#There's going to be d.d news after all of this ends

[c0smiccom3t]

I'm going to be a little honest with you.

I've had some deep thoughts last night. Yes, its about Pocket Adventures, but not only that, it's about IRL stuff as well. I've been trying my best to find a school for september (either in another country in the EU or in Germany) and ive been trying to pay close attention to finish pocket adventures as well. So... here's the thing.

I'm thinking of taking a break from social media.

Yes. It's not only due to personal reasons. But it's also about how i want to not distract myself and want to work on D.D full-time. Which means i'll work like everyday off social media until P.A production has wrapped, so we can take a 2-month or longer break from working on d.d content and just focus on drawing art pieces. I don't want to stress myself or anybody else out, so from now on 'll try to get a decent sleeping schedule so i can wake up early to have breakfast, stay hydrated and work on d.d.

Sure, it's tough. But that's the indie creator thing for you. Not to mention, I'm a newcomer, so i still need to be taught and know how things work in the community. Especially for webcomics. (I'm not in animation yet, i am used to making comics, but once i finish animation school and get a degree i might as well start making indie animations as well.)

You all as well have to keep in mind that content creators and artists have a life outside of the internet, they have irl stuff to do and serious stuff to do as well. And right now, if i don't get enough money to go to Canada, i'll have to think of a Plan B, which is, find a school in another country part of the EU. It's challenging, but i'm trying.

In conclusion, i want to tell you all the truth. I think it's about time i take a break from social media. I've been active on socials for like, years! (2016 in my g+ era to 2023, today.) and i think it's about time i take a break. working on d.d full-time is important for me, but self-care and handling IRL responsabilities is even more important.

Now, if i DO end up going on break from socials, you can always find me on Discord, however, i'm not going to be available to talk all the time. mostly because of working on Dimension Dyfenders. The reason why i'll use discord is to contact the co-creator (aka Alex) in case we work on scripts for the next minisodes and think of ideas and work together and other stuff about d.d. Another thing is that... I'm the only illustator on the comic. However, i would LOVE to get some more people to help me illustrate for P.A and future comics as well, But i can't, i'm still a kid, and I can't do this whole indie thingies yet. (I'll be able to do it once i hit the big one-eight and/or get my own bank account with a lot of money, hopefully... Remember, artists and people who work on indie projects deserve to be paid and get breaks for all of their hard work)

Thank you all for everything. I am glad to have been in a place in where i could feel safe, happy, and included. This whole break thing is not going to be a Good-bye. It's just a See you next time. So, yes, if i stay inactive from socials for a while. this whole post is why.

[TL;DR: I'm thinking of taking a break due to IRL situations and wanting to work on Pocket Adventures full-time, if i end up taking a break, i am available on discord and just discord, working on d.d is important for me, but self-care is even more important. Thank you all for your support <3]

[missredherring]

D.D. + "Then we'll find out together."

Din Djarin x GN!Reader

Rating: G

Word Count: 744

Contents: established relationship. fluff.

A/N: This is another of my journal prompt fills! The wheel of destiny picked Din Djarin and "What do you like?" "I don't know..." "Then we'll find out together." from the inexperienced smut prompts.

I love this idea for Din and was ready to actually try some smut for him, but then I came up with this idea instead.

Not beta'd. Any mistakes are my own.

Summary: "Then we'll find out together."

Series Masterlist

Your little house on the outskirts of Nevarro is too quiet.

You can hear the hum of the appliances from the kitchen and the air system cycling on and off, but they're soft and low sounds. It's nothing like the rattling production the Razor Crest went through as it traveled through space, letting you know every effort it took to run the functions you'd ask of it.

The time spent on the Crest is shaded with fondness now in light of what came after it: any kind of lodging they could find or afford, even it if ended up being a corner of a cave system filled to bursting with Mandalorians.

Instead of the console lights or the dizzying display of hyperspace travel, the only light that came through the window was the ambient light from the capital city and the starlight above. When you glance over at Din beside you to see if he's awake, all you can make out is the outline of his body. He's laying still, flat on his back instead of crunched up in the least amount of space he can take up, and the dark fabric of his flight suit turned pajamas disguised any movement of his chest. You can't tell if his breathing was steady and slow in sleep, or if he was just resting like you were.

His armor stands sentry in the corner. The soft light reflects on the cuirass and in the dark t-visor of his helmet. It had felt strange to take each piece he gave you after carefully and methodically cleaning them and put it on the stand instead of back onto his body. In the hushed silence of the room he'd spoken of wanting to explore what it meant to be Din and not the Mandalorian in the safety of this new home. On the other side of the blank visor, he'd met your eyes in the reflection and smiled, adding on that the comfort of your presence gave him courage to do so. His dark eyes had sparkled just as bright as the star shine you see in the visor now.

You shift on the bed. And then shift again. When you'd tried the mattress out earlier in the day, you'd delighted at the way you'd bounced and sunk into the soft platform. Now it feels like that same softness is going to swallow you whole. No matter what position you try you can't get comfortable enough to sleep.

In all of the nights you'd spent on the stiff cot in the Crest, and then more often than not a nice spot of hard-packed dirt, you'd never expected to have this problem. It's too... nice. It's like a dream come true and the irony of your inability to sleep isn't lost on you.

You're turning back towards the window, thinking to at least watch the stars to pass the time, when Din breaks the silence.

"That's the third full rotation you'd made, riduur." He says, his unfiltered voice sounds loud too.

There's no denying it. "Am I keeping you up?"

"You aren't. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," You say, fiddling with the blankets, unsure of how to explain what the problem is exactly when there isn't an obvious thing to point to. "I just... can't sleep. Just need to adjust to a new place."

He hums his agreement and reaches across the small space between you to take your hand.

"Is there a reason you're so far away?" He asks.

"I thought you might want to spread out, now that we have the space."

"Please get over here." He gives a light tug on your hand and you wiggle your way over to him, settling down so you're laying more on his body than the mattress.

His body without the armor feels almost as soft as the mattress. But his solid build is firm and familiar and you can feel yourself start to relax. Din readjusts your arm so it's not poking quite so much into his ribs and sighs so deeply you can feel it on your head.

"Tomorrow we can do whatever you like." He offers.

"I don't know what I like." You admit. Since starting your relationship with Din you've been going non-stop, and in your life before him there hadn't been much downtime either.

"Then we'll find out together." He says and there's no judgment in his voice, only a promise.

[dameronology]

illicit affairs [d.d] - one

summary: the mandalorian is hired for a job - finding the missing king of the planet tanadoia. falling in love with you isn't part of his plan. [masterlist]

warnings: none for this chapter!

enjoy, and let me know if you want to be tagged

-jazz

Tanadoia was the spitting image of the ideal planet. 

Half-urban and half-jungle, it offered the best of both worlds. A bustling city, tangled with skyscrapers and thriving industries and the home of an ever-growing economy, paired with a thick jungle, heavy with trees and wildlife and sparkling lakes. The coaxium mines on the city’s edge only added to its appeal, making it richer than some of the planets in the Core Worlds. More and more people were flooding to get a taste of it, either as a tourist or a citizen. The culture was growing and so was the public interest in it. 

And blessed be the bastard who was chosen to rule it.

Chosen was a strong word, actually. You’d been born into the Royal Family a little over twenty years ago - somewhat against your will - and shoved onto the throne a little after your eighteenth birthday. It was funny that literally every other person who roamed the galaxy would have killed to have been in your position. You would have slaughtered a thousand men to get out of it. The title was a like a collar round your neck; your expensive bracelets a shackle, the crown a weight on your head that was sure to dampen your spitfire nature. That was something they’d tried to whip out of you in finishing school.

(It hadn’t worked). 

You tried to stay well-behaved, tending to your duties and even going as far as marrying the pig of a man that your mother had found for you. James liked the money and fame that came with the throne, so he didn’t care all that much that you refused to go near him. You truly feared the day that people started asking for an heir. For now, though, you slept in separate bedrooms and put on the face of a happy marriage every Friday come the weekly council meeting. It was all for show. Everything was for show. 

He wasn’t around all that much. You slept in separate rooms and he occasionally joined you at council meetings when they started to ask about him, but by all intents and purposes, he meant nothing to you. The last time you had kissed him was for a photo on your wedding day almost three years ago. He spent most of his time frequenting brothels and trying new types of spice - all of which was paid for by the royal account, of course. James could fuck off for weeks at a time and not say a word - so, when you didn’t see him for nearly two months, you didn’t think much of it. In fact, you hardly even noticed it until your mother was kind enough to point it out. 

“I’m sure he’ll turn up. There’s no need to spend so much money on a bounty hunter of all people-”

“- James is our king,” your mother’s voice had been curt. Far too curt for this early on a Monday morning. “You have a duty to find him.”

You were sat on the throne, legs crossed and crown dangling haphazardly from the end of your finger. Morning sucked as it was, but even more so when you were woken at the crack of dawn to be forced into a dress and corset and these stupid high heels. You rolled your eyes, momentarily staring out at the view of the Tandadoian skyline across from you. There were a few ships coming in out, probably carrying cargo and passengers. 

“He has a duty not to fuck off every time he feels like it,” you shot back, slumping in your seat.

Your mother faltered for a second, a foul look on her face at your use of language. “You’ve sworn your life to him and to the throne.”

“No, you made me take the throne when father died-”

“- I’ve already found a bounty hunter. He was recommended to be by a High Magistrate on Nevarro.” 

You raised an eyebrow. “You’re taking recommendations from Greef Karga now?”

“He says that this hunter has never missed a shot or failed a task.”

“I highly doubt that,” you muttered. “We have one of the best militaries in the Outer Rim and they’ve missed plenty of shots.”

“He’s on his way as we speak,” your mother replied. “His prices are dear but I think it will be worth it. You should be the one to greet him. Make a good impression.”

“When do I not make a good impression?”

“One of the hand-maidens will be with you shortly. She’ll escort you to him.”

Standing up, you stalked away from the throne room and back to your quarters.

Tossing the crown and heels aside, you entered your wardrobe and pulled out a pair of more comfortable boots. Your holster was hidden towards the back with your pistol, which you slid up your leg and hid under the skirts of your dress. You pulled a thick leather jacket over your shoulders too - Tanadoia was cold right now, and you needed something to protect you from the cold of the winter whilst you were out wandering.

The palace was quiet today, thankfully. It always was on a Monday. Most of the soldiers were out on military duty or on practice runs, and most of the staff were tending to their morning duties or taking in deliveries. That meant the gardens were empty, dusted with snow and lonely beneath the bright white Winter skies. The grounds of the palace stretched on for miles and miles, only ending when it reached the wall. You hated the structure; it was a prison to you, keeping you in your place, reminding you that you were never truly free so as long as you were the monarch of this cursed planet. 

The hangar wasn’t too far from here. How easy would it be to just slip onto a ship and sneak away forever? It wasn’t like money was a problem, and there were hundreds of people out there who could have given you identity-

-you stopped in your tracks when you saw a strange man exiting the hangar. Every morning, a file was laid out to you with an exact list of people exiting and entering the planet. He wasn’t on it; a tall man in a suit of Beskar armour was surely someone you would have recognised, or at least noted. 

You could have called in security, or a bodyguard, but wasn’t that just extra trouble? You hadn’t been secretly paying one of the military leaders to train you for the last five years not to use those skills at some point. The element of surprise was on your side.

Quietly approaching him, you ducked behind a pillar and peeked over, only to find he was gone. Not even a second later, you felt a large hand grab you by the waist - you managed to snatch him by the wrist, tugging him away from you and onto the ground. How the fuck had he snuck up on you? Not that that was your biggest concern right now, because you hadn’t at all considered the weight of his armour in your plan of attack. Actually, now it was a plan of…defend. 

The Mandalorian was only on the ground for all of a second before he had you flipped over on your back, pinned beneath his spear. 

“That’s not the warm welcome I was expecting.”

You thinned your eyes at him. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m the bounty hunter that the queen called for.”

“Oh, right,” you murmured. “You just…you don’t look how I - I mean how the queen told me you would look.”

The bounty hunter stood up, pulling back his weapon and offering you a gloved hand to help you up. He might have been the first person you’d come across in your entire life that didn’t know you were the queen. 

“Where can I find her? They made it out like it was an urgent mission-”

“- not that urgent,” you cut him off, holding onto his forearm as he pulled you off your ass. “Just a missing king.”

“That seems urgent,” he replied. “Are you palace security?”

“Of sorts,” you murmured. “I’ll show you the way.”

He nodded. “Thank you.”

“So…what’s your name?”

Silence. 

“Right…well,” you trailed off. “I can tell you’re a Mandalorian so…I’ll just call you that.”

“Okay. What’s yours?”

“Uh…”

“You don’t know your own name?”

“Jane,” you replied. “My name is Jane.”

“That blaster you pulled out…that’s a traditional Tanadoian pistol. I haven’t seen many of those around. Not since the fall of the Empire, at least.”

“Yeah, they’re kind of rare. It’s a family heirloom here. It used to belong to the king.”

The Mandalorian looked at you (or at least his helmet did). “So how did you end up with it?”

“It was a gift from The Queen.”

“Is she nice…this Queen of yours?”

“I suppose,” you shrugged.

“Right,” he nodded. “I’ve heard she can be very difficult. One of my other clients also said she was entitled-”

“- I am not entitled!”

You froze, clamping a hand over your mouth. Having stopped in your tracks, you turned to face the Mandalorian. He seemed unphased…humoured, even. Not that it was easy to tell, but he tilted his helmet slightly, not saying a word as he waited for your next move. 

“You know who I am, don’t you?”

He nodded. “Assuming that I don’t extensively research all my clients was a weak move on your part.”

“Weak move?” you blinked in surprise. “Coming from the man who saw me, knew who I was and still chose to deck me?”

“I could tell what you were doing,” he shrugged. “I can’t say I was expecting the monarch to sneak up on me.” 

“In any other country, that could have gotten you killed.”

“You were going to attack me first.”

“I wasn’t attacking you…I just saw a strange man in my palace and I wanted to defend myself.”

The Mandalorian shook his head. “Right.”

“I like your blaster, though,” you said. “What is that…an Amban phase pulse rifle?”

“It does the job,” he replied. “It’s not as fancy as yours.”

“Mine is all bells and whistles,” you shrugged. “I’ll show you the armoury when I get a chance. You’re gonna need to stock up if you’re going to be following in my husband’s footsteps. The planets he visits are…well, you’ll find out for yourself.”

You’d reached the palace by that point; the guard saluted you as you passed. He seemed slightly phased by The Mandalorian beside you. You tried to refrain a smile at his reaction. 

He had an oddly refreshing presence. In fact, he was the first person you’d met in your life that hadn’t suddenly bowed down and began worshipping you. The only person that had ever conversationally - and maybe intellectually - challenged you were was your father. He was long gone now, and it had been a while since someone had bitten back. 

“It might be none of my business, your majesty, but you don’t seem eager for me to find him.”

You grimaced. “Honestly? That’s because I’m not.”

“So why are you paying me to do it then?”

“I’m not. My mother is,” you replied. “James and I have an image to keep. One of a true love, a happy marriage…anything to keep the public happy. The longer he’s gone, the more worried they become, and god forbid the palace look bad to our citizens.”

The Mandalorian nodded: he could see more of the monarch in you now, however bored you seemed. The sudden change from how you’d been outside to how you were now didn’t go unnoticed. It was almost concerning, the quick shift from an easy-going, chatty person to someone who was almost afraid of what might happen should she not find her husband. 

“I understand,” he nodded.

“That’s why this has to stay a secret,” you said. “If anyone knows that he’s missing, or that we’ve hired a bounty hunter to find him? There’s gonna be a lot of questions, and I have to answer them.”

You wandered further into the palace. The Mandalorian followed, eyes wandering over the high ceilings and expensive furniture. The walls were lined with paintings and restored weapons; portrays of former monarchs, ending towards the throne room with yours. It was intensely detailed - millions of brush strokes that formed a younger, brighter you. You hadn’t aged - not at all, really - but it was clear you more tired now. More weathered. 

“You have my word,” The Mandalorian said. He stopped for a moment when you reached the throne room. “I’ll do my best to find him.”

“Right,” you nodded. A second passed and you cleared your throat, forcing yourself to perk up. “C’mon, I’ll show you the armoury.” 

As to be expected, the armoury - which was only a short distance from the throne room - was just as impressive as the rest of the palace. The walls were lined with weapons; guns, spears, seismic charges in various sizes and knives of every shape and colour. The Mandalorian had thought that the armoury aboard his ship was impressive. 

You were stood behind him, fingers slowly tracing over the walls. It was a surprise to him that you even had this many weapon; Tanadoia, after all, was a seemingly peaceful planet. It wasn’t one known to enter into battle. 

“Take what you want,” you said. “It’s not like we use it, right?”

“This an impressive collection.”

You smiled. “Thank you. Getting to order in our weapons is one of the only things I really get to do and…well, I like to be prepared.”

“Do you know how to use all these?” The Mandalorian asked,

“Oh, obviously,” you shot back. 

“So why don’t you?”

You faltered for a second. “I never get the chance. Our military has little reason to use them and even if they did, I would never be allowed to join them.”

“In my culture, our leaders fight with us,” he replied, 

“Yeah, not so much here I’m afraid,” you sighed. “I’m not even allowed to leave the palace unguarded, let alone the planet.”

The Mandalorian glanced at you. It was clear that you were unhappy: that bright spark in your eyes that you’d had when you first met was completely gone now, replaced with some sort of willowing sadness. His job had meant he was especially good at reading people, and you were no exception to the rule. The version of you that you’d been in the five minutes where you were pretending not to be queen had been boisterous and upbeat; almost infectious in your energy and wit. Now? Now you were just sad. Cracking under the pressure and conformity that the throne put on you. It left him to wonder how many people had actually seen that version of you: the funny, happy one; the one that knew how to fight and apparently knew how to use every single one of these weapons (though he didn’t doubt it). 

Maybe it got to him a little, knowing that had you not been a queen, you probably would have been in the same profession. A bounty hunter or a smuggler, at least someone he would have come across in his journeys. Maybe an ally of his. 

“I’ll find your husband,” he said. “And this will remain a secret. You have my word.”

[pagesfromthevoid]

Cowboy Like Me | d.d. | Bonus III

Din Djarin x princess!reader

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: Canon violence but otherwise nada

Author’s Note: Gif from @rebeljyn

Series Masterlist | Talk to Me!

The Rescue

“Shit, shit, shit!” She exclaimed, running back through the ruins of Mandalore.

Grogu trailed close behind her, avoiding crumbled pieces of the city. Alamites lurked in the corners, watching as she slid to the stop at the edge of a cliff. She cursed again, looking over the edge for a second before she looked over her shoulder. Grogu was barreling towards her and her eyes widened, throwing out her hands to stop the pram. But he was going too fast, and she wasn’t strong enough –and the force of the pram threw her over the edge.

Her scream echoed through the air as she plummeted downward, her body twisted and flailing in panic. She could feel the rush of wind whipping past her face and the ground below looming closer and closer. In that moment, all she could think was that this was it, this was the end. She wouldn’t be able to save Din; Grogu would be a foundling forever. But as she braced herself for impact, something strange happened. 

Her body suddenly came to an abrupt stop, and she felt herself lifted up, as if by an invisible force. Her eyes squeezed shut, heart pounding in her chest, as she waited for the next terrible thing to happen. But when she finally opened her eyes, she was shocked to find herself hovering in midair. She looked around in confusion, trying to make sense of what was happening. Her eyes landed on Grogu’s pram, and to his little hand that was outstretched towards her.

It was as she was terrifyingly hoisted into the air, far faster than she anticipated, that she realized that Grogu was using the Force on her. He was pulling her with him, onto a new ledge that led out of the mines. When he dropped her, she hit the ground with a thud and a gasp. For several moments, she laid there on the ground, clutching her heart as she tried to steady her breathing. Her life was flashing before her eyes still, trying to calm herself. Grogu hovered above her, peering over the edge of his pram as he looked down at her.

“Please, Maker, never do that again,” she whispered, looking up at the child above her as she sat up. Grogu just giggled some as she stood up. With a huff, she pushed his pram towards the cave entrance as she started jogging back to the ship. “I hope you remember how to get back there, because I sure as hell don’t.”

*****

“I thought I told you to leave me alone,” Bo Katan growled as the hangar of the Crest opened.

She was jumping out of the ship before the door hit the ground, however. Bo Katan’s anger seemed to disappear as the princess tumbled onto the landing strip, reaching out for the Mandalorian before her.

“Bo, I-I need your help,” she gasped, grabbing Bo’s arm tight.

“Where is Din?” 

“Something –I don’t know, a droid or a cyborg or something –captured him,” she explained, dragging the once ruler towards the Crest. “You have to help me. I-I tried to fight it, but then it got bigger and I realized I am actually completely useless and I can’t save my own husband and I panicked and I –,”

“Hey,” Bo Katan ordered, pushing her into the co-pilot’s seat as she stood above the princess. “You are not useless.”

“But I couldn’t –,”

“You have spent your entire life being told you were not allowed to fight,” Bo reminded her, putting her hands on her shoulders. “The fact that you have made it this far –after running for your life from a former Imperial general and Moff Gideon himself, marrying a Mandalorian and protecting this child –proves you are far from useless.”

She stared at Bo for a long time, even after the queen pulled away and took over the controls of the Crest and took off. Deep down, she knew Bo was right. She was more than a runaway princess –she was stronger than she was before she meant Din; she was stronger because she met Din. But that fear and self-doubt in the mines had consumed her. 

The mines had shattered her confidence. Watching Din get captured because he was trying to protect her –it terrified her. And to not even be able to make a dent in the thing that took him –it was soul crushing. She had been forced to rely on others to save her. She felt weak and helpless. It brought back the memory of her mother’s grasp on her –of the knife ripping her open, of Silas Credence’s hands on her, of Moff Gideon's cold eyes and threats. 

“Mandalorians work better together, anyway.” Bo's words snapped her out of her reverie. "You are a survivor, a fighter, and a protector. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.”

She was stronger than her mother ever let her be. It wasn’t her fault that Calisto never allowed her daughter to learn to fight or defend herself. Calisto always wanted her to be a delicate, proper princess, and to avoid anything that might tarnish the royal family's reputation. But now, looking back, she realized how much she had missed out on. 

She thought about how her life had changed since she met Din. He had shown her how to defend herself and how to use weapons. He had taught her how to fight and had never judged her for her lack of ability; he just took it in stride and did his best to teach her what he could. She was grateful for Din's patience and kindness. He had seen something in her that no one else had – a strength and a resilience that had been buried deep within her for so long. He had never given up on her, even when she had doubted herself.

And now she couldn’t give up on him –couldn’t doubt herself again. He needed her to save him this time.

“I can’t believe Din hasn’t taught you to fight yet,” Bo commented, breaking her thought process. 

“He taught me to shoot, but we uh, got distracted.”

“Of course you did.” Bo rolled her eyes, working through the controls to speed up the ship towards Mandalore’s atmosphere. “We’re going to have to change that once you save him. I will help you –to avoid distractions.”

She pretended not to notice Bo’s switch from “we” to “you” when she mentioned saving Din, but she smiled to herself as Grogu climbed into her arms. She was going to save Din –she was just going to do it with help. Like a real Mandalorian would. While she may not be taking on the Creed herself, she was married to a man who had, and by proxy, she was going to do her best to fulfill it the best she could.

“We’ll be landing soon,” Bo announced, switching each control off carefully. “You remember how to get back to him?”

She nodded once, standing up and moving down into the hull of the ship and into the armory. Even with her dagger strapped to her leg, she figured the best option would be to go in better prepared than last time. And with Din’s almost obscene amount of weapons, it felt ridiculous not to take something a bit stronger with her. As she made her way through the armory, she couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at the sheer variety of weapons and gadgets at her disposal. From blasters and thermal detonators to flamethrowers and grappling hooks, there seemed to be no limit to the arsenal that Din had amassed. She wondered, briefly, how he kept track of it all.

After a few minutes of consideration, she settled on his pulse blaster. She’d seen the damage it could do with her own eyes. And it was one of the few weapons she was actually a decent shot with, having been actually paying attention when Din showed her how to use it. It was the obvious choice, if not the most confident for her as well. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, princess?” Bo asked, slipping her helmet on over her head as Grogu climbed back into his pram.

“Surprisingly,” she reassured, slinging the strap across her chest to hold the rifle properly. “This is the only weapon I actually managed to shoot and hit a target with.”

“Was that before or after getting distracted?”

She narrowed her eyes, resisting the urge to mock the once ruler. “We didn’t get distracted during those lessons, thank you very much.”

Bo just hummed in response, rolling her eyes as the two made their way off the ship and back into the depths of Mandalore's capital city. The rifle was heavy against her back, but she walked on with newfound determination –even if she had to ask for Bo Katan’s help, she still made the right call. And Din would be back at her side soon enough.

“This city used to be so beautiful,” Bo whispered as they walked, ducking under a fallen column. “It thrived until the Empire decided we were the enemy.”

“My father told me stories of Mandalore,” she offered as a response, crossing her arms over her chest as Grogu hovered close to her side. “He always talked about how beautiful it was. How welcoming your people were, even to strangers.”

“Your father visited often,” Bo said, nodding once as they rounded a corner. But Bo shot her hand out suddenly, pushing the princess gently to the side as her other hand pressed a finger to her own lips. 

She pulled Grogu’s pram with her, pushing it behind her before she pulled the pulse rifle over her shoulder. Alamites dropped from a cavern above but didn’t move fast enough to avoid Bo’s blaster fire to the face. The princess pressed her eye against the scope, zeroing in on two more Alamites that were dropping from the ceiling, before pulling the trigger. The recoil surprised her, knocking her shoulder back and she groaned. But she recovered, taking a breath, and shot again.

Both Alamites dissipated before they hit the ground as the one that attacked Bo dropped with a blaster hole through its head. Both royals stood there for a moment before Bo motioned for her to move forward once more. The princess nodded, sliding the rifle back onto her back as she took the lead. Glass and other debris snapped under her boots, and the whirling of Grogu’s pram swam in her ears as they approached the cave that held Din.

They stopped, slipping behind a pile of destroyed tech, and peered around the cavern. When her eyes landed on Din, trapped in a steel cage, she swore her heart dropped into her stomach. Whatever the cyborg was doing –it was drawing out his blood and pumping it into some machine. As she tried to move to attack, Bo grabbed her shirt and yanked her back.

“Do not,” the once ruler ordered, voice clipped as she pointed at the princess. “We need to be careful, and not rush into this. If we are not careful, then things will go south quickly.”

“As if they have not already?” She demanded back, whipping the rifle back around to clutch onto. “He’s being drained of his blood, Bo.”

“I know,” Bo snapped, looking back over at the cyborg as it walked away. “On my signal, you take that rifle, and you aim for the tanks that are controlling the pump. I’ll take down that thing.”

She nodded once, resting the rifle on the edge of the pile of broken tech, peering through the scope again to watch as Bo slipped around the cyborg’s back. Her gaze followed Bo carefully, watching for the signal, ready to provide cover fire if needed. Bo moved quickly and silently, her movements graceful and precise. She crept up behind the cyborg, careful not to make a sound. She held her breath as she watched Bo inch closer and closer to the cyborg. Her finger hovered over the trigger of her pulse rifle, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

A slight flick of Bo’s wrist prompted her to pull the trigger, shooting the tanks that were hooked up to Din. The cyborg hissed in anger, whipping around to look at her just as Bo pulled her own trigger, shooting it in the head. Reloading the rifle, she aimed towards the lock that held the cage closed and pulled the trigger again. The lock seared open, and Din dropped to the ground with a groan as Bo snatched the DarkSaber off the ground. 

Igniting the weapon, the aura that radiated off the blade lit up the already dimly lit cavern. The cyborg had taken over a bigger mech suit, rearing up to grab at Bo but the princess reloaded the pulse blaster and aimed, firing directly into the creature’s eye. The light went out, and the body dropped to the ground as Bo fell to her knees with the saber beside her. Din laid on the ground beside her, groaning as he rolled over.

The princess threw the rifle back over her shoulder, practically sliding on her knees to pull him up into her arms. Bo pushed off her back, making a sound of annoyance as she stood. Bo reached down, taking Din’s arm in her hand and hauled him up, supporting most of his weight on her shoulder. Bo handed the princess the blaster, ordering her to be ready to shoot as they made their escape.

*****

Din opened his eyes, staring blankly up at the ruins of the Mandalorian capital city. He was weak and his entire body ached as he tried to push himself up. But a firm touch pushed him back down, and his eyes tried to focus on the hand that pressed against his chest. He reached up, covering the hand on him with his own, and he whispered her name softly. 

“You’re alright,” she whispered, running her thumb over the armor that covered his chest. “You’re safe now, cyare.”

He smiled weakly under his visor, slowly processing her words before he finally sat up. It was slow, careful, and her hand stayed planted on his chest as he did so. As he sat up, Din winced and groaned in pain. She quickly helped him sit up, supporting him as he managed to get upright. He leaned heavily on her, grateful for her support.

“Bo says the mines aren’t far from here,” she explained, voice soft as Grogu padded over to them. The child climbed into Din’s lap, tapping his chest with his tiny hands. She reached over and ran her fingers over his ears. “But you need to rest before we make our way there –,”

“I’m fine,” Din insisted, taking her hand in his again. “I’m ready, I can –,”

“No, you’re not,” Bo interrupted, walking over with two cups of soup. She held both out to his princess and him. “You need to rest, and you need to eat. Then we will make our way there.”

Din huffed in frustration, but took the cup from her hands, looking down at it while he frowned under his visor. “I shouldn’t have put you in this position, Bo Katan. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t anything your princess and I couldn’t handle together –right?” Bo looked at her, a small grin on her face as his princess sipped her soup cautiously. “Should get her a pulse blaster of her own. Turns out, she’s a pretty good shot. And I am certain she’s going to have to save you again soon.”

Din hummed some, glancing down at her as she rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She wasn’t smiling, necessarily, but she was half focused, and Din wondered what was going through her head as he placed his hand on her knee.

“It only seems fair,” he replied, squeezing her knee gently, and she looked up at him with a soft smile. “I save you; you save me.”

“Does that come with marrying a Mandalorian, or just you?” She teased back, taking his hand in hers.

“Just me, mesh’la.”

———

Taglist (CLOSED): @r4iner @sgt-morgan @mingeniee @darling1darling @teriolan-blog @venusfalling @double—take @sunshine96 @lovelessprick @mxtokko @ellesvoid @waddafaknik @c-ms1ut @kokoirne @sl-ut @munsons-queen @intense-sneezing @geekrenaissance @dilf-din @tizylish @ruleroftides @aheadfullofsteverogers

[sparklinpixiedust]

Stalking

Oof. I've had this idea since the day @uselessyellow requested a fic to be made on this prompt. Its taken me what, a month? But I finally got the time to sit down and type this out. Hope you like it.

Bingo card by @badthingshappenbingo

Next up: Infected Wound or Thrown down the stairs. Idk, like the story is going to be the same regardless, just don't know what prompt to use.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've got a bad case of the 3:00 am guilts - you know, when you lie in bed awake and replay all those things you didn't do right? Because, as we all know, nothing solves insomnia like a nice warm glass of regret, depression and self-loathing. ~D.D. Barant

------x------x----------‐-----x---------x----------x-----

Benjamin pulled his hoodie closer to his body as the cold winter breeze hit him.

Just a few more minutes he thought, before he'd put an end to this madness.

See fame , while fun and exciting with it's exclusive parties and glory , had it's own downfalls.

That being , constantly being watched through a microscope. His rise to fame had brought in a lot of attention, especially the unwanted kind.

Eyes, eyes, eyes.

On him.

Everywhere.

All.the.time.

Be it at school , at home. Mr smoothies. Everywhere he went he could feel the gazes crawl up his skin, whispers buzzing in his ears like the mosquitos from summer camp.

He appreciated his fans, he really did, but it was becoming too much lately. It surprised him how something so mundane as having a nice little queit stroll around the block had become something he craved.

However that wasn't even the worst of it all. The worst was knowing that it wasn't just the fans who knew his whereabouts, it was his enemies too.

The horror of his fame had eventually dawned on him after his mother had been kidnapped. It had become too easy to to track him and his family down.

He hoped that it was a fluke, a one time thing. But when Psyphon came to earth after some stupid youtube show made by Cash and JT, it really pushed him over the edge. Psyphon got them from space. Space!

From freaking YOUTUBE!

So over the course of the coming year he became hyper vigilante, constantly running off to end crimes. Even the petty ones because he had to nip every little thing in the bud before it spiraled enough to hurt the people he loved. And truth be told , he was left exhausted.

The daily family checks ins , the constant checking of locks and bolts around his home. Whew.

When the insomnia hit, which happened more often than you'd imagine, he'd patrol bellwood by himself making sure the city was safe.

He hadn't told anyone , but he had installed GPS trackers on all his family members too. How had he managed that? Well that's a story for another day.

Gwen and Kevin tried to reassure him that things would be okay and they'd be around for anything. While initially unhelpful, he had begun to calm down a bit after they agreed to each take turns staying up at nights.

However 3 weeks ago he came home, and behold, something was off.

Someone had been in there. At first he tried to shrug it off but when he couldn't find his grey hoodie, he knew for sure that someone had broken in. He distinctively remembered giving it a sniff that proving and tossing it on his bed. It couldn't have just grown legs and walked away.

It terrified him. Despite all the precautions, someone has managed to break into his room.

Over the coming weeks he was extra cautious. He didn't go home often and kept his distance from gwen and Kevin too. He didn't want to involve them just yet, it was his problem. He was the hero.

he began to feel the unsettling presence more and more around him, as though stalking him from the shadows.

After 3 weeks of the lingering feeling around him , he decided enough was enough. The longer this went on, the better the chance it gave his stalker to plan an elaborate attack.

So tonight he grabbed a plumber gun , put on his new brown hoodie and and tried to lure the enemy into an ally.

He could feel the footsteps behind him. The brunet began to walk faster and faster , almost breaking into a sprint. The stalker followed suite, until Ben reached the familiar ally behind Mr Smoothie. He stopped in front of a dead end, making out a dark figure in his peripheral view.

So he wasn't imagining it! It was real !

The hero slowly pulled out his gun and shut his eyes.

It ends now.

Without hesitation spun around and wildly shot at his stalker.

" Leave me and my family alone!" he yelled.

It was only when he heard the thud of the body falling falling on the ground did he open his eyes to the horror that lay in front of him.

The blood drained from his face, leaving him pale.

For in front of him lay the body of a blonde teenage girl wearing his now blood stained grey hoodie, with a bracelet that read " #1 fan"

Oh what had he done?

_____________

" this just in, after a tireless search over the past week, we have finally recovered the body of 14 year Clara Simmons at the abandoned military site Los Soledad.

We are not sure why she was there but close friends suggest she could've been sneaking around the area in hopes to catch a glimpse of her favourite hero Ben Tennyson.

Clara Simmons is known among her peers to be a Ben 10 superfan, even as far as to occasional follow him around and has even reportedly broken into his room several times before. The most recent time being a month ago as told by her best friend Susy, where she stole a hoodie, the same hoodie that she was wearing when her body was found.

There is no indication of what truly happened but Gwen Tennyson, a fellow member of Team 10 has released statement, stating the area always has high alien activity and its possible Clara Simmons unfortunately got caught in a cross fire.

Folks , let this be a reminder to steer clear of Los Soledad. There are signs stating to keep out for a reason and the let hero's do their jobs.

Guards are to be placed at the site to avoid further inciden--"

Ben switched off the TV as he hopped off of his bed.

" I'll take of it, Gwen take him home" was all Kevin had said when Ben had called them that night sobbing.

Too bad there's wasn't anything to take care of the massive weight of guilt on him.

He quietly made his way down stairs as not to wake his cousin and best friend who had decided to take up residence at his house.

He walked up to the front door and slowly jiggled it. He sighed with relief when it didn't open at his attempt.

It just never ends does it?

[sourslices]

i love my unsolved au SO MUCH.

so im going to shout some more stuff abt it into the void!

first, some stuff abt konoha:

there are three main areas,

konoha city: the area where all the snobby rich people live — basically the neighborhood for the elite. this is where sasuke lives, (among all the other nrt chrs that belong to clans in canon). families that live here are huge and come from old money

konoha underground: the area full of poor and homeless people. there are parts full of shady areas but they are a few tight-knit communities. the underground is BRUTAL... it's like predator and prey in here. you need to be careful with who you trust — because once you do trust someone, your life depends on it. a lot of orphaned children form groups to take care of each other and some of the workers try to look out for them too, but it's hard when you've gotta look after yourself too. anyway, you won't see someone from the k.ug hesitate to punch someone's face if they try smth with a kid... while the people of k.c will only turn a blind eye. d.d is a mixed crowd. anyway, naruto lived here.

downtown district: this is actually the in-between, and like i said, it's the mixed area. think of k.ug as the red light district, k.c is the rich neighbourhood and d.d. is the part of the city that's filled with barely adequate apartment buildings and small houses, a shit ton of markets and other establishments. there are people who are incredibly rich (new money, still barely enough to make k.c) and there are also people who are struggling to make ends meet and are )( close to finding themselves in k.ug. sakura grew up here.

ill update these areas as i go — this is simply just a few drafted ideas abt the city. i'll straighten it out after organising other ideas

moving onto chara stuff:

naruto: lived on the streets for a few years until hrz took him in. he's very familiar with the underground of konoha and could probably map out the sewers... if he could draw a map in the first place. anyway, he's a very street-smart kid (unlike me) with a bubbly yet (kinda) snarky personality. gets riled up pretty easily and argues with ssk and sai a lot — has a surprisingly optimistic look on life. he doesn't really understand all of skr's rants abt the cool robotics stuff but he likes to help her out and test the equipment for her.

when he was very young, nrt found a furry companion that's actually a fox demon. surprise surprise its the kyuubi. which is also why people were terrified of him even tho he was p young... kid was pretty isolated, but he tries to gloss over it ("at least i was able to stay away from the wrong crowd," he'd say)

sakura: growing up, skr's parents weren't really around, so she learned to both take care and entertain herself. developed a rather apathetic persona due to her childhood + years of bullying she faced — which went beyond just teasing abt her forehead ( which she was still bullied abt, also why she never got rid of her bangs in this au!) — she ended up spending most of her time either in the library or experimenting with shit in her room. she's a complete NERD btw!

sometimes she would set out to explore the markets, which is how she ended up meeting nrt because he found her on the outskirts of the d.d. girlie eventually becoming the apprentice of some cool inventor (don't ask how) and started building cool stuff. she lost her arm in an accident and built herself a prosthetic with the help of her mentor — it has a lot of cool functions added to it! btw, she's pretty adept at faking emotions, it's kinda scary... despite the fact i mentioned her being an apathetic kid, her apathy is really just a mask for her actual emotions. she can be a passionate kid once you actually get to know her... tho the only people she cares abt is the people she's friends with

sasuke: wooo this boy does not know how to emote besides being angry and rude. though he was a very cute and cheerful kid, sasuke grew up developing a sharp temper and a cruel tongue due to the environment he was raised in. his family, despite not physically neglecting him like sakura's parents, were emotionally absent. the only person that was rlly around for him eventually became too busy to hang around him (itachi). ssk thinks he can remember someone else along with his brother. someone who smiled all the time, someone who'd laugh loudly when ssk did smth. (said someone was... drumroll pls!.... shisui!!!!!) but the memories are pretty blurry because ssk was very young.

anyway, ssk struggles a lot with pressure and expectations etc etc. he's still a good fighter tho, and means well most of the time. the others learn to read in between the lines when it comes to him. sasuke actually saw nrt in some rich people gala, when the blonde boy was under hrz's wing (p.s.: nrt ended up running away because he vehemently disliked being a charity case) — nrt actually started disliking him from this point even tho ssk had 0 opinion abt him — but they didn't actually meet until their teens. also! ssk has pretty frail health, which he did eventually overcome... but he still needs that mask which u see in his chara design!!!

sai: sai is a part of something called ROOT — designed abt danzo and orochi and built by kabuto, there might've been days when sai understood humans a little more when he lived alongside a boy called shin who told him about a boy with a different name who sai was designed after. anyway, shin d-worded and sai was left alone and guided by danzo.

sai does not understand humans and emotions. his curiousity is piqued when he observes the others' behaviours and its up to skr ssk and nrt to guide him on that subject. skr is immensely curious abt sai's programming and fiddles with his parts a lot — he lets her. they find certain commands in the coding and skr is faced with a challenge as she tries to help sai escape ROOT's clutches in his programming.

other stuff i want to mention:

naruto found kyuubi the fox when he was very little, too young to remember his age. they've been buddies ever since... even if kyuubi hisses at like. everyone including him.

naruto was taking in by hiruzen when he was nine. he ran away a few days later. hrz couldn't find take him back in ever again. (kyuubi never trusted hrz which is why he basically ran away, even from nrt. nrt trusts the fox's instincts which is why he leaves!!)

a few days before hrz, nrt met sakura who was exploring different areas and writing stuff into her journal. they talked abt all kinds of stuff, tho skr did most of the talking and nrt just listened. even those skr cld be weird, nrt really liked the girl and thought she was cute. plus kyuubi liked her enough — and when nrt ran away and found kyuubi with skr in their "special spot", he decided to become best friends with her!!! yay!!!!

("zephyr this is not how friendships work-" HUSH. they're NINE.)

ssk meets skr and nrt when theyre thirteen. it happens when skr's parents meet with ssk's parents and the two kids are brought along. the thing goes south but the two kids do end up conversing because skr is curious abt the uchiha manor and asks a lot of questions. ssk finds it annoying but he answers it anyway.

a few weeks later he runs away from home. skr and nrt stumble upon him while "exploring".

they become friends, eventually and slowly. ssk also ends up going back home. (he doesn't stay there forever tho so... yeah!)

heres the thing abt their families...

for naruto, he idealises parents. he doesn't know what they're actually like because he's never had any, and the only family he has is one of his choice instead of his blood.

for sakura, she knows all parents are different through observation and conversations. sakura's parents were pretty apathetic with her and their business trips only became longer and more frequent. she was raised by a governor who eventually moved away and skr never saw them again. sakura's parents basically dont know who she is because they were barely around to find out — and they find themselves faced with an intelligent, sharp-witted girl who has not even an ounce of love for them. the only times they talk is when they argue.

for sasuke, he thinks he can remember a loving mother and a caring brother and maybe even a cheerful cousin. however, his mother passed away and so did his cousin in an accident only ssk survived. his father remarried and his brother became too busy and ssk was left all alone in a cold home and a vast "family"

for sai, he might've had a brother once. he lost him anyway.

he still doesn't know how to feel about it.

ill come up with more stuff later on... omg cant wait

[kuriboo]

YUGIOCTOBER: Day 17: Penalty Game

fight for me

“And what game will we be playing, Pharaoh?”

The Avatar’s voice was brimming with confidence as it smirked up at Yami.

And Yami matched that smirk. “What else? We’ll duel. If you think you can defeat me, that is.”

“Nothing would please me more.”

Yami slotted his deck into his duel disk, preparing for the duel. He expected the Avatar to do the same. A dark duel disk formed on its wrist. It rose its arm into the air. Darkness swirled in the air around the disk until a deck of cards drenched in darkness appeared in the disk.

Yami blinked. Well, that was one way to get ready for a duel.

”We’ll duel with 4,000 Life Points each. Sound fair?” Yami asked.

”More than fair.” The Avatar grinned. “I hope you won’t mind if I go first.” It drew its starting hand and looked the cards over.

Yami frowned. As confident as he had been issuing the challenge, he realized…he had no idea what kind of deck the Avatar would play.

He’d find out soon.

”I summon Fluffal Dog.” The Avatar slammed the card onto its duel disk.

Yami could safely say he had never heard of that card before. It was…a cute stuffed animal, though.

“Fluffal Dog’s effect activates, allowing me to add Fluffal Owl to my hand.” The Avatar’s deck automatically shuffled after the card was drawn. “I set one card face-down and end my turn.”

“My turn. Yami drew his next card and looked over his hand. He didn’t have anything that could overpower Fluffal Dog, but…

”I place two cards face-down. Then I summon D.D. Warrior Lady. I end my turn.”

”That’s all?” the Avatar chuckled. “If you want to save this boy, who looks to you like you’re the sun, you’ll have to do better than a monster with 1500 attack.”

Yami scowled. He just needed his plan to pull through…

“I draw.” the Avatar grinned when it saw its new card. “It’s here. From my hand, I activate the Spell: Polymerization!”

”Polymerization?” Yami took a step back. It was bringing out an even more powerful monster, but what…?

”I fuse Fluffal Dog on the field with Fluffal Owl, Fluffal Cat, Fluffal Bear, and Edge Imp Scissors in my hand!” the Avatar rose its arms in the air. “I Fusion Summon, the wild beast who bites back! Frightfur Wolf!”

As Frightfur Wolf took the field, Yami could safely say this deck was a lot less cute now. Not only was the monster intimidating, it had more attack than Fluffal Dog did on its own. Not by much, though… Interesting, after it required five materials to summon.

“Fluffal Cat allows me to add Polymerization back to my hand from my graveyard when it’s used as fusion material.” The comment was almost an afterthought. “If you think Frightfur Wolf is scary now, you’ve seen nothing yet! Frightfur Wolf, attack D.D. Warrior Lady!”

Yami winced as he took 500 damage.

The Avatar barely even paused to allow the attack to go through. “Frightfur Wolf’s ability—“

”D.D. Warrior Lady has an effect of her own.”

”Huh?”

”After damage calculation, by banishing D.D. Warrior Lady, I can banish your Frightfur Wolf.”

”…What?”

“Your wolf‘s ability won’t do you any good if it’s not on the field.”

The Avatar took a step back. Its hands began to shake.

”My turn, then.” Yami drew a card. “I activate the Trap: Good Goblin Housekeeping. It allows me to draw another card.”

Looking over his hand, he had everything he needed

“From my hand, I play the Spell: Joker’s Straight. I discard another Joker’s Straight from my hand. This allows me to summon Queen’s Knight from my deck, and add King’s Knight to my hand.”

The Avatar was still.

”I then summon King’s Knight.”

The Avatar was still.

”King’s Knight’s ability allows me to summon Jack’s Knight from my deck.”

The Avatar was still.

“Battle. My three knights attack you directly.”

”No! I won’t let you!”

Yami expected the Avatar to activate its face-down. Instead, darkness began to gather around the Avatar’s hand until it formed into a single card.

”The Trap: Wall of Disruption! Your monsters’ attack all become zero!”

Yami paused. He closed his eyes.

The Avatar was heaving for breath now, tears in its own eyes.

When Yami opened his eyes, their color had changed. Red mixed in with their usual purple. His third eye began to glow on his forehead.

”The door to darkness has opened,” Yami murmured.

The Avatar took a step back.

Yami’s voice grew louder. “You agreed to a fair game.” Louder. “You played hastily, then cheated to make up for it.”

“No!”

”You have trespassed against my soul!” Yami shouted over the Avatar. “You have forced him to believe in a false truth! You have taken away his freedom! A penalty game awaits you!”

”No!!”

”I will let you keep your prize. I do not know how to separate him from you. But you will no longer control him. He will be the one in control. He will control you, until we can return him where he belongs.”

The Avatar gasped to breathe.

“Penalty game!!”

Yami’s third eye grew brighter and brighter, until he could barely see. The form in front of him began to still. Then, the form fell to its knees and began to sob.

”I’m sorry…” Yugi’s voice came weak. “I’m sorry…”

”It’s okay.” Yami knelt down next to Yugi. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

Yugi looked up at Yami.

”I love you.”

[chaosincurate]

My Month in Music - September-October 2023

Before we get into the post proper, I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that I've changed up the way I do these My Month in Music posts. If you wanna know why I changed it up or why I went with this new style, I go over it here

Alvvays - Blue Rev (relisten)

Fall Out Boy albums for Retrospective

Model/Actriz - Dogsbody (relisten)

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (relisten)

The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs (relisten)

Björk - Vespertine (relisten)

The Japanese House - In the End It Always Does (new)

The 1975 - I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it (relisten)

Radiohead - OK Computer (relisten)

Green Day - Revolution Radio (relisten)

D.D. Dumbo - Utopia Defeated (relisten)

Regina Spektor - Soviet Kitsch (relisten)

underscores - Wallsocket (new)

Radiohead - In Rainbows (relisten)

Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers - The "Original" Monster Mash (relisten)

Lovejoy - Pebble Brain (relisten)

David Bowie - "Heroes" (relisten)

The 1975 - Being Funny in a Foreign Language (relisten)

Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS (new)

yeule - softscars (new)

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia (relisten)

Nina Simone - Pastel Blues

The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (relisten)

Paramore - Riot! (relisten)

JPEGMAFIA - OFFLINE! (relisten)

Green Day - Insomniac (relisten)

Green Day - Nimrod (relisten)

Laufey - Bewitched (new)

Nina Simone - I Put a Spell on You

Sampha - Lahai (new)

Playlist link

Write-ups below

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

It's been a while since I gave Back to Black the attention it deserves. It is a beautiful, tragic, and occasionally funny in a way that seems to attempt to deflect from any sincerity within the lyrics and themes.

And that is where the album shines brightest for me: the lyrics. Yes, it sounds incredible; the soulful sonic palette is a great selling point in it's own right, but the lyrics are doing so much at once while maintaining a clarity of theme and sentiment that is necessary to reach the heights of popularity and acclaim she has.

The first way the lyrics excel is that humour I mentioned. The apathetic irreverence she displays, whether knowingly or not, catered so well to the characterization of a person who is struggling and is in denial of just how bad their situation has gotten. It's such a realistic representation of how people actually tend to react to their issues in conversation. It removes that layer of abstraction that usually provides artists with a sense of safety when discussing their vulnerabilities and makes it feel so much more real, and by extension, more tragic.

The second way the lyrics excel is with the imagery. There are examples all across the album, but the particular one I want to call attention to here is the chorus (and a few other lines in verses) of Wake Up Alone and it's strict adherence to water metaphors that allow the listener to use previous lines as context to make the next one hit harder.

It gets fierce in my dreams seizing my guts He floods me with dread Soaked in sorrow, he swims in my eyes by the bed Pour myself over him Moon spilling in And I wake up alone

It's a phenomenal album and frankly I need to give it it's flowers more often.

The Japanese House - In the End it Always Does

If I had a penny for every time I loved a woman's bright, cozy, synthy indie pop solo act named after a Japanese noun I would have two pennies. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

In the End it Always Does is, as stated above, very bright and cozy. It feels intimate, like how I imagine skipping work to have a day of domestic bliss with a loved one feels. Within it, there is a sense of comfort, devotion, and a certain difficult-to-describe feeling of trying to make the most of a situation.

I think that's what separates it from their comparable contemporaries in The 1975. Both have a very similar approach to creating this vibey soundscape, but where The 1975 likes to get big and exuberant, and create a distance in a way, The Japanese House gets intimate as fuck. I love both approaches, I just bring this up to praise this album for taking (I assume) heavy inspiration from The 1975, whilst still creating an album that provides a very different experience.

D.D. Dumbo - Utopia Defeated

I wanted to shine a light on this one for it's individual, unique sound. While it's my favourite thing about the album, it does make it difficult to describe, so bear with me.

It's hard to determine whether most of the instrumentation in this album is digital or natural, because most instruments are either physical ones that are digitally distorted like crazy, or digital ones that are given convincing imperfections. Eventually, your mind will give up trying to decipher which is which and the music will become a hardened tapestry of sound that can't be separated, but which uses it's inherent, eerie dissonance to create a feeling of distant comfort.

This sound provides a great added layer of meaning to one of my favourites on the album, King Franco Picasso, a song about a cruel and violent autocrat, subjecting and killing freely. Sung through the perspective of a subject whose brother was murdered by this autocrat, the song touches on a guilt of inaction, which pairs with the distantly comforting sound to create an implicit revolutionary feel for me. As if there is hope on the horizon, and familial comfort in the past, but discomfort now.

underscores - Wallsocket

Whoever said this year has been bad for music needs to shush. We may not have the insane peaks of last year (Blue Rev, Ants From Up There, Hellfire, etc.), but right below that standard are swathes of incredible albums contending for album of the year, and this is yet another contender for me.

First, I'll discuss the sound of the album. There is never a moment on this thing, even the slow moments, where you're not forced into being engaged. Of course, the sound might not be to your tastes, but you cannot shrug this album off. It won't allow you to. It refuses to be dull. Refuses to be background music. The blend of indie rock with the chronically online musical vocabulary of hyperpop works so well to provide an experience that feels sincerely indulgent, creatively speaking. It also traverses genre so seamlessly and broadly that it honestly floors me. Particularly in those first three tracks.

Second, I want to quickly touch on themes. Nothing will make me adore an album like an eye for interesting subject matter. Straight-forward love songs or music about partying or feeling yourself or whatever can be good and all, but if you write about bank fraud (Cops and robbers), loved ones being enlisted (Shoot to kill, kill your darlings), or stalkers (Locals (Girls like us) & You don't even know who I am) then I'll be hooked. By the way, those examples are some of my favourites, but they're pretty much all like that. The album has a lot of interesting things to say.

Third and finally, there is a story to this album! I love when an album is well tied together, and perhaps the highest form of that ideal is a story album. I can't say I'm exactly sure what the story is yet, I only have bits and pieces right now, but it's an added element that drags out that bliss of a first listen to a great album

This is my Blue Rev this year, I think. Maybe not my favourite of the year, but definitely an album that I love dearly that I imagine will only grow on me over time.

Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

I found Olivia Rodrigo's sophomore album to be a massive leap forward. She's really started to establish a sound for herself that gives her plenty of room to experiment, and there is an added level of maturity to the album, even if what is being written about can often still be immature.

It's all about the change in perspective. On a good few tracks on this album, Olivia will give some acknowledgement of how other people feel about the things she's singing about, or will take some amount of blame when she's writing about something going wrong (unless it'd be weird to do so, such as on vampire). It makes the actual events feel more like a true representation of what happened, which I found allowed me to far more easily engage with the music and actually feel it.

I also appreciate the greater variety of sound on display here. On SOUR, I found that I got bored quite quickly with the ballads that made up a great deal of the album. They were mostly great songs, but they were either driver's license or more or less a worse version of it to my ear, so it made for a great collection of songs that I didn't care for as an album. Here though, there are ballads, there are pop-punk bangers, straight pop bops... It's not the most versatile album I've ever heard or anything, but I can't criticise that anymore, which is a big improvement.

I didn't hate SOUR, to be clear. I thought it was solid. But this was one of my favourite pop albums of the year, and it's incredible to see that Olivia Rodrigo is already starting to make good on her potential to be this generation's next undeniable pop star.

Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia

Chances are you don't need me to tell you how good this album is. I feel like there was someone in every musical subculture even remotely tied to pop telling everyone how much this album slaps. And it really deserves the hype. All the way from track 2 to track 9 there isn't a single track that wouldn't deserve to top the charts.

The album is incredibly groovy, very catchy, and one of the most fun albums you could possibly put on. If you're anything resembling a poptimist and haven't heard this yet, I highly recommend it.

Nina Simone - Pastel Blues

Nina Simone is one of jazz's most beloved vocalists, and for good reason. The music is largely pretty basic stuff, but her voice is so interesting and powerful that you're not likely to even notice when it is lacking. She just controls your attention with charismatic vocal performances that balance emotion with technical excellence superbly.

JPEGMAFIA - OFFLINE!

JPEGMAFIA is excellent at making a beat that absolutely shouldn't work just work. The amount of times he uses a vocal sample as a core element of an instrumental, then seamlessly raps over it without either getting too much attention is incredible. The example of that on this album is Hazard Duty Pay! and it is rightly held up as one of the best off this album.

Just because the beats are well balanced though, it doesn't mean it's easy-listening. If you want to grasp this album fully, it'll most likely demand a focused listen, probably even multiple. There is just so much going on at once, and Peggy isn't shy about using a sound for a one-off moment and not repeating it.

It's an incredible piece of art that demands attention, and repays it in abundance with both intricacy and power from the beats, and some really great lyricism too (especially on my personal favourite track REBOUND!)

Green Day - Nimrod

An incredibly underrated album in Green Day's discography. It is a moment where they began to expand creatively and do some more interesting stuff (arguably laying the groundwork for the pop-punk explosion that followed in the 00s), but without losing that initial identity of a bunch of shitheads making music. I don't think what followed was awful by any means, it gave us American Idiot after all, but it definitely lost something.

For me, that leaves Nimrod as the best album from this version of Green Day. Dookie gets plenty of praise for being the first big album of theirs, and a great one by all means, but I for one genuinely prefer this.

Laufey - Bewitched

It's not jazz. But it's very good. I love Laufey's voice, and the sound of this is so incredibly dreamy. From The Start is a great, bouncy tune that really does a great job of conveying a smitten tone, and the best incorporation of a "blah blah blah" I may have ever heard. Then there are songs like Misty, which (whilst it is not jazz) gives off the feeling of being in a jazz club late at night, commanding some degree of attention, but remaining cozy.

It takes the right mindset to appreciate, but if you can get into that mindset, it's one of the better albums of the year.

Sampha - Lahai

Yet another album of the year contender for me, but this one took a little growing on me (and a great turning the tables video on it) before I truly appreciated what it was doing. I can't quite remember what the turning the tables quote was, but one of them said something about how it felt like it connected you to nature, and I'd probably put it slightly differently, but with the same general message: it seems like music that was of the Earth. As if Sampha didn't necessarily create it, but instead mined it out of the ether, and introduced it to our mortal realm.

It feels soothing, cleansing, safe, and tender. If you give it even a little of your attention, it'll reward you and hold on tight to it for the duration of the album, and possibly a little longer. I'd call this one a must-listen for sure.

[whirlybirbs]

✶    —   of gift-giving  ;    d.d.

summary: set post-s2 finale. din deals with the loss of the child. it’s life day. 

pairing: din djarin x mechanic!reader

a/n: happy holidays, babes, enjoy a little emotional blurb on christmas eve. i hope this serves as a happy little distraction from the world tonight. i love you all. stay happy and stay healthy. 

what do you get a man who has just lost his whole world?

before, it seemed like the possibilities for a life day gift were endless.

new modded-out wing thrusters for the razor crest were now out of the question (because the razor crest itself is out of the question), and that set of little, woolen jumpers you’d set aside after a trip to yavin’s third moon have no use. 

and, you seriously doubt din would find little joy in a new blaster. after all, he had enough anxiety resting in the palm of his hand alongside the darksaber — new weaponry would, no doubt, send him into an (increasingly more common) silent spiral.

everything was different now.

you’d seen his face that day, with the horrible moff gideon at your feet as a jedi knight’s robes kissed the polished floor. in the absence of his son — his kin as close as blood — there was something sad that settled into the lines beneath his eyes. if he cried, you did not see. no, you hid your intrigue; when he turned, helmet at his feet, your eyes hit the floor. habit.

but, that is different now.

now, on the eve of life day, you’ve grown accustomed to din’s face and the hot stir the sight of it brings. the feelings you bore for din are common place — they’ve burrowed a home in your heart for cycles, even before the child, back when you were simply an on-hand mechanic from mos eisley. din had taken you into his crew, and... well, you hadn’t looked back.

the kid — grogu — cemented the fact that maybe this was where you really did belong: among the stars, beside a man in glimmering beskar armor. 

at times, it was like he held the world in his hands. eagerly, he showed you what he could. it was one of din’s gifts — silent kindness that seeped deep into his every act. he had a good heart, despite his attempts at seeming more like a stand-offish rogue. 

this place, once home to jabba desilijic tiure, remains unnamed. boba fett has yet to find a fitting name for the sprawling castle in the dunes — but, for now, it is a haven for both din and yourself. fett, in age old warrior wisdom, can see that din is not himself. this period of mourning must be spent in a place of safety. 

every evening, over dinner, you thank fett. every night, those warm, brown eyes — as deep as warm amber — crinkle just a bit at the edges from your words. he can tell you mean it. if not for your sake, then for din’s. 

tonight, dinner is meager, but you happily inhale the ration aside fennec in the main hall. where dancers once leapt over the rancor pit like stars leaping across the night sky, the lot of you eat. 

din is silent. his jaw tenses when fett spares him a wondering look. between the two mandalorians, nothing is said, yet there are a thousand words. din is quick to finish. you watch has he rises, fetches his helmet, and wipes at his chin.

his footsteps lead far from the hall. 

boba speaks curtly. 

“go to him.”

your mouth is full of quickened bread, throat dry as you swallow down the oats that had been scooped up on the piece. you feel like a prey, pinned in place by fennec and fett. yet, no one is going for your throat. it is, in fact, kindness that’s seeped into their gazes. 

boba’s warm voice is cadenced with a gentle tone. 

“... and happy life day, sweet one.”

you find din alone, out the front gate and staring up at the stars. he’s perched on the edge of the long stone slab that once marked the entrance to the palace — but time and the changing tides of the sand have eroded the mound away, leaving a sharp drop off into the dunes below. there is another dune, to the left, that leads up to the palace now. fennec’s footprints remain from the earlier to trek into town. 

you watch as the wind, gentle and slow, begins to brush them away.

the twin suns are hot, still, despite having retired below the horizon nearly half an hour ago now. the sky is pink and hot red and it paints din all sorts of hues.

the little gift in your back pocket feels heavier than ever now.

“din?”

your voice is met with a grunt.

his head turns, slowly and ever-so owlishly, at the call. you near.

“i have something for you.”

when you settle on the edge, hip touching his, you’re comforted by his silence. it’s the usual sort, not the kind tipped with sorrow. you wonder — hopefully — if that’s your doing. or, maybe, you’ve caught him in a good mood.

“a gift?” he asks. his voice rattles through the vocalizer in his helmet and suddenly you miss the warm sound it carries when dancing off his lips, unburdened by the beskar. 

“it’s... it’s life day,” you say slowly, “or, well. tomorrow is, i suppose.”

“i...” a pause, then his helmet tilts, “i didn’t get you anything.”

you wave his words off, leaning to reach into your back pocket. you smooth your tunic and swing your boots. the little parcel, wrapped childishly in some tawny colored fabric you found laying around, sits in the palm of your hand neatly. 

the bundle, in din’s eyes, says a lot about you — about your feelings towards him. suddenly, with the force of a thousand thrusters, din realizes he hasn’t been very kind to you these last few weeks. he’s been frustrated and upset and angry and sad, so terribly sad, but...

he can see, in the lines below your eyes, that you have been too. 

“here.”

he takes it. and with one hand, reaches up to pull his helmet from his head.

the mop of brown hair is always a surprise. it makes you smile. a dash of happiness that comes as quick as it goes. din barely catches it. he wishes, earnestly, it would stay for longer.

“should i...?”

“go ahead, open it.”

he pulls back the delicately tied fabric, and all at once feels his heartstring snap.

it’s the gear knob. 

that stupid, small, scratched to hell gear knob that the kid was so obsessed with. he’d managed to scrap it from the wreck but... 

you’d gotten a hold of it. and you’d fashioned it into....

well, he isn’t quite sure.

you lean. 

“boba and i were speaking a week or so ago about armor,” you say slowly, “he used to have trophies on his pauldron, but he mentioned that some embellishments can be highly sentimental. so...”

din pulls the knob, and realizes it’s welded to a chain and at the end of the chain lays a clasp. 

“might make some noise, clang around a bit but...”

“thank you.”

his eyes are brown. you hadn’t forgot, but still, the sight makes your heart hammer. his nose is sharp and strong, and his lips are upturned in a delicate sort of smile. you wonder how often that look graces his face. how often does it hide beneath his beskar, like the rest of him?

“it’s not much.”

“it’s everything.”

you make a sad sound then. you lean back on your palms. the sand digs into the pads of your fingers. din’s eyes follow you, and he frowns.

“i haven’t been... i haven’t been there for you,” he says suddenly, already moving to clasp the totem to his armor, “and i’m sorry.”

the knob sways. it glimmers in the setting sun and tinkers against the beskar like a bell. 

“we both lost him, din,” you say tenderly, “i haven’t exactly been ready to accept the fact.”

“i know, but,” he lets out a ragged sigh. his gloved hand reaches up to rub his jaw. to din, the action seems foreign despite being a recent addition to his body language, “we still have one another.”

a beat. a slip of silence.

“and i don’t want to lose you as well.”

the admission is soft.

it’s all you really needed for life day. 

you turn your head, eyes pulled from the setting suns, and find din’s. his face is calm. the sorrow there has retired for now. you touch his cheek gently. the feeling of stubble beneath your fingertips feels different — so different from when you’d touch it with your eyes screwed shut in the belly of the razor crest.

you kiss him. and he kisses you. 

everything is different now, but some things are still the same.

[fanarchoslashivist]

@thequeer-quill

Sorry I had to go looking through old emails to find the lists sent to me, the fiction section is my personal rec list of books I'm reading and authors I love. I always always insist anyone who wants to write Indigenous characters in their stories need to read Indigenous authors. Not just to show support, but you’ll not find a better teacher on ensuring you're not falling into racist tropes and tokenizing your characters than by surrounding yourself with beloved stories and characters from that demographic.

For non fiction I've separated culture, language, and lore from the ones that focus on regions, historical events, wars, and people.

I know I'm missing books, but I was sent a lot of recs in private messages I can't track down. Generally if you see a book by these three authors they are the #1 recommended resource from everyone I've spoken with.

C.A. Weslager

Anthony F.C. Wallace

Paul A. W. Wallace

Some of these books are very old so they'll have dated terminology, be out of print, and can be expensive (Red Men on the Brandywine goes for over $200) so I have not been able to read everything on this list. I know there are more than a few with ebooks available through libraries, and some ebooks. My goal is to one day have all these books as PDFs, even if I have to buy and scan them myself.

Fiction

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

The Trickster Trilogy by Eden Robinson

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq

Crow Winter by Karen McBride

Ghost Lake by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler

Celia's Song by Lee Maracle

Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor

The Björkan Sagas by Harold Johnson

Wrist by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler

A Line of Driftwood: The Ada Blackjack Story by Diane Glancy

Birdie by Tracey Lindberg

Feral series by Cynthia Leitich Smith

How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle

Spirits Dark and Light: Supernatural Tales from the Five Civilized Tribes by Tim Tingle

March Toward the Thunderby Joseph Bruchac.

The Winter People by Joseph Bruchac

Blue Bear Woman by Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau

The Night Wanderer: A Native Gothic Novel by Drew Hayden Taylor

The absolutely true diary of a part time indian by Sherman Alexie

Anthologies

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time

Indigenous LGBT Sci-fi Anthology

Walking the Clouds

Indigenous Sci-fi Anthology

New Suns

Speculative Fiction by People of Color

Taaqtumi

An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories

Love After the End

Anthology of indigiqueer Speculative fiction

Picture Books

Little Bear Builds a Wigwam by Sherman Stoltzfus

When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger & Sue Katz

The Legend of the Cape May Diamond by Trinka Hakes Noble

Non fiction

Native Harvests: American Indian Wild Foods and Recipes by E. Barrie Kavasch 

We Are Still Here! The Tribal Saga of. NewJersey’s Nanticoke and Lenape Indians, John R. Norwood

The Indians of New Jersey: Dickon Among the Lenapes, M.R. Harrinton

Folk Medicine of the Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians by Gladys Tantaquidgeon

Oklahoma Delaware Ceremonies, Feasts, and Dances, Frank G. Speck

A Study of Delaware Indian Medicine Practice and Folk Beliefs, Gladys Tantaquidgeon

History, Manners, and Customs of the Indian Nations Who Once Inhabited Pennsylvania and the Neighboring States, John Heckenwelder

The Celestial Bear Comes Down to Earth, Frank G. Speck

Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing, Richard C. Adams

Mythology of the Lenape, John Bierhorst

A Study of the Delaware Indian Big House Ceremony, Frank G. Speck

David Zeisberger’s History of Northern American Indians, Rev. David Zeisberberger

Eastern Shore Indians of Virginia and Maryland, Helen C. Rountree and Thomas E.Davidson

Memoirs of Rev. David Brainerd, Based on the Life of Brainerd, Prepared by Jonathan Edwards, D.D. and Afterwards Revised and Enlarged by S.E. Dwight

Strong Medicine Speaks: A Native American Elder has Her Say, Amy Hill Hearth

The Culture and Acculturation of the Delaware Indians, William W. Newcomb, Jr.

A Lenape Among the Quakers: The Life of Hannah Freeman by Dawn G. Marsh 

A Delaware – English Lexicon by Zeisberger & Whritenour. 

The Lenape and Their Legends, With Text & Symbols By Daniel G. Brinton

The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage, Herbert Kraft

The Nanticoke, Frank W. Porter, III.

The Nanticoke and Conoy Indians, Frank G. Speck

The Nanticoke Community of Delaware, Frank G. Speck

The Nanticoke Indians Past and Present, C. A. Weslager

A Nation of Women – Gender and Colonial Encounters Among the Delaware Indians by Gunlög Fur

Colonialism in the Margins: Cultural Encounters in New Sweden and Lapland by Gunlög Fur 

White Deer and Other Stories Told by the Lenape, John Bierhorst

A Delaware Indian Symposium, Herbert Kraft

History

A History of the Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania by Dr. George P. Donehoo.

Walking Purchase Hoax of 1737 by Ray Thompson.

The Victory With No Name – The Native American Defeat of the First American Army by Colin G. Calloway

William Penn’s Own Account of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians by William Penn.

Indian Paths of Pennsylvania by Paul A. W. Wallace

The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania by C. Hale Sipe.

The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania by C. Hale Sipe.

Teedyuscung: King of the Delawares by Anthony F.C. Wallace

C.A. Weslager's many books

Red Men on the Brandywine

Delawares Forgotten Folk

Delawares Forgotten River

Delewares Burried Past

The Nanticoke Indians

Into the American Woods: Negotiations on the Pennsylvania Frontier by James H. Merrell.

The Ambiguous Iroquois Empire by Francis Jennings.

The Crucible of War: 7 Years War & the Fate of the British Empire in British North American 1754-1766 by Fred Anderson

At The Crossroads: Indians & Empires on a Mid-Atlantic Frontier, 1700-1763 by Jane T. Merritt

The First Frontier: The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America by Scott Weidensaul

Dark & Bloody Ground: The American Revolution Along the Southern Frontier by Richard D. Blackmon

Gods of War, Gods of Peace by Russell Bourne

Our Savage Neighbors: How the Indian War Transformed Early America by Peter Silver

[morganas-pendragons]

It’s A Long Way Down | D.D.

gif by @bestintheparsec

I was never planning on posting something on Tumblr during No Content November, but this idea has been stuck in my head since I saw Mando 2x03 and on top of that, people kept tweeting ideas on Twitter and now this thing is born... be gentle. I’ve been hesitant to write for him since I started the show last year. I played a little bit with what we know of Din’s past for the sake of this plot. 

Without further ado, hurt/comfort galore! 2x03 spoilers!

Please let me know what you think!

tag: @earthtokace​ / @dindjarindiaries​ / @kyber-queen​ 

*** 

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” 

  “Drowning.” He replies, soft and quiet as he processes the last three days in the midst of the silence. “Almost drowning.. and thinking about how you’d cope when I was gone.” 

If I was gone. 

Maybe the world would be better off. That’s what Din thinks. That thought lingers for a split second in his mind until he sees the desperation in your aspect and how you need him to understand that this world is a better place with him in it. 

The Watch didn’t allow him attachments. They didn’t allow him to feel. He was a warrior. 

He was a warrior, and the entrance of you and The Child made his hardened heart soft. 

Din has never liked the water.

When he’d been taken in by the Mandalorians and had sworn his Creed, the one thing they had drilled into his mind for his entire childhood was that he was a warrior. Warriors knew how to fight, how to survive, how to endure. 

A Warrior who did not dare show his face. This was The Way, and the way kept him safe. 

The one thing he could never quite master as a Foundling was enduring the water. To stop the way his lungs seized, how panic overtook him, how he just stopped. 

Din didn’t like the water, and Din had never really learned how to breathe.

Then he’d met you. You - the one person he could admit to loving, to admiring from a distance because he has his Creed and you have some kind of Code you live by - and your devotion to both him and The Child has slowly eased the ache in his chest, cracked open his ribs, and taught him a different way of breathing. 

Slow, steady, easy. He’s never known life to be that way. 

***

There is no Light without the Dark. 

Through passion, I gain focus. 

You had run across Mando just after the end of the Empire. You’d seen that Death Star explode with your very own eyes and had declared that your final mission with The Rebellion, in which you bid a tearful farewell to Luke and Leia and made your way into the galaxy. 

A vast galaxy.. alone. 

You and Luke had very differing views on the Jedi Order as a whole and in that difference, you’d taken two different paths. You had followed the Code of the Grey Jedi, and Luke had taken to the Jedi Code. 

That Code had carried you through alot of darkness. 

Through knowledge, I gain power 

Through serenity, I gain strength 

The Clone War had introduced you to the concept of Mandalorians. You’d never really had the pleasure to meet one as you’d always been on different fronts a distance from the Dream Team, but you knew of them. You knew they carried a Creed the same way you did. 

What you didn’t expect was the extent in which The Mandalorian did. The two of you had met in a cantina only days after he’d taken on The Child, and his claim for knowing where to find you on Sorgan was whispers of a rogue Jedi who’d left the Rebellion to seek peace.

Peace was what you found, contrary to popular belief. Compared to being a part of the Jedi Order, being with The Mandalorian was the most peaceful thing you’d done in over a decade. 

Through victory, I gain harmony

You’d been raised around Yoda, so you were familiar with the species, but past that.. You were as clueless as Din was. 

You stowed your lightsabers away and that part of your life with it. You left behind the title of Jedi and put all of your efforts into taking care of The Child. Into taking care of Din. 

That was easier said then done. 

There is only The Force. 

*** 

I wasn’t supposed to fall in love. 

That’s all he is thinking as he stands examining the vast waters of the ocean the two of you sail on with the Quarren crew. Your fingers are curled in the direction of The Child’s pram, and he’s giggling as he tries to maintain control of his body while you spin him. 

It’s the first time he’s seen you smile in weeks. It’s always small ones too. He looks forward to the first time he’s granted the opportunity to see a real smile. 

It had taken you a while to open up to him about your time with the Jedi. You’d barely been a padawan when The Order’s genocide had been in effect, and the greater majority of your life had been lived in fear. Your Code and your Lightsaber were your only guide until Leia had found you and recruited you into The Rebellion. 

All your life you’d been looking for a purpose, and she’d given you one. 

Being here with The Child - caring for him, teaching him, had given you a new purpose - and being with The Mandalorian had taught you a newfound sense of compassion for people raised as he had been. 

Your compassion and heart had won him out in the end. He’d admitted to being in love with you months ago, but he had yet to vocalize it. He would. He will. 

It happens so fast. One minute the two of you are smiling - even though you cannot see his own - about The Child’s reaction to the Mamacore, and the next minute you’re roaring with rage as his pram is shoved into the center of the cage and he’s forced to retreat inside for fear of being killed. 

He’s a child. A child who’s been too involved in death, in seeing death, in flirting with death.. and Din has had enough of it. 

Din Djarin doesn’t like the water. He doesn’t like how it weighs him down, how it threatens to suffocate him, to fill his lungs with something cruel and cold that replaces the warm fire that floods his veins that has been placed there by you. 

  “You’re-You’re a Jedi?” 

  “Push him down! Harder!” 

His world is illuminated in a flurry of blue light as the Quarren’s keep pushing him down under, down down down and his first thought is ner jeti.. i’m sorry. He’s sorry that he’s again put you in this position where you’ve had to reveal yourself, reveal who you are, and all to protect him and The Child. 

Failure. 

He’s a failure. 

Between you and the trio of Mandalorians that arrive shortly after, the Quarren’s are dealt with in a matter of moments and then he’s being lifted - his lungs are reactivating, are expanding and contracting to remind him that he is alive - and he collapses in the midst of wheezing his concern for the child. 

  “The Child! Help-Help The Child!” 

The Mandalorian on the left dives into the water to rescue The Child from the creature. You turn your attention away from the bodies and sheath your sabers  before kneeling in front of Din to assess him. 

  “The Child-” He rasps, because his thoughts are never on himself, only you and The Child. His life doesn’t matter if it means the two of you are safe. “Jeti, ner ad-” 

Jedi, my son. 

Your gentle hand on his knee is enough to capture his thoughts. Your way of evaluating Din’s state has never been through the physical sense, but the mental. He doesn’t know how to shield because The Jedi was a foreign concept to him until he met you, and he’s always been receptive to your gentle nature. You don’t need to talk. You never have. 

You look. 

His mind is a flurry of panic and fear as you gently soothe it into a peace that makes his whole body go lax as Koska breaks the pram shell in half and gently scoops out the baby. “Here you go, Brother.” Koska murmurs, watching from beneath her helmet as you stand to your feet and allow Din to reunite with The Child he claims not to have an attachment to. 

Yeah... okay. 

Din and Bo-Katan converse - in which he is given an inexplicable truth about himself that he's not quite sure how to process - and he shuts down the idea of them even being real Mandalorians because their way is not his way. It’s a whole new reality he’s never had to face before. 

  “You are a Child of The Watch.” 

And as you stand there, you take in the distress in which the man you love - and have yet to tell - is trying so desperately to hide. 

***

His panic bursts through the surface when you unsheathe your sabers in the hall that connects and run right into the line of fire, deflecting blaster bolts left and right so Din can run right past you and blow the door to the bridge right open. 

The fight about it comes later, long after the two of you have returned to The Crest for the coordinates to Coravus where Ahsoka Tano is supposedly located. She is a Jedi - or was, once - and might be the only connection you have left to the person you used to be despite how young you had been at the time. 

Your first clue to his apparent agitation is the way he hasn’t unclenched his fists and has yet to look at you from where he sits in the cockpit. Your anger is growing steadily at his silence, which has never happened before.. not until you put your life into the line of fire. 

  “Say it.” Your voice echoes from behind the captain’s seat as you cross your arms over your chest. “Mando-please, stop giving me the kriffing silent treatment and just let me have it.” 

  “Ner jeti...” He stops short and stands to his feet, practically towering over you in a way that would intimidate most people. He has never once made you feel afraid... but he constantly makes you ache. With want, with pain, with desire. He makes you feel things you haven’t felt since before Order 66. “You cannot do that.” 

  “Do what?? Save your life? Mando, I’m-” 

  “Din.” Your rant is cut off halfway as he exhales lowly, a rumble through the modulator, and lifts a helmeted head to meet your gaze. “My name is Din Djarin. I thought it was time you know that.” 

Your entire body freezes. You have been a partner, an ally, since the day he’d found you on recruited you to help return The Child to his kind. You have been careful in ensuring that it’s strictly a professional relationship, you never had anticipated this- The intimacy that comes with divulging such a secret as his real name. 

  “Din?” You rasp, eyes glassy with tears as the air is knocked from your lungs. It rolls off your tongue easily. The sound of his name, his real name, is beautiful. “Wow. It’s... beautiful.” 

His response to your affirmation is like watching a galaxy of stars be born in front of your very eyes. He’s so receptive to it.. starved of it. 

  “I used to forget everything.” Din says. “The people who trained me.. they wanted me to be the best of our clan. There was so much we had to learn. Gun training, hand to hand, the significance of beskar and how important our Beskar’gam was to our safety. I was so good at it. I excelled.. but the one thing I could not shake? The water. 

They trained me in the water, jeti. They trained me in the water, to become part of the water... all I could think about was how much it suffocated me. I’m af-” He stops himself short because admitting to a fear is not something he was taught to do, it was bottle it up and compartmentalize in order to get the mission finished. “Afraid of the water because I can’t fight it like I do with a bounty. I can just..” 

  “Succumb. Sink. Let go.” You murmur. “And that’s not something you know how to do.” 

  “Yeah.” 

You’re oddly intrigued by the fact that this utterly fearless person, this man, was afraid. He’d always struck you as the opposite. 

  “What’s the last thing you remember?” You ask.  

  “Nearly drowning.” He replies. “And wondering how you and the ad would cope when I was gone. That’s why I need to tell you.” Din takes another step to close the gap that stands between you both. You’re practically trembling with anticipation. “Thinking about how...” 

Din stops. You rest a hand against the exposed skin of his neck and tilt your head as his mind thrums - resonates with the truth of his affection for you - and your lips part in wonder as you realize what he’s trying to tell you. 

  “Me too.” You whisper. “For a while.. probably since the start. Din, you are a good man. You’ve always been a good man, and I think it’s time that someone puts your needs before themselves instead of the other way around. Please.” Din is slightly taken aback at the pleading tone of your voice as you meet his gaze. “Please let someone take care of you.” 

That’s all you can muster before he’s collapsing at your feet. 

  ‘’Take it off.” He begs. 

  “No, no- Your Creed-” 

  “Sarad, I want to learn how to breathe again.” He interjects. “This is how I do that. It’s just a faster way of being able to be married to you for the rest of my life.” The man you love is kneeling at your feet and totally willing to abandon part of his livelihood because of you. “There’s nothing I’d want more. Go ahead. Take it off. Please.” 

Part of you had always been okay with the anonymity, but as this choice lays just within your fingertips, you find yourself desperate to look upon the face of the man who’d destroy entire galaxies for you and his son. 

The Beskar’gam hisses as you remove his helmet and find yourself staring into vulnerable onyx eyes that are wide enough to envelop whole star systems in their splendor. 

  “Din Djarin.” You whisper, smiling tearfully as trembling hands lift to cup a stubbled jaw. “What a beautiful face to put with an equally beautiful name.” 

He exhales his breath on a shuddered sigh and leans into your touch as you begin mapping his face with your fingertips. Din doesn’t dare move, too drunk on the feeling of touch ghosting across his skin in a intimate way that he’s not experienced since his parents left him in that cellar. His face grows warm at how needy he must seem, but you don’t seem bothered by it. 

In fact, the way his skin blooms red under your kiss makes your heart swell and your smile widen at the reaction it elicits. 

  “You know Din, if you wanted me to kiss you.. all you had to do was ask.” You muse. You can read his mind and his body in the same way you read the feel of your lightsaber and the air of a room of hostiles. “Now I don’t know about you, but The Child is asleep and I find myself tired after having to deal with Bo-Katan all day.. can we go to bed?” 

  “Yes.” He nods once, then twice, allowing you to take his gloves off and lead him in the direction of the tiny cot that somehow manages to house you both. The Beskar’gam comes off one piece at a time until Din is now standing in his usual underclothes which you have not been able to grace yourself with the image of until now as he lays each piece on the floor. 

You’re laying flat on your back when he’s finished, arms extended towards the ceiling as you beckon him forward. Din realizes that as he stares at your willingness to be there for him in his most vulnerable moment that he may sleep tonight with no night terrors. 

No thoughts of drowning. 

  “Din Djarin, cyare..” You coo, beaming as he crawls into the bed and allows himself to curl into your body and rest his head on your chest. “I think you should hear it now.” Gentle fingers card through dark curls as he focuses on his breathing - in and out in and out - and listens to the sound of your voice to lull himself to sleep. “I love you.” 

He hums thoughtfully and burrows himself deeper into your neck, smiling against the curve of your neck as you lightly graze his temple with your lips. Before Din can properly fall asleep, he rolls himself on top of you and settles himself comfortably against your body. It’s not too heavy, just enough to envelop you in the warmth he radiates. 

He’s safe.

You wrap your arms and legs around his form and nuzzle his temple. 

Darkness falls upon both of you as Din whispers, “Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.” before promptly falling asleep in your capable hands. He’s safe. 

Tonight.. he’s not drowning. 

Tonight, he breathes. 

[isthisthingeven0n]

looking at her : d.d

as soon as the perfume ad was released, you couldn’t be happier for your boyfriend. but when everyone started to ship him and charlotte together, you couldn’t help but feel insecure about your secret relationship. (1.3k)

requested: yes by an anon - thanks for the idea love! warnings: some angst

all my links

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it hasn’t been approved me unless specified. all rights reserved. - i have to start doing this as I had some shit on my other blog with plagiarism)

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK - IT IS ALL MY OWN WRITING

Like everyone, you couldn’t wait for the Perfume line to launch. It was something David had been working on for the best part of eighteen months and it was so close to being released. You had seen it from a mere concept to trying out different scents to advertising and marketing the perfumes.

After all this hard work and determination from your boyfriend, today was the day.

As the advert dropped and the promotional videos were uploaded on social media, you like the rest of the squad shared their support. Yet, you could only share your support as David’s friend, since the news of you dating had not yet been broken to the public.

It was a decision you both made when your relationship became more serious. Everyone already knew you as part of the squad, as one of David’s close friends. Why ruin their perception of what you have when you could enjoy the private moments, knowing they’d be private.

Yet, as you were sitting in your own bedroom, scrolling through Twitter more and more tweets mentioning David filled your timeline. You anticipated seeing David mentioned more, the squad being tagged in an attempt for David to see messages of support and excitement- but what you didn’t expect was to see fan edits of David and Charlotte.

Your eyes glanced over various edits from the advert, clips playing in a montage of the pair as a happy couple, young and in love. If you were an outsider, you’d understand why it’s believable and clearly, fans adore the concept of them being a couple.

‘omg charlotte and david?! power couple’ ‘do you see the way he looks at her???’ ‘she likes him it’s so obvious’ ‘damn, i thought david was single but this says otherwise, huh’

Covering your eyes, you groan quietly to yourself as your phone begins to ring beside you.

“Hey,” You answer, trying to force back any self-doubt as laughter echoes in the background.

“Hey! Well, what’d you think?” David asks, full of excitement as always whilst you curl into yourself, nodding along.

“It was amazing,” You tell him, knowing it’s true. “you and Charlotte did a great job.” A light laugh leaves your lips involuntarily, and David pauses on the other end of the line.

“Is everything okay?” His voice softens as you hear a door close behind him.

“Me? I’m fine.” You lie, but today isn’t the day to focus on your own insecurities, it’s David’s day to celebrate.  “You delivering the PR packages today?” You quickly swerve the topic elsewhere, and it seems to work just fine.

“Yeah, Natalie’s packing up the car now so we’ll be coming to yours later.” David explains as you nod to yourself. “I erm, I better go.” He adds quietly, not quite ready to drop your early remark about the advert. “I love you.”

Taking a steady breath away from your phone, you force yourself to remain composed as you smile to yourself. “I love you too, have fun.” With that, you hang up the phone and bury your face back into your pillow, screaming into it as the sound remains muffled.

*

“Okay, next one up.” David rubs his hands together as he grabs the PR package with your name on it.

Natalie glances over as she pulls up outside of your house, watching as David focuses on your name. “Everything okay with you two?” Natalie speaks up, forcing David from his trance as he hesitantly nods. “Okay, what happened?” She asks, turning the engine off as she gives him her full attention.

David shrugs. “I’m not sure, we were fine yesterday but something happened today and she seemed kinda off.” David rubs his face, having been thinking about you for hours as he delivered various packages to his friends.

“I’m not going to say I know what it is, but I’ve got an idea.” Natalie suggests, and David raises a brow. “Well, a lot of people online think you and Charlotte are dating.” Natalie explains, and David laughs bluntly.

“Wait, seriously?” He pauses, and Natalie nods. “Oh, fuck.” David groans, burying his head in his hands. “Don’t they know we were acting?”

“I’m not a teenager, David. Fans see what they wanna see and to them, you’re a single guy.” Natalie comments. “Can see where they’re coming from.”

“Fuck.” David exhales. “Makes sense now,” He mutters to himself as he looks out from the car window to your front door. “I gotta talk to her for a bit. You wanna do the next drop?”

Natalie nods. “I’ll be back soon.” She salutes David as he climbs out of the car, closing the door behind him as he walks up to your driveway, his palms clamming up.

Wiping his hands across his jeans, David reaches up for your doorbell, listening to the light-hearted chime and the faint sound of you rushing to your front door.

As you open it, your smile remains bright. “Wait, where’s the PR?” You chuckle, noting David’s empty hands and the lack of Natalie behind him.

“I sent Nat to Stassi’s place first, wanted to have a chat with you.” David explains, watching as your smile falters. “It’s not a bad thing! Sorry, I erm, I just wanted to talk.” David quickly adds as you remain quiet, moving aside as he steps into your house, tension hanging thick in the air.

“So,” You speak up as you close your front door, feeling your heart lodging in your throat. “what’s up?”

Keeping distance between you both, David sighs quietly. “I love you, Y/n.” He starts, taking you by surprise as you cross your arms over your chest. “And I only have my eyes on you, no one else- including Charlotte.” David states, watching as your hands drop to your sides.

“I know that,” You start. “but, just seeing you in the advert and the promotional photos you just,” A long sigh escapes your lips. “I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at me like that before.” The quiet confession hangs between you both as David processes what you’ve admitted, his heart begins to ache.

“Baby,” David coos as he steps forward. “it isn’t about the way I look at you that means I am in love with you. It’s the way I hold you close in my sleep or the fact you give me your leftovers or the inside jokes we have. The fact you make me laugh like no one else or make me smile when I’m struggling.” David knows the list is almost indefinite. “And those are to name a few.” He chuckles, reaching out for your hand.

Squeezing his hand lightly, you lower your head. “I just, I don’t know.” You mutter. “You looked so happy with her.” You comment, but David pulls on your hand, bringing you closer to him as he rests his other hand on your lower back.

“No one makes me as happy as you do, Y/n.” David mutters into your lips. “Never forget that, okay?” He whispers, closing the gap between you both.

“Hey, guys!” Cutting you off before you could kiss him, you whip your head around to see Natalie looking through the front window. “We got a schedule to keep to, glad you made up, but there are another thirty houses to visit.” Natalie calls out, pointing to her watch as David groans into your neck.

“Go on, Dave.” You giggle as he kisses your neck gently. “I’ll still be here later.”

Pulling away from your embrace, David walks towards your front door. “You promise?” He asks, letting his hand slip out of yours.

“I promise.” You smile to him as he opens the front door, slipping out as he and Natalie rush back to the car, carrying on with their PR trip.

[dirtydobrik]

something to tell you - d.d.

plot: you call you boyfriend, David while you’re both spending the holidays with your families to tell him something important

word count: 830

note: this is super short but i wanted to give you guys something short and sweet as a late christmas gift since i’ve been m.i.a. for the last couple of months. i have a few other pieces in the works and i’m excited to get back into writing

masterlist

The clock on your nightstand read 3:06am, meaning it was technically Christmas morning. Your mind was racing since you couldn’t sleep. You couldn’t stop thinking about what you found out a few days ago and you were currently contemplating calling your boyfriend. You didn’t want to bother him, since he was finally getting some time much needed time off and a chance see his hometown friends, but you had this sudden urge to tell him. You reached for your phone and sent a quick text to your boyfriend, asking if he was awake and could talk right now. A minute later, your phone rang with an incoming FaceTime from him. “Hi, I’m sorry, I know it’s late,” you whispered. “Is everything okay, babe?” he asked, sitting up in his bed and flicking the bedside lamp on. “Oh, everything’s fine,” you sighed, leaning against your headboard. “I just have  something to tell you.” He could sense your mood change and he knew you had something serious to say. He watched your eyes fill with tears through the phone and wished he were sitting next to you to comfort you. You tried to keep your sniffles silent since your family was asleep down the hall. “I’m pregnant.”

Your words came out in a whisper, and you weren’t sure if David had heard you. His mind was racing as he tried to process what you had just said. “David, please say something. Anything.”

“When’d you find out?” was all he managed to ask. “A couple days ago, it was right after you left for Chicago,” you admitted, not sure how he was going to take the news. “Why didn’t you say something?” “I don’t know. I didn’t want to bother you since you were spending time with your family. And I was going to wait to tell you in person, but I needed you to know. And I need to know how you feel about this, because I’m so okay with it and I really need you to be too,” you rambled.

“I love you,” he said, cutting you off. “And I’ll love our baby. I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, and you felt a weight lift from your chest.

“Oh, I needed to hear that,” you sighed, wishing he were next to you so you could hug him. This was a moment that should’ve been shared between the two of you, not done over the phone. “I love you, too. And I miss you. I wish we could be together to celebrate. Merry Christmas, Dave.” “Merry Christmas,” he smiled. “To both of my babies.” You wanted to roll your eyes at how cheesy he sounded, but you couldn’t stop smiling. Your excitement for the future and your little family had rid any nerves you had previously felt.

Your words about wishing you could be together replayed in David’s head long after he ended the call. He pulled his laptop out of his backpack and booked a last-minute flight from Chicago to New York to see you the morning after Christmas. 

The day after Christmas, you heard a knock on the door and glanced out the window to see who it was. You didn’t recognize the car in the driveway, but you could tell it was a rental car and you sprinted downstairs, having a good feeling about who was standing outside.

“What are you doing here?” you asked, a smile forming on your face as your boyfriend stood on the front steps of your parents’ house. His nose was slightly pink from the cold and a knit beanie covered his hair.

You stood on your toes and wrapped your arms around his neck. His arms wrapped around your waist as he pulled you in close. You couldn’t believe he was standing here.

“You didn’t have to fly out to me,” you said, still holding him close. You were beyond grateful that you had a boyfriend who was willing to do that.

“You said you wished we could celebrate together,” he whispered.

“God I love you,” you muttered, hugging him tightly again. His arms were wrapped around your waist.

“I love you,” he smiled, leaning down to give you a kiss. “Both of you,” he added, resting one of his hands on your stomach.

“David, what a lovely surprise,” you mom said, interrupting the moment, as she noticed the two of you standing in the doorway on her way to the kitchen. “Well, aren’t you going to invite him in?” she asked, shooting you a look. David chuckled and you motioned for him to come inside.

“Don’t forget, your grandparents are coming by for breakfast at ten,” you mom reminded you, as you and David made your way upstairs and into your room.

“God, I can’t believe that you’re here,” you smiled, not sure what else to say.

“I can’t believe that we’re going to have a baby,” he grinned, leaning down to kiss you again.

“Yeah, I can’t believe that either,” you giggled, smiling into the kiss.

[pagesfromthevoid]

Can you do a drabble where the reader and Din Djarin are ex-lovers reunited and angst ensues bc they still have feelings for each other? lol

Like Old Times | d.d.

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: Some angst. Canon violence

Author's Note: Hope this is angsty enough lol

Celebrate 2.6k with me!

She stepped off the transport shuttle and looked around the bustling spaceport. She was here for a job –an actual job, too. Not a con that she was trying to pull; not a heist. She had long given up that life after what happened in Nevarro so long ago. She felt a pang of guilt as the memory of it flooded her mind. It was the job that had gone wrong, the one that had led to their separation. She had taken it too far, and she had paid the price for it. In the end, she was forced to make a choice and that choice hurt more than just her.

But now, years later, she found herself back in the same city, on the same planet, taking on a job that would lead her right back to her past. She had promised herself she wouldn't fall back into that life, but the pull of the familiar was strong. And when Greef Karga called on her personally –well, she couldn’t resist.

As she made her way through the bustling crowd, which surprised her since the last time she was here, Nevarro was not a trading post, she kept a close eye on the people around her. It was a habit from before, when she would run cons and pick up enemies instead of friends. However, as she rounded the corner for the address Karga had given her –she froze in her tracks.

Standing outside a new building –labeled as a school, of all places –was an all too familiar visor and cape. The shine of the beskar could have given him away too, but she recognized the helmet more than anything else on him. After all, she had spent plenty of time staring it down, trying to piece together anything behind it. For a moment, she considered simply turning and hightailing it out of there. Nothing Karga had for her was worth the awkwardness that was seeing someone she wronged –someone she loved, and put at risk.

But she wasn’t quick enough, and their gazes met as Karga stepped out of the school in his ornate robes. He followed Din’s gaze and smiled brightly, opening his arms to her as he called out her name.

“Karga,” she greeted with a small grin, reaching out to take his hand. Her eyes flicked to Din, giving him a simple nod in greeting. “Mando.”

He said her name –hidden behind the modulator –and for a moment, she wondered if he hated her. She wouldn’t blame him if he did. When things went south, she left him with a mess to clean up and a shitty note that said she was sorry. If he hated her, it was her own fault.

“It’s good to see you again,” Din offered carefully as she drew her hand back from Karga. 

She always knew where to look to hold his gaze. It took practice, and a lot of guessing, but she had a feeling she was always meeting his eyes when she looked up at him. So when she turned and looked at him, she knew she was looking right into his eyes. Her heart leaped in her chest, threatening to come out of her throat, and for a moment, she felt an inkling of hope.

“I’ll leave you two to catch up; I need to handle something for a moment,” Karga announced, slipping away from the two. It seemingly fell on deaf ears, as she remained focused on the Mandalorian in front of her.

“I…,” What was she going to say? I’m sorry I left you stranded in space? Sorry I let pirates almost kill you while I made my great escape? “I’m here for a job. Karga called on me.”

He didn’t say anything in response, instead looking towards the citadel which sat higher than the rest of the buildings. It must be where Karga ran the planet. “He called on me too. Said he needed all hands on deck.”

She nodded once, crossing her arms over her chest as she followed his gaze to the government building. 

“I still have your blaster,” he said suddenly, though his attention remained anywhere but her.

“What?” 

“Your gun,” he reminded her, as if she didn’t actually hear him. “I kept it. It’s on the Crest.”

For several moments, her eyes remained stuck on the Citadel, staring it down. If she stared any harder, it would burn to the ground. 

“Why?” She finally asked, chancing a glance at him.

He was looking at her, attention turned fully on her. “I thought you were going to come back.”

Something in her broke at his admission. Din was never one for giving up his emotions; he was terrible at it. And he was even more terrible to read. But him admitting that he kept her blaster, hoping that she would return, ripped something inside of her apart.

Her heart sank as she realized the extent of his feelings for her. She had always known that Din cared for her deeply, but this revelation made her see him in a whole new light. He had been holding onto a piece of her, hoping for her return, and she couldn't bear the thought of him waiting for her in vain. The weight of her own emotions hit her like a ton of bricks, and she struggled to keep her composure in front of him. She knew that she had to find a way to make things right, to ease the pain that she had caused him.

“Din, I –,”

As she opened her mouth to respond, blaster fire erupted from outside the building. Din immediately sprang into action, grabbing his pulse rifle from his side and taking cover. She followed closely behind, heart racing with adrenaline as she pushed a vendor stand over and ducked behind it, drawing her own blaster. Peering over the edge, a band of pirates –the same men that she had left Din at the mercy of all those years ago.

Din slid into the space she was occupying, resting his rifle on the edge and taking his aim. She took her aim as well, shooting at the pirates that tried to come from their blindspots. They worked together like no time had passed; like this was something they did every chance they had. It was a strange reminder of how well they fit together. 

“Feels like old times,” she commented as she took down the last pirate that was attacking. The rest had begun to retreat, refusing to lose any more of their men.

“At least you didn’t leave this time,” he offered, a biting tone clipping under the modulator.

She rested her back against the stall, holding her blaster against her chest for a moment. “I never should have –,”

“You shouldn’t have, you’re right,” he finished, standing up.

However, even with the bite in his voice, he held his hand out to her. She took it after a moment of hesitation, wondering briefly what the gesture meant. As he pulled her from the ground, she looked up at him with a furrowed brow.

“Din, I’m sorry, I –,”

“Come get your things,” he ordered, replacing his rifle once more. “I…I can’t keep them on the ship if you’re not coming back.”

“What if I did?”

Din hesitated for a moment, and she could feel his gaze looking her over. They couldn't ignore the past, but she also couldn't ignore the fact that she was standing right in front of him, and she still loved him. 

He took a deep breath before answering. "If you did, we would have to start over. I can't promise that things will be the same. I won’t promise they’ll be the same, because they won’t be.”

She nodded, understanding the weight of his words. "I…I understand.”

[shaydeoffical]

Glass Slipper Malfunctions: Shinso Hitoshi x Reader

Summary: Y/n's Halloween Costume Breaks at a party, and they call their best friend to come help them. Thing's don't go as they planned, and now there's something more than friendship brewing. 

Author’s Note: This is part of a collaborative hosted by @pluviophile-imagines for the fall season. I was so happy to be a part of this amazing collection of works. Please go check out the other’s!!! 

Warnings: Mentions of fake blood, riding in a car.

Words: 2.4k

Sweater Weather Collab

Glass Slipper Malfunctions

"(Y/n), if you swirl that cup any faster, there'll be no punch left." Toga flicked my forehead. We were on the second floor of Dabi's house. His father was out of town, and he decided to go all out for Halloween. Smoke machines led lights, streamers, and even some graffiti over the fireplace, no corner was lacking a spooky decoration.

"I'm sorry, I just wish Shinso hadn't bailed", I admitted, downing what was left in the solo cup. Music was blaring all across the house, but I could tell she heard me when her smile faltered.

"You don't need him (Y/n), he's holding you back from having fun. He's always so serious and grumpy." Her costume was a bloody nurse, with rips in tears in all the right places. Leaning into me, she used her stethoscope to listen to my chest, tapping the instrument to the rhythm. "Yup, your heart's working just fine. Don't look so upset, come on, let's dance."

"Toga, don't pull so hard." I dragged my heels behind her, barely keeping up with her pace. Knocking people out of our way, she took the stairs two at a time.

We had been dancing for the last two hours, and I was already low on stamina and bloated from the punch. While running, I tossed my cup into the overflowing trash, missing it by a good few feet. As if my luck could get any worse, the liquid soaked into the floor. Dabi was okay ruining his family home, but I wasn't.

"If you don't smile, I'm going to do something drastic." Toga spun me around and dipped me as the music dropped. Alcohol, sweat, and a faint hint of blood filled the air, making my stomach begin to churn even more.

"I feel kind of woozy," I clutched to her shoulder, but she continued to swirl around the room and rock us back and forth.

"Everybody, gather round! Midnight is almost upon! I'm glad you-" Dabi got everyone's attention, drawing in a crowd around him.

"Come on, you're not being very fun." Toga ignored Dabi, and we moved to the back of the crowd. Still moving to the music, she let me go mild spin. I fell back, my heel snapped as I tried to catch myself. My dress caught on my other shot, ripping the strap holding it up. Landing on my ass, I pushed the hair from my face. My ribbon was lost in the crowd. In a moment of realization, I covered my chest, trying to get to my feet. With my dress pulled back up, no one had seen my trip; I just needed to get fixed back up.

"Toga, I-"She was gone. Clutching my thin paper costume between my hands, I kicked off my shoes, darting through the crowd to the bathroom. I had never been so thankful for a speech, fog machine, and laser lights in my entire life.  

Making it to the bathroom, I locked the door and looked in the mirror. My makeup had slid out of place, my hair was a tangled mess from the bun I initially had it in. The 'glass', slippers were now scuffed, and one heel was missing. My dress straps had broke beyond repair, and I was in desperate need of a backup costume.

Sitting on the toilet, I pulled out my phone, zoning in on my lock screen. It was Shinso holding up his kitten. I could see his head just poking into the frame. His dazzling smile causing one to spread on my own face. I don't know how I got to be in this bathroom to start with.

Everything had been planned down to a T. Shinso, and I would dress as Cinderella and Lucifer for the party. We'd get in the horse-drawn carriage I rented, at eight, and then arrive at the party by eight-thirty. Shinso would find a nice corner to sit and read, while I danced the night away looking for my Princess Charming. Toga and I would drink it up and bask in the full moon. At the end of the party, Shinso would be our D.D and take us home in Toga's car. It was simple enough. Thinking back, I didn't really take into consideration how Shinso felt about it. Well, I kind of knew how he would felt about being Lucifer instead of Prince Charming, but I thought he'd be okay with it. Then there was the other issue...

It wasn't a secrete he didn't like my new friend Toga. He tried to keep that opinion to himself, but it all spilled out last week. I knew changing our Halloween ritual from watching movies to a party with strangers would upset him. I just thought he'd go along with it for me. Or maybe I hoped he'd go along with it. I wanted to respect his boundaries, but he and Toga were so jealous of each other that it was hard to see either of them.

If there was one thing that clear now, Toga was willing to leave me for the wolfs. Pulling up Shinso's contact, I knew I was going to need to grovel a little. He was already waiting to be my D.D, but I needed a little something else now.

Y/n: Heyyyy, I need some help.

Fuzz Ball: Are you okay? I'm on my way

Y/n: I'm fine. My costume broke and I'm stuck in the bathroom.

Fuzz Ball: Can't Toga help you?

Y/n: She sort of, ran off and I'm… I don't know. I'm confused, I can't go back out there like this and I feel really guilty about ditching you.

Fuzz Ball: You are allowed to hang with your other friends without feeling guilty,

Y/n: I know, but I hate that you two don't like each other. I shouldn't have invited you and upset you.

Fuzz Ball: I'm not upset, I was sad. But I agree to be D.D, I shouldn't have back out last minute.

Fuzz Ball: I'll be there, I have a plan.

Y/n: What did I do to deserve you?

Fuzz Ball: You offered to do my history assignment in exchange for me doing your math.

Y/n: Right, seems like a fair trade. Also, don't you dare text and drive.

Fuzz Ball: I'm using the text to speech feature, I'm almost there.

Y/n: Someone's knocking on the door, ahhh. I'm on the first floor and to the right. There's a little hallway, and that's where the bathroom is.

Sinking back onto the commode, I relaxed my shoulders. Shinso was on his way to rescue me. I guess between my two friends, Shinso was the loyal one. Toga did seem flighty, but tonight was ridiculous. She had to see me fall and just walk away...that was an issue for another time.

At least I got all the dancing and drinking done that I wanted too. It was time to go home and convince Shinso to put on some scary movies and call it even.

There was a steady knock on the door, a familiar pattern that Shinso always used when sneaking to my window late a night. I flung the door open, and he dove into the room, carrying an orange trash bag filled with something. His black cat ears were perched on his head, a long fluffy tail wrapped around his waist. So much for us matching now.

"I love you, man," I hugged him tight, unsteady on my feet. He steadied me, and returned my bear hug.

"Thank me later, let's get out of here. There's so much weed in the air, I won't be able to pass a breathalyzer if we don't haul ass." He handed me the bag and pulled flip flops from his back pocket.

"You're telling me. I sobered up after tripping, but it's been a wild night., Anyway, I'm really eternally grateful- Shinso, why are there leaves in this trash bag?"

"It is a costume party, right? I thought you'd want to blend in." He wiggled his brow, the obscene cat makeup adding to his smug idea.

"I take back what I said about loving you." Laughing, I ripped two holes in the bottom of the bag and stepped in. Getting it to my neck, Shinso tied it, and I poked my arms out, the leaves itching my skin. "It works.

"You look cute." He smoothed my hair before opening the door. A line had formed, and we received death glares from the party-goers that were making some assumptions. "Let's get out of here."

"Well, I guess the carriage does turn back into a pumpkin at the end of the night, it's fitting." I sighed; the party was still in full swing. Shinso didn't let go of my hand as he parted the sea of people. My legs crunching the leaves as we walked. No doubt, I was leaving a leaf sprinkle trail in my wake.

"Is that a costume change I see?" Toga caught the other end of my hand. Her friend Twice was right behind her, carrying their drinks.

"I'm glad I ran into you. I'm headed home early. Can you find a D.D?" I asked her, the music-making my ears throb. Through the changing lights, I saw her grip her chin before smiling.

"I can just crash here. And be careful with Mr. Grumpy pants." She leaned around me to lock eyes with Shinso. "Aww, is the kitty cat upset?" She clawed at the air before turning tail to move along.

"She took it better than I thought." He sighed, finally reaching the door.

The cold air wrapped around my legs, sending a chill up my spine. The moon illuminated the street, and all the children had returned home to get a sugar high before bed. If music wasn't spilling out of the house, like a heartbeat in my ears. Shinso's car was in the middle of the street, emergency lights flashing, and the door still agape.

"You really rushed in like my knight in shining armor." Getting in the passenger side, I hugged my bag close as Shinso shut the door. He walked around the front and got in, turning off the emergency lights.

"Why can't I be your Prince Charming?" He took off down the road to my rental house. I hadn't been living on my own for long, but he already knew the road by heart. Even I still had to use my GPS. "Cat got your tongue?"  

"No, yet." I giggled, focusing on his lips. Swallowing hard, tension began to build between us. We both an impeccable communication skills, but there was something neither one of us was willing to outright say.

"Is someone being a bad pumpkin tonight?" He shook the bag, and I smacked his hand away. His smile was enough to make my heart race.  

"Yea, I guess I am a bad pumpkin." I leaned into my knees, trusting Shinso not to break so fast I bump my head.

"You can cry if you need too. Teasing you is one of my favorite past times, but I know you're upset."

"I know you like me." I pushed my hair back. "And the reason I didn't let you dress as Prince Charming is… I don't know. When I was at that party, I just kept thinking about us watching horror movies and eating way too much caramel popcorn. How we'd fall asleep next to year other and wake up for a mid-afternoon bike ride through the town before everyone takes down their decorations. And we can still do one half of that tradition if I avoid a hanger over."

"You didn't want me to be your prince charming because we have basically been dating the past two years, without ever getting into the physical side?" He pulled onto a back road and stopped at a spot that had the perfect view of the moon.

"I knew what you were hinting at when you asked to be Prince Charming. But I was afraid I didn't understand your hint, and then I was afraid someone would ask if we were dating and if you said no… I'd be sad. And it was a mess." I fiddled with the drawstring on the bag, not looking at him.

"I'll just say it. I like you, I like spending time with you. We've been friends for half of our lives, but I know we've had something special going on for a while now. I was afraid to ruin what we had, but I can't play it safe anymore. (Y/n) please look at me." I raised my eyes, his hand cupping my chin. "There's a few more hours left before the sun comes up. How about we go home, watch some movies and make out?" My skin heated up, blood rushing to my brain to keep it in operation.

"Bold of you to assume I don't want a kiss right now." I shifted to face him, a leaf ticking my side.

"I'm sorry, your majesty." He leaned forward, our lips latching onto each other like magnets. A wolf hollowed in the distance, and a cloud pasted at just the right time to illuminate the car. I took fistfuls of his black shirt and held him close. It was slow at first, but it heated up as I inched over the car console. We separated for breath, and I settled into my seat.

"Don't be sorry." I giggled, sitting back in my seat and wiping the black lipstick from my mouth. "Why'd we wait so long?"

"I don't know. But I regret it." He reversed from our spot on the hill and got back on the main road. "Let's get home and makeup time."

"So in the end, the winning combination is a broken plastic shoe, Lucifer, and a magic pumpkin. You know, Prince Charming and Cinderella are so mainstream. This was the better outcome, anyway." I kicked my swollen feet on his dash. "But I could get used to 'Your Majesty"; it has a nice ring to it." I tickled under Hitoshi's chin, his stubble pricking my fingers.

"Out of everything I just said, that's what you're holding on to?" He pulled into my house.

"Yup." I popped the p, and got out. "Race to the couch, let's start with Coraline."

"As you wish." He shook his head, chasing after me anyway. It wasn't what I planned for, but I was happy. I guess having my costume break was the best possible outcome for the night. We curled up on the couch, and a sense of peace washed over me. Nothing had ever felt so right.  

[imagine-a-life-like-this]

I Love You (D.D)

Warnings : swearing, mentions of drinking

Plot : David created a montage of his relationship with the reader. Honestly just some real cute fluff.

Word Count : 1667

“Hey, do you mind watching this before I post to see if it makes sense?” David asked, handing me his laptop and pressing play.

           “I love you.” I playfully hit David, telling him to stop. But he shook his head and said it again. I just rolled my eyes and smiled at him. “I love you.” He said for a third time and planted a kiss on my cheek. I just grabbed his face in my hands and stared into his eyes before placing a kiss on his nose. His smile widened. I wanted to tell him in that moment that I loved him too, but I couldn’t.

           “Well if it isn’t an angel coming to grace me with her presence!” He exclaimed as I approached him at his party. “How you doing, beautiful?”

           “I’m doing well.” I smiled, looking up at his smiling face behind the camera. It never bothered me, because he never included these moments in the vlogs, saying he wants them to show our future children how we fell in love. “I was hoping you could watch my drink while I go to the washroom.”

           “I’ve been waiting for this day!” He chuckled, taking my drink with his free hand. I remember Natalie telling me how he put the camera down to better protect my drink seeing as the party got more out of hand than he originally expected, and didn’t want to take any chances, especially when it came to me.

           “Did you want to run some errands with me?” I asked David, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. He jumped up from the couch and draped his arm across my shoulders as we walked to his car. I couldn’t help but giggle at how excited he seemed.

           “I love doing this kind of shit with you.” He said.

           “We’re just picking up some groceries and getting my meds.” I giggled.

           “It feels like we’re a married couple.” He just beamed. We pulled into Target, and he grabbed his camera from the dash and continued to film me as we walked around, grabbing this things I needed. “You know this would look really cute on you.” I braced myself for the worst, but when I turned around, he was holding a really cute sundress.

           “It’s pretty.” I replied as he put it into the cart. “David, you know I can’t splurge like that.” He took a few steps closer, so he was beside me again.

           “Who said you were paying?” I rolled my eyes but didn’t bother to fight knowing there wouldn’t be a point. I looked down to my outfit, realizing I was wearing that exact dress and smiled to myself.

           “Why do you always film me if you don’t use it in the vlogs?” I turned around, walking backwards now, and asked David who was just beaming behind the camera.

           “Because you’re the love of my life. I want to keep these moments forever.” I tripped over my own two feet and David rushed to catch me.

           “What did you say?” I asked after he got me back on my feet. I looked up into eyes, searching for any sign he was kidding.

           “You’re the love of my life.” He repeated, a more serious look on his face. I smiled and looked down to my feet. My heart was racing when he said that. I wanted nothing more than to just kiss him in that moment, but I didn’t.

           “Hey, guess what?!” I said to David as we were driving around, listening to music. He turned the music down and urged me to go on. “I love you.” His eyes went wide as he looked between me and the road, causing me to laugh.

           “What?” He finally said, and I just smirked and shrugged my shoulders. “Oh you’re cruel!” He joked as he wagged his finger at me. I smiled remembering this moment. The moment I decided to stop denying the fact that I was absolutely in love with my best friend.

           “Why don’t you ever prank Y/N?” Zane whined as he was being blindfolded. Everyone else just kind of chuckled.

                   “Because I love her.” He said nonchalantly, quickly looking over at me and smiling. I just rolled my eyes and watched the chaos unfold. It was the first time he admitted his love for me in a vlog, and fans were really surprised, thinking we’d been hiding a relationship from them all this time. David ended up tweeting not dating, just in love with her :) which caused even more of an uproar.

           “One date, Dobrik. Make it count.” I told him after he dropped me off at my apartment. I watched as a smile broke out on his face and he ran back to his car.

           “Y/N just told me I could take her out on a date, and this is my one chance to show her my love for her won’t fade if we start dating.” He spoke into the camera. “And I know exactly how I’m going to do it.” I giggled at the footage I had never seen before.

           “My love.” He said as he held my apartment door open for me. My mouth dropped when I looked around, seeing my living room turned into a fort with fairy lights strung up around it.

           “When did you do this?” I asked, turning to look at him.

           “After you fell asleep in my bed, I snuck out and did all this.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, giving him the biggest hug I could. “Come on! Look inside!” I smiled and crawled into the fort, seeing my favourite snacks and movies lined up. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked back at David.

           “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” I told him truthfully. My walls had completely crumbled after that night. There was no point in hiding the fact that I would never love anyone like I loved my best friend.

            “So, how was that for a first date?” David asked the next morning as we were cuddled inside the fort.

           “Perfect.” I answered honestly.

           “So doesn’t that mean I get date number 2?” I just nodded. David smiled and placed a small kiss to the top of my head. “God I just love you so much.” He whispered just loud enough for me to hear.

           “I love you too, David.”

           “I’ll never tire of hearing that.” He had stopped recording after that and played me saying I loved him over and over. I told him he could just ask me to say it again if he really loved hearing it that much. He told me he wished he had gotten that on camera which caused me to playfully slap him.

           “The people need to know Y/N!” David exclaimed. I turned away from my conversation with Carly and looked over to David who was dressed up in a suit and tie, holding my favourite flowers and a box of chocolate.                

                           “What do the people need to know, David?” He walked over to where Carly and I were sitting, standing directly in front of me now.

           “Will you be my girlfriend?” I looked to Carly who just nodded, tears in her eyes as well as mine.

           “Yes, David, I will be your girlfriend.” If only the camera could have caught his smile. I’d watch that over and over.

           “Tell the people what’s going on.” David said as we drove to his family’s house.

           “We’re in Vernon Hills. And I’m officially meeting David’s family as his girlfriend instead of his friend.” I smiled and grabbed his hand in mine. “And I look really calm but honestly I’m super nervous!” We pulled up to the house and David just smiled over at me.

           “They already love you, Y/N, don’t worry about it!” He leaned in to give me a quick kiss.

           “I love you.” I whispered to him.

           “I love you so much more.” We got out of the car and went inside the house. His mom greeted both of us, saying it was so nice to see us after all this time. We said our hellos to everyone before David gathered them together in the living room to break the news. “Y/N is my girlfriend.” He told them as he laced our hands together.

           “Oh it’s about damn time!” Ester exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “He’s been obsessed with you since he met you.” She directed towards me and I just giggled. The rest of the family seemed just as happy, which filled me with joy. We spent a week with everyone, and they were just as welcoming and kind to me as the first time, as if nothing changed.

           “Do you think it’s time the fans know it’s official?” David asked, filming the two of us cuddled up on the couch, watching tiktok’s on my phone.

           “David is officially mine!” I replied, leaning up and giving him a quick kiss.

           “I love you.” He chuckled. If we thought the uproar from before was insane, this was utter chaos!

           “We’ve been through a lot together.” David’s face came on screen, ending the montage of our love story. “And I’m happy I was able to show you that I would love you label or no label. When I met you, I knew you would be important to me, I just didn’t know how important until I fell in love with you. We’ve had an amazing 3 years together, and my love for you only continues to grow. So Y/N, will you marry me?” I turned away from the screen, seeing David kneeling on one knee, a velvet box opened in his hand, showing an absolutely beautiful ring. “Well?” I nodded as the tears began to fall. He took the ring from the box and slid it on my finger before pressing a kiss to my lips. “I love you 3000.” I giggled at the reference.

           “I love you 3000.”