#THIS JUST MAKES SANDSTORM HIT ALL THE HARDER ONCE AGAIN

[wildwoof]

SOMEONE'S TRANSLATED THE PAMPHLET THAT WAS HANDED OUT DURING CROSSROAD SCREENING && I'M SOBBING SO MUCH. FINALLY GET THAT BACKGROUND INFO I'VE BEEN CRAVING FOR KOGA FOR SO SO LONG.

THE FEELINGS I HAD ABOUT KOGA BEING LONELY AS HE GREW UP WEREN'T THAT FAR OFF HONESTLY. IT TRULY SEEMS LIKE HE RLY DIDN'T HAVE FRIENDS. HIS PARENTS SPOILED HIM AT FIRST. THEN IT SEEMS LIKE WHEN HE HIT JUNIOR HIGH AGE, THEY JUST BEGAN TO LET HIM DO WHATEVER HE WANTED BUT THEN ADOPTED LEON.

SO EVERYTHING BEGAN TO SHIFT TOWARD LEON FROM HIS PARENTS THAN AT HIM WHICH BEGAN TO MAKE HIM FEEL MORE LONELY, BUT AS I THOUGHT HE WASN'T ONE TO ASK FOR ANYTHING. HE WAS SPOILED, BUT HE WAS ALSO CONSIDERATE. FELT LEON DESERVED THAT LOVE, SO INSTEAD HE CHOSE TO SEEK SOMETHING ELSE OUT INSTEAD.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

SO JUST COMING UPON REI & LISTENING TO REI SINGING ON STAGE GAVE KOGA SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO. AGAIN, HE STILL WAS FINE JUST BEING ABLE TO WATCH REI FROM A DISTANCE. HE DIDN'T DESIRE ANYTHING ELSE OUT REI. THIS WAS HIS PERIOD WHERE HE PUT REI UP ON THAT PEDASTAL AS WELL BEFORE CHANGING HIS TUNE WHEN HE BEGAN TO REALIZE THE AFFECTS IT HAD ON REI. WHEN HE REALIZED JUST HOW HUMAN REI WAS AS WELL AFTER CROSSROAD.

It also gives a little insight to what Koga's doing right after Crossroad concludes. That even tho he's still standing on Rei's side during the War, Koga pushes the idea of the other Yumenosaki students causing a scene due to his position aside & CONTINUES to sing & dance on stage, playing his guitar. It's his resolve that keeps him going during that turbulent time. He'll show those students in the Livehouse the power of his vocals & song. He'll continue to strive toward that very desire. Rei saved him first, so he'll in turn save Rei as well.

[rukkiya]

where were you

(al haitham x reader, mentions of cyno)

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Al Haitham’s mood was already sour having dealt with Cyno just hours prior, so imagine the plummet his mood took upon hearing that his upcoming mission he was going to be sent on was going to be with none other than you, he wasn’t all too happy to say the least.

He didn’t particularly dislike you, you just talked too much in his opinion. That and you also picked on him a lot, plus to make things worse Cyno and you were close friends making Haitham someone you weren’t to fond of either.

Something about his stoic/inexpressive standoffish attitude made you want to see him crack. Either from sheer annoyance or anger either or would be amusing to see so Cyno and you always made it your mission to pick fights with the akademiya student every time you crossed paths.

You hum a tune as you wait for Al Haitham to arrive, your foot tapping on the ground as you reach into your bag for your pocket watch once again only to see a pair of familiar boots step into your view.

You exhale a laugh already smiling up at a frowning Al Haitham.

“Two minutes late, is this what they teach you at the Akademia?” You tease, he only looked over you and walked past you, exhaling through his nose as he did so to show his annoyance.

A smile makes its way onto your lips, you just can’t help yourself, he's so easy to tease.

“So Haitham, they left me in charge since I know around this site right? I’m assuming you know I’m taking the lead since you know we’re researching around the area I grew up in?” You pick up your pace, legs moving at twice the speed as Al Haitham was. Him and his dumb long legs.

You look up at him after a few seconds of no response to see his stoic face remain the same, unwavered and annoyed as always.

You only laugh again making the tall man roll his eyes at how annoying you were already being despite only just greeting you seconds ago.

He knew that he was going to have a long trip, now it was going to feel especially longer because of your comments and teasing and archons does he wish he didn’t have to come with you but it was you or Cyno and no way was he about to choose Cyno. They’d rip each other to shreds before they would even reach the village so he knows that he has to suck it up just for the time being.

“Not going to answer now big guy? Come on, don’t be so uptight all the time. Besides if you wear that frown all day you’ll get wrinkles sooner than later.” You raise your hand up, poking his cheek as he suddenly stops, gently catching your wrist in his hand.

“What’s that phrase again? Less talk, more walk?Also hands to yourself please and thank you.” He exhales, looking down at you as he rolls his eyes, his temples feeling the familiar slight throb already.

“We’ll just be doing some simple research at a the specified location is all, now if you’ll excuse me I’d like to get this done sooner than later I don’t want to be out for too long I need to come back to finish some business.” His hand let go of your wrist, his long legs wasting no time as he stormed away just as quickly as he had stopped.

Now a quick trip that was supposed to be just had to come with a catch with Al Haitham’s luck. Just as you both had arrived at the designated research area as the storm that was brewing hit harder than usual. The village was in the cusp between the desert and rainforest so a sandstorm plus heavy rain was bound to ruin anyones day, especially if they’re stuck with someone they don’t like.

The withering zones nearby had shot up tenfold making it dangerous for even those who wield visions to be out for too long. So as much as Al Haitham didn’t want to spend another second with you, let alone more than he had to, you both needed to find shelter whether you liked it or not.

Now you weren’t all too happy either of course, you did have a vision but still having to “take shelter” for such reasons was making you upset, you could take the withering zones no problem you knew around the area like the lines on your palm. It was all going fine and Al Haitham’s mood was ok until he heard that he had to find shelter with you, archons this man did a whole 180 on you. If you thought he was moody before forget it because right now, his patience was running on thin ice.

“You don’t understand! I can still-“

“No.”

“Hey! It’s not that hard. Anyways I came here for this exact reason, just let me. Besides I grew up here I know the no zones and I can take care of myself!” You argue, though you feel like you’re talking to a wall, he won’t take what you say into consideration at all!

“Drop it, you’re being a nuisance.” His legs moved in the direction of the nearest inn, your arguing not aiding his pounding headache at all. “I said we’re heading to the nearest resting area just for the time being now stop complaining. I’m not getting in trouble for your reckless actions.” Al Haitham only walked faster, the heavy raindrops already drenching you both, the sand blowing in your faces making it hard to keep your eyes open.

You roll your eyes and bit your tongue, deciding it was best to save your breath as you knew he wouldn’t give you the chance to speak with his attitude. That and your clothes were soaking wet as well, you were more than sure you’ll get sick if you kept being as stubborn as you were being so you decided it was for the best in the end.

Al Haitham’s legs came to a halt as he stared up at the familiar building in front of you both. He’s come down here many times for research and this inn was one he’s stayed at more than once so he decides this inn would be the best as he knows the owner himself, hoping you can get rooms to rest for the rest of the day.

“Ah, Al Haitham good sir, it's been quite a while since I’ve seen you around. Down here for research I presume?” The old man behind the counter at the inn spoke up upon your entrance.

“Hello, it’s good to see you once again, and yes, research business for the akademiya is all, but the downpour is a bit too rough I was wondering if you had rooms for us to reside for the night, we’ll be off tomorrow morning but you’ll be compensated for your help.” Al haitham smiled warmly at the edleryman, making you do a double take. Such a soft smile on him looks so unordinary, but it fit him well, it made you realize just how rare it is to see him smile having barley seen it for the first time right now.

You blink as you turn away feeling slightly embarrassed for dumbly staring at him like that only making Al Haitham clear his throat.

“I presume this is your significant other? I’ve never seen you around with anyone young man-“

“Surely you jest,” Al Haitham laughs uncharacteristically, making you shoot him a questioning look.

“Goodness no, they definitely are not and never will be my significant other. Not only would I not spare them a second glance but I won’t even give them the time of day.” Al Haitham spat out more harshly than intended making you open your mouth but fail to say anything out of embarrassment.

The old man behind the counter only scratched his head. He didn’t mean to make you both feel awkward, he was just teasing but Al haitham was a bit harsh with his words making the old man feel bad for you because of Al Haitham’s sharp tone.

“Ah, sorry didn’t mean to upset you. But I do have a room open for you guys to stay the night, or well wait until the storm passes.” The old man clears his throat, sending you an apologetic smile as he explains the situation.

You internally groan, not only were you just embarrassed by Al Haitham but now only one room was available for the both of you meaning having to hear his complaints even more now, what luck you had today surely.

“We’ll take it.” Al haitham wasted no time taking up the offer making you do a double take yet again. Did he hear correctly? You question yourself, suspicious as to why he took up the offer a bit too fast.

“If you’ll be so kind as to tell us the room numbers. I wouldn’t want to be in these clothes any longer than I have to.” Al Haitham jokes, peeling his skin tight shirt off of his chest just a bit, seeing water slide off the thin fabric.

“Room numbers?” The old man repeats, confused as to why he implied it separately.

“Yes. The numbers to the rooms we’ll be staying in.” Al Haitham stated mattarfactly.

Ah, yes of course this doofus misheard. You only roll your eyes at Al Haitham’s obliviousness.

“Young Man, I'm afraid you misheard. There is only one room, the rest are booked.” The old man repeated.

“One room?” Al Haitham’s eyebrows furrowed. “One room as in only one with, one bed and all nothing else, no other options?” Al Haitham stupidly asked though he himself knew what this meant, he just couldn’t belive it was happening to him, why with you of all people?

“Yessir I’m afraid so. Though, is there a problem with this situation?” The old man tilted his head not really understanding why Al Haitham seemed so bothered by this fact.

Al hailtham was doing your confidence no good you’ll say that. Sure you did tease the guy a lot and poked fun but geez, he was taking it a bit too far with his sharp tongue. He was making you feel more bad about yourself than you already do and for no reason.

“So one room is all you have, no others.” Al Haitham repeats, exhaling as he raised his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Of all the people in the world it would be with you.” He murmured under his breath. The displeased look on his features making you feel guilty, though you’ve done nothing wrong.

“I suppose if that’s all you have then there is sadly nothing we can do. As much as I don’t want to, I guess we’ll have to still take you up on your offer.” He reached into his pocket and you rolled your eyes. “Though I’d much rather sleep outside in the storm than with the likes of you. My headache is only going to get worse.” He grumbled under his breath, throwing one bad comment after another.

You stood quiet for too long but he was being more rude han he needed to be, saying things that didn’t need to be said, making you feel unwanted and bothersome.

“Sounds good, I’ll meet you back at the akademiya.” You took off your coat, wringing the excess water into a nearby plant as you shook it once again.

“No need to throw a tantrum now, I can find my own place to stay. You stay here tonight. Thank you for your service, sir.” You slightly bow, sending the old man behind the counter a closed eye smile as you adjust your coat on your arms, the fabric clinging to your body making you dread the downpour that you have to face once again.

The old man put his hands up and opened his mouth to stop you but Al haitham’s hand did so instead.

You felt his hand wrap around your arm, slightly pulling you back to stop you before you reached the exit.

“Hey where do you thin-“

“Don’t touch me.” You shrug his hand off you, not even bothering to look at him still too embarrassed by his unnecessary comments.

“You mustn’t leave, the rain and toxins will cause those with visions to get sick too! I didn't mean for my joke from earlier to anger you, I’ll find you another room you can sta-.”

“You’ve done nothing wrong sir, no need to apologize. I can easily find another place to stay. I do not want to bother you anymore than I already have. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I’ll be taking my leave now.” You quickly thank him again, Al Haitham was standing too close for your comfort, his gaze never leaving you as he slightly towered over your frame slightly blocking your path from leaving.

“You’re being dramatic. I said there is no need to leave, staying here with you is the last thing I want too trust me, but if it has to-“

“Can you drop it? I said I'm leaving. No one is being dramatic except you. I mean have you heard what’s been coming out of your mouth since we walked in? I haven’t said one complaint but you’re the one that’s all bothered.” You look up at him, eyes narrow, you didn’t want your anger to get the best of you and you didn’t want to show him that his words did hurt you even though you tried to convince yourself they didn’t. “Besides I’m doing you a favor, me leaving will finally give you the piece you’ve oh so desperately have been wanting! Am I wrong?” You ask him and feel his grasp around your arm loosen a bit. “Now get out of my way before you really do become a problem.” You cut him off, the audacity this man had. Calling you dramatic when you’ve stood quite this whole time. There’s only so much one can take until their breaking point is reached.

“Listen, stop being-“

You push past him, not letting him finish as your shoulder slightly shoved past him as you made your way to the door. You quickly pull the handle, slipping through and out into the cold rain once again. Gosh this man didn’t know when to drop it.

Al Haitham stood there for a few seconds with a perplexed look on his features as the door shut by itself. Why did you leave? Why was he so bothered? Why did he try to stop you? Only did he move when the old man behind the counter cleared his throat.

“Young Man, I'm afraid I made them mad at you, my apologies.” The old man wore a worried face, genuinely feeling guilty for your arguing.

“Ah,” Al Hailtham now cleared his throat, pulling out money to hand the old man for the room. “Worry not, you’ve done nothing wrong, they’ll be back before nightfall I guarantee they’re just being dramatic.” Al Haitham assured the old man though it sounded as if he were trying to assure himself as the look on his face was one of uncertainty.

“Ah ok then, let me get you your key.” The old man hesitated but handed Al Haitham the key anyways, deciding it was none of his business but he does feel responsible for your leaving.

Al Haitham took the key and turned to the way of his room wanting nothing more than to get changed and rest for a bit now, his headache has subsided and now it was just a bit too quiet for his liking already.

“If they come back please escort them to the room, I’ll open the door for them then.” Al Haitham told the old man before walking down the hallway to his room, you probably just need a breather, a second away to cool down and you’ll be back.

Al Haitham entered the room, sigh escaping his lips as he finally relaxed his tense shoulders. The wet shirt clung to his torso more than he liked so his legs made a straight b line to the bathroom wanting nothing more than to shower.

As he peeled off his shirt he remembered back to how you were also just as soaked, if not even more drenched than he and he felt something heavy in his chest.

They’ll come back, I’m sure they’ll be in the room and back to being a nuisance by the time I get out. Al Haitham told himself as he turned the water on. Deciding it was best to enjoy the peace and quiet now since later he’ll miss it once you’re back.

Al Haitham’s tense muscles and headache were now long gone as his hand turned the knob shutting the water off, he was wondering what stupid comment you’d make once he exited the restroom but he knew I’d be better than you being outside alone.

So to his dismay he’s quite confused himself when he doesn’t hear the sound of your voice when he does open the restroom door, let alone see any trace of you even entering at all, he’s been in the restroom well over an hour so now the heavy feeling sank to his stomach, were you really not coming back?

The rain only grew louder as it hit the window panel of his room, the winds picking up as he looked out at the now dark view.

The rude comments he made all day, the rude comments he’s always sent you started to hit him. He wasn’t one to necessarily regret things he’s done since he’s always sure of himself but he can’t help but taste something bitter in his mouth as he remembers your sad expression when you walked away from him earlier, of when you recoiled from him when he tried stopping you, of how your didn’t even talk back or make a single comment of “having” to share a simple room with him because you were far more mature than that maybe he was the childish one all along.

Where were you? Why weren’t you back? Why did he feel so bad suddenly? Why did he care though? Why did he feel so bad now? Why did he have a heavy feeling in his chest?Why weren’t you back? Questions filled his head as he quickly got changed once again, grabbing nothing more than the umbrella by the door and exiting his room to go find you.

The loud thunderclap made your heart rate pick up, the sand that stuck to your soaked clothing making you all the more uncomfortable than you needed to be. You sat under a tree a few blocks down from the inn where Al Haitham was residing for the night.

Were you cold and tired? Goodness, yes. But did he embarrass you and make you feel too ashamed to go back? Yes. So be damned with that geek. Who cares if you get sick if he really can’t stand being in the same room as you that bad then so be it, you’ll stay out here until the rain stops, do your part of the research and be on with your day not having to see him again since he so desperately can’t spend another second with you.

You know you tease a lot but he didn’t mean to say all that. You know you’re a handful it takes you a while to fully let others in hence why your close ones are very limited but for some reason you let Al Haitham in pretty fast, faster than you’d like to admit sure but you just felt comfortable around him, he didn’t seem all too judgmental despite the glare he wore around you or his sharp tongue but you knew he wasn’t serious, or so you thought. Hearing his say one thing after another today made you question it, maybe he was being honest, maybe you finally made him snap and he really truly can’t stand being around you.

It’s not like you haven’t been told that you’re too much before, you keep your close ones at a limit but you just got too comfortable with him maybe you needed to distance yourself and treat him like how Cyno does. Maybe it’s about time you leave him alone.

The rumble from another thunderclap snapped you out of your thought’s making you jump along with a pair of hands grabbing your arm only made you yelp in surprise.

“Hey! What the- let me-“

“Look at you! You're drenched!” A familiar voice cut you off for the hundredth time today, making you pull your arm back but barley even moving as the pair of hands only held you tighter, even going as far to pulling you closer.

Only then did you see the umbrella in his hands, as he held it over your shaking cold frame. An unusual worried look on his usual stoic features making you give him a confused look back.

“What’re you-?”

“Where were you?” He asks, out of breath. His hair dripping wet as he looked down at your state. Guilt was eating him alive at the site in front of him. Your red nose, fingertips colder than anything he’s ever felt and your clothing, gosh your clothing was like a second layer of skin with the way it clung so close to your body.

He didn’t care that he got soaked again, as soon as he exited the restroom his mind went on autopilot. He’s walked around the village for the past 20 minutes but he doesn’t care because you’ve been out here far longer.

“Stop cutting me off! Besides you’re soaking wet too. What're you doing out here?” You stop his mumbling and he shoots you a look filled with worry.

“No! Why’re you out here? Where were you all along? Why didn’t you return?” One question piled on top of the other all these questions he wanted answered but why was he so anxious? Why was his heart racing? Why did he feel so bad seeing you in this state when usually this would amuse him? Why did he feel so relieved to see you?

“Excuse me?” You whisper out, disbelief lacing your tone as one corner of your mouth turned upwards, a laugh wanting to escape as you looked up at the worried man’s expression.

“Is this some sort of joke? Are you done with the act now?” You chuckle, pulling your arm once again only to feel his firm hand hold you still.

“You can let me go. Go back to the inn before you get sick. Besides you don’t have to hear me anymore just what you wanted right, I left and now you can relax. Now why’re you out here?” Your usual joking tone was nowhere to be heard making the tall man swallow nervously.

“Y/n?” The voice of the current mahamantra made both of your heads shoot up, looking at the direction it came from.

“Cyno?” You squint your eyes, it was far too dark to see where he was standing.

In a blink of an eye he was standing in front of you, his hand immediately reaching out and removing Al Haitham’s hold from your arm, sending a glare in Al Haitham's direction.

“You’re soaked.” Cyno spoke up, still glaring at Al haitham.

“Ah really? I wasn’t aware of that you see I can’t feel-“

“Why are you out here? How long have you been out here?” Cyno cut your joking sentence before you could finish, he’d usually indulge in jokes with you but the state you were in was no joking matter to Cyno at all.

“Not too long Cyno it’s ok, I was just heading back inside honestly no need to-“

“Did he do this to you?” Cyno held you in place as you tried shifting your way between the two men to start walking to the inn.

You froze in place you didn’t want them to start arguing right now. You didn’t have the energy to pick sides nor stop them from arguing and besides it was on you. You’re the one who decided to leave, no one told you to do so.

“No I brought this upon myself, now let’s head in.” You state simply, trying to once again make your way between the two.

“Don’t lie to me y/n. Did he send you out here?” Cyno's voice lowered, his shoulders tensing, getting ready to strike the taller man in front of him.

“No! Nono it’s not like that I did-“

“Yes, they’re out here because of me. It’s my fault but I’ve come out here to apologize.” Al Haitham speaks up, eyes staring right into Cyno’s making Cyno summon his spear from thin air, sparks of electricity surrounding you all now.

“What did you do?” Cyno asks cautiously, ready for the scribe to say something rude or unnecessary to strike him down.

“I said some unnecessary comments, I’ve come to get them as I’ve realized I may have taken it too far. It is my fault and I’ve come to apologize, that’s why I’m out here with them.” Al Haitham admits to Cyno leaving you dumbstruck. That’s the last thing you expected him to do, to admit to what he’s done wrong, to apologize properly.

You only blink as the two men stood quietly, the pouring rain not washing away the tense atmosphere that surrounded you all.

“So you’re the reason they’re drenced, if they get sick you’re going to regret-“

“Cyno,” you grab hold of his hand that was clenched around his spear, he was ready to strike at any given moment and the last thing you wanted was for both of them to throw down in the middle of the night.

“I came out here on my own accord, ok? Besides he apologized for his actions earlier and it’s ok, I overreacted but it’s resolved no need to get your hands dirty for my sake.” You send him a closed eye smile and feel his arm relax. “Thank you for getting mad for my sake Cyno but it’s ok.” You give his arm a squeeze and hear Al Haitham clear his throat.

“Not to interrupt you two, but Cyno did interrupt me earlier,” Al Haitham spoke up making Cyno click his tonge in annoyance. “May we head back inside now?” Al Haitham’s gaze looked anywhere but the two of you. Seeing the way Cyno and you treated each other made him mad for more reasons than one. Why did you talk in that calm tone with him? Why did he get your soft smiles? Why did you look at him with kind eyes when you never gave him that look? Why was this bothering him so much? Why did he care?

“Watch it.” Cyno warned, smile dropping as soon as his eyes met Al Haitham’s gaze again.

“I’ll drop you off at the inn since it’s on my way,” Cyno sighed, his spear finally disappearing as he turned around. “But if I catch you out here alone again, I’m not sure if I’ll hold back on him like I did right now.” Cyno explained, he wanted to punch the scribe for letting you get this drenched and stay out alone at this time of day, but he also knows you could take care of yourself so he took your word for it, deciding if you really say that it’s ok and you forgive him than as much as Cyno doesn’t want to let this go he has to, he can’t butt in.

Cyno made his way down the road, not wanting to be next to Al Haitham longer than he already has. You followed close behind as you scanned your fingertips having lost feeling on them long ago along with the feeling on your legs so going inside the inn and taking a shower sounded absolutely divine, though you were sure I’d be awkward sharing a room with Al Haitham at least you both resolved your argument from earlier.

You felt the heavy rain droplets suddenly stop as the presence you felt by your side held up an umbrella over your form once again.

“There’s really no point in trying to stop it, you know? I’m sure my clothing is beyond soaked by now.” You joke, small laugh escaping as Al Haitham slows his pace to match yours.

“True, it might not aid you much now but if it can keep the rain away for the time being then you can be shielded until we get to the inn.” Al Haitham’s eyes scanned the dark road in ahead, he still felt bad for his actions so him doing this was a way of him saying he’s sorry.

“Thank you,” you look up at him giving him a small smile, though the tall brooding man can be rude at times you’re happy that he at least apologized let alone come back out to find you. This alone showed you that he did feel somewhat guilty for his actions.

“For apologizing and coming out to get me I mean,” you roll your eyes at him as he comes to a sudden halt. “ You didn't have to come out to get me, you could’ve easily enjoyed the time you had alone and left me out here without a care, I know I can be a handful at times but appreciate it nonetheless, so thank you.” You laugh at his expression, he only started at you with eyes a bit wider than usual.

It’s not that he didn’t expect you to thank him, well that did shock him but the soft smile gracing your features, the genuine gratitude behind your voice as you gave him a small bow made him feel warm, made him feel happy, made him want to see it more often.

“Haitham? What’s wrong?” You blink at him shifting as he only continues to stare.

“Nothing,” he turned away from your gaze, feeling his face heat up for some odd reason.

“What’s the hold up?” Cynos' voice made you jump again as he impatiently tapped his foot on the wet concrete.

“None of your business we’re right behind you so stop being impatient.” Al Haitham answered flatly, rolling his eyes at Cyno’s impatience, annoyed that you turned you attention back to Cyno now.

“Come on Cyno no need to rush!” You joke, making your way up to him as he slowed his pace for you.

“I can’t wait to get out of these clothes, a shower sounds divine right now.” You sigh, peeling back the shirt you were wearing only to feel it slap back onto your skin.

“Oh! I call showering first!” You turn around to Al Haitham sticking out your tonge and picking up your pace before he can say anything back making Al Haitham crack a small smile as you turned back to face the road in front of you.

“What do you mean first? Why would you have to call….” Cyno connected the dots, he looked back at Al Haitham and then your figure in front of him and it snapped.

“You’re sharing a room? With him?!How can you even stand being in the same room as him let alone share one? Are you out of your mind?!” Cyno picked up his pace as he argued, making you laugh but only walk faster.

Al Haitham felt a wider smile form as you didn’t complain about sharing a room with him, seeing Cyno blow up over it made the scribe feel proud for some unknown reason. Seeing you not bothered by it made him feel relieved and he can’t help but feel bad once again. You didn’t mind once, maybe you did but you kept quiet and he was the one that made things awkward but maybe, just maybe, sharing a room with you wouldn’t be all too bad? Though you can be a handful and you joke a bit too much for his liking, he’s come to find that he doesn’t mind being around you more than he thought he does, especially not after seeing the warm smile you can give him aswell, maybe, just maybe he will find himself wanting to be around you more often then he though he would if it means he can keep your smile to himself.

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authors note: hellooo lovelies! so good to post again ahhh! it feels like its been forever ohmygoodness sorry work has been keeping me busy and some other things aswell but that’s besides the point hehehe bc….I finally FINALLY wrote for mr Al Haitham ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ! I was kindof scared to write for him at first bc I didn’t really know his character all too well but I’m catching up with the archon quests so!! I’m getting to know him better!! AND SJSJSJSJ HES SO FINE- HES SUCH A LITTLE SHIT THO! can’t wait to pull for him and put him on my team with by skrunk kaeya bc tall sword users \(≧∇≦)/ WOOOYESSIR! hehehe anyways, my goofy self has to make everything angsty bc I love pain :3, I do hope you are all staying safe and you’re taking care! I have some exciting news soon for the holidays so please stay tuned for that! I do hope you enjoy! (also sorry for any errors I didn’t have time to revise!)(ㅅ´ ˘ `)♡

[jeeperso]

D&D Quotes Without Context

Ravenloft Edition, Dementlieu Arc, part 8

OOC: Gorbash line of thought: "This fucker isn't wearing yellow, I CAN TAKE HIS ASS!" OOC: Now, how much MST refs can we cram into this session... “You worship the hell lord of small dick energy, your opinion is meaningless.” "St. Joel, watch over these viewers, that they may keep their sanity with us as their friends." "We've got you, Movie Sign of Evil!" "All this world's a stage... and we are merely slayers." "Blood for the hanged king. Blood for the hanged king. Deep hurting. DEEEP HURTING." "Sorry, my blood is too rich for his taste. All those sweets I eat." You see Gorbash go slack for a minute, then you hear him begin to mutter something, as he turns around, his eyes red with madness. "Blood for the hanged king." Irost: "I know this is bad for us... but for a play? This is kind of an interesting twist." Jonni: “Shut up, New Eddie.” OOC: WHY DO I KEEP GETTING 8'S? "GAH! Like fingernails on a chalkboard... In my brain!" Your minds are assaulted by visions of sandstorms, rock climbing, long driving scenes. COLEMAN FRANCIS. "No springs!" Marshal cries out with a maniacal titter. OOC: Or you can just wait while Marshal tanks it like a true pimp. "I AM THE HANGED KING. AND YOU WILL OBEY." “Yeah? I’m Jonni Humantorch and I’m sexier, badder and harder than you. Fuck off, ghost.” Marshal: "Each man is a god! Each man is FREE!" Irost: "That's right! You tell that bag man!" Hanged king earns a dollar, you earn a dime, so you counterspell on company time. Jonni smiles. “Not today, raggedy Satan!” "Who needs to be favored by the Gods when you're favored by Jonni?" "And now I'm back normal speed, that was close, almost ruined my sugar rush." So, Marshal's whaling away like a temp with golf clubs. GM OOC: You are restrained, you can't speak, and you are suffocating. OOC: Warforged, not suffocating. GM OOC: Right. So its mainly just mildly inconvenient. GM: The Hanged King tilts his head, he was clearly expecting you to be dying. Irost: "How is he supposed to quote really awesome funny gibberish when he's being a boss!" Gorbash: "What's the matter, not so tough without your corpse collection?" OOC: Marshall is a brick shit house of metal on metal. OOC: My Bromance will protect me. OOC2: Your bromance is gonna flatten you. You see Emil standing beside the projector, "This is for my face you blue raspberry flavored son of a hoor [sic]." Marshal: "I cast gun!" As we clear out, Marshal reaches back inside to save Gorbash's NIZE HAT. "EVERYBODY OUT OF THE BURNING UNIVERSE!" "Moving pictures will never take off, take my word for it." Jonni Eldritch blasts the shit out of it. GM: It remains unharmed. Jonni Eldritch shits the blast out of it. [sic] Marshal joins her, casting a ritual in the name of M'y'kNelson, Destroyer of Worlds. GM: Fortunato's follies is a comedy of errors about a clown, the titular Fortunato, who follows around a girl he loves trying to ask for her hand in marriage, but continually getting blocked by increasingly zany and implausible happenstance. It's basically an hour and a half of a looney tunes cartoon. OOC: It makes you weep, it makes you laugh, it makes you reflect on the humanity of the world! "I keep forgetting how creepy it is when we're capable of grinning." Jonni’s eyes never leave him, nor does her “I’m gonna spit roast you with Evard’s black tentacles” smirk. Nyx: "Calix, I see that smirk. Please stop it. You are irritating Jonni, I'm one of the people who has to deal with her when she is irritated. I'm a trained alchemist, rogue, and tinker, I know multiple ways to leave you disabled, unable to talk, but still alive as Warforged are. So I say again, please stop it." Jonni: “And she’s the nice one.” GM: Plus you only got a bit buzzed so you could go watch Fortunato's follies. Which was a big hit: Irost killed it. Irost: The stage dynamite was the key. Gorbash: "Okay we have enough invites to get us into this Ball. Time to plan what we do once we're in." Irost: "Hobnob and rub elbows with the fanciest people in the realm--" Jonni: "Arson." GM: "We know that. We need a key to get to the box, and we know the duchess has the key. So we need to get Calix and the key." Jonni: “I have a plan.” GM: "Is the plan arson?" Jonni: “Vesh and I get the key from the duchess under cover of threesome and the rest of you hold Calix down while Nyx takes off his arms and legs.” Marshal: "No silverface." "We're like... a Matryoshka Doll of distractions." "No offense, you don't strike me as the stealthy type." Marshal: "No, but I am the distraction who has manners." “Fair point.”

Jonni: “Wasn’t Gonna hurt anyone. Just need a wand of grease.” OOC: I DON'T CARE IF JONNI COME CRAWLING IN YOUR WINDOW STARK NAKED WITH A BIG OL' KNIFE! DON'T YOU GIVE NO MATCHES TO JONNI!!! OOC: No one ever goes with Operation: Nekkid Slip and Slide. OOC: And then... then he frost-blocked me! OOC: Rule of thumb: Don't shit talk the eldritch horror to his face. That tends to piss them off.

[jinnwenhe]

Used artwork credit here

A/N: I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE DRAFT AND THEREFORE THE ASK WAS ALSO DELETED, IM SORRY— alright, hopefully you'll enjoy this nonetheless, thanks for asking! I'll try to find the person who asked for this prompt later.

And so, this ask is Raihan x Female! Reader, the prompt is displayed above.

━─━─━━─━「₪」━━─━─━─━

You sip your bottled tea as you watched Raihan battle the opposing gym challenger from the bleachers; to say you're amused was an understatement. The dragon tamer never ceased to amaze you everytime he's in a battle, regardless if he reigns victorious or fell down in the depths of defeat— his match is always wild, numerous of fans shouting for his side as he let the sandstorm take over the stadium, enveloping it in a rough weather.

The fans were alright though considering the stadium was perfectly designed for these type of things, protecting the said viewers from the harsh effects of the weather— which Raihan takes pride in, looking at how his technique consist of taking advantage of the weather to boost his pokemons powers.

This is what makes you baffled with his performance every time. Even if you already became a Champion that rules over Galar, you didn't look down on him, and you're not planning to.

Occasionally, the dragon tamer would lock eyes with you, sending chills down your spine as his cerulean eyes stare right through you, followed by that signature smug grin of his in which his fans has grown a liking to. You gave him a gesture of support by clenching your hands accompanied by a determined look on your eyes. He noticed your small action and gave you a thumbs up before focusing on the match infront of him once again.

Some fans mistaken it as him looking at them, and they immediately melted on the spot due to that misunderstanding. Though you didn't pay any mind to it, you dont want to ruin people's happiness anyways, just let them be.

After the earthshaking match, which Raihan managed to reign victorious, he gave a hug to the challenger, and telling them that there were no hard feelings involved. Luckily for him, the challenger was still determined to try harder for a rematch in the near future, and they can ensure Raihan that they'll be the one taking victory home next time they meet.

Raihan saw that as a challenge and he's going to get stronger, he wants to give his best at every match, that's his job after all. Losing just wont do for him.

When all of that commotion ended, you approached the said dragon tamer with a smile dancing on your lips and arms open wide, incase he wanted a good ol' hug after the match.

You know him so well, of course he wanted a hug, and its from you— you.. you're his crush, not that you know it, its a new thing for him too. He took an interest on you when he saw you battle at the Championship Cup, reaping the victory without any effort; you're strong, you're tough, you're more than what you seem, and Raihan liked that part of you.

Though on other times, you're also clumsy, careless, and mostly oblivious. These trait of yours just amplified your attractiveness level to Raihan; strong and oblivious usually doesn't match with eachother, yet you managed to make them mix well, creating... you.

"Good job on the victory!"

You planted your face on his chest, burying your head in the warm feeling of his hoodie, and trying your best not to get tiny little sand stuck in your head. It'll be a pain in the ass to clean up later if you did. Your arms wrapped around his lean waist, hugging him as tight as you could to show him your affection.

Raihan responded well by hugging you back and ruffling your hair, saying a light 'thanks' along the way. Maybe without your support, he would've lost this round, and other rounds from before— no matter, he should just focus on the present, where you're hugging him in the middle of the stadium... infront of his assistants. Not to mention Leon is also watching, accompanied by chairman Rosé.

The dragon tamer then pulled back after awhile, he knows this affectionate act of yours doesn't have any meaning behind it. Just a hug you gave to your bestie after his gruelling match; it has became a habit at this point, and you didn't even notice that. Raihan did though, he paid attention on every little details about you. From the way you dressed, to the way your expression changes over the time, that even he notices the smallest shift in your mood during the day.

Silence began spreading between you both, and its getting kind of uncomfy. So you decided to break away the tension by helping him dusting off the sand on his body, and his features. The amount was quite a lot, and it's going to take awhile if you really want to remove all of the tiny bits of sand from the previous match. You even thought about suggesting him to not use the sandstorm weather next time, it's really getting troublesome and somewhat irritating to handle. At least for you.

"Stay still im helping you clean up" you said as you reached for his headband. He didn't want any help in cleaning up this time, considering that Leon is here, and few of his assistants—lets not forget about chairman Rosé whos observing from the sidelines, possibly being held captive by Oleana because of work reasons.

Raihan then gripped your arm as he tilted his head a little bit back, preventing you from reaching his tangerine headband "No need princess, i can clean it up by myself" he grinned, trying to hide the embarrassment thats slowly growing inside him.

Sure he might be a man of confidence, pride swelling on his chest with each step that he takes, but the poor dragon tamer only could handle so much when it comes to you. All that pride and confidence washed away just like that, and thats all because of your damned adorable oblivious trait.

You were determined to take off his headband, even if that means you need to use all off your techniques on him. This time, you only relied on your obliviousness. You really dont know what effect it has on him— you didn't even know if your oblivious trait has an effect on him at all! But you saw him blushing a few times from you being genuinely curious about something, so its worth a try.

Raihan was completely caught of guard when he looked down at you and your determined eyes; it was different from before where you're supporting him, he cant tell whats really different, but it just hits diffrent. You reaching up with Raihan gripping your wrist, warm eyes locking with his followed by a small curl on the edge of your lips as you felt him slowly reducing his strength in the effort to prevent you reach for his headband.

This only resulted in him looking away, blush subtly creeping on his cheeks as he tried to avoid eye contact with you. The Great Raihan would never be embarrassed in such a situation, hell, he'd be the one to make you embarrassed! But this time, apparently the odds were in your side , and you're grateful for that.

The thing you didn't understand was; why is he blushing? You didn't do anything, you only tried to take off his headband in order to clean it, and yet when he locked eyes with you, a tint of blush appeared on his chocolate skin, in which he attempted to hide it by looking at anywhere but towards your direction. This was a great opportunity to make him blush more, dont you think? Its rare to see Raihan blush out of nowhere, and you got to see it up close! A way great opportunity, you couldn't bear to pass this chance.

With a gentle push forwards from your body and him being off guard, you two tumbled down to the ground below you with a loud 'thud' ; Raihan covered your fall by pulling you close to his chest, which makes you comfortably land on his body instead.

"Honestly," you trailed as you got up from your position, lifting your body up with your hands on each side of Raihan's head before looking down onto him with a joyful grin plastered on your face "You're cute when you blush, Rai" you chirped, followed by a soft laugh. The position you guys were in wasn't quite the best to see without context. But you couldn't care less, you two were only having a wholesome bestie moment— yet Raihan might be freaking out inside because, oh Arceus, what is he gonna explain to Leon and the Chairman himself? Him blushing just makes it worse and doesn't help him out at all.

His eyes finally dared to look into yours again while a sigh slipped past his lips "You're just teasing me," he exclaimed as his lips curl into his usual relaxed smile; shades of blush still not leaving his face "Again." He added, hands reaching up to pull you back down onto his body, loving the way you fit inside his embrace just perfectly. He's way taller than you, meanwhile you could be accused of 'tiny' compared to him. Thats why he liked hugging you so much, even if you're just teasing him.

He doesn't care if you know his feelings or not, he's just happy that he could hold you like this without any care in the world right after his tiring match. Though he still does have a lot of explaining to do the the Chairman later, and possibly to Leon too.

[pokemonswshfics]

Thank you so much for filling my request, it was so cute! I’d like to request something else for Leon (Leon x reader), please! In particular, I’d like to request Leon saying “I love you” for the first time in relationship. Thank you!

It makes me so happy that you liked the first kiss headcanons! I had so much fun writing them, and I'm going to make this request a oneshot :D ; hope you enjoy <3 !

(ps, so sorry if this took long! im still a student and im trying to manage this acc at the same time, thank you for your support! :'D)

Leon × Reader || First Time Saying 'I Love You' Oneshot (Sfw)

Your heart raced as you stood grinning in the hallway leading to the pitch. You were about to battle your boyfriend, Leon, for his title as Champion of Galar. It had only been a few weeks of you dating, at most a month and a half to two..which made you even more nervous. You knew how proud of his spot and title Leon was, and to take it away from him?

The title of Champion was something you had been working for, you were set on it before you met him personally. Before he had asked you on a date, before your first memorable moments as a couple. It only just hit you that you wanted the title as much as he did.

And you'll be damned if you give that up now.

You began to hear cheers from out in the stadium, both for Leon's name and yours. He was your boyfriend, but right now was your competition. You bit your lip in anticipation and gave a few last words of encouragement to your pokemon in their balls then headed towards the pitch.

As soon as you began to walk out, so did Leon. The crowd began to cheer even louder than before. You smiled a little at him, hoping your nerves wouldn't show as you stopped in front of him.

"You're here. Pretty great feeling right?" He said softly so the commentators wouldn't hear over the cheers. "Listen, I know we're dating but..no holding back alright?" Leon grinned.

"You wish I would." You teased, smiling as the crowd began to silence itself. "Good luck."

"Yeah, you'll need it." He teased back before you both turned around and walked away to your spots. Time seemed to slow down, you feel like you could hear a pin drop outside the stadium.

Once you got to your spots suddenly at almost the exact same time, you both sent out your first Pokemon only causing the crowd to riot again. Your eyes connected and you couldn't help but grin. This is what you had been working for, and you were doing it with your favorite person. You got too caught up in it all to remember why you were even scared in the first place.

***

The tension was high with both of you down to your last pokemon. He had assumed your usual Pokemon would be one he's seen you carry around, occasionally use in gym challenges.

It was one you had hatched from an abandoned egg you found earlier in your gym challenge. Leon and the audience had no idea this Pokemon even existed in your team, having never brought it out in public battles.

"Come on! Think you'll be able to handle Charizard's heat?" He laughed and finally opened his Pokeball to release Charizard. Leon looked scuffed, when he said to not hold back, he meant it. Your pokemon both had used moves so strong, they almost hit both of you too. You could feel dust and dirt on almost every part of your body that was exposed.

Charizard appeared with a roar, one that drove the crowd wild. You grinned and took out your last pokeball.

"I wouldn't be able to handle the heat on my own, Lee. Are you ready for the storm?" You giggled and turned around to release your final pokemo, Tyranitar.

His eyes widened as a sandstorm instantly kicked up with your pokemon now out of her ball. The crowd began cheering even louder, when Leon smirked. "Nice type match. Gotta give it to ya!"

You both quickly turned back to your pokemon to summon them back into their balls. The crowd began applauding as they knew what was coming next: A Dynamax.

"Come on Trixie!" You said as both Charizard and your Tyranitar, which you named Trixie, dynamaxed. Their roars alone almost shook the arena.

"Charizard! Use G-Max Flare!"

"Trixie! Use Max Rockfall!"

Charizard's famous blast of fire hit your Pokemon first, throwing her back like lightweight. The crowd gasped, some clapped, and some cheered even louder then you thought possible. Although she struggled, your pokemon stood back up, now harshening the storm she brought.

You stood out of the way, now shielding your face. Trixie roared once more before using Max Rockfall, harder than you had ever seen in max raid battles. You looked up at Leon, even his eyes widened at the size of the attack. Trixie didn't hold back, slamming it down onto what she could reach of Charizard.

Once the debris lightened up and the battlefield was visible again, the crowd grew silent once they realized Charizard wasn't getting up. He had fainted.

You won.

Even the commentators were quiet for a few seconds before bellowing into their mics, "And the reign of Champion Leon is over!"

You shakily brought your arm up to summon Trixie back into her ball then tucked it back into your belt. Slowly but surely, the crowd grew louder and louder which each passing second. Tears welled up in your eyes, too overtaken by the joy of it all. You looked towards Leon worriedly and he who looked anything but upset. He was grinning ear to ear.

Leon went running towards you and picked you up swiftly, quickly spinning you around. "You did it! You're Champion of Galar! Gosh, you're so amazing!!"

"You aren't mad?" You could feel the hug he had you in tighten with each word. You hugged back almost immediately, "Thank you! Thank you, thank you-"

"I fucking love you!" Leon blurted out while grinning at you in his arms. It took him a few seconds to realize what he said, his face turning a deep shade of red.

"You..what?" Your eyes widened as you wiped your glossy eyes. Before you said anything, you wanted to make sure you heard correctly.

"I-I love you." He stuttered out quietly and set you down gently. "How could I not? You're amazing and caring and- so beautiful in every way- and now you're Champion! The way you train your Pokemon, the way you treat others, I just- I love you!" He rambled with a sheepish grin, his blush only darkening.

"You think I don't feel the same? I love you too, Lee." You giggled, then pulled Leon down for a kiss and immediately felt him kiss back. You could hear some awes from the crowd, and felt the small boom when some of the confetti canons for the Champion cup went off in honor of your victory.

Once you pulled away from Leon, you looked around. There were so many beaming faces still applauding for you and you tried to blink away joyful tears. Your hand went to hold Leon's as you waved at the crowd, commentators still announcing your new position as Champion. Even if you won the battle today, you won and had something even more important to you. You won Leon's love.

[echo-hiraeth]

“Will you just shut that kriffing mouth of yours and listen for a second?” Din Djarin x GN! Reader

Summary: Reader was forced to kill someone when a bounty retrieval went rogue and is pestered by memories of the scene. Din tries to comfort them to the best of his abilities.

Warnings: Angst, swearing, mentions of violence and blood, injury, death, some fluff to balance it all out (:

Masterlist

It was supposed to be an easy job but it had (not surprisingly) turned into a complete shitshow. Karga had slid the puck across the table, informing the Mandalorian that it was just a harmless quarry. Din was eager to accept it and take things slow from there on out. Because for months now everything had been pure chaos and hecticness, it started to take a toll on the three of you.

The baby started getting more fussy and restless, sensing the stress and pent-up frustrations within the Crest. It had sounded like a dream, the perfect opportunity for the both of you to take a break.

“No matter what happens, stay in the ship”, Din ordered while slinging his pulsar rifle over his shoulder. “If you need anything, talk to me.”

He slid a tiny device into your clammy hand, a commlink. You looked up at him, giving him a half smile. No matter the stakes or risks, you always hated it when he left.

“Just be careful, please?” You gently rested your hand against his chest plate.

The bounty hunter tilted his helmet, trying to reassure his partner. “Don’t worry cyar’ika. It’s an easy job, should only take a couple hours.”

You nodded, feeling a sense of relief wash over you. He’d survived way more dangerous trips, he’d be fine.

The Mandalorian turned to leave, opening the hull and promptly stepping outside. He reminded you to start up the ground security protocol and with that he took off. The shine of his beskar slowly fading away as he ventured into the distance.

Another bounty, another day alone on the ship. Well, that was until your foundling woke up and accompanied you. You spent an hour cleaning the ship, picking up dirty clothes and quickly sweeping the floors. By the time you got around to the small kitchen, you heard cooing and whining coming from Din’s cot.

As you opened the door you were met with those big brown eyes, melting your heart on sight.

“Good morning little one”, you mused, picking him up to press a gentle kiss to his fuzzy head.

He reached out, tiny hands cupping your face, as if trying to reciprocate the gesture. You chuckled, absolutely smitten by his antics. A chuckle of his own left his throat upon seeing you so relaxed.

“Let’s get you some breakfast ad’ika.”

 Karga was right, the bounty didn’t even fuss when Din went to collect him. He simply nodded and extended his arms, cooperating as the beskar-covered man secured the handcuffs around the quarry’s wrists. He was human, and if Din had to guess maybe in his sixties, face covered in wrinkles and scars, each telling a story of their own.

“I hope you didn’t have too much trouble getting here, the sandstorms tend to be quite intense.”

Din sighed, helping the quarry stand up and slowly guiding him out of the cantina. He rolled his eyes underneath the helmet, steadily becoming more and more annoyed with every attempt at conversation that left the old man’s mouth.

“Do you ever take that bucket off?”, the man questioned, gesturing towards the helmet.

“No living thing has seen my face since I swore to the creed”, the Mandalorian replied in a monotone voice.

“Oh so you can talk, you’re just stubborn.” The man let out a laugh, amused by his own remark.

The bounty hunter decided right there and then that his new guest would spend his time on the ship in the carbonite freezer, in silence. As the Crest came into view, Din started to pick up his pace, not caring about the sand starting to obstruct his visor.

“That’s the start of a new storm, if we don’t find cover soon, we’ll both be dead!” The man yelled, the sound of the harsh wind picking up almost drowning him out completely.

“Less talking more running”, the Mandalorian commanded, dragging the bounty by the collar of his shirt. Their bodies colliding in the process.

He tapped away on his vambrace, the hull of his beloved ship starting to open. Distracted by the storm, Din was surprised by the sudden laser blast flying past him.

“Give me my father and I might just let you live”, a female voice spoke.

Within a second he whipped around, face to face with a small woman, a blaster in each hand. She wore a mask, hiding her face from him and goggles to guard her eyes from the sand.

“I’m not asking again, Mandalorian.”

“I’m afraid I don’t negotiate easily”, Din sighed, reaching for his own blaster, only to find it missing.

“I suggest you listen to my daughter.” The man spoke, blaster held in his cuffed hands. He must’ve apprehended it when they’d bumped into one another.

Din tried to assess the situation and its possible outcomes. He quickly wrapped his arm around the man’s throat, holding him in a threatening chokehold while hastily grabbing the blaster from his hands.

He mentally scolded himself for being so uncaring and distracted. He could clearly use a break as well.

The girl quickly fired at him, pulling him out of his own head, aiming for the weak spot between his helmet and right pauldron.

He stumbled back a bit, hissing at the burning flesh.

“Next one won’t miss”, the daughter threatened, taking a few confident strides in his direction.

Without hesitation he fired his blaster, barely missing the girl who moved at a surprisingly fast pace.

She pointed the blaster at him once again, but before she could pull the trigger, she fell down. Din hit the quarry in the head with his elbow, his unconscious form falling the ground.

“Cyar’ika..” Din started, looking at your trembling form, blaster still aimed at the woman.

“There’s no time, get them inside, storm’s getting worse.” You’d tried to sound confident despite the obvious shake in your voice.

Din was left alone, quickly dragging the bodies into the hull of the ship while you went to the ‘fresher. Locking the door you had to hold on to the metal counter to steady yourself. Your knuckles turned white with the intensity of your grip. The sound of your shallow breaths filled the small space, only causing you to panic even more.

Meanwhile, in the hull of the ship, the Mandalorian had put the bounty into the carbonite freezer. He then kneeled beside the woman’s body, carefully removing her coverings. He shook his head upon seeing her face, she was young, just a kid. Despite being seen as a cold killer, he hated this, he hated having to involve innocent people into other people’s messes.

As he went to stand again, he felt a dull ache in his shoulder and remembered the injury he’d sustained earlier. He quietly made his way over to the fresher, while cautiously removing his pauldron. He stopped dead in his tracks upon hearing your soft sobs.

“Are you hurt?”, his modulated voice was faint and low.

You gasped, quickly wiping your eyes and splashing your face with some water.

“N-no, I’m fine. Are you?” You slid the door open, and were met with a tilt of his helmet that you interpreted as nothing but concern for you.

“You did what you had to do, to protect me, us.”

Your shoulders started shaking at his words, sobs filling the silence. He was never good at this but wanted nothing more than to help you, so gently, he put his arms around you. His embrace was gentle and soft, almost as if you would break if he were to hold you any tighter.

The tears freely streamed down your cheeks now and fell onto the beskar, rolling down his chest plate as your body trembled.

He winced a little when you went to wrap your arms around his neck. Your eyes quickly found his visor. His heart ached when he saw your glassy eyes, which were otherwise so vibrant and full of life.

“Is she dead?”, you croaked out, never averting your gaze from the visor.

Din hesitantly held your hands in his, slowly nodding.

“A-are you injured?”, you asked trying to regain control over your emotions.

“It’s just a scratch, I can take care of it, you sho-“

“Let me help you, please,” you begged while extending your arms towards the med kit.

“You really don’t have to.” He spoke softly.

You forced a smile, guiding him back to the hull and froze upon seeing the body, the woman. Her face was bare, revealing a young girl, a teenager, a kid. Scoffing, you looked up at the ceiling in an attempt not to break out in tears again.

“Let’s get you patched up.”

 After you tended to Din’s wounds, the storm had passed. He suggested you throw the body out of the ship, but you insisted he wouldn’t. A loaded silence filled the cockpit ever since, until he prepared the ship to take off.

“Y/n, you need to process this, seeing her body will only make it harder.” He reiterated, trying to convince you to leave her behind once more.

“She deserves a proper burial, just get us to the outer rim of this hellhole”, with that you’d left him and the baby in the cockpit, disappearing into your cot.

As you went to lay down and close your eyes, sleep quickly settled in, the sheer exhaustion of the day finally catching up to you. The earlier events plagued you, the scene replaying over and over again. Except she screamed and cried for mercy in your nightmare, which made you jolt awake. Your hands rested over your eyes as you started to sob again. You never thought you’d have to shoot, let alone kill someone, but here you were, a murderer, not even strong enough to face the consequences of their own actions.

Din rushed to your side upon hearing your cries and screams.

“What happened?”, he removed your hands form your face, wanting you to look at him.

“How can you stand to even look at me…”, you spoke through gritted teeth, voice laced with self-hatred.

“You did what you-“

You shoved past him while interrupting: “No Din, that’s not what I meant. How can you stand to live your life with someone so weak and pathetic.”

“What do you mean?”, he questioned, grabbing a hold of your wrist to keep you from leaving the small cot.

“What good is a partner if they can’t even kill to save their life.”

“Stop it.”

“I mean it, you should’ve just left me back there to perish in the sand.”

“I said stop that.” He grabbed your jaw and made you face him. “For Maker’s sake, will you just shut that kriffing mouth of yours and listen for a second.”

Your eyes started brimming with tears again as you slowly nodded your head.

“If I wanted someone to help me with the bounties, I would’ve gotten someone from the guild. I didn’t hire an assassin and I don’t need you to be one either. You’re here because I want you to be. You’re here because I couldn’t stand to not have you with me. You’re here because you keep me grounded.”

You took a step towards him, tears threatening to spill.

“Din I-“

“I’m not finished. The way you care for the kid.. the way you make sure that I always have food and water, the way you take short showers so that I have hot water as well. The way you pick up after us, how you tend to our every need and desire. You made this ship into a home for the three of us, with your love and care. I don’t want you to be okay with what you did because you wouldn’t be the cyar’ika that I’ve grown to care about.”

He stumbled back when you practically hurled yourself into his arms. His gloves hands rested on your lower back as you stood in a comfortable silence, the only sounds being his frantic breathing. A modulated chuckle escaped his armour as he sensed you nuzzling into him.

“Thank you”, you whispered into the space between his helmet and shoulder.

“Close your eyes y/n.. let me kiss you”, he murmured, hands gripping onto you more tightly.

You hummed, doing as you were told and soon you heard the clang of beskar against the floor. Before you could say anything else, his lips were on yours. He wanted them to speak for him, afraid that his words would fall short in trying to describe the complete and utmost adoration he felt for and because of you. His movements were eager and desperate, the lack of touch and affection over the years encouraging him to kiss you even harder. Your teeth accidentally grazed his lip, which startled him a bit. This caused the both of you to break apart, his hand quickly coming up to cover your eyes, just as a precaution.

“Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum”, he breathed, panting as his lips found yours once again.

You didn’t know what it meant, but you know that if he said it in Mando’a it must’ve been something he wasn’t ready to have you know just yet, but you didn’t mind, you had all the time in world.

[jasontoddiefor]

hey so for the emporer luke thing would luke eventually get to see biggs/meet him cuz they're cool

As if I could leave my second fave Tatooine kid out of any OT story! Read on AO3

Biggs Darklighter was fifteen years old and he still dreamed of going to the stars someday. He was a good son, helped in the household, and took care of his younger siblings, and would his parents ask him to stay, then Biggs would. If they’d let him go though, Biggs would seek the unknown parts of the galaxy, chase after the adventures he had dreamed of ever since he was a little boy, running around in the courtyard of his family’s home or jumping up and down on Luke’s bed, pretending to be a ship in the sky.

It was strange how easily he had accepted Luke’s disappearance when he was younger. Tatooine was a harsh planet, cruel to the bone, and the death of a loved one happened far too often to be unfamiliar with how tightly life and death were woven together. He hadn’t forgotten about Luke, had mourned his friend and joined his mother on her trips to the Lars homestead, but he hadn’t let Luke’s fate dominate his every waking thought. There had been other things to worry about, such as the suddenly escalating conflicts due to Jabba’s death.

Now it seemed like the exact opposite was happening to Biggs. He couldn’t keep his friend out of his mind. The weekly trips to the Lars homestead, checking in on its state and the refugees hiding there for the next transport that would them smuggle off-world, were now spent trying to see whether Biggs could find any sign of His Imperial Highness in the murals and carvings they had made into Luke’s bedroom walls as children. He had been there when they had found Beru and Owen’s bodies, eleven years old and wondering whether Luke had made used of his uncanny ability to hide away so that he hadn’t been killed too. His aunt and uncle had been half-buried in the sand already, left behind to rot without a proper funeral. It had been easy to figure out what exactly had caused their deaths and what it meant for Luke. In the aftermath, when the news of Jabba’s violent end had reached even the Darklighters, they had traveled to the palace and the nearby city once, trying to see if anybody had heard of a child by the name of Luke Skywalker, but nobody had known a thing.

And then, just a year later, Luke had appeared again.

The Republic had never really cared about Tatooine and neither had the Empire, but even they had heard rather quickly about the Emperor’s death and his heir.

The Luke in the holos had looked like a doll, fake and imaginary, like a wind spirit. His face hadn’t been any different, it still matched the one Biggs remembered, but nothing else seemed to fit, not his name, not even his accent.

And yet he had been sure that the child appearing in front of the Senate was his friend.

All that had remained from Luke Skywalker were his blue eyes, the blond hair and the kindness that had made the other children scoff at him. Luke had been too good to understand, to naïve or perhaps he just hadn’t cared for their petty words. Biggs hadn’t known how he could smile so openly when the others took their teasing to far, but Luke had never lowered his head, at least not where he could see it.

Biggs missed his best friend, the one who would help him fix up old droids and fly speeders and skyhoppers more accurately than anybody else, even though he really shouldn’t be able to do so. Luke would certainly have the time of his life now, rushing across the sands at maximum speed, the wind hitting his face so harshly it almost cut into it. Luke had always enjoyed listening to the wind, from the sweet breezes in spring to the heavy sandstorms towards the end of drought season. Being stuck inside with nothing to do hadn’t been too bad with Luke around to narrate what the wind was telling him.

The distance between the Darklighter homestead and the Lars’ Rest, as they had come to call that safehouse, wasn’t too large. Biggs crossed it quickly even in his slightly beat-up ride that could use an upgrade or two. As far as he knew, no runaways should be staying there for the remainder of the week until they got the next group through. There were fewer and fewer slaves in need of transport nowadays. Tatooine was still, as it had been for the last years since Luke’s disappearance, caught in civil war between the former Hutt slaves, freedom fighters, whatever good soul they could convince to join their cause and those crime syndicates who sought to make use of cheap labor. Where the Hutts had that thought they could reclaim Tatooine quickly following Jabba’s death, Tatooine had wanted to prove them wrong. More and more slaves had escaped every day, more people stood up to fight for what they believed to be right.

Biggs wasn’t allowed to do much, not really. His older sister and her partners were heavily involved in the fights while Biggs could only do supply runs. He knew they were important, but he itched to do something more proactive.

But perhaps that wouldn’t be necessary anymore.

It had become more and more obvious that the Hutts were also a thorn in the side of the Empire and whoever was actually pulling the strings behind their Emperor was set to do something about it. There had been skirmishes so far, a few imprisonments. Nothing too large yet, but the horizon was darkening and if the last years had shown anything, then that the Empire didn’t tolerate disobedience. Biggs wasn’t sure how it would influence Tatooine at large. He didn’t know all that much about the way the Hutts operated on a galactic scale, but he figured that whatever took their attention away from Tatooine, even if just for a while, was good.

Soon Biggs was approaching Lars’ Rest and was surprised to see figures standing in the distance. Biggs frowned and slowed down his craft. He was absolutely certain that no group should be coming in today. The position of Lars’ Rest was kept quiet so that no slaver would discover this particular hideout. The only other groups that knew of it were smugglers and the sand people, though they hardly bothered coming down the underground tracks these days. They had decided to target moisture farms far deeper into their territory or, in the case of some clans who were not as isolated,  target the rich of Tatooine so the poor would cease trying to expand further into the desert.

Biggs reached for his rifle. If they were slavers, he had to be ready. It was obvious that he was doing supply runs, who else would be out here, and if they took him, that could be disastrous for the whole organization.

Tatooine was a horrible planet to plan an ambush on. Sand for miles, the open desert, and skies, nothing could hide you or provide adequate cover. Once your enemy spotted you, that was it.

Biggs could of course leave, drive back home. They didn’t keep anything too incriminating at their homestead, so even if they were to follow him, there was be nothing to be found there. And yet, somehow, Biggs couldn’t bring himself to do so as anger flared up in his stomach like the midday heat.

That house had belonged to his best friend. It was supposed to be a safe haven now when before its inhabitants had found death or worse. Nobody had any right to ruin those memories.

With newfound bravery and strength, Biggs sped up again. He was a good shot, the best in his family, he’d definitely hit them before they could shoot him.

As Biggs got closer, he saw that the group was larger than he had thought at first. Ten, perhaps fifteen figures. He had been confused because their forms had not been easy to make out with the sun bearing down on their light uniforms, no, armor. The armor was mostly white, but some patterns appeared to have been drawn on it. He saw the green ones first, their color standing out the most against the yellow and blue background of Tatooine. Then there some men with blue, orange, and red patterns, those being much harder to see. Biggs’ eyes were good, but not that excellent.

Nevertheless, he readied his rifle. It was easy to get stormtrooper uniform, and to paint it in the color of the Emperor’s guard was even easier.

Biggs took aim. He wasn’t going to shoot unprovoked, but he was going to shoot first if the situation escalated.

“Hey!” He shouted once he was within hearing distance. “Get the hell out of here!”

As expected, the armed men immediately raised their weapons as well. Biggs didn’t know why they hadn’t done that the moment they had seen him. Now that he was standing in front of them, Biggs wasn’t so sure his move had been the smartest. There were way too many of them and only one him.

“Move away,” one of the troopers, a red one, said.

His armor looked pristine, the paint new. This has to be a trick, though he no idea what somebody would get from parading around in trooper armor here. There were certainly more effective ways to pretend to have more power than you actually did on this planet.

“This land doesn’t belong to you,” Biggs said, forcing his voice not to waver. “Move.”

“Listen here, kid,” one of the troopers said, then suddenly stopped talking. Another man had put his hand on the man’s shoulder and leaned forward, probably telling him something. Even though Biggs couldn’t see their faces, they didn’t look too concerned by it all

“I’m not joking!” Biggs insisted and raised his blaster just a little more, set on using it if need be. “I will-“

“Biggs?”

The voice was barely louder than a whisper, certainly not above the noise the wind and the engine were making, and yet Biggs still heard it clearly.

“Your Majesty-“ The red trooper hissed, but in between the trooper’s bodies, a smaller form pushed through.

The person was short, but not as by far not as tall as the holos made him out to be. His hair had darkened as well, wasn’t the light blond Biggs remembered, but the eyes, clear blue, were definitely the same.

“Luke?” Biggs couldn’t believe it.

His clothes were far too fine for Tatooine, at least for standing outside where sand could easily get stuck everywhere on your skin. His robes looked soft and were decorated with gold and red lines interconnecting to images reminiscent of flowers and vines.

The boy's face split into a smile and he looked like he’d jump into a sprint if not for the trooper’s hand on his shoulder.

“Biggs! It really is you!” Luke said excitedly. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. I was hoping someone would look after the farm, but I-“

He cut himself off to shake his head, a gesture so familiar that it had to be Luke standing in front of him, brilliant pilot, Emperor of the galaxy.

Biggs hurried off his speeder and fell to his knees.

[lightbows]

scrap of somethiiiing i’m working on again finally

idk if anybody cares at this point buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut it’s post rise of skywalker bc every time i think about that movie (which i did like) i am more frustrated about how it isn’t even about rey

so our space gal is looking for meaning Out There Somewhere...

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

“I sense you are trying to do the impossible.”

“How so?” She sat back, regarding the monk with enough suspicion that he’d need no Whills’ instinct to detect it.

“It’s a heavy burden, a legacy.”

Rey nodded, unsure which of the loads she was presently trying to shoulder would drag her down first. “But not an impossibility. Everyone does it, in some way.”

“Everyone carries their own.” Abban flopped back on the sandstone behind him. It couldn’t be comfortable but he reclined with a stretch as contently as if hitting a feather bed. “You attempt to drag around two or three and none of them reach their destination.”

A deep breath pressed out a quick white-hot flame of anger, and the smirk on the monk’s face made it threaten to rise again. “You presume quite a lot,” she said in a clipped tone. “My legacy and theirs are one.”

“You tell me I presume,” he chuckled, kicking one leg over the other. “And then tell me I’m entirely correct. Master Skywalker, even far, far out here, your name preceeds you. Your story crosses that one you’re tangled up in, make no mistake. But the roots are far away and they’re getting all--” He made a wiggly gesture with his fingers that made Rey rather want to lop them off. “All dried up. Lucky you’re a desert plant, from what I’ve heard.”

Another person might have been speechless, while Rey was, not exactly to her credit, merely thoughtless. Words came easily enough as she shot to her feet. “You knew who I was this whole time!” Noble the words were not, a cracking edge to her voice that more recalled a complaining youth than a Jedi master. “And you play these games!”

“I like games,” he said in lieu of a defense, pulling himself upright again and scratching at his bristly shaved head. “Besides, you came here for wisdom you should be looking for in yourself. I offered what I could, which isn’t much.”

“That is a massive understatement.”

“Again, you pick out the self-serving parts of--” He interrupted himself with a short laugh and a shake of his head. “Let me tell you a story, Master Skywalker.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Oh, because you’re already here, because your ship will take a day and a half to get its wings back, because I am just a little bit charming,” he spoke with his hands though the gestures did not seem connected to any words in particular. “Take your pick.”

Rey narrowed her eyes a moment, then sat. “It’s the second one,” she said firmly.

Abban carried on—showing some wisdom after all. “I had a teacher, who had a teacher, who had a teacher--”

“I’ve only a day and a half, please remember.”

“--who came from the old traditions. The really old ones, back from the days the Jedi all but erased from their history once politics got into it. So, this teacher’s-teacher’s-teacher—let’s call him Master Anyu. He was from the homeworld. He lived and worked and taught at the temples, just like generations before him as far back as anyone could remember. When he was a child, they always told him he didn’t have the gift.”

“The Force?”

“The Force, the Whills’ instincts, the ability to walk and talk at the same time. You name it. He was a clumsy kid who had a hard time learning, from a time and place that didn’t have either the means or the desire or either to give him a boost.”

“But he became a Master.”

“He became a Master.”

Rey rubbed her eyes, patience dwindling yet again. “Am I meant to be inspired?”

“Not really,” Abban said with a sigh. “He rose through the stages slowly and got there by sheer endurance, and was one of hundreds. Then he raised a generation that watched their home and spiritual centers stolen from beneath them and destroyed.” He smiled at Rey’s bewildered expression, which only made her more confused. “And I’m two generations removed from that.”

“But you know his name.”

“And now you do too.” He shrugged. “Is that a legacy? I don’t know. It’s a story. He wasn’t the first or the last or the greatest. He’s a man who lived a long time so his name was said a lot, and now I’m saying it again. Longevity isn’t worthiness though, you know? Not to speak ill of the man, but there’s next to nothing we know about the Guardians who came after him, who fought and died defending what he simply carried from one wing of the world to the other.”

“But his legacy is that those Guardians existed,” Rey murmured, eyes gazing past Abban down the long hallway of those who came before him. “They come from him, and your teachers come from them, and--”

“Master Skywalker, we respect our ancestors here, those in our blood and those in our memory. You do not need to preach to me about where I come from.” His tone was lighthearted, amused even, despite--or maybe because of--Rey’s immediate look of chagrin. “We remember where we came from but we do not try to use that path as a map. It only goes one way. You cannot finish someone else’s story. It is already finished, whether you liked the ending or not.”

The words struck her with a great force and she looked away, off to the horizon where a moon she hadn’t noticed before was beginning to poke its greenish-silver head over the hills. “What about our story?” She asked haltingly, at long last deferring to the wisdom she had, at least in name, come here to find. “The universal story—all of us creatures, together in the Force.”

“Asking the right questions is a good first step, Master Skywalker.” He drummed his fingers on his knee a moment, thinking. “So, what about it indeed? Surely you don’t think you have to write that story yourself.” Rey’s hesitation was heavy enough to compell the monk to simply step over it. “Or is it that you’re upset you can’t?”

The question itself wasn’t so bad, but Abban’s amused tone was enough to set Rey’s teeth on edge once more. “I am—I am simply looking for my place in all of this.”

“To give it to you straight,” he said, one eyebrow lifting. “It would be easier to believe that if you weren’t wearing two or three cloaks’ worth of borrowed identities...Master Skywalker.”

With that she was on her feet again, this time whirling around and storming towards her speeder without hesitation. The presumptuous fool, she fumed, thoughts loud enough that she wasn’t sure how much was internal and how much aloud. Luckily the rickety engine drowned out whatever uncharitable goodbye she may have had for Abban as she sped away once more, the grind of old gears and the miniature sandstorm in her wake a familiar lullaby for her anger.

The notion of circling back to the city, where Abban’s fellow monks would be waiting with further wisdom was unbearable, so she found herself reverting to certain old habits, turning the vehicle toward the emptiest expanse of sand imaginable and driving as far as she dared. It was the kind of thing that used to have the dual purpose of clearing her head and possibly leading to a profit, some abandoned craft deep in the wasteland of an entirely different desert that might have paid for a meal or two. Now it was to avoid the food and warmth and company that waited in the other direction—still a meditation of sorts.

Settling into a glide around a dune, with the knowledge she’d soon need to circle back, it would have been easy for another person to miss: the mostly constant, fuzzy sound of sand whipping beneath repulsorlifts gradually grew less steady, the sound of stone pinging off the lower hull breaking through Rey’s thoughts. No—not stone. Rey slowed, lowering one boot to the ground, and was immediately greeted with another crunch. Glass—real glass, not transparisteel. More and more of it, as if she’d suddenly driven over only the narrowest edge of an enormous shattered mirror, stretching to the horizon and beyond. And then, hitting even harder than the sound, the feeling up ahead, the sense of enormous tragedy sealed inside a horrible glittering cage.

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 13 Review/Remix

We should have guessed something would go wrong. Things were going way too right at the end of the last chapter. But shit didn’t just hit the fan, it hit the ground and then bounced over the edge into an abyss. And with only the finale chapter left in this Volume, I can’t imagine how they’re going to fix all of this before we have to wait another year for more good news.

Since we can’t have bad without first knowing good, the writers are kind enough to open this episode with some hope. Jaune’s half of the group, that is to say JNR plus Oscar and Emerald, see one of the portals open for them in the communications room. They don’t know if people will actually know to use these things to evacuate without the message Jaune was trying to send, so they decide to do some portal hopping and spread the word on foot. But first they have to make sure these things actually work, so they need to send a giunea pig through. Just his luck, they send Jaune and it does not pair well with his history of motion sickness. He doesn’t hurl, but he does land on his face and rise to his hands and knees when he safely comes out the other side of what looked like the trippy space rift from 2001 a Space Odyssey. The others follow close behind and take a moment to be in awe of this pocket dimension they find themselves in. Jaune recovers quickly and takes command. He and Nora will be going from portal to portal spreading the word about evacuation to Vacuo, while Ren Oscar and Emerald will be leading the pack and calling Shade Academy once they’re in Vacuo that they need to prep for hundreds of refugees. They part ways and Oscar gives a playful little salute, then Jaune leaps over the edge of the platform they were on. Someone should have told him about Ambrosius’ dire warning last week... Okay fine, we see a frame or two of him opening his shield so clearly he’s gliding down to the nearest other portal not falling into the void. Meanwhile Nora is once again riding Magnhild like a rocket powered broomstick to fly away into a portal of her own. We abruptly cut to a subway station where everyone is comedically hiding behind the stairway and peek out to look at the portal before them. One civilian is coaxed into stepping forward and checking it out, so he throws a rock at it. Because his luck continues to screw him over, Jaune comes through at that exact moment and gets hit on the head with the rock. His sudden appearance scares everyone into diving behind the stairs again, but they do peek out once more after taking a second to realize they just saw a person come through to talk to them. Jaune pulls out his Scroll to show them his Huntsman license so they’ll take him seriously, and presumably it works out great. We see Penny and RWBY coming in through their own portal and likewise being amazed by Ambrosius’ handiwork before seeing other people starting to pour in while Nora and Jaune are calling out directions and reassurances, such as the Happy Huntresses and the refugees under their protection. They wonder aloud about how few people have come through yet, but the priority is getting Penny and the Staff into Vacuo safely so they’ve got to trust Jaune’s team with this. Speaking of Vacuo and Jaune’s team, we see what happens when the green team gets into the desert outside the city. There’s an intense sandstorm raging around the area where the portal lets them out, and they can’t see which way to go to reach Shade. Worse still, cell service is down so they can’t call anyone. And civilians are starting to come through into this chaos so it’s just getting worse and worse. Ren can mask them from any Grimm that might catch a whiff of all that negativity, but only for so long.

As Nora is leaving one crowd of incoming civies to go help bring in another, Cinder arrives hiding beneath a cloak and we see her give a little smirk. Next thing we know, and explosion goes off and at least a dozen innocent people are launched into the void below. Irreversible consequences there, as far as we know, and it causes a real panic. Team RWBY tell Penny to just keep going into Vacuo while they deal with this, and we see Cinder gleefully flying around looking for the object of her hatred. She spots which way the team is heading and blasts some fire in the path to cut Ruby off. Cinder makes a clear reference to something Oscar said in an earlier conversation the heroes shared, and this throws the girls for a bit of a loop but they’re still ready to throw down. 

With a swing of Crescent Rose, we cut back to Cinder and Watts meeting with Neo in the alleyway. She’s learned you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, so she apologizes for how she’s treated Neo and promises she will get the revenge she wants so badly this time, but in order to do that Cinder will need to use the Lamp. Neo reluctantly does some magic of her own and pulls the Lamp out of her hat. The two glare at each other for a moment as Neo refuses to let it go, but she conceded and through unknown means tells Cinder the password. Maybe she wrote it on her Scroll and showed her? Either way, Cinder uses the final question to ask to be shown what Team RWBY’s plan is for the handoff with Ironwood. Jinn seems upset to hear she has to go against those nice kids, but the rules of her existence must be obeyed so she grants it anyway. I got some real “Jafar steals the lamp from Aladdin” vibes, and I can’t say I minded being reminded of that great Disney film. Cinder’s trio get to see every conversation the heroes have planning out all the successes we just saw last episode, and now we know they’re totally prepared to make it go wrong at every turn. Seeing Cinder so in control and prepared brought me back to Volume 3 where she was at her most dangerous as a villain, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s been a long time coming and justifies her continuation as a threat. What quelled the pit in my stomach a bit was the look of betrayal when Cinder realized Emerald switched sides on her. She recovers quickly and suggests they help Watts finish what he started and tear the Kingdom down with his intellect. To that end they break into Atlas central command and slaughter just about everybody inside. This would seem to include that devil of the workplace Bill who spilled coffee and microwaved salmon at work. And if that was Velvet’s dad as we liked to theorize, then that’s a real shame. The ladies leave Watts to his work, but on her way out Cinder tells Watts this is everything he deserves, possibly as a way to mend bridges between them. I prefer to hope she sealed that door shut behind her and she’s leaving him to die with the plummeting city because she’s still mad he roasted her. We see that Jaune’s warning broadcast getting cut short was indeed Watt’s doing, and just to be more of an asshole he wipes a bloodstain off an apple and eats it while he does so. With that sabotage taken care of he shifts focus to the airship hangar where the birds are cuffing the Ace Ops. But they only manage to restrain Elm before Watts sends an AK (Atlesian Knight) into the area and has it charge right at them primed to self destruct. It almost gets Robyn but Marrow jumps in the way and is knocked out. That means his Semblance wears off and Harriet is free to sprint into the airship the bomb is still loaded on to. She’s intent on finishing this last mission even if it means killing herself. Vine runs after her and manages to grab the closing cargo door with his stretchy arms before it’s too late. Robyn and Qrow are left quite worried.

Speaking of desperately destructive military personnel, Ironwood regains consciousness in his cell to the sound of crumbling debris and the realization of his failure at the hands of these teens. Jacques is in the next cell and wastes no time criticizing him for failing to keep Atlas afloat. He’s happy to gloat that his fellow man has lost, though he does wistfully admit he’s lost too. Ironwood looks like he might have a breakdown as he processes the fact that all his efforts have been foiled and he can’t be the hero of this situation, that those he thinks are the dangerous insurrection who will ruin everything are going to win... when he hears a buzzing sound. The door to his cell seems to be glitching before shutting down entirely. He’s hesitant to walk out but it stays deactivated and he finds his weapons just casually lying on the ground a few yards away from his cell. Jacques seems to not understand there are consequences to insulting a person every chance you can get and pleads for James to let him out of his cell too. Ironwood just silently loads up his big laser gun and turns it on the door of Jacques’ cell. Sure, he’ll open the door, he says emotionlessly. And the man opens fire. Jacques has a moment to realize what’s happening and seems fearful, but he lost the pity of the FNDM 4 Volumes ago. Whatever Ironwood calls this cannon of his, it leaves behind green fire and annihilates Jacques’ cell... and him along with it. Weiss’ father in name alone is dead and the Schnee family will never get a chance to settle things properly with him for how he treated them. Weiss arresting him, Winter promising him Weiss wants him to be rescued from the falling city, gods only know what Willow had said to him last, and whatever obedience Whitley showed him before he was dragged off to jail. There are the last things they said to him and they have to live with that forever. Question is, who’s going to tell them Jimmy did the deed? He’s got no time to do so, he’s a man with a mission. 

We go from one fiery dilemma to another as Team RWBY are still struggling to deal with Cinder even 4 on 1. She flies upward and creates a cyclone of fire beneath her to make it that much harder to reach her, before complimenting the team on the depth of their plan. She acknowledges she wouldn’t have been able to deal with it by herself, so in a way she’s grateful these girls taught her to ask for help. That help indeed comes from Neo, who’s approaching in disguise from behind Ruby. Yang notices Neo approaching, and charges in to push Ruby out of the way. But that means Yang takes the hit instead, and it takes out the last of her Aura. She hits the ground hard, and tumbles over the edge of the platform. In a threefold shot we see Neo mad that someone got in the way of her surprise attack, while Ruby and Weiss are freaking out and Blake immediately sprints past the latter to try and make a save. She throws Gambol Shroud as far as the ribbon will let it go, but it’s not far enough. Yang falls into the void below, dissolving into gold sparkles once she reaches a certain depth. This has all seemingly happened in a matter of seconds, which would explain why Ruby didn’t have enough time to get back on her feet from being shoved to the ground and use her Semblance to try and save her sister, and why Weiss didn’t have a chance to try and catch her on any glyphs or summon a Lancer to ride down and catch her. She’s not the fastest with making those summons anyway, she’s still got some room for improvement before she can make instant saves in that way. Long story short, 

Don’t give the writers shit for having Blake be the only one able to try and help.

The fact that she fails to save her partner is of course very upsetting for Blake and she screams Yang’s name with all the appropriate despair and sorrow. Ruby doesn’t have a lot of time to process the fact that her sister may have just died since Neo wastes no time attacking her and all her focus has to go into self defense and trying to win that fight. We can see in the background Weiss holding Blake back, because this poor woman seems to want nothing more than to dive in after Yang either out of suicidal despair or a last feverish hope that she survived and can be rescued. The denial and depression soon turns to anger though, and she grabs her weapon with a look of murderous rage before charging in to attack Neo for what she did. She grabs Neo with her ribbon and tries to slice her in two, but it’s just an illusion and the real one is fighting with Ruby heading up a pathway towards one of the portals. Weiss turns her attention back to Cinder, and is doing an okay job of holding her own but not getting any hits in of her own. The tables seem like they could turn for our protagonists when Penny flies in to join the fight and punches Cinder in the face. But Weiss didn’t want Penny getting involved, and Cinder seems pretty glad to get another rematch with her. And she certainly is more prepared this time, compared to Penny who tries to summon her swords and forgot she doesn’t have them anymore. She takes a hit and lands in a crowd of civilians, though she does land on her feet and quickly improvise by making some new swords with her magic and then flying back into the fray. Weiss skates on her glyphs up a path to get a better vantage point, and pulls Cinder out of attack mode with a black holding glyph that seems to yank on her like gravity. Turns out the glyphs are vulnerable to fire though, so Cinder burns through it and quickly finds where Weiss is so she can send a flurry of fiery glass blades her way. Weiss happened to choose a spot right by 3 portals so there’s about a dozen innocent bystanders around her that are in danger. She thinks fast and summons her Knight’s sword to shield them, but some of the blades do go through a portal and send some other people diving for cover in the train station. Jaune is there to defend some of them with his shield, and immediately realizes the evacuation job just got a lot harder. Unfortunately for Weiss, these glass shards superheat and explode at her feet, sending her flying off the platform. She still has Aura though, and catches herself on a glyph to catch her breath. In the meantime, Cinder goes back on the defensive against Penny and Ladybug continue to tag team against Neo. Blake hears screaming and realizes she could also try and help Weiss and Penny deal with Cinder, but feels really conflicted about it. Who needs her more, can she just give up on getting vengeance for Yang? What can she even do against a Maiden? She just doesn’t know.

Back in the skies, Harriet is getting close to Mantle when she gets an alert of a disturbance in the airship’s cargo hold. Putting the controls on autopilot, she goes down to check on it and sees Vine made it aboard. She’s about to arm the bomb, but he stops her and voices his thoughts that this may not be the best plan for them anymore, much to her annoyance. She asks him if this is really the side he wants to take here and now, and he doesn’t want to call it a divide like that. But he lays out the facts: Their commanding officer has been deposed so his authority is moot, the city is going down and there’s likely going to be no stopping that, and the people are going to be brought to safety regardless. So why bother bombing a city full of innocents whose other options are run away to the barren desert or be crushed under a giant hunk of rock? But Harriet isn’t having that shit. It’s the principle of the matter, it’s about following through and standing with her decisions. If she’s not obeying what Ironwood ordered... then what is she anymore? To disobey him or let the teens continue their rescue efforts means acknowledging they’re in the right and she’s wrong. And after the last few days of seeing them as her enemy and losing a fight to them... her pride just won’t allow it. She has to see this through, because it’s what Clover would have done. He was a good soldier, he died doing what the general told him he had to. Vine admits that doesn’t mean he was right to die on that hill. He wasn’t an infallible paragon of good judgment. Harriet doesn’t like hearing that either, but she can’t seem to find the right words to defend her stance on Clover. Probably because those words are something to the tune of “Clover was my friend, and I want to do right by him because I miss him dearly”. But to say that would mean the Ace Ops were also wrong after the mission in the mines, when they were so condescending in telling Team RWBY that you have to just be coworkers with your team and you can’t be friends. And she seems to prefer suicide bombing death over admitting some teenagers knew more about friendship and teamwork than her and her squad. That ego and temper really need some working on, and one starts to worry she’s too far gone to ever get a chance at working on them. Before Vine can give some heartfelt reassurances about being allowed to feel their feelings for each other the airship gets bumped hard and Harriet goes back into angry work first mode. She arms the bomb and tries to dump Vine out the cargo doors before rushing back up to the cockpit and regaining control of the ship. The bumping was caused by Robyn flying another airship into them to try and keep the bomb from being delivered, because how was she to know Vine was about to defuse the whole situation? She does have the good sense to let up on her efforts and come around behind the other airship to rescue Vine when she sees he’s hanging on for dear life. In the meantime, Harriet has to deal with another angry bird as Qrow uses his bird form to fly right up to her windshield and turns back at the last second to crash through the glass and tackle her to the floor. The two fall down the ladder back into the cargo hold, where Qrow seems ready and willing to give Harriet the rematch she’s been wanting so badly. But since nobody’s at the controls and Harriet didn’t turn autopilot back on, the ship’s going to crash... except it’s not because Watts overwrites that too and makes sure the bomb is gonna get where he wants it to.

Down in the Vault, Winter is trying to call any of the teens she can reach to get an update on the plan’s progress. No signal, we know now to thank Watts for that, but what she does find is a red dot appearing on the ground and quickly moving to the center of her chest. She promptly realizes its a laser sight and puts up a glyph to shield herself, but it’s a real strong green blast. Ironwood is coming down the elevator with his greek fire cannon, and he fully intents to put his former lieutenant down for betraying him. For all his paranoia he never thought she would stab him in the back, but that’s just what happens when you have good people at your side while you go mad with power. James tries one last time to insist he knows the right course of action for Atlas. Winter should just step aside and let him kill Team RWBY to reclaim the Staff and Make Atlas Floating Again. But she won’t back down, it is her job and her passion to protect Atlas and its people, and she’s not quitting in the face of this new enemy of the peace. Because Ironwood is the villain here, as much as he thinks he’s right. The extremes he considers necessary are too far. Ironwood actually sheds a tear when faced with this declaration, but I think it’s the last of his heart and humanity leaving as he shuts himself off from all but his machine like devotion to the cause.

Back in the Vacuan desert, Ren’s Aura runs out after spending a few minutes masking thousands of refugees, and the three green teens wonder where the heck Penny is, since she should have been among the first through the portal and her Maiden powers would be able to make quick work of the sandstorm. Oscar grows especially concerned and tries to run back into the pocket dimension to go check on her, but he hits the portal hard and gets bounced back. Oz realizes this new issue is Ambrosius’ doing, and we flashback to when Weiss was telling the big blue builder how to make the central location and all its portals. She happened to use the phrase “a one-way ticket to Vacuo”, since they had no intention of going back to the crashing Atlas. But Ambros took that too literally in the wrong way, and made the Vacuo portal the only one to be one way. They can hop around between Atlas portals all they want, but once you’re in Vacuo there’s no going back to help with the fight they don’t even know is happening yet. But these three have problems of their own, because bat-like Grimm are swarming in and attacking the unguarded civilians. We end the episode there, and boy am I not ready for the finale to only make things worse before 8 months of no resolutions. Are you?

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Pokemon: Onix Line

Look, I’m not saying Onix is inherently a metaphor or was designed to be one, but just as we use euphemisms in the real world, there is absolutely no way that the men of Kanto don’t refer to their “Rock Snake Pocket Monster” and mean something entirely different from an actual Onix. DESIGN:  Onix is a huge serpent made of boulders stuck together, with an inexplicable spike on its head, and you know what? It gets the point across. Its size makes it scary, it blends in with the terrain enough to make it clear why it’s advantageous to look like that, and it’s design is simple but also detailed enough to not look silly. I really like the design of this long, hard beast. Steelix is then less interesting. The metallic sheen and tail spike are cool, and I do actually really like the head redesign, but the crossbars don’t strike me as anything that do anything but make it harder to go through tunnels, they look kind of goofy like stubby arms and legs, and Steelix’s huge head makes its body look short.  This thing is thirty feet long but because its head is so big compared to the rest of it, it looks more childish than Onix does. 

It seriously looks like this thing needs to keep growing, and it’s all because of its ridiculous, massive head. Shrink that thing down and we’ve got a much better serpent. Mega Steelix is an overdesigned mess. It still looks too short, it has a weirdly flat face, it has crystals now for some reason, and what’s with the blue hexagons?   Oh, and the crystals aren’t even sharp so it looks LESS dangerous than Steelix did. Onix has three forms and its later forms are just... less good.

EVOLUTIONS: I dislike trade evolutions, but what I really dislike is trade evolutions that require a specific item. If the item can do it, just let the item do it. You’re asking for extra steps with another player that don’t really enhance the gameplay. It’s just a chore.  At the time of this writing I’ve mostly completed my Crown Tundra and Isle of Armor Pokedex. I’m missing some Sword Exclusives... and I’m missing some Pokemon that only evolve by trading. Because I have to take time out of playing the game to actually get that dealt with. And the ‘requires a metal coat’ thing is just an excuse to explain why Onix couldn’t evolve in gen 1. At this point, just let it be a trade evolution. Onix, Magmar, Rhydon, Slowpoke, all of them.  Steelix is a great choice of Pokemon to Mega. While I don’t like the visual design, Steelix as a Pokemon always needed a bit more of a boost, and it was frankly a bit big. Very few Pokemon evolve past 450 stat total, and Type Null’s the only Pokemon with a stat total over Steelix’s 510 that gets to evolve (And frankly, Type: Null to Silvally is one of the smallest evolutionary jumps in all of Pokemon in terms of raw stats.) So yeah, Steelix was a good choice for a Mega, bring up a weaker full evolved Pokemon.

On the other end of the spectrum, Onix is big enough that adding a Baby Onix at some point would be an entirely reasonable option. This isn’t to say I think the games actually need one, just that there’s clearly room for it in the evolutionary line. 

Art by mark331

TYPING: 

While Onix was a Rock/Ground type, the decision to evolve it away from that was probably due to Rhydon and Golem already existing. Rock/Ground is very mediocre defensively. Though it has an immunity and five resistances, two of its six weaknesses are double weaknesses.  Offensively, the combo’s got super-effective hits on eight types, with nothing resisting both. But you’re not using Onix in a real fight, you’re using Steelix. Steelix is Steel/Ground, which gives it one of the best defensive lineups in the game. With eight resistances, two immunities, and four weaknesses, Steelix is capable of some serious tanking.  Offensively, Steel instead of Rock still gives Supereffective Stab against seven types, and once again there’s no type that resists both Steel and Ground attacks.

Art by Arvalis

STATS:  Steelix has 200 defense.

That’s it. That’s all Steelix’s stats. Okay, its HP and Attack are average. Its Special Defense is sub-par but not painfully so, and its speed is negligible. But it has 200 defense, one of the highest in the game, and when combined with its strong resistances, Steelix is one of the tankiest tanks around. 

Mega Steelix ups the stats that needed it most. While a defense rise from 200 to 230, while amazing and the new highest, is actually kind of negligible at that point, upping Special Defense to 95 and Attack to 125 turns Steelix into the full package, minus the part where it always, always, always goes last.  The weird part there is, Onix has a respectable speed of 70. Guess all that metal slows it down.

ABILITIES:  Steelix has three ability options and, honestly, they all should be good but none of them really live up to their full potential on Steelix. Sturdy is probably the least necessary of the three, but Steelix is still vulnerable to one big hit from a strong hit from a special sweeper, and being able to give a flat ‘no’ to those is useful.  Sheer Force is a particularly powerful ability that increases the damage of attacks by 30% by removing their beneficial secondary effects.  Steelix has a decent variety of moves that can take advantage of this, most notably Iron Head and Rock Slide, but also the elemental fangs for type coverage.

Rock Head is probably Steelix’s strongest ability. Rock Head removes recoil damage from attacks, and while Steelix only has two attacks that can take advantage of this,  one of them is Head Smash, a 150 Power Rock Move that normally deals 50% of the damage dealt as recoil damage.  Rock Head doesn’t have the versatility of Sheer Force, but a Super-Effective Sheer Force Thunder/Ice/Fire Fang is still only doing slightly more damage than a neutral Head Smash, and Steelix’s best attacks, Earthquake and Body Press, can’t benefit from either. Mega Steelix, sadly, does not get Rock Head. Mega Steelix gets Sand Force, which increases the damage of its STAB and Rock moves during a sandstorm. Obviously, this takes effort to set up, and Steelix doesn’t get the Rock-type defensive benefits, but hey, if you’re going to Sandstorm, Mega Steelix is a great idea.

Art by Isabelle Rathner

MOVES:  It’s weird to say, but Steelix’s strongest attack isn’t STAB. While Mega Steelix just Earthquakes basically everything forever,   Steelix’s 200 defense to 85 attack ratio means Body Press outdamages even Earthquake, though it does have the issue that more things resist Fighting than are weak to it. 

From there, you’ll want some coverage. Earthquake, Head Smash (with Rock Head), various Sheer Force attacks, etc, are all options.  Steelix is also slow enough that Gyro Ball is often very strong for it, especially if you get a nature with -Speed instead of the more obvious -Special Attack.  Mega Steelix is heavy enough to reliably Heavy Slam, but I wouldn’t try it with regular Steelix. 

Generally, for coverage you want to combine Ground with Steel or Fighting with Rock.  “Ground and steel” might seem obvious because Steelix is Ground and Steel, but Head Smash and Body Press are both as strong as Earthquake, and how well your Steel moves work really depends on what you’re fighting. And you can use three if you really want to. 

Then you get the setup moves. Steelix has two great setup options. Iron Defense raises its already insane defense to a ludicrous level and functions as Swords Dance for Body Press. On the other hand, Curse increases  the Power of Gyro Ball while also raising Attack and Defense one stage. It’s not as much raw power as the Iron Defense+ Body Press strategy, but, as said, a lot of things resist Fighting. In fact, Fighting and Steel make a good attack duo for coverage purposes, and Curse still increases damage from Body Press, just by one stage instead of two. What makes Steelix interesting here is that with a few turns of setup it can start sweeping, and its defenses mean there’s only a few attacks that can do good damage against it.

For a more defensive option, try having another Pokemon lay down Spikes, then have Steelix use Stealth Rock and bat Pokémon about with Dragon Tail. Whipping up a Sandstorm also works great in this scenario.  Combine with Leftovers for maximum longevity, and your opponent will probably take a lot of random damage throughout their team before something’s able to put a serious dent in Steelix.

Art by Tious

OVERALL:  Steelix is a lot of cool stuff that interacts in weird but not quite great ways. Sheer Force is a strong ability, but it can’t really take advantage in the way Nidoran can. Rock Head is great, but it doesn’t get STAB with either of the moves it applies to, unlike Aggron who gets Rock Head with STAB Head Smash. And then there’s Sand Force, which is strong, but as Steelix isn’t actually a Rock type, it doesn’t get the special defense boost.

You know, I kept thinking it, but this whole time it feels like Steelix would be better if everything else were identical but it was Rock/Steel instead of Ground/Steel... Though I guess Steelix’s defenses are overall more favorable, so maybe not.

Steelix is a great tank, and it has a few options of what to do while tanking, especially now that Body Press exists. Mega Steelix is even stronger, with a real attack stat. 

I just find myself moderately disappointed in all three ability options, despite them all being great ones. 

Also I still think Onix looked cooler.

[anime-alyssa]

Hey lovely!! Could you maybe do a PoexReader where they have to share a bed on a mission and it leads to some smutty goodness?

hello!!! thank you so much for this!!! i hope it is acceptable!! smut below the cut

----

bunk mates.

You and Poe are on a mission on Tattooine, and due to limited resources if you want to get some sleep the two of you must share a bed on the ship.

——

You were one of the smartest people in the whole of the Resistance. Poe was the best pilot and fighter of the Resistance. Between the two of you, you both were able to accomplish anything that General Organa threw at you. So when she had assigned you to go with Poe to Tatooine for a top-secret mission you didn’t hesitate to say yes. You and Poe got on good, you enjoyed his company and plus, he wasn’t exactly hard to look at. You were attracted to him though you wouldn’t admit it to anyone. So it was a no-brainer accepting the mission.

You got to Tatooine when the sun was just about going down. You had parked the jet not to far away from civilization, but not in the middle of nowhere as to avoid Jawas. After Poe ensured the ship was secure he came to find you in the bridge.

“Alright, we’re settled for the night. Locals are saying a sandstorm is coming so I’ve fully secured the ship for the night. Only issue is there’s one bunk, two of us. And it’s hot.” Poe said, throwing his jacket on the seat next to you. Your breath hitched in your throat, anxiety surfacing in you. Only one bunk? You wouldn’t particularly mind sharing a bunk with him if it wasn’t for the fact that you were so attracted to him. “I can sleep in one of the chairs in here, you can take the bunk. I don’t mind.” he said, leaning back in the chair he threw his jacket on.

“You should take it - you’re the one that needs rest more.” you urged him. His droid beeped next to him, stating that you both needed rest and you could both fit - tightly. “The droid isn’t wrong. We both need rest equally.” Poe nodded and sighed, knowing his droid was right and that they needed rest.

“I don’t mind sharing if you don’t.” He said to you.

“I don’t.” You said as you felt your heart start beating faster in your chest. Poe looked startled as you gave your answer, swallowing as he nodded. You took the first step and took off your jacket, leaving it on your chair that you were sitting on. “I promise I don’t kick. Or at least Kaydel didn’t tell me if I did.” you said, trying to joke around to ease your anxiety as you laid closest to the wall.

“You and Kaydel had to share a bunk once?” He asked, sliding in next to you. It was a tight squeeze, but luckily not to uncomfortable. Your anxiety still spiked and you were nervous, and he must have sensed it because he looked nervous too. Which was a first. His droid said it was going to attach itself to the charging station and power down for the night, turning the lights out for the ship in the process. Poe gave a nod as it did exactly that.

“Yeah, on our first covert mission on Naboo a while back. Ship was short a bunk, and considering that Kaydel and I were roommates in training we didn’t entirely mind having to get close.” you said to him, rambling. The ship started to rattle a bit, the sandstorm outside of it starting to go in full effect.

“Can’t say I’ve ever had to share a bunk. Finn was willing to sleep on the floor last time I was put in this predicament.” he said.

“I suppose we gotta do what we gotta do. Night, Poe.” you said to him, rolling onto your side and slightly curling up. He hummed in response and you tried to close your eyes and sleep. He was quiet beside you but you had a funny feeling that he was pretty much in the same boat as you - he couldn’t sleep. Why he couldn’t sleep was a mystery to you but you knew that you were too worked up over your feelings for him to even think about sleeping. You knew that you wouldn’t be able to sleep all night.

Minutes passed and you finally thought you heard his breathing even out, signaling that he was asleep. You let out a frustrated sigh, hearing a chuckle come from behind you.

“You can’t sleep either?” he asked. You groaned as you turned yourself back to face him, nodding. He looked about as wide awake as you did, and you had a feeling you both were going to be up a while longer.

“Have a few things on my mind.”

“Same. Can I confess something?” Poe asked. You nodded back to him, psychically able to feel your heart about to beat right out of your chest. “I like you, a lot. When Leia asked us to do this… I probably said yes a little too fast, honestly. I was going to tell you how I feel at a different time, a better time - but no time like the present, I guess.” he said to you, looking over at you adoringly. Were you dreaming? Did he just confess his feelings to you - the same ones that you felt? You never got this lucky.

“I feel the same way, Poe. I have for a while…” you stuttered out, seeing his eyes start to glow. Your anxiety only calmed a very little bit at the relief that he felt the same way that you did - but now sharing this tiny bunk with him only made things a little more awkward.

“Well, that’s a relief.” he breathed out, feeling better himself. Still, now there was a new tension between you two that couldn’t be ignored anymore. You had confessed how you felt about each other - in a very tight bunk. Someone had to do something, but who was going to make the first move? Evidently, Poe decided ‘screw it’ and leaned over to kiss you, smoothly sliding on top of you. You briefly gasped before you decided to just enjoy it. He pulled away from you quickly, looking semi-apologetic. “Sorry. I don’t want to get myself carried away.” he said.

“Well, we can’t sleep.” you said suggestively. He smirked quickly before he leaned down to kiss you again.

“That we can’t. Tell me when to stop, okay?” he asked. You nodded back and that was when he started to kiss you deeper, a hand going to the back of your head to bring you closer to him.  You decided to bring him closer to you as well, assisting him in dipping his hips to meet yours and feeling his hard-on through his pants. If he was embarrassed he didn’t seem to show it as his tongue started to explore your mouth and his hand explored your body, running up every curve you had. You decided to start doing the same thing, trailing one of hands up his chest, holding onto his shirt tightly. Once his hand went under your shirt to cup a breast you knew that you wanted him - bad - and your body reacted like you did because you let out a soft moan. Poe stopped kissing you for a moment and looked down at you. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes.” you said quietly.

“If anything hurts or you don’t like it, tell me, okay?” Poe said to you. You nodded in response as he gently slid your shirt off your body- exposing your chest to him. The air hitting it gave you a small chill - but to big because it was so hot in the ship and Poe was extremely close to you. Sweat was starting to form on his forehead as he stripped of his shirt as well, leaving you both topless as he crashed his lips back down onto yours and took a hand, cupping a breast gently massaging it. Once more you let out a moan and Poe put his lips to your neck, lining soft kisses from your neck all the way down to the opposite breast where he took your nipple in his mouth and started gently sucking at it.

You breathed out another moan as his mouth did wonders to your body. You felt yourself wanting him more and more, the heat in your legs becoming nearly unbearable. You took a risk and moved your hands to his hips, trying to slide his pants off his body. He took the hint and helped you out, briefly taking his lips off your body to make sure he got his pants off quickly. You couldn’t see the size of him as the space was so tight, but you felt him now resting on your pants. Poe quickly tore your pants off your body and threw them to the side, now leaving the both of you naked. You felt his hardened member on the inside of your thigh rubbing against your skin.

“Turn over.” Poe whispered in your ear. You did as he said, him making enough room for you to turn over, laying on your stomach. Poe worked to raise your hips up gently and spread your legs open. “Tell me if it hurts, alright?” You nodded in response as Poe lined himself up with your entrance and pushed himself in gently, filling you up. You gasped at the feeling of him stretching you open, causing him to pause about halfway through.

“Keep going.” you said to him. Poe leaned over and pressed a kiss to your shoulder as he slowly filled you all the way, lingering still for a few moments. Poe steadied himself putting his hands over yours and started to gently thrust, his breath hitching. The friction between the two of you pleasured you more than you could ever imagine as he slid in and out of you with ease. You were tight around his cock but your juices helped glide him in and out of you easier. He started to pace himself, gently moving in and out of you. Poe was moaning deeply in your ear, the tightness of your pussy around his cock feeling incredible.

“So tight… Feels so - ugh - good.” Poe said to you as he broke his slow and gentle pace to thrust into you hard. You let out a moan as he kept going, your angle allowing him to fill you completely each time he thrust. You felt more heat building up in your belly as he thrusted more, the feeling of a release coming to you. The both of you were sweaty and sticky, skin slapping against skin loudly and the aroma of sweat and sex filling the bunk. He grunted and groaned, panting for breath the harder he thrust. “So good, so good…” he moaned into your ear, taking one of his hands off of yours and moving it in between your legs, fingers dancing over your clit.

“Fuck! Poe!” you moaned loudly as your knees buckled, Poe using his other arm to hold you up and keep his pace. He pulled your hips closer to his and railed into you with a force that you didn’t know he had in him and you started to scream his name. “Poe! Oh fuck - Poe!” you shouted as you felt your orgasm take over your body, collapsing on the bunk under you and Poe following as his cock twitched inside of you and you felt him release his thick ropes of cum inside of you.

The two of you laid together for a while, not saying anything, just panting with each other trying to catch your breath. Poe got the blanket up and covered the two of you, wrapping an arm around your waist.

“I don’t think we’ll have any problem sleeping now.” he said to you, pressing a kiss on your forehead. You laughed as you slept soundly.

[darktypeimagines]

Hello! I'm the one asking for part 2 (hehe) and yeah! The same characters from before ^^!

As the ask suggests, this is a part 2 of this post. If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to read it first!

This one was a bit hard to write, only because I imagine a part 2 of this ask-set would depend very much on the reader’s own preferences and goals for their life.  I tried to keep it vague-ish for that reason.

 ——————————————————————————————–

It had been about 3 years since your arrival into the Pokemon world.  In that time, you managed to build a life for yourself, with your partner by your side.

But, it had been harder to adjust than you expected.  Leaving one life behind and starting a new one was difficult, of course. But you weren’t prepared for the occasional culture shock or how much you actually had to learn.

In that time, the world was introduced to Ultra Beasts. They had been appearing more often than when you were first abducted, even outside of Alola.  And, of course, the world took notice.  At first, it was assumed the pictures and videos were fake. But then, a few trainers were seen using said Ultra Beasts, one trainer in particular becoming the champion of a region.  At that point, many people accepted the existence of alien Pokemon.

But new Fallers were also found.  Some of whom fell into custody of groups other than Interpol, which created quite a problem for the police agency.  Most of these Fallers had their memories wiped.  But a couple retained their memories, like you, and went public with their knowledge.

Luckily, none of the public Fallers were from our world; all were from various Pokemon timelines, one of which had a very bleak future. 

 Given the secret about other worlds and timelines was out, you decided to come forward yourself, but omitting everything about the Pokemon series being fictional in your world.  You decided to work with researchers mostly, and worked on getting a book published.  You figured if you were to find a niche in this world, it had to be this.

You turned out to be instrumental in deciphering the Unown code.  It’s basically just English, after all, although the researchers didn’t know this at first.  Telling them the Unown language was basically just another language in your world was a breakthrough in their research.

One unfortunate consequence of the increased Ultra Beast sightings was an increase in you encountering them.  As a Faller, you are an Ultra Beast magnet. For your boyfriend, this was always a bit of a worry for him.  Even if you do eventually become a capable trainer yourself, dealing with an upset, alien Pokemon from another world is guaranteed to be dangerous!

Raihan

Was the most supportive in you coming forward.  The day you went public, made posts supporting his “alien” partner from another world.  These posts gained almost as much attention as the news stories of you coming forward.

Likes to travel with you as you go around the world for your own work.  Whether it’s a trip to Johto to help with the Unown translation efforts, or to attend a research convention in Unova, he’ll always offer to come along so long as it doesn’t conflict with his Gym Leader duties.

Some of your favorite memories were on these travels with you.  Seeing the Dragon’s Den in Blackthorn city was amazing; Clair gave you two permission after Raihan managed to defeat her in battle (although, she wasn’t particular happy about losing, she enjoyed battling against foreign dragons). You two got lost in Castelia city, which ended up being frustrating and fun at the same time.  And the Alolan beaches were lovely.

But, it was on one of those trips when you got attacked. As you were traveling by ship to your next destination, you heard screams coming from the other side of the ship. Raihan, being a capable gym leader, immediately ran in that direction, and you followed.

It turned out to be an Ultra Beast that stepped through its portal and landed right on the ship’s deck.  The Beast flexed its arms upon landing, fortunately giving bystanders the chance to run away. You identified the Pokemon as Buzzwole.

As serious as the situation was, Raihan could help but laugh.  A flexing bodybuilder-esc alien?  It was a bit ridiculous.  He quickly sent out Flygon.

Raihan wanted to set up Sandstorm, but with the amount of other people around, he didn’t think it was wise.  So instead, he just had it start with a Dragon Claw.  Flygon managed to grasp the Beast’s head, and before it could react, and used Crunch on its neck.

Unfortunately, as Flygon used Crunch, Buzzwole was able to counter with Superpower. This sent the dragon flying back, skidding across the deck.

Flygon shuddered in pain.  Luckily, Buzzwole did more flexing after the successful hit, giving Flygon a chance to get up.  Flygon was able to pull off a Flamethrower in this time.  While Flygon wasn’t gifted in Special Attack, the type advantage helped.

While Buzzwole was trying to recover from the hit, Raihan threw a Pokeball at it.  You were a bit surprised that he chose to try to catch it, but it was probably an easier way to deal with it, in the end.

It took a few Ultraballs to catch the thing, as well as one more Dragon Claw from Flygon. When the Ultraball finally clicked, relief spread across the crowd.

·You two took the Buzzwole home with you.  Neither of you knew what to do with the beast, but it eventually became a (weird) part of the family.  Raihan ended up giving the Buzzwole to you for protection, although the Pokemon ended up bonding more with the dragon trainer.  

On more than one occasion, you caught Raihan and Buzzwole working out together.  Amusingly, Buzzwole far outpaced his human counterpart, but that didn’t stop Raihan from trying to keep up!

Milo

Is probably the most relaxed about your recent life changes.  To him, it’s just another step in your life, and he’ll do his best to help you along the way.

Is the most likely out of the three to read your book from start to finish.  One of his favorite past times is reading on his breaks.  On sunny afternoons when the sun is at its peak, he likes to take his breaks in the shade of a large tree.  Once there, he typically has a snack and delves into a few chapters of whatever he’s reading at the moment.  There’s just something about reading a book outside, surrounded by nature, that feels right.

And yes, his break ended up being much longer than intended when he started reading your book.  He couldn’t help it!  It was about your world, after all.  And in learning more about your world, he was learning more about how you became the person you are today.

For your anniversary together, you two decided to spend the day outside and have a picnic.  It was near one of his wheat fields, and far enough away from town to have a peaceful, quiet day together.  Or so you hoped.

It turns out your hopes were in vain.  As Milo set up the blanket, the air became distorted and buzzed with energy.  An Ultra Wormhole opened up above the field, and out popped a giant, steel Ultra Beast.  It turned out to be a Celesteela!

The beast immediately started setting up roots in the field.  You knew of the beast previously, having done a bit of research in case you encountered one.  Celesteela sapped nutrients from the earth, and although they preferred bamboo forests, this one apparently wasn’t as picky.

It didn’t seem overly aggressive, but it was definitely observing you.  You and Milo discussed what to do, and while Milo wouldn’t have minded leaving it there (since it seemed peaceful), you convinced him that it needed to be moved.  Having a random, alien Pokemon in the middle of a wheat field near town did not seem like a good idea!

Milo used his Flapple to deal with the Beast.  He started with Leech Seed, which the Celesteela initially didn’t notice. Milo was able to set up a few Dragon Dances before using Dragon Pulse on the beast.  At that point, it definitely noticed.  And retaliated.

It used Smack Down.  And while Flapple wasn’t a flying type, it fell from the sky, taking quite a bit of damage, and had trouble getting airborne again.

Milo had it use another Dragon Pulse.  From the boosts from Dragon Dance, it did a fair bit of damage.

It was at that point it occurred to you… What were you going to do when it fainted?  The thing was huge.  And heavy.  How would you get it out of the field?

Your solution was to catch it.  You yelled to Milo to hold off from finishing it off, and threw a Pokeball.  It took a couple of tries, but you were eventually able to catch it.

You were still breathing a bit heavy, and wanted to go home.  But Milo convinced you to stay; you had already mostly set up the picnic, so there’s no need to ruin the day.  The Beast was dealt with, so you two could relax now.

You agreed, and had a wonderful afternoon.  Milo makes some really good sandwiches.  You even gave one to Flapple, since it worked so hard earlier!

You contemplated keeping the Celesteela, but it didn’t seem happy; they are rather particular with their needs, and prefer to grow in peace rather than being confined to a Pokeball.  Eventually, Milo and you contacted a few researchers who have worked with Celesteela, and with their help, you set up a sanctuary for it on an unused field. Bamboo wouldn’t grow natively in the area, so it was decided that a forest would have to do.  Celesteela still seemed happy, though, and you let it live there in peace.

Leon

Was a little concerned with you going public about your past, but still supports your decision.  While he knows holding a secret for so long could really harm someone, he’s also aware of what so much publicity can do, too.  Worries if you can handle it.

Will give you advice about dealing with your newfound publicity.  If you ever need to vent, he’s a great listener.

Out of the three, he’s the most likely to be interested in the research surrounding Fallers.  This is partially because of his brother, Hop.  His younger brother had been researching Eternatus as a way to help his mentor, Sonia, and her research into The Darkest Day.  Hop had a long way to go before becoming a professor, but he might as well get some work done along the way!

Thus, as a result of his brother, former rival, and now you becoming involved in research in some way or another, he has a bit of interest in it, as well.  Mainly the results, of course.

Still low-key hopes for an explanation on the whole Pokemon-is-a-video-game-in-my-world thing.  He’s accepted that he’s a character in those games, but it still bugs him now and then…

Eventually, you get attacked by an Ultra Beast.  Luckily, he was there at the time.  You had met Leon at the top of the Battle Tower; he had just finished up his day, and wanted to dinner with you.  (Luckily, the Poke-equivalent of UberEats delivers to the Tower) There’s nothing like the view of the city below from the top of the tower, and he thought it would be a nice, romantic way to end the night.

As you stepped out of the elevator, a loud crash sounded throughout the room.  A moment later, the power went out.  As Leon was about to text a worker downstairs about the situation, the beast appeared before the glass, shattering it to get inside; it turned out to be a Xurkitree, sparking with excess electricity presumably stolen from the Tower itself.

Luckily, Leon had a ground type on him; he sent out Rhyperior and had it use High Horsepower.

It wasn’t enough to take out the Xurkitree, so a fight ensued.  There was a scary moment when the Xurkitree used Power Whip and nearly took out Rhyperior.  Luckily, the Xurikitree was on its last legs at that point, so you took the opportunity to throw a PokeBall at it before Rhyperior could be defeated.

And, it was caught with only one ball!  Seems you had an alien friend now…

Leon was a bit hesitant about keeping the Xurkitree; it was so different than other Pokemon, after all.  Would it be able to bond the same way?  But when that same Pokemon ended up protecting you against a different Ultra Beast in a separate attack, Leon was convinced it was fine to keep it.

[semi-imaginary-place]

 thI’m gonna beat Platinum with only pachirisu (bibarel’s along for the ride, and HMs)

I named myself Pachi and my rival (Barry) was Risu because Gen 4 has a character limit to names and wouldn’t let me name them Pachirisu1 and Pachirisu2 or Electric Squirrel 1 and 2.

So i more or less blitz through oreburgs gym as fast as i could avoiding trainers and not catching any pokemon, and then spent the next half an hour trying to catch a pachirisu because despite a 10% chance, rng screwed me over and they refused to come out. After i caught the first one, I didn’t see another one for another half hour. Literally went from level 11 to level 17 before i saw another pachirisu. so my the rules i gave myself, once i caught the first pachirisu, I could only use that pachirisu. Now a level 11 pachirisu’s only damaging move is quick attack. this thing has base 45 attack. it was suffering. 

at level 13 pachirisu learn spark and things got better from there. Levels 13-27 were actually ok all things considered. Like it was only 30% harder than normal. I’m now at hearthome and I expect things to get much harder from here on out as other pokemon start evolving and getting better stats and moves. base 45 attack and special attack...

look at this thing’s pathetic moveset. Please remember this is gen 4 so TMs are single use. 

Geodudes are the bane of my existence, caves and hikers my arch enemies. by level 18 or something they learn magnitude and the only things i have to damage them are quick attack and swift. Battles are slow. Now pachirisu does actually have some bulk (well comparatively speaking for a ~lv15 rat) so these fights ended up with a lot of stalling and healing as I slowly chip away with with swift and bide (if they don’t magnitude me to death), I’ve ended up in a lot of battles the ended up in struggle. please note the pp of the above moves. Geodudes usually spend the first 1-3 turns rock polishing so that’s when i use charm to drop their attack into the void and then comes the guessing game of when they’ll attack (rock throw etc.) where i should bide and when they’ll do defense curl (and i should just attack).

.

well the hearthome, veilstone, and pastoria gyms didn’t cause me any problems. It takes 3 hits to take anything down but it also take 4 hits to down pachirisu. I’m also over leveled so i skipped some optional areas. all in all its not hard. yet.. probably because I’m overleved. pachirisu’s got discharge and superfang so im doing ok for now

the barry canalave fight went well until i got to the roserade.... its special attack is high enough i needed to heal every other turn. then it leech seeded me and kept sleeping me.... Canalave gym er well the steelix really caused me problems. I more or less heal stalled it to death. Pachirisu just doesn’t have enough power. That was painful just slowly chipping away at it.... healing every 3 turns, trying to keep it confused as much as possible.

By level 43, pachirisus’ stats are starting to fall behind, I can’t one shot wild pokemon 15 levels below me, and am increasingly relying on super fang to get through battles. The ice gym was pretty bad, stalled out a few time.... ended up struggling the froslass to death... bled a lot of money...

brb purging this from my memory

.

so catching 5 pachirisu was so mind numbingly boring that i got a mental block trying to catch no. 6 so i gave up. anyways went and caught my last pachirisu so now i finally have a full team. that said, I’m only really using 3.

I forgot how much i hated mt. cornet. i give up. Max Repels all the way. Team galactic was actually ok but mostly because they used a lot of murkrow and golbat. The final Cyrus fight was actually pretty good considering I’m level 48. Giratina though was a problem. So part of the initial rules was no catching pokemon so i had to knock it out. (I did catch a chansey because i wanted a lucky egg but the chansey and luck egg rates are so low i gave up and released the chansey i caught. also cynthia forced a togepi egg on me so i got that). Anyways the only move i had that wasn’t normal type was spark/discharge and giratina resists electric. so that fight took a while... i lowered giratina’s attack by 6 stages, paralyzed it and then kept it confused and slowly whittled down its health. didn’t lose too many, 1 KO from a crit.

Sunnyshore was a mixed bag, like it’d go ok and then I’d hit a wall and get stuck and bleed moomoo milks and then it’d be ok again for the next 4 pokemon. Pokemon like jolteon caused me a lot of problems since I only have normal and electric moves. I refuse to grind to for this so maybe I’m just making my life harder than it has to be but yeah not great but it could have been much worse. Overall I am definitely feeling pachirisu slowing down. The water route was fine, nice to be able to one shot things again (sometimes) but victory road is a huge road block with all the ground pokemon. it was terrible. I mainly used repels  to get through the first floor (got lost -_-) but I might go to iron island which i skipped earlier to grab iron tail. I haven’t used any tms yet because single use is terrifying and I’m scared of commitment but I’m considering toxic, double team, light screen, dig, charge beam, thunderwave. Charge beam looks good, but pachirisu is a little weak to be setting up and sweeping so i don’t know yet what I’m going to do. I don’t remember who is in the elite four either so i should look that up. The main problem with the elite four is going to be pp management. Maybe I will toxic and confusion everything to death...

.

yeah getting though victory road was a war of attrition. it was hard.

.

well that last barry fight was excruciatingly painful. I forgot it was there. Staraptor went down in 3 hits as did empoleon and heracross. Heracross kept one shoting me which was annoying and roserade resists electric so that took a while but snorlax was what really caused me trouble. I had to do that fight 4 times because of snorlax. So the problem with snorlax is rest, on a normal run you usually have something powerful enough to take down snorlax in 3 hits, but i don’t. snorlax is just so tanky that I can’t deal enough damage before it ses rest again. earthquake wasn’t so much a problem after 3 charms, but rest kept resetting any paralysis or confusion i got on snorlax. I had to exhaust all 10 pp for rest and all pp for earthquake plus switch out whenever crunch lowered my defense. it took a loooonnng time.

.

So I beat the elite four and champion with the power on money. Man that took forever. I went and looked up the sinnoh elite four instead on going in blind like i had been. Zap is my physical attacker and Glitz is my special attacker. Funny thing is that For most of the game Zap has been highest level but Glitz pulled aheah after i sp. a. ev trained on route 212 for a couple levels. sparkle is just along for the ride. So the main danger in relying so heavily on x items is that there’s just a massive set up at the beginning of each fight as i throw like 3 x defense 3 x sp defense 4 sp attack/attck and 2 speed onto my pachirisu. 

So with Aron ?? bug dude? the yanmega would u turn and i died to the heracross a couple times via crits. that damn heracross. I’d send out sparkle to put 3 charms on the heracross and confuse it then switch to Zap and start setting up. It was either the drapion or the scizor that survived a hit but my def was boosted enough to survive. Side note: WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE EARTHQUAKE. the drapion, the inpernape, the bronzong, all of bertha’s team....

To deal with Bertha I did teach grass knot to Glitz and set up on him with sparkle leading to charm the hippowdon. This (predictably) was the worse fight and i died the most here which was painful as i had to start over. uuggg. Also setting up took longer since hippowdon kept the sandstorm up. I thought its was only going to last 5 turns and hippowdon already had 3 charms on it so i didn’t was to kill it yet, well i learned. Rhyperior miraculously survived and then earthquake took half my health even with 4 x defends.

Ok so I’m convinced houndoom has an elevated crit rate or something because that thing crited me like once every 4 hits. I was originally pretty worried about magmortar and infernape but flint was ok, or well at least better than bertha. it was gallade in the next fight that gave me more trouble. Not to much but at one point i was praying to rng to not get crited on. But i made it through eventually.

At this point exhaustion is kicking is and I honestly don’t really remember what happened. I led with Glitz for this fight and the last 2 fights since their leading pokemon were all special attackers. Spiritomb was annoying because it kept lowering my sp defense. Set up too so long that by the time i was done, the only move it had pp left in was silverwind, so like 43 turns? I got through most of her team alright, except for the garchomp that survived and proceeded to earthquake me. My second attack left garchomp  with a sliver of health and after it attacked me, glitz was in the red too. After like 2 more turns of jockying with it i took it town with swift.

I can’t remember what fights these were but I got burned a few times and poisoned once and that was annoying. I think it was cynthia’s roserade which was her last pokemon, it's sludgebomb poisoned me i think but its was in the yellow health so i didn’t bother healing and took it down.

And that’s how i beat Pokemon Platinum TM with only pachirisu. In the end i really only used 3 pachirisu and you probably could do this with 1 pachirisu, i wouldn’t quite call this a callenge run since its not too hard. Its at the difficulty where anyone could do this. I mean the easiest way to beat the game with 1 pachirisu is to grind it to level 100 and stuff it with x items, but i hate grinding and since i skipped a lot of battles i was quite poor too. 

My final pokemon count was monferno (starter who i couldn’t bear to release but was poxed after valley windworks), togepi (thatcynthia shoved into the arms and I never used), chansey (i caught and released in a plan to get lucky eggs that i gave up on), tropius (for hms), bibarel (for hms), and 6 pachirisu,my pc boxes were very empty. i never had other pokemon and only pachirisu were ever in battles.

I don’t know why i did this. 

Pachirisu is cute.

[fuwafuwamedb]

The King in the Tapestry (Hakuno, Gilgamesh)

He couldn’t remember the details.

Not well.

Not anymore.

Siduri had come running into the palace, panicking hard about a rebellion.

“Where’s Enkidu?”

Siduri shook her head, pushing him deeper into the palace, towards where the prayer rooms were. He tried to pull her the other way, but something met his hands. The stickiness, the warmth-

“Siduri-“

“Please! My king!” Siduri pushed him harder, knocking him into the prayer room.

The doors slammed open on the other end of the hall. Arrows shot through the air as Siduri looked to him and shook her head.

“My king, please!”

She slammed the doors before a series of staccato sounds hit the door. He could see the arrowheads make it through the wood, a pained sound coming from the other side.

What was happening?

It didn’t make sense, not at all. The guards should have been able to protect Uruk. The walls around the city kept out enemies that could try to invade the innermost part of the kingdom. His palace had guards all around it.

“FINISH THE GODS OFF WITH THE LYNCHPIN! NO DIVINITY MAY SURVIVE!”

They were killing gods?

The fools. Even if they did, that meant that there would be no means for their people to survive. No one would be able to live for long. They needed gods to pray to. They needed the gods and the goddesses to bless the fields and make the lands cooperate. The weather, the land, the animals; everything needed the gods to some capacity.

The gods needed humans for their power as well, but-

The gods weren’t calling war upon the humans.

He rushed forth, moving to the altar.

“Mother.”

A silence met his ears.

“Mother! Come forth! What is happening?!”

Silence.

He’d never heard silence. He’d never been-

“Ereshkigal? …Enki?”

The next two were not answering.

“Ishtar?”

It was the last thing he wanted, but…

He pounded on the altar. “ISHTAR! ANSWER ME!”

The doors were thrown open. Gilgamesh cast a hand out behind him, deciding enough was enough.

“I will bring forth the power to kill you all for this,” he swore to them. “Your descendants will learn that your bloodlines will never be able to prosper on these lands. You will die if you try.” His hands cast behind him, pulling his ace in the hole.

A casting circle emblazoned upon one of his tapestries.

He’d drawn it himself, knowing that he could use it to turn back the very hands of time themselves. He could go back, grab the ancient power of the gods, and come back to when this raid had begun if possible. If not, he’d come back to this moment and slaughter the people. He’d make their children and their children’s children learn that Uruk was no place to invade.

They’d-

He was feeling something going wrong.

Glancing down at his torso, he could see the arrow shoot straight through his body, never hitting. His whole physical person was turning into a fading golden dust, heading back… back to the tapestry with the circle on it.

I should have learned more magic.

The thought came with a wall of darkness. The confines of the world around him pressed up against him, until he could see and feel nothing more then a void of an abyss. He screamed out for justice, for space. The darkness gave him naught.

He tried to move.

He could not.

What was this?

A figure came into fruition, holding the tapestry. He could see their eyes drift up to him as they stood in an alley.

“…A-a d-d-d-demon…”

Demon?

Gilgamesh went to speak, but the man screamed in terror.

“I WISH I WAS AT HOME!”

They were suddenly in a hovel of a place.

The man before him blinked, staring up at him. Gilgamesh himself found himself staring at his hands, feeling… weaker.

He went to speak.

“I WISH I HAD WEALTH!”

His treasury opened, wealth raining down around the man. The cackles came a moment before the man hugged the tapestry closer.

“I wish… I had a woman.”

The woman appeared, but she looked none too pleased. In fact, the fear in her eyes at suddenly being in a new place was only reflected in the sudden panic that he felt as the walls of darkness came back.

More time passed.

More fools.

Wealth.

Women.

Men.

An army.

He watched them happen, feeling more and more power flowing through his veins. Divine power, at that; but he wasn’t sure what was going on.

Over and over he would find them rattling off their demands, hugging the tapestry to themselves and then vanishing after wish three.

Three wishes.

Each and every time.

The woman before him now though…

“Who are you?”

The woman stared up at him, crossing her arms. The tapestry he’d used his spell on was draped across her shoulders, torn and stained. It looked more like an ancient keepsake rather than a proud fabric that had hung upon his palace walls.

Still, he found himself stilled at her question.

“…You have not heard of me?”

That was normally what the people called him when he was summoned.

Was she sick?

Dying?

What had brought him to her this time?

“…Weirdo.” The woman shook her head, pushing the tapestry into her back. “Here I’d thought that I was going to summon the demon god. Instead I find you. Are you from the Ur kingdom or the Nippur kingdom?”

Ur? Nippur?

He laughed.

“Try Uruk.”

“Haha,” she drawled. “Fine. Go home soon. I need to protect the people in these lands and you’re not going to help me… By the way, how the hell do you survive in these lands like that? Are you one of the cursed Nippurians?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Fine, don’t answer. When the winds bite at you though, it ain’t my fault.” She pulled up the fabric around her neck, wrapping it around her lower face and pulling on glass coverage for her eyes. The fabric was wrapped higher and higher until it covered the rest of her plain features.

She pushed the door to the darkened room open and Gilgamesh felt himself thrown back.

The winds and the sand blew their direction.

The building, which looked like his last summoner’s home, was showing ancient wear and tear.

What the hell is this?

“You’ll die like this!”

Gilgamesh found the woman yanking him in close, slamming the door shut again before she pulled a fabric from her bag. She wrapped it around his head, blocking out the sights around him, pulling him into the howling storm outside.

Miles they went, through it all, until they reached the edges of the area and everything went silent.

“HAKUNO!”

Gilgamesh yanked the fabric down, watching his companion pull her glasses up and her scarf down.

Her hand was raised in a wave.

“Emiya! Cu Chulainn!”

The two men leaned against their mounts, regarding them.

“Who’s this?” The blue haired one asked.

“Cu this is… ah…”

“Gilgamesh.”

“Weird,” the other muttered.

“He’s someone I found,” Hakuno told them. “We’ll be seeing him home since he’s without protection near the Uruk ruins.”

The two hissed at that.

“Yeah, probably was caught by some looters I found while investigating the kingdom ruins.”

Gilgamesh turned, staring back towards the direction he’d felt them come. His eyes landed upon the land.

Sands met his eyes, with rampant beasts roaming this way and that. The thickness of a sandstorm covered most the view, but there was a thinning.

His stomach bottomed out at the sight.

His kingdom was in ruins.

“…Wish for Uruk to be cleared.”

The woman glanced his way, her eyes going to the kingdom next.

“…Wish it, woman.”

Where were his people?

Had anything survived?

“Cu? Emiya?” Hakuno motioned a moment before one of them dismounted, climbing onto the horse of the other’s. The reins were given to her before they muttered about going back to the campsite.

The woman came closer, glancing at him carefully.

“We need to go-“

“Wish for Uruk to be growing and clear of this sand,” he demanded again.

“…What use is there for that? Wishes don’t mean anything. Wishes, like pleasure, are for children.”

Dear gods, what a world to be in.

“My traveling tribe will help you home,” she told him. “Once you’re home, I must move my people.”

He grabbed her wrist, earning a sigh.

“Fine. I wish the lands of Uruk looked once more like they had when the kingdom was in its prime, with flowing waters, fresh vegetation, and a rainfall that will make the area no longer a desert.”

His divinity pierced through him, magic cascading out towards the world before them.

The sands flew up into the skies. Sweet rain poured forth from the heavens, the sunlight diminishing away to let the rain have its piece. The buildings, as the rain fell and the sands flew, grew more and more like that he’d seen before.

The ziggurat at the center, as he found it coming back into fruition once more, showed more and more of those floors that he remembered walking so many times before. The rooftop overlooking the kingdom once more was touching the skies.

And the woman at his side fell to her knees.

“…I did not introduce myself,” Gilgamesh murmured, looking at his world once more set to rights… somewhat. “I am the king of Uruk, the golden Demon god to which your people mention when they see me. I am Gilgamesh.”

Hakuno looked up at him a moment before she shook her head.

“You’re a god. I don’t know how, but…” Hakuno glanced at the kingdom before nodding. “We need to gather my people. As this land’s only living citizen, this is my rightful home.”

Hmm?

“Thank you,” she told him.

The smile itself was Siduri’s.

He didn’t even respond when the woman took his hand, whistling louder than the winds for the two that had just left her.

Who was this woman?

How long had he been gone?

[vivacia-18]

May the 4th be with you recs!

Because fanfic is the reason I’m finally getting into Star Wars after all these years XDD

I’m gonna include the fic summaries and my takes, so plopping these under a cut for length. If you haven’t already read these, please go give them some love. And if you have, go give them some more! XD

I’m a fix-it, (at least mostly) everybody lives and (hopefully) nobody dies kinda gal, so while I certainly like something that hits in the feels, I don’t care for angst with no payoff at the end. Many of these are ongoing, but I’m confident enough in the overall feel of them to rec with that in mind. I also like long fics, so most of my recs will reflect that. 

Hunting Towards Heartstill by blackkat

Pairing: Mace Windu/ CC-2224 Cody

Status: Complete, 45 chapters

Summary: Plo has an idea. Mace agrees, and everything snowballs right into hell from there.

(Or: Mace and Cody get married in order to give the clones citizen status. Before they can focus on that, though, they're going to have to deal with ancient Sith artifacts, evil prophets, plots to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor, lost planets, monsters warped by Sith alchemy, inconvenient feelings, and Darth Sidious turning his eye on a potential new apprentice. Just...not in that order.)

Notes: Kat’s going to have her whole section recc’d in a minute, but this one is near and dear to my heart, so it get’s a special spot. This is the one that got me into the Star Wars fandom at all. And by “into the fandom” I mean I have never seen/read a single piece of Star Wars media outside of gifsets and funky graphic t-shirts in my entire life. And now here we are XDD

In short, as with anything kat writes, the characterization is top-notch, the wit even more so, and the feels will leave you broken to pieces only to bring you back together better than when you started at the end of it all. Enjoy <3

All of blackkat’s Star Wars fics, by she who never expected to be a part of this fandom so everyone thank sol for being a bastard and cher for having terrible, amazing, tempting, too-good prompts XD

Notes: As promised, I did indeed just link all of blackkats Star Wars fics XD Most are one shots, with several longer ongoing, and one very special one complete. Pairings and settings will vary, but I can promise you one thing: you can absolutely trust kat with your heart, no matter how angsty it seems (tho take those cliffie warnings seriously!). Enjoy, and may the Force be with you! <3

The Hero With a Thousand Faces by beamirang 

Pairing: Jango/Obi-Wan 

Status: Part 1 is a one-shot prologue, part 2 ongoing

Summary: “We’re going to kidnap a Jedi?” Boba sounds far more excited by the prospect than most twelve-year-olds probably should. And, because he’s Jango’s boy, because he’s too kriffing smart for his own good, he catches on way too quickly. “Wait. Are we kidnapping your Jedi?”

Notes: Fantastic characterization and writing - very witty (as one would expect with Obi and Fett XD) but also excellent on the heavier emotional aspects as well. 

The Desert Storm by Blue_Sunshine

Pairing: None

Status: 17 parts complete, part 18 ongoing

Summary: In Tatooine legend, the sandstorm is Lukka, the Fury, both cleansing and damning. Lukka, the slaves believed, was Justice, was he who remade the world, and remade the soul.The storm screams at him, and Obi-Wan Kenobi screams back.

Notes: It’s a time travel fic! It’s one of my favourite tropes when done correctly, and this one certainly does :) Love the characters, they have so much depth and growth over the series. And while this far it is 100% a “everybody lives nobody dies” kinda story, there is no sacrifice in plot or narrative tension. Wonderful proof that there can be other narrative stakes in a story than just character death. 

Under One Flag by NeurotropicAgentX

Pairing: Padme Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Maul

Status: Two single chapter parts. Marked as incomplete with no further updates since 2017, but the chapters stand alone, no cliffhangers. 

Summary: The story of how Padmé Amidala becomes the reluctant Empress of the galaxy and acquires a pair of Force-sensitive bodyguards. Deals with the light and dark side conflict, the politics of an Empire, and Dathomirian Culture.

Notes: A fun little read! The dynamics between the three were interesting, and who doesn’t love the idea of Empress Padme? :D

By A Barista by Tomatosoupful

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Anakin

Status: Complete, 7 chapters

Summary: Obi-Wan/Anakin, Modern Coffee Shop AU unapologetically set in Australia. Some Star Wars story lines and character arcs adapted into modern coffee versions.Anakin doesn't really know why Qui-Gon hired him despite having no experience in coffee making or table service, and he knows this bothers the barista, Obi-Wan, but hey, at least he gets to look at the handsome guy while he complains.

Notes: Another fun little read! I love social disaster Ani in modern settings, ngl XD 

The Snowball Effect by Ghost_Owl

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Anakin

Status: Complete, 2 chapters

Summary: Anakin had not meant to nail the cute guy from his building in the face with a snowball.Obi Wan had absolutely meant to hit him back.

Notes: Another cute read! Once again Ani is a disaster, and Obi-Wan only less so by direct comparison XD I particularly remember this story for the author coining the phrase I now recognize as my favourite paring trope - two halves of a whole idiot XDD

Reprise by Elfpen

Pairing: None

Status: 7 parts, current part ongoing

Summary: Ben Kenobi dies aboard the Death Star in the year 0 BBY. He wakes up shortly thereafter in the Jedi temple in the year 41 BBY. Haunted by memories and regret, Ben must forge a new path for himself in the Jedi Order of his youth while navigating the murky waters of time travel. Crafting a better future from bitter experience is hard, but learning to heal is even harder. Major AU.

Notes: This one I found on the heels of Desert Storm, and while they are initially cut from the same cloth, you’ll find they immediately develop their own unique flavours. If you like time-travel fix-its (which I do ;D) then this is a great read, and has some lovely art to go with it! 

Life and What Comes After by Ibelin

Pairing: None

Status: First part one-shot complete, second part ongoing

Summary: Obi-Wan dies on Jabiim. Anakin blames himself, doesn't know how to go on and yet - he does. Maybe the Force rewards that kind of thing, or maybe he just gets lucky, but when a mission lands Anakin on a vaguely familiar planet, he gets a second chance to do what he knows he should have done in the first place: save his master.(And maybe a chance to save the galaxy, too.)

Notes: *Don’t worry, Obi-Wan does not in fact die!*

Ngl, what attracted me to this fic in the first place was the tag “Unrealistically Well-Adjusted Anakin Skywalker” X’D For all they say that though, his growth as a person is actually written very believably - he’s still Ani, but you see the work he put in. And damn do I love me some real communication between Obi and Ani, and damn do we ever get that here. Obi kinda backtracks that a bit with his own self-esteem issues in part two, but I have no doubt the boys will get through it! 

Definitely recommend, it’s got some really wonderful family feels <3

Witness Me by SLWalker

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Maul

Status: 7 parts, final story part(s) ongoing (part 5 is the main series that’s ongoing, part 6 scattered one-shots, part 7 art for the series)

Summary: Instead of escaping to Lotho Minor, Maul's captured by the Order. Obviously, that changes everything.

Notes: I’m currently reading this one! The first several parts focus on building the relationship between Obi and Maul. Then in part 5 we start to focus more on Maul growing as his own person, though he is absolutely still Obi-Wans other half. Get ready for some clone feels, because I guarantee you will fall hard and fast for the Blackbirds once you meet them <3 <3 <3 I also appreciate that while there is definite censure for the Jedi council as a whole for certain decisions, and Anakin is his canon disaster self, there is no character bashing or throwing under buses, and conversely no hero worship either. Thus far everyone is treated fairly - I really enjoy that we tend to see not only several outside views of characters and situations, but also a lot of introspection as well. 

If you’re in it for the people, this story is very much for you <3

[gorvunculus]

Okay fuck it I am writing an essay on hit points

Break for length, this is in context to @originalcontent​‘s post about revamping DnD hit points.

So hit points are an interesting thing because they take on different meanings depending on the type of system they’re applied in. From tabletops to video games to board games, they can have different significance depending on the mechanical context they’re used in. 

For example, in games like Pathfinder and Nethack (to name a few examples from a variety of media types), hit points exist as a buffer to RNG. Enemies will hit you, it’s just a question of how much they will hit you. If your hit points go to zero, you suffer a consequence (In Pathfinder, you go unconscious, and in Nethack it’s game over you lose try again). In games like Darkest Dungeon (see how I’m referencing all rougelikes or fantasy games, they tend to lean on the RNG sponge more than others since story is less of the focus of the game), the hit points act as a resource. If unmanaged, the hero won’t instantly die, but any attacks that target them have a chance to kill them, changing the game state. The consequences aren’t as severe as in Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPGs), since the heroes are made to be expendable, but the hit points are meters you need to keep full in combat and a resource to be replenished rather than an indicator of narrative damage.

In games like the Soulsborne series, hit points work as something of a mistakes meter. Again, the focus isn’t on the personal narrative of the character (this can be the case for a lot of skill based games, in which a player or NPC can take an arrow to the face and be fine, but a gut stab to a key NPC in a cutscene is always fatal), but rather on the skill of the player. In Bloodborne, for example, the player isn’t really supposed to be hit. If a player has the skill, they can avoid all damage, and the game makes it so this is reliant on skill (unlike Dark Souls in which blocking is more of a major mechanic, a less skill-intensive mechanic). The player’s death has little consequence, as usually they just lose a spendable resource (Souls, Blood Echoes, Geo, etc), and start over, no permanent loss. 

Now I’ve only been mentioning video games because they are the primary users of the hit point mechanics outside of TTRPGs. In most cases, hit points are used as a mistakes meter or a resource. However, in TTRPGs, the implementation of the hit point system depends on the context in which it is used. For crunchy games like Pathfinder and DnD, (games based off of wargaming in which a unit’s hp is a sub-resource for a unit, a sub-resource of a group), the hit points are a resource which must be watched so it can soak up just the right amount of RNG. This isn’t to say that these games lack any skill, just whenever dice are involved, there is more reliance on random numbers, and DnD has a lot of dice. 

However, for more narrative focused games like anything in the Powered by the Apocalypse series of systems or FATE systems, hit points are less of a thing used. Damage is still tracked, but it is not in a numeric count of hits to be taken, but in stages or levels. I’ll mostly be focusing on PBTA systems since that’s what I have the most experience with. Monster of the Week uses a harm meter, in which damage is tracked in low single digits, and once different thresholds of damage are reached, the character suffers named injuries (a broken arm, a bleeding wound, so on). Up to that threshold, however, the injuries are generic and light, and attacks still have to have a numeric value attached, in the form of how many harm a given attack will be. More than three is a single attack severe enough to cause someone to become unstable, and any higher and the players are being explicitly bullied for something, since four or more harm can two-shot or one-shot a player without some kind of reduction. My personal favorite damage system, however, comes from Blades in the Dark. The harm is taken in levels, two level ones, two level twos, and one level three. Level four harm explains how you died, since it is lethal harm. Level one represents minor harm like scuffs, exhaustion, abrasions, scrapes, so on. Mechanically, the character is less effective if they have two of these. Level two are more serious things like sprains, deep cuts, burns, and the like. These mechanically reduce the dice rolled for any action you take when you have two level two harms, showing the actual obstacle these present. Level three is major harm like breaks, major burns, bleeding wounds, etcetera. The character can’t do anything without help from another, or mentally straining past the pain (which connects to the stress system I also like). 

The big thing with the Blades in the Dark system’s damage is that each injury is explicitly named, so that it is immediately relevant to the narrative. This emphasizes the importance of what has happened to the character, not that it has happened to the character. The difference between these two notions is that one focuses on a resource-management perspective, and the other emphasizes the character and what they are dealing with, with less emphasis on keeping that HP meter up. Narrative significance versus mechanical significance. 

Now, the problem with this is that it does not gel with games that use resource management as the core of their balance system. DnD balances everything based on the size of a die used, using averages to calculate how strong a thing is and how hard an attack will hit, but sacrifices narrative significance of attacks. In turn, Blades trades an emphasis on mechanical balance for narrative significance, in which attacks are always more severe than in DnD, and have lasting impact on the character. It is harder to deal a lot of smaller hits to a Blades character because more than two becomes something more substantial, whereas in DnD, a chip here and there can show an eroding force, like a sandstorm or a minor poison to put tension on a scene without strictly making a major hazard.

Now the crux of the issue, how to make the DnD hp system more narratively focused. To keep with the crunch of DnD, dividing hit point values across a character’s body, with more hit points in less vital areas, can indicate what wounds are worse and what wounds are light, much like the Battletech miniatures game. Extremities like arms and legs would have greater hit point numbers due to being less important to being alive, and thresholds of damage can indicate certain effects. Say for example, I take half my hand’s hit points in damage, maybe now my hand is cut badly, broken, or impaled (depending on damage), whereas taking all the hand’s hit points could cause it to be destroyed, severed, or otherwise completely useless, again depending on the type of damage that dealt this blow. This creates a flexibility in wound location and variety, calls explicitly the type of wound, connects a penalty to taking these wounds that reflects mechanically, and still maintains the total hit dice of the creature, while also improving called shots and blocks as a mechanic.

That is by no means the perfect solution, just the first idea that came to my head. The use of hit points is a bit tricky to adapt to every type of playstyle, and some people love the damage sponge nature of DnD, playing more for the mechanics and crunch than the narrative. But these games have the capacity to be hacked and modded to fit a table’s preferred playstyle, and it is essentially the imperative to homebrew a system to make the rules work for the group.