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[everytechever]

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In commemoration of its 25th year in the Philippines, the company continues to strengthenFilipinos live through its business opportunity while offering high-quality products. Tocelebrate the accomplishments of its distributors, Nu Skin, a dynamic affiliate opportunityplatform-powered, internationally integrated beauty and wellness brand, conducted its annualSuccess Seminar Event. Since its start…

[2tarbell]

does twee have a job??? i know you mentioned her being pogue turned kook, im wondering if she’s kept a job she had as a pogue 🤭….

TWEE!READER who is a cart girl! she started the job right before her father came into money and wanted to keep it. mainly because she misses the pogue lifestyle and working makes her feel less guilty about now living in a nice house.

she receives a lot of tips because the players think she’s the cutest thing! rambunctious and teasing, having inside jokes with all the members. in her little cart girl uniform, tight polo and pleated skirt. her striped socks and maryjane’s. hair always done up in some cute style. she’s a natural born people pleaser and can happily stay afloat in the midst of these golf playing men. but only because she doesn’t entertain their foul intentions, too naive to assume anything bad.

but she actually met rafe after her shift ended, parking the cart back in its ‘home’ and gathering her things. he’s just leaving when he passes her by, having been in the carolina sun all day golfing with his boys. they’ve since left and he found himself lingering just a bit more, hoping to catch that cute cart girl he saw at the ninth hole.

he’s handsome, that’s the first thing she notices. and her mind races, hoping to maybe see him on her shift tomorrow. the daydreaming causes her to trip. thankfully, she caught herself before eating shit, not without attracting the attention of the cameron boy, though. his hands shooting out to her shoulders and steadying her.

“you good?”

she smiles sheepishly, smoothing down her hair. twee nods and looks down at her shoes, frowning at the scuff on the leather of her new shoes. goddamnit. when she looks up at him again, eyes squinting in the setting sun, rafe feels his own smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

“sorry— was just… thinking…” she trails off slightly.

rafe actually huffs out a laugh, and she becomes more embarrassed than before. her grimace makes his grin soften.

“don’t worry ‘bout it, yeah? s’all good.”

her little grin is adorable and rafe trails his eyes down her body when she turns to retrieve something from her cart. miles of smooth skin disappearing underneath that short skirt, he can just barely see the lace edge of her panties, until her dainty hand reaches back and pulls the skirt down a little.

“glad you caught me then—“

his eyes snap up back to hers when she turns around with what he assumes is her purse, smirking and crossing his arms. her playfulness isn’t lost on rafe and he finds himself reciprocating, flirting.

“oh, so it’s a habit of yours to trip into eligible bachelors?”

she giggles and rafe knows he’s in.

he sets his jaw, noticing her looking up at him through those dark lashes. she leans back against the cart and crosses one ankle over the other. rafe’s eyes are drawn to the movement and trail slowly up her legs. when he meets her eyes again, she has a knowing smile on her cute face.

“bet you, uh, get a lotta these dudes in trouble, huh?”

the way she cocks her head to the side, an innocent gleam in her eyes, makes his shorts feel just that much tighter. her voice is soft and unsure when she replies, “whaddaya mean?”

rafe shrugs, smiling lazily and scratching his ear. “pretty thing like you workin’ here… dunno, ‘m sure it makes it hard to focus on golf…”

her huff paired with an eye roll makes his chest swell. he can see the smile she’s biting back and chuckles, fishing his phone out of his pocket.

“y’know i— i gotta see you somewhere other than here, if you wanna…” he mumbles lowly, holding the device out.

“y’gonna get me fired, rafe…” she teases.

his name has never sounded so good. rafe places his other hand hand over his heart, grinning at the giggle she lets out at his dramatic gesture.

“i promise, kid, swear on m’life. just one date?”

he’s putting on the works, he knows; charming smirk and narrowing eyes. but, twee is just a girl, in every sense of the word. so when she walks off after giving him her number, hundred dollar tip the handsome boy said was ‘all f’you’ tucked into her bra strap and a promise to text him her work schedule, she can’t hide the smile growing on her face.

rafe can’t hide his either, shaking his head and stuffing his phone back in the pocket of his golf shorts. walking out to his truck, he can’t think of anything else but the apple hairclip she was wearing and that little grin that made his heart stutter.

[tako-cafe]

idk how many of yall do this here but I'm going to anyway b/c I wanna kiss Olivine so bad.

some of this is on the image too Nu!Damir lore- Current outfit is a gift from Eiden as his he was wearing when he was found was in poor shape and couldn't be fixed as he had been wearing it for a year basically homeless in Klein.

Huey had made his ancestor out of sea glass to create basic servants to help the main guys he made contracts with. After he disappeared the servants were left to their own devices and Damir's ancestor had somehow made its way to earth and had a family. Passing the polished sea glass imbedded in each new generation down. Though it went wrong for Damir as it got stuck under his skin creating a weird bump.

These objects need to keep up with their supply or they do just turn back into whatever they were to start. When he feels himself dangerously low (no attention for a very long time frame) he gets rather clingy/touchy as a subconscious mechanism. Anyone can refill him it does not have to be Eiden. They are made to serve anyone so anyone has to have the ability to refill them.

his tldr for ike that formed a lot of his choices and personality

He in the mansion served and learned with Sebastian and was his lover. He also was paired with Mozart, Jean, Dazai, and overly affectionate to Will. He was actively dating Faust though (I talk about them quite a bit on here, it is fairly dark and toxic) and he isn't unknown to be shared with Charles at times as well. He arrives to Klein with his daily bag and did have his priest and cough a Nun uniform since he worked in the church most days anyway. When he visits London it's to stay with ikevils crown members he specifically likes Roger a lot and visits for about 2 months each year to be with them (i have them set in the same year for myself)

That should cover enough weird dimension blabbing if anyone cared enough to read.

[dumfanting]

Same Heart ch 29, The Veteran

AO3 Link

Rating: M, mature

Warnings: wound care, description of injury, implied sex (but there actually isn’t), painkillers

7410 Words

It’s been more than a month since the last update! Life got busy, between finding a job (first day today!) and helping my mom recover from surgery, I didn’t realize how long the gap had become.

Cassia Nu belongs to @kaminocasey, and is the main character in their Bonsoir series; I was given the okay to include this cameo.

F! Reader/ Echo

F! Reader/ Crosshair

You get into the library, then visit Kix, and Rex finds out about the ‘agreement’.

After Hunter returns to his room, you, Echo, and Crosshair leave the hotel and are about to split up for the day. After the debacle with the Duros man yesterday, you make it a point to be sure whoever’s cab the guys get into isn’t being driven by another jackass. You slip Echo enough credits for the ride there and back, kiss his cheek, then Crosshairs, and wave them off as the cab pulls out into traffic.

An empty taxi takes its place, and you hop inside. You quickly consult your data pad, and give the driver, an unusually quiet Gungan woman, the address General Skywalker sent you. As the speeder drives off, your comm device chirps at you with a call from him.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you yesterday, it completely slipped my mind,” he says, sounding embarrassed, “you’ll be meeting up with Jocasta Nu at the Library. On the off chance you can’t find her, just ask somebody, everyone there knows who she is.”

“Jocasta Nu, got it,” you repeat, ensuring that you’ll remember the name.

“If she can’t help you figure this out, I don’t think anybody can,” he says, but he doesn’t sound very serious.

“I can’t thank you enough General,” you say, and he interrupts you.

“Just ‘Anakin’ is fine,” he says, catching you by surprise.

“Oh! Okay, um, Anakin. I really can’t put into words how much you doing this means to me,” you say, feeling odd about using a superiors first name.

“Hey, I’m just as invested as you are, remember?” he says, laughing a little.

“Right! I’ll let you know whatever we find out. Thank you again sir,” you say brightly.

Before he can say anything else, you hear what sounds like Rex getting his attention in the background.

“Yeah, we’ll meet up later,” he says, ending the call.

You return your comm to your bag and it occurs to you that you still don't know who exactly you’ll be meeting. All you’ve got to go on now is a name and that she’s a woman. You can’t find it in yourself to be annoyed by this though; not only is the General (or Anakin , apparently) doing you a massive favor, you know he’s got an entire galaxy’s worth of bigger things to contend with.

You spend the rest of the ride to the Library thinking about everything you’ve experienced up to this point. It all weighs heavily on your mind, and you’re so deep in thought that you don’t realize right away when the speeder has parked. You shake yourself, pay the driver and thank her, then step outside.

The sheer size of the place is intimidating, and when you notice a few Jedi in their brown robes looking curiously at you, you feel grossly out of place. Despite that, you make your way up the stone stairs, determined to get to the bottom of whatever’s been happening to you. Once inside, you find yourself in a wide hall, and your footsteps echo loudly in the impressive space.

You have no idea where to go. You’re sure that Master Nu would be in the actual library area, but it feels very wrong for you to just go waltzing inside. You glance around, wishing you’d gotten more about her from Anakin, and so don’t immediately notice the young human woman you crash into.

You both hit the floor and you quickly scramble to your feet. You bend and offer your hand before you pull her to her feet, apologizing profusely. She dusts herself off and meets your eyes, and you’re momentarily startled by her fair skin and bright red hair; she’s very pretty. You ask if she’s alright.

“Oh, I’m okay, you just startled me,” she says, waving it off. “What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you say, but she frowns slightly at you.

“Now, I’ll admit that I don’t know every single person who comes through here, but I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” she says, sounding more curious than suspicious.

“Well, this is my first time here. Do you know who Jocasta Nu is? I’m supposed to meet her inside,” you say, and the woman smiles brightly at you.

“Oh! She’s my great aunt, I was just on my way out from visiting her,” she says. She tells you to follow her, and you match her stride as she leads you through the entrance hall. You chat a little, and find out that her name is Cassia, and that she owns a small bookstore.

“Like, actual ink and flimsi books?” you say, surprised. She nods at you.

“There’s something special about having a physical copy in your hands, y’know?” she says, and you agree. You both continue walking and she asks about you. You give her your name and tell her that you’re a contracted field medic in the GAR. She seems impressed, but doesn’t ask about it.

By this point, you’ve reached the doors, and once you step through, you’re taken aback by the grandeur of the Library.

This room is just as impressive (and intimidating) as the building itself. The ceiling is high and the polished floor is so reflective that it makes the place appear even larger than it already is. Looking around, you see rows and rows of what appear to be data banks sprawling across the floor, and they’re several feet high. The way they’re laid out creates twisting paths of varying width, occasionally spacing out far enough to create a sort of ‘clearing’ which houses computer terminals, desks, and chairs. It all reminds you of a well traveled forest, though with much better lighting, and hopefully less wild animals. You can hear the soft tapping of footsteps, the hum of the terminals, and the occasional chirp of a droid.

As you’re marveling at the place, you hear someone say Cassia’s name, which redirects you to the task at hand.

“I thought you were leaving?” they say.

“Oh, I still am, I just literally bumped into someone who’s looking for you,” Cassia says, gesturing towards you.

You look toward the voice and see a short, wizened old human woman with brown robes and white hair approaching the two of you. She looks you up and down and claps her hands together.

“Ah, of course!” she says. She asks your name and you give it to her, then she nods at you and says “Anakin told me to expect you today.”

Cassia smiles at her great aunt, then looks over at you.

“It was nice to meet you,” she says. “The next time you’re planetside, you think you’ll be able to come by The Spine?” she says.

“Sure, I’d love to see the place,” you say, also smiling at her.

Cassia quickly digs a bit of flimsi and a stylus out of her bag and writes down the address for you. You take it and tuck it into your own bag.

“I’ll be heading back out then,” she says, politely excusing herself. “Be safe out there, okay?” she says, speaking to you directly. You nod and tell her to do the same, then she leaves through the door you both came in and Master Nu waves goodbye to her great niece.

“She’s a sweet girl, my Cassia,” she says fondly, before returning her attention to you. When she continues speaking, her tone is business-like. “Now, Anakin and I agreed that it would be better if I heard about everything from you directly, so I don't know much. Once you fill me in, I’ll know where to start,” she says, walking down an aisle.

You follow her through the data banks and into a secluded ‘clearing’ in a smaller section with nobody else around to overhear, which you appreciate. You both take a seat in a pair of nearby chairs.

“Whenever you’re ready dear,” she says. You nod at her, then take a deep breath and tell your stories yet again. She’s listening intently and looks startled when you describe the shared dream. That expression changes into near-shock after you finish talking about how you felt Fives with you back in the ship’s bunks.

“Good Maker,” she says quietly. “Is there anything else?”

You think about the vague feeling of dread that’s been following you around since Anakin confirmed that you are force sensitive, but halfheartedly brush that off as general anxiety about the war.

“No ma’am, I think I understand everything else just fine,” you say, shifting in your seat.

“The Force works in mysterious ways,” Master Nu says. “Which I know isn’t a very helpful answer. Out of everything, what stands out to you the most?” she asks.

“I mean, Anakin was able to explain a fair bit of the visions to me,” you say. “So the biggest thing is the shared dream, and what happened in the bunks,” you say, then pause for a moment. “It all seems to come back to Fives, doesn’t it?” you say softly.

“It certainly looks that way,” she says. “You’ve been through quite a lot. I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any direct answers for you, but I do know where to look for them. Follow me,” she says. She gets to her feet and beckons you to join her.

You obediently walk alongside Master Nu as she leads you to a large terminal station in the center of the cavernous space. She activates one and types in your name, followed by a few other things, as you watch. She must have Sensed your confusion.

“Oh, I’m not looking up anything about you, don’t worry about that; we leave the GAR affairs entirely separate from the data here,” she explains, chuckling softly. “I’ve simply taken the liberty of adding you into our registry. I get the feeling you’ll need more time than just today to find what you're looking for, so now you're free to come and go without a chaperone,” she says.

“Oh, thank you!” you say, surprised by her thoughtfulness. Master Nu smiles softly at you.

“Anytime dear. Now,” she says, clapping her hands together again, “I’m sure you want to get right to it, yes?”

“I do, yes. I’ll be shipping out in a few days, so the sooner the better,” you say, inclining your head in her direction.

She starts walking again, quickly this time, and you follow her once more through another twisting pathway between the data banks.

“Is there a way to access any of this from outside?” you ask, recalling that Anakin asked why you didn’t just have Tech look into any of this for you.

“No, there isn’t, it’s all encrypted. Security reasons, I’m sure you understand,” she says, then you nod at her while she turns a corner and stops so abruptly that you nearly run into her too.

Master Nu scans over a nearby display screen, then you watch as she fishes a small key out of her robes. She uses it to unlock a section of the data bank just out of her reach, then uses the Force to summon a handful of data chips, catching them between her fingers. You watch, spellbound, and wonder if you’ll ever be able to move objects like that. The librarian takes a moment to carefully examine each one, then uses the Force again to put two of them away. She locks the bank, then goes back into her robes. This time she pulls out a small box with slots for each chip, and she carefully sets each one place before closing it and handing it to you.

“There we are, that should be enough to get you started,” Master Nu says. “If you need help finding another section, I’m usually near the entrance or the terminals at the center, so come find me and I’ll take you wherever you need to go,” she says.

You briefly bow your head at her, saying how thankful you are for her help, and she gives you a soft smile before leaving you to your own devices.

You examine the box in your hand. It’s small, like something a ring would be held in, and after you crack it open you count eight different data chips.

A sudden chill runs through you as you realize that you may be holding the answers to everything in the palm of your hand.

You carefully close the box and retrace your steps, stopping in another clearing full of chairs, then plop yourself down into the first one you see. After retrieving your datapad from your bag, you unlock it and open the box of chips. You aren’t sure if there’s a specific order they need to be read in, so to be safe, you delicately pick out the one in the first slot and click it into the side of your device.

It takes a few seconds to load, and in that time you briefly wonder if Echo and Crosshair have reached Shalka’s yet. You realize that unless Echo warned him, Crosshair would have no idea what he’d be dealing with. You can’t help but smirk and wish you were there to see his face the first time she casually swears at him.

After the text finally loads, you shift your focus and the world around you takes a backseat as you read.

Around the same time, miles away, the two clones are stepping through the door into Shalka Myrr’s workshop. The speeder they had taken there was open-air, so they didn’t bother trying to talk on the way, and they’re still quiet. Echo goes first and Crosshair follows, then does a double-take at the barely organized clutter of the small space.

“Good Maker, I thought Tech was bad,” he mumbles.

“Yeah, Meds said something like that too,” Echo says. “Apparently I haven’t been around long enough to see it yet,” he continues with a shrug.

“You’re calling her that?” Crosshair says, surprised.

“Should I not? The rest of you do,” Echo says, frowning slightly.

“Well yeah, but-,” Crosshair says, sounding skeptical, but Echo interrupts him.

“Look, I know you gave her the name, and I don't care. If we’re going to make this thing with her work, we can’t keep doing that ‘me versus you’ shit,” he says firmly.

“Fair enough,” Crosshair concedes, looking around the room again. Echo also glances around, trying to figure out which ‘fuckin’ shelf collapsed’ after he left with you yesterday.

On the heels of that thought, just as he wonders where Shalka is, there’s a sudden crash and a loud curse from the back of the room. Crosshair meets Echos eyes and raises a brow at him.

“That seems to happen here a lot,” Echo says, unaffected, before carefully making his way through the space, around the packed shelving units, and toward the workbench. Crosshair follows, and is startled when a large chunk of something metal hits the floor and skids across it with a screech, having been thrown from a smaller room beside the workbench.

Shalka steps out after it, muttering in the same unfamiliar language to herself. She bends down and retrieves the object, then throws it into an unmarked barrel, scowling as if it had personally offended her. When she turns toward the room, she obviously isn’t expecting the two of them to be there, if her sudden shout is any indication.

“Dank ferrik, I have got to get that fuckin’ door chime fixed,” she says, regaining her composure quickly and pinching at the bridge of her nose. She’s dressed like she was yesterday, only her cargo pants are a medium tan color and her tank top is blue with quite a few scorch marks on it. She hasn’t bothered with the goggles or gloves yet, but she does have one of the styluses you gave her yesterday tucked behind an ear.

“Well Hero, now that my hearts aren’t gonna stop, hurry up and sit, we got a lot to do and not much time to do it,” she says. Echo obeys and Shalka gathers some materials and the large flimsi sheet of sketches and notes from yesterday, then drops them onto the workbench. She moves to walk into the larger area of the room, and bumps into Crosshair.

“Who the hell is this?” Shalka barks, crossing her arms and regarding him suspiciously. Crosshair is taken aback by her attitude and doesn’t know how to react, so he just stands there.

Echo, trying not to laugh, quickly fills her in. Shalka looks the sniper up and down again.

“Never heard of ya,” she says dismissively. When Crosshair still hasn’t moved, she rolls her eyes at him.

“You gonna get out of my way?” she says, moving her hands to her hips, and he finally stands aside. “Thank you,” she mumbles, exasperated, as she pushes past him to grab a few more things.

He looks over at Echo, who’s snickering. “Probably should’ve warned you,” Echo says while Crosshair shakes his head in disbelief.

“What, that I’m rude?” Shalka says from directly behind him, startling the sniper for a third time. She frowns at him for a few seconds before returning to her stool at her workbench and dropping a few more small containers onto it.

“Bit jumpy, ain’t he?” she says, settling down. She throws a sharp look at him. “You ever say anything?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Crosshair growls, having returned to his senses.

“By the Maker, he can talk!” Shalka says in exaggerated surprise, holding her hands on either side of her face, then she shakes her head at him and returns her attention to Echo, who’s having a hard time keeping a straight face.

Smirking, she taps the worktop, and Echo stretches his replaced arm across it. After taking off the armor he had on that arm, she picks up a small screwdriver and taps it a few times against the link, a couple of joints, and near the point where the metal of the cybernetic meets his skin.

“Can you feel that?” she asks, and Echo shakes his head. “Good, otherwise this is gonna suck,” she continues. She leans down to one side, and returns with the high magnification goggles in her cybernetic hand. She quickly pulls them on, and, surprisingly gently, takes hold of Echos scomp and begins to undo a few screws.

“So where’s Sunshine at? Surprised she ain’t here with ya,” Shalka says.

Echo internally panics for a second, unsure of if you’d said anything about your plans to Crosshair or not, and if you had, he doesn’t know what you’ve told him. Crosshair doesn’t seem to notice this and speaks up.

“She got shot-,” he starts, but is cut off by a startled exclamation from the Zabrak woman.

“What the fuck you doin’ here then?” she asks, dropping the screwdriver and staring at Echo in confusion.

“Excuse you,” Crosshair hisses, regaining her attention. “As I was saying, she got shot during our last mission and she’s getting it checked out today. If you had let me fucking speak, you wouldn’t have needed to freak out like that.”

Once again, Shalka crosses her arms and looks him up and down, then she smirks.

“Well, with the way you worded that, how else was I supposed to react?” she says, and the two stare skeptically at each other until she speaks again. “You’re an ass, you know. I like you. Now sit down, shut up, and lemme work,” she says, gesturing to the empty stool on Echos' right side.

Echo glances between her and the confused expression on Crosshairs face and can’t help but laugh again, sorry that you’re missing this.

Over in the Library a few hours later, you’re about halfway through reading the fourth data chip. Taking in the history of Force abilities and related events throughout the galaxy is fascinating, but you’re getting annoyed, as you’ve yet to find anything pertinent. You take a breath and remind yourself that you’ve only just begun your research, so it’s highly unlikely that you’ll discover anything this soon. The chrono on your wrist chimes the hour, and when you glance at it you’re mildly startled by how long you’ve been here.

You decide to pack it in for today, since you still wanted to go see Kix. You carefully eject the chip from your datapad and replace it in the small box before getting to your feet and stretching. You return your device into your bag, and you’re about to stow the box away too before you realize that you probably can’t take it out of the building. You don’t remember where the chips came from, but even if you did, it was unlikely you’d be able to find them again tomorrow. You decide to see Master Nu and ask if there’s a way to have them set aside for you.

After taking a few wrong turns, you eventually make your way back to the center of the room. Master Nu isn’t at the terminals, so you continue toward the doors you came in through, spotting her nearby behind a kind of counter. She glances up at you as you approach.

“Oh, you’re through already?” she says, surprised.

“For today,” you say. “I have a few other errands I need to take care of.”

“Understandable,” she says, nodding. “Did you find anything?” she asks.

“As interesting as it all is, no, not yet. But I didn’t really expect to right away,” you say.

“I imagine you’ll be back tomorrow then,” she says, and you nod.

“That’s actually why I’m here. I got about halfway through the box, but I don’t think I can take it with me-,” you start, before Master Nu gently interrupts.

“Oh my no, they cannot leave this room,” she says, holding her hand out. You give her the box and she continues; “Did you say you’ve already read half of these?” she asks, sounding impressed.

“Yes, I read pretty quickly,” you say.

“You and Cassia would get along well, I think,” she says thoughtfully. “Anyway, since you’re coming back tomorrow, I’ll keep this,” she says, gesturing with the box, “in here,” she continues, opening a kind of safe or cabinet, “so you don’t have to find it again.”

“Oh, good, I was just about to ask, thank you,” you say.

You watch her place the box snugly into a perfectly sized niche in the safe, then close it before running a fingertip along a small sensor at the top.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Master Nu says, and you thank her again before making an exit.

You walk through the entrance hall, thinking about what you’d learned today. What little you found that was relevant to the events with Fives was not quite what you were looking for. It had basically repeated what Anakin told you in the beginning; a shared dream is incredibly rare between those who are Sensitive and those who are not. You sigh, then hail another cab.

One pulls up and you step inside, telling the driver, an old Pantoran man, that you need to get to the GAR headquarters. He moves back into the flow of traffic and regards you through the rear view mirror.

“Pardon me nosin’ around, but what business you got there?” he asks. Similar to Cassia earlier, he sounds more curious than anything else, so you humor him.

“I got shot during my last mission and I’m going to get it looked over before we ship out again,” you say.

“They got you goin’ on missions?” he asks as he glances into his mirror at you again, surprised.

“They do,” you say, staying friendly but not volunteering too much information.

“Why the hell you get involved with the war?” he says, sounding confused. “Ah damn,” he says, catching himself. “That was rude, sorry abou’ that.”

“I'm a civilian contractor, I work for the GAR as a field and combat medic,” you say. The man is quiet for a moment before speaking again.

“I dunno if that’s admirable or crazy,” he says.

“Bit of both?” you respond, keeping the tone light.

“Yeah, I ‘spose that’s fair. There anyone else like you?” he asks.

You take your turn to be quiet and think.

Aside from Bortuse and maybe one or two others back in your old stomping grounds, everyone you’ve worked with has been either a Jedi or a clone. You also can’t recall seeing many other ‘nat-borns’ during your missions with the Batch.

“I haven’t given it much thought before,” you admit. “But no, not really. I’ve been working for the Republic from the beginning, but I’ve only met three or four others from the private sector,” you say.

“Shame, that,” the driver says, making a left turn.

“How so?” you asked, taken aback by the comment.

“Well, the Clones don’t got much choice in the matter, and the Jedi ain’t much better off,” he says.

You frown, but hold your tongue. You know damn well that the Clones have no choice whatsoever, but this isn’t the place to go off about it.

“You’re different,” the man continues. “Takes a special kinda person to volunteer for that brand of hell,” he says.

“Oh no, I’m not-,” you say, but he cuts you off.

“Yes ma’am, y’are. Folks like you are the only ones who can really appreciate the men getting kilt out there, if you’re askin’ me,” he says. You sit in surprised silence for a moment, slipping back into thought before eventually speaking again.

“It’s just so cruel,” you say quietly. “To be forced into existence for the sole purpose to be used as nothing more than a tool and thrown away.”

“Aye, it is,” the man says.

There’s a minute of somber silence before he speaks up again.

“You get hurt bad?” he asks.

“Thankfully it just grazed me, but I don’t know if it’s worse than it looks,” you say.

“Smart thinkin’ then, getting it looked at,” he says. He hesitates for a second, and you can tell he wants to ask something else.

“We were overrun by droids,” you say quietly, correctly guessing what his unspoken question was. “One of the men was already injured and I took a shot aimed at him while I pushed him out of the way,” you continue, keeping the story as bare bones as possible.

The man softly says something in a language you don’t understand, and you’re startled when a strong gust of respect rolls over you from him. He doesn’t say anything else to you until he stops along the sidewalk. You count out the credits you owe, then hand it to him. He takes it and says “Thank you, miss,” with an odd earnestness.

This feels like too great of a response for such a simple transaction, so you hesitate before leaving the cab.

“Now, I gotta be clear on something,” he says. “I wasn’t thankin’ you for the money.” He turns around and you get a look at his face for the first time, managing to hold back a sound of surprise. He has a cybernetic eye, and a good third of his face, neck, and head are heavily scarred by burns.

“Back when I was fightin’, nobody cared abou’ us. It didn’t matter if we was out there or back home, dead or alive. So it gives me hope, meetin’ someone like you. Not many people left can really appreciate what you’re doing, but I can. So, thank you,” he says.

He holds out an equally scarred hand. Unable to speak, you take it and give him a firm shake as you lock eyes for a moment.

“Be safe out there, miss,” he says, giving you a crisp salute before turning back around.

“Y-yeah. You do the same, sir,” you say quietly before stepping out of the speeder.

Once you’re on the sidewalk and have walked a few steps away, the cab merges back into traffic. You watch it drive away until you can’t see it anymore, and regret not asking the man his name.

As you make your way through the familiar halls of the GAR headquarters, the conversation you just had with the old veteran replays in your mind, and you remember when you and Hunter had a similar conversation, just before the Trench mission. It seems like you really should give yourself a little more credit than you do, if these talks are anything to go by. You glance over the faces of everyone you pass on the way to the med bay, and aside from the clones and occasional Jedi, you don’t see anybody else. Now that the lack of contractors like you has been pointed out, it bothers you greatly.

You’re about to step through another set of doors when someone calls your name, getting your attention. You look around and spot a clone in full kit headed in your direction, then recognize Jesse by the distinct design on his helmet, which he slips off as he gets closer.

“What’re you doing here?” he asks. “I thought you stayed with Echo?”

“Oh, I did, the squad is just taking some leave for the next few days,” you say.

“Still doesn’t tell me what you’re doing here,” he says, smirking.

“I got shot before we left Anaxes, I wanted Kix to take another look at it,” you say, starting to walk again.

Jesse, startled, asks how that happened, and you spend the remainder of your walk through the halls filling him in about the mission and what happened to you. When you're done talking, he tells you what that same day looked like on his side.

“It’s a damn good thing that Echo was there,” he says. “I don’t think we would have made it out otherwise.” You nod.

“Absolutely. I swore to myself that if I lost anyone else I’d go supernova, but thankfully that didn’t happen,” you say.

“Yeah, we definitely don’t want that,” he says, holding a door open for you. You thank him and continue walking, then realize that he (hopefully) hadn’t heard about you snapping on Skako Minor. You debate telling him about it, but remember how he and Crosshair had nearly come to blows, twice, during your joint mission and decide not to.

“So you really took a shot for him?” Jesse asks, referring back to Echo. You nod and stop for a second. You can’t show him the actual injury without undressing, but by slipping your belt downwards and pulling the fabric of your caftan taut against your side, he can see the shape of the bandages well enough.

“I’m surprised Rex didn’t tell you anything about it,” you say, pulling everything back into place before moving forward again.

“He did say you were hurt but didn’t really go into details,” Jesse says with a shrug, then glances around as if he’d just realized something.

“Speaking of Echo, where is he? I’m surprised you’ve let him out of your sight,” he says. You roll your eyes, then quickly tell him about Shalka. Before he can say anything else, you finally make it to Kix’s office and knock on the door. As it slides open, Jesse says it was good to see you again and nods at Kix in the doorway before returning to what he was doing.

Kix nods back, then steps aside to let you in.

“You missed me that much, huh?” he says with a smirk, leaning back on his desk.

“Gotta get my Kix fix,” you say with a laugh. Kix stares at you for a second before snorting back a laugh of his own.

“That was terrible,” he says.

You roll your eyes and playfully jab his shoulder.

“Yeah, I know, but if we can focus, I think you should take another look at my side,” you say, gesturing to it. Kix frowns slightly.

“What for? I told you earlier that it was fine, did something happen?” he asks, standing normally again and approaching you.

You quickly talk about how it’s been healing, but mainly focus on the pain you feel when you flex the muscles on that side.

“I think there might be damage deeper than we realized,” you say, and he nods.

“Yeah, I’ll look at it again, and if I find anything, we can figure out where to go from there,” he says before quickly moving to wash his hands and glove up.

As he does this, you undo your belt and pull your dress off over your head, then lie on a nearby cot, absentmindedly slipping out of your shoes. You turn onto your uninjured side and, with your permission, Kix carefully removes your bandages. You hiss with discomfort as they peel away from your skin and tug at the raw edges of the wound. He kneels onto the floor beside you, tells you he’ll need to actually feel into it to get a better idea of what’s going on below the surface, and you nod at him, despite the anxious lurch in your stomach.

Rex, having heard from Jesse a few minutes ago that you’re in the building, is walking through the halls and wondering where you went. He doesn’t have to wonder for long though; when he passes Kix’s office he's startled to hear a high gasp that sounds exactly like you coming from inside. He freezes in front of the door, listening.

“Oh my god, Kix,” you whine, and Rex immediately pictures the worst.

Kix says your name. “I know. You’re doing great,” he says, his voice low and soft.

Rex is tempted to barge in there and confirm his suspicions, but he hesitates; he doesn’t want another blowup like you two had on Anaxes. As he debates on what to do, you suddenly gasp and make a startled kind of sound.

“Kix, Rex is outside, he can hear us,” you pant.

“How the hell does she know?” Rex thinks, taking a single step back.

“Do you want me to chase him off?” Kix asks, and Rex is surprised when you laugh a little before moaning softly.

“Just keep going, I don’t care if he sees me like this,” you say.

“Well, if you’re sure. The doors unlocked, Rex,” he says, speaking up.

Incensed by how blatant this is, Rex marches into the room, ready to tear into you both, but freezes when he sees what’s really going on.

Your dress, belt, and shoes are in a heap at the foot of the cot you’re lying on, and you’re wearing only a bra and panties, but it’s the least sexy thing he’s ever seen. Kix, gloved up and kneeling beside you, is carefully prodding around on top of and slightly into your blaster-shot wound, his gloved hands red at the fingertips. Kix looks at you apologetically and does a few final palpitations. You curse and cry out his name again as your eyes water over with pain, then he sits back on his heels, taking his hands off of you.

“We’re done now, you can relax,” he says, his voice soft again.

Rex, having been given obvious context to what he’d heard, turns away, ashamed of himself. How the hell he’d overlooked not only that you’d been shot, but you were also in the medics office was a mystery to him.

“You know,” Kix says, pulling Rex out of his own head and getting to his feet, “I’m surprised Echo isn’t with you.” Kix disposes of his soiled gloves before washing his hands again and pulling on a new pair. He then grabs a med kit similar to the one you used last night, comes back to the cot, and returns to his knees beside you.

“Jesse thought that too,” you say.

While Kix redresses your wound, you tell him and Rex about the work Shalka is doing for Echo, and by the time you’ve finished talking, he’s bandaged you back up. Kix stands again and sheds his gloves, then washes his hands a third time. Once you’re dressed and back on your feet, he tells you that there is indeed muscle damage.

“Dank ferrik, of course there is,” you say, exasperated, as you pinch the bridge of your nose. “So now what?”

“Come to this room first thing tomorrow morning,” Kix says, then writes something down on a scrap of flimsi and hands it to you. “It’s too deep to heal properly with how we’ve been treating it, but after a few hours in a bacta soak it should significantly improve.”

An anxious pit starts to form in your gut at the thought of such a confined space, but you stop it by wondering how long the treatment will keep you from Echo (and your research). Annoyed by the inconvenience, but recognizing its necessity, you nod in understanding at Kix without saying anything. He appears to think for a second, then hands you a small pill, which you swallow dry without pause.

“That should stop the pain for the rest of the day, but it'll make you feel tipsy, so I suggest you get some sleep,” he says after you take it. You thank him, then step back into the hallway with Rex.

Having a rare few minutes of free time, the captain decides to walk you out of the building and back outside. About halfway there, you notice that he keeps side-eyeing you, and you stop.

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?” you say, confused.

“I'm trying to figure out how you knew it was me on the other side of the door back there,” he says. A jolt of panic crosses your face and you pray that he doesn’t notice.

“Lucky guess,” you say, attempting to be casual about it, but the way he’s watching you tells you he’s not buying the act. You sigh and say “you’re a smart man Rex, I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now.”

He smirks at you and you hold back an annoyed sigh.

“What was your first clue?” you ask, slowly starting to walk again.

“Aside from the few dreams you’ve mentioned to me, right?” he says, matching your pace. You nod at him.

“General Skywalker has a habit of thinking out loud; I’ve heard him mumbling your name every now and then, and since all your reports are filed there’s no real reason you’d stay in contact with him,” Rex says with a shrug.

“Yep, nailed it,” you say, sighing again.

“So you are Sensitive then?” he asks, and you instinctively check to see if anyone’s overheard him, but thankfully there’s nobody around.

“Yes, I am. Now, call it a gut feeling, or instinct, or whatever, but only you, Echo, and Anakin know; I’m keeping it as quiet as possible.” you say, preemptively explaining yourself.

“Anakin?” Rex says, distracted.

“It feels so weird to use his first name, but yeah, he told me to call him that now, I guess since he’s been helping me figure out this Force stuff,” you say, fidgeting with the strap of your bag. Rex says nothing, and appears to be deep in thought.

The pair of you make it to the entrance you came in through without saying anything else, and Rex’s thoughts are interrupted when he sees Echo approaching you both.

“Oh, hey!” you say, surprised but smiling and giving him a tight hug. He rests his forehead against yours, and you briefly close your eyes, enjoying the contact with him.

“Shalka finished up with me early, she’s going to be fabricating for the rest of the day,” Echo says, stepping back and giving you a soft kiss. “Besides, we thought we’d surprise you,” he continues.

“We?” Rex says, confused.

“Oh yeah, you don’t know about that,” Echo says.

“About what?” Rex asks.

At the same time, Crosshair makes it through the crowd and reaches you. Neither of you say anything before he pulls you in close and kisses you deeply.

Rex glances between the three of you, completely bewildered, and Echo is trying not to laugh at his stunned face.

“That,” Echo says.

After you and Crosshair break apart, you flush when you realize Rex is staring at you. Crosshair gives him a stiff nod without saying anything, which he returns.

“So, what did Kix say?” Echo asks, changing the subject while stepping closer to you and snaking his arm around your waist. You quickly fill him and Crosshair in on what went on earlier.

“He gave her something for the pain, it should be kicking in around now,” Rex adds as you finish talking. Before anyone can say anything else, Rex’s comm chirps at him; Anakin is asking for him. Rex shoots you three an apologetic look before jogging back inside the building and answering the call.

You dig your own comm out of your bag and call for a taxi. They say it’ll be a few minutes before one arrives, so after you end the call you lead the other two to a bench nearby and sit. Crosshair notices you smirking at him, and makes a ‘what?’ kind of sound at you.

“So how’d you get along with Shalka?” you ask with a snicker. He rolls his eyes while Echo laughs. They tell you about their day until the taxi arrives. When you stand up from the bench, you stumble forward and barely manage to catch yourself.

“Looks like that painkiller is starting to work,” Crosshair says, amused. You try to walk toward the taxi, but stumble a second time, tripping over your own feet and falling backwards into him, and he catches you with Echo’s help.

The two men exchange a glance and hold you steady by the shoulders, steering you toward the cab. Echo slides into the enclosed speeder first and you follow, but trip on your own feet again and land in his lap. Crosshair comes in behind you and gives the driver the hotel address. When the speeder starts moving, you sit up, but stay in Echo’s lap, which surprises him.

“My legs won’t bother you?” he asks quietly.

“Kix must have given me something good, I can’t feel a damn thing,” you say, giggling. “But- but even if I could, I don’t care. I like who they’re attached to,” you continue. You settle yourself, rest your head in the hollow of his left shoulder, and drape your legs over Crosshair's knees.

He looks like he’s going to say something, but is stopped by a sudden loud snore; you’ve already fallen asleep.

The ride back is spent in relative silence, save for an occasional snore or mumble from you. By the time the taxi reaches its destination, the sun is starting to set.

Once you’ve arrived, Echo shakes you awake and you yawn widely.

“Are we there yet?” you ask, still half asleep. Crosshair pays the driver, then leads you back onto the sidewalk, firmly holding his hand on your waist.

“Yeah, we’re there,” Echo says, holding your right hand in his left.

“Ok good,” you mumble. “‘M sleepy.”

The two men guide you back into the hotel while Crosshair speaks.

“I know kitten, we’re taking you to bed,” he says. You perk up, glancing between the two of them and giggling even more.

“Ha, you’d like that wouldn’t you?” you say. “I would,” you add as an afterthought.

Once you’ve reached the cluster of rooms you’d gotten for everyone, Echo unlocks yours and the three of you head inside. You’re led to the large bed, and he slips your belt and caftan off over your head. Crosshair joins you and undoes the hooks of your binder, tossing it aside. You kick your shoes off, then giggle again and look pointedly between them both.

“Getting right to it, I like that,” you say in what you think is a seductive voice.

In reality, you sound like a Bantha with a head cold, so they just shake their heads at you and guide you onto your back. Echo adjusts your pillow while Crosshair pulls the blankets over you. You feel sleep quickly approaching, but before you give in, you gesture to them both and they bend down to your level.

You look at Echo and cup his cheek, then do the same to Crosshair.

“Mine,” you say, glancing between the two of them.

In near-perfect sync, they each move their faces away from your hands, kiss your palms and say “yours.” You giggle again, then fall asleep immediately afterward.

Taglist: @kaminocasey @madameminor @jennamelinda12 @arctrooper69 @the-cantina @jedi-hawkins @wolveria @zoeykallus @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @whore4rex @echo-is-worth-more-than-2000 @vanyaluxz1007

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[the-cookie-of-doom]

Prompt: Arm has all kinds of fun and fancy gadgets to play with. (Practically has his own sci fi sex shop bc he's a Freak). Arm notices Kim has been StressedTM. He offers a way to... decompress.. 

Arm is a good bodyguard. His performance during the routine physical tests are above average, he has a sharp eye for security, and his loyalty is unwavering. For these reasons, Kim determined Arm to be an acceptable chaperone for his brother, and promptly dismissed any other thought of the guard. 

This lasts until Kim is leaving the tower from yet another frustrating meeting with his father, and finds Arm in his path, with Tankhun nowhere to be found. He attempts to brush past. Arm does not let him. This, at last, gains Kim’s full attention; something the more intelligent staff employed by his family strive to avoid. 

“What?” Kim says, his voice whip-sharp and a clear dismissal, despite the apparent question. He doesn't have time for this. 

“Khun Kim,” Arm begins. He pushes his glasses up his nose and clutches a tablet against his chest. 

“What?” 

“Ahh… I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but Khun Nu sent me.” 

For the third time, Kim snaps, “What. Do you. Want?” 

“Respectfully, sir, I think it would be better if I showed you.”

Again, Kim thinks, I don’t have time for this. But his brother is relentless. Kim knows from past experience that once Khun sets his mind on something, he’s worse than a dog with a bone. He’ll send Arm after Kim again and again until he gets what he wants. 

Easier to get this over with. 

“Fine.” 

“Right this way, sir.” 

Arm takes him back through the compound, Kim’s skin buzzing the entire time. He hates it here. His conversation with his father only made it worse, left him itching for a fight, something to ground him. The long journey they take doesn’t help. Neither does the silent elevator ride, Kim glowering at Arm the whole time while the bodyguard hides behind his tablet. 

They end up on the family’s private trainer floor. Kim used to spend most of his time here before he left, spending hours in the gym until he was too exhausted to move. That restless buzzing beneath his skin has always been there, just under the surface, frenetic energy demanding an outlet. 

“Just in here, Khun Kim.” 

Arm enters a complex code into a panel on the door, and then they’re granted entry. Kim can’t deny he’s curious to know what could be inside to demand such measures. 

It’s… not what he expects. 

“Arm,” Kim says slowly. Carefully. His voice has no inflection, betrays no emotion, as he surveys the room. “What are we doing here?” 

At first glance, it looks like a workshop. The room has several work benches littered with mechanical equipment, various gadgets that Kim doesn't recognize. When he looks closer, though… At least some of them are recognizably sex toys. 

What the fuck, Khun? 

“Aha. You see, Khun Kim, Khun Nu thought you’ve been… stressed? He says he’s worried about you, and how you usually take care of such things, so he asked me to help you decompress. In a safe and controlled manner. If you wanted.” 

This is surreal. 

Kim turns around and walks out without another word. 

-

Kim comes back a week later, catches Arm after his shift has ended, and demands, “No one can know, or I’ll kill you. Do you understand?” 

“Of course, sir. I will be entirely discreet.” Kim believes him, if only because years of service to Tankhun will have taught anyone a healthy dose of discretion. 

Arm agrees to meet him at his apartment—far away from the prying eyes of the compound—the next evening. Kim spends the entire day all but vibrating out of his skin, and all but drags Arm inside when the guard finally arrives with a briefcase at his side. 

“Would you like a demonstration, sir?” Arm asks when he sees the confused way Kim is handling the device. Kim would rather shrivel up and die, actually, but a part of him is unbearably curious.  Thankfully Arm doesn’t wait for an answer. 

Arm takes the small silicone object from him and presses an invisible button on the side. All of a sudden it buzzes to life in his palm. 

“This is a bullet vibrator,” he patiently explains. “You can use this anywhere you like. It can be used to tease the nipples or head of the penis, or pressed up behind the testicles for extra sensation, or used internally for prostate stimulation.”

Kim does not blush. He doesn’t.

-

“Fuck, fuck—”

“Are you doing alright, sir?” Arm asks, polite, like he isn’t torturing Kim. 

“No,” Kim groans, trying to twist away from the near-painful pleasure. Arm, it turns out, brought several more of those naughty little bullet vibes, and didn’t hesitate in taping a pair of them to Kim’s sensitive nipple, circling them around the throbbing head of his dick, and pressing them up behind his balls—Kim didn’t think that would feel like anything, but the combined stimulation is blinding. 

And it doesn't matter how he twists and squirms, he can’t get away from it all. 

Blessedly, Arm stops his torment and pulls away the two vibes in his hands. The ones on his nipples stay, though, and Arm fiddles with his tablet until the vibration pattern changes to an unpredictable undulating wave of intensity. 

Arm returns to him with a silver cylinder. Before Kim has a chance to asks what it’s for, he slides it down his cock, cool and wet, and flips a switch that makes it pulse against Kim’s length. It squeezes around him like a throat, waving from top to bottom. 

“Hold this, please,” Arm instructs. Kim does; his fingers ache when he realizes his white-knuckled grip on the sheets to grasp the thing, and he only just keeps himself from thrusting up into it. He’s trying to maintain some composure. 

Then arm gently grasps his sac and wraps something around it, tucking the band up nice and snug against his body. There’s a broader piece at the back that tucks up against his perineum. More tapping at that damned tablet, and it buzzes to life. 

Kim whimpers. 

-

Hours must have passed by the end of it. Kim doesn’t know. Doesn’t care, either, about the time, or about anything else. His body is sore like he spent hours in the gym, and his mind is quiet, and his skin is thrumming with oversensitive pulses of pleasure, but not restless agitation, and he feels like syrup. 

“How are you feeling, Khun Kim?” Arm asks. He pushes his glasses up his nose. Unlike Kim, naked and panting where he’s splayed out in the center of his bed, Arm is entirely put together where he stands beside it. He doesn’t have a hair out of his place, his suit just as crisp as it was when he arrived. 

“... Good,” Kim eventually says. Arm gives him a professional smile. 

“Excellent. I’m pleased to be of service, Khun Kim,” he says. “Don’t worry about returning the equipment; it’s yours, now. Please let me know if you have any questions.”

“I will.”

Arm bows respectfully, then leaves Kim alone, staring at the ceiling and trying to pull himself back together. 

When he finally does, dragging himself out of the bed to take a much needed shower—his legs unsteady beneath him—he notices Arm’s tablet left on his nightstand. He picks it up. 

It’s unlocked. 

Kim looks at the briefcase at the foot of his bed, still lying open, and considers the devices they hadn’t had the chance to try. 

He lays back down. 

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

Riddlers with a g/n vigilante f/o (beginnings)

I decided to go through all the Riddler's (sans general) and write how they would meet a vigilante f/o!

Tw: some are Unhealthy villain dynamics, surveillance

Gotham-

This was supposed to be their first big hero thing as a vigilante

Its too bad they've ended up tied to a chair with the Riddler pointing a gun at their face. Oops.

Cops will probably arrive at some point or another but they have to create enough time that he's not shooting them.

The vigilante looks around the room, an abandoned classroom. They see an animal skeleton. An idea forms.

"Did you know-" which immediately gets Edward's attention. Skin beetles can pick a small animals skeleton clean in 24 to 48 hours!

Edward sighs, "Of course I knew that. BUT DID YOU KNOW-" that's it, he's gone, they caught his other love interest besides riddles... trivia.

The cops do eventually show up and the Riddler has to make a very quick and fast escape while adding they'll finish the conversation later! He means it. One of the few people who actually... seemed to think his trivia was cool? And responded back with MORE trivia?

He SUPPOSES he'll have to let them live for now. Even if they do try to interrupt his plans. He sees it as more of a fun chess game that he will ALWAYS win. He's never worried about them actually catching him and turning him in.

If they did, he'd be very hurt. He thought you had an understanding! Oh well. He'll have to break out and put them in a near death experience to establish the power play. It's fine. It's like courting!

60s-

The vigilante in question has teamed up with Batman and Robin- they try to discourage this new detective given the DANGERS and RISK of chasing criminals in Gotham.

Their latest case leads them on the the treacherous trail of- The Riddler! They follow the riddles, they follow the clues, and it ends with the vigilante in a zoo cage and the dynamic duo under a giant hydraulic press.

The Riddler is overjoyed at the possibility of finally proving his genius and ridding the world of those pesky interlopers!

"What time is it... when an elephant sits on fence?" He asks with glee as the crushing device comes ever closer down. "Time to get a new fence!" And he erupts into a series of giggles.

But as he tells his joke, his little captive does something he's not expecting- they snort and cover their mouth. He points to them and laughs. They laugh harder at the sheer goofy and ridiculous cackle the man has.

This has immediately endeared them to him. They're trying so hard not to laugh as they watch Batman almost get squished.

Of course the squishing never happens, Batman has an expanding steel pole in his utility belt that stops the machine from coming down- therefore giving him and Robin enough time to escape and release the vigilante.

Riddler sort gives a wink and a wave to the vigilante as he makes his narrow escape.

The next morning the vigilante will find a letter with a spun riddle inviting them to a drive-in movie theater showing. In the middle of Gotham. In place of a jewel he stole.

There's going to be a lot of cheese, courting and bad flirting.

Capullo-

It starts with a tense cat and mouse game where the vigilante steps in for or with Batman to take the Riddler down. Death is avoided several times but it's their sharp wit that piques Edwards interest at first. The way they seem to be interested in him.

The way they hesitate to hurt him even as Batmans fists rain down. Isn't that cute? Naive, but cute- even though he absolutely would have let them die if caught in one of his traps.

He thinks about them in Arkham and if their identity is even somewhat possible to figure out, it's the first thing he does when he gets out. Sends them a hand written letter to their home as both a small threat and a way of telling them he's interested.

Sure, he's likely to get a no, but... hes charming. He thinks so, anyways. Doesn't hurt to keep trying. It's not like he's going to stop gathering information on them. Their phone number, their socials, every dirty detail he could possibly scrounge up on a computer.

This results in a stupid amount of flirting and banter every time he sees them. If he can get even one smile or a blush, he considers the interaction "won."

The neediest house cat but in human form. If he didn't want them, he'd practically claw them away, but now that he does...

"You didn't text me back, so I needed to take over a satellite that projected my face onto all the screens of Gotham and plant a bomb in the sewers under the main intersections. This could have been avoided if you'd just paid attention to me."

When they finally arrive to kick his sorry ass- he's wearing cologne that, based on his observations of them applied to statistics, should be their favorite, or at least one they enjoy very much. Yes, he's smug about it.

BTAS-

Ah, yes, another foe come to match wits with him? Batman has proven to be an admirable enemy of sorts... let's see how they pass his tests.

Not perfect, but certainly someone to keep an eye on. He admires the way they seem to actually try to use their brain instead of just brute forcing everything they can't figure out.

He's shocked when they manage to actually corner him and send him to Arkham for a short while. With his mind? How did they do it...?

They'll clash over and over again to the point that Batman hardly responds to his crimes anymore unless they reach a grave magnitude. Edward would be more frustrated if it wasn't for the fact he enjoyed the intellectual volley between them.

That and they always seemed to acknowledge his intelligence in a way he found... pleasing. Stimulating.

He ends up sending them a very convincing set of clues that seem to imply he's in some sort of danger. Only they can help him, etc etc.

When they do arrive on the scene to assist, they find Edward sitting at a table set for two. There's food, wine and candles.

"You've arrived. I hope everything is to your liking." The vigilante will realize at that point that they have been bamboozled. Horribly so.

He'll go on to tell them they could have asked anyone for help to save him. But they insisted it needed to be done immediately and by them alone. What does that imply?

Well...? He's waiting for an answer.

Telltale-

Cranky grump of a man. Some new vigilante on his tail is like a puppy nipping at his heels. Cute, but annoying and not something he needs right now.

Expect at least several murder attempts on the vigilante in question. He doesn't fuck around, he crushes enemies.

"How do you keep coming back, you little cockroach?" He asks with gritted teeth. But here they are again!

He warms much faster if they're more of an anti-hero. Someone who at least flirts with the criminal element.

Speaking of flirting- it's when he notices the flush in their cheeks when he hits them with witty banter between their fights that he puts several things together. His little vigilante has a crush. Lots of mocking follows.

But his murder attempts cease. It's entertaining to keep them around. For now. He tells himself he'll get rid of them eventually, as they'll never catch him. And yet.

It's too difficult for him to admit he might have a fondness for them, too. Not now. Not yet.

He will get EXTREMELY jealous and crabby if anyone else tries to hurt "his" vigilante. That is his idiot, thank you.

Lots of lingering touches. If he's feeling particularly cheeky, he'll even wink and purse his lips for a kiss while blocking off their attacks.

Arkham-

At first he's going to zap them. Just a little. Back off! That trophy isn't yours! It wasn't made for you!

He laughs when they tell him that they've been looking for these. Heard the riddles. Figured a couple of those out, thought they might find a couple of the trophies-

"Oh really? You figured them out? Doubtful. But even if you did- a child could-"

They'll tell him, it's true, they expected more of a CHALLENGE from the supposed genius Riddler- "OKAY, LET'S GO." They can have a couple riddles of their own since they obviously want to be stumped.

Now go away and he's going to do something more important (like watching them on camera feed to see if they can actually do it.) It's here that he gains a fondness watching all their little mannerisms. So much so that he doesn't quite realize they've put the pieces together to capture him until a little too late.

And so he's sent off to Arkham, dreaming of his new archenemy. He's still dedicated to proving that Batman is a fraud, of course.

The moment he's escaped again, he's going to scour the city to watch them on whatever cctv he can find. Will try to plant cameras in areas they frequent. Try to get images he can stare at while he concocts new plans.

Absolutely is going to make new challenges and riddler trophies. Except THIS TIME they are going to give up and have to ask him for help and they will be so stunned by his intellectual superiority they fall in love. Perfect plan.

Batman 2022-

He's been burned before with admiration for vigilantes, so he's going to be a lot more cynical this time around- at least that's what he says until he actually meets them. He ends up admiring them in a fashion. Definitely thinks they aren't doing enough.

At first hates how judgemental they seem about him... just by trying to arrest him, they're saying he's doing something wrong cleansing away the existence of the corrupt! HE is judgement, not them.

There's a very good chance after a couple close calls of them almost capturing him, he tries to get them to join his side.

Would it really be so bad to let go of those restricting morals? To fix the problems of the city permanently? You could look after each other. He could look after you.

When they most likely tell him no, that they won't be joining him in literal actual murder- he throws a huge fit about it privately. To their face he tells him that he won't hesitate to kill them if they get in his way.

That doesn't happen. There might even be opportunities for him to actually do it and he just... can't manage to kill this person that he knows is fundamentally a good person that wants to do good.

It's those moments that he gets close to them, feels their warmth that he gets flush. A little too hot and bothered by the rough activity in their scuffles. Without going too into nsfw territory, he wouldn't object if the vigilante offered, if you know what I mean.

He doesn't completely give up on the idea that at some point they'll want to join him. Be the Angel with flaming sword to his Judgement.

Maybe they could start getting to know each other on a date? Sure, he'd have to duct tape them to a chair first, but... No one is perfect!

[tjreidwrites]

The End Matters

A short story by Taylor Joseph Reid

My loft bed had a desk underneath and that’s where I did my homework and played video games. I had been practicing different combos against the CPU on Mortal Kombat until my thumbs ached. I knew if I played long enough for that to happen, then bedtime was around the corner. Sixth grade had only started, and tomorrow was a school day.

“I’m turning your lights out for you,” Mom said. “And Joe, you need to wake up when your alarm goes off tomorrow. I have way too much to do in the mornings as it is. It’s not my job to wake you up.”

“Got it, Mom.” I climbed the ladder and got in bed.

“Okay, goodnight.”

I said goodnight. She told me she loved me, and I said it back. Apparently, I said it too quietly because she replied, “What was that?”

“I love you too!”

She laughed and clicked my bedroom light off.

Sleep never came right when the lights went out. I stared mindlessly at the posters hung up by thumbtacks on the wall beside me. They were crinkled rectangles with blobs that couldn’t be recognized in the darkness for the Pokemon characters they were. I stared at the distorted images hoping my eyes would tire out.

It wasn’t working. I sighed and turned on my back, staring up at the black blank ceiling. Should I just keep trying to go to sleep? The thought alone made my mind race. What twelve-year-old needs eight hours of sleep anyway?

I sat up and reached down by my feet. A Gameboy Advance SP loaded up with Pokémon. Next to the Gameboy was my portable CD player and headphones. Both devices were lodged between the mattress and bed frame where I left them. I grazed the Gameboy but wasn’t in the mood to hide the light of the console under my blanket. I opted for the music and only the music.

I put the headphones on. The soft plush gently conformed to my ears. The sense of isolation from the outside world was now complete. At home in bed with the lights off and a pair of padded headphones on. Away from everything. Not bad at all. My video games served me as the ultimate escape, but even those adventures were worth getting away from sometimes. With a little help from music, I could create my own worlds.

Most of the records I owned were Christian music CDs I got from family members for birthdays and Christmas. Even though I liked some of the music, I was sick of those same old songs and obsessed with my latest disc. It was the first one I bought with my very own money! I never heard anything quite like it! I don’t think my mom and dad would have cared if they knew I had Linkin Park’s first release, Hybrid Theory, but I kept it a secret anyway. They had this thing about ‘secular music.’ I don’t know. Not going there. Besides, I didn’t like my parents knowing every little thing about me anyway. Having some secrets, big or small, felt right. Made me feel normal.

I lifted the comforter up to my neck and got cozy. I put the player by my side and grazed the buttons until I found the indented sideways triangle and pressed it.

The heavy-hitting trip-hop beat in the intro of ‘Papercut’ caused me to sink my head even further into the pillow. I shut my eyes and smiled as the turntable sounds went off. One measure later, the emotional hit of the full band—drums, guitar, and bass—came flooding in through my ears.

The explosiveness of the band with its genre-bending iconic nu-metal and alternative sound is what drew me in, but the lyrics and vocals are what made me obsessed. I let the music take me on a ride. It's like a whirlwind inside of my head. It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within. It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin.

I pressed my eyes shut tight. Then tighter. White flashing fireworks exploded behind my eyelids with purple lights trailing behind like sparks of lightning that danced to the beat. I was on top of the world and only halfway through the first song.

Gooseflesh raised up on my arms as Chester sang, “The sun goes down. I feel the light betray me. The sun goes down. I feel the light betray me.” I could tell that his singing voice was coming from deep within him. It was beyond powerful. It was like his personal pain and joy of performing was its own entity, extending an arm to understand. I knew they (Linkin Park) understood me too. It’s not like they wrote the songs for me, but as if they wrote the songs for people like me.

I never knew how to express what it felt like to get picked on and bullied and made fun of as a kid. Who knew having a stutter and a little extra belly fat could be such a detriment? I was angry and confused when older kids would call me things like fat and worthless or spit on me while they circled around me on bikes like vultures. I was just trying to walk home from school. I never bothered anyone. There was a time when I was even younger, and a different set of kids pushed me to my knees and kicked the breath out of me if I tried to leave the park to go home. They would trap me there. Why? I don’t know. I had built up some anger and confusion, but it was more than that. More unexplainable feelings that I didn’t have words for. All the memories I wanted to repress but couldn’t get to leave. These songs had a way of making me feel better. They gave me ideas I didn’t know how to express with words. When I listened, I could think about the things in life better forgotten through a different lens. Does everyone feel like this when a band resonates with them?

The angst I had must have rivaled the most pissed-off twelve-year-olds on earth. When Chester screams, “Shut up when I’m talking to you, shut up! Shut up!” I mouthed the words.

Suddenly, the fireworks that were behind my eyes flipped and morphed into stage lights, and in a flash, I’m standing in a crowd. A sold-out concert. It's them. All six of them. Spikey blonde hair and everything. The moment of being with the crowd was short. I blink, and now I’m up on stage. Mike Shinoda even introduced me to the crowd. “We want to welcome our friend Joe Kennedy to the stage for this next one!” I have a mic clutched tight in both hands. I sang the entire next song with them. I’m screaming alongside Mike and Chester! How is this possible?

During the times I was stuck listening to my parents argue, I snuck out of the house so I didn’t have to listen to what they had to say to each other. I would rather go to the park and make believe I was a character from one of my favorite anime or video games, someone with power. Power and control. I’d launch myself off the swing at the height of its elevation point and barrel roll across the wood chips, springing up in a fighting position. Make-believe is nice. I get to be far from the things that bother me. If I would have stayed and listened to my parents fight, it would only end in me fighting myself. How much of it is my fault? Is it my fault?

Even though the next song called ‘Crawling’ was surely not written about the imminent divorce of one’s parents, it still made me feel like I wasn’t as alone.

To find myself again

My walls are closing in

(Without a sense of confidence, I'm convinced)

(That there's just too much pressure to take)

I've felt this way before

So insecure

I was still riding the wave, but my eyeballs began to flutter, telling me sleep was around the corner. The song ‘By Myself’ had me imagining myself behind the drum kit. I knew how to play a little bit, but I wanted to get better. Maybe if I was a good drummer, my classmates would think I was cool. Then Chester let out that piercing high scream, “Myself! I ask why, but in my mind, I find I can’t rely on myself, myself!” And I can almost feel a scratching in my throat. How does he do that? That scream. How does he sing like an angel and scream like that? I’m going to learn.

And maybe the opening piano of ‘In the End’ is what finally lulled me to sleep.

The angelic line, “It starts with one…” I enter the space where a daydream becomes a real dream. I fly through cold clouds under an ethereal moonlight, flipping and turning and going the speed of sound. The crowd screams its applause. I can hear it from the sky. Maybe it's for me, maybe it's for Linkin Park. “In the end, it doesn’t even matter…” because the applause is for you.

But the words of the song don’t mean that nothing matters or that life lacks substance. No, I don’t think that's what they wanted to convey. It's about the futility of trying to control what we can't. In the end, it won’t matter if the bully kicks you down; you can’t change them. Did you stand up for yourself? If your parents get divorced, you can’t make them love each other. Did you ask them to try one more time? Did they? That’s out of your control. If the love of your life leaves you, you can’t make them love you. You can’t even make yourself love you, so how could you make them do that? If your best friend betrays you, you can’t make them care as much as you do. If your boss fires you, they don’t know what you sacrificed away from the job, but they don’t care, and you can’t make them care. Did you do enough for yourself during all of this?

My dream becomes a premonition, and I truly am on stage. I’m older now. I’m not sharing the stage with LP anymore. It’s my very own band. Our own song worlds. I scream my best scream. It's as close to Chester’s tone as it gets for me. Maybe he’d smile if he knew. Shoot, maybe he knows better than anyone.

The crowd’s applause is deafening. “Thank you so, so much,” I say into the mic. The stage lights let up, and I can see in front of me. So many people. But there's a spotlight on the one I’m meant to notice. I’m at a loss for words. It’s me. Just from a moment ago. My old self. A wide-eyed kid that’s going to get yelled at in the morning when his mom has to shake him awake. He was too busy daydreaming to fall asleep when the lights clicked off. Then dreams inspired by his favorite band. The one that got him through everything.

The End (matters)

[kaminocasey]

Bonsoir Chapter 8: Cry

Summary: Gregor tries to get back to Cassia. Cassia tries to get Aunt Joc's body back.

Pairing: Tbb Gregor x OC!Cassia Nu

Warnings: 18+ Grief, Emotional Scenes, Danger

WC: 3.7K

A/N: I promise you we're FINALLY getting somewhere here. Thank you bearing with me through all the angst and tears.

Bonsoir Masterlist

Daro

Gregor had finally found a way out. He wasn’t sure if it was going to work or not. But he needed to find out. For Cassia. He knows she probably thinks he’s dead… but now that he remembers her, all he does is miss her. Fuck this new “Empire”. Fuck these new “TK Troopers”. He needed to get the hell off this planet and back to Coruscant. Even if it was the last thing he did.

Gregor can hear the massiffs howling as they sniff him out, running after him as he tries to navigate and keep from falling in the thick of the plant life and trees. He’d gone over the map several times, finding a cave that he could hide out in until help from a former trooper he used to know would arrive. This was his desperate chance. He had to succeed. 

If he didn’t… he was dead. 

“THIS WAY!” He hears behind him, a little too close for comfort. 

He keeps running until he’s forced to stop by a ledge, almost nearly going over from adrenaline pumping through his veins. 

Kriff. He looks down and lets out a breath, just trying to catch it. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been running. Hearing the growls of the massiffs starts him going again. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to realize he’s going to get caught once he sees the lights of the troopers trying to hunt him down. 

He pauses for only a second, catching his breath again as he looks to see which way is going to be the best way to go. 

The massiffs up on top of a rock start growling as they spot him down below about ten feet. He starts running again, pulling out the location device and sticking it underneath a rock that Captain Rex hopefully finds. 

The massiffs take that time to hone in on him, getting closer until Gregor decides he needs to keep going. Jumping over a fallen tree, he starts sprinting even though he’s beyond exhausted. 

Hearing the snarling and snapping of the massiffs, he keeps trying to get further away. Except all of a sudden, he hears a blaster go off and he realizes that he’s been stunned. His legs start to fail him as he begins to limp away, trying and trying to get further away from the killer massiffs. 

His mind goes to Cassia again. Her soft red hair and kind brown eyes. Her perfect smile. How soft her skin is… He misses her so much it hurts. 

Gregor is forced to stop by a trooper in front of him that seemingly comes out of nowhere, immediately getting stunned and dropping to the ground.

Everything goes dark again.

Coruscant, A couple days later…

“So, tell me the plan again so I know there will be no mistakes.” Dyer tells Cassia and Mara.

Mara hadn’t been happy about it, but she wasn’t about to let her best friend go traipsing into the Jedi temple alone. Not that she was actually alone, Dyer fully had Cassia’s back. 

Half of the plan was Cassia's. She was surprisingly good at this stuff, ready to risk her life to save the body of her Aunt. All for a funeral that Joc deserved.��

“Tomorrow night, there will be two Corries here at the gate. We’re going to pose as holovision technicians.” Cassia points to the entry gate to the temple. “Then, your Corrie Guard friend will pose as some guy from logistics to confirm that he’s the one who ordered our fake services. We drive in, park over here. We’ll sneak along this wall, making sure to get into this entrance to the temple where they’re holding all the… bodies of the Jedi. Then, your Corrie friend is going to help us get Joc’s body and bring her out back to the van. “Good.” Dyer smiles, squeezing Cassia’s shoulder, noticing how she paused. “And I’ll be right there if I suspect anything goes wrong.”

“We both will.” Mara nods, squeezing her hand. 

Dyer looks at Mara and smiles softly. She returns the smile. Cassia smiles at the both of them, just glad that they seem to be working things out. It was completely obvious that Dyer was in love with Mara, and vice versa. They just didn’t like to show it in front of Cassia, trying to be conscientious of her feelings. She just wanted them to be happy.

“I’m going to try to go to bed. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” Cassia yawns and walks back to her room, closing her door so she could attempt to give them some privacy.

Wedge lifts his head to acknowledge Cassia.

“They’re totally going to kiss right now.” Cassia whispers at Wedge as she changes into her pajamas and climbs into bed. 

Lo and behold, Cassia was correct. The moment that her door closed, Mara practically jumped into Dyer’s arms, kissing him passionately. He smiles into the kiss, pulling her as much against him as he can, never wanting to let her go. He knows he’ll never let her go again.

The next morning, after finding Mara and Dyer asleep on the couch in each other’s arms, Cassia feeds Wedge his breakfast as quietly as possible before sneaking off to the fresher and getting ready for the day. She puts on a pair of pants and a dark sweater and then sneaks past a still sleeping Mara and Dyer to go down to the shop to read for a bit, letting Wedge come with her. 

Sitting in the window seat, watching the rain, she can’t help but think of Gregor. She knows she needs to get past him. It’s been too long. They weren’t even together that long… but she’d never been in love before. Falling in love had hit her like a train. Out of nowhere and at full force. 

Gregor was Cassia’s first love and lost him in a traumatic way. There’s probably no coming back from that.

“Do you want some company?” Dyer asks in the doorway to the stairs up to the apartment. “Mara is up in the shower.”

“Sure.” Cassia smiles, moving her feet so he can sit in front of her in the window seat. 

“Would you like to hear a story about him?” Dyer asks, softly. “If not, it’s okay. Mara tells me not to bring him up to you…”

She knows Dyer means Gregor. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that not only did she lose a love, he lost a brother. One he was closer than close with. He needed to talk about him.

“I’d love to hear all of your stories about him.” She admits, putting her book down and pulling her sleeves over her hands.

“I know how much he meant to you, Cash… He loved you so much. Right from the first night.” Dyer murmurs, looking out the window as he puts his hair up in a bun. “He didn’t give too many details but we could kinda guess what had happened. He came back, grinning like a fool with this little bracelet of weeds around his wrist. Never took the damn thing off.”

“They were flowers.” Cassia tells him, chuckling, already tearing up. 

“Sure they were.” Dyer teases. “Anyway, that book you gave him and that bracelet were with him until the very end.”

Cassia hadn’t heard this before, she’d been putting off hearing about him. But now, while tears were starting to fall, and yes it still hurt, she wanted to hear all about him. She was finally ready.

“Really?” She asks, sniffling into her sleeve, knowing she’s gonna have to change her sweater in a bit.

“Yeah. He was always opening the book and looking at your name on the inside.” He smiles.

She remembers writing her name and a heart in the book for him, being a little self conscious that he’d think it was dumb, while he was asleep. Later that day, he’d found it and kissed her breathless.

“Lore made the mistake of taking the book to be nosy and teasing Gregor. So, Gregor wrestled him to the ground, making Lore swear to never touch his stuff again.” Dyer chuckles.

Not only did Dyer lose Gregor… He lost all of his brothers.

“I didn’t know that side of Gregor.” Cassia murmurs, having a hard time picturing Gregor being aggressive.

“Oh yeah, he was a badass. That’s why he was our captain. He was fearless, strong, and courageous.” Dyer tells her, his own eyes glistening. “And he was my best friend.”

“Dyer, I’m so sorry…” Cassia tells him, wiping her nose with her sleeve again.

“Don’t be.” He shrugs. “We were lucky to know him.”

They really were. Cassia has known that since the moment she met Gregor. 

“Anytime you want to tell me about any of your brothers, I’m always here to listen.” She promises him, reaching out and squeezing his hand. 

“I appreciate that.” He nods. “Anytime you want to talk about your family, you can.”

“Thank you, Dyer.” She nods back. 

Cassia pulls her hands back into her sweater and leans against the cool window, thinking of Gregor, having a newfound, yet hopeless, love for the man. 

“Do you guys want to go get something to eat?” Mara comes down, smiles at them, then sees them both crying. “What the hell happened?” 

“We were talking about Gregor.” Cassia smiles through her tears. 

Mara glares at Dyer. 

“I wanted him to talk about him, Mar. It’s okay. I needed to hear about him.” Cassia nods at Dyer and he nods back. “He needed to talk about him.”

Mara lets out a sigh. “Alright… So, food?” 

Cassia and Dyer both let out a laugh and agree that they need food. 

Ord Mantell, same day. 

“Look, I appreciate what you’ve done for me, and I’m genuinely sorry about Hunter, but I’ve got to get back to Coruscant. There’s someone there who needs me.” Gregor tells Wrecker. “I’m sorry I can’t be of much help this time.”

After all that Gregor had gone through, and finally had escaped thanks to this Clone Force 99, he’s so much closer to Cassia. 

“Ah, don’t worry about us, we always figure it out.” Wrecker shakes Gregor’s hand, maybe a little too enthusiastically. Gregor is pretty sure he heard his wrist pop. But the guy is nice and that’s all that matters. He’s still pretty sore in the chest from the two blaster shots but thankfully, Echo patched him up on the way here.

“I told you this wasn’t a clone club house!” The short, loud, Trandoshan woman, Cid, tells Wrecker. 

“Don’t mind her. She’s just grumpy that we couldn’t finish her job.” Wrecker shoots Cid a look. “You were able to get ahold of Rex?” 

Gregor nods. “He should be here soon.” 

“Good. If ya need anything, you know how to get a hold of us.” Wrecker tells Gregor.

“Appreciate it.” Gregor nods one last time before sitting at the bar as Wrecker heads out. 

Gregor sits for a long while, thinking about what he’s going to say to Cassia when he sees her for the first time again. Will she be angry with him? Will she remember him? Will she still love him? What if she’s already with someone else? What if she knows about Order 66 and is disgusted with him? He knows that she’s probably going through something awful since her aunt was a Jedi… maybe her aunt got out safely. Would Cassia ever be able to see past the Order? All he knows is, he can’t turn off his brain and he wants nothing more than to see her. 

“On the house.” The bartender sits the drink down in front of Gregor.

“Thanks. I really need it.” Gregor chuckles, downing the drink and then moving over to the booth to pull out the book with the bracelet and Cassia’s name in it, running his fingers over it like he’s done a thousand times before. “I’m on my way, Cash.”

Coruscant, that night…

“Do you think we can really do this?” Cassia asks as they near the Jedi temple. 

“I promise you we can.” Dyer tells her, hiding in the back.

“We’ve got this.” Mara reassures her. 

This was the most dangerous thing that Cassia has ever done, besides sneaking into the temple the first time. She’s still not hardly slept since finding Aunt Joc like that in the temple library. 

“We’ve got this…” Cassia repeats. “Yeah, we got this.”

She believes it. She’s determined. She’s going to get her aunt back. 

Mara pulls up to the temple gate, and starts talking to the Corrie at the gate. 

“What do you want?” The Corrie asks her, checking his holopad then looking over at Cassia. “We don’t have any deliveries scheduled for tonight.” 

“Well, tell that guy down in logistics. He’s the one who ordered all these parts for their holovisions.” Mara starts arguing with the guard.

“One minute…” The guard sighs, clearly already over the night, walking away to his post to comm down to the logistics department. 

When the guard buzzes the gate open, Mara nods to him, driving through, along the building to where the Corrie told them to meet him. He’s out there waiting for them, holding his helmet. 

Dyer hops out of the back, greeting his friend. “Commander Stone.” 

“Sargeant Dyer, my man. Glad to see you alive.” Stone hugs him. 

“Why didn’t your chip work?” Mara asks him, point blank. 

“Your guess is as good as mine, ma’am.” Stone shrugs.

Cassia looks at Mara who’s staring at Stone with a level of cautiousness she’s never seen before. These were dangerous times they’re in, she realizes. She thinks Mara realizes it, too.

“Sorry about my riduur. She’s just nervous.” Dyer tells him.

Both Cassia and Mara look up at him. Cassia hadn’t heard that word in so long… Mara was clearly not expecting that word either.  

“What?” Dyer notices them staring.

“Conversation for later. We have more pressing matters than you calling me your partner for the first time.” Mara moves past Stone into the building. 

“I like her.” Stone chuckles. 

Cassia smiles softly as Dyer watches Mara with complete adoration. Looking at Stone is a little harder than looking at Dyer. He looks so much like Gregor that now that’s all that Cassia can think of even though she’s clearly on an important mission. 

They walk down the hallway until they get to a room when Stone looks both ways before typing in a code into the keypad, making the door slide open. 

“We have to be quick.” Stone grabs a hoverbed and walks over to the cooler box where the bodies are being held, then looks at Cassia. “You may wanna turn around.”

Mara turns Cassia around as Gregor and Stone pull Joc’s body out of the box and transfer her to the hoverbed, wrapping her body so that no one can peek inside.

“Alright. Let’s go.” Dyer tells Cassia and Mara. 

Mara and Cassia head out first with Stone and Dyer behind. 

“Stone?” They hear a voice behind them.

Immediately, Cassia, Mara, and Dyer form a wall in front of Joc’s body so she won’t be seen.

“Kriff…” Stone whispers before turning around. “Fox, hey.”

Of course something would go wrong. Why wouldn’t it? They were so close to being in the clear.

“Who are they?” Fox looks around at the people that are clearly not supposed to be here. 

“My friends. They wanted to check out the lower levels of the temple.” Stone lies. 

“And you?” Fox looks at Dyer. 

“Captain Nolcox. 104th, sir.” Dyer reaches his hand out for Fox to shake it. 

“Right. Good to meet you. Stone, I’d suggest you stop being a tour guide and go continue your patrol.” Fox sighs, turning around to leave.

Dyer, Mara, and Cassia let out a quiet sigh of relief, waiting until Fox is gone around the corner before turning around and booking it back to the van. When they finally reach it, Dyer and Stone load Joc’s body in the back and Dyer thanks Stone before climbing in the back as well, shutting the door. 

Stone walks Cassia over to the passenger side. “If you ever need anything, Dyer’s got my comm channel.” 

“Thank you, Stone.” Cassia smiles. “Truly… I don’t think I could ever thank you enough.”

Stone nods and closes the door for her. Mara takes off carefully back toward the gate, driving through until they get to the crematorium that Mara’s trustworthy friend, Luce works at, where they quietly unload Joc, taking her in through the back doors. 

“I’ll be back.” Mara squeezes Cassia’s hand and walks through the door, following Luce.

“We did it.” Dyer bumps Cassia’s shoulder with his. 

Dyer’s right. They did it. They actually pulled it off. They got Joc back. But they would never get Gregor back… they’d never be able to do this for him. That realization hurts more than she thought it would.

Cassia doesn’t realize that her breathing has grown ragged, her body shaking. She immediately starts sobbing. She’s lost everyone but Mara and Dyer. 

Dyer puts an arm around her, trying to keep her upright. Cassia’s sobs become guttural and they instantly break Dyer’s heart. All he can do is cry with her, understanding.

It takes a long time for Cassia to stop crying and when she does, she passes out. 

When she wakes back up, she has no idea how she ended up on her couch, laying on her side, but her eyes, throat, and head hurt so bad. She slowly realizes her head is in Mara’s lap and her eyes are really puffy.

“Mara…?” Cassia croaks, weakly.

“Shh… I’m here. It’s okay.” Mara murmurs, running her fingers through Cassia’s hair in a soothing manner. 

“Tell Dyer… I’m sorry… for breaking down.” Cassia tries to apologize, barely able to open her eyes.

Mara sits her up enough to make her drink a bit of water before helping her back down. 

“You have no reason to be sorry.” Dyer says from the floor. 

“Go back to sleep.” Mara whispers, putting a warm compress over her eyes. Cassia nods and goes back to sleep, her body still fully exhausted. Grief is a funny thing. 

When Cassia wakes up again, her head is still pounding and her eyes still feel like they’re popping out of her head. Remembering Gregor, getting Joc back… it all came crashing down over her. It was all too much at once. 

Cassia looks at the caf table and finds a note.

Cash, there’s pain meds next to this note. Drink the glass of water and then another one. We are down in the shop. Take a hot shower and then come down only if you want. -Mara

She doesn’t think she’ll get over how lucky she truly is to have Mara in her life. Carefully and slowly, Cassia sits up to take the pain meds and drink the glass of water. She gets up to go to the kitchen, finding Wedge eating his lunch and turns on the sink to get another drink of water. She already feels a bit better, but goes to grab a shower. The hot water feels incredible on her stiff muscles from when she had tensed up while sobbing. Unfortunately, the hot water can’t fully distract her from what they did last night. 

Would anyone notice Joc missing and come looking for them? Were they in danger? She knows these are questions to worry about later, after she gets some food in her. This has been a really stressful time so it’s important that she takes some time to just stop thinking about everything so much. 

After her shower, she puts on a sweatshirt and pants and then dries her hair, putting it up into a messy bun. She automatically feels a lot better. Especially since the pain meds kicked in.

She looks in the mirror and sees that her eyes are still a bit puffy, but puts on some concealer in case any customers come in, she doesn’t scare them off. 

After she feels ready enough, she walks down to the shop, finding Mara and Dyer huddled over the holopad, laughing at something.

“Hey.” Cassia’s throat is still a bit hoarse. 

They turn around, looking at her, immediately smiling in a sympathetic way.

“How are you feeling, babe?” Mara asks, coming over to her and taking her hands.

“Better.” Cassia nods.

“I put Joc’s ashes on your dining room table. They’re in a really beautiful opal urn that Luce gave us for free. We’ll have to write them a thank you note.” Mara tells her, softly.

Cassia nods again. “I’m so grateful to you both… I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you in my life.” 

Mara wraps her arms around Cassia, hugging her tightly before Cassia sighs and pulls away, looking at Dyer. 

“I owe you so much.” She smiles.

“I wanted to tell you the other day but it didn’t seem ideal while we were both already crying…” Dyer looks from Cassia to Mara, looking for approval for something.

Mara nods.

“When Gregor and I were on Sarrish… before the battle… he made me, well actually all of us,  promise if anything were to happen to him, that we’d take care of you two… you and Mara.” Dyer tells her. “I plan on keeping that promise. Not because I have to, but because I want to. I care about you both.” 

Cassia clutches her chest when hearing Gregor’s name said out loud. Of course Gregor would make his brother take care of you. You should’ve known.

“So, you don’t owe me anything. Not a single thing. As long as you’ll both have me, because I know you’re a packaged deal, I’ll be around.” Dyer says. 

With tears in her eyes, Cassia looks at Mara and she smiles and nods. Cassia crosses over to Dyer and hugs him. 

“Thank you.” She whispers. 

Dyer nods against her shoulder and lets her pull away first. When she walks over to the storeroom, she grabs a box of books to stock the shelves with, excited to finally get back into the swing of things.

The moment she walks out of the storeroom, they hear the front door bells jingle. 

“Hi, welcome to The Sp-” Cassia’s breath leaves her body when she sees who walks in.

“Hi, Cash…” Gregor murmurs, holding flowers in his hand.

With a gasp, Cassia drops the box of books.

TAGS: @grievouus @brynhildrmimi @madameminor @dumfanting @rain-on-kamino @misogirl828 @rexandechosandwich @corona-one @tecker @ladykatakuri @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @twistedstitcher27 @zoeykallus @maulslittlemeowmeow @littlemousedroid @arctrooper69 @rexxdjarin @agenteliix @padawancat97 @hated-by-me @sleepingsun501 @crosshairmylove587 @idlenesses @loverofclones @captain-splock-you

[whattheabcxyz]

2024-08-19

Singapore

Retrenched workers to receive up to $6K under new SkillsFuture support scheme

Singles to get priority for BTO flats near parents + more assisted-living flats for seniors

Southern coastline to be remade + new homes to be built in Nicoll & Marina East

Bank poll finds 1 in 4 Gen Zs here does not save, invest or insure enough

Smith Street in Chinatown set for rejuvenation, with more curated offerings beyond retail & dining

Man admits having 331 files of child pornography on personal devices & online sites - he had amassed them over a period of 8 years

Health

Malaysia on high alert over mpox, while Indonesia advises sick travellers to discontinue visit

Education

Singapore: More students strong in mother tongue to be allowed to take it at higher level from sec 1 - this will undoubtedly favour the China kids

Singapore: More pupils to get access to high-ability programmes, starting with 2024 P1 cohort

Science

NUS & A*Star researchers develop sensor that can detect cholesterol & glucose from skin

Travel

^ Feel like taking on a real-life maze? The worldwide labyrinth locator will help you do that!

Disney Cruise Line’s 1st Asia cruise to make Singapore its home port next year

Half the drivers who turned up on opening day of Malaysia’s VEP information counter in Woodlands told to return next day for queue number - this is what happens when you insist on driving to a 3rd-world country

Food

McDonald's in Singapore is giving out 100 limited-edition jackets to people who buy the most McGriddles meals by 21 Aug

6 myths about cooking oils

[everytechever]

Nu Skin introduces the next generation ageLOC LumiSpa iO

Nu Skin Philippines introduced a smart skin treatment and cleansing device with a connected, immersive experience. Featuring Nu Skin’s patented micropulse technology, the new ageLOC® LumiSpa® iO system. #ageloclumispaio #empoweredyou #nuskinph #superpowe

Nu Skin Philippines, a subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE: NUS), a global beauty and wellness leader, today introduced a smart skin treatment and cleansing device with a connected, immersive experience. Featuring Nu Skin’s patented micropulse technology, the new ageLOC® LumiSpa® iO system takes personalized beauty to a new level with customized treatment options, intelligent coaching,…

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[jayanthitbrc]

Beauty Devices Market: Unveiling Share Analysis & Overview by 2033

Overview and Scope A beauty device is an electronic tool or device used to enhance the appearance of the skin or hair. These devices are designed to amplify the results of beauty treatments. They are used at home or in a salon setting and include a wide range of products, such as facial cleansing brushes, LED light therapy devices, microcurrent devices, hair removal devices, and more. Sizing and Forecast The beauty device market size has grown rapidly in recent years. It will grow from $44.84 billion in 2023 to $51.86 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.7%.  The growth in the historic period can be attributed to personalization, sustainability, health and wellness focus, virtual consultations, and integration with wearables. To access more details regarding this report, visit the link: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/beauty-devices-global-market-report Segmentation & Regional Insights The beauty devices market covered in this report is segmented – 1) By Type: Hair Care Devices, Facial Devices, Skin Care Devices, Oral Care Devices, Eye Care Devices 2) By Gender: Female, Male 3) By End Users: Commercial Or Professional, Domestic Or Personalized Or Homecare North America was the largest region in the beauty devices market in 2023. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the beauty devices market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa. Intrigued to explore the contents? Secure your hands-on sample copy of the report: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/sample.aspx?id=14053&type=smp Major Driver Impacting Market Growth The increasing number of cosmetic procedures is expected to propel the growth of the beauty device market going forward. Cosmetic procedures refer to medical or aesthetic treatments performed to enhance or alter a person's appearance for non-medical reasons. Key Industry Players Major companies operating in the beauty devices market are Johnson & Johnson, Hitachi Ltd., The Procter & Gamble Company, MTG Co. Ltd., Unilever plc, Panasonic Corporation, L'Oréal S.A., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Shiseido, Amorepacific Corporation, Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Conair Corporation, Revlon The beauty devices market report table of contents includes: 1. Executive Summary 2. Market Characteristics 3. Market Trends And Strategies 4. Impact Of COVID-19 5. Market Size And Growth 6. Segmentation 7. Regional And Country Analysis . . . 27. Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles 28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions 29. Future Outlook and Potential Analysis Contact Us: The Business Research Company Europe: +44 207 1930 708 Asia: +91 88972 63534 Americas: +1 315 623 0293 Email: info@tbrc.info Follow Us On: LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/company/the-business-research-company   Twitter: https://twitter.com/tbrc_info   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBusinessResearchCompany   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24_fI0rV8cR5DxlCpgmyFQ   Blog: https://blog.tbrc.info/   Healthcare Blog: https://healthcareresearchreports.com/   Global Market Model: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/global-market-model  

[astuteanalytica764y5]

Exploring The Global Teeth Whitening Products Market

A comprehensive analysis of the Global teeth whitening products market for the projected period from 2023 to 2031 is presented in Astute Analytica's latest research report.

The global teeth whitening products market is experiencing a significant surge in revenue, projected to grow from US$ 5,205.4 Mn in 2022 to US$ 8,732.6 Mn by 2031, representing a robust CAGR of 6.03% during the forecast period from 2023-2031. 

Access the Comprehensive PDF Market Research Analysis Report Here:​​​​​​​ https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/teeth-whitening-products-market 

The market research provides statistics and information on investment structure development, technological advancements, market trends and developments, capabilities, and in-depth details on the major market participants.

The study report provides an overview of the global teeth whitening products market. This section offers the perspectives of important participants, a review of the sector, an outlook across important regions, financial services, and a variety of market concerns. This section is dependent on the study's scope and report guidelines. The key market players are described in detail in the research based on their market share, markets served, products, applications, geographical growth, and other characteristics.

Leading Key Players

BURST USA Inc.

Burts Bees (CLX Group)

Colgate-Palmolive

Davids Natural Toothpaste Inc

GlaxoSmithKline plc

Go Natural

Hello Products

Johnson and Johnson

Ludovico Martelli SpA

Mr. Blanc

Nu Skin

Proctor and Gamble

Supersmile

Ultradent Products Inc.

Unilever

Go Smile

Other Prominent Players

The study also includes a list of the global market tactics used in relation to the industry's present and future conditions. The research opens with a succinct presentation and analysis of the global teeth whitening products market, which covers the market's current structure, trends, key players, product type, application, and geography.

Explore the Complete Comprehensive Report Here: https://www.astuteanalytica.com/industry-report/teeth-whitening-products-market 

Segmentation Overview

Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is segmented based on solution, composition, treatment option, sales channel, end user and region. 

By Solution:

Supplies/Material

Powder

Strips

Rinses

Gels

Floss

Toothpaste

Sugar-free chewing gum

Equipment/Device

Toothbrush

Teeth whitening pen

Tooth polisher cleaner whitener

Teeth bleaching machine

Teeth LED bleaching accelerator

By Composition:

Hydrogen Peroxide

Carbopol

Glycerine

Others

By Treatment Option:

In-office whitening

Professionally Dispensed Take-home Kits

Over-the-counter Products

By Sales Channel:

Offline

Medical Stores

Supermarkets

Others

Online

E-commerce

Brand Website

By End User:

Dentist (Clinical use)

Household

Kids

Adults

Old Age

By Region:

North America

The U.S.

Canada

Mexico

Europe

The UK

Germany

France

Italy

Spain

Poland

Russia

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

China

India

Japan

Australia & New Zealand

ASEAN

Malaysia

Singapore

Thailand

Philippines

Indonesia

Vietnam

Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa (MEA)

UAE

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

Rest of MEA

South America

Argentina

Brazil

Rest of Latin America

With the product pricing, demand, gross margin, and supply of the global teeth whitening products market, this study offers a thorough grasp of market value. The report's section on the competition landscape gives readers a thorough understanding of the market share analysis of the top competitors in the sector. Every regional market is carefully examined to determine its potential growth, development, and demand over the coming years.

Get Your Sample PDF Report Now: https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/teeth-whitening-products-market 

About Astute Analytica:

Astute Analytica is a global analytics and advisory company that has built a solid reputation quickly, thanks to the tangible outcomes we have delivered to our clients. We pride ourselves in generating unparalleled, in-depth, and uncannily accurate estimates and projections for our very demanding clients spread across different verticals. We have a long list of satisfied and repeat clients from a wide spectrum including technology, healthcare, chemicals, semiconductors, FMCG, and many more. These happy customers come to us from all across the globe.

They are able to make well-calibrated decisions and leverage highly lucrative opportunities while surmounting the fierce challenges all because we analyze for them the complex business environment, segment-wise existing and emerging possibilities, technology formations, growth estimates, and even the strategic choices available. In short, a complete package. All this is possible because we have a highly qualified, competent, and experienced team of professionals comprising business analysts, economists, consultants, and technology experts. In our list of priorities, your patron comes at the top. You can be sure of the best cost-effective, value-added package from us, should you decide to engage with us.

Get in touch with us

Phone number: +18884296757

Email: sales@astuteanalytica.com

Visit our website: https://www.astuteanalytica.com/

LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube | Facebook

[delicatemagazinedreamer]

Global Weight Loss Diet Products Market Is Estimated To Witness High Growth Owing To Increasing Health Consciousness Among Consumers

The global Weight Loss Diet Products market is estimated to be valued at USD 254.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 8.2% over the forecast period of 2021-2026, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights.

A) Market Overview: Weight loss diet products refer to a range of products that are specifically designed to assist individuals in losing weight. These products include meal replacement shakes, dietary supplements, low-calorie snacks, and weight loss programs. The market for weight loss diet products is driven by the increasing prevalence of obesity and related health issues, along with growing health consciousness among consumers. These products offer various advantages such as convenience, ease of use, and structured meal plans that help individuals achieve their weight loss goals.

B) Market Key Trends: One key trend in the weight loss diet products market is the growing demand for natural and organic ingredients. Consumers are becoming more aware of the potential side effects of synthetic ingredients and are thus opting for products that are made with natural and organic ingredients. This trend has led to the introduction of a wide range of natural and organic weight loss diet products in the market. For example, companies like Herbalife Nutrition and Nestle S.A. (Optifast) have launched product lines that are focused on using natural and organic ingredients to cater to this growing consumer demand.

C) PEST Analysis: - Political: Government regulations and policies regarding food labeling, health claims, and product safety can impact the weight loss diet products market. For example, stricter regulations on health claims may limit the marketing claims that manufacturers can make about their products. - Economic: Economic factors such as disposable income levels, consumer spending patterns, and the overall economic outlook can influence the purchasing power of consumers and their willingness to spend on weight loss diet products. - Social: Changing lifestyles, increasing awareness about health and wellness, and the influence of social media on consumer choices play a significant role in driving the demand for weight loss diet products. - Technological: Advancements in technology have led to the development of innovative weight loss diet products such as wearable devices, mobile apps, and personalized nutrition plans. These technological advancements are expected to drive market growth.

D) Key Takeaways: - The global Weight Loss Diet Products Market is expected to witness high growth, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.2% over the forecast period, due to increasing health consciousness among consumers. - Regionally, North America is expected to dominate the market due to the high prevalence of obesity and the presence of key players in the region. Additionally, Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region, driven by growing health awareness and rising disposable incomes. - Key players operating in the global weight loss diet products market include Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., Herbalife Nutrition, Nestle S.A. (Optifast), Medifast, Inc., Robard Corporation, Physicians Weight Loss, Nu-Skin, Visalus, WW International, Inc., and VLCC Healthcare Ltd. These players are focusing on product innovation, expanding their product portfolios, and strategic partnerships to gain a competitive edge in the market.

In conclusion, the global weight loss diet products market is poised for significant growth in the coming years. Rising health consciousness among consumers, increasing prevalence of obesity, and the introduction of natural and organic products are major factors driving market growth. Regional analysis suggests that North America will dominate the market, while Asia-Pacific is expected to witness robust growth. Key players in the market are adopting various strategies to expand their market share and meet consumer demands.

[pearlsmith25]

Innovations in Aromatherapy Diffusers: Driving the Market Towards Growth

Aromatherapy diffusers have gained significant popularity in recent years due to their ability to disperse essential oils into the air, creating a soothing and relaxing ambiance. These devices are widely used in homes, spas, wellness centers, and offices to enhance well-being and promote a calming atmosphere. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the aromatherapy diffuser market, including its size, growth factors, key players, types of diffusers, distribution channels, and regional analysis.

Market Size and Growth Factors:

The aromatherapy diffuser market has witnessed substantial growth over the past decade, fueled by increasing consumer awareness regarding the therapeutic benefits of essential oils and their role in stress reduction, relaxation, and improving overall mental well-being. The market's expansion is also attributed to the rising demand for natural and organic products, coupled with the growing preference for holistic wellness solutions. Additionally, the availability of a wide range of essential oils with various therapeutic properties has further fueled the market growth.

According to market research reports, The global aromatherapy diffuser market was valued at US$ 1,826.7 Mn in 2021 and is forecast to reach a value of US$ 3,118.4 Mn by 2028 at a CAGR of 7.9% between 2022 and 2028.

Key Players:

The aromatherapy diffuser market is highly competitive and consists of several prominent players. Some of the key companies operating in the market include:

Young Living Essential Oils doTERRA International Nu Skin Enterprises NOW Foods SpaRoom ZAQ URPOWER Stadler Form Muji GreenAir

These companies focus on product innovation, expanding their product portfolios, and strategic partnerships to maintain their market presence and gain a competitive edge.

Types of Aromatherapy Diffusers:

Ultrasonic Diffusers: These diffusers use ultrasonic vibrations to break down essential oils into a fine mist, which is then dispersed into the air. They are popular due to their quiet operation and ability to humidify the air.

Nebulizing Diffusers: Nebulizers directly atomize essential oils, creating a concentrated aromatic mist. They are preferred by individuals seeking a stronger aroma and therapeutic benefits.

Heat Diffusers: Heat diffusers use heat to evaporate essential oils into the air. While they are simple to use, they may alter the chemical composition of essential oils due to the application of heat.

Evaporative Diffusers: These diffusers rely on a fan or air current to blow air over a pad or filter containing essential oils, causing the oils to evaporate and circulate throughout the space.

Distribution Channels: Aromatherapy diffusers are primarily distributed through the following channels:

Online Retail: E-commerce platforms and online marketplaces play a significant role in the distribution of aromatherapy diffusers, offering a wide range of options and convenient purchasing methods.

Specialty Stores: Dedicated stores specializing in aromatherapy, wellness, or natural products often carry a selection of aromatherapy diffusers to cater to the growing consumer demand.

Supermarkets and Hypermarkets: Many supermarkets and hypermarkets have dedicated sections for wellness and home fragrances, where aromatherapy diffusers can be found alongside other related products.

Direct Sales: Some companies in the aromatherapy industry utilize direct selling methods, allowing customers to purchase diffusers through independent consultants or representatives.

Regional Analysis:

The aromatherapy diffuser market exhibits a strong presence across various regions, including:

North America: The North American market has experienced significant growth, driven by the increasing preference for natural and holistic wellness solutions.

Europe: Europe has witnessed a surge in demand for aromatherapy diffusers, with consumers embracing the use of essential oils for relaxation and stress relief.

Asia Pacific: The Asia Pacific region is expected to witness substantial growth, attributed to the rising disposable income, growing awareness about aromatherapy, and the influence of traditional medicine practices.

Latin America and the Middle East & Africa: These regions are witnessing a gradual increase in demand for aromatherapy diffusers, primarily driven by urbanization, changing lifestyles, and increasing awareness about the benefits of aromatherapy.

Conclusion:

The aromatherapy diffuser market is experiencing significant growth worldwide, driven by the increasing consumer preference for natural wellness solutions and the therapeutic benefits of essential oils. With the expansion of distribution channels and technological advancements, the market is expected to continue its upward trajectory in the coming years. Companies that focus on innovation, product quality, and strategic partnerships are likely to thrive in this competitive market, catering to the growing demand for aromatherapy diffusers across different regions.

[wastelandglass]

The Arkin

Deep beneath the bowels of Nu Ci ity, a society of creatures long separated from the surface world. Long and thin with stooped frames built for moving quickly on all fours through the warrens of The UnderHives tunnels and ductwork. Pale and semi translucent skin, milky near blind eyes are the trade off apocalyptic evolution gave The Arkin in exchange for sharp long nimble claws and exceptionally good hearing. The Arkin are some of the finest machinists in the world, deep in their warrens they produce the most fantastic devices not seen since the collapse of the old world.

Burrowing: The species can burrow into loose earth and move through it at half normal Pace(they cannot run). They cannot normally be attacked while burrowing, and can attempt to surprise opponents who dint' see him coming by making an opposed Stealth vs. Notice roll. If successful, the burrower adds +2 to his attack and damage rolls that round, or +4 with a raise (they have The Drop, page 100) Claws: The Race has claws that cause Str+d4 damage. Edge (Fleet Footed): All members of this race have the same innate Edge choesn from those available in the setting. Unlike Adaptable, this ability ignores Requirements except other Edges. -Fleet Footed: The Hero's Pace is increased by +2 and their running die by one step (ex: d6 to d8) Low Light Vision: The being ignores penalties for Dim or Dark illumination (but not Pitch Darkness) Light Sensitivity: The hero, accustomed to the dark finds it difficult to see in moderately to brightly lit areas, and suffers a -2 (-4 in bright areas) to sight based rolls. Size -1: The entity is smaller than average, reducing its Size and Toughness by 1 (see the size table, page 179)