#Ships are often fleeting thoughts for me so i would have to really consider each one | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

smolbeandrabbles · 4 years

Text

Grace, Too - Director Orson Krennic x Reader (Rogue One)

🎉🎉 !!Fic Number 200!! 🎉🎉

Hollllly crap we made it. We MADE it. And as he was fic number 100, 200 had to be Krennic. HAD to be.

@wltz-bby @mandy23b @happyskywhale @missunsympathetic

Author’s Note: Good god. Oh... This SONG has a lot to answer for.

So, I was introduced to these ‘Courtly Love’ ideas, and I thought they sounded like a lot of fun, so I have a few requests based around these based on conversations. This was the first one I attempted and uh, yeah we ended up with this glorious wordcount.

Also, for my dear requestor and also dear friend @sagitariusrising Happy (Belated) Birthday! 😘💜💙 I hope this fic is everything you wanted!

Grace, Too - The Tragically Hip

Disclaimer: Premise/Idea not mine - although I did make some executive decision changes that I hope you still like / Rogue One characters not mine / some small Catalyst references.

Prompt: “A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved”

Premise: Orson Krennic has himself an obsession. You remind him too much of someone he once knew. Orson Krennic is dangerous. This much you know, but you are not about to heed your own warnings....

Words: 17,100

Warnings: Swearing / Possessiveness/Obsession/Yearning / Smut - like Sinday/Sunday smut.

_____

He said, I'm fabulously rich C'mon, just let's go She kinda bit her lip Geez, I don't know I come from downtown Born ready for you Armed with will and determination And grace, too The secret rules of engagement Are hard to endorse When the appearance of conflict Meets the appearance of force But I can guarantee There'll be no knock on the door I'm total pro here That's what I'm here for I come from downtown Born ready for you Armed with skill and its frustration And grace, too

---

He had to admit Eadu was not his favourite planet in the galaxy. Susceptible to many a storm, Krennic had never known it not to be pouring whenever he arrived. He probably wouldn’t even have thought about travelling over at all, were his old friend Galen Erso not stationed there. True, it was an integral facility to the Death Star, but Krennic didn’t need to be here to survey operations, just receive the odd mail or two with updates. Krennic would much rather be at the heart of the weapon his was engineering; it was his project and his baby. But, he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see Galen, and this was fairly important. He grimaced as he looked out at the rain again, hopefully this wouldn’t take too long either… *** You weren’t sure if you’d ever get used to the constant rainy patterns of weather here. No-one had ever really given you the uniform for it – having said that, how often did you really spend outside these days? A lot of your time was spent in labs pouring over facts and figures and complicated algorithms. You spent almost as much time in the labs as Galen did, which was certainly personal choice rather than because you were forced into long hours. You had two specialities: lasers and gem stones; you’d heard about the development of synthetic Kyber crystals and Galen’s work before, but you’d never beheld a real one until coming here. With the amount of effort you were putting in, you were starting to become a technical expert. (Also a little disappointed to say the least when you found out that synthetic Kyber hadn’t really worked as expected.) Still, when you and Galen weren’t working on your pet energy project – allegedly what this had been for in the first place, until the real reason for Kyber research came to the fore – you were working on the Death Star. Which was some glorified super laser, that needed Kyber to work and… well, precision focus, as any good laser should have. Kyber wasn’t only going to be used as a power source, but also to make sure that this laser had range and trajectory… and didn’t waver off that. Besides, looking at the design, although it would collectively become one laser, it started at multiple points across the span of the dish. If just one of those was wrong, would the laser even fire at all? So standing outside on the landing platform, having been summoned out here because apparently the Director of the whole project would be arriving, in the cold and wet was not your ideal start to the day. Especially as you’d been standing here for what felt like close to an hour. Where the heck was this guy? You’d heard a lot about Orson Krennic before now; not all of it was great, some of it was hearsay, but there was a lot of information you found interesting to say the least. He’d been working on this project (with or without Galen) for most of his adult life, so it didn’t surprise you that he’d be coming all the way out here for an update. You had only ever had the pleasure of being copied on emails to Krennic and the way he responded sometimes was downright scary. You were glad you’d never had to give him bad news… but with your project being what it was, it wouldn’t be long before you did have to face the wrath of his block capitals. Finally the sound of a cruiser cut through the air, by the distinctive sound it was a Delta-class T-3c. Yeah, you had a slight passion for ships too. You all stood to attention on the platform, fighting off the shivers from the wind chill, squinting for visibility through the sheet rain and trying not to get blown over either. When the door to the shuttle opened Galen stepped forward, to welcome your visitor. He was possibly around Galen’s age, and held a confidence and self-importance about him as he strode forward down the ramp. But he had grace, too. You were almost taken aback by the way Krennic smiled as he shook Galen’s hand firmly, conversation fairly urgent. You couldn’t even lip read them from here, but body language was easy to interpret and it didn’t take long for Krennic to have your boss on the back foot. But it wasn’t panic, only surprise. Galen beckoned the Director towards the facility but Krennic shook his head. This visit was clearly only to be brief; you weren’t about to have your first interaction with him after all; he wasn’t about to view your work, inspect it closely and criticize it. Maybe you were glad of that. The conversation wasn’t as fleeting as you thought, a lot of back and forth that had the rest of you shooting each other looks and wondering how much longer you had to stand to attention in the freezing weather. Eventually Galen gestured to all of you – you supposed he was saying ‘if you can’t come in, or stay very long, at least meet my team.’ Krennic seemed to consider this for a time, his eyes sweeping the line and freezing on you. Your breath caught for a moment – maybe it was just your imagination, but his gaze was certainly lingering on you, and those bright blue eyes of his were nothing short of captivating. You didn’t think you’d seen a blue like it anywhere in the galaxy. It felt like hours but it could only have been seconds before he turned back to Galen, they exchanged a few words briefly once more before Galen nodded and they shook hands again. Oh, he really was just going to leave? The Director walked brisky back towards his shuttle before turning and calling back something else that he’d clearly forgotten. Galen yelled something in response and Krennic half smiled, before his eyes flicked over Galen’s shoulder and returned to you. Yes. You were right, he was certainly focused on you. There was a rumble of thunder overhead and the lightning cracked across the sky. You had never minded the lightning; you found the colours and patterns fascinating. But those blue eyes were immediately illumined by the bright white flashes and you found yourself swallowing hard, you couldn’t place the look on his face but you weren’t sure it was so appropriate. That image was sure to haunt you. Krennic turned back, slower this time, and you found that you’d been holding your breath for quite some time.

Suddenly you didn’t think that you would mind receiving an email in block capitals from him at all. *** Galen was probably the least subtle he could possibly be when he was trying to be subtle. He’d been tiptoeing around something with you for a couple of days and it really was starting to annoy you. You slammed your stylus down on the table with a frustrated sigh and turned to him. “Galen, please, whatever it is… just tell me. You’re making me nervous!” He blinked a few times, taken aback by your tone – as if he hadn’t been making it very obvious. “I- I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.” You laughed, “Now I certainly will! What’s going on?” “…It’s not my idea, but it is my decision.” “What is?” You suddenly became scared yourself, “Are you firing me-!?” Galen’s eyes widened and he held his hands up, “What? NO, no… quite the opposite. I am…” He paused and thought to rephrase his question, “They need a crystallographer on the Death Star. A good one. Someone who can keep up with the team here. One who knows what she’s talking about.” You blinked a few times, before you understood, “You’re… sending me to the Death Star?” “Yes. B- but only if you want to go!” Wouldn’t that place you directly under Krennic’s authority? Why was it suddenly an exciting prospect? “I would be honoured. This is- your decision?” “They asked me for recommendations and there was only ever one choice.” That had you beaming, “Thank you for the opportunity, Galen.” “Well, I know you won’t let the facility down. And you’re always welcome back.” You chewed your lip thoughtfully for a second, and couldn’t help but ask: “What is he really like?” “Who?” “The Director.” Galen didn’t really answer the question, although a smile twitched on his face, “We met in the Futures Program. I’ve known him a very long time… I can’t say he’s ever changed.” “So he’s an adult teenage boy?” Maybe that was the wrong thing to say, but Galen laughed. “Well, he has qualities that you’d be forgiven for thinking he was one.” “Huh.” You nodded, “I’ll keep that in mind.” “But he is brilliant, of that there is no doubt. The Death Star project may have been going a long time, but I doubt anyone else could have completed it the way he has. Sharp. Intelligent. You’ll like him, I think.” You wondered if you already did. “Well, we’ll see if I’m begging to come back any time soon-!” He chuckled gently, “Well, I certainly hope not.” It didn’t take you very long to pack up, you were practically living out of boxes as it was. And you weren’t sure if you were nervous about having to move or not. You supposed you were in two minds; you’d actually get to see and be on the Death Star while you worked – sure the plans were one thing but, once you got a feel for the actual structure, maybe you could even be a little more experimental… The advantage of being on Eadu was you could hide away in a lab and make the 10,000 mistakes to get to the one (usually accidental) breakthrough. You were the only one judging yourself here, it was quiet; out there, and under Krennic, all eyes would be on what you were doing. You’d maybe be given the leeway of 2 or 3 mistakes but none more than that. And everything would be urgent. Needed yesterday! It was a good thing that you could work under pressure. Leaving was hard, and as you hugged Galen goodbye you couldn’t help but feel a pain in your heart: “I wish it didn’t mean leaving.” “You deserve it.” “Maybe. I hope I get to come back, eventually.” “We’ll certainly welcome you with open arms!” “Take care of yourself, Galen.” “And you – if he gives you any trouble, come straight to me.” You nearly grimaced, “Noted, but I really hope it doesn’t come to that!” *** The cruiser that picked you up wasn’t his, and you were glad the journey wasn’t as long as you expected, so you didn’t have too much time to overthink what was happening to you. In fact as the Death Star loomed into view your mouth was agape – you weren’t sure you expected the sheer size of it: easy to look at some numbers on a datapad but, when it was in front of you, you thought you might have bitten off a little more than you could chew. You were equally pleased and disappointed that Krennic was neither there to pick you up or greet you on the station – mostly because you didn’t seem to be able to find any appropriate words to say. The bustle of engineers, technicians and general command staff told you you were a million miles from your lab on Eadu, and you found yourself unable to communicate in anything other than one word awe filled sentences. Thankfully the Officer who greeted you seemed to understand, and as she walked you to your lab (everyone was obviously eager for you to start!) she chuckled warmly, “Don’t worry, I was exactly the same when I arrived here. It’s a lot. You’ll get used to it – and from what I understand you’ll be a very welcome addition to our team.” “Thanks,” You swallowed hard, “yes, I understand there’s an expectation on me here.” “Well, the Director only wants the best of the best.” She keyed you into the lab and then handed you your pass, “If you’re here it’s because you are the best. And he wants you.” You tried hard not to think about that in any way other than for your work, but it was hard. Ever since that look he’d given you as he left, those vivid blue eyes filled your dreams – including those that you’d rather Krennic kept out of. As she continued talking, she snapped you back to reality: “Anyway, I will leave you to get settled in here, all your things will be sent to your quarters. I’ll have someone sent up with all the details and your datapad.” She grinned at the door before she turned to head out, “Welcome to the Death Star!” *** You spent your time unpacking all your laboratory kit - some of this work you’d only trust to go right with your own gear that much was certain - before you started examining the lab closely. Everything was, as expected, state of the art, they had every machine it was possible to get in order to aid you on your quest to get these vectors just right. If the work wasn’t quite so serious this was almost a wonderland for you. As you continued to stare around the lab, making mental notes of exactly which you would need and would be the most useful for your work, the lab doors slid open again to another visitor. You turned to explain yourself away as the new girl but immediately froze. Standing opposite you, also seemingly glued to the spot and an unreadable look on his face, was none other than Director Krennic. You weren’t sure you expected to see him so soon, and you were still thoroughly unprepared for it. He recovered better than you. “I was told my new hire had arrived. You-” He paused for a minute, head tipped, before a small smile appeared on his face, “You’re from the Eadu facility!” After all, Krennic hadn’t asked only Galen for help in recruiting – you just had the best credentials. But he certainly recognised you from that platform. “Yes, Sir, Galen sent me – he said you were looking for a good crystallographer.” “Yes. And you’re here, welcome. It’s good to finally meet you in person.” “The honour is mine, Director, I look forward to working with you.” You swallowed hard, “Believe me, it is me that is honoured… uhm?” “Oh, Y/N, Sir.” Then you blushed forgetting yourself, “Ah! Officer L/N!” That smile became a gentle smirk, “Would it be so awful for me to refer to you by your first name?” “…I’m sorry, I… It’s how we do things on Eadu, I�� realise that I am not there anymore Sir, forgive me.” You could feel yourself getting hotter. “You need not be forgiven, Y/N. I’m happy to do things your way.” Krennic placed a datapad on the table in front of him, “It’s all set up correctly, I made sure of that myself. I have to make sure my researcher is well equipped on the first day of her job, after all.” On top of it he lay another access card, “You’ll need that for your room, your ID will allow you access to almost as many files as me, I figured you’ll need them.” Krennic’s blue eyes fell back on you, “Anything you can’t access you come directly to me, and anything else you need, the same. I will make sure it reaches you promptly.” “Yes, Sir.” You nodded through his explanation, “Thank you.” Krennic nodded back, looking around the room, “Tell me, how do you like the lab?” “It’s certainly state of the art. There’s probably not another one like it across the galaxy. There’s a lot I would like to explore with these devices once I’m finished with my work for the Battle Station. Time permitting.” Krennic shrugged, “Do what you will with the time that you have free. I expect you’ll work hard.” “Yes, Sir.” “Good.” He winked stepping back from you, “I will leave you to get settled, and may I welcome you to the Death Star! I’m very excited to see what you can do for us!” And by that smirk on his face, yes, you could bet… Krennic hurried back to his office cursing himself. Yes, he wanted the best – and he had absolutely no doubt that he would get it with you. He’d read every CV in great detail; obviously he’d paid more attention to those from Galen, considering the weaponry was coming from that lab, but Galen had neglected to mention that you were with him on Eadu in his note for you. You were Galen’s first choice, and Orson Krennic was not about to go against his friend’s advice. It was just your look. Not just physically, but that look on your face – he couldn’t shake it. Now he could bet that your personality would be similar just to curse him… He didn’t fall in love often, not hard. Orson could fall in and out of ‘love’ with people very quickly – always liked to keep a string of bed mates, if he didn’t fall in love, and didn’t necessarily care, then he wouldn’t get hurt. And he hardly needed to put in much effort, a little bit of flirting and an expensive drink was all he usually needed. Besides, now Krennic had this rank bar and a reputation, so he probably needed even less: sometimes people were trying to pick him up – he couldn’t say he wasn’t flattered. On the occasions he did though – it usually had the proficiency to mess him up. You reminded him very much of a girl he’d known in the Futures Program – back when he was young and reckless. Okay, Krennic could back track on that sentence, young. That, first love, fast heartbeat, can’t stop staring, ‘only thing in the world that matters’ kind of feeling. The kind of love that at that age would make him naïvely think it’d be forever – where their ambitions would meld together and everything would just work out. Even if they had no idea how. Krennic would stand by it as a real love, a feeling he had chased since he lost her. He’d fallen that hard again since – sure – but never in the same way. Orson didn’t think you could ever get a ‘first love’ feeling back. And he certainly didn’t want to ever feel like he did when it ended again. But you, and your face, and your body, and that look you gave him – all Krennic could see in you was her. Turning to his datapad for a second he had half a mind to see who your parents were, then stopped short of himself. ‘Don’t be stupid, Orson, she’s too old for that!’ – even if marginally. It made him curious about you though, what if your personality was the same? What if all of these factors culminated in him… feeling like that about you. He almost cursed at himself. ‘Don’t be stupid, she works for you, and you’ll shake it. It’s just the shock, it’s two or three glimpses of her face – you’ll be able to pick out all the differences in no time. Then you won’t think about what you loved and lost… or yearn for it back.’ Krennic scoffed at the very idea of him yearning, but brought you up on his datapad anyway. A smirk started to spread its way across his face as he lingered on your photograph. Well, he certainly wasn’t averse to one of you getting messed up in the process of this partnership…

***

Krennic was right, one of you was going to get messed up by this; and it seemed more obvious now that person was going to be him. He wanted your personality to be different to hers, then he could form some distinction - and for the most part you had differences, you were your own woman. The problem was Krennic let himself get obsessed over the similarities, those small details that wouldn’t have mattered to anyone else. And if he was honest those parts of you that were nothing like her just messed him up even more, because he liked those too. He liked you for you. It worried him.

You busied yourself with your work and tried to keep out of everyone’s way. You very much hoped it might be ‘out of sight out of mind’; but knew with the importance of the project you wouldn’t have that luxury. That had you experimenting until the early hours of the morning sometimes - and you always sent Krennic an update email last thing before you went to bed. Just so he never had to come looking himself: you’d heard all about him, but now you were here you’d witnessed it yourself. And Krennic screaming at people in corridors was not something you were that ready for. You did not want that wrath coming down on you, so you tried to keep one step ahead of the man that knew this station inside and out. What amazed you was, as you placed your datapad down for the evening and settled into your sheets, more often than not you’d receive a ‘ping’ to let you know of incoming mail. You’d ignored it for a while but - being too curious - investigated, only to find Krennic had sent you a thank you note. ‘What the heck is he still up working for!?’ Well, this became a regular occurrence, and tonight was no different - only now you waited to see if he’d reply and you smiled as it came in. ‘Why can’t everyone do this? Do you know how well this Station would run!? Thank you. As ever. - K.’ You hovered over the reply button, as you had nearly all week. Every single time the knot in your stomach made you panic and you bailed out. Not tonight. ‘You are welcome, Director. Just doing my job. It’s getting late, you should probably get some rest.’ As he had, you signed off with your initial. It took him all of 5 seconds to reply, ‘I could say the same. Goodnight, Y/N. – K.’ ‘Goodnight, Director. Sleep well.’ You grimaced as the message flew off to the other side of the Death Star, was that a step too far? Oh well. Couldn’t take it back now!

Eventually your reports got shorter, not for lack of trying, but progress was slow. And you always tried to make ‘nothing really happened today’ last for as many pages as possible. But you realised quickly that Director Krennic was smart enough to read between the lines; he never asked for more than you gave him, but as he started asking you for progress updates, rather than waiting until you sent them, you knew he wasn’t far off the point where you might start receiving those dreaded block capital emails.

It wasn’t like what you’d done up until now wasn’t hard; it was. It was just now you were at a snagging point and you really didn’t want to have to redo what you’d already done to get past it. It also wasn’t something you could easily bypass. And you couldn’t ignore it. If you got this wrong that laser didn’t work - and it’d all come back on you. This calculation was going to take time you didn’t have - NOBODY had - and the pressure was starting to get you frustrated.

You didn’t actually receive a block capital email, but an impromptu visit to your lab. And the colour must have immediately drained from your face - to counteract the way your heart decided to beat like a kick drum - because Krennic raised his hands in almost apology. “Thought it might be quicker to ask you rather than you to write up a report.” “Well you already know it’s not going well.” “I know woolly language when I see it. You don’t need to use filler with me. If you’re stuck just say so.” “Forgive me, Sir, but I don’t exactly want to get yelled at, and there’s a lot at stake here.” You cursed yourself internally for being so comfortable with talking to him like this. But decided that it might be best to speak your mind. “Why would I yell at you?” You gave him a pointed look that Krennic understood, but he didn’t think you quite understood the question. Why would he yell at you? Instead he cleared his throat, “I understand… Why don’t you, walk me through it?” “Can you help?” It wasn’t meant to come out so disbelieving, and you thought you’d put your foot in it about 10 times during this conversation already - but Krennic just shrugged. “I’ll see if I can assist. Maybe I’ll have a perspective you’re not thinking of.” You took a breath, “Okay...” “Okay.” He gave a firm nod, and sat at one of the lab tables, “What exactly are you trying to achieve that you cannot?” You took a deep breath, “Think of holding a laser pointer,” you collected one, and as a demonstration you pointed it at the blank wall and clicked it on; “Even with a steady hand, or two hands, there’s movement.” The dot wasn’t wiggling much but Krennic nodded along, “Well, this station is just a massive destructive laser pointer, with 8 different lasers all coming together… so in fact there’s 9 laser pointers in total. Even a millimetre out can be the difference between this laser working, or catching on something we don’t want it to and blowing up Imperial Forces, or - god forbid - the entire station…!” You walked over to a little holder you’d rigged up, placing the pen upon it and stepping back: “Crudely speaking when focusing a laser through Kyber it should keep the laser's trajectory steady with pinpoint accuracy, whilst also maintaining the power and range of the laser. It’s a multipoint system, if even one of those points is off, the whole thing fails. And what better to take the power of a laser created by Kyber than…” “Kyber.” You smiled enthusiastically, “Exactly!” Krennic looked back at the dot on the wall, “So what’s your snag?” You turned the datapad to face him, “This.” He raised an eyebrow immediately, “That’s… a lot of numbers.” “Yes. And every time I calculate it, it’s an error. And it needs to balance because it’s got to work between-” “Nine lasers.” You said in unison. “Correct.” You smiled, liking that he was getting it. “I don’t expect Kyber not to be able to take the force, it’s the making sure we’re hitting it all just right. To check how much the crystals might refract the energy. To make sure there’s not a power surge… I just can’t get the power balance right to get the trajectory… not to do something ridiculously wild.” “Or make the whole station virtually useless.” “Yes. And the thing is that the number is nearly always the same. You know, like… I’m point-5 out, and yet I can’t figure out where that is coming from. Freakin’ crystals, and Kyber is notoriously the worst!” You placed your hands on your hips, “I’ll get it. I just need time.” He nodded, “You have time believe me.” Krennic stood, “I believe I should leave you to it.” “But the completion of the-” “Let me worry about that. You worry about getting my vectors right. You have time.” That he could promise you. Krennic didn’t want you to panic, he thought that would throw this project into even more disarray. He needed you with a level head and at your best mindset. He thought he knew how to do just that. You flushed, “Thank you, Director.” “Don’t mention it, Y/N.” He paused as he got to the door, turning back to you those blue eyes caught yours and you nearly jumped at the dark flicker across them. “I look forward to reading your report, tonight.” The way his voice lowered like that, how that smooth tone he usually kept laced with a growl had you struggling to breathe as he left, and you had to undo your uniform and catch your breath. ‘Geez, what was that!?’ Did you have a thing for your senior commander? A real thing!? Sure those damn eyes were always haunting your dreams, and he was nearly always your daily closing thought (but he put himself there, didn’t he!) but… this was more than that, this was a physical reaction - and you were sure he was eliciting an emotional one from you, too. “God dammit, Y/N,” you breathed, looking back to the door and wishing he’d come walking back through it, “could you have a worse idea-!?” *** He had to be honest he wasn’t sure why he had no semblance of control around you; it should have been easy to control. Krennic spent his life trying to control his emotions… okay, maybe not very well but he did. You had him smiling all over the place. He far outstayed his welcome in the lab whenever he found reason to go down there; and Krennic certainly found plenty of reason. Usually if he visited anyone at their work station he was either none too pleased with them, or he wanted their report - and quickly! - before he swept himself off to another meeting or urgent matter around the station. He liked the sound of your voice explaining things to him; and how every question he asked was met with not just an answer, but a good answer. Instead of a string of ‘I don’t know, sir’s. Nothing Krennic asked of you ever seemed like trouble either; then again he supposed you wouldn’t really want to refuse the Director of the Death Star what he wanted. It was obvious you wanted to remain here, and you were trying to do your very best to figure out all these algorithms alone.

Krennic sent you an assistant and even got you on calls with people in similar fields. The assistant stayed with you a little, until it got a little too complicated even for them and you dismissed them with thanks - you’d got a step closer, that’s all you could ask for. Eventually though, you had to reach out to Galen - and Krennic wanted to sit in on these calls. You wondered if it was because he thought the two of you would spend the majority of it dragging him - you rather thought you might be giving him a string of compliments with half the chance to do so. And the three of you started to break your work down to basics. Krennic’s new perspective aided more than you really wanted to admit to him, but he had this attitude that made you think he wanted to be useful here - and it made you more than a little suspicious. Maybe he really was spying on you both…

Krennic wasn’t sure if he wasn’t forcing the relationship to grow beyond appropriate parameters, all discussions did still revolve around work after all, but was happy that you were forthcoming. Spending more time with you meant he could analyse you more - and whilst you still very much reminded him of his ex-lover, you were becoming your own person. The person who filled his thoughts. You were almost his every waking moment. When in your lab together, even when Krennic was listening to every word, he was watching your body - the way you moved was fluid as you eagerly explained something and demonstrated. But meticulous and calculating when you were working on a screen - absolutely none of your energy was wasted that could have been used to think on the problem. And yet even every small movement you made was significant. Usually to cross through or correct a calculation. Change your vector arrows around a little. Krennic liked watching you do this too, because when it was all correct you gave this small satisfied smile, and even though it was to yourself, it was very endearing - it was one thing he always looked forward to seeing.

Tonight, as ever, Krennic was agonising over waiting for your report. No matter how exhausted he might be when he finally retired to his quarters for the evening, he always knew your end of day email would come through and Krennic forced himself to stay awake for it. Mostly so he could read too much into the string of ‘flirty’ emails that followed it, but he couldn’t have been the only one who read that energy. After all, sometimes he gratuitously flirted back, and you still kept responding. As soon as he heard that ping he rushed across the room to read it. You reporting was always concise even though you managed not to leave a single detail out - and now he knew more about your work, it was easier to understand and for him to scan through. Krennic would be more thorough tomorrow. ‘Thorough as ever, Ms. L/N. – K.’ ‘I like to make sure you don’t need to ask questions.’ ‘Where’s the fun in that? – K.’ ‘It helps me sleep better.’ ‘Me not ask questions about your reporting? – K.’ ‘Goodnight Director. Please get some sleep!’ He remembered the first time that he’d read that goodnight from you, how he’d stared at those words for a long time - heart stilled. It didn’t help him sleep at all, far from it. In fact nothing about you seemed to help anything - except Krennic thinking on you.

You were impressive - dare he say that you had more skill in your particular area than maybe even Galen did. That, added to the weight of his constant Futures Program reminder, kept you at the forefront of his mind constantly. Krennic found it very hard to concentrate on his own work; and his thoughts wandered, particularly in meetings he found to be less than stimulating. He’d poured over your CV and your previous published research time and again. Read all your imperial records and anything Intelligence could get hold of on you. Krennic knew almost everything there was to know, and yet he wanted to hear it all from you. And you seemed less than forthcoming with information that was personal. That almost worried him - maybe you weren’t looking for anything other than a professional relationship with him. Krennic wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to keep it that way; eventually he’d have to make some kind of move - he couldn’t let you go without you knowing. He wasn’t about to let you be the (other) one that got away. Not both of you. Time ticked on this evening, and he lay in his sheets wide awake. Work was making him drowsy; and he’d been up and down trying to work himself to sleep, but every time he put his datapad down and switched off the lights he was alert again. Krennic glanced at the clock and groaned, watching the minutes race towards his alarm. Unsurprisingly it was thoughts of you that were keeping him awake. Usually you were on his mind at night; you were certainly the last one before he turned the light off, but usually he could drift to sleep perfectly fine. Not tonight. Krennic placed his hands palm down on his stomach, inhaling and exhaling slowly: wasn’t that how you did it? Deep, slow, calming breaths. That evidently made things worse, and his breathing patterns this time brought with them fairly vivid images that occasionally he’d seen in dreams. Certainly none of them were very professional - and all of them were about you. ‘Stars-! Orson, stop it!’ But he couldn’t, and his mind wanted to play tricks on him, trying to make him imagine what it would feel like to touch your bare skin, to hear you moan quietly, the way you might say his name in elation. He growled to himself as heat gathered a little lower than his hands were. He moved them, breaths already short and sharp and not at all where he’d intended to be at… “This is a bad idea.” Orson groaned softly and bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut bringing all those images back; did he really have any better ones? *** It wasn’t a lie to state you were getting closer. At least to the point where Krennic started to make jokes in meetings that were clearly meant for you only. And when you looked up to him unsure if it was appropriate to laugh and he’d almost dare you to, you knew they certainly were. He’d always ask for a score out of 10 in his emails to you now. And it was refreshing for you to find a similar relationship to the one you had with Galen here… well, maybe you shouldn’t have been surprised. They were good friends after all, and there had to be a reason for that. Krennic also made a habit of being wherever you were. And you weren’t sure that was so endearing. You understood why he would want to be around your lab - maybe not as often as he was, but then… perhaps you knew the reason for that too, you just didn’t want to hope on it - but not why he’d turn up in corridors he had no business being in. Or would end up in the cafeteria at the exact moment you walked in. He even ended up in staff briefings he’d specifically asked someone else to take either so he could sit or stand near you. You couldn’t help but find some of this behaviour odd: was Krennic stalking you? Was he looking out for you? Was he protecting you? You couldn’t imagine it was just coincidence - and part of you hoped it wasn’t. You just couldn’t really tell his intentions. That’s what scared you the most.

By now you’d heard the coffee room chat about Krennic - seemed he had a bit of a lady’s man reputation. Pretty smooth at getting you into bed, but would love you and leave you just as fast, and on-to-the-next-one. Were you simply the next one? Because as much as by now you wanted to be, you certainly didn’t want to be one on a list… love you was okay… but leave you? You weren’t the type of woman who would put yourself in that position. For him would you?

It made you a little more cautious around him, and suddenly that made your relationship slip. Because you didn’t know if you should be flirting with him or joking with him as much as you were. This pull back from you didn’t faze Krennic too much, just made him try a little harder. For you it then became obvious what he wanted. And you had to do your damndest to control yourself. You both did.

You were using every ounce of your Imperial training to try to ignore your feelings, to make sure your face stayed level and revealed nothing. You always tried to keep your eyes on his face; instead of the wandering they wanted to do - even when he wasn’t directly talking to you. That didn’t mean that when he was walking away from you, or simply keeping busy in your lab, you weren’t discreetly checking him out. You had to wonder what he looked like out of that uniform, considering he looked so gorgeous in it. You were inexplicably drawn to him, but you weren’t sure if it was his power you were attracted to: the rank bar on that uniform told everyone exactly who was boss and he walked like he owned every corridor in this place. He didn’t even need to exert his influence in meetings, everyone knew he was the most important man in the room. When Krennic had something to say everyone listened, even when he said it quietly. You’d never known someone to command that kind of attention, and considering that reputation you were not the only officer - of any gender - who fawned over him. You were just the best at hiding it. That charisma he exuded really was something to behold; he was just far too confident. Maybe a little conceited in it too, but you were sure you’d be powerless to it. The Director probably had the ability to walk up to you and say “Come to bed with me” and you’d go on that alone, you knew if he was so inclined, he could just say it like that. It was probably in your favour that Krennic liked to be a little more suave. Krennic seemed like one for class and grace. Or was it that you really were attracted to him, that you had some kind of undeniable chemistry. That you would almost count him a friend. That you just liked being in Krennic’s aura and talking to him about work… you’d even started to open up to him about personal stuff, where you’d grown up, your family… how exactly you’d ended up a crystallographer who was working here on laser vectors. And most importantly how much you loved storms, planetary or solar - this seemed like something you had to let him know. Just a silly little fact, perhaps, but to you it really meant something. It was little moments like that, when he laughed at your stories, that you thought this really might be mutual attraction, rather than someone Krennic just wanted to get in bed.

Yet, you had an effect on him also and he tried to hide it as well as you did. You caught it, only because you knew the look of someone trying to contain themselves. You saw it in the mirror or polished surfaces of this battle station all the time. Krennic quite often clenched his jaw around you, he had this habit of staring at you like he was staring through you; and sometimes he would just stare forward if you were next to him. That almost annoyed you, because you wanted to be able to look into those crystal blue orbs just once... But if Krennic was watching you, then it was an altogether different story, and if he ever caught you catching him, that look in his eyes didn’t disappear; it was hungry, and although it stirred something within you that you had to fight even harder to control, it scared you a little too - and in the back of your mind it lit a spark that became a raging fire. And you had to know, would he act on that look too? You made a vow, before you’d finished your work, before you’d left this battle station - you would find out.

Today hadn’t been so bad by all accounts; the test you’d set up you would have to leave overnight, so you got out of the lab on time. Maybe you’d even get an early night tonight. Maybe you’d persuade the Director to one of his own with your report email; you thought he probably needed it. A frown pulled its way across your face as you arrived at your quarters with the door open, and you poked your head around it, gasping to find other officers moving things around, and carrying what appeared to be boxes of your stuff. You hadn’t authorised this! “What’s going on!?!” You blurted, a little angrier than you’d meant, “What are you doing!?” Then you froze for a second; had you read something wrong? You knew something was up with him… but maybe you were supposed to have acted on it by now? Maybe your work was taking too long - was he pissed at you? Did Krennic want you off the station!? You looked to the most senior officer, “Am I being thrown off the project?!” “No.” At least you could breathe then, “We’re simply moving your quarters.” “Moving my quarters?” You couldn’t help but be confused: had you missed that email? It seemed a little too important to just be sprung upon you. “On whose orders!? I haven’t signed off on this!” “Director Krennic’s.” That shut you up almost immediately. ‘Oh well shit, what’s he moving me for!?’ You swallowed hard, not even caring if it was visible. “Well, in that case you better show me where I’m moving to…”

Once you got there - and they assured you that your key card would still work - you realised that you hadn’t just moved to any old room. Krennic had moved you to a commander's quarters, and it was plush to say the least. You had so much more room in here. The bay window stretched at least half the room and you couldn’t help your small smile; ‘he remembered’. Your little stories of staying up huddled in a window frame to watch storms in nearby, or passing, solar systems and planets. You shook your head slowly to yourself and picked up your datapad again, figuring out where exactly you were on the ship - further from the labs, which was a minor inconvenience. It seemed that at least there was an elevator close by that you could use to get to the right floor and then it’d be a straight walk. What interested you though was, looking at the schematic, you appeared to be just two corridors away from Krennic’s own room. That was not coincidence. “Son of a-” suddenly you found yourself laughing. Why? So he could walk past your room every day? So he had you closer? And looking at the rooms around, probably as close as he could get: you were surrounded by his senior command team.

You moved through the room, and started to notice little details that he’d had placed here; books by your favourite authors, or researchers… your favourite music. Maybe you’d told him far too much about yourself. But it was the fact he retained the information that had you impressed. He’d even left you a box, tied with ribbon in your bathroom, and when you pulled at it you found it was filled with very expensive toiletries, that you knew he wouldn’t have been able to come by easily, in all your favourite scents. Nothing is coincidence at all… is it Krennic? Was he trying to woo you - was this all part of a game plan; you could only conclude yes. And by the way your heart was currently beating in your chest, you had to say it was working.

Moving back into the main room and sitting back on the bed with your datapad, ready to send your report for the evening, you’d failed to notice the letter lying on top of your sheets. You pulled your finger across the top of the envelope and unfolded the card carefully: ‘Dear Y/N, Welcome to your new quarters. I believe someone of your talent is worthy of somewhere a little nicer. You will find me just down the hall if you need anything, and please do not hesitate. I hope you enjoy your stay here. And, should there be a storm, that you enjoy the view. Director Orson C. Krennic Head - Imperial Weapons Division’ The card also seemed to be scented, which you had to raise an eyebrow at; ‘who uses scented note cards?! What’s that all about!?’ You put it down to having more money than sense and placed the card on your bedside table, before getting back to what was really important.

As expected, even when it was a little earlier in the evening, Orson Krennic responded to your email almost immediately. ‘Earlier than usual? You really are efficient, Y/N. – K.’ ‘Thought I would get an early night in Director… in my new quarters. You should to.’ - You weren’t meant to imply together, but you also didn’t care if that’s how he read it. ‘Any thoughts? – K.’ ‘They are very nice, thank you. Although in future a little more notification would help!’ ‘Noted. And as you are closer, you can deliver your reports in person now – K.’ You raised an eyebrow, why would that make any sense? ‘When I can send it over email?’ Why... would you? Even when closer the time it’d take you to walk to his quarters, give him the document and walk back, would still be far longer than an email. ‘Consider it. – K.’ ‘I will!’ You weren’t sure you would, but that was what he wanted to hear. And of course you’d play to that whim. ‘Good. Goodnight, Y/N – K.’ ‘Goodnight Orson.’ You stared at the email after you’d sent it and almost screamed. What were you doing-!?! Why were you addressing a senior officer by his first name!? What was he bringing you to? You placed your head in your hands and took a deep breath. ‘Okay, it’s one slip and you can say you were tired and apologise profusely later…’

You threw your tablet on your table too and snuggled back under your new plush sheets. The bed was cozy and soft and suddenly you couldn’t be happier that Krennic had arranged for this. You closed your eyes; it was this time of the evening you liked to try and ground yourself. It was clear that both of you wanted each other to some degree, but you were the one that had to be sure about this and the most careful. You had more to lose here; Krennic had the ability to kick you off the project, not just out of his bed… if you ever got in it. But by now you were pretty sure you would end up in it. It was more a matter of when. He was powerful, you’d covered that. But Krennic was also dangerous, that much was also obvious… dangerous in terrible and delicious ways. So perhaps, as well as everything else, you were drawn to that danger. You wondered suddenly which side of him would show up more when it was just the two of you alone… in conditions more intimate. Would that power completely consume you; did you have any chance at all? You weren’t sure you wanted any at just the opportunity to be pinned under his body. To run your hands over his skin. To answer all the questions you had, and see if all those water cooler rumours were true… (You hoped to God some of them were.)

You were close to drifting off when your eyes suddenly snapped open. Krennic was your favourite pre-sleep thought, and your subconscious tonight brought you a revelation. That note card was not scented. You scrambled around for it and held it close to your face, inhaling. That was what Krennic smelled like - you should know because you’d always thought he smelt pretty good, it was a fairly subtle scent when on his skin - here it was a little stronger, which is why it had taken you so long to pick up on it.

That damn man had sprayed his note to you with his cologne. *** You decided that Krennic knew far too much about you. On the morning after your move you opened your door to head back to the labs, so you could check on the results of your testing, and Krennic was two steps from your door. You were startled by his sudden presence but he offered nothing but a small smile and a casual, “Right on time, Ms. L/N.” “Uh- I- Director.” You wouldn’t exactly say you greeted him as he felt in step with your walk towards the elevator. “How do you think your testing went?” “Well…” You took a deep breath, instantly regretting it as that cologne seemed to surround you completely. Now your senses were looking for it. Your stomach knotted and you felt the immediate urge to press your thighs together and groan. Dammit. “Well?” Krennic pressed, eying you when you didn’t answer. You hoped your face wasn’t flushing even though you felt hot. “It’s a make or break test. I certainly hope it’s worked.” You could hear that strained edge to your voice, you knew for certain Krennic would have picked up on it. As you turned into the elevator you immediately reached for your button, the Director was two steps ahead of you and your hands brushed. You withdrew yours immediately, and knew you must have been red by now. “S-Sorry.” “No, my apologies, I just wanted to help.” You stared at the floor of the elevator for a good few minutes, holding your fingertips in your other hand. Why did it tingle like that? You didn’t actually ever think you’d physically touched him before, had you? Even when you’d been so close previously in the lab. But it’s not even like it was his skin. In fact, for someone with such a reputation, Krennic had very little skin on display at all. Did he ever not wear gloves? Not that you could recall. ‘Stop-! Y/N! You sound so repressed! You’ve seen naked men before.’ Your eyes flicked back to Krennic, staring at the ceiling, and you swallowed hard. Sure, but you hadn’t seen him naked. The rest of the ride was conducted in silence, because you didn’t trust yourself not to blurt out anything you shouldn’t, but as you left Krennic took a step to stop the doors from closing. “What, not even a goodbye?” You paused in the corridor and turned back to him, unable to stop yourself from smiling that he actually wanted that from you. “Goodbye Director, have a good day.” “Not likely, but work permitting. Good day, Y/N.” and as the doors slid closed on him you caught his wink, and could swear he was smirking.

You stood outside your little lab for a long time before you entered. You admitted to yourself you were delaying the inevitable but you needed to. After all, if this was a complete failure then you might as well throw out almost a years’ worth of work. Well, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but at least all the months you’d been up here on the battle station. You’d need a good stiff drink and to cry in bed for a couple of days at the very least. Oh, and you’d probably be fired, reputation in ruins… You keyed yourself in and flicked on the lights. What you had done was rigged up a few small versions of the Death Star and set each of them to different vectors. The pieces of Kyber you were using were tiny, but they would still work in principle with your laser pens.

You stared at the points on the wall in turn. One had disappeared completely, which was all but useless to you. It didn’t mean that the calculation wasn’t steady: it could have just meant that the trajectory was way off. Either way, you could discount that as a failure. And the next one; giving a similar waver to when you’d shown Krennic what ‘steady hands’ really meant. Although minimal, you’d already explained why you couldn’t stand for it. That left the last two. And the results looked fairly similar even though your vectors were different for both. You had to call the result unexpected: perhaps there were two ways to do this. You looked back to your little models and then to the points, waving your hand in front of the lasers. And then you smiled, and that small smile became a grin, became a laugh of triumph. Although both were near perfect, the third one had a far stronger beam of light. There was your power. The second most important part of the project. The station had to do what it was built for when the laser reached its target, after all. “We have a winner.” You whispered to yourself walking back to your table. Now you had to report these findings and scale them up to full size. Working in other contingency factors - after all that laser would not be travelling through clean air in a lab and hitting a solid smooth wall. That would be fun. Still, you couldn’t wait on his report to tell him the good news. ‘Report spoilers: It works!’ There was a long pause between emails, and you could picture Krennic sitting at his desk, relief flooding him, smug little smirk on his face that this was finally going to get done - the finish line seemed in sight now. You hoped you’d made his day. When the email came back you couldn’t help but read into it a little more than you probably should have, and yet you also thought he wanted you to: ‘This sounds like a cause for celebration... – K.’

You did not in fact bring the report to him by hand, and neither did he ask it of you, but from that day forward you were called into his office daily briefings. And suddenly you got to realise just what your research meant to the people working on this station, because the first day you walked in, expecting to see just him, the room was full of his top engineers and each and every single one of them was applauding you. “Now the real work begins.” Krennic was leaning against his desk, arms folded, with eyes only for you. “Welcome, Y/N, to the team that will build your concept. From physical engineering to coding. I will assist in overseeing you, but the team are now at your disposal. From now, until test day.” Your eyes couldn’t help but light up, even though you knew you should have probably been professional about this. “Thank you, Director.” You beamed, “I look forward to working with all of you. Let's make this vision a reality, for the Empire!”

Suddenly this was better than anything you’d had with Krennic before - you almost had non-stop contact with him, from walking out of your door in the morning, to retiring for the evening. And you were happy to find that he provided both the perfect intellectual and humorous stimulant. You also noted how many crew members now looked at you with nothing but jealousy. Despite the fact nothing had happened between you yet. The way he regarded you was now even more open. Every look that followed every little flirtatious comment or innuendo was extremely pointed. Sometimes his eyes would even darken. It scared you enough to have you shy away from him; but also had you scared at how much you desired him. You just wanted him to touch you, just the smallest taste. To be honest you didn’t care what he did, as long as he did something. Krennic could bend you over his desk in front of your entire engineering team for all you cared anymore.

Speaking of your engineering team, you’d never seen a group of people work harder or more efficiently, and seeing them turn all your data and tiny models into tangible pieces for the Death Star was wonderful. You gasped to see the sheer size of the Kyber they had harvested to give your vectors pinpoint accuracy. “I have never… seen Kyber like that!” And the way Krennic got all smug again, “Only the best for you. Of course.” “You flatter me, Sir.” And that little knowing nod he gave you back. Once everything started to go into place, and you got word that Galen was almost finished with the laser itself (you received many an email from him about how proud he was and so many others from your friends back on Eadu that you almost cried, thanking them again and again for their participation in even the smallest part of your research), that the dish was currently in the process of being assembled outside and you couldn’t believe you were doing this. You couldn’t believe you were about to be a part of history. Your name was going to be right up there. Never even in your wildest dreams... As you could take a little more time over your reports these days, and there was far less for you to really comment on, you did start to present Krennic with physical copies. Usually just before you headed off for the evening you would drop them off on his desk with a small smile, and he would drag them towards him. “Glad to see you are taking my advice.” “Well, as you seemed fairly adamant I did it, I thought I had better start, Director.” “They do make for good bedtime reading.” “I’ll bet…” Only for the last week you’d started spraying them with your perfume, very subtly at first, but steadily the scent became stronger, and oh, he had noticed. When the doors closed behind you this evening he held the report to his nose and inhaled, groaning as heat coursed through his body. Krennic couldn’t take it any longer, he knew exactly what you were doing. Both of you were dancing around it, and now neither of you were being very subtle, either. But this was the final straw - because he wanted this scent all over him. What it would feel like to pin you beneath him, have your body against his as you whined and called his name, what it would feel like to finally be inside you… He’d certainly thought on it in quieter moments of the evening enough… *** Tonight your report was late. Not for no good reason; you had a lot of data to review. Galen kept sending you updated laser figures to get you as close as possible with your final vectors. Oh, you had no doubt that the Kyber could take it. You’d given a wide berth for the perimeters; but still, you wanted to check and triple check. On your head be it if you didn’t and everything went wrong. Still you wanted to stop by Krennic’s office to let him know why it would be late, as you always seemed to bring it to him around this time these days.

Krennic looked up as you walked in, without even knocking, but he hardly cared about that. His eyes narrowed at the lack of papers in your arms. “Where is my report?” Your face scrunched a little, “If you’d let me get a word out Director, I would tell you. I have a lot of data back from Galen that I want to check and double check before I send it over to you. I want to give you as accurate data and results as possible. So it’ll probably be late, or later than it has been these past few weeks.” Krennic tilted his head, eyebrow raised “Late?” He didn’t sound very appreciative. “Only about as ‘late’ as used to be normal.” He rose from his chair, and those blue eyes locked on yours, “Late-late bedtime reading? This from a woman who says I should be going to bed earlier.” “This once!” You protested as he rounded his desk. “You think that’s good enough?” You didn’t understand why he’d be mad at you, and Krennic didn’t sound mad… but the words he was using… “Well I didn’t think you’d mind.” “Oh, believe me, I mind.” “I-” You were about to tell him you were sorry - although really you had nothing to be sorry for - but he didn’t stop beside you. Instead Krennic stood behind you, a little too close for your liking.

You froze immediately as his voice lowered to a whisper, reaching out to brush a lock of hair behind your ear. The scrape of leather against your skin made you shiver, and you only wished it was his fingertips. You bit back your moan. “I am alone in my quarters after 2200 hours, it sounds like I’ll have data to review with you: that’s an order.” You swallowed unsure of the kind of response he wanted, “Yes, Sir.” slipped out of your mouth and he seemed satisfied. “Good girl. I want it on paper, as you’ve been doing recently.” “Yes, Sir.” “Well then…” He stepped away from you and you realised that you’d barely breathed for the past few minutes, “You best get to it, hadn’t you?” “Yes, Sir.” What was wrong with you!? Was that all you could say!? When you turned around he’d already moved away, crossing the room. “Good. Now go. And don’t make me wait, Y/N.” Krennic glanced over his shoulder at you, blue eyes burning, “As I’m sure you know by now, I am not a patient man.” *** You had to admit the pressure was on now. Because you did really want to present him with a decent report. (Just in case he wasn’t messing with you and he would be pissed if you didn’t turn up at 2200 with the correct figures.) And you sat back in the lab speed typing your way to the end whilst also trying to be as careful about Galen’s calculations as possible. You were right of course, his new figures still worked perfectly within your own. You looked at the clock, 2130. And the Director had told you not to be late. You printed the report and rushed back to your quarters; your heart was beating on overdrive. Was this about to be the encounter you’d always imagined? The throbbing ache between your thighs you’d also been trying (and failing) to ignore since he’d brushed his fingers to your skin earlier certainly hoped so. You barely had time for a quick shower to freshen up, but you took it anyway before changing and spraying yourself with that same perfume you’d been dousing your reports in, and hoping you wouldn’t run into anyone in the two corridors that you would have to traverse.

You checked yourself in the mirror as you gathered the hard copy of the report and your datapad for back up. You looked flushed, but still pretty at least. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself for your walk - you had a feeling you were about to end up being even more so… You paused suddenly and turned to the window; the colour of space had suddenly caught your eye. Purples and blues fogged in front of you, instead of the usual endless rolling black flecked with stars. It shimmered every so often and you recognised it instantly. ‘An Ion storm is coming…’ you breathed. You hadn’t noticed because your lab had no windows, but you were overjoyed that you hadn’t missed it. You allowed yourself to marvel it for a few seconds more before you realised you were about to make yourself late. Padding down the corridors you were pleased to see that there was no-one on route and you reached his room at exactly 2159. You waited for that minute to tick over, and at 2200, you knocked.

“Enter.” Krennic’s voice called you, with a sultry edge to it. And you bit your lip gently. At the sound of his voice his door slid open, and beckoned you inside. *** If you thought your room was spacious and had a generous window, this one was something else. Krennic’s quarters had a window that swept almost the entire far end of the room, and your eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to those vibrant purples and blues again. The lighting was fairly dimmed but you recognised it as ambiance; Krennic was setting a mood here. That feeling stirred once more in the pit of your stomach and you swallowed hard, the room had all the amenities, and you wondered why the hell he even wanted an office as well as this. Probably because he didn’t want everyone in his room, you guessed, but he had a desk and everything here. You scanned across the room to the bed; at least king sized, the sheets looked comfortable and luxurious. Why didn’t that surprise you either.

Footsteps approached from your left and Krennic swept around the corner from whatever had been keeping him occupied. He halted, immediately tipping his head to survey your body - instinctively you pulled the papers up to your chest and hugged them close. “I-I believe you asked me here to take you through a data review, Sir. And I made sure to print them all.” He hadn’t even traced his way up to your face yet and that smile became a grin, became a smirk. Krennic stepped forward - bless you for actually printing the damn report. He held his hand out, “Indeed I did.” You offered up the paperwork and he walked back to his desk, beckoning you to follow him. He could already smell the perfume on the documents, biting back a low moan. He had no intention of reading them tonight. In fact you hadn’t even sprayed the documents with your perfume, but there was so much of it on you that when you’d held them close it couldn’t help but transfer across. Krennic set them, and your datapad, down on his desk and turned back to you, now a little further into the room. Your hair was down to natural length and framed your face delicately. There were no shoes on your feet either. But your dress… oh… Ending just appropriately long enough to cover everything, the silk slip dress - in your favourite colour, Krennic remembered - plunged pretty low, thin straps looped over your shoulders and, he couldn’t see yet, but it had a low back too. At least you were dressed appropriately for where your evening was going to go. Krennic swallowed, aware of his own arousal as he made his way slowly back over to you, again, instead of stopping in front of you he rounded your body. Where he was close the cape brushed against your bare skin and you had to bite your lip hard not to whimper. Why was just the feel of it so sexy? Was it really the thought of being covered in it and nothing else? Would he wear it if you asked him to…? No, maybe not for your first time together… you didn’t think he’d want you making too many demands of him.

“I checked the weather for today and it looks like there will be a good ion lightning storm in the area. We can’t exactly move out of its way so… I thought you might like to observe…” “You remember a lot of things about me, Director… this one I might just have to thank you for.” Even as he disappeared behind you again you kept your eyes front on space, although you couldn’t help but be curious if he was going to touch your hair again. It hadn’t escaped your notice that he was finally gloveless. I really AM like a repressed maiden! He halted, and somehow it felt like he was even closer than before; was Krennic’s breath on the back of your neck just your imagination? You shivered involuntarily and even if you couldn’t see him, you could picture that smirk. His voice was at a husky whisper, already threatening to drive you wild. You didn’t dare press your thighs together, despite your desperation. “This dress is certainly not regulation uniform, and as per the rules, that would mean it needs to be removed.” You didn’t even get the chance to wonder if Krennic was going to do it himself as his large hands rested on your shoulders for a moment. You couldn’t help but tense; it seemed like such a foreign concept, his bare skin touching yours. You wondered if his hands would be calloused with all the work he did. He certainly didn’t mind getting dirty. But he was an architect at heart, and his hands seemed pretty smooth, assured, and warm… he was so warm… Krennic caressed his fingertips over you and you really couldn’t have helped that small whine even if you’d have tried. You were still picturing that delicious little smirk in your head, and you wanted to kiss it off. Patience… At this rate you’ll be getting to do more than that... His fingers slid under the straps, pulling them off your shoulders agonisingly slow, but Krennic didn’t attempt to help the fabric down your body, instead he just let it fall. It pooled around your feet and you swallowed hard again, hearing the slight chuckle in his voice before he tsked you. “You didn’t think to wear anything underneath?” “Well I thought about it, but-” You gasped as his hand grasped your waist, sliding down to your hip, his other brushing your hair back to expose your neck. Krennic’s first kiss wasn’t even tentative; but it was teasing and you shook under his touch. He smirked into your neck as he continued to kiss a trail. You bit back a groan, closing your eyes to the sensation of his lips on your skin, sighing for certain as his tongue ran over you. Had you told him this too? Or did he really know far too much… Finally having him kiss you after all this time was something that you almost found indescribable, and the heat between your thighs made you press them together as discreetly as possible - he’d get there you were sure of it, but that ache demanded attention. Krennic inhaled - and somehow that perfume smelled even better on your skin. He growled, grazing his teeth over your jugular, pulling your body back into his. “Oh… Y/N… you smell so good.” You gasped again as this time his arms locked around your waist to hold you in place; so close that his cape once again brushed your skin, you simply lay your hands over his. His still clothed body pressed up against yours felt simply divine and you knew Krennic was about to drive you insane, on purpose. As those kisses to your neck became a little hotter - and you started to imagine all the marks about to be left on your body - you couldn’t resist tipping your head back to sigh his name. You couldn’t be sure which he wanted to hear, but surely he would tell you if it was his first name. Maybe he didn’t want his lovers to call him that… you remembered your promise not to become just one on a list, but you didn’t want to think too hard on that right now. Much more enjoy the moment. You leant your body weight back against him, suddenly feeling tiny in his large hands. He smirked into your skin again, pulling back, one hand coming back up to turn your face to his.

“My, my… You’re already so flushed and… responsive.” That little smirk was so gorgeous you had second thoughts about kissing it off. You were already aware of how heavy you were breathing. Krennic bit his lip and somehow that made him sexier, “Have you thought about this?” You nodded, hardly seeing the point of lying. “A lot?” You knew the blush on your cheeks was only getting deeper as you nodded again. Krennic chuckled, “At least I’m not the only one…” He held you in place by your chin, “Whatever your fantasies are, you can tell me. But I can promise I’ll be better.” He studied your face intently, “Would you like me to kiss you, Y/N?” You wondered if that was a stupid question, eyes flicking to his lips and back to that intense stare he was giving you, “Y-Yes.” Surprisingly his kiss wasn’t as rough as they had been to your neck, but he showed no mercy when deepening it, and his tongue wasn’t about to let yours assert any dominance. You could taste hints of alcohol and caffeine, and something sweet - although you could hardly remember what they were serving in the canteen now. When Krennic finally released your lips to let you breathe, you were panting even harder - how was it possible to feel that power even in his kisses; you were going to be completely at his mercy all night and right now it was a delightful prospect. The wealth of experience he had meant he could surely show you a thing or two. The next graze of his lips to yours was fleeting, and he drew from you a whine. By his smile exactly what Krennic wanted. His hands wandered as he pressed a kiss into your shoulder, down the run of the pulse in your neck and over your clavicles to your breasts. Keeping those steely blue eyes on yours you were hardly able to look away as his fingertips brushed over your sensitive nipples. Even your attempts to stifle your groans didn’t work and you closed your eyes to his touch as he circled his fingertips around one. “You are so fucking beautiful…” He nudged your head gently with his own to expose your neck to him once more, “And you sound fucking beautiful too…” “K-Krennic…” You mumbled his name again, once again fixating on his fingertips as he moved them across to your other breast, repeating the same teasing circular motion before he kneaded you. You thought you’d read somewhere that you could orgasm just from this - and right now you’d believe it; feeling that sticky sweetness on your inner thighs. At this rate you weren’t going to last until Krennic touched you there. “Maybe we’ll have to make this your regulation uniform.” His voice was husky, “I’m sure I could have that rule changed just for you.” You shuddered again as he pinched your nipple between his fingers playfully, “Would you like that?” “O-Only f-or you.” You might as well go for it; he might as well know exactly how you felt. “Ahhhh!” Krennic vocalised like he’d just figured it all out, “Should I just keep you here? Or in my office? I hold a great many meetings there, though… I’m not sure I would like them all staring at you in your uniform.” He growled into the next kiss he placed to your skin, “I get jealous too, you know?” Well you did now.

Krennic straightened himself to full height, still supporting your weight his hands travelled down your body agonizingly slow; almost as if he was committing every inch of you to his memory. You already knew he liked details - and he was an architect; so it was Krennic’s business to know detail. Just how much could he remember about a lover? How much of you were you prepared for him to discover about you. His fingertips traces over your ribs, down and across your bellybutton and just below your stomach when he paused and his eyes left you. For a moment you’d quite forgotten that you were in the middle of an ion storm, and you wondered what exactly had dragged his attention away from you. The illumination of his face in the first strike of lightning made you gasp. And all you could think of was those eyes in the rainstorm on Eadu. The first time you’d ever seen him, an image that still haunted you. That was no doubt responsible for you now being naked in his arms like this. You turned to the window to watch the lightning for a moment too, flashing across the purples, blues and pinks of the cloud. “Isn’t it beautiful.” You breathed gently, and you heard him chuckle, “I don’t think you’ve looked in a mirror.” This time he pressed his kiss to your temple, and it was almost sweet. But now Krennic had you distracted by the storm - so his fingers traced lower and before you knew it he was pressing down gently on your clit. Your body gave a lurch into his and he growled again. Moving his fingers into your folds, you moaned head tipped back onto his shoulder, “Krennic…” “I knew you wanted me, Y/N, but like this?” His fingers moved through your wetness, teasing your entrance for a moment, and making you shudder, moaning his name again. “I can see that desire in your eyes wasn’t lying…” Krennic was smirking again as he watched you react to his fingertips, dragging them back towards your clit, “How many times have you been this wet around me, hmm? How many times have you thought of me doing this? Do you touch yourself and think about me? Is that what you do?” “Y-Yes-” Your thoughts were hardly coherent at this point, and as soon as his fingers touched your clit again, in teasing circles, you cried out; “Oh, Krennic, please!” “What else do you do to yourself when you think about me, hm?” He put a little more pressure on your clit as he rubbed it, “What do you think about? Me touching you like this? Or me fucking you? What set you off, hmmm? All that water-cooler chat? Believe me I know what they say... How would you like me to do it, Y/N? Do you want me to try to be gentle, or do you want it rough?” As if you really cared; your body shuddered again and you attempted to help the friction by closing your thighs once more, ache becoming a throb. “Uh uh.” His foot jammed between yours and forced your legs to widen for him, “I don’t like cheaters, Y/N.” You moaned once more as those little circles got faster and rougher, “Please, please! Krennic I’m begging you…” You whined, and your voice shook as you could feel that pleasure building, he couldn’t stop now. You wouldn’t let him, “Do whatever you want to me… just fuck me.” He nipped the top of your ear this time, “The pleasure will be all mine.” This time as the lightning flashed it illuminated your body, and Krennic was right, your dips and curves were flawless, you looked ready for him, you felt ready for him… like you were made for this very moment. Krennic moved his fingertips faster - and this time he pushed his body into yours. Your gasp at his grind into you was for one obvious reason; you could feel how hard he was getting. Oh, fuck... Your body shuddered once more and you mewled, positive that you were even wetter now. He knew it too, by that chuckle. “Oh? You want me don’t you? I know you know how wet you are… You want me so fucking bad…” That husky whisper was driving you crazy and you knew Krennic wasn’t going to let up on it, “You feel so hot, so fuckable… Oh, Y/N, I can’t wait to be inside you, but you’ll have to wait for that.” This time your groan was a little strangled, “That’s it, be a good girl… cum for me.”

If it wasn’t what he was doing to you it was his voice alone that sent that shot of pleasure right through you, burning head to toe with no mercy. You cried out again, but this time it was his first name you used - and you hoped he didn’t care. Panting as you felt the sweat begin to gather on your skin. Your legs shook a little but he held you strong. “Good girl.” He removed his fingertips from your clit, once again pressing a kiss to your neck, “But, you know as well as I that this is hardly over…” You rested your body against his chest for a minute, and he carded his fingers through your hair; it was almost soothing as Krennic twisted it between his fingers, “How about we use the bed now, hmm?”

“…Y…Yes…” You could only hazily agree, would he actually fuck you now? You were throbbing again - sure he’d said he wanted to be inside you, but did he know how much you needed him inside you? “Go on,” Krennic pushed you forward with his hand to the small of your back, you stumbled a little but didn’t fall and he observed your walk, the curves of your ass - the lingering of your arousal on your thighs. “Hands down.” He followed you across the floor - he was aware of how uncomfortable he felt, with heat in just the right places, and the way his pulse was running just to look at you. But he had to take this slow. The goal wasn’t just to bed you, it was to erase every other man from your memory too, so that he was your one and only waking thought.

You had to admit your confusion, but placed your hands out on the sheets in front of you to support your body, Krennic made you keep your feet on the floor and for a second you wondered if this was how he was going to do it. It seemed like a waste of a good bed, but your brain was hardly running your feelings here and that throb between your legs was so desperate for something that you didn’t care how you got it. Instead of hearing him shed clothing, or even just undo his zipper, Krennic’s fingers ran your spine. He really was about to commit every inch of you to memory, you weren’t kidding, before he traced them over your ass. You were half expecting him to slap you, but that didn’t happen either. In fact his fingers went right back to your wetness, and you shivered again; Krennic’s movements this time were less teasing as he pushed his fingers into you; you cried out - he didn’t even bother with one at a time. But at least there was something dulling that ache for a second; although you knew what your body really craved. The storm illuminated everything in the room, and far more regularly than before, as his fingers pumped in and out of you. The hums he was making were satisfied, and part of you wished you could see what they looked like crossing his face. In fact the thought that you might not get to see his face almost disappointed you. But you realised something else, the colours the storm were throwing everywhere, the very sound of it - with how much you enjoyed them anyway - and Krennic here with you, was only serving to turn you on even more. And he noticed. “Oh?” This sounded almost curious, “So lightning makes you even more wet, or is that just me?” You swallowed hard, against the feeling of his fingers stretching you, you were desperate for him to get naked now. “To… be honest, no-one has ever fucked me in a lightning storm.” “Huh. Maybe they should have tried, I figure they’re missing out.” You whined again, “Krennic please… please… I can’t take much more of this… fuck, I… I need you.”

You weren’t sure if Krennic did it because he was listening to your plea, or if he was simply just ready to do it himself, but the next thing you knew he’d removed his fingers from you and flipped your body so you were now on your back, on the bed. And as your eyes locked with his you realised exactly what you would have been missing out on. Although serious, those eyes were so incredibly dark and lust rimmed, and hungry for your body, that you thought you might come undone again right then and there. He placed his thumb delicately against your lips for a second, tracing them, before smirking again, “Open your mouth.” You blinked, but finding no reason not to do what he asked, your lips parted, tongue grazing his fingertip. Krennic immediately smirked, “That’s a good girl.” Before he slid the two fingers that had just been inside you, into your mouth. You moaned gently at the sensation. “I bet you taste so good, don’t you?” You could feel yourself blushing again, unsure exactly how to respond to that besides another muffled moan. He withdrew them, eyes narrowed even though he was smiling.

“And you do exactly what I say…” Krennic drew himself back to height, dragging his eyes down your body and as he did so he reached up to his shoulders, undoing the fastenings for his cape. Oh, you were going to get to watch Krennic undress? You moved to help him, but his eyes raised back to your face - and this time the bright white flash made those eyes of crystal blue let you know that he wanted you to stay absolutely still. “You look ready for me darling. Are you?” You nodded, hoping that the look on your face was as pleading as you thought it was. “Born ready for me…” Krennic’s voice this time sent chills through you with how commanding it was, “Mine.” You watched the cape fall to the floor and wished again for that silky texture to brush against your skin, perhaps you would ask him again later. He undid his tunic and shrugged himself out of it; Krennic wasn’t exactly bothering to put on a show for you - but it still felt like one, running his hands through his hair with a breath out before he undid his shirt. Slower now, button by button as he looked into your eyes, that little teasing smile on his face only made your lips part. This man was so gorgeous. And you were here, in his quarters, in his bed. You out of the many hundreds of women on this Battle Station - and all of them beautiful - Director Orson Krennic wanted you. He threw his shirt behind him too, before settling his hands on his waistband. You studied him for just long enough, he was built more toned than chiselled, and his arms and chest were particularly defined; there was a scar on his left-hand side, just above his heart, and you wondered what the story was with that. Maybe in a quieter moment you would ask, but that was not a story for right now. You traced back to where his fingers were waiting for you to take him all in and this time you bit your lip, you’d already felt him against you but you still weren’t sure you were adequately prepared… Undoing his zip with as much tease as his buttons Krennic let his pants and boxers fall at the same time. Your eyes widened, and you swallowed hard ‘Oh, holy shit...’ Your heartbeat picked up pace and you felt yourself clench greedily just at the sight of him. You bit your lip a little harder and raised your eyes back up Krennic’s body to his face, “I want to let you know - although it sounds like you do know - that every single one of those rumours is SO fucking true.” He smirked, “I might have started one or two of them myself.” You almost laughed, “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” He gave a shrug, “Well darling, don’t we all want to project the best version of ourselves?” Krennic joined you on the bed, settling himself between your thighs again, pulling your legs around him, “Now I’m going to prove the rest of them true, whilst also letting you in on some things you don’t know.”

You had every right to moan as loud as you did as he pushed into you, feeling completely filled right away. Definitely true - part of you felt you might be smirking very broadly into your coffee in the mornings from now on. Instead of covering your body Krennic stayed in that kneeling position with your legs crossed behind him, hands gripping your thighs and nails digging into your skin. You almost wanted his nails to leave marks, for there to be bruises that lingered for more than just a few days where he gripped you - just to prove it had really happened. If this is a dream please don’t ever let me wake up. He growled as you adjusted to each other, voice husky once more, “You’re so tight.” Your sigh came out a little choked with your breathing as - at first - he moved slow, hands gilding softly over your skin as he lay his palms flat. But he still had enough pressure on you; Krennic was still in control. Right now, being in control was the last thing you were thinking of.

Those slow movements of his were a facade, but they had you already moaning - body tingling as you got used to the feelings of Krennic being inside you. You wondered if you should be trying to be quiet? How many other senior officers had rooms around Krennic’s that could potentially hear this - did Krennic even care? What if they knew it was you though? You weren’t necessarily sure you wanted the reputation that might come with being Krennic’s bed mate, even if it really was only going to be tonight. As if he knew what you were thinking Krennic pushed into you a little harder, causing you to cry out a little louder than before - no point in holding back. “Let me hear you, Y/N. Let me hear those delicious little moans of yours. You can be as loud as you want here, I won’t tell anyone…” He smirked, “You might as well let yourself - because this is going to be the best orgasm of your life, or it’s going to be nothing. I don’t do half measures.” That seemed like an odd form of encouragement, but hot enough to get you mewling again. And he didn’t slow his pace. Instead Krennic dug his nails back into your skin, thrusting into you harder and rougher. You arched your back up, pushing your hips into his to take him deeper and deeper. Usually you weren’t so loud during sex, but with your eyes closed to the ecstasy of it all, each thrust received a moan that steadily grew louder and louder until you were pleading him: “Oh, Krennic… Oh please, more… Harder, Sir, please… please don’t stop…” This was clearly only urging him on as he found another notch in his pace. You might be one for thinking this was the best sex you’d ever had as you opened your eyes to focus on him once more; Krennic’s skin was starting to get that dewy look as sweat started to build, leaving his hair to look a darker shade of grey. And that lightning… oh, that lightning. Watching that storm behind him made the pleasure even more intense. The backdrop was stunning to an already flawless view - what more could you possibly ask for?

His sex was deliciously rough, and it was all you could do to watch his body, the way his muscles moved with each thrust, the tension running from his shoulders, down his arms, through his fingers and the little indents from his nails you could see in your skin. You almost wanted those fingers back inside you again too. Krennic growled as that thought led to you clenching around him: “What are you thinking about?” You looked to his face, obviously you were already flushed, but if it were possible to turn a deeper shade of red you were now. “...Please…” You voice wavered and you realised where this was all heading, “Please Krennic harder… Please I want to- I want to- let me cum for you.” That smirk was just plain dirty, and as he placed one hand under you to raise your hips a little more his next thrust found your sweet spot. You cried out even louder - hit with a shot of pleasure more intense than any you thought you’d ever felt. “Fuck-! Director-! Please!” He chuckled, “I have a first name, Y/N, you can use it.” Did he want you to use it? Did he ask everyone he took to bed to use it? You gasped again as white-hot heat shot through you head to toe and your legs locked around him, pulling him even deeper as you tipped your head back. And he knew as well as you did: “That’s a good girl, that’s my good girl.” Krennic continued to thrust into you until you had to squeeze your eyes shut, head tipped back you very nearly screamed his first name as your body shook and you came undone.

Your short, sharp pants didn’t really have any time to become afterglow, or some slow paced ‘love making’ for him to ride into his own high. Oh no, Krennic wasn’t finished with you yet - and although he lingered at a slower pace for a little - you could feel yourself building up again, heightened by the climax you had just felt. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes and you got the feeling that Krennic was not about to be termed a selfish lover. But a possessive one; your body was his, and he wasn’t finished with you yet. You cried out as he took that pace up again, you could feel him getting harder inside you, every little twitch as he continued those rough thrusts. “You ready for more?” You nodded weakly, moaning again, this would be the third time in one evening. Even if these two were in quick succession. “Yes what?” The commanding tone in his voice and the way he squeezed your thighs a little harder made you shake again, “Yes, Orson. Please… please, baby… I- I’m ready.” As you said his name this time Krennic pushed his body forward so that his hands rested above your shoulders, catching your lips in a harsh kiss. Your hands immediately shot to his arms, over those toned shoulders, and your fingers tangled in his hair. This time his kisses swallowed your moans, and the higher in pitch they got the more he knew you were ready to let go again. With him all over you like this, the scent of that cologne filled your senses. Krennic thrusted into you one last time and let you cry out into his shoulder. He could probably go a little longer - but he’d build you up to that in due time, he couldn’t ruin you on your first time with him. As you clenched around him, just as greedily as before, Krennic growled - hot breath in your ear as your own ecstasy became his. And now you were his too.

He let you continue to embrace him as you both panted, moving his own hands to gently caress your sides, your stomach and your thighs. Although the only sound was your breathing, and you could barely think of anything else, hands carding through his hair and watching those beautiful blue eyes focus on nothing in particular. Until the lighting strike flashed closer to you than before, causing him to look out the window. You followed his line of sight. “It really is gorgeous…” You weren’t sure if that muse was supposed to come out of Krennic’s mouth, but it made you smile. “Mhm… And I need to have sex in storms more often.” He chuckled, turning back to you and kissing your neck, softly, “Well, you know who to call.” Krennic pulled out of you gently, smirking again to see yours and his arousal lingering on your inner thighs. His. Before he lay next to you, eyes still on the storm.

You wondered what the best thing to do now was, as your high unwound. Ironically you didn’t think your body had been this relaxed in a while either. Should you leave? Should you make the decision to leave him before he kicked you out himself? You wondered if that was the polite thing to do. You didn’t know if Krennic was the type to really sleep with someone. When he would be at his most vulnerable. You weren’t sure he would want to show that side of himself to anyone. You decided you would show willing, and would let him know that you would leave if that’s what Krennic wanted - you weren’t about to outstay your welcome. Instead, Krennic did the unexpected and, finally settling down in the sheets, he pulled you into his arms, showering you with delicate kisses and touches. Aftercare... You snuggled into his body, sighing in sleepy content and closed your eyes as he pulled the sheets further around you. Did you dare believe this was happening - No, and yet it was. You were really here, in the Director’s arms. And he wanted you to stay. Krennic pressed a kiss to your forehead, and you could already feel yourself drifting off in his arms: “We’ll review your report in the morning.” *** When you awoke, the lights in his room were up to their brightest day setting. Krennic’s free hand was wandering over your thighs absentmindedly as he lay on his back, your datapad in his other. You tried to concentrate on that small smile on his face, those blue eyes of his, just how good he looked comfortable and relaxed, and out of uniform. You hadn’t noticed the collection of freckles across his chest in the dark of the storm last night either. Suddenly you wanted this moment to last forever, no matter now impossible. This coupled with the travel of his hands, even at this time in the morning, was making you sigh blissfully.

Krennic’s eyes flicked from what he was reviewing to your face as he turned his head slowly. “This report is good. Perfect, even. The ion storm messed with some systems last night, that can’t be helped. But we should all be back online to work later. I agree with your data, consider it reviewed.” Your head tipped curiously. “Systems are down? So…” You bit your lip wickedly, “We don’t have to leave?” Krennic placed your datapad on his bedside table and rolled over, hand moving to between your thighs, he could read that mischievous little smirk of yours perfectly. “Not until much later if I have anything to say about it.” You blinked once slowly, opting to voice your single concern now, before anything got out of hand, it was a whisper that seemed so out of place. But maybe that made it the perfect time. “I don’t want to be just a one-time thing.” Krennic’s eyebrows knitted for a second, before he smiled gently, other hand moving to your face, caressing your cheek with his thumb before he tangled his fingers in your hair, bringing you back to his lips. “Trust me, that was never a consideration.”

---

Thank you SO much for reading, oh my gosh I’m slightly emotional over this one. I NEVER thought it’d be this long. And it’s 200. Like... there’s 200 of these things!?

I didn’t think I would get past one. And it’s ALL because of you guys!

Thank you for all your love and support - I know I keep saying it but I truly mean it. It means the world to me. 💙💜

#200!#Orson Krennic #Ben Mendelsohn #Orson Krennic x Reader #So. FYI for everyone the original request notes end at his 'come to my quarters we have data to review' and I just... didn't stop!#Sorry I was unable to resist this and I REALLY wanted it.#For any questions on the GIF just look at his face and tell me that /isn't/ how he's looking at reader throughout this fic #That's why I picked it.#Krennic x Reader #Director Krennic x Reader #Officer Benja Vy #I had to do waaaay too much scrolling to find that-! Hahah - our conversations!#Okay so in all the fics I've written for him Lorena is the only one(s) that get smutty. So this is ALSO your first Krennic/Reader smut!!#Linzi Writes #Linzi Writes Requests #Rogue One #Rogue One A Star Wars Story #That... /and he had Grace Too/ line #You either cackled like I did or you groaned #it was a final edit addition at like 10pm on the night of posting #Don't hate me I thought it was clever-!

202 notes · View notes

dameronology · 4 years

Text

insomnia {poe dameron} - 5

summary: as you & finn go about finding secrets on your commander, you have to decide what’s more important - your loyalty to the resistance, or your loyalty to poe {series masterlist}

warnings: angst, swearing, mentions of injury

enjoy!! i shall be going back to do the taglist in the morning because i am ✨exhausted✨

- jazz

Poe’s faced out to the front of the base, which meant they were often flooded with light. Being woken up by the golden sun beating down on your face quickly became one of your favourite parts of spending the night with him - aside from the obvious of his presence, of course. With your limbs tangled together under the sheets, his arms around your waist and face pressed into your shoulder, it was hard not to smile immediately after stirring. It might have been the first time in months that either of you actually got some sleep and not stayed up all night working. Things had a funny way of working out.

You woke up on Friday morning with a few butterflies in your tummy - not because of Poe, but rather because you were about to lie to him.

After confirming the plan for your little mission with Finn the night before, you were supposed to be leaving the base just after noon. The pilot in question hadn’t seemed too phased when his best friend and...well, whatever you were were both suddenly available at the same time. You’d said that you had a team meeting with the rest of Trident Squadron, and Finn had made up something about having plans with Rey. You felt beyond guilty at the prospect of keeping the truth from Poe but there was too much at risk. If he found out, he’d want to act on it immediately - too quickly and too irrationally. Of course, there was no guarantee of that, but if anyone could predict his behaviour, it was you and Finn. The even bigger if was lying in how much was at risk; Winslow being a double-agent to an external organisation could have proven to be the downfall of the Resistance. You had a duty and a loyalty.

‘Good morning.’ Poe pressed a soft kiss to the back of your neck, his grip on your waist tightening as he hugged you to his chest. ‘D’you sleep okay?’

You turned around to press to face him, a sleepy smile on your features. ‘Better than usual.’

‘Who woulda thought?’ He said. ‘So many sleepless nights, and all we needed was each other.’

‘The fact you have a bigger bed and nicer quarters sure helps as well.’ You teased.

‘So you’re using me for my status?’ Poe over-dramatically clutched his chest.

‘Even the notion is insulting, Dameron.’ You grinned. ‘Anyways, I hate to ruin the moment but I have to get ready for that...meeting’

‘I hate that Winslow makes you have meetings on Fridays.’ He grumbled. ‘It’s the one morning I have off.’

Okay, that hurt your chest a little bit. It was hard enough as it was to find moments alone with Poe, hence why you’d taken to staying in his quarters pretty much every night since you’d first kissed. It was literally the only time you had to yourselves, especially since you’d both started to fall into a normal sleeping pattern. Part of you missed the long nights you’d spent together in the hangar, when it had just been you and him and several cups of caff, or when you’d sneak into the Falcon and head out to Yavin-4. That’s not to say they were gone completely, but your relationship had changed, and so had the things you did together.

Still, you wouldn’t have changed how things had progressed for the world. He was starting to become everything to you.

‘It’s only this week.’ You ran a comforting hand through his hair. ‘Next week, I’m all yours.’

‘Every day?’

‘Every day that I can be.’ You smiled. ‘Depends on how badly you ruin your fleet on that mission on Monday. The less damage, the less time I spend fixing the fucking things.’

‘Then I suppose we just shouldn’t go.’ Poe heartily sighed. ‘I’ll message Snap and get him to pass the message on-’

‘- Poe.’ You groaned. His brown eyes creased into a smile, clearly entertained by the whole thing.

‘So you’re saying I shouldn’t ditch an important mission to spend more time with you?’ He teased. ‘Maybe I’m not such a bad influence on you after all.’

‘Considering that I’m laying in bed with you at 10AM when we know full well that the General wanted us in the hangar two hours ago is proof that you very much are.’ You reminded him.

‘Leia doesn’t care.’ He murmured, nuzzling his head into your shoulder. ‘She’s so here for young love.’

‘At the expense of us being late to everything?’ You raised an eyebrow.

‘I’m sure her and Han Solo did the same.’

‘Have you seen a young Han Solo?’ You teased. ‘I would have left the entire Rebellion if that man asked me to.’

Poe let out an oof, raising his head to glare at you. ‘So your type must be cocky, handsome pilots?’

‘You might be into something.’

‘I don’t blame you.’ He replied. ‘He was very good looking.’

‘I know - and I do really need to get going.’ You pressed a kiss to his jaw.

‘When will your meeting be done?’

‘It’s Winslow, so probably hours.’ You lied with ease. Maybe too much. ‘I’ll drop you a message when I’m done.’

Kijimi wasn’t that far out - you and Finn could have been back in a matter of hours. It all It all came down to what Winslow was up to and how long you’d have to follow her for. Perhaps choosing to use a meeting as your alibi hadn’t been the brightest idea, especially if you were going to be out all day. You already hated lying to Poe and the prospect of digging the deception even further made your chest tight. Things between you were good but they were still so fresh. So fragile. You didn’t want to fuck it up - but you couldn’t let this go.

You promised yourself that you would tell him if you found anything out. In fact, he’d probably be the first person. You were only keeping it from him for now because you had his best interests at heart, right?

‘Or, you could stay for ten more minutes.’ Poe pressed a kiss to your cheek.

‘Five.’

‘Fifteen?’

‘Fine.’

Finn didn’t look all too pleased that you were late - especially when you skidded round the corner of the air hangar, hair still dripping wet from the shower and boot laces untied. He was leant against the side of a jet, eyes glued to his watch and his brows furrowed. You were only twenty minutes late; Poe was very convincing, and when you paired that with the guilt you were already feeling, it hadn’t been hard to keep you trapped for the better part of thirty minutes. Trapped was a strong word, actually, because staying glued to him and partaking in some kind of bogus teenage makeout session had very much been a choice.

‘Sorry, sorry, sorry!’ You almost tripped over a strewn wire as you bolted towards him. ‘I lost track of time!’

Finn jumped at your voice, taking you by the shoulders as you neared him. ‘We need to move quickly. There’s a training session in here in fifteen minutes-’’

‘- how did you even get the jet?’ You asked, almost stumbling as he dragged you up the walkway of a semi-decent freighter. It was no Falcon, but it would do. ‘And what is he doing here?’

Threepio turned to look at you, as if to say I beg your fucking pardon?

‘We need someone to get Winslow on record if she says anything dodgy.’ Finn murmured to you. ‘But he thinks this is an official mission, so don’t say anything.’

‘Right.’ You muttered back. ‘How you doing, Threepio?’

‘My joints are rusting-’

‘- we don’t have time for this.’ Finn cut him off. ‘We gotta get going. You okay doing comms?’

‘Yes, sir.’

You both scurried onto the jet, taking your respective seats; you in the pilot’s seat (naturally) and Finn to your left, ready to take the gunner’s seat if necessary - though you both hoped it wouldn’t be. It normally would have taken two pilots to fly a ship this big but you had enough experience to manage, even if your heart hurt a little at the fact it would have been perfect to have Poe right next to you. The guilt of leaving him out - not only of your little adventure, but the knowledge of it too - had been slowly eating at you since you’d left his room. How bad was it to lie so early on in the relationship? Fuck, was that even what this was? The feeling of dread in your stomach had grown now, lingering in your gut and leaving your hands shaking and heart pounding.

Dropping your hands into your lap with defeat, you fell back against the pilot’s seat with a hefty sigh. The Resistance meant a lot to you, but maybe Poe meant more.

‘Finn, I don’t think I can do this.’ You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to fight back the tears that were forming in your eyes.

‘Hey, it’s okay.’ He put a comforting hand on your shoulder. ‘I know going against Winslow is hard but-’

‘- it’s not Winslow.’ You spun your chair to face him. ‘It’s Poe. I can’t lie to him.’

‘We’re not lying.’ Finn replied. ‘I mean...yeah, we are but only to protect him throwing himself into something that we don’t know is for certain. Once Poe has an idea in his head, that’s it. We need to be patient with this and that’s one thing he can’t do.’

It was a little harsh, but Finn was right. Poe was a brilliant pilot and an excellent commander but he sometimes short-wired between thinking and acting. It was a whole lot of the second without much of the first. Sometimes, it worked out - high risk and high reward and all that - but this time, you couldn’t risk it.

‘You’re right.’ You nodded. ‘Thank you - and sorry, I guess.’

‘Don’t be.’ Finn shook his head. ‘We should get this in the air before someone sees us.’

Knocking the engines to full blast, you pulled back on the yoke. There was a split second of nothing, before the jet suddenly shot forward, leering away from the docking station and out of the hangar entrance. It was shaky for a minute - after all, you hadn’t flown it before - but you managed to balance out the thrusters by the time the base was but a dot in the distance. Most of it was second nature to you, and you barely even had to think about it. You could have flown in your sleep.

‘Right.’ You murmured to yourself, tapping in the coordinates that Finn had messily scrawled down. ‘Jumping to hyperspace in 3...2..1…’

You were both thrown backwards as the ship leapt forward, the passing stars in front of you vortexing into a blur of black and white as it spun into a maelstrom of time and space. It was pretty smooth, aside from Threepio complaining about how much he hated flying. You wouldn’t have expected anything else.

‘Kijimi isn’t too far.’ You said. ‘Forty minutes tops, maybe. I know the routes to avoid First Order fleets but I need you to be vigilant.’

‘Did the General not provide a list of First Order schedules?’ Threepio asked. ‘It’s a requirement for all missions. She wouldn’t have approved the mission without - oh no.’

‘You’re onto something, Threepio.’ You tried to fight back a smile. It wasn’t funny...but it kind of was. ‘But don’t worry. Nobody needs to know, okay?’

‘The General needs to know!’ He cried. ‘We’re doomed! Oh, we’re doomed!’

‘Finn.’ You groaned. ‘Can you shut him up?’

‘Shut me up?! I have a right to voice my opinion, especially on matters concerning illegal missions!’

‘I’m the captain of the ship, right? Technically?’ You glanced over your shoulder at him. ‘Is it not within your protocol to do as I say?’

‘Yes, but-’

‘- then it’s settled.’ You said. ‘Just man the comms system and everything will be fine.’

Threepio didn’t say anything after that, instead settling down into his seat, wired up to the comms system. Your main focus was on speed; on getting the jet to Kijimi as quick as possible and getting out as quick as possible. That was pretty much your main purpose, since Finn had sorted out the rest. Obviously, you were going to help him, but your main heist title was getaway driver. He was the brains, and by default, that must have left Threepio as the brawns. Maker.

‘Oh, we have incoming communication!’ The droid spoke up after a few minutes.

‘From who?’ You frowned.

‘Commander Dameron. I’ll pass you over.’

‘Threepi - oh, shit.’

You froze, immediately losing your words when Poe’s voice came over your headset. Maybe informing the droid of Poe’s ignorance to the entire fucking situation would have been a good idea, in hindsight. Heck, seeing who was manning the air traffic control back at base would have been even brighter. The one person you didn’t want to see you leave was the one person whose job was to do that literal thing. Weren’t you and Finn supposed to be good strategists?

‘What do I do?’ You mouthed to Finn with wide eyes. ‘What do I say?’

His eyes were like dinner plates too. ‘I don’t know!’

‘This is Commander Dameron. I need your I.D number and purpose for leaving the base, because I don’t have you on file as authorised.’

‘Shit.’ You hissed. Clamping a hand over the mouthpiece, you looked over at your comrade again, as if he’d come up with a magical plan in the three seconds since you’d last asked. ‘A little help?’

‘Lie!’

‘Right, thanks.’ You hissed.

What choice did you have now? Poe would recognise your voice. You had no option other than to come clean. You took a deep breath, before removing your hand from the mic.

‘My I.D number is 102156 and...we don’t have authorisation.’

‘Babe?’ Poe’s immediate confusion was like a tiny little knife in your chest, which went perfectly with all the ones that were already there. ‘Who’s we?’

‘Heeeeey, honey.’ You couldn’t help but cringe at your own words. ‘We is me, Finn and Threepio.’

‘What’s going on? I thought you were in a meeting-’

‘- I lied.’ You didn’t bother trying to come up with an excuse. ‘It’s a long story. I can’t explain it right now.’

‘You lied?’ The words rolled off his tongue with a tone of disbelief. ‘The hell is going on?’

Finn was sitting beside you, teeth clamped onto his fist as he cringed at the conversation. Easy for him. He wasn’t the one who’d just been thrown head first into piercing cold water by a clueless droid. You were the one who had to explain the deceit to a kicked puppy.

‘Like I said, I can’t explain it right now.’ You let out a heavy sigh.

‘You’ve stolen a jet without authorization and left base for the outer rim without asking. Do you know how serious that is?’ Poe’s tone was harsh.

You couldn’t help but scoff at that. ‘Poe Dameron, do not lecture me on breaking the rules.’

‘Fine - let’s look at it from this angle: you and my best friend both lied to me so that you could sneak out without telling me.’

Yeah, he had you there.

‘You’re making that sound like something way worse than it is.’ You shot back. ‘I will tell you everything as soon as we land, okay? Can you trust me on that?’

‘I don’t think I can.’

‘Look, Finn...knows something. He overheard something. We’re just going to check it out to find out if the thing we think we know is really the thing we think we know.’ You explained, grip on the yoke tightening. ‘We didn’t want to tell you in case it turned out to be nothing.’

‘You...you didn’t want to tell me?’ He sounded completely deflated.

‘Shit.’ You murmured. ‘Can you just trust me on this, please?’

‘The same way that you trusted me?’

‘It’s not that.’ You snapped. ‘It’s just...we didn’t want you to go running head first into an uncertain situation where you could get hurt.’

‘It’s funny, because you just described exactly what’s happened between you and me.’

With that, his line cut to silence.

So, in some ways the mission was a success.

To keep a long story short: Winslow was a rat. A huge, fucking rat. She’d been selling secrets to Finn’s former commander (who had some pretty cool armour) for months. With the right amount of bullying coaxing, Threepio had caved and recorded a conversation between them - you’d had to hide behind some crates to get within proximity to pick it up, but the audio was good enough to prove her guilt. That was the main thing. You’d done what you’d gone to do.

But at what cost?

Thanks to a shootout with some stormtroopers, Threepio was now missing his left arm and you’d lost your blaster in the escape. Finn had managed to sustain a blaster graze on his right shoulder, and you were probably in need of stitches on your forehead. All in a day’s work, really.

‘I’m gonna take Threepio down to mechanics then head down to medical.’ Finn gently said; he stuck out his hand to help you leap off the ship, shutting the door behind you. ‘D’you wanna come?’

‘Uh, no thanks.’ You shook your head. ‘I have work to do in here. The Y-Wings are still out, and Winslow will be on my ass once she’s also back.’

‘So...same time tomorrow to talk about what the fuck we’re gonna do about this whole thing?’

‘Sure thing.’ You said. ‘I’m gonna give Poe some space for tonight, but do me a favour...don’t tell him about what we found out. It’s better if it comes from me.’

‘Of course.’ He nodded with a smile. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘See ya, Finn.’

Him and Threepio headed for the door, leaving you alone with nothing but your thoughts and a few broken jets. The wound on your forehead had stopped bleeding enough, so you could leave it for a few hours. It wasn’t exactly wise, but it felt a little too late in the day for that. You’d been looking at wise in the rear view mirror a long, long time ago.

Sighing to yourself, you shrugged off your orange flight suit, tossing it in the cupboard and exchanging it for your tool box. It was coming up to midnight, so you’d been gone the entire day. Tired was simply the tip of the iceberg, and yet the idea of sleeping alluded you completely. You were used to working like this, and it would at least keep your mind off of Poe for a few hours.

He just needed time, right? That’s what you kept telling yourself, even though there was a feeling of dread in your gut that told you otherwise, that you’d fucked it up completely. You weren’t sure you could even handle that idea. Poe had become so important to you in such a short period of time that your brain - and your heart - couldn’t quite handle it. It was rare that you found somebody so special.

Tossing a rag over your shoulder, you pulled open the fuse box, barely masking a sigh at how fried they were. Maybe it was karmic punishment for what you’d done. Yeah, that was definitely it. You’d lied, and now the universe was coming back to bite you in the ass. On the bright side, Winslow’s days at the Resistance were limited now, which meant the same applied to the restrictions she’d placed on you. That was a nice thought; working with Finn, working with Rey, working with Poe.

Y’know, if he ever spoke to you again.

‘Caff?’

You glanced up from the fuse box, turning around to see the pilot, two cups of coffee in hand. Speak of the Dameron and thou shall appear.

‘Hey.’ You quietly greeted him.

‘How long have you been back?’ He asked, taking a seat on an upturned crate.

‘Couple hours, maybe.’ You took the cup from his hand. ‘I wanted to give you a couple hours to...stew.’

‘There’s nothing to stew about. You lied to me.’

‘I didn’t want to.’ You stressed, taking a seat beside him. ‘Can I at least try to explain?’

‘I...I don’t know if I want to hear it.’ His brown eyes moved up from the floor, holding you in a strangling gaze. ‘You broke my trust. You went behind my back with my best friend-’

‘- maker, Poe!’ You cut him off. ‘You’re making it sound like I slept with him!’

He grimaced, before dusting off his legs and standing up. ‘It’s the fact you lied to me with such fucking ease. About the meeting, about being busy-’

‘- if you would let me explain-’

‘- there’s nothing to explain.’ He snapped. ‘Lies are lies.’

‘Don’t act so high and mighty!’ You shot back. ‘It’s not like you’ve never lied before!’

‘Not to people I love!’

‘I - you fucking what?’

You both froze.

Had Poe just confessed his love for you? It sure sounded like it, but...it wasn’t a big deal, right? You were fine. He was fine. This was fine. Well, not really, because neither of you were sure if you were exchanging heartfelt feelings right now or y’know, breaking up, but...he loved you. Poe Dameron loved you.

On second thoughts, maybe you weren’t fine.

‘Winslow is dirty.’ You suddenly blurted. ‘That’s why Finn and I followed her. We wanted to be sure it was certain before we told anyone and now we have solid evidence on her.’

‘Winslow is dirty?’

‘Yeah. Selling secrets to the First Order.’ You nodded breathlessly. ‘Also, I love you too.’

‘You do?’

‘I do.’

‘Cool.’

Before you could say anything else, Poe grabbed you by the arm and yanked you towards him, knocking your caff to the ground. With an arm around your waist and the other on the back of your neck, he crashed his lips onto yours in a breathless kiss. You tangled a hand in his hair, smiling at the feel of the soft curls and the taste of peppermint and coffee. It was a little hard not to be obsessed with him.

‘I’m sorry I lied.’ You murmured, resting your forehead against his.

‘Just..promise me you’ll drag me along on all illegal expeditions in future?’ He whispered, breath tickling your lips.

‘Absolutely.’ You smiled. ‘I promise.’

He didn’t normally let go of things like that so easily - being lied to, in his book, was one of the worst things a person could do. But, now he knew the context, he was a little more inclined to understand your reasoning. And your declaration of love probably had something to do with it too, because with it had come the realisation that nothing else in the world mattered. There wasn’t a single thing more important than you.

‘Finn and I are meeting here in the morning to talk about what we’re gonna do.’ You said. ‘You’ll come, right?’

‘I think I need to be mad at Finn a little longer-’

‘- Poe.’ You groaned. ‘We’re good, right?’

‘We are.’

‘So you two should be as well!’

‘You just declared your love for me, followed by one of the greatest kisses of my life.’ He reminded you. ‘How could we not be good?’

‘I’ll get Finn to do the same!’ You grinned.

‘He did it long before you did.’ Poe teased. ‘But fine. I understand where you’re coming from, and I guess he’s in the same place.’

‘Exactly.’ You beamed.

‘I just have one condition.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Say it again.’

You bit your lip, before smiling wider. ‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’

{taglist: @interwebseriesfan24 @agent-catfish-kenobi @multifandomlife22 @thescarletknight2014 @aesthetically-bii @chr0nicbackpain @princessxkenobi @lostgirlheather @aliciaxglasgow @ohhellokenobi @cherrykenobi @asaucecoveredsomething @witchyavenger @softly-sad @smiithys @goblins-writing @dameronstyles}

#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x you #poe dameron x y/n #star wars x you #star wars imagine #star wars x y/n #star wars imagines #star wars x reader #poe dameron angst #poe dameron fluff #star wars angst #star wars fluff

100 notes · View notes

avengerscompound · 4 years

Text

Until the End of the World - 10

Until the End of the World: A Captain America Fanfic

Masterlist PREVIOUS //

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers x F!Reader

Word Count: 1801

Rating: E

Warnings: pregnancy

Synopsis: Four years after Steve and Bucky got to the bottom of the HYDRA conspiracy that had led to you and your son being hunted for the first three years of his life, you, Bucky, and Steve have carved out a nice life together. Things are calm and you feel like a family unit. When Geo starts calling Bucky and Steve ‘dad’, a decision is made to try and add to your family.

Things aren’t as calm as they seem. When your pregnancy hits the papers, HYDRA rears its head once again, and Steve and Bucky need to track you down to protect the family they had created.

Chapter 10

The tabloid sites all latched on to the story of you being pregnant very quickly. Due to the fact you were often seen out with either Bucky or Steve or both, there had been speculation about who exactly you were. Theories went from dating one and cheating on them with the other. Being a ‘close family friend’. Dating one and the other being a close friend. Bouncing between them both like a ping-pong ball. Many fans speculated that they were polyamorous. Bucky had even made the mistake of going deep into the ‘Avengers fandom’ and discovered people doing what they called ‘shipping’ the three of you together. Not just the three of you but him and Steve with all kinds of people. He’d stopped looking when he saw people writing stories about him and Tony together. It turned out there were things he was better off not knowing.

None of the tabloids ever assumed polyamory though, and neither he nor Steve was going to confirm it for them. That made your pregnancy the subject of a lot of speculation. Whose baby was it? The most loved version of the story was that it was Bucky’s love child conceived while you were cheating on Steve with him.

It was a little stressful, but Bucky had heard worse. There was still a vocal majority that considered him a threat that should have been tried for his crimes years ago. Bucky had learned a long time ago not to google himself unless he was feeling particularly self-destructive. You, on the other hand, were still learning, so it took some reassuring that this matter was no one else's business.

Besides the ever-present gossip mill, things were going well. Every doctor's appointment showed that the baby was developing well. All the tests you had were coming back fine. You seemed to be full of energy and Geo was starting to get excited about the idea of having a little brother or sister. The new place was nearly finished. Bucky hadn’t been sent on a mission for a long time. He felt happy - and that was a feeling he liked to experience as fully as he could because he knew from experience how fleeting it could be.

The three of you had decided to take Geo along to the ultrasound where you’d be finding out the sex. He had only seen pictures of the baby so far and you’d thought he might like to see them moving around and find out if he was having a brother or a sister. According to you, the baby was kicking a lot at the moment, so you weren't worried about bad news being delivered.

Geo sat on Bucky’s lap while Steve sat beside you, holding your hand as the technician squeeze the gel onto your stomach. “Have they been kicking much?” Brown asked as she began to move the wand around on your stomach. Bucky looked up at the screen, waiting for the baby to come into view.

You smiled and nodded. “So much. The little nugget is going to be a fighter.”

Brown smiled. “Just like it’s dads, huh?” She said. “Has anyone else felt the kicks?”

“Not yet,” Steve answered. “I can’t wait though.”

The baby came into view on the screen. You’d been getting pretty regular ultrasounds with your checkups and Bucky liked how the little blob was getting bigger and looking more like a baby every time. “It shouldn’t be too much longer. I’d bet by the end of the week you get a little flutter against your hand.”

Steve looked at Bucky and grinned and Bucky couldn’t help but lean over and peck his lips. Geo didn’t seem that happy with the action and he wriggled in Bucky’s lap. Bucky chuckled and pulled back. “Can you see the baby, G?” He asked, pointing at the screen.

Geo nodded. “The machine is really cool how it works. It’s using sound to make the shape of the baby inside mom.”

“That’s right,” Brown said. “You’re a smart kid.”

Geo looked up at Bucky and grinned obviously very proud of himself. Bucky smiled and ruffled his hair.

“If you see here,” Brown said. “This is the baby's head, and their spine. They have hands and feet and you can even see their toes and fingers…”

Geo watched on fascinated by the digital image of his new sibling. Not just because that was his new sibling, but because he had a scientific fascination with where it was developmentally and how the machines could show what they show. He asked lots of questions about whether it could hear or see and how it absorbed food. Bucky couldn’t really remember what kids were like, and so he had no idea if this was advance thinking for a seven-year-old or not. He felt like it was advanced though, and he made a mental note to ask you later.

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” Geo asked.

“I can find out,” the tech said. “Is that okay, Captain Rogers?”

Steve chuckled. “It’s not just my decision to make.”

Brown hid her face behind her hands for a moment and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, that is such a default reaction.”

“It’s fine,” Steve said. “Please just relax. We’re just patients. And yes, we already decided we wanted to find out.”

She moved the wand around to get it into position. “Well, bud,” Brown said. “Did you have a preference?”

“I dunno,” Geo said. “I don’t have either.”

“Well you don’t have a brother,” Brown said. “You’re going to have a little sister.”

“It’s a girl?” Bucky asked, looking over at you and Steve to see your reactions. Steve looked like he’d been lit up from the inside, and tears had pricked your eyes.

“That’s right. It’s a girl,” Brown confirmed.

“A little girl,” Steve said, softly.

“Now we have one of each,” Bucky said, and Geo turned around on Bucky’s lap and hugged him. Bucky closed his arms around the boy, hugging him tightly. “You’re gonna be such a good big brother,” Bucky whispered as he hugged the boy.

“Do you want any pictures this time?” Brown asked.

“Yes, please,” you said, quickly.

Brown cleaned off the paddle and pressed the button to print out the photos of the baby. You grabbed some kleenex from the counter and cleaned the gel off your stomach. “You think Morgan will be excited there’s going to be another little girl around?” Steve asked Geo.

“Probably,” Geo said. “As long as she likes robots too. Umm… you think the baby will be able to talk to the computers like I can?”

Steve furrowed his brow as he helped you up. Bucky shook his head to clear it. It was strange, despite the fact that Geo had powers that he’d clearly gotten from you, and the fact both he and Steve had the Super Serum, the thought of a super-powered baby had never really crossed their minds. It was like all that was just such a normal part of their lives now, they didn’t really think about how it impacted things. You didn’t have powers and it was possible the only reason Geo did was that both you and his father had been through experimentation so close to his conception. It could be that those drugs were now completely out of your system, but no one had thought to look into that first.

“You know what?” Steve said eventually. “I don’t know.”

“Probably should have considered that before we dived in with both feet, huh?” You said.

“You could ask your obstetrician about doing an amniocentesis,” Brown suggested. “Then they could do a genetic workup. Check for abnormalities.”

“Don’t they have risks involved?” You asked.

“Sure, but normally it’s one of those things where there are risks involved either way, and you decide which outcome is worse,” Brown explained.

You furrowed your brow and nodded and Bucky wondered what you were thinking. “Thank you, Miss Brown,” Steve said. “We’ll see you next time.”

“Of course,” she said, brightly. “See you.”

The four of you walked out into the ward and headed to the elevator. “I’m sorry if I upset you,” Geo said as the doors opened.

“You didn’t, G. Don’t worry,” you assured him, kissing the top of his head. “It’s just not something we thought about when we probably should have. Because you got your powers from me and your birth dad, but Bucky and Steve have their own powers.”

“Well, we’re enhanced,” Steve corrected them. “Not the same as what you have.”

“I think…” Bucky said slowly, aware that this was not a discussion that should be held in front of Geo, but also knowing that the boy needed to be reassured that his powers were not a negative, nor would he be losing the sister he really only just met. “I think it might be too late to worry about. I mean… what if they do find out the baby is enhanced? It’s not like we would love them any less, or not want them. They’d just be special, like Geo.”

“Of course,” you said quickly. “We would have done this either way I think.”

“So… let’s just wait and see. We don’t want to risk anything bad happening,” Bucky said. “The baby looks normal, so we know it’s not a tentacle beast.”

Geo started laughing. “That would be so cool.”

“She might not be able to talk to computers even if she does have powers though, G,” you said, stifling your own laugh. “When I had powers I could hear people’s thoughts. And your dad, he could run really fast.”

“Wow,” Geo said. “I hope she can fly.”

“Oh my goodness,” you said. “I don’t.”

“Yeah, imagine having to change a diaper on a baby and it’s zooming around over your head,” Bucky said, making Geo breakdown into fits of giggles.

“Alright, Geo,” Steve said. “You go wash up and we’ll have some lunch. Do you want to see if Morgan can come to play and you can tell her all about your sister?”

“Yeah, alright,” Geo said, running off to the bathroom.

Steve turned to you and Bucky and took your hands. “It’s going to be fine,” he said. “We can face whatever happens, I know we can.”

“Let’s just hope they can’t fly,” you joked.

“We’ll handle that too,” Steve said.

“Yeah, we’ll put a little harness on them, and weigh them down with rocks,” Bucky joked and you burst out laughing.

Steve wrapped his arms around you and pulled Bucky in close so that all three of you were holding each other. Bucky closed his eyes and breathed you both in, confident that together, you could all handle whatever powers she may or may not have.

// NEXT

#steve rogers #bucky barnes #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x reader #stucky #steve rogers x bucky barnes #stucky x reader #steve rogers x reader x bucky barnes #captain america fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #reader insert #pregnancy #until the end of the world

149 notes · View notes

m3kuroshirt · 3 years

Text

Haven

Mermaid/Siren AU part 2

Part 1 here

Words: 1079

Warnings: none

“We’re not doing this again you wet nutcase,” Ichigo said with a groan, wringing out the water in his shirt. Water someone decided to splash him with, thanks to a very glittery, definitely pretty (but damned if he’d ever tell him) tail.

The sun was setting on the distant, never-ending horizon. Setting the sky on fire with yellows, oranges, reds, and even a scant bit of purple in the east. The hidden cove, ship sheltered by rocks jutting out from the cliffside—a perfect hiding spot for a pirate ship. The cliff opened up to a cave system, which lead inside the island.

“And I just got this dried you asshole.” Ichigo considered taking off his tunic and slapping the siren with it, but figured that’s what the needy guy wanted, so he wasn’t going to let him or his grabby webbed fingers win. Not this time.

Grimmjow let out a half-feral hiss before splashing his tail haphazardly around in the water. The small part of the beach with actual sand, was actually pretty smooth, all things considering. And for that small miracle Ichigo was glad, the ship having outrun a ship from the Los Noches fleet not a couple days prior. That armada was relentless, but had yet to capture or seriously injure anyone. Yet, anyway.

“If you don’t stop throwing a tantrum you overgrown fish, I’ll throw seaweed earplugs at you.”

“Tch, you know I eat seaweed.”

Ichigo made a face, tongue sticking out, grimace of disgust on his face.

“That’s literally the worst thing you could’ve said.”

Grimmjow had followed them the whole way, sometimes digging his stupidly sharp claws into the hull of the ship when he was feeling particularly lazy. He’d asked, once, for them to drop down a boat so they could pull him.

Orihime and Urahara had actually been for the idea, Ichigo just called him a lazy piece of shit fish and told him no. That had gotten him splashed pretty good, which was…fair, he supposed. But still. The guy had a tail, he could breathe underwater, he’d be fine.

Their ship, which Urahara fondly called The Candyman—which Ichigo, and the rest of the crew, minus Orihime, because of course she would, thought was the absolute dumbest name—had gotten damaged again, thanks to some hits from the Murciélago. Thankfully, they were able to land a few substantial hits of their own, and retreat to the island.

Their little hidden cove, a little-known part of an otherwise dangerous island, was their haven. Had its own society of runaways and outcasts. People who were doomed for execution over petty, senseless crimes, based political moves. It was ridiculous, and Ichigo prided himself on helping whoever he could, however he could.

Ichigo had been born on the island, his sisters were too young to take up piracy, and, if he was being honest, hoped they found other, safer ways to help. This was his job, as the big brother, and protector. His mother and father ran a clinic on the island, one of two, so they were pretty busy—the girls often helped with that when they weren’t in school or, in Karin’s case, causing problems on purpose.

Right now though, a…fishy problem was his biggest problem.

“Aren’t your sisters going to be mad you left them,” Ichigo asked, remembering the other two siren’s who were with him when they met. Unlike their dumbass brother, they’d actually left the pirate party alone to repair stuff. Their tails were pretty as well, but…something about Grimmjow’s…just drew him to the siren. So far he’d been temperamental, high-strung, and very, very needy. But it was kind of endearing, really.

As irritated as the man could get Ichigo, he found he could irritate Grimmjow right back, and his irritated face, nose all scrunched up, brows furrowed down low, blue eyes almost glowing in the light, fin like ears flicking back and forth, was honestly kind of cute.

“Tch,” Grimmjow hauled himself onto the shore, completely, until only the tips of his pretty tail brushed up against the rolling tide. The sun was sinking lower, the reds growing deeper, darker.

“Bold of you to think they didn’t follow me,” he frowned, glaring out at the cove. Ichigo noticed one glitter in the water, the barest hints of sun reflecting off shiny scales, glittering gold like a fire on the water. Then another rose up and splashed down. Two different tails, two different sirens approaching where they sat.

“How come they aren’t as clingy as you are?” Ichigo was laughing as he spoke, chuckling harder as Grimmjow glowered beside him, making that cute, irritated face he liked so much. The siren had blabbered some nonsense about Ichigo being his prey, or whatever, and maybe he was, in a way, but a thought popped into Ichigo’s head sometime ago, and he couldn’t get rid of it.

The less he tried to think about it, the more it grew, until it was the only thing he could think about. His lips, the way his scales flashed and sparkled in the moonlight, how his hair draped around him in the water, like long tendrils of fine silk.

Making up his mind, Ichigo leaned forward, pulled Grimmjow closer by tugging slightly on a long piece of hair slung over his shoulder, until their lips crashed together, sharp teeth grazing over Ichigo’s bottom lip, teasing. Clawed, webbed hands fisted and unfisted before dragging down Ichigo’s chest agonizingly slow, prickling against the fabric of his tunic, even ripping a few threads of the thinner parts.

Ichigo pressed his lips harder against Grimmjow’s, letting his tongue roll over the other’s, feeling the needle-sharp teeth, even letting one prick him, the slightly metallic taste stinging his tongue. Grimmjow growled, but the sound got lost in heat of Ichigo’s mouth, devouring each sound he pulled from the other man.

Hands wrapped around a damp, shirtless torso, on top of Grimmjow’s soft hair, fingers digging into his skin, right above his gills, causing the siren to arch his back with a low moan. Ichigo could feel him shiver against him, every time he pulled back and kissed him. Again. And again. And again.

Pulling the siren away from his mouth, he watched as blue eyes locked on his lips, his own parted, breath labored, waiting. Wanting.

Just before Ichigo dove down to devour once more, he whispered against the heat of the siren’s mouth.

“You’re my prey now, Grimmjow.”

#grimmichi #jaegerjaquez grimmjow #kurosaki ichigo #m3kuroshirt #siren au #mermaid au #grimmichi au #kissing #backwardswrites

18 notes · View notes

badger-writes · 3 years

Text

Star Wars OC Ship Week 2021 - “for light and love”

3 - Angst/Drama

When Jedi found themselves troubled, they visited the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Throughout its history, this chamber of the Jedi Temple ziggurat had always been set aside as a meditative refuge, a sanctuary of verdant greenery and trickling waters. Assembled herein one could find a collection of flora both native and foreign, from blartree blossoms and chrysanthis shrubs to a bahnsgresk bush grove to trebala and assari trees, shading the walkways with their trunks and branches - a garden of a thousand worlds.

Though the caretakers of this special corner of the Temple had always strived to enforce a kind of olamic traditionalism to its furnishings, the spirit of the times sometimes encroached upon this timeless space; and so the High Republic crept into the Room of a Thousand Fountains by way of its masonry, which now favored heavy geometric influences, stylized decorative reliefs, and smooth, streamlined lines which swept their way around the room in a sheen of gold and marble. These elements existed alongside their landscaped counterpoints in a carefully cultivated balance; a chamber with one foot in the ageless past, and the next in the bold, brilliant future that the Republic promised to all.

Here, one could pause for a moment, immersed in the energy of the Living Force, and reflect upon themselves and their place in the universe.

It was not a place Sskeer visited often.

Though the paths were lined with benches to encourage thoughtful rest, he preferred to keep moving, pacing through the gardens at a stride just above his typical walking speed; his feet seemed to slap the stone walkways no matter how he tried to control himself, trying to beat out his frustrations through their soles. Not for the first time, he considered that the best place for him to ruminate on his disquiet was not the Room of a Thousand Fountains. In the sparring chambers, at least, he would be less… disruptive.

He rounded a corner, emerging from a grove of hedges, and stopped. At the end of the short path rolling out before him lay a plaza surrounding one of the chamber’s great sculpted fountain fixtures; a great bowl-shaped basin spread out from its center, and rising into the air within its circumference were several other, smaller basins, overflowing with hanging moss and vines and pakiphanto ear plants, each of them carrying a tiny stream of clear water which trickled from their highest point to their lowest and back again. A tiny column-shaped islet rose out of the center of the basin, only large enough to hold the holoprojector installed in its capital; out of the projector’s eye shimmered an image of one of the era’s eventual Great Works, the Starlight Beacon. The huge space station, when it was finished, would be an outpost of progress and charity to all the worlds of the Outer Rim, a promise of the prosperity of the Republic and the justice of the Jedi. It hovered above the surface of the waters, framed by the hanging gardens, spinning slowly on its axis. Even on this much, much smaller scale, Sskeer couldn’t help but be impressed.

Someone else was standing at the edge of the basin - a Rodian with pale skin and a rather distinctive topknot. Sskeer crossed the way over to his side.

“Healer Lem,” he rumbled, crossing his arms. “It’s good to see you.”

“Oh,” Kelto mumbled, glancing. “Hello, Sskeer.”

“You appear troubled.”

“Am I so obvious?”

“It is no sin. I find myself frustrated tonight as well.”

Kelto hummed. The sound of it was hollow - less inquisitive, more melancholy. “I don’t know if I can help with that, but, you know… let me know.”

Sskeer cocked his head. “Why would you think that?”

“I just - I’m not a Consular, that’s all. Cuts and bruises, I can handle. The talking thing, it’s… I don’t do that so well.”

“Perhaps. But even so, as long as you’re here... I would appreciate your company. And I sense you would benefit from mine.”

“I… maybe. I guess.”

The Trandosham crossed his arms and raised an brow. “Perhaps you would like to discuss what’s been troubling you?”, he suggested.

Kelto opened his mouth�� and closed it. “No, no. That’s okay. Thank you, but... I’ll manage.”

“Are you sure?”

“I mean, it’s pretty late already. The last thing you must want is to stand here and listen to my problems.”

“Try me.”

A shrug.

Sskeer exhaled slowly through his nose. His gaze flicked back to the pool before them, where waterlilies floated tranquilly upon the rippling face of the waters.

“I think I should insist,” he said quietly. “As a friend.”

“... I don’t want to burden you.”

“It wouldn’t be a burden.” A pause. “Not from you.”

Sighing, Kelto fell silent. He, too, kept his eyes fixed on the pond’s mirrorlike surface. Then, slowly, his gaze turned upwards, towards the hologram suspended above them.

“That’s really something,” he said wonderingly. “Isn’t it? The Beacon, I mean. It’s just... incredible. That the Republic and the Jedi can build something like that? Imagine what it can do for people living on the frontier.”

Nodding, Sskeer studied the diagram as well. “A space station on the galactic fringe can do little by itself,” he commented. “It needs people, too. Diplomats, explorers…”

“Guardians,” Kelto said wryly.

“Yes. And healers.” Sskeer gave him a sympathetic glance. “It would be an honor to be stationed there, would it not?”

The Rodian pursed his lips. They flattened into a noncommittal line as he shrugged. “Not really my thing,” he mumbled.

“I find it hard to believe you’d refuse an assignment where you could do so much good so easily.”

“Yeah, well.” And then Kelto went silent, leaning against the rim of the fountain.

Sskeer let his arms fall to his sides, brow furrowing. “You’re serious.”

A sad little shrug.

“You’d really waste your talents hiding in the Temple, rather than using them for the good of others? Without even an explanation? Are you so callous?”

In truth, he almost regretted saying it. But it did, at least, provoke a reaction from Kelto, who turned away from the fountain at last. “I’m not callous.”

“Selfish, then. Hoarding your knowledge and abilities for one one’s benefit but your own. Or perhaps just cowardly?”

“W-what is this, Sskeer? An inquisition? I thought you were trying to help me!”

“I am,” he said firmly. “But I don’t know what’s wrong. Blast it, Lem, it’s as if you’ve just… given up!”

Irritation launched his voice an octave higher than he meant, transforming a sentence into a bark. The lilies bobbed on the water. For a moment, Starlight Beacon flickered.

For a moment, Kelto stared at him agape, and Sskeer noticed his eyes (the first thing he’d noticed about him had been his eyes, long months ago, and the shiny white spots lying just under their aqueous outer membrane, that peculiar Rodian quality of seeming to hold a sky’s worth of stars in their surface) seemed brittle, now, and dull. Where there had once been light there was now not dark, but … an absence. An open pit in the soul.

Sskeer’s heart panged with sorrow. What frustration still lingered on his face passed like a fleeting shadow. Silently, he waited.

At last, Kelto sighed, clasping his hands back behind his waist; his fingers continued to fidget and twiddle as he turned back to the pond. For a moment, Sskeer feared he had broken their friendship, perhaps irrepairably.

Then Kelto said, “So the thing is… I’m kind of a bad Jedi.”

“No,” the Trandoshan insisted in a whisper.

“I am, Sskeer. What you said is true. And what’s more, you’re right to call me out. I’m cowardly, and selfish, and I hide myself in the healing wards instead of really doing anything with the talent and opportunities that I’ve been given. I…” He snorted, shaking his head. “I’m at the point where I fear being in public more than I fear the dark side. How stupid is that?”

Sskeer swallowed, mouth dry. He wondered what he could possibly say.

“I just… I don’t know how it happened. I was fine in the creche, I think. I- I had friends, I got along with people. I could… Star’s End, I could hold one conversation with somebody else without falling all to pieces, like I do with you.”

“That’s not your fault,” Sskeer said quickly. “I - that is, we - there’s... extenuating circumstances. Passion is just - ”

“Yeah, HoloNet news flash: feelings are hard,” Kelto murmured darkly. “Believe me, big guy, I know.”

“I only wanted to--” Sskeer grunted, biting his tongue. If only Jora Malli were here to help him talk some sense into Kelto.

“But then I grew up,” Kelto continued. “And I was still, you know, okay! I could… work with my Master, and with others, and I helped people… and then I was knighted, and I just… there was all this shyness and anxiety inside of me, and it just kept growing and growing and growing until… until I just couldn’t take other people anymore, except when I had the energy for it.

“I think that’s the real reason I transferred back to the Temple. I just… couldn’t take it anymore, putting myself out there. At least in the medical bay, it’s just a job. You can find a niche and serve and go back to your quarters. You don’t have to… to be seen all the time.

“But who did I serve, huh? Younglings with scraped knees and bloody noses. Nobody who really needed it. Nobody who would’ve died if I hadn’t been there. Meanwhile, how many people on the frontier do you think need a healer right now? How many won’t last the night? Because right now, Sskeer, I’m letting down all of them. And believe me, I know it.”

Kelto paused, taking a gulp of air, and looked up at the brilliant blue hologram again. “And then I heard about Starlight Beacon. And I felt… I felt something, deep down. Like the Force was trying to give me a second chance. Like I could - like I could make up for all of it, if I could only just get over myself.

“And I tried to,” he said thickly, snout quivering. “Please, Sskeer - believe whatever you want about me, but please, please believe I tried to fix whatever’s wrong with me. But-- b-but I just--”

Sskeer took him by the elbow and turned him back towards himself, grasping his much smaller arms in his clawed fingers. “Don’t talk this way,” he murmured. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not true.”

“W-well, maybe it is,” Kelto hiccupped, eyes wet. His face crumpled more and more the longer he spoke. “After everything with me, and then you, and the Code -- maybe I just can’t hack it as a Jedi. Maybe I was never supposed to, a-and I just got lucky, and now - and now I - ”

“What, Kelto?”

“And now I’m dragging you down with me.”

For a long moment, they stood there, staring at each other. Kelto sniffled horribly, scrubbing at his eyes with the heel of one hand. Sskeer’s mouth hung slightly agape, but his mind seemed to be lost somewhere, thrown far away.

“Just let me go,” he whispered, blinking hard. “Please. I- I’ll go, okay? I can just… leave. The Jedi - they’ll all be better off, and - a-and so will you.”

“No,” Sskeer said suddenly. His grip tightened around Kelto’s arms like a vise.

“I-I’m serious, big guy. I think… I think I’m done. I tried, and-- and I failed.”

“You listen to me, little healer. You will not leave, and you will not give up on yourself, do you understand? I won’t allow it. I refuse to.”

“Sskeer - Sskeer, please, come on. I’m not worth it--”

“Yes you are,” the Trandoshan hissed. “Even if you won’t see it.”

“Look here,” he continued, seizing one of the Rodian’s wrists. He pushed the palm of Kelto’s hand into his chest, letting his fingers splay out against his robes, over his heart. “Remember what you did here, for someone you barely knew. Remember how you used your gift for nothing else than to help a creature in need. Does that seem like failure to you?”

Kelto shrugged weakly, trembling.

“And then you confronted that fear and anxiety inside, that same day, and every day after that. All for the sake of me. Would a coward do that, Kelto?”

“I… I don’t know. Maybe?” He swallowed. “I-it was hard, sometimes.”

“I know this now, Kelto. I wish I had before. Perhaps I could have… helped, somehow. Or found some way to help you reach out.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” the Rodian muttered, hanging his head. “This - this isn’t something you could have fixed, Sskeer. It was always my problem alone.”

Sskeer growled, deep in his throat. When he turned back to face the pond, he kept his arm around Kelto’s back, still clasping his arm - holding him gently against his side.

“You remind me of myself,” he said finally.

“Now that’s a joke,” Kelto said, sniffing. “I’m - I’m a hot mess, Sskeer. You, you’re just… you’re everything a Jedi Knight should be. You’re magnificent. How could you possibly compare yourself to somebody like me?”

“Did you think you were the only one who doubted his place in the Order?”

Kelto looked up at Sskeer, stunned. The Trandoshan, in turn, stared into the fountain. Starlight Beacon’s reflection glimmered in his eyes; slowly, as he let a sigh out through his nostrils, they fell shut.

“I have… often found myself uncertain about my place in the Jedi,” he said at length. “There are times when our teachings and precepts seem to be... fundamentally incompatible with - who I am. Or, what I am.”

He raised one three-fingered hand out before him, looking down at it, turning it this way and that. He examined the thick scales which lined his skin, the blunt claws that tipped each finger. Shame crept into the lines of his face.

“I am Trandoshan. I know this is no surprise to you - and I, myself, have had many years to acquaint myself with this truth. But for many in the galaxy, when they meet a Jedi Knight for the first time, it is a… surprising thing. For some, it’s even… repulsive. And for that, I cannot judge them.

“The T’doshok may be my race, but I could never call them my people. Not for their instincts for slaughter and cruelty, not for their hunters who trap animals and slaves for their sport, not their ‘Scorekeeper’ who tallies points to the scale of their butchery - the very thought of It is anathema to life itself. A… disgusting perversion of the natural order of the universe. I can be party to none of it.

“And yet-- if not for the Seekers, I might have been. Had the course of my life taken one turn and not another, it would be I hunting the innocent and the weak, soaking my claws in the blood and the filth of that detestable culture. And I’m reminded of that whenever I meet those I’m oathsworn to protect - and the world I’ve left behind is all of myself that they can see.”

“W-well - well, that’s just - that’s just other people, Sskeer, they don’t know any better. And besides, you’ve - you’ve overcome that through your training, right? And your discipline. So.. so it’s not even a problem.”

“Were it so easy to believe,” Sskeer exhaled, clenching his fist.

“What do you mean?”

“There are… moments. When I speak, when I act. When I swing my lightsaber. There’s a - it’s like a beast, Kelto. Like a dragon, inside of me, coiled around my heart. My intensity, ferocity… my frustration… I think this is where they come from. For a long time I believed I was battling the Dark Side, the little bit of it within us all, as a Jedi should. But… perhaps it is deeper than that. Perhaps it is an instinct, a genetic memory. Something in the blood.

Perhaps, as you said, it’s something about myself that can’t be fixed.”

He didn’t know what he’d expected would happen - perhaps a weight would lift from his shoulders. Perhaps the shadow which clung to his heart and his mind would finally pass when he was able to find the words, and speak them. But something would happen, surely, when he finally let this secret shame pass his lips.

Instead, he felt exactly the same. Life was proceeding exactly as it had before. Nothing had changed.

He was still a Jedi. He was still a Trandoshan.

Kelto was still looking at him. He still seemed stricken, but no longer as badly rattled. Sskeer let his hand fall back to his side and turned his face back towards the hologram of Starlight Beacon.

“But perhaps that’s not the point,” he continued. “If we could all banish the flaws within ourselves for all time with only a little effort, we would all be totally perfect creations. Perhaps the point is not whether our feet will always keep to the path of the righteous, but that we walk it as best we can, because the promise of something better lies at its end. Perhaps how far we can walk it does not matter, so long as we remain willing to take another step.

“That is what I think, anyway. And that is why I stay. And as long as I believe that, I can beat back the darkness inside of me a little longer.”

Kelto stared up at him wonderingly. He turned to watch the hologram as well, and for a moment’s pause they watched it slowly turning on the surface of the water, surrounded by verdant, flowering life.

“Every life saved, every battle won, every choice made - every time we turn towards the light, is its own victory. All of it, so that we might bring a light as brilliant as this into the universe,” Sskeer observed. “But we must confront our fears and doubts, and conquer them, before they extinguish our own. How else can we make such things be?”

Kelto tried to swallow, and choked. He brought his fingers up to clasp the Trandoshan’s where they curled around his arm. They didn’t feel monstrous at all. They felt like a friend’s.

“You… you really think I can do it?”

“I know it.”

“I-- gods,” he whispered. “I just-- I’ve tried to go it alone for so long.”

“You shall do so no longer.” Gently, Sskeer turned the Rodian to face him, clasping his hands in his own. “On my oath as a Guardian, Kelto Lem, I vow to do all I can to help you conquer these inner demons. If I must, I will protect you from yourself, as I have tonight. From this moment forward, your pain shall be mine, too - until we banish it forever, no matter how long that takes.

“In turn, I must ask that you swear to join me in this effort with equal vigor and equal determination, until - by virtue of our own will and discipline - you are once more the Jedi that I believe you can be.

“For light and for life.”

“...For light and for life,” Kelto echoed.

Sskeer hummed, nodding. He touched his knuckle against the bottom of Kelto’s chin. “You’re on your oath, now,” he rumbled. “No more talk of leaving.”

“R-right.” The healer took a shaky breath, swallowing, then forced it out slowly through his lips. “I-- thank you, Sskeer. This - this was a dark night for me. The darkest in a while.”

“I shall ward them away,” he replied, a hand to his chest. “That they may torment you no longer. And,” he added, smiling, “you in turn, I think, shall do the same for me.”

Kelto smiled too, brittlely, lips trembling at their corners. Finally, when he could bear it no longer, he threw himself into Sskeer’s arms, burying his face in his chest.

“Thank you,” he mumbled through happy sobs. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…!”

Slowly, Sskeer returned the hug, wrapping his arms as securely around Kelto as he could without crushing him. The Rodian was stood on his toes, swaying, trying to make himself as tall as himself; he shushed into his ear softly, stroking the back of his head with the pads of his fingers.

“I love you so much, Sskeer,” Kelto confessed.

Sskeer shushed him again. The healer was already emotionally compromised enough for one night. There would be time enough to untangle those feelings later - time enough for them both.

Instead, Sskeer held Kelto against his chest and gazed up at the dream of Starlight Beacon, and hoped that one day, both of them would be worthy enough to reach it.

#StarWarsOCShipWeek2021 #star wars #high republic #sskeer #original character #oc x canon #fanfic

4 notes · View notes

starr-fall-knight-rise · 5 years

Text

Humans are Space Orcs, “Recruits.”

Wanted to do a little peace about what it would be like to join the crew of the harbinger. I hope you guys all enjoy :)

“Alright maggots! Hurry up, hurry up, stop screwing off and get our asses over here. This is the Space Core not a damned dog show. You there, yes you right there, stop staring gaped mouth at me like a beached fish, and get over here.”

The young recruits hurried across the tarmac at Fort Landing.The massive interspace launch field was a good five mile square of landing pads and supply chains surrounding massive interstellar battleships resupplying and rotating troops on and off. Boots thudded against concrete as troops of marines and army grunts walked past in their differing shades of camouflage.

The young group of soldiers hurried up to the officer nervously glancing around at the ships most of them had never been aboard a ship before, and some of them had never even been out of the region much less into space.

A couple of nervous recruits stepped to the front of the line two in flight suits and another group of young soldiers being transferred in to augment one of the fleet. They had been told they would be placed on one of the outgoing intergalactic units, but none of them had any idea WHICH one they wanted. Of course they had read through the suggestions given to them by other crew members aboard the different ships, and byar the Harbinger was the most recommended, but it was also the most competitive, sought after, and most people who joined didn’t decide to leave any time soon, and so there weren’t often many openings.

Now none of them were exactly sure why the Harbinger was so great, aside from being at the forefront of intergalactic travel, and run by Commander Vir of the UNSC who was a little more than legend and just slightly less than myth.

Otherwise it was also considered to be one of the most dangerous positions considering what they were doing out there. The crew was supposed to be interspecies with Delta units (also known as drev) on board.

There were rumors going around that the commander had managed to win himself the position of clan leader in a Drev contest of armed combat. Some said that he had defeated five armed Drev soldiers with his bare hands, though that thought was little more than conjecture and made anyone with a reasonable understanding of Drev just a bit skeptical.

Of course a few of them had been lucky enough to see an alien, though there were also some of them who hadn’t”

“Recruits Kimber, Alvarez, Han and McCaster!” The group of four recruits hurried forward, two young pilots one army engineer and one marine.

The officer eyed them up and down and shook his head, “Where the hell are they finding you guys these days scraping you off the back of a wet rock.” He flipped through the hologram on the flat of his hand, “Ah, here we go-” THey watched as his eyes widened a bit, and he stopped insulting them for long enough to look interested. He glanced up from his clipboard, “Well look at the four of you being all special. You’ve been requisitioned for the harbinger gonna go into deep space.” They glanced at each other in surprise, shock and excitement, “Hear they have some pretty freaky ass aliens on that ship, one bastard who can float and read minds or some shit, anyway get on the lot of you. They docked at landing pad A1 because they get special treatment, now GET GOING!”

With a muttering of surprise, they hurried off heading down towards the troop transports.

One of the young pilots leaned forward as they drove down the tarmac wind whipping past them as the sound of engines shook the ground below.

“Do you guys believe everything they say?”

The engineer turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, “Everything about what?”

“Everything about the Commander? Everything about the Harbinger.”

“You’re gonna have to be more specific, there is a ton of shit they say.”

The young pilot rolled his eyes, “Take your pick. That he ran a marathon on an A-1 death planet, that he's a telepath that can speak to aliens, that their doctor is an alien, that half the ship is drev, that he's mostly a cyborg, that they have alien pets, that he stopped an intergalactic war.”

Someone waved him off, “Obviously false.”

Another one of the recruits leaned in closer, “I heard the guy’s a extrial.”

“The fuck is an extrial.”

“You know one of those people who screws aliens.”

“ fucking disgusting.”

“Dude, you serious? leave them alone there is nothing wrong with that?”

“What ISN’T wrong with that?”

“Both parties agree besides I bet you screw your cousin so-”

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP.” They did as the marine turned around the glower at them, “Doesn't matter what they are or are not. We have to make a good impression. So shut up we’re almost there.”

The troop transport came to a stop, and the four of them stepped out onto the tarmac looking up at the ship. It was big, blocky and dark looked like a much older model than some of the others sitting on the launch field, but what it lacked in beauty, it held in reputation.

At the moment it was busy being stocked by the people on the ground, though they did notice a group of people lounging around on some of the crates outside.

Staring at the ship, they didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, no aliens or anything… so far.

Awkwardly they walked towards the ship not sure where to go or what to do seeing as there were no officers to greet them. They were just heading past the crates and their lounging occupants when someone whistled.

“FRESH MEAT!” They were followed by heckling from the group sitting on the crates. They could have been marines or army grunts, but it was hard to tell. The group of them sat up both men and women.

One man in the middle slowly chewing n a piece of gum and wearing aviators making him look like he was trying to hard, “Hey, you four c’mere.”

With nowhere else to go, they approached slowly.

The group moved from lounging to sitting atop their crates.

“What are you recruits here for.”

They shuffled a little, “Two pilots a marine and an army engineer uh…. Sir?”

THe gum chewer grinned slowly nodding at one of the other guys, “Sir…. I like that makes me sound special.” He leaned forward, “Well they won't have anything for you to do until they are done loading the ship with cargo, so come on sit down and let's take a look at you.”

All together, they were rather nervous, but they still came up and sat on the crates with who they learned to be were a group of marines.

A younger, tan young man leaned over and held out a hand, “Ramirez.” They shook the man’s hand nervously glancing towards the gum chewer behind his dark sunglasses who was grinning knowingly at them.“So two pilots, an engineer and a marine.” He glanced up at the sky, “Well go on let’s hear a little about you.”

Most of them didn’t really intend to say anything, but somehow Sunglasses managed to draw it out of them, had them talking until he had practically unraveled their life stories. It was almost disconcerting how the man could do that, and the group of them were rather nonplussed by the time the conversation began to die away not entirely sure how they had gotten here.

“So, is there anything you want to know about the ship, the people, the perks etc etc.”

“Is it true that you have an entire Drev clan on the ship?”

Sunglasses grinned, “A good half of one at least maybe a dozen or so. An entire clan can be up to five hundred in one population, as many people as we have on the crew. So really I should restate and say that we only have a teth of a clan.”

The group glanced between each other.

“What other aliens do you have on the ship?”

Sunglasses leaned back against the crate hands behind his head, “Oh well we have a few. There is Convict of course, he’s a starborn, watch out for that asshole, he can read minds. Don’t plan on having any sort of privacy. Than we have Krill, he's our surgeon, ask him and he will tell you he's the best in the galaxy maybe the universe. Then after that we have the spiderlings.”

“The what?”

“Well technically their presence is classified, but you will find out. Type of alien can incorporate the DNA of other animals into their own offspring, some asshole got himself stuck with an alien egg sack and now we have alien hybrids on the ship.”

“No shit.:”

“Yeah shit, not kidding with you. Watch out for the one named Glados, she's a real jerk sometimes, to everyone accept the Commander of course.”

“Tell us about him.”

There was a shifting among the marines as they looked between each other. Sunglasses glanced back at them grinning before, “That asshole, yeah don’t get your hopes up, he’s a tool at best and an idiot at worse. I mean the guy wears an eyepatch, like he thinks he's some sort of space pirate.”

The marines slowly began to grin, “yeah he has some idiotic idea that the crew are his friends or some bullshit. We let him think that because it makes him easier to deal with.”

“Uglier than sin too.”

The group looked around at each other in confusion and concern not exactly sure why the crew was acting the way they were, “Are you guys serious, or just screwing with us.”

Sunglasses didn’t crack a smile, “Very serious.

Still skeptical, they looked around at each other, “I thought I heard he was a good pilot.”

Sunglasses waved a hand, ‘Never said he wasn’t a good pilot, I said he was a tool who doesn't know how to take anything seriously/”

Another marine shrugged, “Yeah, I mean they promoted him super early on in his career, guy isn't even past his dumbass twenties faze yet.”

“You make that sound like he will ever get past his dumbass twenties phase. I honestly think this is his last evolution.” More shifting form the nervous new cremembers but sunglasses stood, “Might as well show you newbies around the ship, let you get to know things before we take off.” He pointed to the marines, don’t do any dumbass shit while I am gone.”

Moe dumb jokes followed as he left, and the young group hurried to catch up, “So uh…. You a marine then?” The young marine asked glancing downwards at his clothes that did nothing to hit at what his job aboard the ship was, “Not exactly.”

The man answered.

“Than what do you do?”

“I’m their CO.”

“So you are a marine?”

“I didn’t say that.” They followed him up the long ramp and into the belly of the ship where cargo crates were being stacked. Men and women in various stages of work hurried past them greeting sunglasses with a nod and a salute.

“So you’re pretty high up?” One of the pilot’s asked

Sunglasses shrugged, “You could say that.”

“So you spend a lot of time with the commander than?”

The man sighed, “Unfortunately yes…. Too much time.”

They made their way around a corner and nearly ran face first into a massive shape. The young recruits yelped in surprise, one of them making an extremely girlish squeal as they realized what they had run into. The form was absolutely massive, nine feet tall or more with six limbs and a head that was vaguely reminiscent of a bird. It thrust its head down at them with a critical eye and the hard light on the ship rolled over its bloody red carapace.

“Cannon.”

The massive Drev inclined it’s head, “ Lod dazha tadazh? Zhe dazha nehjakazi.”

They blinked in confusion for a long moment all feeling the strange sensation as the translation software booted up, and a moment later, a very human voice. “Who are these, I don’t recognize them”. The voice was pleasant enough, a deep rumble.

“Who the hell names their kid Cannon?” One of the pilots said realizing to late that he had probably just insulted a massive ass alien that looked like it could kick his ass.

Sunglasses turned to look at him, “It’s actually a word in his language, should be pronounced Kanan. It means `noble.” He got a pat on the shoulder, “Try not to be a dickhead alright. Most of the Drev have names like that, usually after an attribute or a force of nature.”

“What’s your name.” The Drev asked, the translation so smooth it was almost seamless integration over his real voice.

The young man stammered, “R-richard.”

The alien looked at him for a long contemplative moment, “Isn’t the nickname that goes along with richard….. Dick?”

That made the other four laugh as the large alien trundled past to show, to their surprise, he was wearing a bionic brace around one of his legs.

“Damn Cannon, they should have called you savage instead, DAMN!” He turned back, “Anyway, keeping the tour moving, try not to insult anyone else alright. Cannon is relatively good humored, but I can’t guarantee the other Drev won’t challenge you to a duel for their honor.”

There was a soft murmuring among the men, but they followed awkwardly behind as the CO led them through the ship showing them to the rec room, the mess hall, engineering and so on. They began to see ore evidence of alien activity, mostly those huge Drev things who were, surprisingly colorful, as compared to the pictures the media tended to release them. They greeted the CO with traditional muttering in their own language which he returned in kind. The translation generally just ut it as good morning though there were multiple versions.

They were walking down one long corridor when one of the recruits yelped and cursed looking as if he was about to piss himself. The others followed his gaze upwards where a face leered down at them from the piping and ductwork.

The man stopped a few feet ahead not bothering to look up, “Stop being an asshole convict, come and show yourself.” The strange alien creature did as told floating down like some ethereal sort of space angel, all white and surrounded in billowing ribbons. He wore an anti-gravity belt and a strange set of gloves.

The CO turned, “Well everyone, this is Conn, he is our ship’s resident telepath. Yes He can read minds, no I can’t make him stop, but yes he will generally keep all your deep dark secrets for his entertainment. No, you won’t be able to tell when he’s invading your minds, only the Commander can talk to him that way .”

The alien waved at them with a malicious grin on his strangely humanoid lips.

“But that's ok because killing him is easy. If he ever gives you trouble just threaten to take off that gravity belt of his. He was born in zero Gs so it will snap his spine like an uncooked spaghetti noodle.”

“Convict’ raised a hand and made a move to flip the CO off, an effect somewhat damaged by the fact that he only had four fingers.

Nervously, they walked past, and the alien grinned malevolently at them. Unfortunately with the way the human mind worked all of their deepest darkest secrets seemed to be at the forefront from their heads as they did so.

THey took a walk up another few decks, and into what appeared to be the med bay, which hissed open as they stepped in. Inside they were surprised to find another strange alien creature directing the placement of some new medical equipment, “And ry not to drop it on yourselves, I have gone almost a month without any major accidents aboard this ship, and I intend to keep it going.” The spiderly little creature turned in a broad circle its unblinking orange prismatic eyes falling on them.

“Dr. These are our new recruits, Kimber, Han McCaster and Alvarez. Just giving them the grand tour.”

They stared on in awe and wonder as the little alien moved closer.

“Are you really a doctor.”

The creature stared at them looking almost offended, “Are you really a pilot?”

He stood back in shock, he had not expected the aliens to be so aggressively sassy, or even know how to use sarcasm. A had fell on his shoulder, “Forgive McCaster, he seems to have a bit of a pension for running his mouth. Anyway, I’m just taking them the last few decks up to the bridge, is there anything you want to warn them about?”

The doctor looked at them with a critical eye before, “If you are going to stick anything up your ass, just make sure it has a base otherwise it’s going to get stuck, and I am going to have to either A get someone to stick their hand up there or B do surgery,”

The CO laughed, “Always good advice doctor.”

With faces scrunched with confusion, the group followed the CO back into the hallway and up the stairs the last few decks and onto the bridge . The bridge crew was already hard at work on systems checks barely noticing as the group of them entered.

Looking to the right they saw another one of the Drev sitting in a chair just to the side of the captain’s seat.

“Oh, everyone meet, Sunny our Chief Weapons Specialist.” The bright blue Drev turned around in her seat looking them over with a critical gold eye. She was actually pretty short compared to the massive male they had met earlier.

“So what does her name mean?”

The Co looked at the kid with a raised eyebrow, “It means involving or having to do with large amounts of light produced by a star onto the planet’s surface, sometimes known as the sun.”

The other three laughed at him and he wilted,” I thought, with the other…”

“With the other guy, his real name just so happens to sound like an english word, her name does not, so we call her Sunny. Sunny and Cannon are brother and sister from the same clan.” The Blue Drev stood and walked over to look them over. Though she was short for a Drev she towered more than a foot over some of them.

“Scraping the bottom of the barrel with these four.” She said, her voice over the translation was obviously female but not entirely feminine if that made sense. Somehow it suited her.

There was a sharp squeal from somewhere and the group of them turned, shrieking again and backing away as a group of the most HORRIFIC creatures came scuttling across the floor. About as big as medium dogs, and with similar heads, they skittered across the floor on spider bodies. One of the recruits leaped back into a chair picking his feet up off the floor, the other three went into defensive posturing.

Most of the creatures ignored them entirely, one of them making a B-line for the CO Crawling up his back and locking it’s strange feet over his shoulders like the most grotesque backpack ever. One contented itself by lying on his feet, and the other woman began sniffing at them. After a moment a very miffed looking German Shepherd appeared following them and collapsed by the Captain’s chair with a grumble.

The one on the man’s shoulders glowered at them, it’s strange humanoid eyes bright green with anger and intensity. It opened its mouth wide and a strange robotic sound came forth, “Go…. away.” They stepped back even further in shock. The voice was strange, like that of a talking bird, not entirely human at all.

The man turned his head and frowned at the spidery creature reaching up to pat her hairless dog-like head with one hand, “Oh Stop that Glados.”

“No.”

He rolled his eyes, “Manners.”

“No.”

“You know ever since you learned that word, it's been the bane of my existence.”

“W-what the hell are those things.”

The Co looked up at them, “These guys are the spiderlings ⅔ s adaptid ⅓ human. This Is Glados,” He pointed down, “That is Hal and the one sniffing at you guys is Cortona. The commander named them, they are technically his after all.”

The recruits started on in awe and disgust, “You mean he like DID IT with an alien.”

The man grimaced, “More like he got roped into incubating an alien egg sack against his will. I hear the process was rather unpleasant.”’

They collectively made a face as the CO scratched the spiderling under the chin, “he says its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Besides, the adaptids were just doing what adaptids do, and that is borrow DNA from other creatures.”

“Where IS the Commander anyway.”

The Blue Drev looked over at them with some interest before growing bored and looking away

The man shrugged, “Who the hell knows.”

And then an officer ran onto the deck, “Sir, Transmission from the GA.”

At that moment the CO stopped smiling, and pulled off his sunglasses. The group of them were stunned into silence as he pulled an eyepatch from his pocket and slipped it over his missing eye. The other one was a bright green, not dissimilar to that of the adaptid. With the sharp clatter of boots on metal he walked back to sit in the Captain’s chair dropping the adaptid to the floor with a growl of protest.

He pressed something on the side of the chair, and a hologram leaped up in front of his face.

“Greetings commander.”

“Chairwoman.”

The group looked at each other with miffed expressions.

“How the hell did we not see that coming.”

“Because you’re a dumbass.”

“Like you knew, asshole.”

The other one stopped them with a raised hand, “Is he wearing heelies?”

The group of them turned their heads to the side and confirmed that the man was, in fact, wearing a pair of heelies this entire time.

There was a soft snort from behind them, and they turned to see the Drev ‘Sunny’ sitting at her station.

“Welcome to the crew of the Harbinger.”

673 notes · View notes

chaoticevilbean · 4 years

Text

Four In One : Chapter One

"Lance, on your left!"

The Blue Lion moved just in time to avoid a cannon blast, twisting with practiced ease. It laid cover fire as the Red Lion moved in to take out the command ship, the whole thing exploding within ticks.

A few dobashes later, all five Lions were safely in their hangars, having successfully gathered information, freed a few prisoners that were sent off in escape pods, and destroyed the rest of the fleet. The Paladins all rushed out to greet each other, giving and receiving praise for maneuvers and quick thinking.

"Well done, Paladins," Allura called out as she entered the main hangar where the team was still standing. Her white wings fluffed with pride, showing off streaks of pink and silver. "That was one of your most successful missions to date, and it truly shows off your skills as pilots."

"Wouldn't have been able to if you didn't push us so hard," Shiro replied, his dark grey and black wings fluffing as well.

"But the breaks are appreciated," Hunk added quickly, as though worried not reminding the princess would mean her reverting to the relentless training she had given them when they were still new.

"Of course," was the elegant reply. After a few more minutes of talking, the group started to head towards the lounge area. Hunk headed straight for the kitchen with Coran to make dinner, while Pidge began to decode the information they gathered. Shiro and Allura began talking quietly about the ways each paladin could've done better, and how to improve each minor weakness. Keith sat down with a book, and Lance settled on the other side of the couch, content with just thinking.

Like many times nowadays, his mind wandered to wings.

On Earth, there were scaled wings, feathered wings, and wingless. There were minor mutations, and a few major ones as well. Upon coming into space, it was found that Alteans also have wings, though Galrans do not.

Each of the Paladins of Voltron had different wings. Hugely different.

Pidge's wings were small, made for speed and agility, but still with downy spots. It was obvious that there was room for growth, and the youngest paladin made sure none of the boys, or anyone else for that matter, forgot it. But whereas most wings were shades of brown, grey, or red, Pidge's still developing feathers held an ombre pattern of bright green. Streaks of dark and light hues highlighted the wings whenever they puffed up in indignation, which was often, considering the rest of the team thought it was adorable and annoyed her just to see the adorableness. Not that they'd tell her that.

Hunk's wings were feathers as well, in golden tones that ranged from deep chocolate brown to a khaki tan. They were strong, made to hold much more than just Hunk's weight. Their softness was unrivaled, and no matter the weather, warmth radiated from the large appendages. And large they were. The longest wingspan ever recorded, they were at least twelve feet on either side, and bigger in size as well.

Shiro's wings were black with shading of dark grey throughout them. His time as the Champion caused a few light grey streaks and white feathers scattered throughout. They were streamlined, made to be fast, but not nearly as agile as Pidge's. Fully extended, they reached about eight feet on either side, meaning they were strong as well.

Keith's wings were the only ones with scales. About a movement into their time as Paladins (the space equivalent of a week), Allura and Coran did full scans of all of the humans, since they had no information on human biology. That led to a discussion of how much Keith knew about his parents, but it did allow Keith to reveal his wings, which he had previously hidden, as all humans are able to do. His scales shone with different patterns and shades of red, and were built for quick movements. Angled a bit differently than feathered wings, they cut through the air easily. And sitting just below his six foot long wings were a slightly smaller set, a slightly lighter coloring and meant to provide a boost in flight.

Allura's wings were a sight to behold, capturing the attention of the five Earthlings when they first met the Altean princess. White wings with streaks of silver and pink that caught the light, changing with each form the alien royal took. They were just as elegant as the being they were attached to.

Coran's wings were apparently as strange among Alteans as the Altean was to the Paladins. Apparently scaled wings were so rare in Altea that there were under a hundred of the population with them at once. Orange scales speckled with blue and white and brown, built for protection and endurance. Despite most scaled wings being cool to the touch, Coran was much like Hunk - always warm.

Lance sighed internally at the confidence in which each of his companions held themselves and their beautiful wings. His own wings itched to stretch, but he couldn't do it here. Even if he was willing to show his team, there wasn't enough room.

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

The sea glistened as the McClain family swam in the beautiful water, ran along the sandy beaches, dragging neighbors, friends of family, and even "strangers" from nearby to join in the fun. Children and adults alike took the skies.

Lance had always known this life. His wings were spread out along the sand around him, providing many of his younger family members a soft place to nestle. Despite the strangeness of them, the sheer impossibility of them existing in the first place, every community member had accepted them. Accepted him. When someone new came to town, they were kept away from Lance until it was decided they could be trusted - or they simply continued on their way. In school, fellow students would move chairs and tables around to allow him to spread his wings a bit. Rainy days would lead to little kids and even some smaller teens seeking refuge under the boy's appendages.

On days like these, when the sun was slowly setting, the air warm, the sea calm, and the entire community slowly making their way to the impromptu get-together, Lance felt a joy unlike any other. Neither flying nor swimming could compare to the pure contentedness he felt.

Leandro Charles McClain was the boy born with impossible wings. His wings were a brilliant ombre of blues, and their wingspan was a whopping four feet. At most, babies had two feet of feathers or scales, though apparently there was a two and half foot wingspan record for a Samoan child. Along with the strange color and length, there were two more features that were definitely not normal.

Lance's wings were both feathered and scaled. The feathers covered the top half of his wings, before seamlessly giving way to scales on the bottom half. And there were four of them. Four bright blue, large, half-feathered half-scaled wings, positioned along his back.

In a few months, Lance would be heading off to the Garrison. His wings would be hidden like all of the students were required to do, at least while in uniform. There was a desert nearby where he could stretch his wings without worrying about prying eyes, and his grades were good enough that he couldn't be kicked out without plausible reasons.

So, he enjoyed these days of slow sunsets, warm air, and calm seas.

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

Lance was brought back to the present by something jumping on his back. And something else jumping on his lap. And two somethings jumping on him from either side. A yelp erupted from him, and he looked around semi-frantically. Then he groaned as loudly as possible, as his teammates laughed.

"Lance, you back on the ship?" Pidge giggled from where she clung to his back, careful of the wings none of them had seen yet.

"Yeah, bud. Ya zoned out and weren't responding when we said your name." Hunk chuckled at his friend, who now seemed mildly confused.

"Really?"

"Yep. You had Allura pretty worried," Shiro replied, as Keith nodded seriously, or as seriously as he could while helping Shiro hug-pin his competitive friend. Lance peered over Hunk, who was clinging to his front, in order to gaze at the princess. She offered a slightly sheepish smile, before speaking loud enough for them to hear her from where she stood across the room.

"Alteans do not 'zone out' as you say, at least, not as deeply or for as long. When you didn't respond, I was worried you were ill."

"Thanks for worrying, princess, but I'm fine. And if Hunk is here, that means dinner is either done, or close to it, so can y'all get off me. I can't exactly move, like, at all." The group laughed once more before untangling themselves and rushing towards the dining room.

Dinner was filled with jokes and praise for the mission, and it was one of the many times the group felt like a real flock. A Space Flock, but still a flock. Afterwards, Shiro announced that everyone was to gather in the nest for their nightly grooming session. Grooming was a maybe bi-weekly necessity for proper wingcare, but the Space Flock got together each night to bond and relieve some of their tension. Grooming in a group was considered an act of trust and love.

The younger four Paladins raced to the nest, which was situated in the lounge. The lounge itself was a very large room, and the nest was on a raised platform. It was big enough to hold all of the Paladins and Alteans with their wings spread out - minus Lance. A ladder was connected to the wall, installed in the first movement, when two of the Paladins still hid their wings. It was also there for if someone's wings were injured, and for Lance, who always helped the others groom.

The six other flock members never understood why he hid his wings. They had asked if he was wingless, to which he had assured them he was not. He also let them "groom" his hair and help with his skincare routine, teaching them how to do it properly so that they knew he trusted them. After all, he cared deeply about his skin and hair, much like all humans cared about their wings.

Once settled in the nest, Lance immediately began grooming Hunk's left wing, while Pidge started on the right one. Shiro forced a wiggling Keith in front of him, stopping the squirming by gesturing for Coran to let Keith groom him. The Altean quickly complied, his other wing held out to Allura.

Two vargas later, Keith was letting Lance braid his hair "for bed, now shush, Mr. Mullet McGrumpyPants, this'll only take a tick," Pidge was doing the same for Allura, Shiro was doing the same for Hunk, with the promise that he would let the boy braid his floof, and Coran was brushing Lance's hair.

"Done!" Lance called out as he tied Keith's french braided mullet.

"Same!" Pidge and Hunk called, both doing similar with their subjects. Lance and Keith both tried and failed to hide snickers at the fact that, while Hunk, Allura, Keith, and even Pidge sported very pretty braids, Shiro... well, he looked pretty, alright. Like a pretty little unicorn.

"Alright, alright, I get it," the man said, using his trademarked dad voice. "Now, let's help Lance with his skin and then bed for us all. After such a successful mission, we're sleeping in the nest tonight." Lance tensed slightly, and since they all were scooching closer in order to do his version of grooming, they all noticed.

"Don't worry, Lance. We all know you want your privacy, so Coran was finally able to find that blanket that hides wings." Allura's kind smile reassured Lance, and at his relaxing form the others continued with their activity. Though only being in space for a few phoebs, the others had slept in the nest a few times. Each time, Lance had gone to a different room to sleep, in order to release his wings and stretch without being seen. Coran decided to look around for a special Altean blanket that was used for situations such as these, where one wished to hide their wings during intimate activities. It was basically a miniature space pocket, warped to allow any size wingspan to stretch out fully, while practically suctioning to the body to keep any edges from lifting. Apparently, it was incredibly comfortable.

Coran did not lie.

Lance was the first one out, curled up with his arms around Pidge, his legs entwined with Hunk's, and Shiro holding him with arm. Keith was being held in the other, causing the two boys to be essentially cuddling. Allura sat curled in the spot created by Hunk's and Lance's legs, holding Pidge's legs in her lap, while Pidge's arms cradled Coran's legs. Coran was grasping Hunk's arms, and the latter was doing similarly. Wings curled around all of them, creating a warm cocoon of feathers and scales.

No one had nightmares that night.

No arena haunted Shiro, or planetary destruction to plague the Alteans.

No homesick dreams for the Garrison Trio, and no blurry figures abandoned Keith that night.

All that remained were sweet visions of all their good times, mushed together for pure bliss.

#voltron #wing au #lance #lance mcclain #hunk garrett #hunk #pidge gunderson #pidge #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #shiro #keith #allura #coran coran the gorgeous man #lance-centric #purple #klance

40 notes · View notes

bookwormsid1015 · 4 years

Text

Lord help me, but I got another fic idea

Bruh fr why do I keep getting these wacky ass ideas for bnha fics when I'm tryna get my grind at work. Like come on, brain, can I make my numgies in peace??

Anyways, Kiribaku Steampunk AU based on the 6th popularity poll let's go

First, the worldbuilding:

Ok so basically, this fic is a scify clash between the traditional Steampunk AU and the Pirate AU that we all know and love. Let's call it the Treasure Planet AU for funsies (hella underrated movie btw)

Class 1-A is a crew of steampunk space pirates led by Aizawa "Eraserhead" Shouta, who also serves alongside the other classes as one of many branches under the Hero Commission, AKA the "Stellar Police Unit" idk I haven't thought of a better name yet. I'm literally making this up as I type

I imagine the heirachy here would be as follows: The "Commission" themselves being at the top, directing the other fleets beneath them, with the "Hero Agencies" (I don't have a name for these yet) being the biggest and strongest armadas across the milky way, and the schools like UA and Shiketsu being the lower tiers, serving more as localized police force, with the "classes" being assigned to different regions.

Also aliens don't exist. Everyone in this story is a human inhabiting a different colonized planet, with each planet themselves being utilized for a different purpose: some are for mining, others are used as stations, etc...

Also, to add to the Steampunk aesthetic, quirks aren't a thing! Everyone just has incredibly fancy weaponry made to mimic their quirks.

"Rioters" are an artificial type of human, initially made for exploring new planets or basic labor. These creatures are at average x5 stronger than that of a normal person with versatile skin, their bodies being able to harden their bodies for terraforming rock, or survive long amounts of time in the vaccum of space with their plastic-like exterior. Rioters are basically slaves, and the only way to discern them from normal humans is by looking at their sharp teeth. As stated by law, all Rioters must wear muzzles, which not only brand them as property of someone else, but to mark their status.

"Villains" in this story will have a different title though I'm not sure what yet, and they often are at odds with the "Commission" since they have differing views on society and the conditions of the planets. Think classism but with extra steps.

Now for the story itself (I'm gonna be super vague here bc I'm seriously considering writing this story, I'm just waiting until I have enough free time lmaooo):

Bakugo and Deku are sent to investigate an abandoned moon colony which is supposedly the hideout for a "Villain" organization. They enter the hideout only to find it abandoned, but when they're about to leave, Bakugo stumbles upon a reinforced steel cage which contains a Rioter, muzzled and left to die. Bakugo is relucent to bring it with them back to their ship, but Deku convinces Bakugo to bc it's the right thing.

Disclaimer here: I'm going to make Bakugo start off as an arrogant ass in every sense of the word. I want to make him as apathetic and single-minded as possible, mostly bc I love making character development arcs and I wanna see him slowly realize that the people around him hold more value than just being his stepping stones to victory.

Anyways, they bring the Rioter back to the ship where everyone wonders what to do with it, the Rioter in question being incredibly jumpy and scared (mostly because he has a mysterious case of amnesia and doesn't remember anything aside from his name). Aizawa eventually calms him down and decides they're not going to report him to the "Commission," since all unattended Rioters are often killed.

Shenanigans ensue. The ship hops around planet to planet, looking for Kirishima's owners while accepting him into their crew more. Bakugo is slower to come around to the Rioter, but as the premise says, we all know how their relationship is gonna go down *wink wink*

And that's it. I really wanna write this fic but my dumbass already has 3 other fics I'm writing hfhdgdhdjhkhj... Idk maybe I'll turn this into a 3-shot series on Ao3??? Idk, I feel like it has the potential to be a long running fic like Back to Me, but at the same time thinking about writing another fic that long is just hurting my head.

What do you guys think??? Let me know in the comments if you guys would be interested in reading a fic like this!!!

#Now that I think about it I have a tendency to write overly complicated fanfics #I am an all or nothing kind of person and it really shows wtf #I got the premise down but Idk if the story is gonna be the same??#It all depends I guess #Still what do you guys think???#My writing #Fic ideas #My fic ideas #bnha popularity poll #Steampunk AU #Pirate AU #Treasure Planet AU(?)#Bakugo Katsuki #Kirishima Eijirou #Kiribaku #Bakushima #Bakugo x Kirishima #Aged up characters #Bakusquad

23 notes · View notes

ridiculousn3sswrites · 4 years

Text

Out of My Sight

*James Conrad (Kong: Skull Island) x Reader

*Request: “ @midnight-queen-1 asked: Back again! 2nd request, James Conrad x reader. Reader (can be a journalist, photographer, doctor, or scientist. Your choice) is on the expedition/mission to skull island, she is an old "friend" of James so when a creature of the island takes her as food. James doesn't hesitate to save her from becoming the creatures meal and becomes overprotective of her after because he can't stand the thought of not having her w/ him. Hope this is enough info. Thx! As always and love ya😘❤💓💕💖💗💙💚💛💝💞”

*Warnings: Swearing, drinking, slight violence, injuries, mentions of guns and shooting, death. Let me know if I missed anything.

*A/N: This request has been sitting for a while, so sorry it took so long to write. I skip around the plot of the movie a bit because I didn’t want to just rewrite the entire movie, so sorry about that. Right now I’m working through my requests from here and Wattpad, then I’m going to start writing for My Princess again.

My Ko-fi if you want to support my writing

**********

You swore that you were done with James Conrad, and yet, somehow you found yourself here with him again. The two of you had parted ways once you’d settled in Saigon, James going off to drink away his days in shady bars while you decided to do something worthwhile with your time. You took your experience in the medical field and started practicing with a local doctor, though you were starting to consider it your practice with how often you were showing up and he wasn’t. The two Americans had come into your practice, saying that James wouldn’t take the job if you weren’t on it too. So you found yourself in Bangkok, getting briefed on a mission you didn’t even want to be on. You had a feeling you knew why James was here too; the money was just too good.

“It’s been a while,” James said as you tried listening to the briefing. You were sure all of the military men here had some kind of field medicine training, so you really didn’t know why James insisted he needed you on the mission. He hadn’t even come to you himself to ask, just sending the Americans while you were sure he spent the time in the shady bars he loved so dearly.

“Yes, it has been,” you said, not taking your eyes off of the screen in front of you. The boy from Yale (Brooks, if you remembered right) was talking about their goals, and you didn’t want to interrupt him. “I see you’ve shaved. Must be important for you to do that.”

You could tell James wanted to say something, but his attention was diverted when Brooks started talking about seismic charges to chart the island. “You’re using explosives?” James asked, blunt as always.

“Scientific instruments,” Brooks tried correcting. Even you had to roll your eyes at that.

“You hear that, boys? We’re scientists,” one of the soldiers immediately piped up. You couldn’t help the smile of amusement that drew, even though you knew where James was coming from. If it was simply a charting expedition, they wouldn’t need a tracker, they probably wouldn’t need a doctor. It didn’t make sense for them to be bringing bombs, let alone dropping them on an uncharted island. There was something more to this that they weren’t telling you.

After the briefing was done, James left you. It didn’t even surprise you at this point, so you went to speak with some of the scientists leading the mission - Brooks and San. San was the first to notice you approaching while Brooks was messing with some papers. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” you said, addressing her first.

When Brooks heard your voice, he quickly turned to greet you with a smile. “Hey. Right, San, this is (y/n). She’s going with us as a doctor,” Brooks said.

“I don’t really know why I’m needed, but yeah, I’m a doctor,” you joked, shaking San’s hand. “I do have a couple questions though. Why use explosives for charting? It seems counterintuitive to charting an undisturbed island.”

“The seismic charges will help us to chart the underground structures of the island,” Brooks explained.

“But with explosive charges that just disrupts the surface area, not to mention the damage it will do to the wildlife,” you said, turning to San. She was the biologist, maybe she’d have some interest in that. If she even tried to tell you a halfway decent lie, she’d be concerned about it. “It doesn’t make sense. So, what are you guys really doing?”

**********

You and James didn’t see each other again until you were on the ship to the takeoff point. Weaver was on deck, taking pictures of the soldiers and seemingly having a good time with them. You had just spoken to Packard, figuring out what the soldiers didn’t know and where you could help if you were needed, when you found James. He was just sitting, watching the commotion on deck. “Why aren’t you down there with them?” You asked, sitting next to him.

“I don’t see a reason to be,” he told you, glancing over at you before returning his gaze back to the soldiers. You decided to push even though you knew he wouldn’t tell you.

“Not even with Weaver down there?” James turned and looked at you as if scandalized by even the suggestion. “I mean, you disappear last night and then the next time I see you, you’re returning from the cargo hold with that photographer.”

“I was looking at the containers for the explosives,” James groaned, tilting his head back and hitting it against the wall. “I see you haven’t changed a bit.”

“I could say the same to you, James. I just saw the pattern and decided to leave,” you immediately argued back, even though the last thing you wanted to do was argue. “Why did you want me here? We haven’t spoken in months and then suddenly Brooks and Randa show up to my job saying you won’t go on a job if I don’t go too.”

“You’re the only one I trust if something happens to me,” James admitted.

“Don’t talk like that-“

“I’m being honest. We’re going onto an island with no idea of what we’re facing geographically or in terms of predators. Something could happen, and I only trust you to make sure I don’t die,” James interrupted you. “I’ve never known you to be overly optimistic.”

“Then maybe you didn’t know me that well.”

**********

When the expedition started, things seemed to be going fine. Bombs were dropped, Brooks and San were picking up seismic activity, and the scientists seemed to be picking up the readings they needed. Then two of the helicopters went down.

Of course the solution seemed to be packing everyone onto different helicopters to see what happened. James got in next to you, resting his hand on your thigh as your helicopter went up. You had a couple soldiers in the helicopter, but none of you were prepared for what happened next.

“We’re going down! Brace!” Slivko yelled as the helicopter began taking a nosedive into the trees. James grabbed your hand and squeezed before bracing for impact. With how rough you landed, you were amazed your group wasn’t more injured. Other than Slivko having a minor laceration to his forehead, no one was suffering injuries you needed to tend to. Once you made sure his wound was properly cared for, you went to join James where he was watching the thing that attacked the fleet walk away.

“Did we just get attacked by a giant monkey?” You asked as James put down his binoculars.

“A gorilla, actually. It didn’t have a tail,” James corrected you before turning. He looked you up and down, checking to make sure you didn’t have any visible injuries. “Are you okay? You’re not wounded, are you?”

“I should be asking you that. I mean, I’m the doctor, after all,” you tried joking. James just looked at you, not even cracking a grin.

“Don’t joke like that. You could’ve died.”

“We all could’ve died. We’re lucky more of us weren’t injured,” you corrected him. So what if you were using humor to cope? He could sue you. “We should get back to the rest of the group.”

James nodded, and the two of you returned to your companions. Slivko was trying to get in contact with the others, while simultaneously freaking out about what happened. Nieves looked like he was about to have a major meltdown, while Brooks looked like he was in the middle of one. San was shaken, and Weaver was obviously trying to hide it as she just stood there next to the downed helicopter.

No one talked about what just happened, much to Slivko’s dismay. While your relationship with James was now tentative at best, he was still the best tracker you knew, so you didn’t question his decisions. What you did question was why he insisted on you travelling right behind him, practically close enough to touch. The two of you had worked together on countless jobs - him often dragging you into them - but he’d never behaved like this before.

Eventually, your group reached what looked to be ruins. Where there were ruins, there were people. Right before you could tell James, Weaver screamed, and then your group was surrounded by people with spears. You lifted your gun like everyone else - except Weaver, who only had her camera - as your group crowded together.

“Don’t shoot,” James instructed, even though he still had his gun raised. You kept your gun raised, but kept your finger off the trigger. One misfire and everyone would be doomed. Even as the group crowded closer together, James managed to shove you behind him. You glared at him, even though this wasn’t the best time to get upset. Just as you were beginning to accept your fate, a gruff looking man came through the people, greeting you all.

Once you met Marlow and he started talking about his time on the island, it didn’t really clear anything up for you. The only thing that really made sense was the idea that Kong wasn’t the worst thing out there and he was stopping the worse things, but even then, that was a tentative understanding. Then again, you were beginning to abandon the concept of normal, so you might as well accept what was happening.

Before long, night fell and everyone was starting to get settled in. Slivko was immensely amused by Marlow, while everyone else was trying to gain their bearings. You watched as Weaver set up her camera to take a picture of the light phenomenon occurring in the night sky, and as James gave his lighter to help her. You grabbed your bag of medical supplies and went to sit outside of Marlow’s little home, not wanting to see whatever was developing between the two.

You rifled through your bag, finding what you were looking for in record time: a silver flask filled with whiskey. You had painkillers and some local anesthetics, but some pains couldn’t be numbed by medicine. You took a swig of the whiskey, looking at the night sky. It was a shame the most beautiful places seemed to be the most dangerous. “There you are, I was worried when you weren’t inside,” James said, disturbing your peace and taking a seat beside you.

“Funny. It looked like you were busy,” you told him, taking another drink. “You know, you’ve brought me on some pretty wild jobs, but I think it’s gonna be hard to top this one.”

“There won’t be another job after this one. When we get out of here, we’re going home.”

“That’s a lot of ‘we.’ Before all this, we hadn’t even spoken in months,” you reminded him. “And what home, James? Saigon?”

“England. After the things we’ve seen here, the whole settling down thing doesn’t seem so bad,” James admitted. “With the payment, we’ll have more than enough to start again. When that helicopter started going down, and even before then, if something happened to you, I never would’ve forgiven myself.”

“James, I knew what I was signing up for, don’t blame yourself,” you told him. “So, you gave her your father’s lighter. Did she get to hear the story too?”

“She asked about the Royal Air Force inscription,” he said. “Darling, you’re the only one who knows me. We’re just working with her now. Once we leave all of this, she won’t be part of the picture anymore.”

“We’ll see what happens. We still have to get to the north side of the island.” You held the flask to him. “Do you want any?”

“I shouldn’t. We have work to do in the morning.” James put his arm around you, pulling you into his side. A month ago, you wouldn’t have let this happen. Then again, that was before all of this.

**********

“Where have you been?” You asked as James came back into your shared apartment. It was the early hours of the morning, long after he told you he’d be back. You stayed up, worried about him, and here he was, walking in like nothing. You did a quick once-over of the man, glad to see he wasn’t hurt. If he wasn’t hurt, you could be upset with him.

“I was at the bar, like I said,” James said, throwing off his jacket. He threw a stack of bills on the table, letting you know just what he was doing at the bar in addition to drinking.

“You also said you’d be back hours ago. I was worried,” you argued. “So you could do what? Bet on pool?”

“We needed money, I did what I needed to.” James made his way to the liquor cupboard, as if the drinks he had at the bar weren’t enough. You took a breath, trying to calm yourself. You succeeded, until he took the lid off the whiskey bottle and took a drink.

“I’m working at the general practice now. We’re fine on money, James. This isn’t a conversation to be had when you’re drunk.” You walked into the bedroom, locking the door behind you. James tried following, but when he found the door was locked, he knew it was a losing battle. He tried knocking, asking you to let him in, but that didn’t last long before he gave up, going to sleep in the living room.

That wasn’t even the first time you’d had that argument. You didn’t care that he was betting on pool - he pretty much always won and it was decent money - you cared that he came home safe. When he came home hours after he said he would, that’s when you started doubting he would come home at all. You knew he got into a fair share of fights - that’s why he had started going to the shady bars that he didn’t want you to go with him for fear of your safety - and the stakes were higher now.

A week later, you left. Four more nights like that, four more arguments, and you were done. You found a small place you could move into not far from your practice, so you packed your bags and left. You gave James one last chance, that was the last night he decided to not come home when he said he would. So you left. That was the last time you saw him before Bangkok.

You woke up slightly disoriented. You heard James and Marlow talking about a boat to get to the north side of the island, and the previous day came rushing back to you. Kong taking down the fleet, trekking through the jungle, Marlow finding your group, your talk with James. You sat up from your bedroll, taking in the room. Everyone was either already awake or waking up, knowing the day ahead was going to be a long one.

You went with James, Slivko, Nieves, and Marlow to the boat, wanting to make yourself useful. While Slivko worked on the wiring and the engine, you just kind of sat there. It didn’t take long for you to realize there wasn’t really much you could do to help, but you still preferred to sit there and listen to the banter between Slivko and Marlow. James walked up next to you, wiping sweat from his brow. “I think we’ll be on water soon,” James told you. “Then we head to the extraction point.”

“Great, we’ll be out of here in no time,” you told him. “Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful, but at least I was here if someone got cut or something.”

“That’s more than enough, darling,” James said, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“What’s going on between the two of you?” Slivko asked as he continued working. “Like, you guys weren’t talking before, but now you’re all over each other. What’s the deal?”

“(Y/n) and I are partners. She was working as a medic when I was in the forces, and we’ve stuck together since then,” James explained. “Except for a few months in Saigon when we weren’t talking.”

“Which, you don’t need to know the reason for,” you jumped in before Slivko could ask.

“Alright. Well, I think I got it. Someone should call the others,” Slivko said, hopping up from the engine block. You nodded, figuring you could at least do that. Finding San and Brooks was easy, but it took a bit longer to find Weaver in the village. When you brought everyone else back to the boat, Slivko was already trying to start up the boat. Once, twice, and then on the third time, the boat started up and you guys were ready to go.

Gathering your supplies and personal items didn’t take long, but as you were pushing off from the little dock, Marlow’s goodbye to the Iwi sobered your little group. Travelling down the river was probably the most peaceful part of your journey, even with the little pterodactyl-looking birds circling overhead. Slivko was able to get ahold of the others on the radio (telling them about your little ‘ploat’), and your group was celebrating. Then things took a turn for the worst.

The little pterodactyl-looking birds swooped on you and Nieves where you were standing near the front-end of the ploat. You felt the talons cut into your shoulder, and you were able to pull a knife from your waistband and stab into the bird’s leg. The bird released you, dropping you into the murky waters below. Nieves wasn’t so lucky.

You were able to resurface close enough to the ploat, just as you saw James and Slivko aiming their guns at the birds before James lowered his. James put his gun down, scanning the water for you. You saw the relief flood his face when he saw you in the water. You were sure he’d jump in to look for you if he hadn’t. “Can you swim over?” James called to you.

“My shoulder’s a bit hurt, but I can try, yeah,” you called back. You got lucky you weren’t too far from the ploat, but your shoulder still burned as you treaded through the water. James and Slivko helped pull you back onto the boat, James immediately pulling you into a hug despite your soaked clothes.

“You’re not leaving my side,” James murmured into your ear as he hugged you. He pulled back, immediately looking you over for signs of injury. When his eyes landed on your shoulder, you could see the worry return to his face. “How bad is the wound? Can you move your shoulder?”

“I was able to swim back here, so yeah. I just need to clean it up. Being in that water probably wasn’t the best thing for it,” you explained. “We should probably keep moving. Can someone hand me my med bag?”

Brooks handed you the bag full of your medical supplies, and you had a fleeting moment of relief that you hadn’t been holding the bag when you got picked up. Everyone was watching you as you grabbed the things you needed: your flask, antiseptic spray, antibiotic ointment, and some bandage wrap. Everyone was still just standing around, watching as you gathered your materials. “You heard her, let’s keep moving. We’re not too far from Packard,” James instructed, coming back to his senses.

You opened the flask, taking a drink before you got to work. It was starting to feel light, so you’d have to calm down your drinking apparently. You took some drinking water and rinsed your shoulder, patting it dry with one of your other shirts. You could tell James was hovering nearby, watching as you worked. “I’ll need some help with the wounds on the back of my shoulder, if that’s why you’re watching me like that.”

“Yeah, I’ll help with whatever you need,” James told you, going to sit next to you. You sprayed the wounds on the front before handing the bottle to James who took care of the wounds you couldn’t reach. You repeated the process with the ointment, and then handed James the bandage so he could properly wrap your shoulder. The rest of the ride upstream was quiet compared to the first half, no one wanting to talk about what just happened. For once, even Slivko was quiet.

It didn’t take long for the ploat to reach the meeting point. You had a moment to regroup while you waited for Packard and his men to reach you. James insisted on helping you out of the ploat, and then refilling your water from the little stream as you waited. You were looking around, wary of your surroundings after the attack. When the underbrush started rustling, everyone went on high alert. Guns were raised, you were pushed behind James, and then Packard and his men emerged from the brush.

Men were missing from the group, but that was expected after the attack. Learning about Kong and the things Marlow told you, you didn’t necessarily blame him. You did warn about what would happen to the wildlife if they dropped the bombs, you just didn’t expect it to be on this scale. “We’re still missing a man. Chapman crashed not far from here. I’m not leaving without him,” Packard argued.

“No way, that’s through Skullcrawler territory,” Marlow started before freaking out about not going. That was where the nest was, and you were on Marlow’s side here. If they were even half as bad as Marlow had been telling you, you didn’t want anything to do with them. Packard ignored Marlow, turning his attention back to James.

“That’s your job, right? You’re a tracker, you’re supposed to find lost men. Help me find my man,” Packard said. James looked to you for a second before looking back at Packard.

“We all stay together, head straight where he’s supposed to be. If he’s not there, we leave. We’re back by nightfall and we leave,” James instructed. Packard nodded, and your group went off to find Chapman. James kept true to his word, keeping you close as you trekked through the jungle yet again. If you weren’t right next to him, he made sure you were within arm’s reach.

Your group reached the mass grave, Weaver making some comment about seeing enough of them to know one. Now you were entirely in Skullcrawler territory, so you had to tread carefully. There was a small explosion from one of the soldiers dropping a lit cigarette in a field of natural gas, and you didn’t quite remember what happened after. When the Skullcrawlers got near, James made sure to pull you along with him, never actually letting you out of his sight. The Skullcrawler coughed up the half-digested skull with the dog tags, but that wasn’t the end of it.

Randa was the first one to get killed, and then all hell broke loose. There was more gunfire, Packard and his men trying to fight off the Skullcrawlers, and then James saw Slivko was in trouble. James pushed you towards Brooks - though you weren’t sure why he chose Brooks - and took off to Slivko. You were going to run after him, but Brooks held you back.

You couldn’t see much, but Brooks still had to hold you back from running into the chaos. The Skullcrawler was running after James and Slivko, but then Weaver threw James’s lighter into one of the natural gas vents. There was an explosion, larger than the ones before, and the Skullcrawler went down. The coast was clear, so you ran to James.

“You are so fucking stupid,” you said, voice wavering as James sat up. Before he could say anything, you grabbed his face and kissed him. That just seemed to stun him even more. “Come on, are you hurt?”

“Just sore, you should take a look at Slivko,” James told you as he stood. He held out his hand to help up Weaver, and then you helped him bring Slivko to the rest of the group. Once you got to a relatively safe spot, you started tending to everyone’s wounds. The encounter with the Skullcrawlers left everyone beat up, but no one was hurt too badly. You heard James having an argument with Packard, and when you actually started paying attention, you saw Packard dangling the dog tags of the other soldiers lost.

“Then we split up. Me and my men will go to Chapman’s helicopter, the rest of you can go back to the boat,” Packard instructed. “I don’t care what you say. That thing killed my men, it’s going to die.”

That’s when all hell broke loose again, which was starting to happen a lot. Marlow, James, and Weaver tried arguing that killing Kong would throw everything on the island off balance, but Packard was just concerned about avenging his men. Eventually, the group split off, civilians going back to the ploat, and the soldiers going to Chapman’s helicopter. James led the group back through the jungle, making sure to keep an eye on you. When your group reached a small clearing, you took a break. “I need to get to higher ground to figure out where we are. (Y/n), come with me.”

“Wait, I’m coming too,” Weaver said, following you and James away from the clearing. James helped you with climbing up the cliff face, making sure that you weren’t straining your shoulder too much. Considering he was the one to bring you there, it was a bit ironic. As you looked out at the island in front of you, you couldn’t help but feel amazement at the beauty of the island. Maybe some things that were uncharted should remain uncharted.

James and Weaver looked over the island, James trying to locate the landing point of the ploat. Just when he found it, all three of you saw something that made you stop dead in your tracks. Kong was approaching the cliff you were on. Immediately James moved you behind him, putting himself between you and any potential danger. James grabbed your hand, holding it tight as though trying to reassure you that everything would be okay. Maybe he was trying to reassure himself. As Kong grew nearer, none of you dared to move. You were caught in a staring contest with Kong, until Weaver stepped forward and just placed her hand against Kong’s face. He closed his eyes until Weaver stepped back. The moment of peace was broken when explosions started somewhere in the distance. Packard and his men reached Chapman’s helicopter.

Kong ran off, and your little trio made your way down the cliff face as fast as you could. James immediately went into Captain mode, directing Brooks and San to make their way to the boat and leave if you weren’t back at dawn. Marlow wanted to know what was going on, and the second he heard that the three of you were going to save Kong, he wanted in. Once again your group split up, and you headed back into the jungle, hoping you could get there in time to save Kong.

**********

When you got to Packard and his men, they had already downed Kong. There was a moment where guns were pointed at each other, Marlow had his sword drawn on a couple soldiers, and the argument from before resurfaced. It wasn’t until you had managed to convince Slivko to defect that the other soldiers joined him. You left Packard there to his suicide mission, James giving him one last chance to do the right thing before the group made their way back to the ploat.

Everything that happened next seemed to be a blur. The big Skullcrawler was chasing after your group. Cole dropped his AK and went to sacrifice himself, only to be thrown into the side of the mountain. James sent Weaver off to go send a signal flare for the boat, and the remaining soldiers started shooting at the creature. Kong showed up, and it was on sight with the Skullcrawler. Everyone watched in horror at the events unfolding before them, Kong getting trapped in a wrecked boat and the Skullcrawler trying to take advantage of it. Then Weaver shot a flare at the Skullcrawler, the flare embedding itself in the creature’s face. As it was trying to claw the flare from its face, Kong freed himself somewhat.

In the fight, the cliff edge Weaver was standing on got hit, the ground under her crumbling. You and James watched as she was plunged into the water, James immediately jumping into action even though Kong and the Skullcrawler were still fighting. Not long after, Kong finished off the Skullcrawler. He reached into the water where Weaver had fallen, pulling her out and placing her on the banks before walking away. You trudged through the water, going to Weaver as fast as you could. James saw what happened and got out of the water.

“C’mon, Weaver,” you said, lifting her upper body up. She’d been underwater for a few minutes, and you needed to get any water out of her system. James kneeled beside the two of you, watching as you worked. It took a minute, but she started coughing up water, coming back to the world. The second she came to, she hugged James, like he was the one who saved her life. Then Brooks and San came on the ploat, having missed everything exciting.

“When word gets out, they’re not going to leave this island alone,” you muttered, resting your head on James’s shoulder. James wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you closer.

“We’re the only ones that know, and I’m not going to say anything,” Weaver spoke up. James nodded, and even though nothing more was said, the agreement was understood.

“So, England?” You asked James, looking up at him. “I’ve never been.”

“I can’t wait to show you,” James said, giving you a quick kiss.

**********

Permanent Tag List: @treatallwithkindness

Tag List: @midnight-queen-1

#james conrad x reader #james conrad imagine #kong: skull island #kong: skull island imagine #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston imagine #reader insert

141 notes · View notes

mirandalinotto · 4 years

Text

South Solitary Review

Trigger Warnings: Death, Combat PTSD, Referenced Suicide, Sexual Assault/Dubious Consent, Cheating, Implied Pregnancy Loss/Abortion, Hysterectomy, Blaming the Victim..... yeah. it’s a lot.

here there be spoilers.

I definitely went into this movie thinking it was a cute little story about a girl, her lamb, and her stern uncle. Boy, was I wrong!

Miranda Otto plays Meredith Appleton, the niece of George (played be her real-life father, Barry Otto). I’m going to use Miranda and Barry’s names instead of their character names, because that’s just easier to understand, I think, but please know I’m talking about the characters they play, not they themselves.

So, Barry and Miranda are sent to the South Solitary island because the Head Lighthouse Keeper committed suicide, and the lighthouse needed a new person in charge. Barry is incredibly strict and often rude, but I suppose that’s understandable, at least when it comes to how he treats his staff, considering the state they find the lighthouse management in.

Miranda’s character seems incredibly precious, shy, demure, and completely unfit for the rough life of living on a craggy rock with only a few other people for company. At the start, there are six other people on the island: the Stanley family, which consists of Henry Stanley (a rogue if there ever was one), Alma, his rough and sharp-tongued wife (played by Essie Davis), and their three children... and then the brooding, PTSD-plagued war-veteran, Jack Fleet.

There are some pretty upsetting subjects discussed in this movie, not the least of which being an extremely blunt conversation between Miranda and Essie Davis, in which Essie Davis’ character presses Miranda for intimate details about why she isn’t married yet, and hasn’t had any kids.

Miranda reveals that she can’t have children, because an operation went wrong (it’s implied that she had an abortion, based on Essie asking, “you were up the pipe?”), and she was forced to have a hysterectomy as a result. She says the child was conceived with a married man (which I’m extremely confused about, because I thought the man involved would’ve been her so-called fiancé...?) and it’s very odd that they just drop that fact into the story, because it seems extremely out of character for Meredith, as we know her currently... and yet, it becomes a fundamental characterization, as she later goes on to sleep with a married man again, and defends how poorly her uncle treats her by insisting that he was the only one who would take her in after the (implied) abortion.

Essie Davis is unsympathetic to Miranda’s sad backstory, and never warms up to Miranda’s character... so the opportunity for female friendship was sadly missed in this film. They are pretty much enemies from start to finish.

There’s also a subplot where Miranda tries to get to know the youngest child, Netty, but the girl is very hard to read. You can tell she’s had a rough life, and doesn’t suffer fools. Their “friendship” barely develops before Netty fails to care for Miranda’s sheep, and they have a falling out.

Also, there is an ambiguously rape-y, dubiously consensual scene where Henry attempts to seduce Miranda, and is... apparently successful? I feel very strongly that her multiple polite refusals of his advances ought to have indicated to the man that he should leave her alone. She seems incredibly naïve, innocent, and virginal in this scene (which is odd, considering she’s apparently had an affair with a married man before...?!). He’s pretty open about being attracted to her for a good portion of the scene, so Miranda’s polite rebuffs shouldn’t have been taken as consent---as in, he took the fact that she didn’t throw him out of her cottage at the first warning sign as “leading him on.”

To that point, she literally says, “I’m sorry if I’ve led you on,” and he says she hasn’t, and then like one minute later, when she insists she hadn’t noticed that he was interested in her, he acts surprised and goes: “well now you really are leading me on.”

When it becomes clear he’s about to kiss her, she gets this incredibly frightened look on her face, and says, “oh! there’s the milk boiling!” clearly intending to run away from him and tend to the stove, but he forces her to kiss him... and then the scene cuts to black, leaving me very concerned that he raped her.

We see them alone together two more times, one where he forces another kiss on her in the light house, and then another where it’s just a straight-up sex scene. I hate the angle they took the sex scene from, because it looks like Miranda’s body is in an extremely uncomfortable position as he pounds into her. It definitely doesn’t read as a romantic coupling, that’s for sure.

I guess we’re meant to believe that she warmed up to him sometime between him forcing himself on her in the kitchen and them having sex in her bed days later...?

(I hate it.)

Anyway, Essie Davis finds out about the affair, and makes the whole family leave the island. This leaves only three people left: Miranda, Barry, and the war-veteran, Jack, who has frequent PTSD episodes and really shouldn’t be a lighthouse keeper at all.

Also, Barry is PISSED when he finds out about Miranda’s affair, and there’s a lot of slut-shaming and victim-blaming that goes on, right before he just randomly... dies? I definitely didn’t see that coming. So he dies while still extremely disappointed in Miranda, and I just hate that, because her character seems fixated on what others think of her. His displeasure with her in his final hours definitely left a wound in her heart.

Which then leaves Miranda alone on the island with Jack. Miranda’s character isn’t good at being alone. The rest of the movie is honestly just her trying to get Jack to open up to her, but he doesn’t really. They embroider things together, and he teaches her how to be a lighthouse keeper, but they only barely scratch the surface of each other’s pasts.

And then a ship arrives to take her home....?!! The end?! But not before she insists she ought to stay, which I found incredibly weird. She barely knows this brooding man, and suddenly she can’t live without him? She doesn’t want to leave him alone, despite the living conditions on the island being impossible for her to endure? It’s very strange.

I had high hopes for this movie, and I do think it’s worth watching, if only for Miranda’s beautiful, moving performance.... but I just sort of don’t know what the point or message of this film was supposed to be...?

Miranda Otto’s character is treated pretty poorly by everyone on the island. There is very little happiness or humor to balance the darkness of the story. Most of the moments that are meant to be romantic or sexy are dubiously consensual, so I didn’t find those very enjoyable, and the subplot about her lamb going missing (presumed dead) and then her finding it months later just isn’t that entertaining, if I’m being honest?

All in all, I’d give Miranda’s performance a 10/10, but the movie as a whole about a 5/10.

#miranda otto #south solitary #essie davis #meredith appleton #barry otto

13 notes · View notes

agentrouka-blog · 4 years

Text

ASOIAF - Dany and the persimmons of doom

The persimmon is mentioned 13 times, 12 times in Dany chapters.

What’s a Persimmon?

The word Diospyros comes from the ancient Greek words "dios" (δῐος) and "pyron" (πῡρον). A popular etymology construed this as "divine fruit", or as meaning "wheat of Zeus" or "God's pear" and "Jove's fire". The dio-, as shown by the short vowel 'i', has nothing to do with 'divine' (δῑoς ), dio- being an affix attached to plant names, and in classical Greek the compound referred to "the fruit of the nettle tree".

The word persimmon itself is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit".

The name was misconstrued to mean something a lot more elevated, something divine, olympian, fiery and impressive, when it really is a lot more basic than that.

Kind of loving where this is headed already.

(Long, because many quotes.)

The first and only persimmon mention outside of a Dany chapter is in AGOT, Eddard V. It’s contained in a list of offered refreshments by Pycelle, while Ned has gone to him to inquire about Jon Arryn’s death.

"Lord Arryn's death was a great sadness for all of us, my lord," Grand Maester Pycelle said. "I would be more than happy to tell you what I can of the manner of his passing. Do be seated. Would you care for refreshments? Some dates, perhaps? I have some very fine persimmons as well. Wine no longer agrees with my digestion, I fear, but I can offer you a cup of iced milk, sweetened with honey. I find it most refreshing in this heat."

(AGOT, Eddard V)

Things in a list are, in my opinion, very often symbolically loaded.

Dates. Persimmons. Milk sweetened with honey.

Dates, counting just the actual fruit, are also most heavily associated with Dany (7 mentions) and to a lesser degree Tyrion (3 mentions) and Arys Oakheart and Arianne (1 each). Also, Dorne in general.

Milk with honey, which is what Ned ends up choosing, as a combination is associated with Brienne, Jaime and the Riverland mess, oddly enough, and, sweetened milk in general also with the suppression of Sweetrobin (sweetsleep). I’m sticking to the persimmon for now.

So, what are persimmons about for Dany?

The first mention occurs in Qarth, close to the beginning of Daenerys III.

Descendants of the ancient kings and queens of Qarth, the Pureborn commanded the Civic Guard and the fleet of ornate galleys that ruled the straits between the seas. Daenerys Targaryen had wanted that fleet, or part of it, and some of their soldiers as well. She made the traditional sacrifice in the Temple of Memory, offered the traditional bribe to the Keeper of the Long List, sent the traditional persimmon to the Opener of the Door, and finally received the traditional blue silk slippers summoning her to the Hall of a Thousand Thrones.

(ACOK, Daenerys III)

Another list. Hmm...

A sacrifice in the Temple of Memory... (If I look back, I am lost. What was Hazzea’s name again?)

A bribe to the Keeper of the Long List. (Keeper of lists... Arya keeps a kill list. Other list keepers might be the maesters at the Citadel for marriages births and deaths. There are two specifically mentioned “long lists”, Pycelle’s list of people who should swear fealty to Joffrey, and Hizdahr’s list of Dany’s enemies after smashing the slave trade.)

A persimmon to the Opener of Doors. (The red door likely foreshadows her Burning of King’s Landing, which is what I think this refers to. Elsewise, Jon significantly opened the gates of the Wall for the wildlings to march through. Jon, and Dany both open doors in significant dreams or visions.)

Then she receives the blue silk slippers and is summoned to the Hall of a Thousand Thrones. (Blue silk is heavily associated with Sansa, where it’s associated with catastrophe, violence, betrayal and defeat. To a lesser degree same for Brienne and Cersei. And the blue bard. This is not a happy fabric.)

But anyway, so the persimmon is associated with the Opening Of The Door. And what else?

The Pureborn reject Dany’s offerings and do not give her a fleet. She grumbles. She contemplates returning to Vaes Tolorro and making a home there but rejects the idea. Xaro asks her to marry him. A lot. Quaithe says reaches out to her again and gives her the “To go North you must go south etc” prophecy. She decides to go see the HOTU. (Destruction will follow.)

So, persimmon -> rejecting non-conquering path. And Quaithe egging her on.

Next Mention, still in Qarth. The persimmon opens the chapter.

She was breaking her fast on a bowl of cold shrimp-and-persimmon soup when Irri brought her a Qartheen gown, an airy confection of ivory samite patterned with seed pearls. "Take it away," Dany said. "The docks are no place for lady's finery."

If the Milk Men thought her such a savage, she would dress the part for them. When she went to the stables, she wore faded sandsilk pants and woven grass sandals.

(ACOK, Daenerys V)

She consumes persimmon, and returns to her Dothraki garb, rejects Xaro’s proposal of marriage, finds herself unloved by the smallfolk of Qarth and pressured to leave.

They know who I am, and they do not love me. Dany could tell from the way they looked at her.

Xaro refuses to help her get a fleet. She contemplates the visons in the HOTU. We get a book series title drop.

“I remember,” Dany said sadly. “They murdered Rhaegar’s daughter as well, the Little princess. Rhaenys, she was named, like Aegon’s sister. There was no Visenya, but he said the dragon has three heads. What is the song of ice and fire?”

“It’s no song I’ve ever heard.”

Dany wanders the docks and meets Barristan Selmy and Strong Belwas, who save her from a poison assassination attempt by the Sorrowful Men. Selmy and Belwas were sent by Magister Illyrio along with three ships. She accepts them, and renames them for the three conquering dragons Vhagar, Meraxes, Balerion.

So, all in all we are on theme here with Dany embracing her inner dragon and rejecting alternative options of making a home. Aegon the Conquerer with Teats it is. Thank you, persimmon.

Next up, A Storm of Swords. Dany goes Unsullied-shopping in Astapor. The persimmon is at the beginning of the chapter.

“Your ears heard true,” said Dany. “I want to buy them all. Tell the Good Masters, if you will.”

She had chosen a Qartheen gown today. The deep violet silk brought out the purple of her eyes. The cut of it bared her left breast. While the Good Masters of Astapor conferred among themselves in low voices, Dany sipped tart persimmon wine from a tall silver flute. She could not quite make out all that they were saying, but she could hear the greed.

(...)

Dany let them argue, sipping the tart persimmon wine and trying to keep her face blank and ignorant. I will have them all, no matter the price, she told herself. The city had a hundred slave traders, but the eight before her were the greatest. When selling bed slaves, fieldhands, scribes, craftsmen, and tutors, these men were rivals, but their ancestors had allied one with the other for the purpose of making and selling the Unsullied. Brick and blood built Astapor, and brick and blood her people.

(…)

Two thousand would never serve for what she meant to do. I must have them all. Dany knew what she must do now, though the taste of it was so bitter that even the persimmon wine could not cleanse it from her mouth. She had considered long and hard and found no other way. It is my only choice. "Give me all," she said, "and you may have a dragon."

(…)

“Missandei is no longer a slave. I free you, from this instant. Come ride with me in the litter, I wish to talk.” Rakharo helped them in, and Dany drew the curtains shut against the dust and heat. “If you stay with me you will serve as one of my handmaids,” she said as they set off. “I shall keep you by my side to speak for me as you spoke for Kraznys. But you may leave my service whenever you choose, if you have father or mother you would sooner return to.” “This one will stay,” the girl said. “This one … I … there is no place for me to go. This … I will serve you, gladly.”

(ASOS, Daenerys III)

Persimmon & “buy them all, have them all, give me all” on triple display. Gee, I wonder if we will have another dragon escalation coming up?

Also, Dany’s special brand of slave liberation is in full swing. You are free to leave - with no alternatives provided for you. Or stay and serve as my “handmaid”. Ask Irri what that means.

The night before the transaction, she dreams she is Rhaegar on dragonback, bathing her enemies in dragonfire. A good dream, for Dany. She gets a visit from Quaithe. The next day, she dresses in Dothraki garb again. Fire and Blood.

“Unsullied!” Dany galloped before them, her silver-gold braid flying behind her, her bell chiming with every stride. “Slay the Good Masters, slay the soldiers, slay every man who wears a tokar or holds a whip, but harm no child under twelve, and strike the chains off every slave you see.” She raised the harpy’s fingers in the air … and then she flung the scourge aside. “Freedom!” she sang out. “Dracarys! Dracarys!” “Dracarys!” they shouted back, the sweetest word she’d ever heard. “Dracarys! Dracarys!” And all around them slavers ran and sobbed and begged and died, and the dusty air was filled with spears and fire.

It would appear that the persimmons signal the proximity of a dragon escalation. Persimmons always appear at the beginning of a chapter where Dany chooses Dothraki garb and dragonfire.

Does it hold up?

A newly conquered Meereen has the next persimmon mention right at the top of the chapter:

Dany broke her fast under the persimmon tree that grew in the terrace garden, watching her dragons chase each other about the apex of the Great Pyramid where the huge bronze harpy once stood. Meereen had a score of lesser pyramids, but none stood even half as tall. From here she could see the whole city:

(…)

And beyond the walls was the pewter sea, the winding Skahazadhan, the dry brown hills, burnt orchards, and blackened fields. Up here in her garden Dany sometimes felt like a god, living atop the highest mountain in the world.

(…)

All my victories turn to dross in my hands, she thought. Whatever I do, all I make is death and horror.

(…)

“My city,” said Dany. “I was looking for a house with a red door, but by night all the doors are black.”

“A red door?” Missandei was puzzled. “What house is this?” “No house. It does not matter.” Dany took the younger girl by the hand. “Never lie to me, Missandei. Never betray me.”

"I never would," Missandei promised. "Look, dawn comes."

(…)

On the terrace, a few flies stirred sluggishly. A bird began to chirp in the persimmon tree, and then two more. Dany cocked her head to hear their song, but it was not long before the sounds of the waking city drowned them out.

The sounds of my city.

(…)

“What will you do then, Khaleesi?” asked Rakharo. “Stay,” she said. “Rule. And be a queen.”

(ASOS, Daenerys VI)

After the first persimmon mention, she reflects on the conquest of Meereen in a terrible, savage sack. (Incidentally, using the same kinds of weapons to attack their gate as Jon defends against the Wildling attack on the Wall, specifically the “turtle” and ram. Jon/Dany romantic foreshadowing, surely.)

Persimmon -> Dragon and dothraki. Yes, it holds up.

But there is a second persimmon mention. Persimmons in the middle of a chapter tend to signal a rejection of the dragon path.

After a series of bad news from Astapor and beyond, making her question the success of her actions, she decides to change her plans. The birds draw her attention to the persimmon tree of dragon escalation BUT the sounds of her city drown them out. She turns away from the siren call. She decides to try and responsibly deal with actual ruling.

So far, so on theme. Will the persimmons make a comeback when Dany re-dragons? Yes. Yes, they will.

ADWD gives us more persimmons. Many more.

Daenerys II. Middle-chapter persimmon -> Dragon rejection.

She is unrestful. The Sons of the Harpy killed Missandei’s brother, and many more. She agrees to have a suspect’s young daughter tortured to get answers. She grows very tired of ruling. She struggles to comfort Missandei who asserts Dany’s Mhysa identity. But Dany is lonely and longs to be loved, longs for Daario. She takes a bath and, hello, Quaithe!

A woman stood under the persimmon tree, clad in a hooded robe that brushed the grass. Beneath the hood, her face seemed hard and shiny. She is wearing a mask, Dany knew, a wooden mask finished in dark red lacquer. "Quaithe? Am I dreaming?" She pinched her ear and winced at the pain. "I dreamt of you on Balerion, when first we came to Astapor."

(…)

“Daenerys. Remember the Undying. Remember who you are.” “The blood of the dragon.” But my dragons are roaring in the darkness. “I remember the Undying. Child of three, they called me. Three mounts they promised me, three fires, and three treasons. One for blood and one for gold and one for …”

"Your Grace?" Missandei stood in the door of the queen's bedchamber, a lantern in her hand. "Who are you talking to?"

Dany glanced back toward the persimmon tree. There was no woman there. No hooded robe, no lacquer mask, no Quaithe.

A shadow. A memory. No one. She was the blood of the dragon, but Ser Barristan had warned her that in that blood there was a taint. Could I be going mad? They had called her father mad, once. "I was praying," she told the Naathi girl. "It will be light soon. I had best eat something, before court."

(…)

If I look back, I am doomed, Dany told herself … but how could she not look back? I should have seen it coming. Was I so blind, or did I close my eyes willfully, so I would not have to see the price of power?

(…)

I am the blood of the dragon, she thought. If they are monsters, so am I.

(ADWD, Daenerys II)

Dany is chaving under the pressures of ruling, already resorting back to cruelty, and under the persimmon tree, Quaithe beckons and tries to lure her back down the dragon path. Dany hesitates. She considers Hizdahr’s 7th proposal to open the fighting pits and questions Ser Barristan on his escape from Joffrey. She visits her dragons and questions herself, harshly.

This chapter is one big hope spot before it all goes to ashes.

Daenerys III. Closer to the beginning of the chapter, but not quite up there. -> less enthusiastic dragon rejection.

A banquet to honor the visit of Xaro from Qarth. Sensual dancing. Food and trade on the forefront of Dany’s mind, longing for Daaaaario in the background.

Daenerys held out her cup for Irri to refill. The wine was sweet and strong, redolent with the smell of eastern spices, much superior to the thin Ghiscari wines that had filled her cup of late. Xaro perused the fruits on the platter Jhiqui offered him and chose a persimmon. Its orange skin matched the color of the coral in his nose. He took a bite and pursed his lips. "Tart."

"Would my lord prefer something sweeter?"

“Sweetness cloys. Tart fruit and tart women give life its savor.” Xaro took another bite, chewed, swallowed. “Daenerys, sweet queen, I cannot tell you what pleasure it gives me to bask once more in your presence. A child departed Qarth, as lost as she was lovely. I feared she was sailing to her doom, yet now I find her here enthroned, mistress of an ancient city, surrounded by a mighty host that she raised up out of dreams.” No, she thought, out of blood and fire.

(ADWD, Daenerys III)

Tart v. sweet. Right now, a sweet queen? The persimmons beckon. She and Xaro philosophize on the relative merits of slavery. He would buy olives, she has to wait seven years for the newly planted trees to bear fruit. She hears of all the alliances made against her. Then he offers her a fleet to leave Slaver’s Bay and go home. Selmy likes the idea. Dany is sorely tempted, but the swirling rumors cause her court to question her and she lets go of the plans. She rejects Xaro’s tart persimmon-flavored offer of sailing off to conquer elsewhere. Xaro regrets not having killed her in Qarth. They part on bad Terms, she receives declaration of war the next morning.

Daenerys IX. The persimmon’s open the chapter. Uh oh.

The sky was a merciless blue, without a wisp of cloud in sight. The bricks will soon be baking in the sun, thought Dany. Down on the sands, the fighters will feel the heat through the soles of their sandals.

Jhiqui slipped Dany's silk robe from her shoulders and Irri helped her into her bathing pool. The light of the rising sun shimmered on the water, broken by the shadow of the persimmon tree. "Even if the pits must open, must Your Grace go yourself?" asked Missandei as she was washing the queen's hair.

(...)

My handmaids are Dothraki, she told herself. Death rides with every khalasar. The day she wed Khal Drogo, the arakhs had flashed at her wedding feast, and men had died whilst others drank and mated. Life and death went hand in hand amongst the horselords, and a sprinkling of blood was thought to bless a marriage. Her new marriage would soon be drenched in blood. How blessed it would be.

(…)

He is fire made flesh, she thought, and so am I. Daenerys Targaryen vaulted onto the dragon’s back, seized the spear, and ripped it out. The point was half-melted, the iron red-hot, glowing. She flung it aside. Drogon twisted under her, his muscles rippling as he gathered his strength. The air was thick with sand. Dany could not see, she could not breathe, she could not think. The black wings cracked like thunder, and suddenly the scarlet sands were falling away beneath her. Dizzy, Dany closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she glimpsed the Meereenese beneath her through a haze of tears and dust, pouring up the steps and out into the streets. The lash was still in her hand. She flicked it against Drogon’s neck and cried, “Higher!” Her other hand clutched at his scales, her fingers scrabbling for purchase. Drogon’s wide black wings beat the air. Dany could feel the heat of him between her thighs. Her heart felt as if it were about to burst. Yes, she thought, yes, now, now, do it, do it, take me, take me, FLY!

(ADWD, Daenerys IX)

Well. I’d say the pattern fits. Persimmon tree shadow breaks the image of a new dawn on the water, dothraki references, FIRE AND BLOOD.

And her final ADWD chapter?

Daenerys X. Persimmon joins us close to the beginning of the chapter, but not quite at the top. But Dany makes up for that with enthusiasm.

Hers had been a lonely sojourn, and for most of it she had been hurt and hungry … yet despite it all she had been strangely happy here. A few aches, an empty belly, chills by night … what does it matter when you can fly? I would do it all again.

Jhiqui and Irri would be waiting atop her pyramid back in Meereen, she told herself. Her sweet scribe Missandei as well, and all her little pages. They would bring her food, and she could bathe in the pool beneath the persimmon tree. It would be good to feel clean again. Dany did not need a glass to know that she was filthy.

She was hungry too. One morning she had found some wild onions growing halfway down the south slope, and later that same day a leafy reddish vegetable that might have been some queer sort of cabbage. Whatever it was, it had not made her sick. Aside from that, and one fish that she had caught in the spring-fed pool outside of Drogon's cave, she had survived as best she could on the dragon's leavings, on burned bones and chunks of smoking meat, half-charred and half-raw. She needed more, she knew. One day she kicked at a cracked sheep's skull with the side of a bare foot and sent it bouncing over the edge of the hill. And as she watched it tumble down the steep slope toward the sea of grass, she realized she must follow.

Dany set off through the tall grass at a brisk pace. The earth felt warm between her toes. The grass was as tall as she was. It never seemed so high when I was mounted on my silver, riding beside my sun-and-stars at the head of his khalasar. As she walked, she tapped her thigh with the pitmaster’s whip. That, and the rags on her back, were all she had taken from Meereen.

(…)

Below, she saw men whirling, wreathed in flame, hands up in the air as if caught in the throes of some mad dance. A woman in a green tokar reached for a weeping child, pulling him down into her arms to shield him from the flames. Dany saw the color vividly, but not the woman’s face. People were stepping on her as they lay tangled on the bricks. Some were on fire. Then all of that had faded, the sounds dwindling, the people shrinking, the spears and arrows falling back beneath them as Drogon clawed his way into the sky. Up and up and up he’d borne her, high above the pyramids and pits, his wings outstretched to catch the warm air rising from the city’s sun baked bricks. If I fall and die, it will still have been worth it, she had thought.

(…)

No, Dany told herself. If I look back I am lost. She might live for years amongst the sunbaked rocks of Dragonstone, riding Drogon by day and gnawing at his leavings every evenfall as the great grass sea turned from gold to orange, but that was not the life she had been born to.

(…)

“Quaithe?” Dany called. “Where are you, Quaithe?” Then she saw. Her mask is made of starlight. “Remember who you are, Daenerys,” the stars whispered in a woman’s voice. “The dragons know. Do you?”

(…)

“Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …” Dany could not recall the child’s name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away.

(…)

Never, said the grass, in the gruff tones of Jorah Mormont. You were warned, Your Grace. Let this city be, I said. Your war is in Westeros, I told you.

(…)

As the western sky turned the color of a blood bruise, she heard the sound of approaching horses. Dany rose, wiped her hands on her ragged undertunic, and went to stand beside her dragon. That was how Khal Jhaqo found her, when half a hundred mounted warriors emerged from the drifting smoke.

(ADWD, Daenerys X)

She WANTS the persimmon tree. There is the Dothraki environment. She WANTS Quaithe. She starts acting like a literal dragon, nesting, eating Drogon’s leavings, wanders the grasslands half-crazed, suffery dysentery, miscarries (Mhysa v. Mother of Dragons) and makes her sacrifice to the Temple of Memory (Hazzea), which was the first step to the Hall of Thousand Thrones in Qarth.

Next up, a bribe to the Keeper of the Long List, persimmon to the Opener of (Red) Doors and then it’s Hello, Blue Silk Slippers of (stabbing) Doom in the Hall of Thousand Thrones.

Considering how consistent the theme of the persimmon is, I’m kind of excited about it seeing how GRRM will use it in TWOW and ADOS.

Next up I think I’ll look at the context of dates, and milk with honey, just to find out why GRRM chose to have Ned reject the persimmons and dates and did let him choose the milk and honey, in that very first mention. Iced milk and honey.

#asoiaf #daenerys targaryen #persimmon #foreshadowing #fruit symbolism

60 notes · View notes