#partial ooc partial blurb wheeeeee

[eorzeashan]

Okay. So. I've hit a huge problem in my kotfe/et replay because against all odds, Eight snagged Koth.

It's not even supposed to be possible if you don't help Zakuulans at every turn, but the guidelines on his romance are unclear as it varies online (i'm interested in seeing the code for it now) so most assume he will brush you off if you try to flirt with him after being indifferent to Zakuulan suffering; in some reported cases this happened after the above and he says he's busy. The romance reportedly ends there.

Since this seemed tentative I thought I'd go for it and if it failed, I could still go for the Theron romance.

Testing began; Eight didn't flirt with him much, but he did do the ones that felt in character in Taking Flight. He didn't even support him in the chapters before that as he's more of a spectator when it comes to personal issues between other people, much to Lana's chagrin, so I was thinking surely this wouldn't work.

Lo and behold. A few flirts after that smelled of good chemistry and wham, the overprotective Koth saving you from Arcann scene popped. I was SHOCKED.

What the hell are the requirements for this romance, because now I'm convinced it's all RNG-- it's clearly not your decisions over Zakuul. Either that or Eight's story-defying, gamebreaking personality guarantees he comes out on top no matter the odds, which could be it, too.

Anyways. Enjoy some kiss screens that had me blushing in embarrassment cuz I fidget over such intimacy close up. I guess Eight can't abandon him now.

Buyoware let me have polycules so I can romance multiple characters and not have to choose one over the other for the sake of seeing something new.

(I didn't dwell on it too much at first, but I definitely like their chemistry. Rough-and-tumble smuggler captain interested in the sleek and elusive agent who slips through his fingers like water each and every time just enough to leave a taste but never enough to quench thirst-- it's kinda nice.)

And now, a mini fic.

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Koth reels.

He's never met anyone like him before. Few can say they have when it comes to Eight, and not even Lana can nail down his specifics; that's what makes their whole dance so intriguing.

Eight doesn't hesitate at being unafraid to tackle the unknown by himself. He doesn't blink an eye when he says Koth can go to his crew if he wants and leave him to fend for himself; there's not an ounce of fear or doubt. As if this is as natural as breathing to him.

Eight says he's unable to understand what expectations they have for him, but if he has a wish, he'll grant it.

Just like that.

Brave. Strong. Smart. There's too many words Koth could choose to describe him and none of them would capture exactly what he feels watching him shake his world to its foundations. He's a reckoning on and off the battlefield. Anyone can see that.

Koth's wish came in the shape of a person whose shadows clung like a second skin, and he's never been one to pass up opportunity where it falls at his feet-- brilliant beyond anything he'd never imagined, and more luminescent than the shooting stars that fell to earth.

The captain thinks on how he'd watched him with unblinking, impossibly dark eyes that soaked in his every move at the foot of his bed, not out of malevolence, but curiosity. He'd wanted to know him. He'd wanted to know Zakuul.

That night, Koth opened himself up to him twice, and fell three times as hard.

It turned out Echani did not know others through words.

Hey, he was learning more everyday though-- and he saw it as a banging success that they'd exchanged uh, a lot culturally. And physically. And emotionally. There was a lot of banging regardless.

Not that he'd had enough of it. The Outlander was his wish made physical. He'd gladly get burned if it meant holding that star in his hands-- and he was never one to give up on his dreams.

All the luck in the galaxy was his, and it was named Eight.