angle you can finally see that It was a medical article about the speed of regeneration of a broken femur. You couldn't blame him for his impatience.

Luckily, the Batch managed to find a pair of crutches for Tech, but he could barely get around with it. So most of the time Wrecker helped him move around the ship. Tech also needed help when it came to showering and getting dressed, and as happy as you were to help him, having your independence taken away is something horrible.

"I should be out there helping or at least doing something useful. But I'm here, being a dead weight for the team." He complains, letting his body sink against the chair.

You frown, tugging slightly at his ear. Tech does a little “ouch” sound and rubs the bruised skin with his hand. "You know that's not true. Everyone's glad you're okay. I'm glad you're okay. We just want you to rest now."

The proof of your words was right there. His leg was on a small stool, resting on a pillow that was given by Omega as a way to make him more comfortable. The whole Batch wanted to sign his cast - Even Cid wanted to be a part of it. Omega's name had little stars doodles. Wrecker's was the one that occupied the largest space with an imitation of an explosion around it. Hunter's was accompanied by a small drawing of a skull while Echo's was only his name written in blue. And of course, yours was accompanied by hearts.

He sighs, nodding with his head. "You're right. It's just that this reminds me of Kamino. Clones that didn't heal fast enough were sent to maintenance work or just... decommissioned.”

You can feel the weight in his words. You can't even imagine what it's like to be discarded so easily. Clones were considered replaceable, so it was likely that several of them were thrown away just because the Kaminoans didn’t have the patience or empathy at all.

"Well, this isn't Kamino. You have all the time you need to recover, we'll still be here when you’re done." You pass your fingers through Tech's hair, feeling him relax with your touch.

"Thank you." He gives you a small smile, closing his eyes for a moment and breathing deeply as your hands continue to caress him.

"At least I'm here to keep you company." You say. "I can take a break for now. We can play Sabacc, what do you think?"

He seems to consider your proposal, but he gives up quickly. “I've played 5 times with Wrecker. And 4 of Denjarik with Omega. I still don't know how she always manages to win." The last part was definitely a blow to his ego. "Besides, I want to do something with my hands. Something constructive."

"Well, I can’t carry you around like Wrecker. But maybe I can bring you something to work on?"

"No, stay here. Please." Tech tilts his head back, staring at you with his big brown eyes behind his lenses. His hand pulls the hem off your blouse gently, making a silent request.

You could never say no to him.

You lean towards him until your lips met. The angle is a bit awkward, but the kiss is deep and sweet. He lets a deep sound slip from the back of his throat, something needy for more. You need to hear it again.

One of your hands holds the back of the seat to keep you balanced, while the other goes to his face, stroking his cheek with your thumb. This time it’s you who let out a low moan as his tongue invades your mouth, exploring it eagerly.

A shiver runs through your body as Tech partially lifts your blouse, the cold air of the ship hitting the skin of your belly. But soon his warm hands are on you, grabbing everything they can reach. His calloused fingers sending shockwaves through your nerves.

You feel them creeping up your ribs, coming too close to your chest and you know where this is going. You hold his wrists, moving his hands away from you. You already miss them. "Hold on, baby." You sigh. "You're still hurt."

"But it's been so long since we've done anything." He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, raising his forefinger in the same way when he’s about to explain something. "Exactly 3 weeks, 4 days and 16 hours."

You roll your eyes without being able to contain a smile. But it was true, it's been a long time. Between missions and taking care of Omega there was not much time left and no privacy to do something more intimate.

You stare at the cockpit door, mulling over what to do next. You probably had a few more hours alone, and the Batch used to let you know when they were on their way back.

"All right, but we need to be quick. What do you want to do, pretty boy?"

His face lights up, as it always does when he gets something he wants. "On the control panel, I want to touch you."

You chuckle, starting to take off your clothes with the confidence of someone who has undressed more than once in the cockpit. "So when you said you wanted to do something with your hands you were talking about me?”

You lean against the control panel, just in your underwear, feeling the icy metal bite your backside. You put one leg on his lap so he had better view, being mindful of his cast. He can’t turn fully in your direction because his extended leg, but it is good enough. "I'd rather do you than anything in the galaxy."

You hate how flushed you get just from that. You're still not used to this kind of sweet talk and how it makes your insides turn. "Really smooth." You mock him, pushing him slightly on the shoulder."Come on, I'm freezing here."

Tech fix his goggles once more, giving you a mischievous smile before starting. His palm moves slowly along your calf to your thigh , blooming chills along it’s path. He stops when his fingers bump against your panties, toying with the hem.

"I missed that." Tech whispers, leaning over to kiss the inside of your leg. "I missed you."

"You see me every day." You try to joke, but your voice gets breathless when his fingers start approaching your core.

"You know what I meant."

"I don't know if I quite follow. Can you show me?" You bite your lip, giving him a playfully look.

You can see the desire burning in his eyes. The way his pupils are dilated behind his lenses. How heavy his breathing gets. Tech doesn't bother to pull your panties to the side, his thumb stimulating your clit over the fabric while his other fingers cupped your vulva.

You moan softly, your hips moving in sync with his hand, searching more for that feeling. But it's just enough to keep you on edge. It's not what you need to scratch that itch.

"Tech, come on." You pull the last part with a whimper, to close to begging already."Give me more." It’s really been a while, you didn’t notice how needy you were until now.

"I enjoy taking my time, dear. You know this better than anyone." He says while applying a little more pressure to your throbbing clit.

You let out a breathless laugh that quickly becomes a moan. "I think what you enjoy is to torture me."

Tech doesn’t deny it, only giving you a small smirk. But he finally gives in to your pleas, his fingers entering your panties and stroking your folds.

"You're soaking wet." He says the obvious with a smug look.

The answer on the tip of your tongue disappears when he penetrates you with one finger. You let out a silent scream, holding his arm to ground yourself. Tech begins to move it slowly, letting you get used to the stretch. But it’s not enough and soon you’re begging again.

The second digit comes shortly after, throwing you in the borderline between pleasure and pain. Tech watches you closely in the same way he does his experiments. You can't help how even your ears get warm under his insistent gaze.

You feel your leg start shaking, trying it’s best to keep you standing while holding your weight on it’s own. Your free hand grab the edge of the control panel, stopping you from falling.

Tech rotates his hand, causing his thumb to brush against your clit every time this fingers thrusted deeper, hitting your spongy spot. The wet sound of skin against skin fills the cockpit, being only overcome by your loud moans.

“Take off your bra. I want to see you.” You think you would do anything he asked as long he didn’t stop.

With one shaky hand you pull up your bra, your tits jumping out of its confinement. Tech watch hungrily as your breasts bounce with each movement. He lick his lips before giving the next order. “Now touch yourself.”

You do as you’re told, pinching your already hard nipple. You decide to give Tech a good show, since you knew he liked to give extra attention to them during sex. You pant softly, sweat running down you temples as you pull and pinch your nipples before soothing the tender skin.

You stare at Tech's parted lips in a greedy way. You wanted to ravish them, to kiss him until you two were out of breath. But the angle didn't allow that at the moment. You're content with his fingers moving inside you for now. More than content actually.

"Are you close, dear?" You can hear his voice through the hum of your ears, nodding your head weakly. "Good. Just relax and come for me."

That definitely wouldn't be a problem for you. You chant his name while your orgasm is ripped from you, making your legs tremble with the intensity. Tech continues with the deep thrusts, prolonging your high until you’re too sensitive. Your head falls back as your chest rose with every breath.

You put your other feet on the ground for balance, both still fragile with the aftershocks. Your heart melts a little inside your chest when you realize the way Tech looks at you. Like you're the most amazing thing he's ever seen.

"You're beautiful." He mumbles.

You cover your face with a grunt. "You can't say that kind of thing while you have two fingers inside me."

"Oh, my apologies." He finally seems to realize that he's still deep inside you, pulling his fingers out slowly. You hiss softly, felling empty all of a sudden."I must say, it definitely helped me get less anxious." Tech says while analyzing your juices in between his digits.

You shake your head at him. Tech was sometimes unbelievable.

Your back complains about being in so many strange positions for so long, but you don't hesitate to duck your head to capture his lips again. Tech looks surprised, but returns the kiss quickly, pulling you to him.

You squeeze him over his pants, making him moan against your mouth. You could feel the hard line of his cock against your palm, applying a little more pressure to hear his desperate groans. Unconsciously, Tech tries to move his hips against your hand, causing a painful grunt from him.

Your eyes widen and you stop immediately. "Are you okay?" You'd hate to have to explain to Hunter that Tech got more hurt during sex. That you shouldn’t be having… because his femur is broken. Kriff.

"I'm alright, don't worry. I just moved my thigh in the wrong way." He tries to pull you for another kiss, but you push him gently against the chair.

“Relax, pretty boy. I will be taking it from here.”

You push away his good leg just enough to get in between them. The ground is cold against your knees, but you're more focused on what comes next. Tech watched you closely as you unzip his pants, pulling his cock out. He was throbbing in your hand, a drop of precum dripping down his head.

You always though Tech had a nice dick. It wasn’t very thick like Hunter or Wrecker, but it was quite long. He always managed to reach that sweet spot inside you that drive you crazy. You almost want to try to ride him, but you couldn’t risk hurting Tech or broking his cast. So that was a idea for another time.

Your fingers close around the base of his cock, letting your breath ghost along his shaft. Tech whines with the tease, pushing his hips in your direction.

You place a hand on his waist to keep him in place. “Stay still for me, love. I don’t want you getting hurt.” He just nods in agreement, desperate for you to continue.

Oh, but you don’t have the heart to tease him for too long. He has been so good to you. You want to give him whatever he asks for.

You stroke him a few times, his cock craving for the attention. You lap at him, taking your time as your tongue explore him slowly. You stare at him, drinking from every sweet expression of pleasure on his face.

Your lips wrap the head of his cock, felling his taste invading your mouth. You start bobbing your head up and down, going deeper each time.

Tech places a hand on your nape, not forcing you down, only resting in there.

You love how vocal he his during sex, but in moments like this, when your mouth is around him, Tech can hardly form a word to save his live. Just letting out broken praises and little pleas. It’s like song to your ears.

This time, it's his moans that reverberate through the walls. You want to smile satisfied with yourself when you hear his little whines every time you suck a bit harder, but that would mean having to take your mouth off Tech, and you wouldn't allow that.

When he hits the back of your throat Tech starts speaking gibberish.“If you keep it up like this I’m going t- Oh maker.” You take him deeper, hollowing your cheeks. His face scrunching in pleasure.“Please, it’s been a while, I c-can’t.”

"I don't want you to hold back, love." You stop for a moment to catch your breath, but keep stroking him with your hand. You fold his balls with the other and it’s cute how hard he’s trying not to move his hips. Without any warning, you go down on him again, leaving Tech in a speechless mess.

Tech gives a weak moan before coming, filling your mouth with hot strings of cum. You close your eyes, savoring his musky taste. You keep milking him until he's totally spent, humming around him before removing his soft cock from your mouth.

You make sure he’s watching while you swallow and lick your lips. You rest your head against his thigh, smiling sweetly at him.

"Feeling more relaxed now?"

He strokes your head, letting out a deep breath. "Oh, Yes. Definitely. Thank you, dear.”

“You know I’m always happy to help.” You rise from the floor, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Do you think you'll be okay while I go take a shower?"

He nods, eyes half closed. “Yes, I will be here waiting for you.” His voice is sleepy and you can see how hard he’s trying not to fall asleep.

You give him a sympathy look, petting his hair. “Go take a nap, I will be back in a minute.”

You have enough time to clean up and finish fixing the ship. No one suspects anything when they return with a crate full of supplies. Well, except Hunter, who gave you a quick side eye.

But you couldn't help but realize that for the rest of the day Tech didn't sigh or bounce his leg, not even once. Maybe you found the cure for his agitation after all.

[lightupthemoon]

kiss me like you wanna be loved

Summary: Your roommate Kate comes back home after a bad date, and you do your best to cheer her up.

Pairing: Kate Bishop x Reader

Warnings: None, this is just fluff.

Word Count: 1 K

Read on AO3

Author's Note: Hello there! The writer's block is real, let me tell you, guys. But I am here with a small fluff piece while I get back on my feet. Enjoy!

You knew you were in love with Kate Bishop from the moment you laid eyes on her. Her charming overconfidence could be overwhelming, which made it impossible for you to even think of telling her how you felt. You settled for getting to know her as a friend, convinced that having her in your life in some capacity was much better than not having her at all.

Years passed by this way. You swallowed the jealousy that bubbled in your chest every time she went out with some idiot that didn't appreciate her enough, and hung on to the idea that, even if it hurt, her happiness was more important than anything else. You never allowed yourself to dream, to imagine a fantasy world when she would feel the same way. You preferred to suffer in silence, watch her go on date after date, before ever entertaining the idea of putting your friendship in jeopardy. 

“Hey, can I sleep with you?”

It was a Saturday like any other. Kate had gone on a date, and you had stayed in the apartment you shared, baked a batch of cookies to bury your heartbreak in, and gone into your room to read a romance book you had bought last week to keep your mind away from Kate and whoever was it she was dating this time. She had been excited about it all week, and you faked enthusiasm as much as you could. From the look on the brunette’s face, it hadn’t gone very well. 

Kate rested her head against your door frame, looking at you with a hint of sadness in the blue of her eyes. Your roommate was still wearing her heavy wool coat, and her cheeks seemed a little flushed, probably freshly touched by the winter currents. You slid to the left side of the bed, patting the empty spot next to you. 

“Always, come on.” 

You heard her sigh, taking off her coat as she walked into your room, leaving it on your desk chair. Your attention went back to your book as she got comfortable, lying on her back and crossing her arms over her chest with another sigh escaping her lips. 

Your eyebrow rose on an instinct, placing your bookmark in between the pages and closing your book. “Bad date?”

Another dramatic sigh. “Yeah,” she responded, unenthusiastically. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Not really, no. You just need to know it was bad.”

“Well, that’s her loss.”

Kate scoffed, the faint tone of a smile in her voice as she replied, “I don’t think she shares your opinion.”

You put your book face down on your nightstand, adjusting your position on the bed so you were facing her. The brunette glanced at you from the corner of her eye, the involuntary pout clear on her face. 

“I don’t need her to, I know the truth. Anybody would be lucky to have you, Kate.”

Kate clicked her tongue in disagreement and turned on her side, scooting as close to you as she could. As if it was second nature, you wrapped your arms around her and Kate buried her face in the crook of your neck, her cold cheeks making you shiver. Silence took over the room for a moment, the atmosphere so comfortable you would have drifted into sleep if it wasn’t for how restless the archer seemed to be.  

“That has to be a lie,” Kate whispered after a while, sounding much sadder than she had let on before. “No matter how hard I try, it just never seems to work out. Something must be wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Listen–,” You exhaled, pulling away just enough to look into her eyes. “If those girls can’t see how incredible you are, then they don’t deserve you, Kate. I’m sure one day not so far from today there will be someone that will see everything that you are and still love every single thing.” You smiled. “You just need to be patient, okay?”

It was only then that you realized how close you actually were. It was just a matter of anyone moving forward for your lips to meet hers. As the thought crossed your mind, Kate glanced down at your lips, as if she was thinking the exact same thing. Your gazes met again, and you could have sworn you saw the idea swimming in the stormy waters of her eyes that maybe, just maybe, what she had been looking for had been right in front of her all this time, holding her hand through every crisis. Kate only needed to close the gap between you and find out. Tension immediately filled the air, your heart beating so loud against your ribcage you were scared she could hear it. You had thought about this so many times–being this close to her, kissing her. It was a thought you had buried in the deepest part of your being, far away from your reach, because Kate was your roommate, your best friend, and you just couldn’t fathom the idea of not having her in your life. And yet, here you were. Unable to breathe, with her face mere inches away from yours. You knew you needed to pull back and move away from a potential mistake but, before you could do anything, Kate leaned forward and pressed her lips against your own, timidly. Immediately, a warm sensation invaded every inch of your body, eagerly returning the gesture in an act of submission to the unstoppable beating of your heart. The brunette cupped your face with both her hands, pulling you closer, brushing your bottom lip with her tongue in a question to deepen the kiss. Your lips parted opened, granting her access, and soon enough what had started as a shy and soft kiss had turned urgent and passionate. Almost like you had been waiting for that moment for longer than both of you let on, and were just now realizing it. 

After what simultaneously felt like an eternity and not enough time, Kate pulled away, keeping your faces so close to one another that the tip of your noses brushed together. You didn’t dare to open your eyes, afraid of the words that were sure to come out of her mouth. You just savored the moment, before reality dawned, and it all passed.  

Whatever was to happen next, it had been worth it. 

Then, she spoke. “Maybe I already did.” 

Before you could even process what she had said, she kissed you again.  

TAGLIST: @sunshadesnrainbowz @imlike-so-gaydude @hopingforromanoff @ittynyte @girlssnrosess @musicinourlips @youralphawolf72 @assgardangod

[hivefleet-hellbender]

Out in the desert, no one can find you... (Hex Tiles 1)

A sharp wind whistles through the desert dunes, bringing no reprieve to the travelers following the thin paths left out in the sand. Don't drink from the river — the plants that grow along its shores contain toxins that could leave a grown man coughing up blood, and chemical spills float through the current. A faraway road carries the rare drone-tank, long abandoned from any sort of human use.

My newest hobby, to distract myself on months when the purse is a bit too tight to be buying plastic crack from Games Workshop, is to build modular hex tiles! It's super easy — I pick up a hundred of these wooden MDF tiles from Amazon for $10 (they're advertised as 2", but they're 1.75" from tip to tip, and each side is 1"), grab any spare craft supplies I have lying around, and get to work! They're super quick (this first batch of one hundred took me around a week) and they open the door to a lot of cool experimentation. A lot of this is inspired by the work of u/Marcus_Machiavelli over on Reddit, who makes these fantastic modular hive city components that I hope to someday be able to emulate. 

I'm making these for two purposes, neither of which I've put in practice yet but I'm hoping to get to do at some point. They're for:

Any mass-battle games played at 6mm. This could also work for Adeptus Titanicus or the upcoming Epic reboot that Games Workshop is working on. 

Tactical TTRPGs like Lancer that are played with large beings, who can operate on a 6mm scale.

Once I get some games in with them, I'm sure I'll encounter future problems and reassess how I approach them. But for now, this is what I've got!

I Hate Sand

The first set of tiles I made, to serve as the backdrop for the rest of them, are these sand tiles. I chose to make this a desert (and thus make a bunch of sand tiles) because I already had some sand lying around, and because it's really cheap and easy to work with. Be careful though! Anakin was right; sand sucks. Try and pick up a finer grain than what I went with, apply the sand in a more-controlled location than I did, and secure it better than I did too. But here's how I did them:

Coat the surface of the hex with a mix of PVA glue and water.

Sprinkle on a light dusting of gravel or small rocks.

Apply a thick coat of sand on top of the gravel.

Knock off excess sand and recycle it for next time.

Spray with 1-2 layers of varnish. (I would recommend a sealant instead, but I didn't have any at the time)

For the ones with little paths on them, I painted the path on with White before applying the gravel or sand, and it shows through well enough! The paths are unnecessary — they're a fun experiment, but I don't think I'll be making more of them in the future.

The Gurgling Creek

Making the river tiles was a bit more involved, but still pretty easy. The method I came up with I think looks a lot better than just painting on water, and is a lot easier to work with than resin or water effects. 

Use some kind of texture gel to build up the riverbanks, trying to have them end around 1/4" on the sides of the tiles where you want your river to connect.

Paint a strip Black where you want the river to flow, running from one edge to another.

Apply sand as before, everywhere except where you painted the black. (If you're worried about fucking this up, you can swap the order)

Varnish (or use sealant) as before. 

Take some gloss mod podge and mix it with a light blue paint, and apply in large goopy quantities everywhere you want water to be. Leave overnight to dry. (If you want the river to be less cloudy, apply many thin coats of mod podge instead, letting each layer dry before applying the next)

As an extra, stipple green along the edges of the water and use a dark green wash to create patches of vegetation.

The river pieces are my favorites, and I'm the most proud of them. The tiny bridge was a thin strip of balsa wood, painted white and then washed black. It turned out fine.

I did a solid mix of straight river pieces and curving river pieces. If I was going to do it again I'd make more curving pieces than straight river pieces, because the curving ones make more sense for how rivers work.

The Road To Nowhere

These road tiles turned out really well, perfect for a run-down highway in the middle of nowhere. Here's how I made them:

Take a piece of corkboard and cut it down to be 1.75" long and 1" wide.

Glue it on a hex with the two edges of the corkboard touching two sides of the hex.

Go at the edges with a knife, making it all worn down and busted up.

In some of these spots, I fucked up and glued the corkboard on wrong. To fix that, break off a chunk and reposition it so it'll connect correctly. This will look like a big fat crack in the middle of the road, which is perfect.

Coat in a layer of mod podge or PVA glue. Leave to dry.

Once dry, paint the cork entirely Gray.

Drybrush White onto the corkboard, focusing on the edges and exposed spots.

Paint two thin yellow lines along the middle of the road. (These are optional, but they do a lot to make the 6mm scale convincing)

Apply sand, as before, onto the ground and up the sides of the road, so it looks like the road is emerging from the sand. Maybe apply some sand in a couple spots in the cracks to make it look like the sand has gotten in there.

Varnish and/or sealant, as before.

Apply a Black wash to the road. (There's a lot of tricks here! If you want the yellow stripes to be more vibrant, you can only paint them on after the first black wash. You can also target spots of sand on the road to make it look like it's asphalt runoff, soaking black into the cracks.)

Apply a second Black wash to the road. 

The bridge was a bit more complicated, and took some finicky positioning and a trip to Kung-Fu Tea.

Take a boba tea straw and cut it into 1" segments, then cut them in half, gluing them to the middle of the hex as culverts.

Take corkboard and glue it over the culverts, bending it so it meets the two edges you want the bridge to run along. If it breaks, that's okay — this is a crumbling, middle-of-nowhere bridge.

Use texture gel and spare corkboard to fill in the gaps.

Use texture gel to define the steep edges of the river. Apply a little bit in between the culverts.

Do all the road steps to the road part of the bridge, and all the river steps to the river part of the bridge.

I'm exceedingly proud of the bridge hex. It turned out perfectly, and feels very emblematic of what I want this project to be like.

Why You, Too, Should Make 6mm Terrain

6mm terrain is amazing to make. Mistakes look like part of the landscape or the brain smudges them over due to the small size, and small changes look like fascinating little details. It really opens the imaginative space and I absolutely adore working at this scale. Plus I'm developing a ton of experience with various materials I've never worked with before, so I get to enjoy the triumph of carving foam or corkboard. It rules! I might even try to make a 28mm bridge after the success I had making a 6mm one.

My future plans for this project include cliffs, craters, 3D-printed shantytowns, and overpasses. But all that is for a later date — for now I'm gonna rest on my laurels, and spend the rest of the evening reconfiguring various tile combinations and cackling like a mad scientist.