#he is a planetary storm

[lonely-lady-and-a-foxglove-man]

It’s impossible to deny that Juno is eye catching to say the least. He’s beautiful, with dark skin dotted with scars like constellations and long braided hair black as the void. Features like his crooked nose and fingers only add to his appearance. His best feature though, is his eye(s). When he was young they were a blue and weeping but they’ve lightened since then. Now they are a cold and pale silver, the colors of starlight. When he looks at you, you know, he sees you. There’s no hiding from those ancient eyes, and many a soul has lost their freedom trying.

[ateliersss]

Predator

...is part of The Bookshelf.

Need A Hero (Series) Summary: (Y/N) is walking home from work, when she encounters a creature from another world and needs help.

Possession Summary: A female Yautja stakes her claim on your mate.

Monster Summary: You survived for so long. The Yautja came to clear out the Xenomorphs and to find you.

A Gift Summary: He saves you and you repay him.

Taken Summary: Being taken from not only your home but from Earth just to be the personal pet for an Elder Yautja made you realize just how insignificant your life was. Then, you got a new owner, and everything changed.

A Different Life Summary: Every clan leader Yautja was an extremely powerful one. They had to lead the clan, show the way to grow and rule. Some used that power and respect to do horrible things, others never broke the code.

Mate of a Yautja Summary: You never fit in, not in school, not at work. You were sure something was wrong with you. When you moved to Colorado, you hoped things would change, and to a degree they did, but as you grew up, you were still not fitting in. You didn’t know what to do, until one evening when all hell broke loose. 

Unexpected Family Summary: Somehow, you were always at the wrong place at the wrong time. And what seemed to be your demise, turned into your future.

The Prize Summary: Finding that incredible pyramid was only the beginning. Because soon, you’d find a very special room with writings on the wall. And you never expected a pyramid to change your life like this.

Protective Summary: Yautja was a proud kind, always taking care of their own, and your Yautja took special care of you while you carried his little one.

No Title Summary: You are dating one of the Yautja and a rival sees you and him together. He gets into a fight with your partner trying to whin your favor. Thinking you’ll choose the winning fighter he tries to take you but you refuse and tend to your wounded partner. 

Protected Summary: Being a apart of the ‘Planetary Frontier’ was supposed to thrilling and exciting. Exploring new worlds and, beautiful unusual life forms. At first, it appeared to be a dream come true. Until your research team, accompanied by top notch U.S Military Marines got stranded on a planet that wasn’t on your radar. And to make matters worse? Something was out there… Hunting and watching…

Hold You Summary: Yautja Prime is a large planet. It sits in the designated zone for life to sprout. And life easily thrives all over the place. Even when a bitter cold takes over the poles. Woftik lives there with you. Life is great. Until the frozen lands are swallowed with a blizzard. All the two of you could possibly do was wait out the storm with each other.

The Unexpected Human Problem (Series) Summary: The night her abductors die, Rayelle finds herself running for her life. She doesn’t know where she is, what is following her, where to go. All she knows is she’s not on Earth any longer and the thing chasing her has the capacity to kill. Tai'qdei never anticipated finding a human when he took the job of tracking and subduing a small contingent of smugglers. It was only when the human attacked and fled fled, Tai'qdei - hopped up on the euphoria of a successful hunt - gave chase, instinct burning at his center. Will sense return to Tai'qdei before he catches Rayelle? Or will Rayelle be subjected to the yautja’s natural inclinations? And what happens afterwards?

The Prey Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

Worth

[jedi-order-apologist]

Light of Day

Cody had always been drawn to the sun, long before he got to see one. Written for Cody Day (2/2/24) and Fandom Empire Prompt Tables 2024 - Prompt: "Gold"

Also on AO3

Sunshine was nonexistent on Kamino.

It rained, and it rained, and it rained. It stormed, mostly, but even when the sea and sky were calm, there were usually still heavy clouds above, drizzling a fine mist that never really stopped.

And on the rare occasions where it didn’t rain at all, fog rose up from the ocean, thick and obscuring the sky.

That wasn’t to say that Cody – or his brothers, for that matter – was entirely unfamiliar with the concept, of course. There were simulations. They were training for a war where they would need to be prepared to fight in all manner of environments. There were UV rooms, for the continued maintenance of their health – the Kaminoans may not have needed it, but humans, even cloned humans, certainly needed more of the sun than they could get naturally on Kamino.

So, Cody knew sunshine, to an extent. He knew its effects on the body, both positive and negative. He knew what the suns looked like in the skies of their respective planets. He knew the dangers of its glare as it hung low in the sky or reflected off their armor and equipment.

He suspected, however, that it was not quite the same thing as experiencing it.

It was an idle thought, and not something he dwelled on, more concerned with training and proving his capability as a soldier and commander candidate. Still, if there was something he looked forward to aside from fulfilling his purpose, it was that someday he would experience the sun for real.

He, unfortunately, was not deployed to the first battle, on Geonosis, a world that had no shortage of sunshine.

From the stories from those who had returned, though, there wasn’t much of it to see once the battle got going, too much dust and sand kicked up into the air, obscuring it just as much as the ocean’s fog.

Cody expected that such would be the case when he did get to experience a real sun for the first time. It was unfortunate, but that was the way things were.

But Cody turned out to have better luck than that, getting shipped first to Coruscant rather than directly to the battlefield. So he had the good fortune to actually have a moment to appreciate his first true sunshine.

It was quietly satisfying – more or less what he expected it to be like, the warmth of it, the shining reflections off the skyscrapers as dawn crept up on the city. There was a softness to it that he hadn’t quite expected – even the simulation lighting on Kamino always had a harshness to it, that the real sun lacked, while still keeping everything in perfect clarity. It left a lingering impression, and he wondered if other suns would rise the same.

He decided that, as much as the demands of war permitted, he would take a moment to appreciate the sunshine, if not the sunrise, on as many planets as he could. They all had to find their own personal indulgences, and this was Cody’s, only known to himself.

Or at least, it was, until General Kenobi asked Cody’s opinion on what color to distinguish the 212th battalion with.

“The color of sunshine,” Cody said, without hesitation. General Kenobi seemed unsurprised and untroubled by such an imprecise request. He did tease Cody with a bit of pedantry about how the different temperatures of stars and the composition of planetary atmospheres impacted the perception of their color, but he also didn’t press for any further details.

Somehow, though, the gold paint now in front of Cody was exactly what he had wanted, easily recalling the warmth and that satisfaction of his first sunrise.

And it was clear as day just how he was going to apply that paint.

[witchofthesouls]

Kaon became aware of Soundwave on the baby server when he started droping experienced carrier wisdom. The server was panicking because the babies were upset and inconsolable. Not even The Nurse, Nickel or Tarn could calm them.

Megatron will deny vhemiently that he lurks on the server. He will deny and blast you into next Wednesday if you suggest that seeing the latest cute bitty pictures is the highlight of his day.

Megatron lurks under a pseudonym by Soundwave’s coverage. He had subscribed and has notifications for new newspark material. Sometimes, Megatron wonders if he could spin propaganda out of it, but the projections of the calculated property damage and downward spiraling morale from having a long-term stand-by D.J.D. and Warriors Elite in a shared planetary system.

If it's the AU where Tarn has mandatory office meetings, then Megatron would need to deal the ever-growing mountain of Overlord's and Hook's pestering for Nickel and the Camien. By then, Overlord developed some new habits to be an early bird to officer meet-up locatioms to leave half-dead mechs outside the Peaceful Tyranny to heckle right over you and Nickel working on them. (On a plus side, Overlord had stopped doing more intimate damage as you and Nickel had reported and delivered him straight to Hook and Glit for safe sex and practices re-education. The mechs the Phase Sixer destroys in the berth are the ones that ask for that extensive repair work.) Plus, Megatron would have the calculations of the extreme likelihood where one of the mechs would attempt a kidnapping of the only carrier along with the resulting carnage by Tarn's own hands.

Unfortunately, you have developed enmity towards Soundwave's secret profile after that particular wailing storm. It's hard to tell apart well-meaning glyphs from condescending ones online. While the reinforced pacifier was a big help, you drew the line at dipping it into weakened engex. You keep a pacifier jar in the cool storage. A quick dip in nitrogen is a fast fix, especially with the chewable toys. It's unfortunate that one of the split-sparks has teething issues with sharp fangs. Without anything else resistant to chew on, they resorted to biting into the seams of their siblings' soft frames.

[agbpaints]

"Star commander be advised- these savashri mercenaries have a something fast." Star Commander Dalen's radio crackled to life with the sound of Mechwarrior Kaeli. "Ah! They have me outflanked and my ammunition is exposed."

"Aff. You are still mobile, quiaff?" Dalen shot back. He was approaching their objective, a planetary relay station, and he could see a Hunchback lurking in the trees on the hill overlooking it. It would have to go first. Kaeli responded with a simple affirmstive burst of static. "Finish your mission, open the compound. I will deal with your flanker in time."

Kaeli shot forward, her Fire Falcon carrying her over the outcropping the relay was protected by and well into range of the high explosive payload her advanced tactical missiles carried. As her missile barrage disintegrated the concrete bunker and exposed the communications equipment inside, she was met with a hail of PPCs and missiles from the remainder of the mercenary lance while the hunchback stepped out of its cover to clear a better shot. The Class 20 spoke, and Kaeli squacked over the comms link before the cluster munition tore through the containment of the Falcon's fusion reactor and rendered the mech dead in a bright burst of escaping plasma.

"Geoff, pin the Hunchback." Dalen said as he kicked his Incubus into running gear. "The surat has left his rear exposed!"

"Aff, Star Commander." His remaining subordinate responded and a barrage of flickering green lasers lanced out from the woods behind him.

It was only once Dalen had repositioned and began unloading into the Hunchback that he realized his miscalculation. The mercenary Awesome that had been holding its fire stepped to the tree line and unleashed a storm of man-made lightning across the field at his mech. Only two of the particle beams connected, but it was still enough to severely strip his light mech. Then Kaeli's fast mover arrived.

It vaulted over the hill in a jumping burst of speed, long thrust vectoring wings extended. It was painted in lurid shades of purple and green, similarly mismatched with the rest of the ad-hoc mercenary company. Dalen's targetting system registered it as some sort of heavy Spider variant as it landed in his own rear arc and the three pulse lasers in its torso dug through the dueling mech's delicate rear armor and ripped two thirds of the containment shielding from his engine. To Dalen's further dismay, the Hunchback in front of him began to turn, its armor gouged and stripped, but its guns entirely functional.

Dalen gritted his teeth- the fight was lost and his own mech was disabled enough that retreat was unlikely. All that was left would be honoring Jade Falcon by taking as many of the savashri with him as possible.

[segamarkiii]

More fun facts about my AU!!!!: Duck has a shape shifter boyfriend from Venus in my AU. His name is Adonis (yes, he's THAT Adonis). The reason he's on Earth is because Venus wasn't safe place to stay anymore due to planetary storms growing more violent. Adonis made sure all his people evacuated to different planets/moons before he himself left. He had been on Earth for five years when the meteorite hit. He met Duck when he was still just a pool boy.

[kp777]

By Julia Conley

Common Dreams

May 17, 2024

"We had to add additional bleaching alert levels to appropriately categorize just how hot it was," said a coral reefs expert at the agency.

The phrase "off the charts" is no exaggeration in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's latest warning about a global coral bleaching event that scientists have linked to rising ocean temperatures and heat stress.

Derek Manzello, coordinator of NOAA's Coral Reef Watch Program, told reporters Thursday that about 60.5% of the world's coral reefs are now experiencing heat stress severe enough to cause bleaching, which can make the reefs more vulnerable to disease and harm the biodiversity they support.

Manzello said at the press briefing that after observing the first months of the coral bleaching event, which began in early 2023, NOAA changed its existing bleaching alert system because conditions were so abnormally warm in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea.

The agency's new bleaching alert system categorizes heat stress for coral reefs on a scale of 1-5, with Alert Level 5 representing ocean heat that could kill "approximately 80% or more of corals on a particular reef," Manzello said.

"We had to add additional bleaching alert levels to appropriately categorize just how hot it was," he said, with Level 5 "analogous to a Category 5 hurricane or cyclone."

"I hate that I have to keep using that word 'unprecedented.'... But, again, we are seeing unprecedented patterns again this year."

The world's oceans, Manzello, said, are going "crazy haywire."

In the Caribbean this year, heat stress off the coasts of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Colombia are now at levels that in previous years weren't seen until the summer months.

"I hate that I have to keep using that word 'unprecedented,'" Manzello told The New York Times. "But, again, we are seeing unprecedented patterns again this year."

The bleaching that took place last year resulted in coral mortality of at least 50% and as high as 93% in reefs off the coast of Huatulco, Mexico, according to a team of Mexican scientists.

In the Atlantic, fossil fuel-driven planetary heating has been exacerbated by El Niño—the natural phenomenon that causes warmer-than-normal ocean surface temperatures—and has caused the "most unprecedented and extreme" bleaching-level heat stress observed in the past year.

Manzello said 99.7% of reef areas in the Atlantic have experienced heat stress that could cause bleaching.

"The Atlantic Ocean has been off the charts," he said.

Scientists have recorded four global bleaching events since 1998 and have linked all of them to warmer ocean temperatures. Since 1950, the world has lost half of its coral reefs, according to a 2021 study.

Along with serving marine life, a quarter of which rely on coral reefs at some point in their life cycles, reefs also protect coasts from storms, whose growing severity in recent years scientists have also linked to planetary heating.

The current bleaching event has affected reefs off the coasts of at least 62 countries and territories.

Scientists earlier this year confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year in human history and the warmest year on record for the world's oceans, which absorb more than 90% of excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions.

"I am very worried about the state of the world's coral reefs," Manzello said. "We are seeing [ocean temperatures] play out right now that are very extreme in nature."

[radioactive-earthshine]

Political Thriller AUs..... where the Arranged Marriages are more lethal than the cyanide-laced donuts. How are you feeling around this AU?

10/10

Arranged Marriage AUs or Betrothal AUs are sort of a weakness of mine particularly when the author is wise enough to include more of the political reasons behind the union rather than "force my idiots to fall in love" which is the common path a lot of these AUs take. It's not a BAD direction and I do sometimes want to see End Game of my idiots falling in love but that's not necessarily what's important.

It's the why, what is this world, what are the stakes, what's going to be broken if one, or both REFUSE, do they have other people they want to marry etc.

There's a lot you can do with these AUs other than "teehee they had no choice but to fall in love"

As for who I would do this to I have a Konbart one pingponging in my head that the concept is Krypton never was destroyed, Tomar-Re managed to stabilize the planet and save them all, but Jor El sent Clark to Earth anyway because he was certain it was going to happen, and the fallout afterwards was a lot of political upheaval and he was caught in the crossfire and was murdered (possibly by Dru). Things unfold more or less identically except Clark finds out where he is from, that they are all alive, has his own adventures there as a adopted child meeting the bio fam and their culture some 25 years later, meets his mom who did manage to survive the post-near-apocalyptic event. He has a lot of inner struggles of 'what is home' and knows in his heart it is with the Kents and his mom knows this too.

Eventually Kon comes along, but he's created on Krypton, not on Earth, as a sort of co-opt project between planets. Krypton wanted a way to try to genetically engineer Kryptonians to be able to have their powers AND live in any environment regardless if they have a red sun. Earth was needed because Krypton does not have as advanced of knowledge on genetic manipulation as Earth does, and use with the Earth Metagene was something even their own geneticists were curious about. The only way they were able to do this was cooperation between planetary governments. Kon was a secret side project that when exposed blew up because 1.) they used Kal's dna 2.) they were successful and 3.) they have a fucking clone running around and Krypton had actively BANNED cloning due to the last time they dabbled it and it ended badly.

Clark finds out about this clone and storms there like WTF - It's a mess. There's back and forth bs on what to do with him - some politicians are just 'kill it' but most are 'well no hold up, he actually has some intriguing abilities, we can use this!' Meanwhile Clark is just - 'sort this out, now, or I'm taking him to Earth.'

So they agree, he is an El, so he is released to Lara to protect and raise. Lara by now has high status (for now) and power under her so while critics might grumble, there is nothing they can do less they be shot off to the Phantom Zone.

Things settle down, but only so much.

Earth starts becoming a bigger presence in the interstellar community, Krypton is ever paranoid that Kal on Earth with an endless supply of Metas is a threat to them and so tensions begin to rise.

Some of the more warmongering Kryptonians want to conquer Earth, its conditions are ripe for them to be as their ancestors should have been under a young sun, and humans are soft and need help from aliens and only a spare few of their own kind are even worthy their grace as something approximating equal (metas, Amazons etc).

Clark knows if he just evacs Kon and Lara from the growing tensions on Krypton it would send a message to various Kryptonian politicians that Earth just may be that shady after all and Clark really is plotting against them so he works with his mother to try to find a solution. What would make the tension lesson so diplomacy talks could go positively.

Lara suggests an arranged marriage, because nothing makes Kryptonian's more excited than the prospect of legally bound by blood and law cooperation.

Clark says no before he even hears who or why. Lara persists and explains that while he, who was raised among people that do not partake in arranged marriages, and he who has a very singular mindset of what a marriage should be, arranged marriages are common among Krypton and nothing will show the wide majority of their people that Earth is willing to be neighbors and allies than by participating in one of their most time honored traditions.

Clark relents, and asks who. It is Kon. He has to think about it because that's his little brother. After much self reflection and dismantling his initial responses to the suggestion he relents that it is not a bad idea.

The hard part is deciding who would be a good match for Kon - but the fact that any gender is open for consideration makes things easier. After weighing all the options they have, and getting a lot of "wtf no!" Bart is suggested partly as a joke by [redacted].

Fucking Bartimus. At first he is written off as absolutely NOT eligible due to his more or less canon impulses but out of all the suggestions between metas and Amazons and Atlanteans Bart is the one who is in a position best suited to protect himself against literally everything. No one can touch him unless he wants to be touched. He's also from prominent Hero Family and has a name for himself on Earth as Impulse so it's not as if he's really ineligible.

So they agree.

Bart's not happy about this AT ALL and he thinks they chose him just to get rid of him because this takes place just little while after Max vanishes and he's feeling like he's being yanked around (he is 18 though, he just had longer with Max) and he's had so little control of his life this is just one other thing he has to deal with. Wally tries to explain but he does it badly so he pisses him off even more. Iris explains and he's beyond listening at this point. It takes Helen letting him rant at her and talking through things for him to come down that maybe they really don't HATE HIM.

So he shows up and lets Clark explain it and he, after thinking about it for 2 seconds (for Bart he was going back and forth for about 20 minutes though) agrees that this will be interesting and might just be the right thing to do - and because no one else will I guess it should be him.

Kon meanwhile wasn't taking the whole thing seriously enough because he didn't honestly think it would happen.

He was wrong when Lara told him they found him a husband. Cue record scratch, glass shatters and a cat yowls sound effect. Cue panic. Cue the last 5 years of being totally out of control of his life and being yanked around by anyone and everyone as a political pawn exploding.

It takes a long time for Lara to calm him down but she has a tough job because everything that Kon is freaked out about is TRUE. She reminds him that this good for him and their people, that she too was from an arranged marriage, and that the match they secured for him was a good one and it is for the good of everyone and, dickishly, what would Kal do?

So Kon is sort of guilt bullied into it even though he agreed to it in the first place (very quickly and was just like 'hey just so long as they're hot!') and knew it was happening but he didn't think it would actually happen.

Seeing Bart's picture does dispel some of his anxiety, he is cute, he's attracted to him, he has a nice bod, super speed sound pretty neat and he knows Clark wouldn't choose someone who was creepy.

Little does he know Clark didn't even choose Bart at all at first and Bart wasn't even an option until everyone said NO.

So there they are, both initially GRRRRRR about the whole thing not because of the other but because of the situation. Kon feels like he just a tool to be used, and Bart feels like everyone just wants him gone even if everyone has done everything to explain that's not the case and they believe in him. Bart's older and wiser to know that if they really did believe in him, he would have been up for consideration at the start instead of [redacted].

Overall the stakes are pretty basic - get married just to open the door to start a meaningful conversation. Not even to STOP a conflict, just to hopefully get communication better. If either Kon or Bart balk on it it has the potential to exacerbate tensions between Earth and Krypton though Earth has more to lose.

In the end Kon and Bart do find love.

And that's what I have for this Arranged Marriage AU on my spreadsheet that MAY or may not ever be written, and as always some details may just change entirely.

Send me a fanfic/media trope or theme and I'll rate and tell you what I might do with it or something.

[pastelwitchling]

I’m so happy you’re still writing for RNM 😃 For the prompts, I would love to see a second part to chapter 60 from the first one shot collection! The one where Alex and Michael are stuck in a barn during a storm during the planetary alignment. I loved that fic!

Sequel to this fic.

***

The storm wouldn’t fade, and much like the clouds darkening further with every passing hour, so was Michael’s need for the man behind him.

He clawed up and down his own thighs, breathed deeply, even took to doing some pushups, all to work off the heat simmering in his gut and the desperate desire in his muscles to turn around, push Alex to ground, and take him.

If Alex noticed Michael’s agitation, and Michael knew he did, he didn’t comment. It felt like most of the night had passed since Michael had gone to touch him, and it had been a mistake. The single touch, the single kiss, hadn’t been nearly enough. If anything, all it did was give Michael enough of a taste to make him addicted.

He wanted more. He wanted every inch of Alex’s body against his own. He wanted to feel Alex’s hole spread around his cock, he wanted Alex writhing beneath him, begging and pleading for Michael to move faster, harder, deeper—

“Guerin, stop!” Alex snapped.

His voice pierced through Michael’s thoughts and he looked down at his fists. He’d been punching the barn walls, his knuckles turned scraped and bleeding. Alex was in his space in an instant, holding Michael’s hand between both of his own. His thumb gently grazed the back of Michael’s hand, keeping just to the edge of his injury. It was an innocent touch, meant to comfort and help, but all Michael could think of was the way Alex’s fingers slowly and sensually brushed his skin, and it made his heart race.

What he would do to have those fingers on his own chest, his stomach, in the wiry hair between his legs and wrapped around his—

He stepped back, away from Alex’s touch, his eyes shut tight as he shook his head. “D-Don’t,” he shook. “Don’t touch me, Alex.”

Alex didn’t look the least bit offended, just concerned. “It hasn’t faded yet.” He wasn’t asking.

Michael shook his head vigorously, turning away from him. “It—It’s getting worse,” he grit out. Alex was still so naked, his body chiseled and his shoulders wide and his chest hair so dark that Michael wanted to run his hands over his pecs and squeeze until Alex was moaning. He pressed the base of his palms to his eyes, his hand in pain as blood tricked down to his wrist.

“Get away from me,” he warned Alex. “You have to get away from me, Alex. All I want to do is lick your entire body, and it’s not going away.”

Alex was quiet behind him. Then Michael could hear faint footsteps, the sound of his prosthetic on the ground, and he clenched his jaw as Alex undoubtedly moved to the far corner of the barn, as far away as he could get.

Then Michael felt Alex’s hand on his shoulder blade, and gasped. His body was taut, his heart thrashing violently.

“A-Alex—”

“You have to still want me afterwards,” Alex murmured, and Michael shuddered as he felt his breath on the nape of his neck. “If I let you touch me now, you have to want to touch me after the storm. After the alignment. Forever.”

Alex’s other hand drifted up towards his waist, his fingers brushing Michael’s hip in the softest, most tantalizing touch on his way up, and Michael couldn’t help himself. He leaned back until he was against Alex’s strong chest. The feel of Alex’s hardened buds against his back, his cock against Michael’s ass cheek, his fingers on Michael’s waist, stretching closer to the trail of hair leading down, it left Michael so dizzy all he could do was moan.

“Alex . . .”

“Is that what you want?” Alex said in a low gravelly voice that had Michael gasping, his hands wandering down Michael’s thighs, moving to the soft inside. Alex’s warm lips brushed the shell of Michael’s ear. “You want to have me forever?”

Michael’s words cut off with a choke. He couldn’t think, let alone speak. “Forever,” he managed in a single breath. He put a hand up against the barndoor as Alex led him towards it, and hung his head back when Alex’s hand slid down to grip his already hard cock.

Michael gasped and would’ve fallen if not for Alex’s arm around his waist, keeping him upright against him. “Alex,” he whimpered, and moaned again as he felt Alex’s hardening dick press against him. He grinded his ass back, eager to be touched, to feel Alex’s hard length pressed between their bellies, to put himself in Alex’s mouth and thrust. The very thought, and Alex’s hand on his cock, had him nearly melting right then and there.

Michael’s tongue hung out as Alex’s fingers twisted his nipples, his other hand stroking him until he was painfully hard and leaking.

“But . . .” he choked out, gripping Alex’s wrists tight enough to bruise. He had to say this, he had to make sure. “But you said you . . . you didn’t want . . .”

Alex pressed his forehead to Michael’s shoulder a moment, then to Michael’s dismay, let him go. Did he change his mind? Did he really not want to keep going?

Alex turned him around, but to Michael’s relief, didn’t move away. “Don’t regret me,” he said, his cheeks flushed but his voice quiet. “It would kill me if you regretted me, Guerin.”

Michael was still panting, but he could feel Alex’s pain and fear and hope and lust and love in his few words, his dark eyes. He swallowed and took Alex’s face in his hands. “I want you, Alex,” he breathed. “Forever.”

Alex searched his face, and his eyelids turned heavier as he sighed with relief. “Then kiss me already—mmh!”

Michael cut him off as he surged forward, slotting his mouth against Alex’s and hugging his waist close, keeping their hardened lengths pressed together. Alex’s hands came down to his ass cheeks, and pulled him in closer, Michael making whimpering noises as their hips slapped together again and again.

Michael laid Alex down and hovered above him. He groaned against Alex’s jaw and said, “I hope you’re ready for a long night, Private. The planets aren’t moving anytime soon.”

[burnwater13]

Dokk Strassi standing in Boba's throne room. Image from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 4, The Gathering Storm. Calendar from DataWorks.

‘This is a vid of Dokk Strassi. He lied to Fennec Shand and Daimyo Fett. Once he worked for Jabba the Hutt. Then for Bib Fortuna. He could have just agreed to work for Daimyo Fett. But no. He didn’t. He told the Daimyo and Fennec one thing and then did another. Administrator Shand sorted him out. Don’t be like Dokk Strassi.”

Grogu watched the short vid and sighed. He appreciated that the Mods were new to developing public service announcements and other civic minded communications. They were trying to rally the people of Mos Espa and the rest of Tatooine to assist with the rebuilding of both the structural elements of the city and the planetary values they would all live under. 

Grogu had giggled at the first PSA they showed him. It was a vid of Mos Espa with the Ranky crashing through a courtyard structure while throwing a land speeder across the city. They had captioned it “Making way for a better Mos Espa”. Grogu thought that they should have called it “Rancor Demolition and Improvements. Nothing gets in our way.” It was both accurate and funny. 

He mentioned the PSAs to Peli the next time he saw her and she laughed and said they should have said, ‘Mos Espa, at least it’s not a hive of scum and villainy like Mos Eisley’. While Grogu appreciated the sentiment, since he’d met many villains in Mos Eisley, he didn’t think it set the right tone. 

The point was not to say that Mos Espa was better than Mos Eisley or Freetown or Anchorhead or Mos Kadhus, or anywhere else on Tatooine, but that the Daimyo and Fennec were making a large number of improvements across the planet and everyone benefited from them. 

“Listen kid, you’re cute and have a wonderful smile, but if all these improvements go through we’ll end up with a different class of visitor to Mos Eisley. You know, smarter ones and then where will I be?” Peli had complained at him. “You gotta be careful in what you ask for. We get too nice and all those ‘friendly’ games of Sabacc that I clean up on will end. You don’t want that, do ya?”

Grogu shook his head. Of course he didn’t want to hurt Peli in any way. He did think that she could maybe change just a little and maybe run one or two fewer scams on people. You know, just for a change of pace. 

“Kid, that would be changing the culture of Tatooine and do we really want that? I don’t think so. Where would my marks, uh, er, customers go if they thought this planet was suddenly all on the up and up? Trask? Uff. We don’t want those guys to get our business! Criminny! I’d be out of a job and out of a garage and who would feed my poor little ones? Pit droids don’t just feed themselves.”

At that moment the three pit droids were refilling their own lubricant levels and chatted back to her that they did that every day.

“Oh! Don’t confuse me with the facts. Change is hard. Can’t change too quickly. Makes people afraid. Change too slow and other things happen that mess it up. Don’t change at all and you’re just fine. Listen to me, I know a thing or two.”

Well, Peli wasn’t wrong about that. At least about the change part. Change was hard. You had to learn new things and then teach the next group the new things and then change the system so the new thing was the thing and by the time you did all that (including documentation - blech), you had to change everything again. It was an endless cycle. 

Grogu had to sit down. Just the thought of that was making him dizzy. 

“Buddy, don’t worry about Peli so much. She’s smart enough to learn how to take advantage of any rules anyone comes up with. She had to be to survive here. And look at the Mandalorians… they had to accept change and they’re doing pretty well. Axe Woves just sent me a transmission and they’re about to reopen the old Smash Ball arena. That’s some positive change. It just takes time and people need to want the change. That makes it easier. Right now, Mandalorians want anything that can make Mandalore seem like home again.”

His dad, the Mandalorian, was right. Home and hearth were really good selling points for change. The next time he saw the Mods he was going to share a vid with them and caption it ‘Mos Espa, the place your heart calls home’ and see if that helped. It couldn’t be worse than the vid of Ranky tearing things apart… as long as he selected a good vid. Something nice. Something homey. Something that totally didn’t show a rancor ripping the place apart. That should be easy. Right? 

Concept art by Anton Grandert from The Book of Boba Fett, Season 1, Episode 7, In the Name of Honor.

[the-ellia-west]

Another WIP ramble!

I've got another main WIP called Supernova Initiative, which is a sci-fi space opera/adventure set in a fictional galaxy cluster that is torn by civil conflicts, invasions, and overall there's just something sus that is going on behind the scenes. The main characters are Jack Tithus, a young man who is a renowned intergalactic thief wanted in many planetary systems for stealing from the government (known as the Junction) as a form of rebellion, and his crew - who include his sister, Cassiopeia Tithus, and his best friends: Vesper Foxx, Aleks Keldora, and Artemis Zreeth.

After a heist goes wrong, Jack and his friends are arrested by officers of the Junction, and taken to a high-security space station, where they meet the villain of this story, the immoral and cold-hearted Director (the Junction's head scientist and a very influential man).

From there two arcs of the story are set in motion:

the Main Arc - Jack and his crew are given a mission: in exchange for not facing execution or being arrested for life, they must retrieve extremely classified Junction files that were lost in a faraway, hostile planetary system, accompanied by a secret agent named Noctus. They accept, though hesitantly and fearing for their safety.

And the Subplot - The Director is a much more immoral and cruel scientist than he first seemed. Obsessed with what he considers "progress", he is willing to go to horrifying lengths in his pursuit of scientific knowledge. With a current pressing project/experiment he intends to bring to fruition, and looking for a willing test subject, the Director forces Jack to accept to become his main test subject for this experiment - blackmailing him with the discovery of an anomaly in Cassie's DNA that would've made her the perfect test subject should Jack refuse. While the story progresses, and the group has to try and make the heist of those files successful, Jack struggles to keep this deal he made with the Director a secret (but eventually he realizes the experiment is changing something about him, and soon he won't be able to hide the truth if that is the case).

This story is mainly a mystery/adventure, as our heroes struggle to break free from the Junction and end up discovering more and more dark secrets about their galaxy's government. It also has a strong whump element (mainly in that Subplot with Jack being a test subject in the Director's lab) and can be quite dark/bloody at times, but not too much. This WIP also includes tropes such as Found Family, with the main crew being extremely close friends who would do anything for each other, and there is a certain "antihero to good guy" scenario going on with Noctus as he slowly realizes the Junction has been lying to him his whole life and as he starts to bond with the main cast (finally making friends). There's also a lot of cool spaceships, cyborgs, and alien planets with extremely unique settings!

:]

First off, Sci fi space opera, you had me hooked. Civil conflicts is always a fun time. Thief MC is always a win.

BADASS villain, and amazing plots that will intertwine beautifully! (MORE WHUMP LETS FUCKING GOOOOO)

Mystery adventure is a slay combination.

You can find me chanting 'Found Family' and 'Cool Alien designs' in the corner.

Now for ideas!

The wackier the alien designs, the better, in my opinion. PLEASE HAVE ALL THE THIEF CREW BE SASSY AS FUCK. Ship repair issues are a fun subplot.

Holy-shit-what-the-fuck aliens are also cool subplots! Also, a bunch of cool space mumbo jumbo, new crew members, big mysteries revealed in part sections by clues and Junk that slowly reveal a bigger and bigger picture.

Asteroid belt stuff is badass, storm planets, way too much worldbuilding, and OML. Please have a ship with two characters in space suits watching a nebula.

[ssuperficialspacecadett]

Home is Where the Hurt is

Chapter Twelve of The One Condition Series | Chapter Thirteen

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 5k

TW: Violent situation w/ a man

Summary: You and Din get to Eadu to get information from your contact.

Notes: Sorry for uploading a day late ! I had to attend a play my brother was in (he did so amazing !!). If you took a shot every time the word 'rain' is in this chapter you would either have alcohol poisoning or be in the hospital getting your stomach pumped.

Mesh'la: [MAYSH`lah]

Copikla: [koh-PEEK-lah]

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Eadu looks hauntingly beautiful from the comfort of your seat aboard The Crest. The swirling clouds appear to be much less threatening from your vantage point. You can see at least eight different cloud clusters on the side of the planet you are approaching. They all vary in size, but you know that each of them can bring destruction. After spending your whole life on this planet you had seen what they could do first hand. If your house's roof wasn’t secure enough, if your fences weren’t reinforced enough, the storms would rip it apart. You were grateful your father taught you how to weather the storms. It came in handy after you left your childhood home. There was no way you could live there after what happened. The rain may have washed your fathers blood off of the stones outside, but it couldn’t wash away the memories.

While you had the strength to leave and build a new home for yourself, you didn’t have the strength to do it on another planet. The good thing about living on a planet that had a sparse population was that it was easy to move away from everyone. The bad thing was that since the population was so small, not to mention tight knit, everyone talked. Not wanting to deal with the fall out Alden caused, you fled. You became a recluse after the whole incident. Moving clear across the planet so you didn’t have to be reminded of what happened. You became fully self reliant and only depended on yourself. There wasn’t anyone left to rely on if you were being honest. 

You were fine on your own for the first few years. The constant torrential downpour kept you busy with repairs on the shack you built. You had even stumbled upon a small herd of Nerfs. They roamed around your lodging and were a good distraction. At least for a while. You missed people and you missed human contact. There were times when you were so close to packing up your bag and returning to your small village, but the idea of seeing Alden or Thuban kept you away. In reality you had no idea if either of them were still around, yet you knew that no one really left Eadu. It was a planet that had a way of keeping you there. Maker, you were still here after everything. You had an inkling that your brother had left in order to not face the consequences for his massacre.

Maybe it was the loneliness or maybe it was your inability to shut out the violence in your mind; you finally got up the nerve to leave Eadu. You bought a ticket to Navarro, the guild’s reputation was known throughout the galaxy, and decided to end this once and for all. Then you met him: The Mandalorian, Tin Man, Mando, Din. You got closer to the real him with each name. You had no idea that he, and his kid, would come to mean so much to you.

“Be careful on entry. The heavy rain and thick cloud cover make it particularly difficult for ships to pilot through.”

Although Mando has never been to Eadu specifically, he has flown to and from enough planets to know how to operate The Crest in less than perfect weather conditions. This doesn’t stop him from listening to your warning. He enjoys hearing you talk about planetary safety because he knows that means you are worried about him. You remind him of the storm clouds. Your exterior is beautiful and enchanting, but underneath there is so much rage and rain. You hide it well, but you have allowed him to glimpse under your cloud cover to see what's really going on. He felt like he had gotten rammed by a mudhorn, again, when you told him of Alden’s familial connection to you. While your anger and pain were valid before, he knew the root of those emotions was betrayal. Your brother had killed your parents and left you for dead all for some credits to blow on spice that wouldn’t last. 

The entrance into the atmosphere is rocky like you predicted. You hold the baby securely in your lap as you watch Din grip the steering tightly. The rain beats down relentlessly on the glass encasing all of you. The only thing keeping you calm during this descent is the man piloting the ship. You breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth and try not to focus on the ship's insistent shaking. When The Crest finally clears the storm covering the planet you are met with the next challenge: navigating the rocks. Eadu, along with being known for rainfall, has tall rectangular rocks that stick up from the ground. The heavy rain makes them all the more dangerous. 

“Okay!” You yell over the roaring around all of you. “I want you to head for the rock that looks like a giant brick!”

“They all look like giant fucking bricks!” Din yells back.

“Trust me! You will know it when you see it!”

You are right: he does know it when he sees it. As he maneuvers through overgrown stalagmight after overgrown stalagmight he sees the mother of them all. The rock formation is enormous. He can’t be sure how high it stretches, but it looks like it just barely brushes the tops of the clouds. It has a million lines etched into the face of it. No doubt from the years of rain it has weathered. 

“What now?!”

“Take a left and head west!” The sounds outside are deafening. “There will be a clearing you can land in! The rain lets up as you fly deeper into the planet!”

He takes a hard left at your instructions and you feel your stomach heave. The baby in your lap lets out a gleeful laugh and throws his hands in the air as if he is on a carnival ride. You look out the window and can make out whispers of lights coming from people's homes. They look like scattered stars from your position. 

“There!” You point.

You can see the clearing you told Din about a few minutes prior. It is just as you remember it. There is a small house sitting to the left of it that is encased by the rocky terrain. You see him nod and pull back on the thrusters. The rain has also lessened quite a bit. It is still coming down steadily, but you are able to see more clearly now. As the ship begins to engage its landing procedures, you close your eyes. The constant thrashing around has made you light headed and you can’t bear to look out anymore. You only open them when you feel a hand pat your thigh. 

“Are you alright?”

“I think I left my stomach back at that last turn.”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Listening to the soft sounds of the rain on the exterior of the ship while you dig through your bag is so nostalgic. If you close your eyes, you swear you are six years old again trying to fight sleep in your childhood bedroom. The child plays on your bed with his little ball next to you as you feverishly delve into your satchel. 

“Where are you, you piece of shit?” 

Your bag is only so big. How can this one article of clothing evade your desperate hand? 

“AHAH! There you are!” 

You triumphantly pull out a tightly folded, nerf skin poncho. It is a staple piece of clothing to have here on Eadu. If you were without this, you were pretty much screwed. It kept you both warm on cold nights and dry from the rain when you had to go out and tend the Nerfs. Your charismatic display of emotion has caught the attention of the babe by your knees. He has decided that whatever you have in your hands is much more interesting than his favorite toy. He watches with wide eyes as you unfold it before him. He eagerly listens as you explain what it is to him. You remark at how similar your poncho is to his normal, everyday cloak. You pick him up and set him down on the crate beside you before donning an outfit from a lifetime ago. It is still just as warm as you remember. The material was soft and worn in against your skin. It had been a gift from your father on your fifteenth birthday. It was a bit too big then, but now you had truly grown into it. The child coos at you while you give him a spin to show off. It made your heart beam that he is so enthralled by something so personal to you. As you continue to spin, a flash of silver catches your eye. 

“I guess my party invitation got lost in the mail.”

Still giddy you throw your head back in laughter at his comment. “Look, the kid and I are twins now.” You move over next to the baby and smile up at the masked man. 

“That’s cute.” 

“Oh! Speaking of the word cute, I was wondering if you knew how to say it in Mando’a? I wanted a nickname for him.”

Din thinks back fondly when he heard you ask the child about it a while ago. There were so many times when he wanted to tell you what it was, but then he would have revealed that he was awake. So he opted to wait until you asked him and the time finally came.

“It’s copikla.”

“Copikla.” How fitting. The word itself even sounded cute. “Hear that little guy? You are copikla!”

Din loves the way you say words in Mando’a. It seems to just roll off your tongue like it was a language you were meant to speak. He sweetly watches how you kiss his kid and whisper the word to him over and over again. Your praises of the child are met with tiny giggles. 

“It’s not a word that is used for women though.” 

You turn to face him and raise your brow. “Oh? Why not?” 

“In Mando’a it is a word that is only associated with small children or animals.” 

“So, what would you call me?” You feel your cheeks burn slightly when you ask. 

“I would say that you are … mesh'la.”

“Mesh’la? What does that mean?”

“Beautiful. It means you’re beautiful.”

“I like that better than cute.” You feel bashful as you speak.

“It suits you better.” He walks over to you and the child that is still sitting contently on the crate beside you. “You are beautiful with this poncho on, you are beautiful in your regular clothes,” he moves to cover the kids ears. “And you are beautiful without any clothes at all.”

You bury your burning face in your hands. He has an unwavering ability to make you speechless. You've thought men only speak like this, minus the last part, in storybooks. For a man who apparently struggles to express his emotions and thoughts verbally, he sure was doing a really good job. You feel leather wrapped hands engulf yours and softly pull them down. You peek up at the beskar, ever gleaming in the hull light, and smile. 

“You really think so?”

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I know so.”

You softly squeeze his hands back to return your silent sentiment. The child to your left breaks the moment with a small whimper. All three of you spend the next few minutes collecting everything you need to depart the ship. You place all of your clothes back in your satchel, but not before checking on your credits. Truth be told you hadn’t checked on them since you started your journey with Din. You just want the peace of mind you think. You open a small pocket on the inside of the bag and look in. Of course everything was in its place. You breathe a small sigh of relief, close everything up, and swing it over your shoulder.

“Ready?” You call out to Din as he is closing the armory. 

“I’m ready if you are.”

The rain has slowed down since flying deeper into the planet, but it is still enough to soak you to the bone. You pull your poncho closer to you and look over to your two companions. The child has been placed in Din’s own satchel. You get one last look at him before he is closed up inside the small space. You snap your head forward, pull your hood tight over your face, and step out onto the rainy ramp. 

“This is Thuban’s house.” You tell him as the two of you head for the blacked out house. “When we get up to his door there will be cover for you and the kid to stand under.”

“What about you?” He moves to cover the satchel with his cape to further protect the child.

“I’m going to knock until the bastard opens the door and then I’m going inside whether he likes it or not.”

“What if I don’t like it? You going inside alone.”

“Do you trust me?” You move your gaze from the house to meet his. The water glides right off of him; he looks statuesque. For a split second you have the urge to kiss him right here and now. He has been nothing but supportive and attentive and caring. He let a strange woman board with him and allowed her to drag him across the galaxy on a bloody mission all to quell her demons. 

“Until the universe burns out.”

With that the two of you finish the small trek in silence. The closer to the door you get, the larger the pit in your stomach grows. Maker, what if he really doesn’t know where Alden is? What if he doesn’t even live here anymore and we are bothering a kind elderly couple in the middle of the night? What if, what if, what if. When the door finally looms in front of you, Din moves to the right of the door with the child still packed away. He doesn’t rush you when you don’t knock at first. He allows you to catch your breath and collect your thoughts. You look over at him, fist raised towards the door, and mouth thank you.

You knock on the door three times, then pause, three times, pause, and then a final three times before you pull your hand completely away. This probably looks like you are being impatient to Din, but in reality this is you and Thuban’s secret knock. You two had made it up years ago so you always knew when the other was at your door. While it feels like you have been waiting for an eternity, you know logically that it has only been a few seconds. You see a small light flick on through the window and hear muffled grumbling from inside. The lock clicks and you see the door handle start to turn. You take one final breath of fresh air before the stench of a spice infested house greets you. 

When Thuban opens the door he looks like he has seen a ghost. His lifeless eyes look you up and down before making their way back up to your face. His mouth hangs agape and his hair is standing up on one side. If you weren’t so filled with rage at the sight of him, you would have felt bad that you woke him up with your rhythmic knocking. 

“Is that…is that really you…?” He mumbles your name.

“From beyond the grave.” You say dryly. “Can I come in?”

He doesn’t say anything as he moves over. You offer up a small smile to Din before you disappear into the disheveled house. You aren’t surprised to see that nothing inside the house has changed. The wall is littered in the same photos, the carpet by the couch still has a light blue stain from you spilling bantha milk, and dirty dishes lay piled in the sink. You follow him hesitantly into the living room and stand awkwardly as he takes a seat in the recliner. 

“You can sit if you want.” 

“I’m fine. I don’t want to be here longer than I have to.”

“Still holding a grudge after ten years I see. How do you sleep with so much hate in your heart?”

“Like a baby.” You lie. 

“Well,” he lets out a thick cough. “What brings you to my humble abode so late in the night?”

“Alden.” You see him get visibly tense. “I need to know where he is, Thuban.” 

“How the fuck would I know?” He moves his hands behind his head in an attempt to seem unbothered. “He skipped town after he…after his freakout.”

“I know you still keep in contact with him. The least you could do is tell me what you know about him.”

You could have sworn you see guilt flash across his face before he answers you. 

“In the last transmission I got from him, a month ago, he was on Daiyu. He said he was working in some shitty spice lab. Some place with a Vulptice, those crystal fox things, as its logo.”

Of fucking course he is working in a spice lab. After all this time he is still enslaved by this damn drug. You suppose after all the shit that went down there really was no turning back. The only thing he could do was use spice to fry his brain and get so sky high that he ignores what he did. You envy that a little if you’re honest. He could just forget all the carnage he left in his wake. You didn’t have that privilege. 

“What’s it to you anyway? I never thought I would see you again, let alone hear you want to know where he is.” His tone has progressively gotten more agitated since you arrived and started bombarding him with questions.

“I just need to find him, okay?”

“Maker, you are just as delusional as you were ten years ago.” 

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” The rage you are feeling is beginning to show itself.

“You couldn’t save him then and you can’t save him now.”

“I don’t want to save him!” You belt out. “I want to kill him! I-I want to…kill him.”

Thuban just stares at you with raised brows. If he wasn’t taking you seriously before, he definitely is now. He moves his hands out from behind his head and sits up in the chair. 

“You want to kill him? You? This is a joke right?”

“Why would I have dragged myself back here if I was joking?”

“I don’t think you have it in you.” 

It enrages you to know that he is right. Even with all of the hate you harbor, you know that you couldn’t be the one that pulls the trigger. That's why you hired a bounty hunter after all. 

“I don’t really care what you think about me, Thuban.” You breathe exasperatedly. “I’m leaving.”

“Woah woah woah,” he rises to his feet and takes a step towards you. “You can’t just show up here and bring up our past, ask questions about your brother, and think you can just leave.” 

You have been struggling to keep your anxiety at bay since you arrived on the planet, but the dam just broke. As much as you don’t want to show him you are scared, you take a step back as he advances on you. 

“Yes I can. I don’t owe you anything.”

“The fuck you do. I just gave you Alden’s location.” He closes the gap between the two of you. You can smell the lingering traces of his drug use on him. You try to back up more, but the backs of your knees connect with the arm of the couch. 

“I’m going to leave just like I did ten years ago.”

“You stupid fucking bitch-” 

You hear a blaster cock behind you and watch his eyes dart up to where the sound came from. While he takes a few steps back he still doesn’t remove his eyes from the weapon.

“Who the fuck are you?” 

“The last person you’re going to see before you die if you talk to her like that again.”

You feel a hand wrap around your stomach and pull you flush against cold beskar. In an instant you feel secure. You were proud of yourself for holding your own for as long as you did, but you knew the situation was starting to spiral out of control. For the first time in your life you were grateful for the thin infrastructure of Eadu housing. Nothing can happen to you now that he is here. 

“We are going to leave, just like she said, is that going to be a problem?”

“No man, no problem here.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Din turns your body to face the door and lightly pushes you towards it. He stays sizing Thuban up for a little while longer and then turns to leave himself. The Mandalorian has just cleared the door frame when Thuban decides to poke the proverbial hornet's nest. 

“I knew you didn’t have the guts to do it yourself. You hired a bounty hunter to do your dirty work for you. You were a pussy then and you’re a pussy now.”

Before you have time to even turn around a blaster fires. You flinch on instinct and your blood runs cold at the guttural scream that Thuban unleashes. You spin around and see Din standing outside the house with his blaster in his outstretched hand; the weapon is still smoking. Thuban is writhing on the floor and gripping his right knee.

“You shot me in my fucking knee cap, you psychopath!” He snarls. 

The more you look, the more horrified you become. Blood has already soaked all the way down his pant leg and splattered all over the carpet. You can’t even see the old stain anymore. He looks so pathetic laying there in a fetal position. He is yelling obscenities at both you and Din through his tears.

“I decided that was better than killing you. Now you get to live with a permanent, painful reminder of the part you played in all of this.”

“F-fuck you man. Fuck you.”

Din turns around, completely unphased, and takes your limp hand in his. “Let’s go, Cyar’ika. You don’t need to be here anymore.”

He guides you away from the house, away from Thuban, and into the rain. You can still hear him cursing the two of you as you depart. You grip Tin Man’s hand harder with each word you hear slug at you. You know you are probably hurting him, but he says nothing as he ushers you to The Crest. The farther out you get from his house, the harder it is to hear him. The sounds of rain and of two pairs of feet splashing in the mud has taken over. You allow him to mindlessly pull you up the ramp and into the hull. He takes you over to his bed and gently pulls your soaked poncho off your body.

“Climb in.” His voice is soft and husky. “I’m going to put the kid down for bed and then get us off this makerless planet, are you going to be okay?”

“Yes. Just come back to me.”

“I couldn’t stay away from you if I tried.”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Your body has fully relaxed by the time you hear him open the bedroom door. You were grateful for the time alone actually. It allowed you to collect your thoughts about what happened. There is no guilt in your body about what happened to Thuban. His injury is a small price to pay for his actions. You also feel lighter. You stood up to him and you ended up getting what you needed to find Alden. Everything is falling into place for once in your life and it was all thanks to the man standing at the foot of the bed. 

“I already put the blindfold on. You’re safe.” 

“That’s my good girl.” Voice already unmodulated.

Your body tingles as his weight makes itself known on the cot. You just want him close to you so bad it hurts. Before he even gets a chance to properly position the covers over his naked body, you wrap your arms around him. He immediately responds by holding you tightly against him as the two of you lay on the bed. His skin smells like him, but also of rain and earth. It’s slightly cold due to the rain that had soaked through his tunic. 

“You’re shaking.” He whispers into your hair. “Did the rain get you wet out there?”

“It wasn’t the rain.”

His breath shudders as he holds you and your words seep in. You place your lips to the crook of his neck. His heart rate steadily picks up the longer you linger there. You allow your tongue to trace the muscles leading up to his jaw. The scruff he has tickles your nose as it brushes it. His grip on your body deepens as you continue your secret exploration. Your lips find the patch in his beard that is sparse with hair. It is probably one of your favorite spots to kiss him. Your lips fit so perfectly there. 

“I want to taste you.” He whimpers. One of his hands had found its way up to the back of your head and intertwined itself in your hair. The other pushing your core into him. The lack of pants has left little to the imagination and allowed you to feel him harden with each kiss and flick of your tongue. You move your hand down and grip onto him. You feel him breathe out heavily into your hair as you start to pump him. 

“I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

“I want…” his breath hitches again as you continue teasing him. “I want you to sit on my face.” 

You had been dreaming about this since he gave you permission to blindly feel his face. While you were nervous, you knew this was something you both were salivating at the idea of. You tell him ‘yes’ and move to sit up. You take off your shirt and set it to the side. Your nipples harden as the cool air of The Crest greets them. Next, you remove your pants and finally your underwear. As you patiently kneel next to him, warm hands come up to cup your breasts. You back arches at his delicate touch.

“Are you sure I won’t suffocate you?”

“Absolutely not, but I couldn’t think of a better way to go if you did.” You can hear a devious smile in his voice. “Now, come here.”

You crawl up next to his head and place your hands on each side of his face. You lower yourself and kiss him deeply. You want him to feel the depth of gratitude and appreciation you have for him. He nimbly slips his tongue into your mouth and you moan.

“A kiss for good luck.” You say as you pull back from him. He playfully pats your ass before you throw your leg over his shoulders to the other side of the cot. With his hands finding their way to your hips, you maneuver yourself until you are right over his mouth. You can feel your body humming in anticipation as you sink down to meet him. As your body connects with his tongue an unholy moan escapes him. You brace yourself against the wall in front of you and suck air in through closed teeth. 

He takes no time to start absolutely devouring you. He expertly moves his tongue over your folds before slipping it inside of you. Your body jerks forward as his nose cuts the tensions building inside of you by rubbing against your clit. As you begin to thrash against him, his grip on you tightens. He even moves his left hand to your ass. Rocking your body forward and backward over him to help stimulate you all the further. You cry out wantonly as he laps up what you leak for him, what you leak only for him. 

He grunts hungrily under you as you continue with the rhythmic motion he helped you set. He moves his head to the right and left underneath you and it sends shockwaves that can be felt all the way to your toes. You don’t know if you want to get off or keep going. The sensation is so overwhelming. Always one step ahead of you and willing to push you to the edge, he speaks.

“You’re not going anywhere. I’m not done with you yet.” 

He quickly moves his mouth back to you and circles your clit with his tongue this time. The combined slickness from yourself and his saliva has your body tierting on the edge. You place your forehead on the wall and ball your hands into fists as you wait to come undone for him. A starving animal has nothing on the way he is tearing you apart. You ache to have the ability to look down and watch him work you. To see if his brows knit together in concentration, to see if he closes his eyes or keeps them open, and to see if his nostrils flare with pride.

“Don’t stop. Yes, right there.” You mewl. “I’m going to cum.”

He keeps his pace consistent. Maker, he is perfect. He doesn’t slow down or speed up, he doesn’t change position, he just holds steadfast. Within seconds your body comes apart at the seams for him. You feel your core tighten as you gush onto the man below you. His immoral moans only aid you in cumming harder on him. He helps you through your orgasm the entire time. Your body is weak and slick with sweat from all the pleasure he just gave you. You shakely move off of him and sit back lightly on his chest. Your combined breaths are heavenly to listen too as they tangle together. 

“Fuck me.” You say breathlessly. “That was incredible.”

Your hands find his hair and hide themselves in his disheveled curls. 

“I’ll take you up on that offer.”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

[inquisitorius-sin-bin]

Headcanuary Challenge - One Headcanon per Day

Day 6: Escape

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From what archaeologists have gathered, the first large-scale settlements of Pau'an into Utai cave cities were the result of at least three ecological and social disasters.

Records of the precise events and their order are scarce, as paper-making techniques and flimsy had not yet made it to Utapau. The record keeping mission of the Rock Vulture clan had not yet begun, and traditions were largely still passed orally through song and dance.

Some artifacts remain of the two extinct Plainsmen groups, leading researchers to believe at least one of the clans went extinct during this time, while one had perished thousands of years earlier (though the ultimate fate of this group is hotly debated).

The first known incident, backed up by data collected in the great continental divide rift, was a massive shift in the planetary crust. The core ocean, once a great sea with portions above the surface, began to recede through the cracks, dropping sea levels and moving shorelines.

Former sandy sea floor suddenly uncovered, with wide expanses of flat, superheated land, gave rise to the first known hyperwind storms on the planet, tearing up most long-term settlements from the surface.

The sudden drought and violent storms were in themselves ecologically disastrous, but the sea water filling the hollow portion beneath the planet's crust lead the limestone deposits to recede from below. Sinkholes large enough to swallow whole populations began to arise, and frequent earthquakes were taken as a sign of Spiritual unrest.

During this time, a rogue Plainsman Shaman, one said to be particularly gifted in his connection to the Spirits, was expelled from his clan for failing to please the divine. He gathered a following of outcasts into a Brunlai clan, exacting his revenge on the established clans through an extended war. It is thought that the remains of this Shaman's clan were either killed off, or were the first to unify with the Utai under the leadership of Timon Medon. Either way, the already suffering Pau'an population of the surface world began to dwindle, most picking up and moving to safer underground refuges.

End of Entry.

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@oh-three @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Hubble monitors changing weather and seasons of Jupiter and Uranus Ever since its launch in 1990, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been an interplanetary weather observer, keeping an eye on the largely gaseous outer planets and their ever-changing atmospheres. NASA spacecraft missions to the outer planets have given us a close-up look at these atmospheres, but Hubble's sharpness and sensitivity keeps an unblinking eye on a kaleidoscope of complex activities over time. In this way Hubble complements observations from other spacecraft such as Juno, currently orbiting Jupiter; the retired Cassini mission to Saturn; and the Voyager 1 and 2 probes, which collectively flew by all four giant planets between 1979 and 1989. Inaugurated in 2014, the telescope's Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) Program has been providing us with yearly views of the giant planets. Here are some recent images: Jupiter he image on the left was taken on November 12, 2022. The forecast for Jupiter is stormy weather at low northern latitudes. A prominent string of alternating storms is visible, forming a "vortex street," as some planetary astronomers call it. This is a wave pattern of nested anticyclones and cyclones, locked together like in a machine with alternating gears moving clockwise and counterclockwise. If the storms get close enough to each other, in the very unlikely event of a merger, they could build an even larger storm, potentially rivaling the current size of the Great Red Spot. The staggered pattern of anticyclones and cyclones prevents individual storms from merging. Activity is also seen interior to these storms; in the 1990s Hubble didn't see any cyclones or anticyclones with built-in thunderstorms, but these storms have sprung up the last decade. Strong color differences indicate that Hubble is seeing different cloud heights and depths as well. The orange moon Io photobombs this view of Jupiter's multicolored cloud tops, casting a shadow toward the planet's western limb. Hubble's resolution is so sharp that it can see Io's mottled-orange appearance, related to its numerous active volcanoes. These volcanoes were first discovered when the Voyager 1 spacecraft flew by in 1979. The moon's molten interior is overlaid by a thin crust through which the volcanoes eject material. Sulfur takes on various hues at different temperatures, which is why Io's surface is so colorful. In the image on the right, taken on January 6, 2023, Jupiter's legendary Great Red Spot takes center stage in this view. Though this vortex is big enough to swallow Earth, it has actually shrunken to the smallest size it has ever been over observation records dating back 150 years. Jupiter's icy moon Ganymede can be seen transiting the giant planet at lower right. Slightly larger than the planet Mercury, Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system. It is a cratered world with a mainly water-ice surface with apparent glacial flows driven by internal heat. (This image is smaller in size because Jupiter was 81,000 miles farther from Earth when the photo was taken.) Uranus Planetary oddball Uranus rolls on its side around the sun as it follows an 84-year orbit, rather than spinning in a more-vertical position as Earth does. Uranus has a weirdly tipped "horizontal" rotation axis angled just eight degrees off the plane of the planet's orbit. One recent theory proposes that Uranus once had a massive moon that gravitationally destabilized it and then crashed into it. Other possibilities include giant impacts during planetary formation, or even giant planets exerting resonant torques on each other over time. The consequences of the planet's tilt are that for stretches of time lasting up to 42 years, parts of one hemisphere are completely without sunlight. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited during the 1980s, the planet's south pole was pointed almost directly at the sun. Hubble's latest view shows the northern pole now tipping toward the sun. The image on the left is a Hubble view of Uranus taken in 2014, seven years after northern spring equinox when the sun was shining directly over the planet's equator, and shows one of the first images from the OPAL program. Multiple storms with methane ice-crystal clouds appear at mid-northern latitudes above the planet's cyan-tinted lower atmosphere. Hubble photographed the ring system edge-on in 2007, but the rings are seen starting to open up seven years later in this view. At this time, the planet had multiple small storms and even some faint cloud bands. As seen in 2022, Uranus's north pole, shown in the image on the right, shows a thickened photochemical haze that looks similar to the smog over cities. Several little storms can be seen near the edge of the polar haze boundary. Hubble has been tracking the size and brightness of the north polar cap and it continues to get brighter year after year. Astronomers are disentangling multiple effects—from atmospheric circulation, particle properties, and chemical processes—that control how the atmospheric polar cap changes with the seasons. At the Uranian equinox in 2007, neither pole was particularly bright. As northern summer solstice approaches in 2028 the cap may grow brighter still, and will be aimed directly toward Earth, allowing good views of the rings and north pole; the ring system will then appear face-on. This image was taken on November 10, 2022.

[oriandcate]

Been thinking about Life Series correlations/analogies/metaphors/mythology lately, especially in regards to the impact of choosing the planet Mars to represent the latest winner, Martyn. I wasn’t really all that fond of the idea at first, considering people like Joel exist and seem like a much more accurate representation of the God of War. But after my discovery of Mars Silvanus, the aspect of Mars regarding the forest, I find myself much more okay with it. In no small part because it opens the door for other Roman/planetary comparisons to be made with the players. For instance:

Etho is Jupiter. The youngest of the oldest, the one nominally in charge but also the one no one actually listens to. Washed up, but still strong.

GoodTimesWithScar is Mercury. Because Grian is the Sun, it makes perfect sense for Scar to be the planet closest to it. Not to mention Mercury is known for being a bit of a prankster, as well as a rogue. He is also known as the son of Jupiter (and sometimes also of Ceres).

ZombieCleo is Ceres. A little-known dwarf planet in the asteroid belt named after the Roman version of Demeter - who just so happens to be one of Jupiter’s exes. They even reportedly had multiple children together: Mercury, Persephone, and Dionysus being some. She is also considered to be the new name taken by one of the oldest Titans: Rhea. A Titan who some consider to be the mother of Uranus.

Impulse is Saturn. Lesser known than his brother Jupiter, but also very strong in his own right. A being who knows when best to go with the flow - and also when to summon the storm.

Tango is Pluto. The most derided of the three brothers, the God of the Dead. How very fitting he was paired with the most death-associated person in the entire series. And also seems to be the first of his brothers to die.

Joel is Eris. Yet another dwarf planet, but this time names after the Goddess of Discord. Also reportedly the child of Mars and Venus, yet usually found on the outskirts of Olympus/the Solar System. True parentage heavily debated.

Bdubs is Io. A moon of Jupiter, a variation of the name Iacchus (a version of Dionysus).

Skizz is Neptune. The son of Saturn/Impulse, yet a giant in his own right.

Jimmy is Charon. The Ferryman of the Dead. Enough said.

[infjtarot]

10 of Cups. Mystic Spiral Tarot

Themes and Keywords: Fleeting sweetness. Transcending. Oblivion and surrender. Over consumption. Illusion of perfection. The pipe dream. Overripe fruits and the seed within. Building and dissolving. Ephemeral fulfillment. Dream within a dream. Sacrifices for perfection. “Picture perfect” projections. Astrology/Element It’s the final decan of the zodiac. Fortunate Jupiter rules Pisces, but Mars is ruler of the decan, the first of the double Mars decans that stitch together the zodiacal cycle. Mars is the lesser malefic, which is a hidden thorn among the graces inherent in Jupiter-ruled Pisces. There are pleasant dreams before the war drums beat at the subsequent first decan of Aries. Tens bear the influence of material Earth and greater malefic Saturn. This ten is the culmination of water and the zodiac itself in a Jupiter-ruled sign—so it’s quite satisfied. Yet it’s the end of the line for the element and the calm before the storm of the Swords suit to come. Mythology/Time of Year The gods associated with these planetary influences are all closely related: one big happy family. Ares (Mars, decan ruler) was the son of Zeus (Jupiter, Pisces ruler), nephew of Demeter (tens/Earth), and both half-brother and cousin to Persephone (tens/Earth-Saturn). The legacy passes from progenitors Kronos (Saturn) and Rhea (Earth). Ares was an Olympian, disliked by the other gods. Even his own parents (Zeus and Hera) despised the god of war. He was considered disrespectful, loving bloodshed and killing. His warlike nature destroyed the creations—life itself—of Zeus and Demeter. Zeus forced himself upon Demeter, mother of Persephone, who became Queen of the Dead. Due to her own “abduction” to the underworld, she is the personified embodiment of her annual rise: winter turning into spring. The decan covers the last days of Pisces and culminates at the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. Though spring always comes, she is forever in a cycle where descent follows ascendance; the barbs of winter (Saturn) concealed in spring (Mars). Susan T. Chang