#hunter drives like he wants to get out of the ship as fast as possible

[loth-wolffe]

I love your song list prompts and I just discovered your writing and I'm obsessed. Could I request 25 from the song prompts with Crosshair?

(I hope you dont mind me putting these two prompts together, i just thought they were walking the same path. ps. tHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR KINDNESS. ILY)

Mutual

Pairing: Crosshair x reader (no y/n)

Warnings: nOne.

Word count: 1,3k. not proofread

Prompts: 25. I need to know, if this is mutual, before I go. - Mutual by Shawn Mendes and 30. All we do is think about the feelings that we hide, all we do is sit in silence waiting for a sign. - Drive by Halsey

You've been dancing around each othe for what it seems like forever, he'd push and pull, and you'd be left spinning before you find your way back to his arms.

He's such a tease, that Crosshair, with his snarky words and easy smile that you were sure he kept just for you, and he had you eating out of the palm of hand before you noticed.

It was mostly that, flirting at every given chance, light touches here and there, having no respect for personal space, sweet comments and cute pet names were thrown at the table, too.

The first time he called you sweetheart you blushed furiously, and when you first teased him and said a cheeky hotshot, he was lost of words for a minute or two, and you have never felt more proud around him, Wrecker did tease him tremendously that day.

Crosshair would come to your office or room most times, uninvited until he became a regular presence around you, which made it even harder to bear when he was away, because when he was in Kamino, Crosshair always seemed to gravitate your way, even in the mess hall or if you were under a ship fixing whatever, he would spot you right away, walk towards you and sit as close as he could without making it weird.

Sometimes you'd just sit in silence, taking a moment of peace and quiet and listening to the radio, imagining for a second what would it be if you held each other's hands, to be in each other's arms, to hold and to caress and to be oh so close, to be wrapped by the other's warmth and feel each breath, murmur sweet nothings, and maybe admit a fantasy or two that had been playing for far too long in the mind of the other.

If you kissed, would the other lips' feel soft, chapped, stiff, warm? And as you kiss, would it be gentle, needy, slow?

Would it be practiced, sloppy, awkward?

Would you fit like two missed pieces of puzzle finding their way back together? You feel like you would.

Yet you wait, and you don't know he does too, for some kind of sign, a fleeting chance to take a breath as you fall and admit that he's the one you hope is on the other end ready to catch you, to stop you from hitting the ground, to lift you up and tells you there's nothing to worry about.

A few moons passes before you find your answer.

He has to go, and you're not sure if you're ever going to see him again, he might be gone, and you might be too. There might be a day he doesn't come home and instead have one of his brothers holding back their tears as they tell you the news.

You can't stand it, the thought of lost time, of having all these minutes, and hours, and days with him, to explore and to know, to feel and to find.

You knock on the door before you're processing what you're doing, and before even asking you if you're really doing this, but the door whooshes open and there's five pairs of eyes looking at you.

There's no turning back now.

"Hi," you greet, the most awkward you have been since meeting them, Hunter lifts a brow in question as the others wonder what are you doing there, in their barracks, this late in the night.

They'd be leaving in a couple hours, and you had already said your goodbyes.

"I uh," you clear your throat, taking a quick sweep with your eyes to the room, avoiding everyone's eyes, "I actually wanted to talk to Crosshair, there's uh," your cheeks burn and the logic part of your brain —and the rest of it too— is screaming you to abort, you rub the back of your neck and your eyes find his amber ones, "there's something I want to discuss with you, before you guys leave," you take a pause, head titling down and you don't think you have ever found your shoes more interesting, "if that's alright."

Eyes look from you to Crosshair before the sniper stands up from his spot above a supply box you're sure it shouldn't be there, and you feel anxiety bubble in your throat when you see Hunter's smirk and Tech's knowing eyes.

It doesn't calm down once you're alone in the hall.

"Yes?"

ABORT, ABORT, ABORT.

You can see a little you jumping with a sign, red letters making you panic.

"I–," you start, but no other words come out, they feel stuck somewhere between your tongue and your throat and you search in his face any indication for you to continue, something to anchor you as you give him your heart.

You blink, shaking your head.

"It's nothing." It leaves in a sigh, your shoulders deflating as your coward self kicks you in the ass and smiles proudly.

"You brought me to the hallway to discuss... nothing?" He says, carefully, as if he wanted to be sure of your actions, and them sounding like you were actually crazy.

"Yeah I just," you shrug, scratching your arm, feeling so small, "forget it. We can talk about it when you return."

You will definitely won't talk about it, but you seriously need to get out of here, and just be away from him so you can peacefully curse at yourself and probably cry a little, too.

"Yeah, sorry, that was all, if you don't have anything to add, I should get back." With rushed words because you can't seem to go back to your room fast enough, you start turning to leave as you continue rambling, "you should go, too, get some sleep, I know that–"

"Wait."

And of course you do, because you're wrapped around his finger in the most embarrassing way. Stopping halfway through the movement, you sigh and turn quickly to face him.

"There is something I want to discuss with you, actually."

"Oh." You frown. "Really?"

What could he possibly want to tell you?

"Yeah," and his eyes scan for something behind you, maybe if there was any passing trooper of a kaminoan wandering around, maybe taking a second to gather his thoughts, making sure he was going to ask whatever he had in mind.

"What is it?"

"I'm leaving in an hour." You frown deepen, and nod slowly. He's not giving you much to work with.

"And?" You inquire, curiosity dripping from your voice because you have no idea where is this going.

He takes a breath, and if you didn't know better you would think he's nervous.

"And, can I kiss you?" His voice is sure, confident, a question that rises from mixed signals and unsure feelings, yet he makes it sound as if he had always known.

But your mind just, short circuits, and you're left paralyzed, the you in your brain screams, and laughs, and cries because who would've thought, he actually feels the same.

But you don't answer and he gets uneasy.

"Or not."

But before he can apologize, you hold him by the back of his neck, and in a swift motion, you crash your lips with his, and it takes him a moment to respond, but he does eventually, taking a breath before pulling you close, hands flying to cup your face, and it's so much better than you could've ever imagine.

He tastes like caf and something sweet, something so Crosshair that makes you whimper lowly. His lips are soft, and warm, and the kiss is gentle yet urgent as he pushes you against the wall, a leg between yours as he presses his body closer.

He kisses you like it's the last time he gets to do it, and for a while it is, until he finds his way back to you, and you make sure to make up for the lost time.

[kitkatopinions]

It feels so out of place how the narrative and the characters have always treated the Atlas military (alternatively suspicious, tyrannical or incompetent), yet when push came to shove that same military fought and died for hours against Salem's invasion to protect the tens of thousands of people trapped in Atlas BECAUSE of Ruby while Ruby sat and drank tea. How long did that battle go for? Four hours? Five? And if that wasn't enough, it only ended because Oscar was only covering the escape. 1/2

No lie, I feel like the world they invented pretty much requires the presence of a militarized force to sustain itself and it's one reason why approaching the Atlas military as 'point blank bad with no gray area' and approaching Hunters with 'point blank good with no gray area' makes no sense to me.

I've seen fans literally say that they knew Atlas, its military, and James were bad from the get go because of the use of the words army and military, and that army = bad, but ffs it's a fantasy world where the rules are one hundred percent different than the real world. The world of Remnant we're presented with is one with dark monsters thriving on negativity and attacking indiscriminately, reproducing at a fast rate, and adapting while showing intelligence and the understanding of consequences. They're known to bring down towns when something goes wrong, like a bandit raid. Single Grimm can take down whole towns. Panic stirs up Grimm activity and enough of it can bring down whole Kingdoms. The Hunter system we've been shown is A. corrupt, and B. a profession that doesn't seem to churn out a good many hunters, and many of the Hunters we see are concerned with big picture things or specific tasks, or retired or dead, due to the inherent danger level of the job. There simply aren't enough Hunters. There aren't enough Hunters to run border control, to protect the cities if they get attacked, to ferry kids back and forth from school while Grimm activity is up, to investigate suspicious activity and handle it when things go wrong, to save civilians when push comes to shove, to be parts of secret organizations while also maintaining their oaths to protect. Hunters seem more like specialists, at least from what I've seen in show. They're trained to be able to take on high level threats and go through a rigorous program, but they can't act as the only line of defense, partially due to their lack of numbers. They aren't actually the driving protective force keeping the Grimm out of the kingdoms on a day to day, hour by hour basis.

We see this over and over again in the show. Hunters get overwhelmed, towns fall, cities fall, they can't do the work of hundreds of people. Teams RWBYJNR and the Happy Huntresses never would've been able to protect Mantle from a direct attack from Salem, for example, when they couldn't even keep all the civilians safe from the Grimm that were occurring naturally due to political upheaval and unrest. In a world where demon monsters from hell will manifest and attack if too many people feel negatively at once and feelings of safety and security are needed to try and prevent the Grimm from coming in droves, an army is the only real solution here. Remnant is not the real world, the way we view armies is not automatically the way the people in Remnant view armies. And in fact, the show in the early seasons does a very strange thing; they have Ozpin express a belief that unrest and nervousness will occur due to James bringing his fleet to Vale (with every sign pointing to him having been asked there by the Vale Council,) and yet the reactions that we do see are actually the opposite, but this is still somehow heralded as foreshadowing by both the fans and seemingly the show itself. From Ruby geeking out about seeing the Atlas robots being displayed, to everyone being relieved and awed when the army showed up to protect everyone in the episode "Breach," where Atlas ships saved Ruby and she gave a grateful smile, salute, and wave, the Atlas military seems well received.

And the Atlas robotic soldiers taking down Grimm as civilians run past during the Fall is another example.

Even Oz, Qrow, and Glynda who were the only three people to express mistrust or anxiousness towards the presence of the army in Vale, are only seen either telling James to use his army (Oz,) or are seen fighting by the army's side, and then being welcoming and taking direct orders from James without being even the slightest bit suspicious of him.

We don't see the supposed anxiousness and mistrust in anyone outside of Oz, Qrow, and Glynda, who all one hundred percent trusted James anyway and were only worried that everyone else would be worried. The fact that Watts (someone everyone thought was dead) managed to hack the Atlas robots, has been the only negative effect we saw in the first three seasons, and that's not due to any corruption or mistake on the part of the Atlas army or James himself (something going horribly wrong in a way no one could expect due to the evil actions of a group of other people is not actually the fault of the person trying and succeeding to do good until the group of other people did bad.)

I could get into more reasons to not think the Atlas army is corrupt, but I don't want this post to get too long, and I want to address your very right statements about the way they portrayed their protagonists versus the army even while they were trying to push the concept that the Atlas army is corrupt and bad.

Ironwood: Desperately doing whatever he can to save lives from Salem, planning ways to bring down the Whale Grimm, trying to protect the Relics and the Maiden from Salem's grasp.

Team RWBY and co: Risking the lives of literally everyone on purpose because they don't want to be in a no win situation, preventing Ironwood from taking life saving actions because it won't save every live, expressing zero concern or grief for the hundreds dying to Salem on the battlefield.

The Ace Ops: Trying to navigate their morals while they do what they can to try and protect the civilians in Atlas who are directly in danger, trying to convince Penny to actually save people, planning to take down the whale grimm even if they have to suffer knowing a kid died in the process of protecting hundreds and likely thousands of other kids directly in danger of dying.

Team RWBY and co: Prioritizing their friends, prioritizing missions that logic says won't help people especially with the fall of Atlas making it impossible to protect everyone who's going to be in danger, picking fights with people who are trying to save others.

Team FNKI: Delving into war and battle while facing their fears, trying to protect people, trying to do the job they chose and stare floods of Grimm down.

Team RWBY and co: Drinking tea in mansions, worrying about their love lives, crying on staircases, laughing with a murderer...

Even while they were having Ironwood shoot down people that stood in his way and express that he wished he'd thought about torture and sending bomb threats, they still didn't have the protagonists actually seem like likable, convincingly good protagonists that I would want to root for. It seems like they had to try hard to make James someone people couldn't root for because they couldn't make Ruby and her team actually right, effective, and good. They really seem so selfish, immature, unprepared, and entitled. Which isn't to say that the protagonists can't have those flaws, but they're not getting treated like flaws, which is the most frustrating thing.

Before the writers needed to push their message that Ironwood is completely evil and everything he's involved with is inherently wrong, we didn't get much sign that the Atlas army was corrupted and bad, because projecting real world standards onto a fantasy world that we know is very different from ours isn't it. That's not to say that I think 'not showing us this system is corrupted early' means that there's no possible corruption, but I think it's clear that the fandom pushed narrative that the Atlas army is inherently bad and worse somehow than being a Hunter which is somehow much better is very biased, especially when we also see corruption in the Hunter profession.

Making James and the Ace Ops do vile thing didn't make the protagonists seem better. They still fell way short of adequate.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

Hello ☺️, I’ve heard from your lovely lady companion Emily that you’re a very seasoned DM! I was wondering if you had any advice for beginners to DMing when it comes to things like improvising and making sure your first session has an impact on the players as their introduction to the world. Any advice at all would be a lifesaver! Thank you ☺️✌🏻

holy shit, a question about DMing. you have freed me, stranger. I can stop blogging about Troy (2004). 

First of all, I’m really excited to hear that you’re going to be DMing for the first time! DMing is understandably intimidating, but it’s also incredibly creatively fulfilling, and it’s something you’ll still be learning how to do better after 25 years. 

Okay, so let’s talk about session 1.

Your first session has a lot of lifting to do. You want to make an emotional impact, you want your players to learn about the world, you want to convey tone and genre, and you want your PCs to have a chance to band together and form quick connections.

I really can’t say enough good things about session 1 being about An Escape, because an escape scenario immediately poses a whole bunch of really valuable questions.

What is a crime in this world?

Who are your natural adversaries?

Why should you trust & rely upon your new party members?

What is violence like in this game? This says a lot about your game’s tone.

What will the next few sessions be about?

Literally, in 3 of the last 4 campaigns I’ve run, session one was An Escape. I’ll walk you through the set-ups for 2 of them (the third is a one-on-one campaign, so maybe not as useful to you).

In Vampire: the Masquerade, the party (all vampires) woke up staked to the ground in the basement of an abandoned school, captives of the fanatical inquisitorial group, the Society of Leopold. None of them had met each other before, all of them were confused, angry, scared, and low on blood.

What is a crime in this world?

Just being a vampire is a crime. You can be brutally attacked, captured, and murdered for being what you are. Your only recourse is to fight for your life.

Who are your natural adversaries?

Vampire hunters. They are not as strong or as fast as you, but they have dirty tricks up their sleeves and fanatical conviction on their side, and they do not see you as human.

Why should you trust & rely upon your new party members?

Without them, you will not escape your predicament. You know you can trust them because you have a common enemy. Each of them will have a chance to solve a problem with a unique skill that you do not possess, driving home that you can solve dangerous problems together that you could not overcome on your own. 

What is violence like in this game? This says a lot about your game’s tone.

Fast, flashy, bloody, and dark. Descriptions of injuries are savage; heads get torn off, chests get ripped open, shadows pinwheel wildly as the sole hanging light in the ceiling gets knocked around amidst the violence. But there’s a slick cool to all of it. You are in real danger, but you are also capable of dealing out grievous and acrobatic harm.

What will the next few sessions be about?

Upon your escape, the Prince of the city charged you all with seeking out the leaders of the hunters. Best not to disappoint him.

In my Call of Cthulhu campaign, the characters were all prisoners on a bus to the gulag, in Russia in 1938.

What is a crime in this world?

Literally anything, if you have displeased the wrong people. One of you received a letter you shouldn’t have seen. Another one wrote seditious poetry. Another was rude to a secret police officer during an investigation. Another literally has no idea why he’s here. There is a cold, kafkaesque indifference to the notion of fairness in this world. You have been disenfranchised and shipped off to do hard labor for almost nothing at all. Do not bother to look for reason in the machinations of the state.

Who are your natural adversaries?

The NKVD. They are all-powerful, all-seeing, and brutal. They could kill every last one of you right here in the snow, and so long as they filed the correct paperwork afterwards, there will be no follow up investigation. They have the key to the vehicles, they have warm clothes, they have all of the guns, they have the radio that is your only way of contacting the outside world. You don’t even have coats that will keep out the freezing wind. If you want what you need to escape this place, you will have to take it from them.

Why should you trust & rely upon your new party members?

You will be shot, if you try to escape alone. The tundra is vast and the NKVD are always watching. Your only hope is to cause confusion and hope that your numbers count for more than your jailers’ guns. And once you’re out, into Siberia? conditions are so hostile you have no choice but to band together for survival.

What is violence like in this game? This says a lot about your game’s tone.

Almost instantly fatal. You are shown fellow prisoners (NPCs) get headshot by the NKVD captain and drop to the ground, dead. Another NPC has a broken leg, and cannot participate in combat at all. If you get hurt, that’s it. There are no health potions or magic spells that will mitigate the effects of bullets and the biting wind.

What will the next few sessions be about?

As you escaped, you saw strange apparitions across the snow, which caused the radio to malfunction. You are fleeing in your stolen truck from the NKVD, but where are you going? Where can you go, except towards the mystery?

Escapes are great, too, because as a DM, your list of things you need to prepare is pretty concrete. You need:

- Mooks

- A boss for the mooks

- a map of the immediate area, so your players know what avenues of potential escape they have

- a couple of NPC fellow prisoners for them to talk to & for you to kill along the way (alternately, this can be a great way to link the party up with future quest-givers straight from the jump).

- A list of possible resources to aid in their escape that they might be able to get their hands on (a fire axe? a radio? a car?)

- A couple of ideas for spanners to throw in the works (if things are too easy/going too quickly, maybe this NPC fellow prisoner turns on them, hoping to curry favor with the NKVD; maybe one of the hunters has a flamethrower to force the vampires to double back; maybe it starts to snow with white-out conditions, maybe something is being filmed right outside and the vampires can’t bust through the steel doors without potentially breaking the Masquerade).

Another great thing about escapes is that they’re geographically isolated. So you don’t need to have The Entire Starting Zone figured out from session 1: you just need to know about this one truck stop in Siberia, or this abandoned school in Queens. When they gain access to the wider world, the session ends, and you should have an idea of where they want to go next.

And if any of their captors survive, you may have an act 1 villain on your hands. Don’t get too attached to the idea that any of them WILL survive; but if they do, and the party bears them a grudge, find them a place in the story, flesh them out as an adversary. Your Big Bad means nothing to them yet, but Captain Volkov, the NKVD captain who pursued them across the ice like a relentless automaton, scares them.

Another thing I like about escapes is that they feel very natural. There is no quest giver; they have an obvious goal they can all agree on, and the obstacles to achieving it are built into the situation. It’s a solid framework for an adventure that you can pack a lot of worldbuilding detail into along the way.

Good luck!

[reinerispretty]

rotations. (zuko x f!reader) pt5

hi!! thank you so much for reading! again, i’m sorry for posting so much i just have a bunch of stuff pre-written and it’s fun to get it out there!

pt1

pt4

pt 6

“No one deserves to have their home destroyed, or have their family members ripped away from them! I saw what the Fire Nation did in my own city and countless others. The Fire Nation isn’t what I thought it was.” Her eyes welled with tears. “And neither are you.”

(Y/N) rested her chin on her hands as Appa flew over the land. It had been a few days since she had joined the Avatar and his friends, but already had she experienced way more than she ever would have in her life in the Fire Nation. Just the other day, they had saved an entire town from a volcano! She wasn’t a powerful enough bender to control lava, but she did help steer Appa so the sky bison could use his airbending to cool it down. She and the group decided that it was best if they saved her firebending for a rainy day. People in the towns that they were visiting weren’t too keen on having firebenders there.

From Appa, if she looked down, she could see dark spots across the green and yellow lands. Burned land. She had seen enough of it from her balcony of her mansion back in the Earth Kingdom. Her father had explained to her why their soldiers burned the peoples’ land. “Destroying what they need to survive keeps them in their place,” he had said. She remembered her stomach turning sour as soon as the words left his mouth. 

“For the longest time, I believed that what the Fire Nation was doing was good and necessary. I can’t believe I was so stupid.” 

“Yeah, people from the Fire Nation tend to be pretty dumb.” Sokka polished his boomerang. She turned around to glare at him. 

“You don’t get it. They don’t teach us in our schools that we’re burning down villages for the fun of it. They tell us that we’re only trying to help. They brainwash the kids into thinking that all we’re--all they are trying to do is make a better life for everyone.” 

“Just because you didn’t know what the Fire Nation was doing doesn’t excuse them for what they did,” Sokka shot back. She huffed, feeling her anger growing. 

“I never said that!” 

“Well you’re acting like it!” 

“I literally saved you from Fire Nation soldiers!” 

“Guys, can we please stop fighting?” Aang sighed. “It’s making Appa uncomfortable.” 

“Oh, well, we wouldn’t want Appa to be uncomfortable, now would we?” Sokka scoffed. She chucked her pillow at him. 

“You’re the rudest person I’ve ever met! The Fire Nation as a whole does not represent who I am!” Huffing, she turned away from Sokka and tilted her chin up to the sky. 

It was nightfall before anyone talked again. Sokka was fast asleep toward the back of Appa’s saddle. Katara had crawled over to (Y/N), who sat sulking as far away from him as possible. “I’m sorry for what Sokka said earlier,” She said, her blue eyes kind and soft. “We know the Fire Nation doesn’t define who you are as a person. It’s just really hard for Sokka and I to get comfortable with you being around. You see, Fire Nation soldiers raided our villages and killed our mother.” 

(Y/N) felt her anger slip away and be replaced with guilt. If she had known that, she wouldn’t have let herself become so quick to anger. Sokka was dealing with emotions that she couldn’t possibly understand. 

“I’m sorry for getting angry,” she said quietly. “I had no idea the Fire Nation had done that to you, truly. And if I could apologize on behalf of the entire nation, I would.” She sighed, pulling her legs close to her chest. “I’ve been around a lot of people who have done some very bad things, sometimes to the people I care about. I really cannot express how sorry I am, Katara.” 

The girl smiled, her blue eyes watery from holding back tears. “It’s okay. We’ll bring the Fire Nation to justice one day.” (Y/N) nodded in agreement. “Would you mind telling me how the Fire Nation has hurt you too? I think it might help me understand you a bit better.” 

She inhaled a deep breath. “Well, when I still lived on the Fire Nation mainland, there was a boy I really...liked. He was only fourteen, still just a kid, but he spoke up when he wasn’t supposed to. He was challenged to an Agni Kai, which is a traditional firebending duel. He went up against a person who was ten times stronger than him.” (Y/N) swallowed the sob in her throat that always formed when she thought of that day. “The whole point of the duel is that you win when you burn another opponent. He was burned very badly that day and was banished from the Fire Nation. I haven’t heard from him since.” 

“I’m really sorry,” Katara said, and (Y/N) shook her head. 

“Goodness, no, don’t even apologize. It’s nothing compared to what happened to you and Sokka. How about we get some sleep? I can’t imagine what tomorrow is gonna be like.” 

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The next day had proved to be very troublesome for (Y/N). Their group had divided, with Sokka and Katara choosing to follow Bato to their father since Aang had hidden his coordinates from them. She understood where the young boy had been coming from: when she had first joined the group, she had definitely felt like an outsider, but things had slowly gotten better. It was unfortunate that Sokka and Katara had left them, but (Y/N) knew it was now her duty to get him to the Northern Water Tribe so he could continue his waterbending training. 

This plan went south as soon as the bounty hunter arrived. The beast she rode kicked up so much dust that it became hard for (Y/N) to see. She had lost sight of Aang and she knew he was in trouble, but the last thing she wanted was to blindly shoot fire and risk hurting someone. So instead, she stumbled through the dust until she could see properly. 

“Look out!” Was all she heard Sokka shout before he knocked her to the ground. She groaned as she fell, opening her eyes to see Sokka’s blue ones staring down at her. 

“What’d you do that for?” She grumbled, shoving him off of her.

“I saved you from a fire blast! A thank you would’ve been nice!” 

“I’m a firebender! I can handle a fire blast, you can’t!” She jumped to her feet, ready to defend her friends from the source of the blasts. 

What she expected to see through the dust was a bounty hunter or a Fire Nation soldier. Who she had not expected to see, however, was Prince Zuko. She felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her body. Seeing her old friend brought a flood of feelings back to her, but she tried her best to suppress them. She wanted to run into his arms and squeeze him into a hug. But then she pieced it all together. It was Zuko who had been hunting Aang. He was the one who raided Katara and Sokka’s village. A lot had changed since the two of them had last seen each other, that was obvious. 

It took Zuko a few seconds to recognize her. She was still in her Earth Kingdom clothes, as the disguise helped her travel between cities without being recognized. But he would recognize her (color) eyes anywhere. He stopped in his tracks; his arms lifted for another attack. 

“(Y/N)?” He asked. He glanced between her and the Avatar. 

In her fifteen years of life, not once had she firebended against Zuko. But she had a duty to her new friends and to the rest of the world. She ran at him, flipped forward, and kicked fire into his face. Zuko’s arms cut through her fire. He grunted angrily. 

“What are you doing?” He demanded. She didn’t answer. She shot fire at him again, but he dodged. 

“I won’t let you hurt him!” 

“Traitor!” Zuko roared, firing blasts back at her. She avoided them easily. She had always been praised for being light on her feet. Taking gymnastics with Ty Lee had allowed her to dance in between the flames. Zuko had only gotten better over the years. This would be a tough battle to beat. She kicked him in the stomach, knocking him off of his balance for a few moments. 

“You guys get out of here!” She shouted to her friends. “I’ll hold him off!” 

“We’re not leaving without you!” Katara shouted back. Zuko shot fire that missed her face by inches. 

“Go!” She shouted to them. She shot fire blasts from her firsts, driving Zuko away from her. She heard Appa fly away and in her heart, she hoped they would come back for her. She realized a moment too late that the bounty hunter’s beast had reached its tongue toward her. Paralyzed, she fell to the ground, knocking herself unconscious from the fall. 

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She sat in the hold of the Fire Nation ship with her hands cuffed behind her back, preventing her from bending her way out. She had woken up in that dark room, with the only light being from the torches on the outside of the cell. It amused her a bit that she had been captured by the nation she once called home, but really, she had spent most of her time wondering when her friends would come for her. It would be incredibly dangerous for them to infiltrate a Fire Nation ship, especially Aang. He was the prize that Zuko wanted, after all. 

Speaking of Zuko, he had been sitting in front of the bars of her cell since she had woken up. They both had been silent. She wanted to speak to him, but she wasn’t sure what to say. It was obvious the Agni Kai had changed him for the worse. He had been absolutely ruthless when they were fighting in the village. It had taken everything in her to fight him off, but it obviously hadn’t been enough. 

The heavy metal door swung open and she looked up to see Iroh, Zuko’s uncle. She had always liked Iroh. He told her funny stories whenever he visited the royal palace. He had played Pai Sho with her on more than a few occasions. He was a kind man, who didn’t really fit in with his family at all. She sat up immediately, a bright smile on her face. 

“Iroh!” She said cheerfully. “It’s wonderful to see you.” 

“Zuko,” Iroh scolded. “What is our dear friend doing in a cell?” Zuko glared at her. 

“She’s with the Avatar now. She’s a traitor.” 

“Traitor is a harsh word, in my opinion,” She replied. “I think I like the word rebel more.” 

“Don’t get cheeky with me!” Zuko snapped. 

“Is this true, (Y/N)?” Iroh asked. She looked away from him and refused to answer. 

“Where did the Avatar go?” Zuko demanded. She scoffed. 

“As if I’d tell you.” 

“As your prince, I demand you to answer me!” 

“So, am I a traitor, or are you still my prince? My head is killing me, Zuko, I can’t really keep up right now.” Humor was how she was choosing to deal with the pain of seeing the disappointment in Zuko’s eyes. She knew she was doing it for the right reasons, but she had let him down. 

“You’re just as insufferable as you were when I left.” She felt the anger inside of her boiling. 

“I’m insufferable? Says the boy who is still serving a country that banished him.” 

“That’s why I need the Avatar, (Y/N)! So I can finally go home and restore my honor!” 

“We both know it’s not going to be good enough for him, Zuko.” 

He turned toward his uncle. “Leave us.” Silently, Iroh left, but not before flashing her a sad smile. “I can’t believe I thought that I would ask for your hand in marriage once I returned home.” 

She scoffed. “Were you planning on filling me in of that plan in one of the letters you wrote to me?” 

“Letters? I never--” 

“Exactly. Even if I had stayed with the Fire Nation, I wouldn’t have agreed to your proposal. You might’ve been banished, Zuko, but it’s not hard to send a messenger hawk.” 

“Is that why you became a traitor? Because I didn’t write to you?” 

“Zuko, I promise that not everything is about you. Have you seen what the Fire Nation is doing to people? To innocent people?” 

“It’s what they deserve!” 

“No one deserves to have their home destroyed, or have their family members ripped away from them! I saw what the Fire Nation did in my own city and countless others. The Fire Nation isn’t what I thought it was.” Her eyes welled with tears. “And neither are you.” 

Zuko stormed out after she said that. (Y/N) lay back down on the ground and cried quietly as she mourned over the friend she once knew. The old Zuko was long gone. 

---

Tag List!

@mdgrdians , @soft4kei , @bubblebars , @pleasantfankingdom , @vintageroses1014516 , @celamoon , @fangirlanotherjust , @gliderbudgie 

Thanks so much for reading!! read part 6!!

[clonewarslover55]

if your headcanon requests are still open, can I request relationship headcanons for jango?? - royalhandmaidens 💕

Absolutely!! 

Notes: Jango Fett is a natural born Mandalorian, as is his son Boba, so that’s how I wrote this. If you do not believe Jango is a true Mandalorian then don’t read this and please fuck off. 

Another note: I didn’t mention much of Jango’s past because I know many of you don’t know him outside of the movies. There are still some past things mentioned though. 

Find my fic on raising Boba with Jango here 

Jango Fett relationship headcanons //SFW and NSFW//

SFW 

Jango Fett is a Mandalorian, and a bounty hunter. So he’s a busy man 

He lives on Slave I mostly, so he’s never in one place for long 

You’d probably meet him on a job

If you’re a Mandalorian, then you would know about him and probably would meet him that way

Regardless of how you met, when you get in a relationship with Jango he becomes very protective

He’s very possessive and gets jealous easily, and you’ll learn that early on in the relationship 

Jango is actually a very sweet and caring man behind closed doors 

He may be a hardass Mandalorian, but he’s also just a big teddy bear 

Jango is smooth as hell, but he doesn’t really flirt that often 

He seduces your pants right off, just by a simple conversation 

You have no idea how he does it 

Maybe it’s how he always calls you by a pet name? 

Jango isn’t the most romantic man, but if he makes you mad he’ll bring you flowers or a small gift 

Whenever he does do something romantic it’s very small but sweet 

Like he’ll bring you a beautiful place to watch the stars, or to Mandalore to watch the sunset 

Those places are far more romantic than Slave I, which always needs repairs and upgrades 

He teaches you how to fix up Slave I, of course he’s fixing the ship nearly naked because he’s a show off 

This man owns his armor, two shirts, and one pair of pants. So when he repairs stuff he doesn’t want to ruin his already ruined worn down clothes 

Jango Fett can sew! This man repairs his own clothes. He learned how to sew during his time in slavery

He cherishes small things, so if you ever try to give him anything fantastic he probably won’t accept it 

He’s not used to so much. 

Fuck, please hug this sad man. 

That means cuddle him. He loves cuddles because he is touch starved 

This man does not know cooking outside of killing something and cooking it on a fire 

Or just eating rations 

So if you ever cook or bake for him he’ll fall in love with you instantly, even if it’s bad 

If you get with Jango before or during his time on Kamino you’ll be stuck there for about twelve years 

He’ll bring you to Kamino with him once he gets the job 

Along with all a hundred(100) plus members of the Cuy’val Dar

The Cuy’val Dar are Jango’s mercenary friends(Kinda) who he hired to train clone Commandos 

Most are Mandalorians, so you meet some pretty interesting people(Like Walon Vau! My favorite character!!)

Once this stubborn man falls in love with you he’ll teach you about the Mandalorian culture 

But that will take a while. Jango isn’t very trusting, like at all 

Jango is a very closed off man, and he’s amazing at putting on a mask 

He has terrible trauma from his past. From watching his parents get slaughtered, to his sister being kidnapped, to being a slave for a few years. 

So he is very fucked up in the head, and he will not talk about it. No matter how hard you try 

But If one of his Mando friends tells you about his past and you ask Jango he might tell you 

Jango is a very stone cold serious man, but he has a sense of humor

It comes out in the most unlikely times too 

Jango is a very good man who goes out of his way to help sometimes 

He’s not afraid to kill an innocent man for a bounty, but he’ll still help strangers now and then

Jango will bring you along on most jobs, but that just makes him more on edge 

He isn’t big into pda, but if you’re in some skeevy bar he’ll always be touching you one way or another

He is very protective of you, and once little Boba comes on he becomes even more protective 

Jango stops doing jobs when Boba is an infant, and sticks to just training the Alpha class troopers 

You watch baby Boba while his father is away training clones 

When Boba gets older and Jango isn’t as busy with the Alpha’s, he begins to go on jobs again 

You either go with him or stay on Kamino with Boba 

When Jango falls in love with you he falls hard 

He can trust you with his son, and his own life.

With time Jango will ask you to marry him, the Mandalorian way of course

Once you say those simple words in Mando’a, there's no going back 

You’ll be stuck with a bounty hunter husband till the end 

And oh boy does he love and cherish you 

NSFW 

His sex drive is actually pretty high, even when he’s older 

So he can go anytime, anywhere 

He may not hold your hand in public, but he’ll fuck you in an alleyway or bar bathroom 

Jango is a very skilled man, especially with his hands and mouth 

He’ll know your body like the back of your hand, and he’ll never forget your sweet spots 

Jango will try whatever you want to try, he’s super kinky 

He won’t ever openly admit it, even though he’s the one that brings up the subject often

Jango is also a switch! So, some nights he’ll be the submissive one 

If you want to hear this gruff man moan and whimper then top him(Pegging)

He’s a Mandalorian, of course he has a breeding kink 

He gets off on the mere thought of filling you with his cum, watching you grow round with his child 

So if you have a breeding kink too, be prepared

If you happen to get pregnant with his child, you’ll learn that he has a pregnancy kink 

He finds you unbelievably sexy while pregnant 

Because of his breeding kink he isn’t really into receiving oral. That doesn’t mean he dislikes it!

He loves oral, but he’d much rather cum in between your legs then in your mouth 

Like I said, he’s great with his mouth. So he’s great at oral 

Jango can be a tease when he wants, because he has the patience for it 

He mainly teases with dirty talk. His gruff voice making you cum with just his words 

Jango uses your pet names in the bedroom as well

He can be rough and fast, or he can be sweet and slow 

It all depends on his mood

Some nights Jango will slowly fuck you, whispering sweet words into your ear 

He loves those slow nights, because he takes his sweet time drawing orgasm after orgasm from you 

As much as he loves pleasuring you as much as possible, he’ll still do quickies 

He loves a quickie before a job 

Jango is wonderful at aftercare! He’s a sweetheart that always makes sure you’re alright 

He always cleans you up afterwards, and if you two have the time and energy he’ll take a hot shower with you 

Sadly Slave I doesn’t have a bathtub, just a small shower. 

His place on Kamino has a bathtub though. That’s how you discovered he loves bath sex 

Jango loves it when you fall asleep in his big strong arms 

Tags: @royalhandmaidens @peacelandbread

[thebountyfucker]

Embo Relationship Alphabet

My take one the Embo Relationship NSFW Alphabet. (First done by@justanotherstarwarswhore) The format is from Din Djarin (SFW + NSFW 18+ Alphabet Combo) by ChicanaStardust

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex) Embo values his partners, and unlike some other bounty hunters, he prides himself in caring for them. He is aware in the importance of aftercare, especially after intense scenes, and is the first to initiate aftercare. He enjoys giving massages (though they can be unintentionally rough due to his incredible strength) and will even go as far as helping his partner to bathe if they request it.

B= Body part (What’s their favourite body part on themselves, and their partner?) Just as @justanotherstarwarswhore said, Embo is not vain. He sees himself as a functional whole, for a lack of a better description. He is a hunter, he is a warrior... as long as he can fulfill these duties, he doesn't much care about how he looks. He is neither vain nor insecure in his appearance, though he is aware that his more alien biology is not a turn-on for everyone. As for his partner, Embo, again, sees them as a whole person. He doesn't like breaking his partners down into 'favorite parts' because there is more to a partner than looks. He does have a certain fascination with breasts, only because Kyuzos don't have them. Doesn't mean he likes them better or more, he just finds them amusing.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum, basically) Embo cums - a lot. He can orgasm over and over again, unlike humans. It's hot, and a bit sticky, and he produces more than many species. He doesn't have a favorite place to cum, but there is a certain pleasure in watching it leak out of a partner. (It tastes sweeter than human cum, but it has a bit of a metallic after-taste)

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?) & Dirty secret (self-explanatory) Eventually, yeah, probably. He grew up around kids and finds them delightful, so he'd probably want to have them at some point. He does intend to retire from hunting, but not soon. He considers himself at the top of his game and doesn't want to waste that opportunity. He is a neat-freak and a wonderful cook, though he tends to cook spicy, ethnically-Phatrongi food.

As for a dirty secret, I think he got around quite a bit when he was younger. Generally during his training days on Phatrong. Kyuzos, other than their weaker lungs, are incredibly hearty and rarely get sick. He didn't feel like he had to worry about STDs. When he left Phatrong, though, he slowed down a bit. He still sometimes sleeps with other bounty hunters. (What else are you going to do when you spend weeks on a ship alone?)

E = Experience (how experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?) Going back to the previous point, I think he's quite experienced with pleasuring partners of any gender. Of course, he's most experienced with those that share his same biology. He's still learning about how to please other species, but that doesn't mean he's bad at it.

F = Fiancé (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?) Embo would be the type to settle down with a long-term lover or two, but I don't think he's the marrying type. He feels that marriage is kind of a scam and complicates otherwise fine relationships.

G = Goofy (are they the serious type or more humorous?) Embo is very serious - it comes with the job. He might try to quip or crack jokes, but they usually fall short because Kyuzan jokes don't make much sense to outsiders.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? Does the carpet match the drapes? Etc.) & Head (Giving and receiving) No hair, upstairs or downstairs. He doesn't mind hair on his partner. He also doesn't mind partners without hair. To him, hair is inconsequential. He likes giving and receiving head.

When he's in a situation where he can eat a partner out, he will gladly do so. (He's got quite the tongue, though his sharper teeth do pose a slight threat to the nethers. He's careful, though) He likes receiving enough that he won't ever turn it down, but it's not a required sexual act for him.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?) & Intimacy (How intimate are they during sex?) It would be rare to hear that from Embo. He's a bounty hunter, and despite how much he may care for a partner, he does need to keep a certain distance. Without doing so, it could put his partner in danger.

He's intimate, surprisingly! He's very worshipful and reverent, but good luck getting any emotional intimacy out of him (for the prior reason).

J = (Jealousy and Jack off/Handjob combo) Embo, jealous? No! Or at least that's what he'd say if a

partner asked. And, to an extent, it's true. However, if a partner were to flirt with, or be flirted with, one of his immediate rivals, he would likely be a bit upset. He masturbates sometimes, but not often.

K = Kisses that lead into kinks (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed? What are one or more of their kinks?) Kissing Embo is... difficult. Circumstances have to be exactly correct (there has to be oxygen enough for him and his partner to both breathe relatively comfortably, which is difficult to achieve). He likes it... it just doesn't happen often.

I agree with@justanotherstarwarswhore that Embo likely has a size kink. It's hard not to, given his height. Otherwise, Embo is what I like to call 'a sexual chameleon', meaning that he will engage in mostly any kinks that his partner requests. (Within limits, of course).

L = Location (Favorite place to do the do.) I'd say bedroom, bathroom, kitchen... anywhere in a private home, really.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?) & Motivation (What gets them going?) Embo is an early riser. Like... early. He'd get up, meditate, drink some tea, and probably do some tidying around his place before his partner ever wakes. When they do wake, he'd already have breakfast ready.

Clear communication is the thing the gets him going the most. But, he's also into a partner sitting on his lap and grinding against him.

N = No (something that is a turn off? ) He's up for almost anything, but I do think age play and scat/vomit play are off the table.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?) Good luck getting him to reveal anything about his personal life unprompted. He's rather closed off, though if one was to ask about his past, he might answer.

P = Pace (are they soft and sensual? Or are they rough and feral?) & PDA (are they open to displaying the relationship?) Both. He does as his partner desires, but his 'rough and feral' can be too much for many people. (Man's strong as hell! Without full cognizance of his strength, he can do serious damage.)

PDA is... very rare. Again, he is a hunter. He doesn't care as much about his public image as he does about his partner's safety.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?) Embo remembers a lot. He's more of a listener than a speaker, after all. Sometimes, he can bring things up that even his partners don't remember telling him.

R = Risks (are they game to experiment? Do they take risks?) It depends, really. Does he experiment? Most definitely. Will he partake in things that he's tried and doesn't care for? Depends on the partner. He partook in much riskier behaviors when he was younger.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?) Embo is very protective. His business is dangerous. His enemies, even more so. He would protect his partner with his life.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?) The Kyuzo don't celebrate anniversaries, so he wouldn't think anything of them. He would spoil his partners on dates, though, taking them to fancy restaurants and on expensive vacations.

U = Unfair (How much they like to tease.) He would like a bit of teasing, but he wouldn't say that it's the primary turn-on for him. He would also tease his partner a little, but nothing too extreme.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?) & Volume (Are they loud during sex?) Again, Embo is not vain. He doesn't care about how his body looks, but he does take pride in keeping his uniform/armor as clean as possible. (Obviously, he can't always keep it clean... but he tries). He's rather quiet, but he does hiss and growl sometimes.

W = Whole/wildcard (What's a random headcanon for the character?) Embo doesn't wear much clothes around his home.

X = Xtra & X-Ray (Random Headcanon/ What’s Underneath those clothes) Embo and his partners sometimes have ritual sex to appease his goddess. Embo's cock is quite large - it's longer than most humans', and thicker. There are nodes at the top of his cock which are adept at rubbing internal pleasure points (g-spot, a-spot, etc.) He also has internal balls.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?) In terms of how long he can go when sex has started? It's incredibly high. He can and has fucked for hours and hours without tiring. In terms of how often, I would say the higher-end of average.

Z = Zzzzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?) Embo sleeps very little and very lightly. It's biology and training at this point. He'll sleep for five hours at night, and then sometimes take a quick cat nap during the day.

[wheres-sam]

I binge-watched the spn anime because of the brain rot

It’s bad except for the parts that are good, and it’s pretty to look at. Here’s a comprehensive list of pros and cons. Spoilers ahead!

Pros:

- more psychic kid backstories: Max (Nightmare), Lily (Darkness Calling), Jake (Loser)

- more psychic Sam

- more Azazel

- basically if you want more about the psychic/demon kids, watch the anime

- more young Winchesters

- the monsters, the superhuman abilities, the fight scenes, it all looks really cool animated. (But PSA it’s violent. It doesn’t shy away from blood and gore.)

- Sam and Jessica backstory

- more of the brothers being cute and funny together

- Missouri isn’t forgotten

- includes some Japanese legends/mythology

- the impala looks great in every scene. They did Baby good

- the “Supernatural” intro title

- the outro sketches of the boys hanging out with Baby

- Episodes adapted from the original show are different, but I like some of the changes? It’d be boring if it was an exact retelling and the visual medium wasn’t utilized. (I know I said spoilers before, but this is when they get detailed. If you wanna skip over, I’ll tell you where they STOP.)

Nightmare goes more into the abuse Max has suffered. Instead of locking Sam in a closet, Max sends Sam through the floor and covers the hole by breaking his bed in half, and it’s extremely sexy how Sam shoves the 2 halves apart with his mind. Later on Dean puts bandaids on Sam and they talk about demons loudly in front of a fast food intercom.

In My Time of Dying highlights the guilt Sam feels over Dean. In both the og and the anime John verbally blames Sam for not shooting Azazel, but where in the og Sam goes right on arguing, in the anime he reels back for a moment like he was slapped. Dean’s spirit touches Sam’s shoulder, and Sam knows immediately that it’s Dean. He doesn’t even question it. Instead of “Are you here?” it’s “I know you’re with me. I can feel it.” And I love that. Dean figures out right away he’s dealing with a reaper, and the reaper takes on the appearance of Mary to convince Dean to move on to the afterlife. Instead of a Ouija board, Sam uses a laptop to talk to Dean, and the first word Dean types is “Sammy!” Dean is so fond of his little brother and Sam is so baby.

Rising Son is an anime only episode, but it draws inspiration from John’s journal. Dean has a proper breakdown over his dad’s death and the possibility of having to kill Sam. Ms. Lyle, Sam’s favorite teacher who turns out to be possessed, is explored. John takes Dean hunting, and in the journal Dean hesitates to shoot a buck, and little Sam shoots it thinking it was endangering Dean. In the anime, Dean’s cornered by a moose and Sam makes it explode with his mind and it’s so !!! How little Sam’s first words are, “I’m glad you’re okay. It didn’t hurt you?” The boys are covered in blood and guts and Dean’s like 👁👄👁 “Why are you here? Did you do this?” And then Sam starts freaking out a little, the shock sets in. “I don’t know. I don’t know, honest.” And he’s staring at his hands, and I am a big fan of Sam showing superhuman signs as a kid. Like in the journal, Ms. Lyle tries to take Sam. She gives Sam the illusion of a choice to come with her or stay with Dean, and Sam chooses Dean. This ep is pretty much when John figures out Sam has demon blood. He kills another hunter that wants to kill Sam.

Crossroad is based on Crossroad Blues, and I love how the crossroads demon shows up. It’s hard to describe, but it’s so neat, like she’s walking underneath Dean in this mirror world, and then the mirror world takes over the regular world, so you really get this sense of otherworldly seclusion, existing outside of time.

What Is and Should Never Be shows Dean is a firefighter in his ‘Mary never died’ world, and Sam got to play soccer growing up like he wanted. The brothers hold each other after Dean is saved from the Djinn.

AHBL part 1. When Azazel shows Sam that he fed Sam his blood, Sam gags and slaps a hand over his mouth, and I like that reaction more than the live action. The psychic kids get to go more anime with their powers, and that’s a lot of fun. They don’t need weapons. Ava slams Sam into the brick side of a building and cuts him without touching him. Jake snaps Ava’s neck with one hand and then catches Sam in his arms. When Jake attacks Sam, there’s no gun or knife. He’s relying on his super strength, his fists. Sam throws his arms up to protect himself, and (accidentally?) pushes Jake back with his mind, and the collision creates a crater in the ground. Jake puts his fist through Sam’s chest to kill him. It’s brutal and it’s rad as fuck. These kids are terrifyingly powerful.

The Sam and Dean reunion before Sam is killed is not as emotional as the live action imo, but what the anime does intrigues me. Hurts in a different way. Because Sam is stunned after he uses telekinesis again, on Jake, and when he hears Dean behind him Sam freezes. He doesn’t look relieved to see Dean, but wary and weary. It’s Dean taking steps towards him, not the other way around, and it has to be because Sam doesn’t know if Dean saw him push Jake back. Sam doesn’t know how Dean’s going to respond to all this, to him, having powers that come from a demon, the demon, Azazel. Sam hasn’t had a chance to process anything. He’s scared. He’s tired. And the way the anime focuses on Sam’s eyes here. Gah. “Dean. Dean, I’m...” I’m sorry. I’m all right. I’m glad you’re okay. I’m a monster. There’s also this one shot between Sam and Azazel that sends me because of how anime it is.

AHBL part 2. I love how Sam brought back to life is animated, with all the color returning to his face and a light wind rustling his hair and his lips parting to indicate his soul returning to his body. Jake attacks Dean, and, a lot like how Sam activates telekinesis to save Dean from Max in Nightmare, Sam gets a burst of superhuman strength. He rips Jake’s arm off and tackles him to the ground and beats him to death, punches holes into his body, and it’s so savage and bloody and scary, and I love it. The Devil’s Gate opening looks so cool animated. Same goes for Dean shooting Azazel with the Colt.

Not to turn this into a meta post, but I also noticed how the last couple times Sam uses his powers they’re colored green-yellow, the same colors as Mary’s ghost when she reveals herself in the anime’s Home, and I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it’s neat how it draws a connection to Sam’s biological family instead of Azazel’s blood.

The Spirit of Vegas is like Bad Day at Black Rock, but Dean has all the bad luck instead, and it shows off the silly cartoony physics that make animation fun. The boys sleep outside and split a chunk of bread for dinner. Also this lil bit of Dean’s hair tied in a bow.

- (STOP) the brothers are pretty. I am not immune to animated Sam and Dean Winchester.

Cons:

- Jensen doesn’t voice Dean until the last 2 episodes

- The English dialogue is really bad sometimes. I wish I could’ve watched the sub, but I couldn’t figure out how to change the language

- Some character designs are really different from the live action, and maybe that’s petty, but if you’re gonna change the characters diversify them? Don’t just make them unrecognizable white people

- Missouri’s design as a stereotypical witch doctor is racist

- Gordon is replaced by some British guy named Jason?? Why

- There’s an LGBT character who is not accepted by her family and, while that bigotry is always shown to be negative and she dies the hero of the episode, she still dies ://

- In the English dub Lily’s gf is made into her roommate instead. Idk about the sub

- Bobby’s pretty much a totally different character

- Sam and Dean are OOC sometimes

- Dean’s hair usually looks darker than Sam’s and it drives me crazy

- The storytelling is, overall, not nearly as good as the live action

- The non-Japanese lore in some episodes makes no sense. Sometimes it’s just plain ridiculous?? Like there’s a giant robot made of cars and scrap metal controlled by a demon? ? I wish I was making this up

- Meg’s role is severely reduced

- No Harvelles or Roadhouse

- Shadows are overused, but maybe that’s because the og show is so dark?

- I don’t mind the art style. I like the aesthetic, but I wish it was a little more expressive. It doesn’t do Sam’s puppy eyes justice.

- AZAZEL’S SHADOW?? PROPORTIONS?? PEA SIZED HEAD

- Idk why they mashed season 1 and 2 together? The story feels rushed

- there’s not as much chemistry between Sam and Dean, but that’s a given without J2 on screen

- Nobody tells you!! That there’s scenes after the credits!! And some of them are important! Why are important scenes after the credits??

The anime would not be good on its own, without the heart and depth the live action brings, but it works as supplementary material you can cherry pick from. I would watch more if there were more episodes.

It hasn’t turned me off from wanting an spn anime. I’d like to see it continued or redone, with updated animation and better scripts. There’s a lot of potential in exploring more about the psychic kids and Sam’s powers, storylines that were cut short in the og show. Animation is a great medium for showing off the supernatural, getting creative and creepier with the designs, dramatic with the fight scenes, without having to worry about bad CGI. I don’t want a live action reboot, but I think a redone animated series could be a lot of fun! (As long as it’s not an excuse to make any romantic ships take over. SPN is a platonic love story, and I like it that way.)

If you made it to the end here and are interested in watching the spn anime, you can watch it for free on the CW Seed app! You can probably stream it elsewhere, but idk where!

[corrupt-fvcker]

Din Djarin NSFW Alphabet

NSFW Alphabet ( Din Djarin x fem!Reader )

Warning: filthy, filthy, filthy... my mother would be proud mortified

Word Count: 3.5K

Author’s Note: din owns 50% of my heart (obi owning the other 50% obviously)

A is for Aftercare (what they're like after sex): When it comes to taking care of you, Din needs to make sure you're okay. If he's anything during sex, he's rough. And sometimes, even if he's too stubborn to admit it to himself, he gets a little carried away (even though you'd definitely never complain). He gets lost in the moment, but when both you finish, he feels a little guilty about how tired out you are. But despite how rough he is during sex, he is nothing but loving and gentle afterward. He's careful to make sure that you aren't hurt, running his hands up and down your body in a soothing manner as he checks for any bruise that looks particularly painful. He cleans you with a warm cloth, wanting to make sure that you feel clean and comfortable. He'll kiss every mark that he left on your body, whispering words of praise against your skin as you catch your breath. With featherlight touch he'll brush your hair out of your face before kissing you softly to accentuate how much he cares for you. Once he's sure that you're comfortable, he wraps his arms around you and pulls you as close as humanly possible. Before falling asleep he tucks his head in the crook of your neck to pepper soft kisses on your collar before finally resting.

B is for Body Part (their favorite body part of their partner or themselves): Needless to say, Din is in love with every curve of your body, and it certainly isn't easy for him to pick a favored feature of yours because you're just so beautiful to him. However, if he had to pick one, Din loves your legs. He adores the curves of your thighs, how they're soft against his cheeks when he goes down on you. He loves grabbing you by your ankle and pulling you back into his arms in bed when you playful squirm out of his embrace. He can't think of a better feeling than when you wrap them around his waist when he's driving into you. When it comes to himself, he knows that you have a certain fondness of his arms. His years of training and hard work have made him strong, and he knows that you melt into him whenever he uses his strength to pull you close to him. When you're blindfolded and he's able to remove his armor, Din is in love with the feeling of your hands brushing up his arms to feel his muscles before wrapping your arms around his neck.

C is for Cum (anything to do with cum... hehe, oops): When it comes to finishing, Din prefers to do so inside of you. He likes the warmth and the tightness and the overall feeling of possessiveness that settles over him when you allow him to finish inside of you. Though if you don't want him to finish inside of you, Din isn't too picky, but he does love the view of his seed on your ass.

D is for Dirty Secret (a dirty dirty secret of theirs): Din is too stubborn to admit it but he enjoys the idea of fucking your ass. He would never suggest doing so, only wanting to approach the subject if you were the one to bring it up, but he finds that thought occupying his mind a bit more than he would care to admit. There's just something about the idea of you wanting him to do something so downright dirty that makes his heart race. You aren't completely oblivious to his secret despite him never hinting towards his fantasy, and you can't help but tease him at every given chance.

E is for Experience (how experienced are they? Do they know what they're doing?): Din is talented in the sheets, skilled. You never pried when it came to his previous flings, but you just knew that this Mandalorian was in no way a virgin. Though despite his undeniable skill in the bedroom, Din isn't all to experience. In his early days of being a bounty hunter, he found himself entertaining the occasional one-night stand and sometimes even a rare trip to a brothel. Din had even been in a relationship before -- not that he could even compare his past relationship with the bond the two of you share. Because all Din's past relationships (if you could even call them that) were pure for the sake of stress relief with little to none emotional attachment. So when you and Din finally admit your feelings to each other and attempt to have slow and romantic sex, Din finds himself a little out of his zone.

F is for Favorite Position (what's their go-to sex position?): Din is pretty persistent when it comes to the fact that he wants to be on top. Sometimes if you ask or if he's in a particular mood, he'll allow you to be on top, but it's rare. Din likes control and he likes to know that he's taking care of you in every way he's physically able to. There's usually two main positions Din resorts to when he's adamant of being in control with you. The first is missionary, he likes being able to see you without the barrier of his visor. Even if you can't see him, he loves to watch your face morph into expressions of pure pleasure when he's taking you. He wants to be able to kiss you while he can, peppering kisses on your neck and collar as well as slipping his tongue into your mouth whenever your lips part from a moan. He also thoroughly enjoys taking you from behind. The sound of his hips slamming into your ass if nothing short of addicting. He likes that he can go as hard and as fast as you'll let him, pounding into you as both of you chase your releases. And just as the two of you are about to finish, he weaves his fingers into your hair and pulls your back flush against his chest.

G is for Goofy (are they more serious in the moment or are they more humorous?): Din is naturally a man of few words, speaking with careful and precise purpose. And when it comes to the bedroom, there isn't much change in his mannerisms. He's tight-lipped and only speaks only he finds it necessary. He's usually too focused on bringing you pleasure than to allow himself to be too goofy with you. But there are times with Din allows himself to relax, bordering humorous with his teasing.

H is for Hair (how well-groomed are they?): Din is busy, both a skilled bounty hunter as well as a new father. He puts his job and others before himself, often being too tired to stay persistent when it comes to grooming. But when it comes to making sure that he's pleasing you, he refuses to let himself go. He'll make sure that he's decent but he isn't too crazy about spending his free time grooming himself when he could be with you or the Child. Though he makes sure that he's presentable and clean for your sake, never wanting you to feel uncomfortable.

I is for Intimacy (how do they act during the moment?): When it comes to a romantic moment, Din is completely in tune with your emotions and body. Most of the time, especially when he's feeling particularly stressed, Din is fucking you for pleasure -- both for you and him. But when the two of you are having a more sentimental moment, he can be very romantic. He'll whisper sweet nothings into your ear as you chase your high, kissing you with such passion that it leaves you breathless. But more importantly, Din allows himself to be open with you, letting you be subject of his deepest emotions without fear of being judged. Regardless of how romantic the two of you are feeling, Din always takes him time with you. He never wants to do anything in the bedroom but show you how much you mean to him.

J is for Jack off (masturbation): Din is known to occasionally masturbate, though he will be reluctant about it. Before you, he'd sometimes masturbate before his went to work, trying to keep his human impulses under control to keep him focused. But now that the two of you are together, he absolutely prefers fucking you rather than his hand. The only time he'll masturbate is when you're away and he finds himself missing your presence a little more than usual. He’d try to replicate your touch as much as he could, thinking of nothing but you when he strokes himself.

K is for Kink (one or more of their kinks): Again, Din is a little stubborn when it comes to admitting his kinks. But when he's really riled up, they sometimes just pop out of him spur of the moment. Blindfolding you isn't necessarily a kink of his, but he does enjoy having it over your eyes so that he can remove his helmet to actually kiss you for once. Sometimes he finds himself spanking your ass a bit excessively when he's feeling especially desperate for you after a stressful bounty. Teasing you also undoubtedly gets him off, he loves to watch you get fluster and try to hide from his gaze when he's pounding into you. He's always sure to mutter absolute filth into your ear when he's taking you. Unsurprisingly, you found Din to be a possessive lover. He has the tendency to mark you up quite literally everywhere. On your hipbones, inner thighs, neck, sternum, breasts, stomach -- everywhere. They're not as much there for others as they are for himself, he needs to know that you're his. And Din can't deny that he loves it when you leave hickies all over him as well, it being his and your dirty little secret that he is completely marked up underneath all the layers of beskar.

L is for Location (favorite places to get dirty): Although any place with you is perfect for Din, he prefers to take you in the safety of his ship. He likes to take his time with you, making sure that he pleasures you as much as he possibly can. He likes privacy and being able to remove his helmet to kiss you. He enjoys the comfort of the Razor Crest when he's finally able to let go. But that isn't to say that Din isn't more than fine with taking you outside of the bedroom. His job brings him to strange places, and he's more than fine fucking you anywhere. If you get too handsy in public Din won't hesitate to pull you into a secluded alleyway or into a cantina's bathroom. As long as he's with you, Din doesn't care where the two of you are.

M is for Motivation (what gets them going): Din loves to prove to you that he's in control, both over his own body and your pleasure. And with his helmet concealing his face, Din is able to pretend that he is completely unbothered by your teasing and touches if he chooses to do so. Anytime that you admit that you want him and are just as needy as he's pretending not to be, gets him riled up fast. Though the same can be said when you act the opposite, pretending that you don't need his help to get you off. When you act like a downright brat, Din completely loses himself. He's on you fast, throwing up against the wall and wasting no time to fuck you until you can't utter anything but his name.

N is for No (something they wouldn't do in the bedroom, turn-offs): Although Din is rather rough in the bedroom, he never wants to hurt you. Any bruise or mark that you bear after sex is due to Din's lack of self-control, not because he actually wanted to hurt you. He enjoys occasionally spanking you and biting the crook of your neck in a possessive manner, but he doesn't actually hurt you. Din wants to bring you nothing but pleasure, never pain or discomfort. Din also wants you completely to himself, he doesn't want to share you. He doesn't want others to see you like he gets to see you, your body is for his eyes only. He only ever takes you in public if he's sure that the two of you won't get caught.

O is for Oral (giving, receiving, skill... ): When it comes to going down on you, Din will eat you out like a starved man. In fact, he prefers giving oral more than he does receive it, which is hard to admit considering how he melts whenever you take him in your mouth. He's a complete sucker whenever you squeeze his head between your thighs and lace your fingers in your hair. And if you were comfortable with it, Din would insist that you sit on his face. He'll wrap his arms around your legs and pull you as close as humanly possible as he lapped at you, bringing you orgasm after orgasm. When it comes to you going down on Din, he's secretly an absolute mess. He'll act like he has everything under control, trying his hardest to keep the facade of his relaxed composure intact. He'll have his hand fisted in your hair and practically thrust into your mouth as he slowly but surely loses his grip on reality. By the time he finishes, he's a mess. His breathing is ragged and he's vibrating with pleasure as he struggles to remain impassive to the public eye. But you just have a way of knowing what you do to him.

P is for Pace (are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual?): Din can't help but be rough with you during sex, slamming into like a wild man. He goes fast and steady, intensely focused on bring both of you pleasure. He enjoys how you turn to putty in his hands when he drives into you, reminding you in teasing moans how he's the only one that can make you feel so good. If you were to ask, he'd slow down his pace for you, wanting to show you how much he loves you.

Q is for Quickie (their opinions on quickies versus proper sex): Although Din prefers the privacy of the Razor Crest, he will gladly fuck you anywhere. Every time he fucks you in any semi-public setting, Din loses all control. He can't even hide how much of a mess he is. Quickies are Din's golden ticket to fuck you as fast and rough as he possibly can, chasing each other's highs in as little time as possible. But even if he loses all control, he'll still tease you throughout the entire time. Taunting you for being unable to keep your hands off his cock for a simple trip to town, loving to watch you get flustered as he calls you desperate. And if the two of you get as far as removing your pants entirely, he will absolutely steal your panties as a trophy. He'll keep them tucked away and tease you about the fact that he has your panties in his pocket and how you're completely bare beneath your trousers.

R is for Risk (do they like to take risks and experiment?): Din enjoys an element of risk when it comes to sex, such as fucking you in semi-public places and touching you throughout the day no matter who's watching. And Din is willing to try nearly anything with you at least once, as long as you're both comfortable with the idea. Though Din makes sure before you attempt anything too risky to remind you not to hesitate to use the safe word.

S if for Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? How long do they last?): Due to his intense training and rugged lifestyle, Din's stamina is impressive. He isn't shy about it either, teasing you and bragging about how he kept you up all night fucking you senseless until you begged him to stop. He can easily last two to three rounds, only stopping if he was too rough with you or you're exhausted. What can he say? You drive him crazy, he'd gladly fuck you all night.

T is for Toy (do they own toys? Do they use them?): Although Din doesn't own any toys, he's more than open to the idea of using toys on you. He likes the idea of bringing you to tears without even having to truly touch you, which also offers him endless teasing opportunities. And if you wish to use a toy on him, he's open to the suggestion. He'd do just about anything for you.

U is for Unfair (how much do they like to tease): Din is merciless when it comes to teasing you. He gets off at the fact that his words can make you soak through your panties before he even touches you. He reminds you how he touched you the night before and how good he made you feel. He utters absolute filth about how he's going to fuck you against the wall of the Razor Crest as soon as you return. And his teasing only gets worse when he actually starts touching you. He'll grip your ass and tug you flush against his beskar-plated chest, his heated gaze burning through his helmet's visor. He loves to watch you squirm when he motions you to sit on his lap, teasing you by subtly thrusting his thigh against your core to get you hot and bothered. He'll tease your clit until you're a blithering mess, unable to do anything but gasp his name through broken moans.

V is for Volume (how loud are they? What sounds do they make?): When his helmet is on, only the occasion deep groan or a choked gasp will slip through the modulator. But when you're blindfolded and the helmet's off, you can hear all the little sounds that the helmet concealed. Airy gasps when you take him into your mouth, low groans when you squeeze his cock in your heat, near-silent whimpers when he finishes.

W if for Wild Card (random dirty headcanon):

Din secretly loves the idea of you binding his wrists together and having your way with him. He would never admit, not even if you insinuated that being something he wanted. He'd deny it without a second thought, maybe even turning on you and suggesting that you're the one that wants to tie him up. But the idea of being bound to your shared cot as you ride him drives him crazy. To be in such a submissive and vulnerable state goes against everything Din knows, but he can't help but crave the experience. He'd never trusted any of is past partners enough to leave him in such a vulnerable state, but Din trusts you with his life. And even if he'd never admit it, Din Djarin wants you to tie him up and fuck him senseless.

X is for X-Ray (what they're packing): Din is huge, both long and thick. The first time you saw his cock you almost gasped, thinking that there was no way in hell that it would hit inside of you. Luckily, Din wasn't a blushing virgin and actually knew how to use it. The morning after the first night you spent together, you couldn't walk.

Y is for Yearning (how high is their sex drive?): Although nobody would suspect it from a high-esteemed Mandalorian, Din is needy. He wants you after every bounty, always missing you and your body no matter how long he was away. If he finds himself growing bored during flight, he won't hesitate to put the ship in autopilot to go fuck you. If you gaze at him too long or brush against him, he's practically ready for you. Though under the rare circumstance of company, he's able to act more relaxed and reserved, making you look like the needy one.

Z is for Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep after): Din always makes sure that you're comfortable after you finish, cleaning you up and wrapping you up in blankets. He always waits for you to fall asleep first, no matter how exhausted he is because he wants to make sure that you're okay. He'll run his hands through your hair and wrap his arms around you, tucking his head in the crook of your neck as he grows tired.

━ ━ ━ ━

thanks for reading :)

[limeyartspinningtales]

TBB: The Light Is Gone

Episode 1, Part 1

Summary: Following a narrow escape from Kamino, the Bad Batch go in search of a lost pilot on a hazardous planet. But are they truly alone?

Word Count: 3.5k words

[EP1, P2] [EP2, P1] [EP2, P2]

------

There was silence in the darkness over Kamino. Within the cold vacuum, the Havoc Marauder rocketed out from the planet’s surface, no sound from the ship’s thrusters as it careened up into the open freedom. While tailed by defending ships, these were pulled away back towards the planet’s surface, or otherwise clipped down by another pair of ships that fell into the Marauder’s wake. One by one, each of the three vanished into hyperspace, and were gone. The emptiness remained.

Tech’s focus was everywhere. The ship’s controls, the navigation hub, checking the Marauder’s vitals for any sign of damage in the dogfight they’d escaped. His hands practically blurred as he clicked across the ship’s deck and ensured everything was right. Echo and Hunter sat over by the communication’s centre, Echo dialling in the frequencies of the two that had aided them. He could still feel sweat trickling down the back of his neck, heart throbbing in his chest from remaining adrenaline after that narrow escape. But his expression remained neutral, if his brow scrunched up in ensuring their communications were secure.

“Come in Fennec, were you able to get out?” Hunter spoke. After a moment of crackling speakers, the bounty hunter’s voice came through.

“Of course. Your other friend is a good hand to have in a dogfight, I barely got scratched,” she replied. “Now unfortunately I can’t be too long on niceties, I will need my payment.”

“We’ll meet at the rendezvous point on Ord Mantell in four cycles and hand over the credits there, clone’s honor.” While the easiest way would be for Fennec to get the payment via Cid’s, Hunter had no wish to implicate her directly with the Bad Batch on the off-chance that Fennec was hired once again to go searching for any members of the squad. He could hear a grumble of distaste over the comms, as Fennec clearly didn’t like his decision. 

“Alright. But if you ghost me, then I will come after you again,” she replied, almost with a hint of a joking tone over the comms. Echo pulled a grimace off his face, turning back to readjust the frequency for the next ship.

“How’re we doing, soldiers?” Rex called through. “Did you all get out alright?”

“All intact, for the most part,” Hunter replied. “We got our man out, without the chip.” 

“Good, that’s very good.” Rex’s relief was clearly audible, despite the static. 

“And how’s our other friend?”

“I can assure you, she’s taken on worse missions in our lifetime. We’re all just glad we’re out in one piece, and so are you all.”

“Thanks, general. We owe you one.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll call it in soon enough. Rex out.” The comms went dark and quiet, as Echo sat back from the hub. Looking over his shoulder, he glanced over Omega and Crosshairs. The former was sat guard over the latter, keeping a watchful eye on his condition the same way she’d done so with Wrecker. Going back to Kamino had been a troubling experience for all of them, going back to a place that had been home and now felt like a hollowed shell. For Omega, it’d been worse. Hunter had ached over going back on his promise to her, but his insistence that he wouldn’t let her be taken away from their group (their family) had given her the courage to join them in the task. It’d been a necessity after all. Too long had they left Crosshair in the Empire’s hands, watching as their brother was pushed through near destruction like any other disposable clone. Because that had been all they were, in the end, throughout the war. No matter how much each clone lived and lived, they’d been the fodder. But the Batch would be damned to watch their own fall apart. 

It’d been a clutch decision, a little too late in Echo’s mind, but once the goal was kickstarted then it was just a matter of rolling through and smashing down Kamino’s door to rescue Crosshairs. Too much had happened in the space of a few hours - Rex’s surprise appearance despite initially being reluctant to help, Nala Se assisting in removing Crosshair’s chip - and Echo wouldn’t be surprised if the whole team needed those four days before the rendezvous simply to unwind from the sheer chaos of it. Then again, every other day and hour was dunked in chaos. It was how their merry squad worked best.

Getting up from the communications hub, Hunter stepped the narrow space over to the bunk-bed. His brother had been so far away, it felt like a miracle that he was here on their ship again. The various scars littered Crosshair’s face, the burn mark from Bracca being the most prominent of all even now that half of it was covered by the bacta patch from removing his chip. Despite being unconscious, Crosshair still seemed to retain a scrunch to his face either in pain or disdain. The former was understandable. The latter brought an ache to Hunter’s chest. He sat down next to Omega, glancing over Crosshair and her in turn.

“How’re you feeling?” he asked.

“...Better, now we’re away,” she replied, voice hushed. “I think Nala Se wanted to talk to me, back there.”

“Did you want to talk to her?” Hunter kept his tone gentle, not wanting to pry too much. 

“No. I didn’t,” Omega muttered, her own tone dropping to bitterness as she tucked herself up smaller. She didn’t look back at Hunter. He didn’t press any further. Instead he rested a hand on her shoulder, giving a small squeeze before getting back to his feet. Wrecker took his place instead, leaning against the bunk as well. 

“How long d’you think it’ll take for him to get better?” he asked, much less to Omega and more an open question to the ship.

“Unsure. It took most of us approximately five minutes or less to wake up after our surgeries,” Tech explained, taking a pause from the flight controls. “You were suffering much more from the chip’s effects at the time, and you awoke some few hours after your surgery. Crosshair has been under the chip’s influence for….a very long time.” Regret fell into the normally neutral and methodical words Tech provided. 

“We don’t know,” Hunter summarised. “We just have to wait.”

For a moment, the ship lapsed into a hush, background to the humming engines and electricity buzzing through the lights. Then the communication’s hub began to ping. 

“Huh. It’s Cid,” Echo murmured, dialing into the frequency and letting words flash up on the screen. Not a direct call, but a general message with coordinates attached. As he read through the message, Hunter joining him to read as well, his face wrinkled up in disapproval.

“What’s she want now?” Wrecker grumbled.

“Got a job for us,” Hunter explained, and was unable to get much further before Wrecker exploded, “Already?! We only just got Crosshair back!” 

“Wrecker’s right. Crosshair’s still unconscious, and we don’t know when he’ll wake up,” Omega chimed in, hopping down next to Wrecker. “Shouldn’t we be waiting for him to recover instead of already picking up jobs?”

“Yes, already. We just pulled some very thick strings that Cid provided us. It’ll make sense that she’ll want any debts repaid as soon as possible, and I’d quite like to stay in her good books while one of our team is worse for wear,” Hunter explained, although his weariness broadcasted he was unhappy with the situation as well. “And maybe it’ll provide us an opportunity to stay out of the Imperial radar.”

“What’s the job in question?” Now Tech was getting curious as well, letting the ship continue on autopilot while heading over to the communication desk to read the message as well.

“Pick-up job. Cid got an emergency broadcast from some pilot that crash-landed on a planet near where we are. We go rescue the pilot, maybe some of their cargo, easy job,” Hunter said.

“It’s never an easy job though, really?” Echo snarked. 

“We can always hope.”

-

The Marauder pulled out of hyperspace a few clicks away from the planet, allowing just enough time for Omega to get a good view of their destination before they began to descend. Certainly a smaller planet, from above it seemed to be nothing but thin clouds and murky clouds and dark dots mixed into the clouds. Even from high up though, those dots seemed sharp and dangerous. Much of the planet itself was blotted out into shadow by the moon that hung surprisingly close to it. 

“Making a descent to Cavas now,” Tech announced. “Everybody best strap in securely, it’ll be bumpy.” Without much further persuasion, the rest of the Batch got to their seats, pulling down the heavy restraints to keep them secure. Wrecker made sure that Crosshair wouldn’t roll out of the bunk during descent, fixing in strap restraints before finding his own seat. As the ship began to shudder with the shift from space to atmosphere, Omega held on tight to the restraints while trying to peer out the viewport. At first it was only clouds, a jarring shift from vast black to milky yellow and grey. Then something huge and narrow flashed by the viewport at a terrifying speed. Another object appeared and disappeared just as fast, and Omega could feel the ship tilting in short sharp movements as Tech wove around the obstacles. With the clouds beginning to thin out more, all could now see that the Marauder was dancing around massive rock spires, needles that punched out from the ground far below and into the sky. It was no small shock that some of the structures reached so high up and yet so thin, rapier points attempting to drive into the small gunship. 

“I’ve heard the descent was risky here but I never quite realised-” Tech cut off his sentence as he turned the ship once more, narrowly avoiding another spire. “- how risky.”

“Ship!” Wrecker pointed out beyond the viewpoint and the clouds, as a looming shape far larger than the spires rapidly materialised from the fog. With a grunt of effort, Tech sent the Marauder down in a harsh descent, knocking most passengers backward and sending the ship’s gonk droid sliding past Omega, Hunter and Echo with panicked “Gonk!” warblings. For a moment they could glimpse the cruiser fly overhead, pinned in the air by a series of spires that had torn the underbelly apart and left it rusting. But then everything was a blur of motion as Tech steered the ship in through the spires, beginning to move closer towards the planet’s surface. With the clearing of clouds, more spires loomed into view, including ones that had been hidden just below the cloud layer itself. And with the spires were more ship ruins, crashed and ripped open and crumpled across the rocks below.

“We’re close to the emergency broadcast source,” Hunter called over to Tech. “Bring us around somewhere safe to land!”

“Understood. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

TGRANG

The ship shuddered to the left as something briefly impacted the right wing. Tech sucked in a sigh and muttered, “Shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“What happened?” Echo managed to hide most of his nervousness, but not all.

“Wing got clipped by something, possibly one of the rock formations. I’ll check it when we get on the ground,” Tech reassured him, calling back over his shoulder. Mumbling reassurances of his own to himself, Echo pressed his head against the back of his seat as best as he could and closed his eyes.

The rest of the flight down to the ground was thankfully less harrowing, beyond the sharp turns Tech needed to make to avoid the spires. As Hunter stepped down from the ship to the ground, the phrase “needle in a haystack” turned over in his head with a sourness. Not only were they searching for a ship in a ship graveyard, but the rest of the haystack included large rock needles. Taking a few steps away, he began to scour over the area they were in - a decently sized empty space for the Marauder to have squeezed into, surrounded with metal debris and rock walls. Down here on the ground there were various canyons from which the spires ended up sprouting from. The wall heights ranged from waist-level to several Wreckers tall, and with the degree of wreckage around then it wasn’t simple to judge whether there was stone or not beneath a pile of junk.

“This place looks a lot like Bracca,” Omega said as she joined Hunter. “Do you think the Scrapper’s Guild will be out here too?”

“Unlikely,” Tech spoke up, taking a moment to detour from checking the ship’s damage and instead pulling out his holo-pad. “Cavas doesn’t go under the overall list of junkyard planets that the Scrapper Guild and other such tend to use for taking apart wreckages. Specifically it is a ship graveyard, due to the number of lost ships that end up on it.”

“So there must be survivors from the crashes. Any towns, cities?” Hunter questioned.

“Negative. While Cavas has a breathable atmosphere, no-one has settled properly here due to its barren status. And even if attempts were made to make it more habitable, such as terra-forming processes, these would be ultimately impossible due to the proximity of its moon.” Tech pointed up to the sky’s horizon. While difficult to make out at first, eventually the curve of the moon itself could be spotted against the dull pink-grey of the sky. 

“How so?” Omega prodded further.

“Daytime here lasts only for two hours. After which, nighttime lasts for sixteen. Nothing would be able to grow.” With that, Tech put away his holo-pad, all intel having been provided. “Unfortunately there’s nothing much else to provide. Reconnaissance missions have been led to investigate this place but as you can tell, it was too dangerous and costly when most missions resulted in nothing but losses.”

“So even if there are previous survivors, they’ve probably already been rescued or died out here from the cold,” Hunter suggested with a grim understanding. “We’d best be on our way to find our pilot then. The emergency broadcast should lead us right to them. Tech, Echo, you two stay with Crosshair and the ship. We don’t want something to happen to Crosshair after we just got him back.” 

“Got that right, sir,” Echo replied, glancing back at the ship with a small relieved smile. Despite the stress and fatigue, there was that one undeniable sensation shared silently between the clones - relief. They had their brother back after all.

“Wrecker, Omega, come along with me,” Hunter went on, beckoning for Wrecker to follow after him as Omega was already keenly walking by his side. “It’s daytime so I reckon we’ve got time enough to scout for an hour before needing to get back before nightfall. Let’s go find our lost pilot before something out here decides they’re its next meal.”

The further the three of them walked away from the Marauder and the sound of Tech working on the ship, the more the noise seemed to slowly seep away until the sound of their footsteps walked alongside them. With the shape of the canyons and the piles of debris, every sound they made was deadened instead of echoing, making the muffling sensation even heavier. The routes that the canyons provided were a maze of themselves, sometimes resulting in needing to scramble over a smaller pile of debris to avoid having to circle around it and potentially lose the path to the broadcast’s source. Often Omega found herself glancing up and around, at the spires twisting into the air and the numerous shipwrecks around. On Bracca these wrecks had maybe some sort of sense of order. Here the ships were left haphazard to ruin. There was far more range here as well - cruisers, gunships, freighters, shuttles - with massive ships left hanging in the air as if the moment of their impact had been caught in time before it could hit the ground. States of disrepair varied as well, with some ships only just rusting over, while the shards of metal and detritus scattered everywhere suggested the ship they’d belonged to was long, long gone. 

How long had people been crashing on this planet? Why hadn’t Cid given them any warning, if this was a place that people rarely seemed to come back from?

“I really don’t like this place,” Omega whispered. “I can’t hear anything.”

“Like, you’re deafened by something?” Hunter questioned, looking confused.

“No, there’s nothing out here. Nothing’s making any sounds, except for us. Listen.” They all slowed to a stop and listened.

Silence.

No animal, no bird, nothing made a sound. Even the breeze that Hunter could feel against his cheek didn’t carry noise. 

“I really don’t like this,” Wrecker murmured, slowly lifting his blaster defensively. “What if there’s some kind of ambush set up here?”

“Well, we’ll have to deal with that if we find it,” Hunter replied quietly. It was hard to lift his voice louder in the heavy silence. “Just keep your eyes peeled, stay aware for any signs of movement, or any-”

CLANG-cl-clangclang

Spinning on his heel, Wrecker turned the blaster in the direction of the noise and began to fire, teeth gritted. It took Omega pulling on his arm for him to pause and lower his weapon, watching as several streams of debris began to pour slowly down the pile he’d been shooting at. 

“....If anyone’s here they had to have heard that,” Omega said. “Even if the sound here isn’t working right.”

“If we’re lucky, then maybe our pilot will come and search for us,” Hunter commented.

“And if we’re not lucky?” Wrecker asked.

“Then it won’t be our pilot searching.” Trooping on along the path, Omega took a moment to glance back at the spot that Wrecker had fired at. Although she suspected it’d simply been a piece of the ship finally falling away, she wondered if something (or someone) had been there. Especially now with the itching feeling of being watched crawling up her neck.

-

“....well, kriff.” Tech’s dead-pan tone after a long silence jerked Echo out of his thoughts. 

“What’s the matter?” he asked, getting up from his perch on the Marauder’s steps. 

“The good news is that the rock didn’t penetrate too deep into the ship itself. Otherwise it may have punctured our fuel storage and we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Tech replied, his hand on top of a sheet of metal that had been peeled off the ship about as neatly as peeling a jogan fruit. Echo held back a wince.

“And what’s the bad news?”

“I can put it back together without any issue. But to get it into place, I need Wrecker to push it into place,” Tech said. His gaze flicked over Echo, down to his hand, then to the cybernetic attachment on his other arm. “Or I could just try to do it myself.”

“Oh come on, I’m not some brittle shiny,” Echo scoffed. “I could lift more than you on any day.” 

Tech let out a sigh, pulling off his goggles and rubbing down his face. The clinical neutral expression slipped and tiredness blinked through for a moment. 

“I know, I know, I - ugh, this place is getting to me,” he admitted. “I keep feeling like something’s breathing down my neck, or creeping up just behind me. It’s making me feel on edge.”

“I know what you mean.” Echo did, his sympathy was more than genuine. He allowed his words to rest for a moment before getting to his feet. “I’ll check on Cross. Let me know if you feel like we can try pushing that into place.”

“Much appreciated,” Tech replied, turning back to the exposed ship’s interior. Turning about, Echo stepped into the Marauder, heading over to Crosshair’s bunk. Despite everything, despite the slightly catastrophic descent into Cavas and despite Tech and Echo’s bickering outside, Crosshair seemed utterly asleep.

“....Considering how long we made you wait for us to come and get you, I feel like it really is only fair that you make us wait for you to wake up,” Echo commented softly, even though the joke fell flat as it left his lips. Failing a brief moment of joviality, he allowed the more somber mood into him, leaning against the wall. 

“I’m sorry you had to wait. I’m sorry for all of this, for all they’ve done to you. I hope you’ll be able to forgive us,” he murmured. “....Maybe you’ll just be able to sleep through this mess. You deserve the rest after all.” Tilting his head forward slightly, he began to head back to the exit and to Tech.

“....And what mess would we be in this time?”

[count-v-dracula]

♡ + Vlad and James? 🥺

{ meme } | accepting

SEND ME ♡ + A SHIP AND I’LL TELL YOU…

feel free to elaborate as much as possible !

Who is the most affectionate?

→Hmmm. Vlad is the more physically affectionate between them. James however is more affectionate with spoken and written words.

Who initiates the handholding?

→James! I would say he does this when he gets emotional perhaps?

Who worries more for the other?

→Both! Vlad worries about losing James to death or to another. Vlad knows he's not the greatest individual to be in a relationship with and he realizes his temperament can drive partners away, including James. James has already expressed his ephemeral existence in Vlad's life, and that Vlad will tire of him.

Who is more likely to ask for help?

→They are both so ridiculously stubborn...I don't think either one of them would fess up. They would have to agree to do it at the same time to retain a sliver of their massive pride XD

Who is the one always losing the keys?

→James, because Vlad hides his things to be a dumbass and to keep James to himself longer.

Who leaves little love notes for the other?

→JAMES JAMES JAMES. Vlad does, too, but they are briefer, while James' are long and flowing recitations of his heart.

Who can’t sleep unless the other is there?

→James! James has become far too used to Vlad lying right next to him. It's funny though because Vlad is wide awake while James is fast asleep unless Vlad is keeping him up lol.

Who is more likely to propose to the other?

→VLAD. Jimboy gonna be his wife ok. Like in that reincarnation thread we have -- yus.

Who introduced the other to their family first?

→Neither. Vlad's are long gone and James, well, he wants to hide Vlad.

Who is more likely to play with the other’s hair?

→Vlad loves James' hair, hence why he takes every opportunity to remove the wig from him XD He probably would brush his hair out after a long day of wig-wearing. But, Vlad is gonna stick his head into James' hands because he is a glutton for having his hair played with and brushed.

Who makes sure the other has meals/stays hydrated?

→Vlad!! James is a hardworking man, he better stay healthy and able for his vampire lover!

Who is more likely to stand up to anyone for the other?

→I think James would be quick to defend/protect Vlad from potential enemies/hunters that would like him gone. Vlad knows James can protect himself, but you bet he would swoop in and snatch him off a sinking ship!

Who is the most likely to prepare a surprise for the other?

→BOTH! Gifts, both large and small from both of them. Outings/parties would be planned by Vlad.

Who makes the other pinky promise not to do certain things?

→JAMES. James has to make sure Vlad doesn't do something rash (though Vlad keeps himself in check most of the time, yet he does erupt once in a while).

Who puts a blanket over the other when they fall asleep on the couch?

→VLAD. And he makes tea that is ready to be served when James wakes up.

[sugar-petals]

18+ Tarot Reading: BTS In Bed

↳ Caro’s Note › decks out for the end of spooktober! here goes a different type of content aka my lil’ hobbyhorse. even if you’re new to tarot or find it quirky, i hope i can interest a curious soul or two. late september i gave in to temptation and pulled 5 cards for yoongi, asking what sexual style he could have. it was so much fun i did it for ot7 & want to share the results with you. besides listing the card names i don’t use tarot-specific terms so anybody can understand. i also scanned the spreads so you can see the imagery i take clues from. ignore that they’re labeled in german, it’s all in english below. enjoy! 

⇢ disclaimer ♡ this is subjective interpretation; there’s no guarantee for precision and things aren’t definite. divination relies on perspective, believing in tarot is a choice. the reading is for entertainment purposes only, all portrayals are fictive/speculative. 

WARNINGS ⚠️ smut ahead, not suited for minors.

↪ kim taehyung

⌈ THREE OF CUPS ⇁ romantically, more parties could be involved than just two. he might meet his partner in autumn. there will be a lot of upbeat and luxurious activity around sex, especially drinking and eating. his partner could feed him delicious fruits for dessert. 

⌈ QUEEN OF PENTACLES ⇁ taehyung likes to be taken care of. sex might go down in the kitchen. his partner likely has the same vintage fashion sense as him, perhaps even more extravagant. taehyung could become shy but his lover will dissolve all doubts. 

⌈ FIVE OF WANDS ⇁ playfights or roughhousing are common, as is copious teasing and making jokes, it’ll be lighthearted. particularly in a group sex setting, this tendency will come out. sex standing up or even one carrying the other might take place.

⌈ QUEEN OF SWORDS ⇁ his lover can be assertive. it could be a battle of the wits. teasing is all good and well, but at one point, it’ll get serious. he’s the type to really enjoy sex in marriage, particularly with female partners (three cards in his pile have women with long veils).  

⌈ THE HIGH PRIESTESS ⇁ sex is intuitive. he’ll be head-in-the-clouds, almost dreamy in the sheets. he prefers to do it at nighttime. taehyung might often find himself indecisive between trying two new things, eventually deliberating to choose either: the more, the merrier. 

↪ park jimin

⌈ JUDGEMENT ⇁ bragging about his partner isn’t rare, as a fan of praise he also loves to praise right back. when jimin has sex, his friends will know. it’s something he can’t hide, deliberately or not. he’ll have a lasting positive reputation for sex and many suitors.

⌈ EIGHT OF WANDS ⇁ toys, toys, toys. also: jimin needs it fast, one position can sometimes suffice. he makes it so good and cuts to the chase, foreplay won’t draw out. drives it home like no other. might get it on with his partner on a plane or in a car, again, speed is key.

⌈ SIX OF SWORDS ⇁ jimin often moves from one kink to the other. he enjoys deep and tireless penetration, can go on for a long time. to him, sensuality is relief and a restart for the next day. might like sex on ships (yachts, sailing boats, cruise liners) or by the water.

⌈ SIX OF CUPS ⇁ jimin can create an almost fairy tale-like life for his partner. he’ll woo them with flowers. he enjoys sex in the countryside and at daytime. there, it will be playful, spontaneous, and often vanilla. it’ll elicit a lot of his innocence and bring both partners great joy.

⌈ QUEEN OF WANDS ⇁ he likes energetic, determined, and bold partners who are social butterflies just like him. summertime is jimin’s favorite season to make love. a vacation in a hot country (i’m getting egypt from the card) will ignite a lot of sensual activity.

↪ kim seokjin

⌈ THE MAGICIAN ⇁ the type to give roses to his partner in a gentlemanly way, but he’ll also be cheeky. loves using many toys at once, particularly at the beginning of a relationship or during foreplay which can get very heated. does multiple rounds, perhaps on a table. 

⌈ FIVE OF CUPS ⇁ cum has to spill over. any play with semen and saliva excites him. it has to be messy. there might be one partner who’s into contortionism. any stimulation of the back is possible, or positions that involve looking at his back in its full glory. 

⌈ PAGE OF SWORDS ⇁ sex is always dynamic, jin likes quickies. things are guaranteed to rarely stagnate, he keeps it all moving. sometimes, he might enjoy engaging in a one-night-stand via online services, or meet a permanent sexual partner through a respective app. 

⌈ THE HERMIT ⇁ might masturbate a lot in the evening when he has time for himself in a dark room. even if sex is frequent, there will be days to recharge. jin loves cooling off after pleasing his lover. the card also tells me that he’s got a long dick that he knows how to use.

⌈ EIGHT OF PENTACLES ⇁ could meet his partner at work. sex means business. puts effort into all things intimate. fucks good, can really make a nailing save the afternoon. like jimin, jin might have an affinity for sex in rural areas. it could happen on vacation close to a village. 

↪ min yoongi

⌈ THE EMPRESS ⇁ scent and taste are important to yoongi. he’ll set up a lot of pillows, candles, cook nice food and bake. he likes a person who’s really feeling themselves. always winds up with calm, and dignified partners who have a lot to offer and a ton of sex appeal.

⌈ NINE OF WANDS ⇁ big on defining boundaries and fairness. resilient lover. likes rough sex/playing hide and seek with his partner as a form of foreplay. a hunter or huntress-prey dynamic might be part of his repertoire, although he might be hesitant to suggest it. 

⌈ ACE OF WANDS ⇁ yoongi is potent. the guy can keep his cock hard for you. no issues with staying power. enjoys handjobs and primal sex to the max, has a lot of semen for his partner. any penetration is going to end up refreshing and fiery. prone to morning wood. 

⌈ TEN OF SWORDS ⇁ he wants to be pinned down, wrestled, defeated. penetration by several men or toys is possible. he likes doing anal. a position that will occur often is prone bone. sex might take place during late dawn. yoongi also loves to fuck during thunderstorms.

⌈ SIX OF PENTACLES ⇁ a giver, but also knows how to appreciate being pleased on the other hand. one partner will be kneeling or begging, with the dominant party being jovial to the submissive. sex wrapped in blankets might take place, in that case, a third party joins. 

↪ jung hoseok

⌈ PAGE OF CUPS ⇁ hoseok likes to get it on in the shower, bathtub, the sea, or a pool. hoseok admires his partner, there will be a lot of body worship involved. he is curious about a variety of kinks and is likely very creative with postions. his partner will never be bored.

⌈ TEN OF WANDS ⇁ unafraid of strenous romps. he’ll mobilize all his endurance to please. especially after a long day, he’s still ready to give his lover everything. nobody has to worry about not being satisfied, there will be release. hobi is responsible, especially with protection.

⌈ KING OF CUPS ⇁ he knows how to make sex and relationships work out like a pro. loves to make his partner hot and bothered, dripping wet. hoseok is the number one guy to splurge on lube and vibrators. will fancy wearing necklaces or other jewelry during sex. 

⌈ TWO OF SWORDS ⇁ he’s a big fan of orgasm denial, giving or receiving is possible. there might be blindfolding involved, or one orders the other to stay completely still while pleasing them. hoseok likes to have sex sitting up, particularly on a chair. 

⌈ NINE OF SWORDS ⇁ hobi will dream about making love a lot. waking up in the middle of the night and going down on each other won’t be a rare occasion, especially when either partner is stressed. sex in pjs happens often. loves to have his face cupped and fondled. 

↪ kim namjoon

⌈ FOUR OF SWORDS ⇁ a part of him needs to rationalize sexuality, rm takes time to retreat and think things over in silence every now and then. as far as positions are concerned: he’ll be on his back a lot of times. it’s the most comfortable to him. might enjoy erotic art on the walls. 

⌈ WHEEL OF FORTUNE ⇁ sexting is a huge forte. also, he might read erotic books or know a lot about sex in mythology. he tends not to initiate, things develop naturally— namjoon’s appearance and charisma bring it all to him, he doesn’t have to crook a single finger. 

⌈ THREE OF PENTACLES ⇁ joon will do a lot of planning around sex. he might write down a list with kinks to try. there might be an old and sophisticated building involved, or sex on a bench. clothed sex could be his thing, dry humping, threesomes, making out in the dark. 

⌈ FOUR OF CUPS ⇁ has sensual daydreams, could be oblivious to actual advances. masturbates a lot. again, there’s a connection to nature, intimacy outside might take place. likes to be woken up by his partner’s hands gripping him. sleepy sex is frequent.

⌈ EIGHT OF CUPS ⇁ there’s a certain calm to his style. escapism is a frequent topic, sex brings him to a different time and place. he likes to fuck with the moonlight coming through the window (yes, the tarot knows he’s a moonchild), or when he hikes with his significant other.   

↪ jeon jungkook

⌈ KING OF SWORDS ⇁ jk might enjoy giving or receiving butterfly kisses. he is confident and smart with sex, or enjoys someone who embodies these qualities. intercourse is something he takes seriously and likes to be 100% clear about what he wants to do. 

⌈ ACE OF PENTACLES ⇁ big on stroking, caressing, tickling, mutual masturbation. hands are so, so important. all things lavish in the bedroom are great. he is very keen to establish a constant in his life that involves regular sex. hasn’t to be asked twice, he takes chances. 

⌈ THE SUN ⇁ jungkook craves harmony and romance in bed. smiling is important during sex. physical contact brings him tremendous happiness, jungkook is carefree when he’s naked. might enjoy warm places for sex, maybe a sauna or hidden garden. favorite position: riding.

⌈ DEATH ⇁ meeting a sexual partner wil reprogram his entire life. it’ll be like rebirth. jungkook will stop at nothing to create a good time and discard a lot of old habits that get in the way. because he’s a keeper. sex isn’t just sex, his partner will impact him greatly. 

⌈ TEN OF PENTACLES ⇁ spends generous amounts of money on intimate activities. it’ll be the good life, making love is wholesome. all erotic things can easily be discussed in relaxed, domestic settings. will be sexually active for a long time in life.

× end note feel free to ask any questions 👋 the deck i used is the classic rider-waite one, no card reversals. i might do a post like this in the future should i pull another relevant reading. if you’d like to learn tarot yourself or want an overview of the cards, i can link you resources, just give me a quick shout. 

[enkelimagnus]

A Castle in the Forest

Percy x Vex’ahlia, Chapter 7, 3038 words,

A Modern AU, in which Vex is a park ranger taking over the Alabaster Sierras post, and finds much more than she bargained for

Read on AO3

Vax makes it to Whitestone....

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

Vax makes it to the cabin on a rainy afternoon. Vex is busy sketching out some areas she thinks need clearer trail markers and deciding where to implant emergency contact boxes, when she hears an engine running and a vehicle getting closer to the cabin.

She peeks from the window, her eyes catching the gleaming metal of her brother’s motorcycle. She immediately bolts from her seat at the table, startling a napping Trinket, and opens the door. She runs down the stairs and into her brother’s arms.

He’s just had time to take off his helmet, long dark hair held in a low ponytail for the road. She hugs him tightly, his leather motorcycle jacket smelling like hide and patchouli. She’s missed everything about him.

For a while, they stand there, hugging each other. There’s no one around and no use in pretending they don’t love each other right now. It’s been much too long. Vex remembers when a single day without him was torture. Now it’s usual. That saddens her somewhat.

“Welcome to Whitestone,” she grins. “How was the road?”

“Dreadful,” Vax rolls his eyes and grabs his bag, letting go of her to start walking back into the cabin, away from the rain and the cold. “This place is… ghostly, really.”

Vex huffs. “It’s not that bad, come on,” she mumbles. He’s right though.

Whitestone, especially in the sort of rain that’s currently falling, is ghostly. White stone walls and overturned ship-like buildings, with people that stare at strangers like they’re time-ticking bombs… Ghostly. In the time she’s spent here, she’s only started seeing the shadows and the phantoms.

“Is that the little munchkin you’ve called your Trinket?” Vax asks as Vex closes the door of the cabin after him.

He puts his back down next to the bed, heavy boots walking carefully towards Trinket. She’s put him in his crate so he would get used to Vax’s presence without threatening him, or himself.

“Yup,” she nods. “He’s young, but… he could be a good companion,” she points out, her voice as innocent as possible.

Vax looks up at her. “You’re taking on a companion?” He asks, with a raised eyebrow. He thought she never wanted to, especially after Saundor. That’s what she’s told him many times, after all. No companion, she’s not bringing something innocent into this, she’s better off being a hunter. Alone and fixated on one enemy. Dragons were her original choice. Fey her second. She doesn’t want the permanence of companionship… At least she didn’t. Before Trinket.

“I’m not sure yet,” Vex shrugs, trying to escape his gaze. “But… I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and he’s perfect. He’s going to grow big and strong, and protective. And he’s… I’ve grown attached to him.”

Vax shrugs off his jacket and sits down at one of the chairs, looking around the cabin. His eyes glide across the small kitchen, the bed, the fireplace, the ladder up to the lookout and the door to the bathroom. He hums.

“This is… cozy,” he points out.

Vex chuckles. “Very different where you spent the last few days, I imagine?” She asks teasingly.

“You’re a ranger, not a sorcerer with an amazing business,” Vax points out. “I am not expecting the same thing.” He shrugs. “Besides, this is nice. Warm and comfortable.”

His eyes fall on her again and she feels the scrutiny in them. She can’t hide a single thing from him. She was never able to.

“You look… tired, but good,” he says after a moment. “I’m guessing you resolved a problem, recently? You have that… satisfied smug look on you. But not the one from right after it. The couple-days-old one.”

Vex rolls her eyes at him but doesn’t deny it. It’s not worth the trouble. “We had a barbed devil. Killed one for sure, the ranger here before me. Probably more. I had sensed it a while ago, but… I had trouble finding help.”

Vax raises an eyebrow and Vex proceeds to give him the rundown on everything that has happened, on the people of Whitestone and their lack of wanting to talk to her, on Pike and Grog.

“Gilmore tried to contact the local rulers to get a teleportation circle added to the city,” Vax explains once she’s done. “He didn’t manage to find anyone. There are no rulers in Whitestone, as far as anyone knows.”

“It seems they all died in a horrific massacre a few years ago. It’s impossible to get anyone to give me details about it,” Vex shrugs. “But why is Gilmore that interested in Whitestone? There’s nothing for him here.”

Vax chuckles, crossing his legs. “You live here. I like to come and see you.” His smirk is telling.

Vex chuckles back. “I see… He loves to dote on you, doesn’t he?”

“What can I say?” Vax shrugs. “I deserve it.”

Vex absolutely agrees with that. She appreciates Gilmore for many things, but the most important is how he treats her brother. He might be the very first person to take care of Vax the way he deserves, to spoil him. And he’s the first person that Vax doesn’t stop from spoiling him.

He’s had powerful lovers before, in Syngorn or in other places. Vax is handsome and charming in his own grumpy way, and Vex knows first-hand how sometimes, the disgust Syngornians showed towards the two of them could easily turn into sexual curiosity. But Gilmore doesn’t want Vax because he’s a dirty half-human. And that changes everything, including Vex’s appreciation of the man.

“You sure do, brother,” Vex hums and turns to pour them both a cup of coffee. “I’m afraid there isn’t much for you to do here. You can potentially make nice with the people in town and snoop for me?” She asks.

“Is that why you asked me to come?” he answers. “To spy for you the information you can’t get?”

“I asked you here because I missed you,” Vex stares at him. “And I don’t like being away from you for too long. But if you can… Ask a few questions while you’re here, I’d appreciate it greatly.”

“Fine,” Vax shrugs. “But first, I need a lay of the land. Any information you haven’t given me yet. And an idea of whether some of the wealth around here could be redistributed to the people. No rulers means there’s probably chests of gold and jewels some of these folks could use.”

“Two temples. The one of Pelor is in the cemetery, outside of town. They don’t seem to have anything you’d want, but they might have some ideas of who the richest families used to be. I saw some pretty impressive mausoleums around there,” Vex starts. “The second one is in town. Temple to Erathis. I’ve heard about some empty noble houses, and there’s the castle, but it’s been years. I think all of the possible left behind wealth was promptly redistributed already.”

Vax raises an eyebrow, but says nothing, deep in thought.

They stay like this for a moment until Vex huffs and stands up. “Come on,” she smiles. “Let’s go into town and get some supplies. They’re announcing snow later this week and we need enough to be able to survive out here for a while.”

Vax rolls his eyes but stands up, grabbing his coat. Vex gets ready to go as well, thick coat, quiver and bow and the keys to the truck. She pets Trinket goodbye and they get into the truck, starting the drive down.

The heating is on in the cabin of the car and Vax waits about two minutes before turning on the radio. He hums under his breath the pop songs that blast out of the speaker, letting go of his grumpy goth image for once. She’ll never tell anyone that he knows the lyrics to Brit Nayspears’ entire discography.

She points out some trails as they drive past, things that have been causing her issues, the campsite that will hold the local wilderness survival adventure once summer comes around. Winter months are much calmer for rangers than summer ones are, but she’s still looking forward to seeing what the sun looks like reflected off of the Alabaster Sierras peaks.

Vax seems interested. He always does. He listens to her and that’s one of the best things about him. They end up dueting over some song on the radio, at first only humming and mumbling the words. By the time they drive through the city gates, they are scream-singing. Vex can’t stop smiling.

The cold bites as they slam the doors shut and walk away from the previously heated cabin of the truck. They’re not the only ones out for supplies. There are other trucks with crates and bags in the parking lot.

The covered market stands two blocks from the parking lot. Its roof is like an enormous overturned ship and white stones rise from the ground to meet the wood, providing a tall and breathable marketplace underneath. It’s cold still, there’s no use in trying to heat the entire volume of the building. It would only waste spell and components, or wood if they were trying to do it magicless.

They start going through the stalls, grabbing a lot of root vegetables and things that will not perish too fast. If they’re stuck in the snow, Vex is hoping to have a few days of fresh and non-canned food before they have to resort to the cans, but she knows it’s not that easy.

For the meat, she’ll go hunting. There’s no need to bother herself with purchasing beef or anything of that nature. Her freezer can hold at least one deer carcass. She’s measured it. It’s not really a surprise, anyway. The cabin was built as a safe haven for long winters and snow falls. There’s a couple of emergency mattresses rolled up under her bed, enough to allow a couple of people to sleep, albeit uncomfortably, if they’re stuck with her during a storm. It’s a refuge. And a refuge can hold at least one deer carcass.

“Do I really have to carry all of this?” Vax whines as she places a small cart over his arms.

“If you weren’t here, I’d need half of this. So you’re gonna pull your weight,” Vex shrugs.

Vax rolls his eyes. “You invited me, remember?” He calls out as she walks over to get some more potatoes. Neither of them really mean the bickering, but it feels good to do it.

There’s a light chuckle behind him and he turns around, trying not to spill over the contents of the carts he’s carrying. A few feet from him stands a young person with dark brown hair that shifts to white streaks around the temple. They’re watching him with quiet amusement.

“Older sibling?” They ask with a smile and a raised eyebrow. They look tired, and the smile is a little shaky.

“Twin, actually,” Vax replies. “She’s the ranger for the Alabaster Sierras outpost. I’m visiting,” he explains quickly. “Vax’ildan. Would shake your hand but…”

They nod. “Your hands are busy, I get it. I’m Cassandra. Whitestone native. And I know what siblings can be like.” Their eyes are sad.

Vax tries to keep an inviting and smiling face, but it’s not exactly natural to him. He’s not used to this. Out of the two of them, Vex is the charming and open one. She’s the one that gets information, food, good prices and extra help from strangers.

“So you’re the person to ask if I want to know what to do around here in the winter months?” He asks, trying to add a bit of a flirty undertone to his voice.

Cassandra chuckles. “I don’t know. I’m not really a tourist guide, but… The trails can be fun in winter if you’re into cold hikes. Your sister can probably be more helpful than me for this,” they point out. The flirting does not seem to be landing.

“You’re probably right,” Vax shrugs. “I was just… I did some research before coming here, but there’s so little information about this town online…” He explains. “There’s a website, but it hasn’t been updated in what? Five years?”

He’s not lying. The only updated information comes from the TWC website that he knows Vex is somewhat responsible for keeping up to date. The rest is at least five years old. It’s as if the town has stopped evolving and living since then.

Cassandra stiffens slightly. “That’s weird,” they mutter. For some reason, Vax doesn’t believe that it is very weird to them.

“Is there anyone to talk to about that? Like a heritage association or a city council or something?” Vax is trying to fish for information, and hopefully it’s not too obvious.

“No,” Cassandra shakes their head. “There’s no one like that. Whitestone is not… This is not a good city for mass tourism, it’s not a good city for outsiders.” Their jaw is set. “You won’t find anyone to help you, and I’m sorry. But that’s just how it’s been for the last few years.”

“Since the massacre, right? The De Rolo massacre?” Vax pushes a little. “Vex, my sister, told me about it.”

Those words make something ripple underneath Cassandra’s dark eyes, pain and sadness and many other emotions that make Vax feel like he’s just kicked a hornet’s nest. If they were closed off to talking before, they’re now screwed shut, lips tight, ready to flee. And flee they do.

Cassandra takes a step back, shoving their hands into the pockets of their blue coat with uncomfortable determination. It all screams of a deep desire to escape. “Listen, I have to go. It was nice to meet you, Vax’ildan. Good luck with your stay in Whitestone.” They say before sliding away in a hurry.

Vax doesn’t go after them. There’s one thing he knows, and that’s not to run after people who are trying to escape you. He’s been through enough situations where the roles were reversed, and he doesn’t want to be a threat. He’s here to be a charming, smiling person, to get information from people for Vex.

And fuck. He just failed miserably at his first attempt. That entire interaction was a mess and Vax really thought he would be better than this. But Vex wasn’t exaggerating when she talked about the closed offness of the inhabitants of Whitestone. And maybe he'd overestimated his own charming abilities.

Vex comes back eventually, raising an eyebrow at his slightly frustrated face. “Something happened?” She asks curiously.

“I was talking to this person. Cassandra, they said? Dark hair, white streaks around the temples,” he describes.

“I’ve seen them a couple of times before, around some of the temples,” Vex points out. “The one time we talked, they seemed to be in a hurry.”

So that’s a common attitude then, not just something he’s caused. That’s a little bit of a consolation. He recounts the conversation to Vex as they start walking out of the covered market to put their haul into the back of the truck. They have a couple more things to do in town.

Snow starts falling lightly while they’re on the drive back. Vax takes the time to call Gilmore for a few minutes, unsure of whether his cell will have service back at the cabin if there’s snow covering the Alabaster Sierras.

Vex keeps her eyes open the entire trip through town for red hair and antlers. She worries about Keyleth. If she was close to the fiend, as Vex suspected, she is probably not doing good at the moment. She doesn’t know exactly the depths of enthrallment, and how far it changes someone to care for fiends. She hopes it’s not deep enough that the druid is now broken with grief.

But she is nowhere to be seen. Vax hangs up on Gilmore as they turn off of the biggest road and up the mud path that leads to the cabin. There’s a good ten minutes of drive left, maybe even more with the growing wetness of the ground. They’re going to be very thankful for both the fire and the supplies. Vex is glad she decided to go today.

“So what do you think of Whitestone, now that you’ve experienced some of it?” She asks, eyes darting for barely a second to Vax on the passenger seat. He’s looking at the snow like its falling is a personal offence.

“The people are… lovely,” he starts. “But there’s something not quite right in the air. I…” He looks over at her for a moment before looking away. “I admit I thought you were a little paranoid when you were telling me about it.”

Vex’s jaw tightens and she nods slightly, a controlled, small motion.

“You don’t have a great track record at being alone in the woods,” he points out. “You’re doing much better than the last time though. And I can see what you meant, about the heaviness hanging over the city. About the unsaid horrors. That… de Rolo massacre story. That Cassandra person looked quite spooked.”

Vax breathes out as the cabin comes into view at the end of the path. “I’m gonna stay for a little while, if you don’t mind. I don’t like leaving you alone like this, especially with this whole mystery.”

Anger lurches in Vex’s chest for a second, her vision tunnelling, her hands tightening their grip on the wheel. She can handle herself. She doesn’t need Vax to save her again, she’s not going to make the same mistake again. For a moment, it’s all she can think. How dare he come to her rescue again when she doesn’t need him?

But she does need him. Not to save her. But she needs him around. She doesn’t do great without him, they’re a team in all the ways that matter. Having him here right now is the best she’s felt since she arrived. It’s hard for her to reconcile with that anger at his worry but…

She gives him a small smile. “It’ll be nice. Close-quartered but nice.” She nods and parks the truck in front of the cabin.

[boldlyvoid]

Raising Dawn | Star Wars Fix it fic

AO3

Summary: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. Poe's taken it upon himself to house and raise the ex-stormtrooper kids who've lost their families, and in a sense, he made his own.

Word Count: 4.1K

The first child they found was on Exegol, a small boy who was issued the number and told he would become a stormtrooper one day, just like the rest of the children they eventually found. They brought him back to the jungle moon of Ajan Kloss with the rest of the surviving resistance members. He walked off Lando’s ship, 6 years old at most. He was scared, he was sad, but he seemed to warm up to them all the more he wandered around.

He slowly walked up to Rey, Finn and Poe where they were speaking about everything that had happened. “I heard the voices of the Jedi who came before me, people I have come to know now. Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Mindu, so many powerful Jedi came to me, to believe in me. To help me.”

“Wow,” he said, causing them all to turn around. “You’re a Jedi?”

Rey smiled at him, “yeah, I am.”

“Look,” he said softly, holding his hand out and raising a rock from the ground to his hand, seemingly with the force. “You can do that too, right?”

They all looked at him, dumbfounded, both Rey and Finn nodded.

“What’s your name?” Poe asked, getting down to eye level with him.

“DO-1134,” he replied.

“You know, Finn was a stormtrooper, his name was FN-2187. I helped him pick a real name,” he said with his classic Poe Dameron smile. “Would you like to pick a name?”

“FN, Finn,” he whispered to himself, thinking over how the name came to be. “What was that name you said before?” he asked Rey. “Kenobi?”

“Yeah, Obi-wan Kenobi.”

“What about Kendo?” he asked softly.

“Kendo is a wonderful name,” Poe smiled. “I’m Poe, that’s Finn and Rey. Welcome.”

Lando reached out to them with an idea shortly after being reacquainted with Jannah that day. He had said he wanted to redirect his efforts to help all the parents who lost children and help them find each other again. They knew all too well how it felt to be without one another, wondering if they were okay and if they’d ever see each other again.

He got in a ship with her, and they set off first to find more children like Kendo and then to find their families. Poe offered them a safe place in the middle while they waited, knowing that was what Leia would want him to do. To love and support children without their parents, the way she loved him growing up.

-

Kendo sat with them in the Falcon a few weeks later, they watched from the window as Rey walked into the desert with BB-8 in search for the old Skywalker house. “Where is she going?”

“We lost 2 of our leaders, General Organa and her brother, Master Luke. This was Luke’s home, it seems like the best place to pay tribute to them,” Poe explained.

“Where is our home going to be?”

“Um, we’re looking for somewhere, a nice place where we can find more kids like you before we find your families.”

“I don’t have a family.”

“Yes, you do. Either you have one waiting for you or you let us become your family,” Finn smiled down at him, “if I’ve learned anything from being here, it’s that these people become more your family than anyone else.”

Rey was going to take a few hours, leaving Chewbacca to want to play Dejarik with Finn while Poe sat in the captain’s chair, Kendo in his lap, showing him all the buttons and controls. “There’s an old legend I heard from the original owners of this ship when I was your age, would you like to hear it?”

He nodded.

“Well, Han Solo was a famous smuggler, eventually he helped Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker defeat Darth Vater, but when this story took place, he was just a boy looking for a way to make money for his own ship one day.

“He joined a band of smugglers in search for some Coaxium, and the only place he could find some was on a planet called Kessel, however, there it was only available in it’s purest form and they had limited time to get it reformed once they stole it. In order to do that they had to do the Kessel run as fast as possible, which at the time was in 20 parsecs.

“But!” he shouts dramatically, “their droid, L3 who was supposed to help them navigate their way out was badly damaged! Leaving them without a way to properly get to where they needed to go! That was until Lando Calrissian had the brilliant idea to plug her into the ships hard drive.”

He hugged Kendo close, looking around carefully like someone was watching them, “and some people say that at night, when the ships all quiet, you can still hear her giving them directions, but not always to the way out.”

“Stop scaring the boy!” Finn said from the doorway of the cockpit.

“It’s a right of passage!” he argued. “Han scared me with it when I was little, he needs to hear it too.”

Finn just shook his head and walked back to his game, leaving Kendo still sat on Poe’s lap, looking out at the window.

“So Han Solo went from being a bad guy to a good guy?” Kendo asked.

“Kinda,” Poe said, “he didn’t believe that everyone was only good or only bad. He’s seen too many good people with a bad reputation and vice versa.”

“So even because I was going to be a stormtrooper, I can be good again?” he asked again, a lot softer.

“If you feel it in your heart that you’re a good person, then that’s what you are.”

“I’m a good guy,” he smiled.

“Yeah,” Poe agreed, placing his cheek on Kendo’s head, holding him close, “we’re all good guys.”

-

Rey came back later after the sun had set and Kendo was asleep in the other room. “That was really nice.”

“Are you okay?” Finn asked her.

She nodded, “I feel at peace. Like I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

“I still have something to tell you, and I don’t know if it’ll disturb your peaceful feeling but you need to know Rey, I,” Finn said softly. Everyone was looking at him rather seriously, “I have the force too.”

“I know, I can feel it when I’m around you,” she said with a soft smile, she held her hand out for him to take it. “When we get to where we’re going, I can show you what I know.”

“Speaking of which,” Poe cut in, “where are we going to go? We need somewhere big enough for all the children Lando is going to end up finding.”

“Excuse me, sir,” C3P0 said from the hallway. “I was searching my memory for a place that would be adequate for you, I remembered mister solo and the general have a large home on Chandrila that would be available to you.”

“Oh yeah,” Poe said, remembering his childhood there. “I forgot about that place, I haven’t been there in years.”

“Leia would want us there, we should tell some of the others. Then they can join us too,” Rey suggested. “Rose and Kaydel don’t have any family either. We should all make that our home.”

“We’ll need all the help we can get with the children that will come.” Finn said, “It wasn’t easy for me to break out of the conditioning, it’s still hard for me to understand that I’m free and okay, they’re not going to be easy no matter how little time they spent in training.”

“I’ll set a course, we’ll go right there,” Rey said with a tight-lipped smile. “You guys can go sleep or talk or whatever it is that you do. Chewy can stay with me.”

Poe couldn’t help but smile as they reached the closet at the back of this ship. A place that he’d go as a child with Ben to play dress up in Lando’s old capes.

“I was worried that you were in love with her,” he said softly.

Finn laughed at him then, “I do love her, but she’s my family. I felt close to her when we met because of the force, and she was there for me when I thought you had died.”

Poe wrapped Finn up in his arms, he put his face in his neck like he always did when he hugged him. “I love you,” he whispered.

“I love you too.”

-

Chandrila was a small world, green land and blue seas. Rolling hills and calming water that mesmerized them as they flew through the land on their way to Leia’s old home. It was on the water, she said she loved it so much because the city felt like Alderaan but the lakeside felt like her birth mothers home on Naboo.

The house was dusty and empty, it didn’t have the same lively ness to it that Poe remembered from his childhood. But that wouldn’t be hard to recreate, himself Finn and Rey have the same dynamic that Han and Leia had back then. Loving, fun, serious yet go with the flow.

It was going to be okay.

It took some time, but they cleaned it up. They added more beds to the few bedrooms that there already was and turned the study and closets into bedrooms too. They were prepared for as many children as possible, Poe would even sleep on the ground if it meant a child had a bed.

He wasn’t sure where this sudden fatherly instinct came from, but he loved it. He felt like he finally found something that he was fully good at. Sure, he was a wonderful pilot, he was a good commander, but he was an absolutely amazing guardian.

Lando brought them many children. From the ages of 2 to 16, there were kids in need of a home before they found their families. At first, they had no way to find what children belonged to who.

An old friend of Lando’s suggested they use a version of a bounty hunter tracking fob, they’d show a hologram of the child so that when Lando met with families of missing children they’d be able to pick them out of the bunch. The Mandalorian man helped them set everything up and even joined Lando in finding the children.

Dan Djarin was a good man, he helped reunite lots of children with their families.

-

Over time they went from having 20-30 at a time to only having 6 full time.

The 6 children they had left had been with them almost the whole time. They would likely stay with them forever. Poe didn’t have the heart to tell the youngest ones, but there was a very high chance that their families had died the day they were kidnapped, and that they’d never see them again. The older ones understood, they felt sad at first but understood that the remaining resistance members their family now.

Every single child that came in sat down with Poe and picked a name. Like Finn and Kendo, every single child understood that sometimes they could create a name for themselves based on their old stormtrooper number. It wasn’t permanent, they could go back to their birth names when they found their families, but for now, it was a place holder. It was something that made them feel like a person, instead of a robot.

A little girl was brought in one day, she clung to Chewbacca as he walked with her off the falcon. She was only 4, the youngest they had ever had. She didn’t speak a lot, but luckily she still had her tags on her. Unlike the other children they had.

IR-1019.

Poe and Chewbacca sat with her later that day after she had a nice lunch and a long nap. “Do you know your name?” he asked.

She shook her head, she pointed to the tag he was holding and snuggled into Chewy a bit more. “Would you like a new name? A person name, like Rey, or Kendo?”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“Is there anything you like? Anything you’ve seen that you’d want to make a name from? You can use the letters in your number.”

“I like the water outside,” she whispered. “I ‘member water, at home.”

“Did you know that the name Iara means lady of the lake?” he asked her with a smile.

“Can I be the lady of the lake?”

Poe nodded, “Iara is a very pretty name.”

“Thank you, Poe,” she smiled. Her first little smile.

He moved from where she was beside Chewy, her little brown pigtails bouncing as her feet hit the ground. Her beautiful brown skin shining in the daylight, her smile was so pure and kind. She gave him a quick hug before running off to play with Kendo in the garden.

He kept a close eye on them even though Rey was over there as well.

In the garden outside the room that was once Han and Leia’s, she had planted flowers for them. And a rock that she engraved;

‘Dedicated to General Organa, Han Solo, and Jedi Ben Solo. for their valiant efforts in the resistance that helped bring balance to the galaxy once again.’

“It’s beautiful,” Poe said, rubbing his hand on her back.

“I miss them, I barely even knew them. But I miss them,” she whispered, crying softly. “I can’t imagine how you feel, you grew up with them.”

“My family is very large because of them,” he replied, softly that no one else heard them. “They brought so many people into my life so that when they passed, we were all still family. Their legacy lives on, their love is in all of us now, and we’ll be okay.”

She turned around and hugged him. “I always wanted a brother.”

He laughed lightly, holding her close. “A sister wouldn’t be that bad.”

-

NE-3002 was a 14-year-old girl, she walked off the falcon with MX-1136. Both of them were found in a crashed star destroyer near Exegol. They were very grateful, they hated the first order as most people did, they couldn’t wait to feel free again.

For the first day that they were on Chandrila with them, they let the girls look around. They went on walks, they swam in the lake, they had lots and lots of food. They were happy, but then it became time for Poe to sit down with them and ask them about their names.

He sat down with NE-3002 first. She looked a lot like him, tan skin, curly brown hair, and a very large scar on her arm.

“Do you remember anything from before you were taken?”

She nodded lightly, “it comes back to me in bits and pieces. Like I know we’re from Mandalore, I know my mom died trying to save me, but I don’t remember my name, and I don’t know what year it is, or how long they had me.”

“The conditioning they did was very deep, it might take a while to remember. But you don’t have to try and remember. Sometimes remembering is more painful than forgetting,” he said, trying to make her feel better.

“Is this the part where we pick my name?” she asked, “I know how Kendo picked his name, and how Finn got his. And I think I know mine.”

“Yeah?” he smiled, loving the tradition that he started with these kids. “What were you thinking?”

“Well, I’m from Mandalore, and I heard that once there was a queen there named Queen Satine. My number was NE, so I was thinking of keeping that in my name,” she explained, like she had been thinking of it for a while. “I like Delphine.”

“That is a beautiful choice,” he smiled. “There is a Mandalorian helping Lando find children, next time he’s in you should meet. He might know of your family.”

“Thank you,” she said as she stood up. “Should I call Max in to talk to you?”

“Max?” he asked.

“Yeah, when we were on the destroyer, her number was too much to keep yelling when I needed her. MX-1136 is a mouthful, so I started calling her Max,” she explained to him.

“Makes perfect sense,” he smiled, “I guess she doesn’t need to come to talk then if she has a name but tell her I’m always here if either of you needs someone.”

-

NF-2203, a 16-year-old boy, was found where Jannah had run off to on the moon of Endor. He was on the mission to drop off Kylo when he fought Rey, but he couldn’t do it anymore. He said he felt the energy of the other ex-troopers and couldn’t stay. He survived off the land, he felt happy.

He was okay there for 6 months till he was found. Now he quietly sits in the garden on Chandrila and meditates, he says the anger he feels for how his life turned out gets too intense, and he needs to sit down and forget it. It doesn’t always work but he tried very hard. He doesn’t want to ever be angry like the people he worked for.

After a few days, he finally sat down with Poe and Rey to talk, “I have something for you,” he said to Rey.

“I see you tend to the garden every day. I have seen you talk to Kylo Ren through the memorial you made for them. I can feel the love you had for their family, and I think you should have this,” he reached into the bag that he brought from Endor’s moon.

He pulled out Kylo’s lightsaber. “I saw him throw it into the water, I reached out for it in shock, not wanting him to lose it. I was still a stormtrooper, my mission was to watch him and make sure he defeated you. Upon reaching for it, it came to me. It washed up on shore at my feet a few minutes later. You should have it.”

He handed it to her. She held it, she ran her hand over it, turning it around to look at it better. “The memorial site is for my friend Ben,” she said softly. “This wasn’t Ben’s. Kylo was manipulated into being who he was. I don’t think he ever fully made his own decisions till he threw this into the ocean. This doesn’t represent Ben. He wouldn’t want it here.”

“I’ve just held onto it because I knew if you didn’t want it, you’d find a way to dispose of it so that no one else can use it,” he explained, his face was soft. He reminded Poe of Ben when he was around 13. Before he went to train with Luke full time.

He even looked like Ben. Long brown hair, brown eyes to match. Freckles from the sunlight. He was tall and slender, he must have lost his muscle from being stranded, but that just made him more like teenage Ben. This kid made him miss him so much.

“Do you remember anything from before you rebelled?” Poe asked.

“No, it’s completely dark in that part of my memory.”

“Do you have a name that you’d like us to call you while you stay here?”

“I was thinking Sabé?” he said softly. “It might be silly, but seeing him get rid of the lightsaber, and it coming to me made me feel like Sabé was the best choice for me.”

Poe was so proud of all the kids who came in knowing who they wanted to be, “Sabé is a great choice, welcome to our family.”

Poe stood up with him to leave, Rey was twisting the lightsaber in her hands and staring at it closely. “Sabé would you mind staying here with me for a moment?”

“Sure,” he smiled, tight-lipped and anxious.

Poe continues to walk away, far enough to give them space but close enough to listen.

“You have the force too?”

“Lot’s of us did. I think they stole us on purpose, to keep up from training and allowing Kylo to be the most powerful.”

“If you’d like to train, Kendo and I meet at Dawn every morning in the garden. You can join us if you wish.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Poe smiled, seeing Rey redirect her efforts to train as Luke and Leia did before her, it was beautiful. She found her family, she found her purpose. She was a wonderful person, a wonderful teacher, a wonderful friend.

-

When CP-0017 came in he was very timid and shy. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. They all tried, he wasn’t interested in taking. They left him alone after a few tries, telling him when he was ready he could come to them.

Next door, however, Lieutenant Connix had been communicating with other resistance members. She had called them, they were sending her messages and radio calls. He stood in her doorway and watched as she worked.

“Hey, buddy,” she smiled. “Are you interested in this kinda stuff?”

He nodded lightly.

“Did they teach you how to communicate when you were a trooper?”

“Yeah,” he said in a soft voice. He moved in closer to her, looking at all her technology in amazement. “They never let me touch the real ones, only the teaching tools.”

“Well, I have to make a call to Lando to see his progress, would you like to help?” she asked him.

“Yes please, ma’am,” he smiled.

“Oh buddy,” she smiled back, “you can call me Connix, or Kaydel, whatever feels right.”

For the first time, he looked like he felt safe.

He knew all the buttons, he found Lando’s frequency and set everything up for her to make her call. “Well done buddy,” she said, putting out her hand to give him a high five. “I know it’s been kinda scary, everything you’ve been through is really rough, but I’m always here if you want to escape and play around with some tech.”

“Thank you,” he smiled.

“What should I call you?” she asked him, getting down to sit at his level and look at his soft blue eyes.

“Cooper,” he said softly.

“Coop for short?” she asked.

“Yeah, that would be cool!”

Poe had passed the door and witnessed their meeting, he smiled at him finally opening up to someone. “You know,” he said softly. “If you’d like to be a mentor to him, or even watch him in while he’s here, you can.”

“Yeah?” Kaydel asked.

He nodded, “you have an extra room, we’ll have a bed sent over. It’ll be good for you both to have someone.”

Kaydel had been sad without the others. Without Leia as a mentor, without her friends to hang out with, without the family she lost before she joined the resistance. This was what she needed, she needed her own family again, and so did Coop.

-

The sun rose like a fire across the sky. The rays made their way through the small cracks in the blinds and somehow perfectly laid across Finn’s back, illuminating him in a gorgeous glow. Poe was sitting up, drinking the strongest mug of warm caf that he’s ever had. There was only a short period of time before the children woke up and wondered in and started asking about the plans for the day.

He didn’t think that 2 years after the events of Exegol that he’d be living on a planet he visited as a small child, with the man he loves, raising children who were once stolen. He felt himself loving the children like they were his own family a lot faster than he ever expected himself to.

The youngest came knocking at the door first, “Poe?” her tiny voice said as the wooden door squeaked open.

“Come on up Iara,” he whispered with a smile, putting his mug off to the side and holding her in his arms.

“Morning,” she yawned as she settled against his chest, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Finn rolled over then too, he looked up at them and smiled. “Good morning.”

“I have a question,” she asked.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Poe said, rubbing his hand on her back softly and watching as the thought of what to say.

“Are you my dads now?”

He smiled wide, Finn laughed and sat up. He wrapped his arms around both of them. “Yeah, I guess we are.”

“And that means Kendo, Max, Del and Sabé are my brothers and sisters?” she asked again, “does that make Rey my aunt or my sister?”

“She’d be more like an aunt,” Poe confirmed. “So would Keydel.”

“And Lando is my grandpa!” she cheered.

“He’s gonna love that,” Finn laughed.

“We’re one big family now.”

They were a family. He found his family, and it felt perfect.

[damn-stark]

Blinded Ch.21

A/N- Hope you all liked it :) Leave your thoughts!! (not my gif)

Warning- slight swearing, violence, angst

Pairing- Poe Dameron x Solo!reader

Takes place during- The Rise of Skywalker

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

—

“Alya?” Your voice comes out shaky, you take a step forward towards her, still finding it hard to believe it was her. Actually her.

“Y/N.” She smiles widely never once taking her eyes off of you. Both of you ignoring the curious stares from your group.

“Who is that?” Finn questions Poe, who was staring as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes were wide, almost like he was the surprised one. Finn’s question goes unanswered and your reunion cut short, everything you want to say to her cut and having to be said later, as the other masked individual walks forward.

“Hurry. Follow me.”

“Come on.” Alya motions as she also follows after the masked person. Without question you follow her, letting the others follow behind you; quickly jumping into the rolling freighter.

“Leía sent me a transmission.” Your ears perk up at the sound of your mothers name coming from the masked person. He opens a little window and talks to the driver in front. Alya moves and stands next the mysterious individual, her smile never fading.

“How did you find us?” Finn asks from behind you.

The mystery person begins to take off the mask that had hid its face, making you look away from Alya to see who it was going to be. “Wookiee’s stand out in a crowd!”

Once you finally see the face, you instantly recognize who it was. Your smile widened and before you could say anything Chewie pushes past you, roaring in excitement as he sees his old friend. Lando Calrissian.

“Good to see you too old buddy.” Lando greets the Wookiee before his eyes land on you, his smile only getting wider.

“Uncle Lando!” Quickly you follow Chewie’s actions and go to embrace him in a firm hug.

“Little Solo. Long time no see.” He says as he hugs you in return.

“This is General Lando Calrissian.”

“We know who he is threepio.” Rey interrupts the golden droid while you move back to your previous spot.

“It’s such an honor, General.” Finn greets.

“This is Alya, my right hand. You’ve all met her.” Your uncle Lando says pointing to the girl next to him. Alya smiles and bows her head slightly greeting the rest of your group.

“Yeah...pleasure.” Poe says not sparing a glance as he takes a step forward, blocking your line of sight so you’re no longer looking at her. “General Calrissian, we’re looking for Exegol.” Poe continues, making your uncles smile fade away and to quickly meet eyes with Alya.

“Of course you are..should’ve known something was up, when I saw you, little Solo, never far from trouble. Just like your old man.” He says making you shrug your shoulders and a smug like smile spread on your features. Quickly you explain what you’re looking for, letting him show you exactly what it was you were here to look for. The sith wayfinder.

“Luke Skywalker came here to find one.” Rey informs.

“I know, I was with him. Luke and I were tailing an old Jedi Hunter. Ochi pestum. He was carrying a clue that could lead to a wayfinder. We followed the ship halfway across the galaxy, here. When we got to his ship it was abandoned. No clue. No wayfinder.” Lando explains to all of you. It came to no surprise that your uncle Lando was the one that had traveled with your uncle Luke. Them being old friends and all.

“Is ochis ship still here?” You ask.

“It’s out in the dessert where he left it.”

“We need to get to that ship.” Rey says taking the words you were about to say out of your mouth.

The familiar sound of TIE fighter engines makes you all look out the window. Letting you all know that your time was now limited on the freighter.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Ochis ship is out past lurch canyon, Alya knows where it is. She can take you, go.” Lando insists making you glance at Alya who didn’t hesitate to listen.

All of you missing what Poe had said under his breath about Alya. “Of course she knows.”

“I’ll come back.” Alya tells Lando as she pats his shoulder before moving away from him, shooting you a smile before walking out.

Before you could follow after her you look once more at your uncle Lando. “My mother could use pilots.”

“My flying days are long gone, little solo. But do me a favor, give Leia my love.”

You shoot him warm smile and before jumping out you turn to him one last time. “You should give it to her yourself. Thank you.”

As all of you are out, you rush to go find a way to escape the fast approaching first order troopers.

“There those speeders!” Alya and Poe point out at the same time as they both rush to the speeders. Poe beats her to them, quickly hot-wiring the speeders.

“How do you know how to do that?” Finn curiously asks Poe, once again his question going unanswered.

“No need to worry I made it.” Threepio says.

Loud commotion starts, all you turning to see locals shouting at you and running to you all as they see you messing with their speeders. “We have to go!” Poe exclaims as you all make your way to a speeder.

“I’m driving!” Alya and Poe both say at the same time. Finn, Chewie and you notice as they look at one another, as if challenging each other with their look. The three of you get it on the same ship and let them decide between the two.

“Okay fine, you can drive.” Alya sneers trying to hide the bitterness in her tone, both of them then climbing on the speeder.

Hastily Poe starts the speeder and fly’s away from the locals. Rey, BB8 and Chewie on the speeder beside you, both trying to go as fast as possible to get away from the first order.

Once the shooting starts you grab the blaster from your holster and hand it to Alya. “Need mine back.”

“Thought you had forgotten.” She responds with a smirk.

“Never.” You turn your head slightly wanting to say and ask a millions things. Like how was she here. How did she survive. What happened...but all those questions had to wait until after you got rid of the troopers who were now flying with jet packs.

“Ahh, they fly now!” Threepio exclaims.

Following by Finn saying the same thing but in a question. “They fly now?!”

“They fly now!” Poe confirms maneuvering the speeder to the side, as he separated ways from Rey. You examine closely behind and see that no troopers were following. “Lose em?!” Poe asks as he didn’t hear them from behind.

“Looks like it!” Finn shouts back.

“Excellent job sir!” Threepio shouts to Poe, congratulating his success and not seconds later fast approaching troopers came back to view. “Terrible job sir!”

The shooting continues, making you all duck and shoot but unsuccessfully taking them out. It was not until your eyes landed on the hook attached to the rope. Quickly you go towards it, and take it in your hands.

“What are you doing?!” Alya questions confused on your actions. You look over your shoulder and shoot her a smile.

“Trust me.” You begin to swing the hook over your head before throwing it and hooking the wheel of the speeder perfectly. The rope tangles on the wheel causing it to malfunction making this your perfect opportunity to get rid of the damn thing.

“Poe!” Poe looks over his shoulder for a second seeing what you were doing, without you having to explain, he stops the speeder letting the troopers speeder fly past and crashing into the big rock ahead. Finn shouts in excitement while Poe and you share a lingering stare and a happy smile. As he was about to say something, Alya wrapped you in a hug, catching you by surprise and for Poe’s smile to turn into a frown.

“Nice Job, Solo!” Alya shouts embracing you tighter. You hesitate but ultimately hug her back, finally really accepting she was actually here and not some vision.

“You’re alive.” You mumble making her chuckle and let you go.

“I’m alive.” She confirms. Your lips part to say more but she cuts you off. “I’ll explain later, okay?”

You nod your head in agreement and turn your attention to Rey’s speeder that was now flying beside you. “Rey, you get all of them?!” Finn asks and his question gets answered by a blast causing your speeders to explode and send you all flying to the ground.

“Ow.” You whisper as you push yourself up, feeling slightly relieved that you didn’t land on the sand and rather a gravel like substance. The trooper overheard begins to shoot at all of you, and the rest except for you fire back. “Yeah, no I’m done with you.” You growl as you take out your white lightsaber, igniting it as you throw it to the trooper and perfectly cutting the jet pack, sending him spiraling and crash-landing into a distant canyon.

Everyone turns their heads to you, surprised by your action. You simply shrug your shoulders while catching your deactivated saber and hanging it back on your side. As you’re about push yourself up from the gravel substance you feel yourself being pulled down. “What the maker?!”

“What the hell is this?!” Poe exclaims. You hear BB8 beeping in distress and everyone else’s struggle as Rey points out that they’re sinking fields and that you all should hold onto something.

Without knowing your outcome, not knowing if you’re going to make it out, your eyes fall on only one person. Poe. And just like you were, he was also reaching for you. “Y/N!”

“Poe!” Unexpected tears brim your eyes as he’s the first one to disappear into the sinking field.

“Rey! Y/N! I never told you guys-”

-

Your eyes are shut tight, waiting to free fall into a dark abyss, waiting to fall into some sharp rocks and that being the end of you; but instead your caught by someone.

“oof.”

A pair of arms break your fall and your fear. Finally opening your eyes, you notice that it had been Poe, that had broken your fall. Your arms are wrapped firmly around his neck, while one of his arms is holding you by your back, the other one under your knees. He lets you down to be on your own feet, the hand that was on your back snaking up the back of your neck; slowly tracing small soft circles on the side of your neck with his gloved hand. An interaction that he knew brought you comfort.

You had been surprised that he had caught you and you didn’t know if he could read it on your face, because to you, your reaction was was painfully obvious.

“You okay?” He asks letting you respond with a small nod and dropping your hands to your sides.

“You?” You ask softly, your eyes never leaving his own.

“Always.” His response let’s a small smile pull at the corner of your lips; a smile he notices and makes his heart flutter. Realization hit that you hadn’t pulled away from his touch and he took that along with your smile as a success. It didn’t solve your problems but he took your smile as step closer to solving the problems that confused him, and that he was desperate to talk about and solve; but with new problems coming from every corner it was difficult to do such a thing.

Realization and your guilt ridden mind kick in. Making you pull away, for your smile to disappear and to not spare him another glance as you move on to help Alya, who you had heard sinking in.

Poe watched the interaction between you and Alya. He saw her smile as you helped her down, and he couldn’t help but frown deeply and glare at Alya before turning to help Rey.

After assuring that Alya was alright you moved and checked for your other friends. Once you double checked that they all were accounted for is when you slightly smiled and moved forward, stopping by Rey’s side.

“Which way out?” Finn asked all of you. You try and look ahead but it was too dark to see anything ahead or clearly. Quickly you pull out your white lightsaber and ignite it after Rey ignited her own. The bright lights from the sabers made you finally see clearly and lets you notice that you were in some sort of weird carved tunnels.

As you were about to comment something the funny sound of a flashlight is heard beside you. You turn your eyes down and notice the low light shine beside you, your eyes move up and meet Poe’s. His eyes move to your white lightsaber and back to you; he then follows by flicking the flashlight in his hand as if showing he wasn’t intimidated by your saber. You quirk your eyebrow followed by letting out an amused huff of air and playfully rolling your eyes before moving on.

“We have to hurry.” Rey informs you all. You move and walk next to her, Alya and Finn trailing closely behind you. “So, What was it? That you were going to tell us?” Rey asks Finn referring to what he was saying before falling into the sinking fields.

“When?” Finn questions a little clueless to what she was clearly referring to.

“When we were sinking the sand, you said I never told you guys?”

“I’ll tell you two later.” Finn whispers.

“You mean when Poe’s not here?” Poe questions in an annoyed tone as he passed in between you all.

“Yeah.” Finn remarks.

“Great, we’re going to die in sand burrows and we’re keeping secrets.”

“Is he always like this? So grumpy?” Alya asks shooting Poe a pointed look.

“Yes.” Rey, Finn an even BB8 respond in unison.

You let out a small laugh and move ahead from the group.

“I’ll tell you when you tell us of all the shady stuff you do.” Finn tells Poe, letting his comment go ignored.

Your eyes scan the tunnels and you instantly feel chills travel down your spine at how familiar they looked. “I have a bad feeling about this.” You mumble under your breath gripping tighter onto your saber.

“I don’t want to know what made these tunnels.” Poe says your same thought out loud.

“Telling by the circumference of the walls-”

“I said I do not want to know. Not.” Poe cuts Threepio off quite bitterly.

Please don’t let be what I think it is. You think to yourself.

“Look. There.” Alya points out as she walks quickly past you.

“Is that a speeder?”

“An old one.” Rey points out letting you think the exact same thing BB8 had just pointed out. That whoever owned it before, died.

“A hex charm..” Alya muses as she studies the old speeder carefully.

“A what?!”

“Its a common emblem used by sith loyalists.” Alya continues getting suspicious looks from your group right after finishing what she had said.

It was ochis ship, the same thing that happened to him, happened to all of you when he was trying to get back to his ship. And your uncle Luke had sensed it. Following behind Rey is when you saw what had happened to Ochi. Nothing good.

“Bones. I hate bones.” Poe expresses turning his light away from Ochis bones. Rey moves past the bones and to something that BB8, had pointed out to her that stuck out from the sand. She brought it up to the light letting you all see a sharp pointed dagger. The blade seemed to have sith text, inscribed on it. Neither of you could read sith...well all except for Threepio

“Come on, goldenrod! When we want you to speak, you don’t!” You exclaim annoyed by Threepios sudden defiance to translate the dagger.

“My program forbids from translating it.”

“So you’re telling us the one time we need you to talk, you can’t.” Poe says more annoyed by the golden droid.

“Irony sir. I am mechanically incapable of speaking translations from sith. I believe the rule—”

“Holy Maker!” You blurt out as you and everyone take a huge step back as a serpent appears out of the darkness of the cave. BB8 beeps in distress as he rolls quickly behind your legs all while you hide behind Poe.

“Serpent! Serpent!”

All of you have your weapons pointed at the serpent, all except Rey, who later motions for Poe to lower down his blaster; and for you to lower down your lightsaber, that you have at an angle ready to throw it to the terrifying serpent ahead of where you stood.

“Rey?! What are you doing?” You whisper loudly so she can hear you, but she ignores your calls while she hands her lightsaber to Finn and moves forward. The serpent hisses and Rey only gets closer; all while you press your body forward to be touching Poe’s back. Your head peeks out over his shoulder, while one of your hands grip onto his other shoulder, your other hand gripping onto your lightsaber and aiming it at the serpent, to throw it any moment.

“Finn?” Poe, whispers sharply making Finn shush him. Rey, moves closer to the serpent and you just get more scared then you had been before.

“I’m going to kill it.” You say your voice shaky as memories resurface from the last time you had encountered a serpent.

“Don’t.” Finn responds sharply keeping his eyes on Rey.

“Ima blast it.” Poe says as the serpent keeps hissing at Rey.

“Don’t blast it.” Finn tells him.

“Nope, no, no, no.” You mutter under your breath pressing your body closer to Poe’s back, feeling your fear skyrocket and for Alya to giggle next to you.

“Behold everyone, the big mighty, Jedi Princess scared of a sand serpent.” Alya quietly mocks making you shoot her glare.

“You know why I’m scared.” You snap at her, while keeping a close eye on Rey as she presses her hand on the Serpent. You nod your head again and swallow thickly “I’m gonna kill it. I’m gonna kill it.”

“No don’t.”

“No finn, yes. I’m not getting swallowed by one again. Not again.” Finn, Poe and the rest of your friends look at you in confusion at the sound of your words.

“Wait..” Poe comments intrigued by what you had said, his head slightly turned over his shoulder to get a better look at you.

“Nope, I know what you’re going to ask. I am not going to tell that story” You shake your head and keep your eyes trained on Rey as you see that she’s healing the serpent. A proud smile making it on your lips as you had taught her that. Your smile didn’t last long as Alya, opened her mouth to try and say the story behind your fear for serpents, and hatred for sand.

“I will..it was in Tatooine, she—”

“Alya! Don’t.” You warn the girl and all she does is smirk at you.

“Pshh..I’ll say the short story then. Sand. Swallowed by serpent. Cut it from head to tail, inside the damn thing. Covered in serpent guts. Looked like a badass afterwards.” Alya snickers and you just groan in annoyance. Following by finally moving past all of them and making a quick escape out of the tunnels so you no longer had to be in the same space as the serpent.

-

“There. Look. Ochis ship.” Alya points out.

“Oh, really? I didn’t see it. Thanks for pointing it out.” Poe retorts.

Alya rolls her eyes and chooses not to fire back to Poe’s sass. “If your droid doesn’t want to translate your message, then I can take you all to someone I know who can.” Alya continues.

“Really? That would actually be great.” Rey tells Alya as she and BB8 move past the both of you.

The walk to the ship is quiet, Alya and you walk side by side while Poe, Finn, Chewie and Threepio walk behind you. You want to ask Alya the questions that you’ve been waiting to ask, but you can’t find a way to ask anything on the matter. Mostly because you’re afraid of the answer she’s going to give you.

“You know your metal hand and white suits you, Solo.” Alya compliments you, breaking the silence. You turn your eyes slightly to meet hers, offering her a shy smile before you roll your eyes and shake your head.

At the sound of the compliment and the way you had reacted to it, Poe couldn’t help but clench his jaw and ball his hands into tight fists. Poe opened his mouth to say a subtle retort but Finn noticed his stance and how he was basically fuming and put his hand on Poe’s shoulder and nodded his head. “Don’t. Just leave it be.”

Poe looked to Alya and to you then back to Finn. He opened his mouth again to say something to Finn but Finn again nodded. “Don’t be that guy.”

“Alya.”

“Hmm.”

You turn your head to the ground and sigh, memories beginning to resurface. The courage you had managed to build up, slowly slipping from you; but you couldn’t let that stop you, you needed to ask her the question that you’ve been itching to ask, since you saw her.

“How are you alive? That night I tried to go in and save you. Ben burned the temple. He told me that you died. He said he said you died. How did you escape?”

Alya’s knots her eyebrows at your comment. “Ben? Ben wasn’t there. He didn’t burn the temple or the Padawans.”

Your lips part while your eyes widen in surprise at her revelation.

“He said—”

“No. He wasn’t there. He didn’t burn the temple.”

He said. He told me. You thought, the utter shock from her words surprising you more then having seen her alive. Even if Ben, never confirmed that he had killed Alya, or burned the temple you always blamed him. Always. He never debunked your accusation before, he always let you blame him. Always let you believe that he had been the one that killed Alya and the rest of the Padawans. That he burned down the temple.

Now. Now that you knew the real truth. Your heart hurt for your brother. A brother, that after escaping with Rey, after he killed Snoke, you distanced yourself further from, than you already had. No longer trying to reach him like you had before. Only keeping a small amount of hope for his return; But now, you felt horrible for being the way you were with him. For not trying harder to bring your brother back.

You almost killed him for that lie he let you believe. You let the darkness convince you of that lie....then again you followed after him, to the dark side beside the lie.

“I managed to escape, I hid my Force presence from whatever was after us. I ran.” She admits breaking you away from your thoughts.

“Why didn’t you go after me?” The question came out fast, not really meaning to say it out loud just in your head.

She turned slightly, taking in a deep shaky breath, before revealing what she was dreading to tell you since you she had seen you. “Because I had seen you that night...I saw you in a dream. I saw you but you weren’t you. You were Hale Ren. For some reason I knew that I couldn’t go back. I wasn’t going to save you....I felt like you were meant to become that person.” She pauses and blinks back tears. She sighs deeply as she sees the tears brim your eyes, saw how far apart you were from her now. She saw the hurt in your eyes. You had loved her and she had loved you, before, and she let you down, she knew that. And seeing the heartbreak in your eyes hurt her too.

“I’m sorry y/n...I regretted it for years...I’m so sorry.”

You glance at her. Swallowing back tears. Her words had hurt you, but you knew their was nothing to be done by it. You couldn’t be angry at her. You becoming Hale Ren, was in the past now. It’s a past you hate, a past you’ll never forget as much as you have tried. Her words hurt; but all of that was now in the past. “I’m sorry too.”

“For- for what exactly?”

“Because it was my fault. The darkness—”

“Stop. What have I said before, Solo. Not everything is your fault. Stop doing that. You still blame yourself for things that aren’t your fault. Not everything is your fault. Shit happens, shit that’s supposed to happen, you can’t stop it, you can’t blame yourself for it happening. It’s like destiny...things just happen. So stop blaming yourself, for things that aren’t your fault. Okay?”

“...okay.”

You swallow thickly and look discreetly over your shoulder to quickly glance at Poe.

Some things ARE my fault.

-

“We cannot possibly fly in that old wreck!”

“Threepio, we fly the Falcon. How much worse could this be?” You remark making Alya and Rey chuckle at your comment.

“We gotta keep moving, find someone who can translate that dagger. From a useful droid.” Poe says as he walks ahead of all you.

“I told you. I know someone, they’re in kijimmi. I can take you.” Alya announces making Poe turn his head to the side slightly after hearing her comment, before looking ahead again. You bite your bottom lip, holding back a laugh as you know exactly what Poe’s past was in that planet. A past that he didn’t tell anyone else but you.

“I suggest we return back to the Millennium Falcon.”

“They’ll be waiting for us at the Falcon.”

“Yeah they’ll...”

Finns words begin to tune out, begin to go unheard as you feel a familiar presence. You stop in your steps and turn your body towards where you feel the presence, looking for it. It gets stronger and stronger until you knew exactly who it was you were feeling. Your brother. Kylo Ren.

Slowly everything begins to focus again, you’re aware of your surroundings once more. You look to Rey and see that she hadn’t, she was still focused on your brothers presence. “Rey?”

“What is it?” Finn questions Rey, noticing the same thing you had.

“I’ll be right back. It’s okay.” Rey assures you both. You take a step forward, debating if you should follow after her. “Stay, I’ll be okay.” She reassures you, feeling your conflict. She keeps moving without stopping like if in a trance of sorts. You debate it again but ultimately listen to her.

You turn away from her and head to climb the rock where the ship was ontop of. The debate of following after her, lingers in your mind but you try and ignore it as much as you could. You help Finn up and then Alya. As you’re about to climb up yourself, Alya moved to help you, but Poe pushes her slightly to the side.

“I got her.” Poe says offering his hand to you, you nod your head and refuse his help, following by forcing jumping up and landing next to him and Alya.

Alya puts her hands on her hips and nods her head with a grin on her face “You’ve always been a show off, Solo.” You giggle at her comment and shrug your shoulders with an innocent smile.

“Oh, please and you aren’t?”

Poe sees the interaction and glares at Alya. He hates the fact that she has made you smile more then he has in this entire day or in the past couple of months. He had tried to push away the fact that he was beginning to feel this hatred for this girl. It took a lot for Poe to hate someone; but Alya..she was different, he knew of your past with her. You had told him of her, she was your first love. Your first everything and he didn’t much care, he didn’t get jealous after you told him; because Alya was supposedly dead. And now she wasn’t.

After seeing that she was alive and back in your life he immediately felt what he didn’t feel for her before. She made things more complicated with your already fragile relationship with him. Whatever was going on exactly— he knew even if you were both distant that he wasn’t planning to lose you..especially not to her. Not to someone that didn’t go after you. She supposedly “loved you” but she let you go. He heard every word you both said when on your way to this ship, he was pretending that he wasn’t listening and he didn’t want to listen to your conversation, but he couldn’t help it. He knew that he wasn’t going to let you go, not like she had let you go.

“You know what, I’m going after her.” You mutter as you look back at Rey who was quickly becoming smaller and smaller as she walked further away. Without waiting for an answer you begin to walk off the rock.

“Y/N. No, come on, wait for her here.” Poe calls out to you, but you don’t stop, you keep walking.

“Y/N.”

“Its my brother...he’s here. I’ll be back.” You assure all of them.

When you’re off the rock, you begin to run to catch up with Rey. Once you manage to reach her, she turns to you, shocked that you had came.

“Y/N..what are you doing?”

“He’s my brother..and I couldn’t let you come alone.” You confess making her smile slightly.

The both of you come to a stop, the sound of the tie fighter quickly approaching. Rey and you meet each others gaze, sharing an unspoken conversation on what you needed to do. Taking a deep breath you both turn your backs to the fast approaching TIE. The familiar sound of your lightsabers hums are heard as you both activate them; the TIE gets louder signifying it’s proximity, Rey and you look at one another one last time before you begin to run forward matching each other’s speed.

The engine gets louder and louder by every passing moment, you take another deep breath and unlike like Rey, you had stay put on the ground as the TIE was a feet away you spin and run towards it. As it’s now inches away you slide down below it, all in the meanwhile lifting your lightsabers and at the same time as Rey, cut off the wings.

Quickly you do spin trick on your leg and lift yourself up, all while deactivating your sabers and getting on your full height. You gasp as you see the TIE violently spinning and exploding in the distance; as you’re about to express your worry, Finn cuts you off, shouting in distress as he pointed at a ship in the sky.

“Rey! Y/N! They got Chewie! They got him!”

You whip your head up to what Finn was pointing at, worry and Panic had quickly ran through your body. You couldn’t let Chewbacca being taken. Not him. He was your family, you couldn’t lose him like you lost your father.

Quickly before the ship could fly away any further, you copy Rey’s action and throw out your hand, using the force to pull down and stop the ship from taking Chewie.

The ship tries to pull away from what you were doing, trying to fight the pull, but it couldn’t, you two were slowly bringing the ship down. It seemed like you were successfully going to stop it; but then you saw a dark figure approach from the explosion of the TIE. You couldn’t lie to say you weren’t relieved that you saw your brother make it out unharmed, but you also knew that he wasn’t going to let you get away with what you were doing.

Just like you had thought he too threw out his hand and fought against Rey and you; making the ship stop completely, instead of coming down like before.

You clench your jaw and dig your heels further into the ground, using more strength against Kylo’s Force.

“Agh!”

Rey, Kylo and you twist your wrists, using even more force against one another; it was like playing a game of tug o war, the strongest side would win. In this case they was no winner.

Force lightening emits from Rey’s fingers out of sudden, hitting the ship directly and causing it to explode with Chewie inside. You pull your hand back and look at the sky in disbelief and utter shock, tears quickly pooling your eyes.

“NO!”

“CHEWIE!”

You stay quiet, your mouth slightly open, not wanting to believe what had happened...what..Rey had done.

“NO! NO! CHEWIE!” You want to run towards the explosion, want to check if chewbacca somehow made it out, but you didn’t, you stopped yourself. Feeling eyes trained on you, you turn and meet Kylo’s. Some part of you wanted to blame him. To make him the guilty one for killing Chewie...but you couldn’t, it wasn’t his fault...it...was hers. And his look told you all. His eyes shifted to Rey and back to you, sharing a look with you, one you understood. It was her fault. All her fault.

At the sudden feeling of a hand on your shoulder you tear your eyes away from your brothers to find Reys hand on your shoulder. Quickly you pulled away from her touch, clenching your jaw together, letting her see your anger.

“Rey, What did you do?”

.

.

.

.

Tagged- @treblebeth , @mcrvellouslystcrk , @themythicallifeofesmerelda , @thescarletknight2014 , @sfnari , @bitch-imma-head-out , @arsonistvoyager , @chloe-skywalker , @emotionalcal , @theholycakehole , @justxriot , @stvrdustalexx , @the-dream-catch3r , @theoralpha , @sleepyblossom , @basically-hayley , @iamaunicorn4704 , @sneekygeek , @carisiswaistcoat , @creativelyquestioninglife , @daniellajocelyn , @wnygirl2012 , @imjusttryingtocatchavibe , @holy-kylo-stars , @patdsinner33 , @avmps , @xxrouge-lexxx , @x-thunderbird-x , @kaelyn-lobrutto24 , @winter-scolder , @constantdisgrace , @valeecruz16

[fairymadnessyeah]

BNHA Ship to Finish the Year

MangaGlue (Fukidashi Manga x Bondo Kojiro)

Canon

So, Manga and Bondo...

And I thought Honenuki and Kodai were a rare couple with rare characters.

At least, they had a personality. 

Or content.

Man, this is going to be short.

I like the idea that they are so invisible that nobody notices they got together until they get married.

Like, out of the blue, the ex-students of class B get an invitation to the wedding and engagement party, and they all lose their shits.

"YOU ARE DATING!?" "Yeah..." "SINCE WHEN!?" "Well, we had our first date at the end of our first year at UA, but we became official a little later-" "YOU'VE BEEN GOING OUT SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!?"

"Wait! You never noticed?" "NO!" "We went on dates all the time, we studied together, we held hands all lunches," "Now that's unfair! You know nobody can bear the sight of seeing you eat, Manga!"

Okay, but seriously how does this kid eat? He doesn't have a mouth! His face is a bubble speech with an emoticon! And in his hero suit, he uses a mask! What the hell is that covering! Your face is a bubble speech, what do you think you are hiding? Your face is an emoticon!

This ship gives me so much anxiety! 

I hate the design of these two characters, and the fact that I have to think about them doing couple stuff makes me mad.

How do they do stuff!? They can't kiss since I don't know if one has a mouth!

That means they can't go on coffee dates or dinner dates either! How are is Manga going to eat!?

And Bondo doesn't have eyes! I know he can see, because there is no source addressing the fact that he is blind, but from where? Are they the holes on top of his head? But that's where the glue comes from!

This is going to be the death of me...

I can't...

*leaves the room*

Family

*comes back into the room* Okay, I'm back and more calm now...

I imagine that Manga's family is a single-dad. His dad's face is a canvas, instead of a bubble speech.

His quirk is that he can spit paint.

I imagine him like a Bob Ross that instead of painting, spits in his paintings.

"We don't make mistakes. Just happy accidents," *spits in the painting*

why is that funny to me?

I feel like they would get along with Bondo alright.

However, they don't invite him to their home anymore. Bondo is gigantic, and he smashes his head against the ceiling.

Bondo is the tallest of class B, and Manga is the shortest. 

Bondo lives with his grandparents. His parents are away a lot, since they are the CEO's of the most famous cement factory of Japan, so his mother's parents looked out for him.

When Manga comes, his parents are present, but Bondo doesn't care if they like his boyfriend or not. He is, however, interested in knowing if his grandparents like him.

To him, their opinion matters more than the one of two strangers that were never there.

His grandparents love him, of course, Grandma laughs with every different emoticon he uses to express himself and Grandpa gets help from Manga to do crossword puzzles.

I don't want to think about them having children.

I mean-

Just think-

I have enough with these two and their weird-ass physiology to worry about creating a mix between them.

I read Frankenstein. I learned the lesson Victor didn't.

It would be funny if they had children that looked human, but I don't see them as parents.

Maybe it's the anxiety they cause me that makes me want nobody to go through it. And that includes children.

But I do think they would have a pretty sick wedding. Something modern and contemporary.  

AU - Frankenstein AU

You know what? We are going on a roll here. I figured why not?

So, Bondo and Manga are friends. Their parents are high society of England during the Dark Gothic ages.

Manga is a doctor scientist and Bondo, a military man. The two are inseparable, but one day, Bondo dies in a horrible accident.

Manga, blinded by grief and loss, forms a desperate idea in his head to bring him back.

He starts digging up graves, researching into cases of the dead, and throwing all of his time into this project.

Time passes and passes, and one day he does it.

"IT'S ALIVE!!"

Bondo, however, is not the same as before. He is much stronger and doesn't seem to be able to remember much or talk.

Slowly, Manga tries to make him remember, showing him pictures and telling him about memories of their childhood. He keeps Bondo locked away with the idea that he might get hurt again if he goes outside.

Bondo, however, is not stupid, and one day, finds a way out.

He comes across people, but they are all afraid of him.

The overwhelming sensations of being outside, drive him mad, but it also brings back his memories.

He returns to the Manga before he can launch a search party for him. But when he does, he ignores the other man.

Manga doesn't know what's wrong until two days later, he has to stop him from shooting his brain off.

They have a discussion and Bondo runs off, but this time, he comes across the wrong set of people.

The people he came across, start saying that they saw a monster and that he tried to attack them. The city starts a chase to either kill the monster, or drive him away. 

Manga looks for him too, but to bring him back home and be able to save him from the angry hysterical people.

Bondo, meanwhile, hides in the woods, not knowing if it would be better to live and accept the unwarranted gift Manga gave him, or to die, and let nature run his course.

He doesn't have much time to think about it, since he is found by a hunter and barely makes it out. 

He returns to Manga, but word travels fast, and is not long before an angry mob is at their door.

They burn the house down, and Bondo dies inside. Some people from the mob, who believed Bondo was a demon who was confusing Manga by wearing the face of his late friend, saved Manga from the fire and place him in a hospital.

However, some officials found some of the research made by Manga and put the pieces together.

They go to the hospital to arrest him, he hanged himself in his room before they arrived.

Manga didn't want to live in a world where Bondo was not with him.

Fanon Opinion

I can't even imagine them going on dates with their weird as hell anatomy. And you expect me to be able to write about them having sex?

I can't even picture them kissing! I can't picture them eating!

I don't know how they are even breathing!

I feel that through the days of doing this, you have put me challenges.

A know character with an unknown one, two background characters, but none of them come close to the level of stress this couple has given me.

This unimportant character x 'how the fuck is this' character.

And no! It's not a typo! I mean how!

And you know what sucks, you don't who I'm talking about.

However, I have to admit, this is a gem. 

This is the rarest of ship that is possible, and at the same time correct.

[falseroar]

To Know How the Story Ends

((For MerMay, here’s a short story in the same universe as the Monster Hunter Abe au I’ve been playing with. None of the characters from Silver and Peppermint make an appearance here, but there are two familiar faces that might show up again later, if I can ever get around to that far in the story. Until then, here’s a dark little monster story which I don’t think this is as bad as it could have been? But I’m also not a very good judge of this sort of thing, sorry.

Warnings: Several deaths, including jumping overboard, implied drowning/shark attacks, multiple mentions of blood and violence))

The captain was a proud man, but more than that, he was a desperate one. The crew didn’t know where the map hidden away in his chambers would lead them, but the rumors of what awaited them flew fast and thick, same as the knowledge that the map’s previous owner wouldn’t just let the theft go unpunished. To reach their reward, they first had to rid themselves of the specter that followed just a few days behind by even the most hopeful of estimates.

That may have been why they did not question the captain’s decision to sail for the Dire Straits, a stretch of water that had more than earned its name with the number of ships lost to the narrow strip of water. But the rare ship that passed through safely could cut weeks if not months off of a journey that would otherwise mean sailing the long way around the stretches of land to either side, and with the right captain and the right crew, and just the right wind to catch the sails, ships did make it through.

But this was not the right captain and not the right crew for this journey, and the wind that pushed them on toward the small stretch of water that navigated between two equally sheer, lifeless cliff walls that towered over the ship, toward the shards of rock that reached up out of the roiling waves like grasping fingers, had something deeply wrong in it.

The sound carried by the breeze caught the captain’s ears first, urging him to encourage the crew to press on, filling him with a confidence that seemed to spread out to his first mate and then to the others. All except for one, whose focus was on the nearest ropes that reached up to the sail overhead. He looked to his mate for confirmation of what needed to be done, but the other man stood where he left him by the railing, his eyes unfocused as the rope in his hands played out on its own.

The crew member called to him, but there was still no response, and when he looked around the ship, he saw that the others had similar vacant expressions. Even the captain stood still, his hand against the mast as he stared out at the rocks ahead that the wind and the waves were relentlessly driving them toward. The entire ship moved forward silently, almost every person aboard enraptured by the sound that one of them could not hear.

Just as he could not hear the scrape of the rock against the bow, or the groan of the timbers that strained and buckled against the unyielding pillar they struck next. He could only feel the shivers that ran up through the ship before it ground to a stop, pinned between two towering rocks weathered by wave and wind.

He stumbled, as did the rest of the crew aboard, and like that the spell was broken. As he looked around, he saw the confusion on his fellow sailors’ faces, the panic and jumbled swears that rolled off their lips as the state of the ship dawned on them.

Then it was madness and chaos, as some ran below to check for leaks while others ran to the sides, desperately checking for damage and more importantly, any possible way to free the ship from its death grip.

He turned to his mate, but there was no understanding there when he demanded an explanation for why everyone had just stood there, frozen. Entranced. Instead, he was brushed off and told to help with the sail—they had to get it down now, before it could be pressed by the wind to do any more damage.

Reluctantly, he followed, hands working the ropes with a confidence born from many years on the sea, while his eyes strayed over the deck, searching for some kind of answer to what he had seen.

Instead, he saw the man standing alone at the fore of the ship, seemingly unnoticed by any of the other sailors as he stared down over the side, the stillness of the figure among so many others moving catching his eye just in time to see the man walk off the ship.

He cried out, letting go of the sail as he ran toward the railing and peered down into the swirling, dark waters down below. There was a sense of movement just below the surface of the water, but by the time the others joined him at the railing there was still no sign of the man.

They did, however, see the fins that crested the waters before diving back down again.

Sharks.

It made sense—the passage was no doubt friendlier to schools of fish moving along the current, and more than likely making homes among the fallen ships that had attempted and failed this passage before.  Making it a prime hunting ground for the larger predators who now circled the ship, curious about the new intruder in their waters.

He looked to the captain, who was speaking to the crew now, where he read words of calm and encouragement on his lips. The ship may have been pinned, but the damage below decks was minimal. If they worked through the day and the night, there was still a chance they could use the timbers down below to push their way back and then around the rocks. There would be damage to be dealt with later, yes, but they could still outrace the ship that followed behind and make it to safe harbor on the other side.

Better to try than to wait for the vengeance that was coming for them.

It wasn’t a prospect that any of them wanted to consider, and so they set to work instead.

In the flurry of activity that took place on the ship, it was easy to miss the absence of one sailor or two, or more. No one noticed the dwindling numbers as night fell, attributing it to a familiar face being on another part of the ship, above or below decks, or taking their shift to rest when they could get it. They would need every hand when the morning came and with it the time to try to free the ship and try again, a maneuver they could not risk in the darkness.

With lantern in hand, one crew member walked the deck in search of the hammer left behind earlier and paused when he saw one of the others again, standing near the railing. Heart in his throat, he called out to them, but there was no sign the other heard him. The man at the railing’s shoulders were relaxed, head swaying softly back and forth as though listening to some song down below before he suddenly lifted one foot and braced it against the railing.

Again, the sailor cried out and ran forward, one hand almost reaching the man’s jacket before he went over the edge. He held his lantern out, the light casting a glow on the icy black waters down below.

And upon the figure who greeted the falling sailor with open arms, waiting to drag him into those depths.

In the flickering light of the lantern, that strangely human and yet not face turned up toward the ship, lips moving in incomprehensible syllables as he soothed the struggling sailor in his glistening wet arms, while dark eyes met the figure left standing up above with a cruel smile.

Then they were both gone, disappearing beneath the waves with only a single stream of bubbles rising up in their wake which stopped far too soon.

He tried to tell the others, to warn them of what he had seen, but they laughed at first, before growing grim. He wasn’t sure whose idea it was, to lock him in the brig down below where the water had reached nearly knee high despite efforts to bail out the lower decks, only that he soon found himself standing alone in the darkness, leaning on the metal cage for support and praying that they were right, that his eyes had deceived him in the darkness.

He stood there, dozing on and off for the rest of the night until just before dawn. He hadn’t heard the creaking footsteps overhead, or the slosh of water, only seen the light that accompanied the captain himself as he approached the cell’s door with keys in hand. The lantern cast strange shadows on the captain’s face, and despite his questions the captain’s lips did not move in response.

It wasn’t until the door was open that he recognized the same, glassy-eyed expression in his captain’s face that he had seen before, the look of someone listening to a sound far away.

He reached out, shook the captain by the shoulder and shouted, but it did nothing to remove the spell. Instead, he was dragged by his captain up the steps and out into the fresh air of the deck, where he found all was still.

There had been no one else down below, no shadows or the vibrations of footsteps on the boards beneath his feet besides those of the captain, and there was not a single soul to be seen as the captain led him across the deck, past the steering and the mast and toward the fore of the ship.

Seeing where they were going, the man struggled again and to his surprise, the captain released him and just stood there, a faint smile on his lips as though listening to some long-forgotten melody.

And then the captain began to lurch forward, in the same march to his death that the rest of his crew had taken. The sailor tried to stop him, to pull him back, but the captain was a strong man, made stronger by the obsession that drove him toward the waves below.

At the railing he paused, and for a moment the sailor had hope until he saw the captain turn toward him with those same, empty eyes, as he read the words on his lips.

“I want to know how the story ends.”

He tried, but in the blink of an eye he was alone. The last soul remaining on this trapped ship, with no hope of escape.

When he gathered the will to look over the side, there was no sign of the captain. Red stained the dark waters below, but that may have been from the sun rising on the horizon, turning the seas scarlet around the figure floating down below. A human chest and arms, a human enough face that might have been handsome even if not for the cold and cruel eyes or the smile that revealed waiting jaws which moved in an unheard song.

Beckoning him to join the others, to leap into the waiting arms of the creature down below, or, perhaps, into the shifting and billowing mass of tentacles he could clearly now see made up its lower half, like that devourer the kraken.

Down below, the siren watched his prey with interest. It wasn’t often he came across a human that could ignore his call. He wanted to take this last stray, to rip its story from it like he had all of the others, to pry the voice from their jaws along with whatever else he desired before leaving the rest for the remorseless hunger of the sharks drawn in by this uncommon feast.

He waited patiently as the shadow above dipped out of sight, well aware of the choice that awaited the man above thanks to his former crewmates. Freeing the ship now was not an option, and the siren had made sure that the lifeboat was destroyed during the night, not that it would have done him any good.

No, he could either face what was waiting for him down below, or wait and pray for mercy from the man who followed them. At best, he could hope for a short life of servitude there; at worst?

He could be the bait to draw in yet another feast for those down below.

Better to try then, if only to save those who followed after.

The siren could have laughed when he saw the sailor approach the railing once again and begin tying a rope to the wood there. In fact, he did, watching with delight as the sailor, with the other end of the rope tied fast around his waist, began to rappel down the side of the ship.

The laughter died when the man stopped just out of his reach and turned to stab out at the creature in the water with a very lethal and very sharp spear in hand. The siren dodged, but with feet braced against the side of the ship and one hand on the rope anchoring him, the sailor stabbed again and again, catching the side of the siren and releasing a scream that sent all of the creatures below scattering.

The sound didn’t bother the sailor though, and as dark, grasping tentacles lashed out of the water to grasp at his feet, he released the rope and used his last effort to stab again, this time catching the siren in the face.

Blinded, the siren screamed again, the screeching cacophony drowning out the snap of the rope as the sailor was pulled under. In a rage, he started to tear at the man only to be knocked away by something large and moving fast. Rough skin teared at his own as the beast grazed past him, and the siren reached toward his marred face as understanding dawned.

The sharks.

The siren moved fast, tentacles grasping at the underside of the boat and finding the leverage to move him up out of the water and up the side of the boat with a speed that would have terrified, if there had been any crew left behind to witness the sight. Something brushed his hands and he grasped the other half of the sailor’s rope, his lifeline as he painfully pulled himself up the rest of the way and onto the safety of the ship’s deck where he lay there, fully exposed in the growing sunlight.

A pool of blood mixed with the water gathering around his body as he shuddered and gasped, hands slowly reaching toward the wound on his side and then, with a shiver and a cry of pain, the devastation wrought upon his eyes.

He needed to stop the bleeding.

The memories of the crew guided him as he used his arms and dark grasping tentacles to slowly and painfully crawl across the deck like some pathetic, bloated spider. Narrow halls not built for his size hindered his progress down below, but eventually he found the medical supplies and did what he could for his side and his eyes, hands clumsy with nothing to guide them.

And then he waited.

The bandages had to be changed again, and again as the day progressed, but while his side eventually clotted like it should, there seemed to be nothing to stop the steady stream that ran from his torn eyes when there wasn’t a bandage to hold it back.

His hands shook as he replaced the bandages yet again, as the only part of the man’s story that he had been able to take came back to him. Or rather, was given to him, as the sailor struck out with the curse on his lips, with all the fury and grief of a man who saw his own death coming after everyone else he knew was gone.

Leaving the siren blind, but more than that, never healing. If he returned to the water now, the same sharks he had fed before would gladly turn on him, and he could not hold them off forever.

He was trapped here, in the very ship that he had run aground.

In the darkness of another night, the realization dawned on the wounded creature hiding in the ship that had become its prison.

There were others, who would be here soon. If they found him like this, there was no guarantee he could entrance them all, not in this condition. All it would take is another sailor like that one or one with the will to resist even for a moment, and he would be dead, or worse, gagged and bound for some other cruel purpose.

But there was another option, one he would never have considered before but now, with the sea possibly forever out of his reach and doom riding in on the current…

Well, better to try than to wait any longer.

---

When they found the empty and silent vessel, they were not surprised. This was hardly the first ship to have been left, abandoned and hopeless in Dire Straits.

They were surprised to find a survivor, huddled below decks who called out when he heard them coming. He was dressed in ill-fitting clothes, stained by the wound on his side and the terrible bandages wrapped around his eyes, and pulled his large overcoat close as he shivered in the air when they took him above deck.

They practically had to carry him, as despite there being nothing visibly wrong with his legs, he walked as though every step he took pained him greatly, leaving him gasping and shaking by the time they brought him before their captain.

“And who might you be? Our host for this wonderful gathering?” the captain asked, his voice a growl somewhere high above. The floorboards creaked beneath his weight, and he moved with the air of a giant towering above all around him.

“Your…Host,” said their captive with a flicker of a smile around his lips, already recognizing the appropriateness of the name. His words flowed with a harmony of many voices, and had it not been so lulling to those who heard it, they might have recognized some of those voices as belonging to the crew who once manned this vessel. Instead, to their ears the melody of voices sounded natural, unquestionable even if it lacked the power it had in his true form. It was still enough to give him the confidence that he could turn this twist of fate to his advantage as he continued, “Is just a prisoner, a captive held by the cruel men who abused and tormented him before leaving him upon this cursed vessel. Please, Captain, this Host can tell you where they hid what was stolen from you, if you will only take him to shore where he may find his way home.”

That confidence which wavered as the Captain stood silent and impassive before him until at last he spoke with a deadly calm.

“And what else may ye be willin’ to offer?”

“Else?”

“Aye, for passage on me ship. You know what they say, there ain’t no such thing as a free ride.”

The Host paused, realizing that for the second time in almost as many days, his words were failing to have an effect. He had never had to rely on anything else in his existence before, and weakly he answered, “A song?”

“Well, a sea shanty is well and good, but…”

The Host winced as he had to step back, bracing himself as a large hand shook his shoulder with a laugh.

“Heh. Well, we’ll see how good ye are at scrubbing the deck, and then we’ll go from there. Come on, now, the wind won’t be waiting for us to catch up, now will it?”

With a massive arm around his shoulders, the Host was guided forward to the other ship, with the sinking realization that he may have just traded one prison for another. He stumbled, still unused to two legs, or to the sensation of knives digging into his feet with every terrible step. Blindly, he moved forward, because it was the only choice he had left.

To wait and find out for himself how the story ends.

((The end. Thank you for reading!

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