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imabeautifulbutterfly · 2 years

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Upside Down - Ch 10

Summary: The best intentions often lead to the wrong conclusion. Following episode Season 1 episode 14

A/N: Hello lovelies,

Another chapter. I’m so excited where this story is leading. I hope you guys are getting as invested as I am, I didn’t realize how many episodes Season 1 has. Anyway who’s excited for the Book of Boba Fett? I am, I think I watched the trailer like four times yesterday. Don’t forget December 1, will be the premiere of Sins of the Father and The Reunion. if you guys want to get tagged on those stories, let me know. I’ll be reposting those stories to get you guys all hyped.

Love all of you. Thank you for sticking with me during my writing. I know sometimes it’s not always gold. However, I always try to write something that I hope is entertaining. At least it is for me, yes I’m that kind of author that rereads their own work.

Warnings: Angst, I think that’s it. If I miss any warnings, just let me know.

Feel free to comment, leave some love, do a reblog, or all three. I love to hear from you guys, tell me what you think. Love oo. If you want to be tagged let me know.

AO3 Link | Words: 5,221 | Previous - - - > Next

Upside Down Master List | Main Master List

INTERFERENCE

“Captain Rex” Kix comm-ed early enough to know that the General would still be asleep, but not so early that Rex wouldn’t have been up already.

“Yeah?”

“Can you come to med, please”

“Is there something wrong? Is Nerium okay? Is the General okay?”

“Everything and everyone’s fine, just please come to med”

“On my way, Kix”

- - - - - - - - - -

When Rex walked into med, he noticed the General was fast asleep in one of the furthest beds and Kix sat at his desk going over some reports and charts.

“You wanted to see me, Kix?”

“Yeah, come have a seat”

“Okay…”

Rex was worried, Kix was eerily calm and polite.

“Nerium told me about everything that happened while you guys were planet side, the crash, the mastiffs, the Lurmen, the Separatist, the comments…” Kix looked up to focus on Rex’s eyes.

Rex swallowed, he hoped not to lock eyes with Kix but at the same time, he knew Kix wouldn’t be looking anywhere else, Rex knew Kix could wait, he had the patience of a Jedi, he would bide his time till eventually Rex looked him in the eye.

“Crazy about those mastiffs, right?”

“Rex”

“They were massive”

“Rex”

“And strong, when that one bit me on the arm…”

“You got bit on the arm?”

“It wasn’t anything major” Kix let out a sigh, and shook his head back and forth, he stood from his desk, grabbing his scanner and datapad.

“You know the drill on the bed”

“Kix”

“Rex, I’m not asking”

Rex got up from his chair and sat on the first bed, he was thankful he had time to clean his armour, change his blacks, and have a shower, not in that order, but at least the bed he was sitting on wasn’t going to get dirty from him.

Kix stood before Rex, not saying a word scanning his vod, everything came back … great, in fact Rex’s numbers had never been better coming back from an assignment.

“Well you’re healthy, so that’s good”

“Great” Rex stood to walk out, however Kix rested his hand on his cuirass.

“Oh, we’re not done talking, come on” Kix motioned for Rex to follow him to the room Nerium used with Jesse and Hardcase. Rex wasn’t going to open his mouth first, whatever information Kix wanted he would have to ask for it.

“Are you in love with Nerium?” Kix asked as soon as he entered the room.

Okay, well that was one way to rip the bacta patch off, “I think so … maybe … honestly, I don’t know” despite how he sounded like a shiny, it was the only response Rex could offer, he wasn’t sure what he felt, maybe it was love, maybe it was something else.

“And you felt it was good to tell the woman you love or think you love, that she had no pride, that you didn’t trust her, her training, or that you questioned if she was loyal to the Republic?”

“I never said that!”

“You implied it”

“It … It came out wrong”

“Okay, well what was suppose to come out?”

Kix sat on the table of the conference room, his feet resting on the chair in front of him, watching his vod stalking back and forth like a caged animal.

“I don’t know. I was trying to say I wanted her safe, but … it … it just all came out wrong.”

Kix rubbed his face, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Okay, so here’s what you are going to do…”

“I know what I have to do” Rex cut Kix off, he didn’t need to be told how to act like some shiny.

“Oh, you do?”

“Yes”

Kix motioned for him to continue, but at that moment all words and thoughts escaped Rex, there was nothing, he knew he needed to apologize but …

“Alright so I may not know the right words to say”

“Okay, so can I continue then”

“Fine”

“You are going to go to her quarters, beg for her forgiveness, tell her you are in love with her, and that she makes you so love sick you forget how to speak”

“Yeah … not doing that”

“You want to smooth things over with her or not?”

“I can’t declare something when I don’t know what I feel”

“Okay” Kix nodded, this wasn’t his plan for today, but enough was enough, “what were you trying to imply when you were saying she shouldn’t do watch duty”

“That I wanted her safe”

“Why?”

“Because I needed her safe”

“Come on, Rex, why?”

“Because … the idea of her getting hurt, shot or worse, makes my stomach turn”

“But why, Rex?”

“Because she needs to be safe, she’s been through so much already, I need to keep her safe”

“Dig deeper, Rex”

“She deserves it, she deserves someone looking out for her”

“You mean like Cameron?”

“No”

“Then who?”

“Someone”

“Not Cameron?”

“No. Not Cameron”

“What about Bly?”

“No.”

“Fives?”

“Pfft”

“Echo”

“Why are you asking?”

“Well you are determined to keep her safe, I’m trying to figure out for who? Are you doing it for me, to keep my vod’ika safe?”

“Sure, let’s go with that”

“Rex!”

“I don’t know, okay”

“Yes, you do, come on, Rex.”

“No, you come on”

“Rex, your her Captain and yet you tried to stop her from doing her duty. From doing what she was trained for, you need to tell me why? Why don’t you want her in harm’s way?”

“Because I can’t see her hurt, okay!”

“Why!”

“Because I fail her every time when she needs comforting, okay! There, I fail her. If I can keep her safe, then I won’t have to worry about failing her.”

“You mean because Cameron comforted her after the crash, and he checked on her before he left.”

“Yes!”

“Why does it bother you, if she is comforted by someone other than you? Isn’t it good she receives some comfort?”

“No. Okay. Yes. But it’s just wrong”

“Wrong? Cameron was wrong?”

“Yes!”

“Why was he wrong? Come on, Rex, just say it, why was it wrong for anyone else to comfort her?”

“BECAUSE, I DON’T WANT SOMEONE ELSE TO COMFORT HER!”

“WHY?”

“BECAUSE I WANT TO BE THE ONLY ARMS THAT HOLD HER, I WANT MY LIPS TO BE THE ONLY ONES THAT REST ON HER FOREHEAD, I WANT TO BE THE ONE THAT COMFORTS HER! OKAY!”

“COME ON, REX, WHY?”

“BECAUSE I LOVE HER!”

Kix had never been prouder, of himself and his brother, he glanced at his chrono, “well that only took 20 minutes of my life” Kix laughed out.

Did he just say that? Did he just say he loves her? No … but he does, he loves her.

“Thank the force!” Rex and Kix turned their heads to look at General Skywalker.

They both stood at attention “General!” Both saluting out of habit.

“At ease, boys. You guys done yelling?” Both nodded in agreement, “Well then, congratulations Rex, you finally admitted you’re in love with Nerium.”

“General, how …” Rex began

“I may have been near death on the planet, but I wasn’t blind. Nor have I been blind to the past few months”

“Thank you” Kix motioned towards the General, “General, I have been trying for the past month to get him to confront his feelings.”

“Now that you have Rex, what are you going to do about it?”

Rex let out a deep sigh and looked to the ground, “Nothing”

Kix’s jaw dropped, Anakin leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms, eyeing his Captain, “May I ask why? If you love her, why not act on it?”

“I … I can’t be what she needs, sir. She needs someone who knows how to treat her right, not say the wrong thing, not make people question her loyalty or her training. I’ll apologize to her for my blunder back on the planet, but I’m not going to tell her anything else”

- - - - - - - - - -

I stepped out of the fresher, now that I was clean, safe and my body finally relaxed after a good nights sleep, I felt I could at least make my way over to med. Kix told me to take the day off, but it just felt wrong. I was about to grab my medic gear, when my comm beeped. I answered it, but even before I could say anything Rex’s voice came through loud and clear…

“She deserves better, every time I see her, she takes my breath away and I can’t think at times. When I saw her fighting alongside Bly, I was completely …”

“Rex”

“Kix, I know what you are going to say, but I can’t be that man for her. Bly is a better man for her, than I am.”

I really should not be listening to this, I was probably comm-ed by accident.

“Okay, vod, okay. I think it’s a mistake. I think if you explained…”

“Kix. Enough …”

“Rex” General Skywalker’s voice cut Rex off, “We get it, your in love with …”

I turned off the comm, tears began to prick at my eyes, I should have known he wouldn’t be interested in me. Of course, he would be in love with Aayla, who else was fighting beside Bly, I mean she was beautiful, smart, a brilliant fighter and was a Jedi. No wonder, Rex freaked out when I was to take watch, he wanted to make sure she was safe. He cared for me but as a friend and nothing more. It also made sense why he got a little weird when I mentioned Bly and Aayla, I should’ve known. Oh, how could I have been so stupid?

- - - - - - - - - -

Anakin looked down at his comm, Nerium turned off the link, but when did she turn it off? Was it before or after he called out Rex for being in love with her? Anakin took a moment to search out her feelings, despair, pain, heartache, those weren’t the feelings of someone who heard good news. Maybe he just made this worse.

“General?”

Anakin looked up at Kix, “Sorry, what?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, sorry. Gentlemen, I have something I have to go deal with, Rex you need to tell Nerium how you feel, sooner rather than later, and please don’t make me issue it as an order.”

“Yes, General”

Anakin headed out of the med, he needed to fix his mistake before he ruined a potential relationship.

- - - - - - - - - - -

I was pacing back and forth in my quarters for the better part of twenty minutes, but I felt like a caged animal. I needed to clear my head, get out of the confining quarters, I headed to the mess hall, maybe some caf would calm me down. I was surprised to find the mess pretty empty, but then it made sense since mostly everyone was at their station, it was actually pretty nice to have it fairly empty, I grabbed my cup and made my way to the first free table.

“Hey darlin’”

I looked up to see Fives, I gave him a smirk all my usual banter and sassiness was subdued, I just didn’t have it in me. He sat down in front, reaching for my hand.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?”

“I … I’m just tired, it was a pretty rough couple of days on the planet”

“Nerium, I know you better than that, what’s wrong?” All his teasing vanished, this was a different Fives in front of me, protective Fives.

“It’s … it’s nothing, Fives”

“Come on, talk to me, you’ve always been able to talk to me”

“I know, it’s just …” I looked around the hall no one was really there, I guess what was the real harm, I took a deep breath, “I … I overheard something I shouldn’t have, and it made me realized I … I mean I wasn’t … not during my first deployment, but I thought …” I shook my head, “Doesn’t matter anyways because he’s … I mean …”

“Okay … I think I’m following you” Fives rubbed the back of his neck, “If I understand correctly, you overheard something that upset you. Something that you didn’t think you would have to deal with during your first deployment?”

“Yeah something like that”

“And this person you overheard, is … yeah that’s the part you lost me”

“I guess, I thought this person …” I thought about what I wanted to say, I pulled my hand away from Fives and rubbed my forehead, “I thought he viewed me differently, and I found out I was wrong”

“You thought he viewed you as a friend and he doesn’t?”

“Yeah, kind of”

“Well then that’s his loss for losing out on knowing an amazing person. Right!” Fives squeezed my hand, determination settling on his face.

I chuckled, “I guess. I just really thought we were good friends, but I guess I misread the friendship” I shrugged looking back down to my caf.

“It’s okay though, because you have awesome people who love you and awesome people who enjoy spending time with you like Kix, Echo, the General, Ahsoka, Hardcase and Jesse, those guys can’t stop talking about you” I laughed at that, wiping a tear, “Rex, loves you” I swallowed hard at that, nodding, “and I love you. So really who cares if one jerk doesn’t appreciate who you are”

“Thanks Fives, you’re sweet”

“Sweet enough to go on a date with?”

I laughed really hard at that, “How many times are you going to ask me?”

“Till you say yes”

“And then…”

“Then a date”

“And if the date doesn’t work out, then what?”

“Please it’s me, the date would work out”

“Sure it would” I propped up my chin looking at Fives, smirking, “Okay, so on this so-called date, what would you do? Where would we go?”

“Definitely ‘79s, then back to my place”

“So all of this just to get into my pants”

“Well maybe dinner too”

I laughed again, “Fives, your funny and sweet, and I appreciate you. But the answers a no, you’re like my brother, it would just be too weird.”

“You just bro-zoned me”

“Yeah, I did, I’m sorry. I know you want more from me, but…” I shook my head, my smile faded, “I’m sorry, I can’t …” I was doing to him, what Rex did, accidentally. The tears started to fall.

“Hey, hey” Fives moved to sit beside me, “I’m just kidding, I just do that cause I know it irritates you. I’ll stop. Please stop crying” he moved his arms around me.

“I’m sorry” I mumbled through the tears as Fives pulled me into his side, I felt his cheek rest on my head, as my head rested on his shoulder.

“No, I’m sorry, you were really tired and you were hurting already, I should never have tried to tease you. I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

We didn’t speak for a minute as I tried to compose myself, Fives hand rubbing my arm up and down, he was sweet, why couldn’t he be like this all this time, “Want me to walk you to your quarters?”

Fives felt Nerium nod against his shoulder, his heart broke for her, he wasn’t sure what di’kut hurt her, but he was going to find out. It didn’t take him long before he began to guide her back to her quarters, a few clones looked over at Nerium, wondering what was wrong with her. At that moment, Fives understood why she always tried to avoid emotional outbursts in front of people, he switched sides with her so she’d be protected by the wall and his body, pulling her in closer to shield her from prying eyes. Fives was getting lost in the warmth of her resting against his chest, the way her arm wrapped around his waist, before he realized it, they were standing in front of her quarters, inputting the code.

“Nerium”

“Hmm”

Fives tilted his head to look down at her, he tried not to chuckle seeing her practically asleep leaning against him. He rested his cheek against the top of her head again, poor thing was so exhausted from everything she’d been through, only to come back and find out some idiot didn’t like her. Maybe Kix, would have an idea as to what she was talking about, after all where was she when she overheard whoever it was talking, and why were they talking about her?

Fives slowly guided her into her quarters, it wasn’t the first time Fives had been there, but it was the first time it felt as though he shouldn’t be there. He didn’t want anyone assuming the wrong thing. Fives did his best to gently get her to sit on her bunk, but she refused to lie down, no matter how much Fives tried to encourage her by pushing her back.

“Nerium, you gotta lie down” Fives tried not to chuckle, she was practically out sitting on the edge of her bunk.

“I … I’m not … sleepy” Came her subdued voice

“Okay, if your not sleepy, look at my fingers and tell me how many am I holding up?”

Fives watched as Nerium tilted her head back, her eyes still closed.

“Three”

“Nice try, your eyes are closed and I wasn’t holding up any fingers”

“Liar face”

Fives chuckled, bending down to pick her up, and lay her in her bed. He was surprised when she didn’t fight him, as soon as he laid her down, he gently removed her boots, and pulled the blanket over her.

“Sleep well, darlin’”

Fives couldn’t help it, he knew there was no chance with her, but if she ever changed her mind, he’d be there for her in a heartbeat, for however long she allowed him. His hand reached up and gently moved her hair off her face, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead. He heard her let out a soft sigh. Fives hoped whoever she deemed worthy to be by herside appreciated everything about her, or they’d have to deal with him.

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

“What are you doing?”

Fives turned to see General Skywalker walking towards him, his face stoic, his arms crossed, as Nerium’s door closed behind him.

“Nothing, sir”

“Doesn’t look like nothing”

Fives turned to look at the Nerium’s quarters, “Oh… oh no. I wasn’t … I helped her back to her quarters. She was pretty upset about something, and I thought it best she wasn’t alone, she fell asleep as we walked here. I just laid her down on her bed. No funny business. I swear.”

“Alright, Fives, I believe you. Walk with me” Anakin motioned to Fives to follow him, maybe he wouldn’t be able to talk to Nerium right away, but he could at least gage what to expect.

“Sir?” Fives eventually asked as they began walking away from her quarters. He had spent sometime with his General, but this was the first time it was one-on-one.

“You said she was upset?”

“Yes, sir”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure if I should tell you”

Anakin stopped to look at the trooper, “What happened? Is she okay?”

“I think she will be, just a personal matter”

“I see”

“I’m sorry, sir, I would tell you if it was important to the Resolute or to the Republic”

“Well, how about this, the morale of my medic is very important to the Resolute. After all, it could affect the rest of the crew”

Fives didn’t say anything, he simply nodded, “It’s a bit of a stretch, but okay…” Fives answered smirking, he looked over to his General who was smiling in return. Anakin’s hands were behind his back, listening intently to what Fives had to say.

“So you see General, I’m not sure what idiot had the audacity to say he didn’t like her, but I’m going to find out.”

“Actually, Fives, leave it with me, I think I know the idiot.”

“You were there for the conversation?”

Anakin looked at Fives, his face didn’t hide any of his protective nature towards Nerium, it was all there to be seen by Anakin.

“No, it … it was a miscommunication, I don’t think she heard everything correctly.”

“I hope so, because I don’t think I can take seeing her cry again.”

Anakin nodded towards his trooper, “Thank you, Fives, leave this with me, I will deal with it”

“Yes, General” Fives saluted, and walked away. Anakin let out a sigh and rubbed his face, yup, he screwed up. ‘Well, Nerium’ Anakin thought, ‘I hope you’re awake.’

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

I woke up to a knocking on my quarters door, I felt like I had been hit by a Mastiff Phalone, man I wonder if this is how Rex felt when he was flung by that beast. More knocking at the door.

“Yeah, I hear you! I’m coming!”

I swear if that was Fives, I was going to smack him, regardless of the fact he tucked me in. Actually, I needed to give a proper thank you for looking after me, I also needed to properly thank Kix for giving me the day off.

I opened the door to see Anakin.

“General?” I straightened and saluted

“Nerium” Anakin laughed seeing her all professional, regardless of the fact she had no boots on and her hair was a mess, “I thought we moved past this” he motioned towards her arm.

“Right, sorry” I lowered my hand, and motioned for him to come in, “What can I do for you Anakin?”

“First, how are you?”

“Like I got run over by one of those beasts on the Lurmen planet” I sat on the bunk, while Anakin sat on the chair by the desk, my head rested in my hand.

“Yeah, first mission usually does that, you’ll get use to it, it’s your body dealing with the constant adrenaline.”

“Well that’s good, was worried I got sick for a moment”

“No. Um… so … about…”

I held my hand up, looking at Anakin, “If you’re here to talk about the accidental comm call, don’t worry I turned it off pretty quickly.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have” Anakin quirked his eyebrow at Nerium, hoping she wouldn’t want to kill him.

“Anakin, I didn’t need to hear that Rex was in love with Aayla, all right? I’m not even mad at him anymore, I totally get why he freaked about me taking first watch, he wanted to keep her safe, and I didn’t have any experience at that moment. So I get it.”

“Yeah … I was trying to help, but I just screwed it up. Listen, I shouldn’t be the one to say this, but seeing as I messed up, I think it’s fair that you learn Rex wasn’t talking about Aayla.”

I narrowed my eyes at Anakin, “Anakin, I don’t want to know who he was talking about.” If he was going to tell me that he was talking about me, I … it’s better if I didn’t know, better that I just think he was talking about Aayla than actually find out the truth.

“Actually, I think you do”

“No, I don’t.” My tone was firm and unmoving.

Anakin was shocked, that’s not the reaction he was expecting, “I don’t think you’re understanding me, Nerium, and what I’m trying to say.”

“I do. I know what you’re going to say. Because outside of Aayla and myself the only other female that was there was a 14-year-old and I know there’s no way Rex would be talking about a child that way, right?”

“You’re right. He wasn’t talking about her.”

“Then I don’t want to hear it, okay?” I got up from my seat and walked over to my bookshelf, looking at the space that use to house the book my father gave me, that was currently in Rex’s possession.

“What changed? Back on the planet…”

“I know, and truthfully, nothing changed, I …” I let out a deep sigh, I turned to look at Anakin, “I know what I feel for him, but I don’t think he knows what he feels, I don’t think he even has a clue on what to feel. Anakin, Rex is my best friend, before we landed on that stupid planet, we never had any sort of miscommunication, any cross word between us when we kept it to friendship. But down there … on that planet, everything changed. I felt it, I could sense he was about to say something to me, he was about to tell me, and then you were in pain, and those animals tried attacking us, then the Lurmens and the Separatist, it just threw us both off. If we …” I rubbed my forehead, trying to push away the pain that was rising in my head, or maybe the tears that were threatening to come up, “We were so close to talking about what we felt, and we messed up Anakin, we made it difficult to do our jobs, we were both so distracted ...”

“I disagree, if anything you guys excelled even more”

“Because we were angry at each other, well annoyed. I think it would be better for the both of us to keep it as is, at least until we both know exactly what we want. It’s best if I just keep on thinking he’s in love with someone else, and that’s what I’m going to choose to believe.”

“Nerium, please don’t make a mistake because of my interference, I was trying to help you guys out, I …”

“I know Anakin, and it’s sweet that you want us together, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that … if we’re ready for that. I mean there was just the possibility of it, and we lost our minds on the planet. Not to mention, it’s just a little over a year since I left Onderon. I …” I looked down to the ground hiding the tears that were escaping, I wiped away what I could, “I think this is for the best, Anakin.”

“Nerium, I’m so sorry, I kriffed everything up”

“No, Anakin. You didn’t. It just helped me realize, that I can’t … right now, regardless of what I feel for him, I can’t. Not until we figure out what we want, and not because people are telling us what we want. I’m assuming that’s why you and Kix were talking to him.”

Anakin nodded.

“Nerium, if there’s anything you need?”

I shook my head, “No, I’m good. Please don’t say anything to Rex, I’m supposed to be talking to him today, and the conversation will go better, if I can do this on my own terms.”

“I understand. If it helps no one knows I comm-ed you.”

I nodded. Anakin stood from the chair he occupied, he closed the distance between us, resting his hands on my shoulder, “I am truly sorry, Nerium. I should never have interfered. I’m sure Padme is going to yell at me for some time about this.”

I chuckled wiping the tears, “Give her my love, and tell her I would love to meet her one day.”

“Definitely, will”

Anakin pulled me into a hug, the gesture broke down any remaining walls I had up and I just began crying even harder. Anakin tightened his grip, he didn’t say anything, just held me, after a few minutes I started to feel an overwhelming sense of calmness fill me.

“Anakin?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you using the force on me?”

“Depends, are we happy about this or no?”

“I’m happy about it”

“Then yes”

“Thank you”

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

“I think we should do the holovid tonight, since you are off”

“Echo, I still have to work tomorrow, pretty sure, but I think Kix might be switching me to the night shift, it’s my turn anyways.”

“Okay, so we can do a short vid”

“You missed me that much?”

“Yes” Echo smirked across the mess hall table, lunch was almost done, and then I still had the day to just enjoy the time off. I resolved to go to the shooting range, if I had to be buying drinks every time I was on shore leave, because I had the lowest amount of downed droids, I was going to either need a pay bump, or get better at shooting.

“Well I’m back now, I’ll tell you what, if Kix does switch me to night shift starting tomorrow, we can do holovid tonight, but if not we can do it on our usual day.”

Echo let out a deep sigh, “Fine”

Fives was quiet the whole time we sat there.

“Fives, you okay?” I asked

“Yeah, Nerium, I’m fine”

Echo and I both looked at each other and then at Fives, “Okay you are definitely not okay, you just called me Nerium and not darlin’”

“I told you, I was going to stop”

“Fives, what’s going on?”

“Nothin’” He kept his head down.

“You know I’m gonna keep asking you?”

“Here. I’ll grab your tray, while you keep working on him” Echo reached forward grabbing my empty tray. Once he was far enough away, I turned back to Fives.

“Is this about earlier?”

“How are you okay?” Fives voice was laced with annoyance and anger, he turned to look at me, even his face showed his anger, which threw me.

“Wait, are you angry with me?”

“You practically breakdown on my shoulder and then you act like it’s no biggie now”

“Fives, don’t you get why I’m okay? Why it’s not bothering me?”

“No!”

“It’s because of you”

Fives was shocked he hadn’t expected that answer, he expected her to say that she talked with that di’kut.

“Me?”

“Fives, you took care of me, and were there for me. I appreciate it, and you helped me. You didn’t try to fix the problem, or try to take things into your own hands. You let me just feel what I was feeling, and I appreciate it; it made me feel safe.”

I placed my hand on his arm, hoping to convey how much I appreciated his care.

“Does this mean, you’ll go out on a date with me?”

I started laughing, “No, but I do have a gift for you” I leaned over and kissed his cheek, “Thank you”

Fives looked at me, his cheeks were tinting, “I’ll always be there for you, Nerium” he leaned over and kissed my forehead.

“What just happened?” Echo looked at the both of us.

I winked at Fives, “Fives and I have decided to elope, we are going to leave the GAR and raise loth-cats”

“Please tell me you’re joking, please! Cause honestly, Nerium, you can do like 100 times better than him”

“Ouch!” I laughed, I looked over to Fives, who was laughing as well.

“Yes, relax Echo, she’s joking. But thank you, for that vote of confidence”

“Hey, I say it like it is”

I rose from my seat, “Well as fun as this was, I gotta go. I’ll see you guys at dinner right?”

“Try and stop us” Fives responded, he held on to my hand, “Hey I was serious, about what I said, anytime, I’m here for you”

“Thanks Fives”

Fives watched as Nerium walked out of the mess hall.

“Echo, you really think I’m not worthy of her?”

Echo looked from Fives to the entrance, “Fives, doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what you think? Do you think you’re worthy of her?”

Fives looked from the entrance back to his food, “No.”

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findingjoynweirdstuff · 3 years

Text

Dream SMP Recap (February 21/2021) - Tommy’s Visit, Guard Training Day

It’s the day for Tommy’s final prison visit, one last visit to see Dream and gain closure. Things don’t go exactly to plan, though, and the situation takes a turn for the worse...

Jack Manifold and Quackity discuss business plans, Eret returns to start collecting taxes, and Sam decides it’s about time to get some helping hands, getting Bad and Antfrost on the job.

A summary of the week’s total events can be found at the end of the post.

---

VOD LINKS:

Foolish

HBomb94

Tommy

Tommy (Again)

Jack Manifold

Eret

Awesamdude

Foolish (Again)

Ranboo

---

- Foolish works on building HBomb a giant mansion in the savannah village.

- HBomb and Niki build a Bellsprout Pokemon head attached to Ponk’s tree in Lemon City.

--- Tommy’s Prison Visit ---

- Tommy comes online to visit Dream one last time in prison, for closure. Even though Dream is locked up and out of sight, he still feels miserable, a little bit empty.

“I think it’s because I haven’t shut the book. He’s still in my life, y’know?”

- He heads over to the prison. He is greeted by photos of BBH and Rat. The pictures George put on the entrance are still there.

- Tommy comes through to the lobby and greets Sam. Sam asks the questions.

“When was the last time you visited the prison?”

“A bit ago...like a while back. A month. A month ago.”

“Where is your place of residence currently located?”

“My home over there, down yonder. The hotel. The Big Innit Hotel, Sam.”

“Do you believe that the prisoner is deserving of being locked up?”

“Yes, yeah, I absolutely do. I think he’s a wrongen. I don’t think he deserves death, though. I should make that very clear. I don’t think he deserves death.”

“What are your prior relations with the prisoner?”

“I think he’s a bastard, he’s ugly, and um...I’d say...We manipulated one another. He...he manipulated me, kind of a bit of the villain, kind of an evil guy, kind of the ‘Dr. Octopus’ of the Dream SMP universe.”

- Tommy puts his items in the locker and they go through.

- Tommy comments on how every traumatic place he’s been in has been made of blackstone.

- Tommy doesn’t need to see Dream, “Unless one of my close friends dies...”

- They make it to the lava wall. The lava descends, and Tommy enters the cell.

- They greet each other. Dream’s lost his clock since the last time Tommy visited, and Tommy cracks a joke.

Dream: “That’s the Tommy I know...”

Dream throws Tommy some potatoes to regen health.

- Dream says he’s happy that Tommy came to visit. It’s been a while. Tommy tells him that it’s his last time visiting. Dream asks why, and insists that he’ll get out eventually.

- Tommy asks about the crying obsidian. Dream explains that it’s a security measure, and he likes to watch it drip.

- Tommy says it’s his last visit again, and the conversation grows more tense as they argue about exile, and Tommy says that he can’t even go into plains biomes now without trembling.

- Tommy then asks about the books he asked Dream to write, to which Dream replies that he burned them.

- Tommy opens the chest and sees the thank you letters. Tommy asks if Dream knows anything about the Egg. Dream doesn’t know much about it.

- The subject of it being Tommy’s final visit comes up again, and Tommy tells Dream that he doesn’t want him in his life anymore, that he ruined L’manburg and almost killed Tubbo.

Dream: “I did bad things, but...everybody thinks they’re right from their perspective.”

Tommy: “That’s not true. That’s not true!”

Dream: “I think I’m right. I did bad things but I did them for good reasons, but I’ve learned, I’ve...I did bad things and I’ve learned that I shouldn’t have done them.”

Tommy: “What good reasons? No, please, enlighten us.”

Dream: “I just wanted a...I just wanted to bring the server together, have it be...a happy family, y’know?”

Tommy: “Bring the server t-- you f-- Dream, you blew up L’manburg, Dream. You tried killing me! You tried killing everyone! You tried hurting people’s loved ones, man, it’s like what the fuck! You’re delusional, man, and I’m fucking sick of it. And I...but I don’t need to go through any of this stress anymore, alright? Because this is me doing this to me now, not you. You’re fine now, you’re locked up now, you’re a bitch. I’m the one that’s giving me the stress here now...but I’m better than that! I’m better than you, alright? So I’m done here.”

“You ruined my past, Dream, but you will NOT ruin my future.”

- Dream continues to insist that he’s changing. All of a sudden, Tommy hears TNT explosions.

Dream: “Sounds like a security issue.”

- Sam disappears. Tommy calls to be let out.

Tommy: “Dream, it hasn’t been an honor knowing you, but it will be an honor forgetting you.”

- The explosions continue.

- Dream says he wrote the 7-days waiver and thinks this might be a security issue, but he doesn’t know what’s going on.

- Dream and Tommy continue to argue.

Tommy: “I KNOW YOU. You haven’t changed! You’re the fuckin’ monster of this server, alright!? Not the Egg, not anything like this, YOU ARE!”

- Tommy only has one life left, so if he dies in here, then he dies for good.

(Dying by the lava wall to get out would be a canon death)

- Tommy panics and starts burning Dream’s books in the lava. And the item frame. Dream takes the rest of the books into his inventory.

- Dream hands him a book and says he could write a story.

- Dream continually insists that he’s changed, and that he didn’t have anything to do with the TNT.

Tommy: “You’ve not changed, you’re the same old...you’re evil. You’re just evil.”

- Sam messages saying the prison is on lockdown, and to hang tight.

- Dream hands Tommy more potatoes, but he doesn’t have many left. They’ll have to wait for the automated refill.

- Tommy asks how long it’ll be. Dream guesses up to a week, like the waiver says.

“Oh no...”

Tommy ends his stream there.

---

- Jack logs on to check on the hotel and is confused by where Tommy is. He checks Twitter and finds out that Tommy has been locked in prison. He asks Sam to confirm. Sam tells him that there’s been a security issue and no one is to approach the prison.

- At first, Jack is outraged that his plans have been foiled again. But then he realizes that, with Tommy in prison, he’s now gained ownership of the hotel! He rebrands it to the Big Jack Manifold Hotel.

- Jack goes to rebrand and Sam Nook greets him at the hotel. Sam argues with Jack, not wanting Jack to take ownership.

- Jack speaks with Quackity, telling him that Tommy’s in jail. Quackity talks about how there’s soon to be an established currency: the diamond. Jack agrees to pay two diamonds for leather.

- Eret comes over to the hotel and Quackity and Jack speak with them. They tell Eret about Tommy being in jail. Eret calls it a “hostile takeover of Tommy’s hotel,” but Jack tries to convince him that it was bad for branding for Tommy’s name to be on the hotel.

- Quackity tells Eret that he’s setting up a big gathering for the opening of his business soon.

- Jack and Eret argue about hotel pricing.

- Quackity tells Jack to not be intimidated by competition, and also describes a plan to create a network of easily-accessible roads. He doesn’t like the wooden path, and says that Jack’s hotel would be a good destination for business.

- Quackity questions what Jack will do when Tommy gets out of prison. Jack insists it will be fine.

- Jack works on rebranding.

- He then speaks with Badboyhalo. Bad finds out about Tommy being in jail and is surprised. Jack theorizes that maybe he tried to break Dream out.

- Bad discusses having a room in the hotel. Jack asks for payment.

- Eret comes up with a plan to tax the shit out of everyone.

- Sam starts stream at the prison. He doesn’t know what the explosions were.

- He calls for Bad and Ant, as he’s going to make them guards. They’re part of the Badlands and he trusts them.

- The two arrive. Sam fills them in: Tommy came to visit Dream, as he had already 2 or 3 times, and there was TNT going off near the prison. He needs to figure out what’s happening, but he can’t leave the prison and he can’t be in every place at once, which is where the guards come in.

- He opens Locker 2 since Locker 1 still has Tommy’s stuff in it. Sam then starts filling them in on what each lever does.

- Sam walks them through navigating the prison and then shows them the guard-specific areas like the locker room and stasis chamber.

- Sam then shows them the spawn traps. Ant and Bad set their spawns. Each guard gets three full sets of Netherite, three chances to stop whatever security issue may arise.

- At the end of the next tunnel is something top secret that can’t be showed on-stream.

- He also shows the chest with the waivers, including Ranboo’s in Enderman.

- Sam declares Ant and Bad officially guards. They are happy to finally be employed. Sam says he’s not paying them anything except the satisfaction of knowing they’ll be helping to keep Dream in there.

- Sam, Bad and Ant find Eret’s tax request.

- Ranboo works on building a farm, starting his farmer arc.

- There’s a secret message spelled out in his inventory that reads: “HE IS IN CON(T)ROL.”

Upcoming Events:

- Quackity’s business reveal

- Whatever is going to happen in the prison now...

END OF WEEK RECAP:

2/15 - Ranboo finds his wall signs changed

2/16 - Tommy’s hotel opening, Karl and Sapnap name Kinoko Kingdom

2/17 - Foolish, Ponk and HBomb’s lore, Bad confronts Puffy about the propaganda

2/18 - Bad and Antfrost confront Puffy about the propaganda

2/19 - George vandalizes the prison, Captain Puffy’s Prank Wars

2/20 - Nothing much happens.

2/21 - Tommy gets trapped in prison, Jack and Quackity speak, Eret returns

#dream smp #dream smp recaps #long posts #prison arc

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tedturneriscrazy · 3 years

Text

And here we are with Yesterday's Lie, the season 2A finale!

Wow, this came up quick, huh?

Anyways...

What are you doing with all that, not-Luz?

(Also, cute photo of younger Luz. She had hair!)

That musical cue when not-Luz adjusted her hair was rather unnerving

Judging by Camila's reaction to that box being set out, she wasn't lying when she said she loved Luz's creativity

Freeing the rabbit from the trap did a lot to establish more of Camila's character. I'm glad we're finally getting more of her.

OH SHIT REAL LUZ IN THE MIRROR

"Are you sure this isn't gonna blow our faces off?" "Nope!"

That's a rather eclectic collection of ingredients for the door

I wonder if Amity also provided the abomination head

Group hug❤

There's the trailer shot

You only appear in reflections, huh? Interesting...

Jeez, Luz, priorities!

(Oh who am I kidding, the fact she's still thinking about her girlfriend is adorable)

I do love it when her accent comes through

Whoops, looks like wherever this is the magic of the Isles doesn't reach

Previously unmentioned dad whose face is obscured in the photo

GASP

Spider-Man moment

Oh, voice change in not-Luz!

Classic "I ain't goin' back, man!" moment

Also, it's beta Luz's bat!

"Monster Slayer Academia" I'm not entirely sure that doesn't actually exist...

"I will never understand anime..."😂😂😂

Oh, true form time!

Vee's gonna be a fan favorite, isn't she? (I ask, full well knowing the answer)

I mean, I've already seen plenty of Luca x Owl House fan art, so I imagine that may intensify

Luz seems to be quite understanding all things considered. I suppose all the people in the "Doppelganger isn't evil, actually" camp have been vindicated.

Oh, Eda

I don't think I like that camera...

So Gravesfield, Connecticut, huh?

Welp, there's a statue of a man that's probably Philip Wittebane

Oh, partially transformed Vee is gonna be irresistible to fanartists

Witch obsessed guy? Pamphlets? Hmm...

Wait, MARILYN?! As in Stan's ex?!

(I know she wasn't actually since the two shows don't take place in the same universe, but no way that nod wasn't deliberate)

"She tried to pay for a latte with a live raccoon" Eda I'm saying this in the nicest way possible: What the fuck

Those rats...buh

"BREAD OF WISDOM GRANTS US SPEECH! WE DESIRE MORE!"

Can't say I don't relate to Vee wrt confrontation

Luz has definitely had some...previous experiences with other kids. Creepy talking rats? Yes. Human high schoolers? No thank you.

Oh, fellow campers! Luz isn't the only one who had off-screen experiences.

That reading seemed...ominous

Right...contacts...

Side note: seems like that camp doesn't stomp out weirdness as thoroughly as previously speculated

Oh shit it's Sonic the Hedgehog! I mean Warden Wrath! I mean Roger Craig Smith!

I saw someone take issue with how Vee reacted to Luz running away to the Demon Realm, but considering her past experience and trauma, her reaction is understandable

Belos I don't care how much of a foxy grandpa you are, you fucking suck

"Skin's sure weird!"

She took the day off work to drive "Luz" to camp I just😭

Whether you think camp was a bad idea or not, Camila's a good mom

Oh dear, Sonic is a conspiracy bro

I guess we know who set up that camera. And the traps.

Oh, seems Eda didn't have elixir with her on one of her trips to the human realm...

"After watching a few Mew-tube videos I learned the truth!" Yup he's a conspiracy bro. Goddamnit, Sonic!

(I can rag on Sonic the Hedgehog all I want, I've been into the games since the Genesis days, well before most of y'all were even born)

Luz having a "BOI" moment

This guy definitely watches Alex Jones. Props to the TOH crew for teaching a new generation about these conspiracy creeps.

Vee is accustomed to a life on the run, but apparently not with Luz's determination and quick thinking.

Also, all this talk about being "outed?" Yeah I'm definitely seeing the trans allegory everyone's talking about.

Now Luz turns to the one person who can help

That "boop"❤ (Now we know where Luz gets it from)

Camila not believing all the Demon Realm stuff. Shocked. SHOCKED, I say.

Well shit, Camila's been a veterinarian all this time! Don't we all have egg on our faces!

It would explain how Luz is so good with animals

Sonic the Curator sure is something, huh

The scary thing is that there are people like him in real life. Worse, even.

Okay, I know this is a dire situation, but I am enamored with Camila's mom energy here. She's adorable.

Dude with a ponytail and cardinal on his shoulder to send the theorists in a tizzy. It'll be interesting to see how this all eventually comes together.

I just realized that that's a training wand on the table

And now Camila realizes this is no game

Further props to the TOH crew for making the antagonist of the episode a crackpot white dude. This is correct.

Yup, further trans allegory. Plus a nice example of a supportive-if-not-quite-understanding-everything parent.

And there's Camila going ham on a motherfucker. Turns out there was no lie in the "Two Truths and a Lie!" Rather, the lie was that there was a lie in the first place...My brain hurts.

Oh, she can appear in the rain. That's cool!

Now is time for Real Sad Hours

The way Camila is reacting...god...it hurts...

"Is this the only way I can touch you?" STOP😢

"Staying here was the best decision I ever made!" Uh oh...

That promise is totally not gonna come back up later in the most tragic, gutwrenching way possible. Nope. Nuh uh. No way that'll happen.

Dammit, Luz, not more lies! Oh, right. The episode title.

Her face really says it all.

Well, it wasn't quite the continuous pain train we convinced ourselves it was gonna be, but that ending? Ow. I'm glad Vee has the support she needs, but my heart hurts for the Nocedas. I really hope they can resolve the issues they clearly still have, because damn.

And now we get to chew on all that for the next however many months! Hooray! I knew I said I was ready for a hiatus, but it turns out I'm a big fat liar, because I'm not! Augh!

Well, I'll try to look on the bright side: At least my sleep schedule can normalize again? Also I can cancel my Sling subscription once 6-10 drop on D+. Neither DisneyNow nor Sling are optimal VOD experiences.

#the owl house #luz noceda #camila noceda #toh vee #vee noceda #idk i've seen other people use that for her #toh season 2 spoilers #toh s2 spoilers #the owl house s2 spoilers #the owl house season 2 spoilers #toh spoilers #the owl house spoilers

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dinthehottotty · 3 years

Text

Catch Me If You Can

Summary: Din finds new meaning to old words.

Warnings: Straight, unadulterated, violently disgusting fluff. It's gross.

A/N: translations at the bottom. No editting.

Those five stupid words got him everytime. They always stirred a childish rivalry between the two of you and he hated it. He was well and grown, those insignificant words should have no effect on him.

But they did.

From the time you were both foundlings it burned him. Not because you were faster than him, because he managed to grab you everytime, but the fact that it always worked on him. He idly wondered if that's why he was so drawn to bounty hunting. Had you trained him to chase?

Often times, when he's flying through the endless streaking that is hyperspace he thinks about you. Hyperspace is to you as visiting the armorer is to his parents. The whirring of hyperspace makes him dream of you saying that like some sick nightmare.

He remembers the first time it's said to him, a couple weeks after he was rescued. He'd seen you, both of you young enough that you hadn't sworn the creed. He remembers you watching him with excited eyes and sneaking over to him when all he wanted was to cry again over the loss of his parents.

"It's easier not to think about it," you'd told him, "and when you do, think about the good things." It had surprised him. He'd never spoken a word, he quickly discovered you were a foundling yourself, rescued only a short time prior. You'd eased him a bit, accepting his quiet nature with your chatty one. He thinks often of your cheeky smile from youth. It's hard to imagine what it looks like now, all he sees when you laugh is just the endless times as children he saw your grin. How you stayed so upbeat he didn't know.

But when he'd dried his tears you begged him to play and he had. "Catch me if you can!" Was shouted and so began his rage because you flashed a devious look over your shoulder as you ran.

You dared him to try.

Then it continued.

Catch me if you can, as you were trained to fight and he'd chase you across the training fields. In the middle of brawls, you'd call it out and he'd immediately turn to chase. It was purely instinctual. How you found him that one time on some outer rim planet, magnitizing trouble his direction, he decided you were bad luck. You'd weezed it as you both sprinted from an unidentifiable creature that was ready to tear you both limb from limb. He'd punched the back of your helmet for it when you were both in private (and you found it hilarious as he shook his knuckles free from pain).

It turned into a joke you'd say. Because he might be faster than you but he always have to push himself to keep up with you. It was competitive but effortless on your part and that brought out the childlike indignation he buried down. You pushed all the buttons in the perfect sequence to rile him up. He hated it. He dreaded it.

You'd appear in the furthest reaches and the most annoying manner, sneaking up on him to whisper it like it was the funniest thing. Swooping in to steal his bounties at the most inconvenient times. He never understood it. You'd catch them just before him and dump them at his feet like a lothcat dropping a womp rat on its owners doorstep. Smug and proud.

You'd jibe him with those five words whenever you could. Some of the most difficult, dangerous bounties that could yield a mighty reward and you'd just... hand them over like it was nothing.

It frustrated him to no end. But there was nothing in the world that felt better than sacking you to the ground, he swears. He loved to win against you, even if it felt like you let him. He always second guesses himself when it happens because you laugh! Like it's all in the fun.

You snare him everytime with that line and he knows he's lost. You were a fierce warrior and honestly he was glad you didn't bounty hunt often. If you did he wouldn't have even half the credits.

You swore the creed before he did. Earned your signet before him. Won a blaster before he did. It was endless chasing and even when you lost he could never understand just why you seemed to enjoy yourself so much. He could never tell if you were a rival or a friend but deep down he always hoped it was just an annoying friend.

He felt like it was a waste of your talents for you to transfer to the covert under medicine instead of mercenary work. To be honest, though he had seen you work, fingers flying effortlessly. They were steady, even when covered in blood.

He tried to tell himself that he was just too exhausted from the last bounty to not clean up his newest wound. A few shallow stabs that he'd acquired in the scuffle of a twi'lek that refused to give in. Din had closed it with an emergency cauterizer but it was mess and awkward, especially the one on his hip.

The excuses kept rolling in his head of what he'd tell you on why he didn't just clean it up himself before he realized he couldn't stop thinking about your modulated laugh or the lightness of your gloved touch compared to his. (He was fully aware of how hard you could hit and was always amazed by the delicacy of your gentle touches.)

It was after he left the Cantina, delivering bounties, collecting rewards, internally punching Kreef, that he finally just admitted he missed you. He missed the only person he might call his friend.

Din is aware that this will be the third time in the last two months that he's sought you out in this manner. That it's becoming a habit instead.

So he tries not to limp to badly to the convert. When he reaches the medical room he feels disappointed that your armor doesn't catch his eye at first. You'd probably been requested on a mission, somewhere important.

That is until he spots you half hidden behind a curtain, hunched over another mandalorian and focused intensely on whatever was under the bandage you were staring at.

He'd seen you do that. You were evaluating. You'd stand still as a droid, thinking about whatever wild random thoughts came out of your head. Another thing that marveled him. You were so creative, always looking for a different way to do things, just for the fun of it. It frustratingly worked in your favor but he thinks it's got more to do with stubbornness than good logistics.

He shuffles that way, and if you notice, you don't acknowledge him as he sinks awkwardly into one of the chairs. He keeps his weight off his hip.

"There is an avaliable baar'ur on the otherside, vod." You murmur without looking up. You'd noticed him, however not noticed it was him.

"I'll wait," he rumbles and your head jerks up in response. He likes it more than he cares to admit because your straightening and evaluating him instead of the man on the table who is no doubt glaring at him. Din thinks it's one of the many that float around and boast for your attention.

"Did you get stabbed again?" You demand.

"Not deep." Your laugh flutters about and then your turning back to your current patient who relaxes as your finally return your attention on him.

"If you want an excuse to see me just ask, you don't have to hurt yourself to do it. Just stop by, bring me some shig." You say and begin to pick up tools. When you remove the bandage Din sees a healing wound. You were checking up on him.

"I'll remember that." He can feel your grin through your helmet.

By the time he was settled on the table for examination, you were already hovering over him. He shifted onto his good side, rolling toward you as he jerked his tunic up. He had to unclip his belt to lower his pants enough for the wound on his hip to show.

You were forced to ignore the glorious dark trail of hair beginning to peak out from the top of them.

He very nearly sighed in relief as your hands carefully braced over either wound and prodded gently. It makes his heart race. "Maker, Din," he could hear you hiss minutely. "Do I have to board your damn trash ship in order to keep you from doing this shit to yourself? I'm giving you bacta."

"Don't need it. And my ship is not trash." He grunts, making you twist your helmet toward his.

"Or'dinii," you grunt lowly. Maybe he was a bit of a moron. "I'm taking your cauterizer away." Finally, you draw away and begin to pull out supplies to clean and dress his wound.

"So I'll just bleed out next time?"

"It'd be a mercy." Din smiles under his helmet as you begin gently cleaning his gashes. You knew by this point that he also refused the local anesthetics by now. He couldnt feel your hands the last time.

Din relaxes against the table, calmed by your presence. "Do you want to stop by for dinner tonight?" You prompt him.

"I have bounties to hunt."

"Tell you what, have dinner with me tonight and I'll help you catch your next few."

"I don't need your help."

"Sure. Sure. I mean, you're totally up to catching me right now." Din feels the spike of emotion in his chest and groans in annoyance.

"I have caught you everytime, wounded or not," he growls. "Were not children anymore." He doesn't expect you to lean down to his helmet. It startles his heart into a sprint as you rub your thumb affectionately over his hip bone. What game was this? All he can see is his helmet reflecting in yours.

"If you haven't realized that I enjoy you chasing me at this point, I may have to spell it out for you, Din." Your threat has a mocking to it that pisses him off more, but he's tense under your thumb stretching to the inside of his pelvic bone. It's taunting, teasing.

"What's the point?"

"Maybe you'll have to try again and find out."

And you rose back to work silently on his wound, letting him mull over your words and over think the tension.

Finally, he's patched up properly and sits up on the table. "What time are you done here?" He asks.

"Twenty minutes ago."

"Why didn't you say anything."

"Doesn't matter, does it?" You make quick work of cleaning up your supplies. "So dinner?" You demand. Din grins under his helmet.

"Fine." He relents, climbing to his feet.

"Good. Oh, and Din," you lean close, backing him into the edge of the stone table your hand presses into his chest plate. "Catch me if you can." Before you take off like there's blaster fire.

You let him catch you this time, right in the entrance to your quarters. He tackles you through the curtain and you roll across the floor, laughing all the way. Clearly, you're enjoying as much as you did playing tag or hide and seek as kids. Despite the bite of pain in his wounds he wrestles your arms to the ground on top of you.

"You like this?" He demands, half amused.

"Yeah, you were the best part of my life when we were growing up, it brings me back, you know?" He tenses when you casually admit that. And the silence hangs heavy, only heavy breathing and the tap of beskar chests heaving against each other.

Then he headbutts the helmet to yours. "I... I think about your smile a lot... from when we were kids." You shift slowly under him, legs framing his hips.

"It's strange isn't it? That we've known each other so long and we don't look anything like we did the last time we saw one another." Your voices lowered.

"We... we could see each other again," he finds himself suggesting. You gasp quietly underneath him.

"Like... like leaving the covert?"

"If you... if you wanted. But..." he hesitates, trying to remember how annoying you were supposed to be. "What if we got married?" He feels more nervous than he ever remembers feeling.

"Okay," you whimper, sounding as breathless as you feel.

"Okay?" He finds himself repeating. Your helmet nods frantically against his.

"Yes, okay!" And he's letting you go of your arms when you sound like your ready to sob. He kind of likes the sound of the beskar armor sliding against more beskar, but suddenly he's exhausted and all he wants is to sink into your warm embrace unhindered. Only rumbling bellies reminding the both of you to detangle.

...

His jump to hyperspace was welcomed this time. His brain swimming around you, his Riduur. His love. His best friend. He could embrace the thoughts of you in hyperspace.

Navarro darts out of view and he settles back in his seat, a pleasant sort of soreness filling his body from his eager activities you'd both participated in. He just wished he could have seen your face after the ceremony, but there wasn't enough time.

"Hey, Din," he hears you call from the doorway of the cockpit. But it sounds different, lighter. You weren't wearing your helmet. A thrill of excitement filled him for a split second. He soaked up a moment before he slowly pilots his chair about.

You weren't just not wearing your helmet, you weren't wearing anything. It stalled his brain to see the shy but mischievous smile as you casually lean against the doorframe. He knows the tightened nipples are due to the cool air of his ship and he takes in the face he's been imagining for nearly three decades.

You smile up at him, mocking him. "Catch me if you can," you murmur softly, but there's no motion to run. Din smiles behind his helmet.

There's no rage this time. Only thrill and awe at the face he's imagined a billion times and how he still couldn't have gotten it right. He reaches for his own helmet lifting it off his head to see his spouse for the first time since they were kids.

....

Baar'ur - Medic

Vod - Brother, sister, comrade

Shig - a hot, tea like beverage

Or'dinii - Moron or fool

Taglist:

@lxdyred

#din x you #din dijarin fanfiction #din djarin #din djarin x reader #din #fluff #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal

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ace-oreos · 3 years

Note

You must be so sick of alpha and Fordo asks but you’re latest fic has given me angst potential- maybe a one-shot with alpha working with the bad batch to find Fordo post order 66 an him just breaking at the seams when he finds his Vod because he thought he lost Frodo like he lost Sev. Tears and man hugs ensue

Oh I am NEVER sick of Alpha and Fordo asks - they’re such a fun chaotic duo to write for. :D Also, Alpha working with the Bad Batch is something I never knew I needed until I saw your ask and I would absolutely write something with all of them again. I cannot express how difficult it was to not go off on a tangent about Hunter.

In true Sev style, I chose Kashyyyk as the main location for this one. It’s just so useful for these kinds of things.

Also. Y’all. I did not realize until I was four pages into this that I forgot Echo. So uh... whoops? 😅 😂 With that in mind, let me warn you that this is WAY longer than the other fics. I have no idea what happened. I have no idea what I’m doing.

Also also, thank goodness for Wookiepedia lmao

Edit with tags: @dudewhynotthis @merspots @the-mandalorian-clone-lover @delta-the-mando (taglist is open!)

“Captain.” The sergeant keeps his distance even now, face inscrutable as he surveys Alpha.

“Alpha,” he corrects half-heartedly, more for the sergeant’s sake than his own.

“Alpha,” Hunter amends. “We’ll be entering the Mid Rim soon - maybe an hour, hour and a half tops.”

“Good to know.” Alpha knows he sounds despondent at best, but he’s hit enough dead ends by now to know all too well this will likely be a fruitless endeavor. There’s nowhere in the galaxy safe from him - not when his brother’s life is hanging in balance.

But it’s a big galaxy, with little regard for individual yearning or emotion. Alpha can vow to upend the galaxy as much as he likes, but the fact is they’ve only so much time, and only so many resources, and...

And maybe Hunter picks up on that, in that way of his as he observes Alpha without further comment. The sergeant is as much his vod as anyone else Alpha has encountered. Still beyond him sometimes, a little too other for Alpha to ever fully mesh with him or his brothers, but he’s a good soldier. A good man.

“We’ve always got room for another,” are Hunter’s parting words as he makes his way back to the cockpit.

If you find out your brother was dead all along.

Alpha doubts it was anything less than a genuine offer, but it isn’t the only route. Not until I’ve exhausted every other option. And even then....

It doesn’t do, to let himself become so intertwined with a brother until he isn’t entirely sure he knows who he is without the other. He’d tried, both for his brothers and for his own peace of mind, to put a stop to it before it went too far. And maybe that was Jango getting in his head more than Alpha ever should have allowed, but he’d thought it was the right thing to do.

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder...

________________________

“ - you know as well as I do we’ve been going in circles for weeks now - ”

“Yeah, you might’ve mentioned that once or twice…”

“You said it yourself - we’ll get ourselves killed if we aren’t careful.”

“So we’ll be careful.” Hunter’s voice holds a note of finality. “We can keep rehashing this conversation, or we can help a vod.”

Alpha doesn’t catch the muttered reply, but it’s hardly amenable, if Hunter’s sigh is anything to go by. He can’t blame them, really - Fordo isn’t their brother, and outside of combat they’ve little common ground. And it’s only natural for Crosshair to raise the questions none of them are yet ready to face. Alpha thinks he could learn to like the man, given time.

He reigns in his thoughts before entering the cockpit. The least he can do is put on a rational front. This whole thing isn’t at all rational, but the Bad Batch seem to understand better than others. It runs deeper than brotherhood here, whatever it is, and Alpha is irrepressibly reminded of Fordo, somehow -

(And osik, does that thought burn, dig under his skin to remind him once again that he failed, that should he redeem himself it will be not on his terms but likely an inconsequential whim of a galaxy that cares nothing for them or everything they’ve fought so hard to hold on to - )

“Y’know, I’m not sure we’ve ever been to Kashyyyk,” Wrecker muses. “That’s a first.” If he’s trying to divert Alpha’s attention from Crosshair, it’s a skillful effort that almost takes Alpha aback. “‘Course, I only remember the fun parts,” he adds as an impish afterthought.

“Anything with explosives, you mean?” Alpha asks drily.

Wrecker grins. “Something like that.”

You and Fordo would get along fine.

What leaves his mouth is, “I don’t suppose anyone has any relevant information about this place?”

Right on cue, Tech pipes up from his position alongside Crosshair. “Actually…”

Tech is just as much of an efficient distraction in his own right. It’s not exactly the height of strategy on Alpha’s part, but once again it redirects attention. He has no doubt Hunter sees right through it; still, the man has enough tact to refrain from commenting.

You understand, I think, Alpha decides, watching exasperation and amusement play across Hunter’s face in turns as his brothers’ bickering fills the cockpit. You would go to hell and back for them, wouldn’t you, Sergeant?

Hunter casts him a wary glance. Alpha holds his gaze.

There’s too much we can’t say. It’s okay, vod - I think I’m starting to understand too.

________________________

Kashyyyk is dishearteningly vast, all sprawling jungles and endless island chains set on a swath of ocean that dissects the planet’s hemispheres. Getting in was no easy task, what with the Imperial blockade cutting off the planet from others in its sector. But Tech’s adroit piloting had come through, and they’d slipped past the blockade with little disturbance.

“You really think your buddy is here?” Crosshair asks dubiously, surveying the area with a distinct air of displeasure.

“I’ve seen the records,” Alpha says, as much to reassure himself as the other man. “The Empire’s tighter with the book-keeping, I’ll give them that. Fordo’s unit lost contact not long before Order Sixty-six went down. If they made it out, it would be on record somewhere.”

“And if they didn’t?”

Alpha battles his temper into submission before replying. “Then they would be confirmed KIA. But they’re still listed as missing as of two weeks ago.”

“Sounds like you’re leaving an awful lot to chance,” Crosshair opines. There isn’t malice in his voice so much as an unmistakable note of disapproval. “What’s your plan if it turns out they were just waiting for reinforcements and pulled out days ago? That leaves us here in the heart of Imperial occupation.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Alpha says grimly. “But if they lost comms before the order came through, then there’s a chance they aren’t with the Empire. Their main focus would be survival, not falling in line nice and neat like Palpatine expects.”

It’s clear there are a number of objections rising to the forefront of Crosshair’s mind, but the man keeps them to himself. There’s a conflict brewing there, Alpha knows, but that’s a matter to address at another time.

“There’s an area south of here where all comm signals go dead,” Tech announces, tapping furiously at the device mounted on his vambrace. “According to intel, the Wookies call it the Black Forest.”

“Sounds inviting,” Hunter says. “What’s the deal with it?”

“A prison ship crashed there centuries ago,” Tech relays. “The Wookies believe it’s cursed, so they avoid it whenever possible. It’s possible Fordo and whoever was left were driven back by the Seps - or it was a desperate bid and he was banking on the droids not following somewhere they can’t maneuver well. But why cut himself off from allies…?”

“The forward operating base was set up in Kachirho,” Alpha muses aloud “There was another commando squad deployed here, but they were retasked shortly after Order Sixty-six. If Fordo’s here, I doubt he would hang around anywhere with high Imperial activity.”

If he were operating alone, the decision would be simple. But he has the welfare of four other men to consider now; one wrong move, and they’ll all end up on the business end of a blaster.

With that in mind, Alpha looks to Hunter. “Sergeant. What do you think?”

“It’s your call,” Hunter answers. “If you have reason to think your brother is hiding out here, then I think it’s worth taking a look. So long as we go careful, I don’t see why the Imperials should notice us.”

Wrecker’s chuckle fills the comms. “Famous last words.”

_________________________

For all that they have a reputation for being unorthodox - a reputation that is doubtless justly earned - the Bad Batch can pull off stealth pretty well, too. It comes as a bit of a surprise, if Alpha is being honest, but if nothing else the overarching threat of Hunter’s wrath is enough to keep them in line.

“Keep an eye out for slavers,” Tech warns. “The whole planet has been a hotspot for them ever since the CIS first let them in.”

It’d be just our luck to run into slavers, Alpha thinks wryly. Individually they’re not much of a threat, but a group of Trandoshans spells trouble for anyone. Even without the training to back it up, their brutality can overpower even an ARC trooper. ‘Course, it’d be just like you to get into a mess like that, Fordo…

“We’ll be a bigger target if we travel as a group,” Hunter says.

“If we split up we might as well ask for a death sentence,” Alpha cautions. Typically his first choice would be to operate alone, but between the slavers, the Imperials, and the remnants of the Separatist forces, he’s starting to think their strength might lie in numbers this time.

Alpha mulls it over. Greater numbers means slower going. If we split up, we’ll be able to cover more ground. It’ll be risky, but - payoff is worth it.

“We’ll move faster this way,” Hunter says, echoing Alpha’s thoughts. “Wrecker, Tech, you’re with me. Cross…” He fixes his brother with a stern stare. “Don’t do anything stupid. Alpha has my full permission to stop you by any means necessary.”

Alpha rewards the sergeant with a wolfish grin. “I’ll hold you to that.”

He can’t read Crosshair half as well as the others, but the sniper doesn’t appear altogether displeased. He merely shrugs when Alpha jerks his head towards the route they’ll be following, and trails after him without argument.

Silence lays thick over the jungle. There’s an odd rustle here and there, interspersed with faint growls from time to time, but progress is relatively smooth. Alpha takes pains to remain on guard; just because he can’t see a threat doesn’t mean they’re in the clear.

Before long the silence is disconcerting. Given the planet’s Wookie population, there should be regular movement around them, or some sign of existence. But this stretch of the jungle is oddly lacking.

“This doesn’t feel right,” Crosshair mutters.

“Guess no one’s home,” Alpha answers absently, scrutizining the terrain. “Look - there’s no sign of a fight. Maybe no one was here to begin with.”

“Kachirho isn’t too far from here,” Crosshair points out. “You don’t think it’s a little odd that this path hasn’t been used at all?”

“It is,” Alpha allows, “but look at it this way. We’re traveling the way we’ve been trained to in this kind of setting. The Wookies probably have their own methods for getting around.”

“It’s still weird,” Crosshair decides. “And if your brother really was here, we’d have found evidence of that, too.”

He isn’t wrong, but it nonetheless stings to hear the man voice the doubtful thoughts that have been creeping up on Alpha. Still, we’ve come this far. What have we got to lose?

(More than he’s willing to surrender. But Crosshair doesn’t need to know that.)

“Let’s keep moving,” Alpha says, sharper than he intends.

“Hang on,” Crosshair says suddenly. “Contact - ”

Alpha pivots in time to see a Trandoshan emerge from the surrounding foliage. The lizard is taller and more solid than he previously anticipated; instead of hitting it head-on like he initially planned, Alpha redirects in order to avoid being gutted on the lizard’s knife.

He hears the shot and the telltale thump of the lizard falling to the ground. As Alpha picks himself up, Crosshair scans the area through the scope of his rifle.

“Oh, shab,” the sniper hisses.

It doesn’t take long for Alpha to locate the cause of Crosshair’s disgruntlement. A group of Trandoshans lurches towards them. Alpha does a rapid assessment: each lizard is packing some sort of ranged weapon - including slugthrowers, he notes unenthusiastically - and most are carrying an assortment of knives.

“Ideas?” Crosshair asks tersely.

“They’ll just follow us if we run,” Alpha says. “It’ll save us trouble in the long run if we take them now.”

“I can see why Hunter likes you,” Crosshair says, oddly nonchalant considering the circumstances, and fires.

With Crosshair covering ranged attacks, Alpha elects the more up-close-and-personal option. The slavers have the advantage of size, but Trandoshans aren’t renowned for their intelligence. As long as he stays in motion the risk of having his throat slit is greatly reduced.

Alpha targets a straggler first. He hits low, knocking the lizard off balance and sending it staggering into another. The other makes a grab for him, but Alpha is already ramming his vibroblade into the first slaver’s exposed neck. Using the limp body as a buffer, Alpha pushes against the other lizard, trying to force it onto its back foot.

Just as he feels his opponent’s defense start to give, another three descend on him. Cursing, Alpha throws himself aside before they can hem him in. One of the slavers has enough presence of mind to bring his knife down on Alpha’s unprotected back; the force of the blow has him crashing to the ground.

Alpha scrambles for a foothold, but one of the lizards seizes his leg in a vicelike grip. He writhes instinctively, kicking out with his other foot. He feels the impact more than sees it and wrenches himself free.

Just as a third lizard fills the other’s place, there’s a crack from Crosshair’s rifle, and the lizard topples. Alpha springs to his feet to avoid being crushed by several hundred kilos of Trandoshan. The others are wary now, trying to divide their attention between him and Crosshair.

Alpha doesn’t give them time to choose. This time he uses his blaster to put a round through the closest target. It’s not quite enough to put the lizard out of commission entirely, so he follows up with a quick succession of bolts.

It’s not exactly an even match, but things aren’t going as badly as he first feared, Alpha thinks. No sooner does the thought cross his mind than his helmet flashes a warning. He turns to deflect the attack coming from behind, but he moves too late and steps directly into the strike.

The slaver’s curved knife skids off Alpha’s breastplate and sinks into his bodysuit in the gap between the cuirass and the shoulder bell. Alpha manages to pull away, but not before the knife catches the underside of his arm and slices a gash halfway down his bicep.

A line of pain sears through his arm. There’s no doubt the Trandoshan cut deep into the muscle. That arm is effectively useless now; Alpha grimly switches his knife to the other hand.

He doesn’t have eyes on Crosshair from his current position, but the rasping breaths and occasional curses over the comms suggest the sniper isn’t having an easy time of it either. Time to fall back and reassess.

“Let’s pull back. We might be able to lose them.” Alpha bites the inside of his cheek to suppress a hiss of pain when his wounded arm is jostled. “We can’t take them now, at any rate.”

“You might want to rethink that, alor’ad…”

Crosshair jerks his head to indicate the slavers pouring into the area. There’s a slim chance they’ll be able to slip by, but not without risking serious injury. Slowing down to accommodate a bad hit would mean certain death or capture.

Pinned down. Shabla brilliant.

Alpha makes an effort to keep his rapidly rising alarm in check. “We’ll have to hold them off, then.”

“There’s no way,” Crosshair objects. “We’re outnumbered eight to one.”

Alpha sends a slaver sprawling rather than answer. He can see it as plainly as Crosshair, but he’s not going to lay down and die, not when his brother is still out there somewhere, not when there’s still a chance they could pull this off -

He hasn’t been this close in weeks and it isn’t his place to gamble anyone else’s life but his own, but even now he can’t bring himself to give in and he understands in a sudden flash of clarity that this is where he will always fail - because he has a foothold, now, and even though all logic points to turning back for once he can’t give in -

An arm clamps around his neck. Alpha thrashes, trying to throw his attacker off, but now that he’s been caught off guard the lizard has an advantage. His vision begins to blur at the edges and he redoubles his efforts, fueled in no small part by panic at being unable to draw breath.

He doesn’t know where Crosshair is anymore. He can hardly see beyond his own hands, scrabbling desperately at the arm locked around his neck.

No sooner does his vision begin to fade than the crushing pressure on his neck abruptly loosens. Alpha hits the ground gracelessly, coughing violently as he tries to inhale. His breath rattles in his throat, but his vision gradually returns.

He lurches to his feet and assumes a defensive stance as best he can. He’s lost track of how many slavers are still standing - too many is his best estimate.

But the man standing before him isn’t an enemy. He’s -

“Vod,” Fordo says softly.

Alpha can only stare at his brother in stunned silence, momentarily deaf to the ongoing struggle around them. Fordo....

“Later,” his brother promises.

______________________

“So how’d you end up running with them?” Fordo asks with a nod towards the Bad Batch.

“It’s complicated,” Alpha says lightly. “Too much to unpack now, at any rate.”

Fordo laughs. He’s battered and weary, with something lurking in his gaze Alpha can’t quite decipher yet, but it’s Fordo, and that’s more than enough.

“It’s quiet here,” Fordo remarks. “I like that.”

“‘S nice,” Alpha agrees.

They’re still hovering just above the surface. Tentative. It’s not exactly what Alpha is accustomed to, but for Fordo’s sake he lets his brother take the lead.

“Everything’s gone sideways, hasn’t it,” Fordo says suddenly.

“It has,” Alpha admits. There’s no use pretending otherwise. “But we’ll find a way through.”

Fordo flashes a small smile. “You’re good at that.”

Alpha merely shrugs. There’s a thousand other things he wants to say, but he hasn’t the faintest clue where to begin. Finally he ventures carefully, “Y’know, for a while now I thought this mission did you in.”

Fordo lets out a long sigh. “I was starting to think it might, myself.”

“I…” Alpha breaks off, startled by the sudden pressure behind his eyes. It worsens when he tries to continue. “I don’t know what I would’ve - ”

He falters again. I care more than I should. I never should’ve let that happen, but even now I don’t know if I regret it.

“Alpha,” Fordo says softly, and pulls him into an embrace.

Alpha doesn’t know how much time passes before he finally disentangles himself from Fordo as gently as he can and scrubs at the hot trails on his face. He can’t quite bring himself to feel any shame over it. He’s never been given to such displays, but… Fordo is his vod.

“So what’s the plan, alor’ad?” Fordo asks with a familiar note of mischief in his voice.

Alpha smiles despite himself. “It’s a big galaxy.”

“We’ve got time.”

“Yeah,” Alpha laughs. “We have time.”

#alpha-17 #alpha 17 #captain fordo #the bad batch #bad batch #clone force 99 #the clone wars #star wars #fic prompt #thanks for the prompt!#this was really fun #and i would absolutely write for them again #hunter specifically but shhh #if you make it through this post good on you lmao #my askbox is open!

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thicctails · 3 years

Text

Summer Of Whump Days 14 + 21 [Hand gagging/Panic]

He remembered hearing Tech’s voice crackle across the comlink, full of panic and desperation. His hysterical cries had started the hole, weakening his heart and leaving him vulnerable. Hope that they would be able to get back to the Havoc Marauder in time to chase Crosshair down had been the only thing keeping him together. That hope had shattered upon seeing Imperial ships disappear into the atmosphere.

In the immediate aftermath, he just… froze. He was just barely aware of the sound of Wrecker yelling, shouting obscenities in Mando’a that would make even the most foul-mouthed soldier blush. The world just seemed to go quiet, his breath caught in his throat as his lungs refused to take in oxygen. He had only been brought back by Rex’s firm hands on his shoulder, the man gripping him harshly as he shook him.

“Hunter! Hunter, come back to us.” Rex was borderline shouting, his gaze hard as he watched Hunter take a deep breath. “There you go, vod.”

“Omega- she’s gone! We have to- ARRGH I don’t know!” Hunter yelled, his nails digging into his palms as he curled his hands into fists. “Chase them! Hunt them down! Something!”

“We can’t. The Empire will kill us on sight if we get to close.” Rex said.

“Well what do you want us to do?! Leave her with them?!” Wrecker exploded.

“No, but we need a plan first. We’ll get her back, we just need to wait until they’re far enough away to trail safely.” The clone captain raised his hands, trying to deescalate the situation. Even as he did so, he looked sorrowfully towards the stars.

“No. I won’t leave her with them for any longer than I can help. She’s hurt and she’ll be scared and she needs us.” Hunter snapped, his eyes wild with a burning protectiveness. A fire had been ignited in his chest, and no amount of placating words could stomp it down. It would blaze until he held his precious ad'ika was safely back in his arms where he could make sure that she was never taken away from them again.

“Hunter,” Rex started, his eyes going soft, “I understand how you feel. I have someone that I’d chase Imperials across the galaxy for if she got captured. But we can’t just throw ourselves at the Empire. If you want to help Omega, we need to stay under their radar.”

Hunter growled, the sound vibrating in his chest. He hated Rex in that moment. He hated him because he was right. Using stealth was their best bet at rescuing Omega, and that fact irritated him to no end. He didn’t want to be stealthy, he wanted to use the blinding rage that was making his heart thunder in his chest to find the people who had dared to take her away and rip their throats out.

“Hunter!”

Echo’s voice made him look up. The man was walking towards him, a limping Tech holding onto him for support. He looked fearful, his eyes quickly scanning the group, desperately hoping to see the little girl that should be there, ducking behind Hunter’s legs or being held by Wrecker. His face crumpled when he realized that they had failed. Omega was with Crosshair, who was still under the chip’s influence. She was in the Empire’s claws, vulnerable and alone.

‘No, not alone.’ He reminded himself. ‘She has Pillow.’

“Echo, Tech, are you okay? ” Hunter released some of his anger as he spoke to his brothers.

“Tech’s leg is hurt. Crosshair kicked Pillow into him when he attacked them.” Echo explained. “Omega stopped Crosshair from finishing the job.”

“She shouldn’t have.” Tech grit out, his face already stained with tears. “She should have just ran.”

“You know she would have never left you.” Hunter sighed. “She loves you, loves all of us.”

“He was going to shoot me.” Tech whispered. He knew that Crosshair would attack him, but he never thought he’d live to see the day that his ori'vod would point the muzzle of his rifle at him with the intent to kill. “Is he even still in there? Can we still help him?”

“We have to try. He’s our brother, and I’m not abandoning him again.” Hunter’s voice dropped. “Even if I do want to kick his teeth in for taking Omega.”

“What’s the plan?” Echo asked.

Hunter looked at Rex and sighed. “We wait. Once they’re far enough away, we’ll track ‘em down and figure out a way to stage a rescue.”

“Wait?! Are you serious?” Echo hissed.

Hunter bared his teeth. “It isn’t my first choice either, trust me. But it’s the best we can do for now. If we leave too soon, we’ll just get ourselves killed.”

Tech growled softly, his own frustration leaking through. “Hunter is right, unfortunately. As much as I hate to say it, waiting is our only option.”

“Can’t we do something?” Wrecker asked, his mouth drawn down into a frown. “Anything?”

“We still have that debt to Cid. I say we scavenge enough to pay her back and then some. Once we get Omega back, we can disappear once and for all. Give her a life beyond being an outlaw.” Echo proposed.

The group looked at each other.

“I need to get a message to someone, but I’ll be more than happy to help you after that.” Rex said. “The armory on this ship should still have some supplies in it.”

“That could be useful on a number of levels. Wrecker, come with me to the armory. Echo, help Tech to the main controls, we’ll need to get the power back on.” Hunter commanded, needing to get away from this place. He couldn’t keep looking back at the sky, back towards the space where Omega had disappeared. “Let’s get ready.”

A drop of water splattered onto Omega’s head, the warm droplet sliding down her nose. She breathed in the smell of damp earth and growing plant life, smiling as she observed all of the greenery around her. She was sitting in the mouth of the ship’s doorway, watching the forest slowly come to life. Pillow was off snoring somewhere in the ship, sleeping off whatever he’d managed to catch and eat last night.

Crosshair had forbade her from leaving the ship while he went to go hunt breakfast, stating that she and Cal needed more than ration bars. Said padawan was still snoozing on the bed, his hair all tousled and knotted from their days in captivity and their wild escape. She wondered if he’d let her help him brush it out. She’d read on one of her datapads , in some cultures, friends brushed and braided each other’s hair. While she didn’t know how to braid, her own hair required maintenance, and she was sure it was just as bad as Cal’s. She should probably start looking for a brush soon.

Beams of rosy morning light shone down through the canopy, causing all of the little water droplets on the plants to glisten. She looked on in awe. It was like a thousand little diamonds had appeared, scattered across the clearing by some unseen hand. In the trees above, avian creatures began to sing, their melodious songs ringing out pleasantly into the calm morning air. If she hadn’t been so sore, she might have ignored Crosshair’s command and gone to roll in the grass. It looked so soft and cool and inviting, and her inner curiosity practically begged her to go look at those morning dew drops.

Closing her eyes, Omega reached out with the Force. In an instant, a comforting rush of life filled her, and she could feel the Force in everything around her. It twisted through the trees, settled in the rocks, flowed through the water, and thrummed joyously in the bodies of every living creature around her. Behind her, Cal and Pillow were beacons of energy, their lifeforce practically tangible. She let her own Force signature reach out to them, wrapping them in the happiness and liveliness she felt. Pillow did not respond, likely too deep in slumber to feel her, but she could feel Cal reach out to her in the Force. A warm fuzz of sleep-muted contentment and peace wrapped her in a warm hug, the positive feelings settling into her chest.

Having another Force-sensitive was better than she had ever imagined, especially since Cal was right around her age, and she wasn’t sure if she could go back to being alone. Well, not alone, she’d have her family, of course, but this was different. Cal was someone who understood, who experienced the world the way she did. What’s better, he had experience training with the Force. If he stayed, she could probably learn a lot from him. Not to mention it had been nice to have someone to sleep with that wasn’t a large salamander that liked to kick off the blankets.

She wanted to stay with him, to learn about the Force and how it worked. She wanted to be there for him when the trauma of what he’d been through made him go quiet and distant. She wanted him to be there for her when she was struck with another nightmare, as she knew she was bound to have plenty. She wanted to be able to have looked at him so much that she could count the tiny stars that dusted his cheeks. She wanted to know what his laugh sounded like, his real laugh, not the little watery chuckle she’d managed to pull from him. She wanted to see him grow up and be happy.

He blinked at her, his eyes matching the forest before her as he fought the heaviness of his eyelids, and Omega realized that she may have still been sharing her feelings with him. She drew back, embarrassed. Those thoughts were meant to be private, and she winced at the idea of him finding her feelings to be weird. Despite the fact that it felt like she’d known him for years, she only met him a few days ago. Oh gosh, he totally thought she was weird, didn’t he? Good job, Omega, you’ve kriffed up your first chance at friendship.

A warmth gently tugged at her Force signature, coaxing her to open up again. Surprised, she obeyed, tentatively reaching back.

A wave of thoughts came across the connections. He wanted to teach her, to show her everything he’d learned from his Master. He wanted them to learn new things together. He wanted to be able to chase away nightmares before she could even have them. He wanted to hear her laugh. He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to protect her, make sure that no one would ever harm her again. He didn’t want to be alone again, and he didn’t want her to be alone either. He wanted them to grow up happy together.

He sleepily smiled at her, relieved that he could just let her feel how he felt, let her know without even speaking that he wanted to keep their newfound friendship. Omega smiled back, her eyes sparkling in the morning light. Cal yawned, stretching as he got to his feet. He came over and sat with her, quietly keeping her company as they watched the peaceful morning.

Suddenly, there was a rustling from the bushes. Omega and Cal looked towards the sound, each child sending the thought ‘be cautious’ over their connection. Cal, who had not been confined to the ship due to him still being asleep, slowly made his way down the ramp. Omega instinctively reached for her bow, cursing internally when she realized that she no longer had it. She looked at the bushes with a worried expression, before deciding that, even if she didn’t have her bow, she was going to help. Mentally apologizing to Crosshair, she reached out to Pillow with the Force as she descended down the ramp slowly, her injuries flaring up as she moved. Her eyes fell on a large stick, and she gripped it, holding it in front of her.

She turned around to see if Pillow was at the doorway yet, but when she looked back, Cal was nowhere to be see, his Force signature gone with him.

“Cal?” She called nervously, noting how silent the clearing had become. She remembered Echo telling her stories about his brother, Fives, and how the clone would sometimes pull a prank on him. Was that what Cal was doing?

“If this is a prank, Cal, it’s not very funny!” She called, her eyes darting around. The stillness of everything made her nervous.

A hand clasped around her mouth, a firm arm pulling her backwards. She let out a muffled yelp as she was dragged back into the bushes. She kicked and struggled, the Force under her control whipping about wildly as she tried to figure out what had grabbed her.

‘Sleep, youngling.’

A calm, soothing voice entered her mind, smoothing down her panic with ease. She felt her eyelids start to droop, urged on by the gentle suggestion. She kicked weakly a few more times, before succumbing to sleep.

Crosshair shifted the animal he was carrying on his shoulder. He’d manage to track down a fat little cervid that had been munching on some plump blue berried. One accurate shot later, and he had secured breakfast for himself and his little group. He was no cook, but he knew how to make basic meals that would sustain them for a bit while he figured out their next move. Soup could be a breakfast food, right? Did kids like soup? He and his brothers had liked it quite a bit when they were younger, especially if they’d been out in the rain, so he figured it would be okay.

“Adike, lor'vram!” He called, before realizing that, unlike his brothers, Omega and Cal wouldn’t understand what he was saying. He should really teach them some Mando’a, especially if Cal was going to be staying with them.

As he approached the ship, he paused, scanning the ground outside the ship. There was grass that had been stepped on, recently too. His eyes flicked up towards the inside of the vessel, and he cursed when he didn’t see the two children or Omega’s pet.

“Omega, I told you not to leave the ship!” He scolded, hoping that she was close enough to hear him. He waited.

No reply.

“Omega?” He tried again. “Cal?”

Nothing.

He observed the tracks in the grass, following them until they stopped abruptly. Building worry gripped his gut in its icy claws, and he hurried onto the ship. Perhaps they’d simply gone down onto the grass and then came back up?

“Pillow?” He cringed a bit at the mushy name Omega had given the annoying beast.

He moved back towards the storage part of the ship, where he knew Pillow had been sleeping. He entered the room, expecting to see a sleeping lump of a lizard and, hopefully, two kids.

He saw neither. Instead, there was a large, crystalline cocoon in the centre of the room. It was deep purple in colour, flashes of white occasionally shining through. A light pulsed rhythmically, like a flashing heartbeat. Crosshair stared at it, dumbfounded.

What the hell had Omega befriended?

Whatever was happening here, it could be dealt with later. He needed to find the kids. Shucking off the animal he’d been carrying, he tossed it into cold storage before rushing back outside. He examined the prints again, then looked towards the forest. If there were no tracks beyond this point, then…

He looked up.

A tangle of thick branches permeated the canopy, far above the ground, but reachable if you knew what to do and had the strength to do so. As a sniper, high places were Crosshair’s element. He felt no fear while being perched on a ledge, trusting in his impeccable balance. If something, or someone, had taken the kids, that was likely where they had fled to.

Growling, Crosshair secured his rifle and found a place to start climbing. He hadn’t just risked their lives to get the kids to safety, only to lose them to some forest predator. While he lacked Hunter’s otherworldly tracking skills, he still had some training. Moving over to a branch close to where the footprints had ended, he saw that part of the bark had been scrapped away, too recently to have been natural. He scanned the canopy, finding little signs of movement everywhere. A trail had been left behind, one that only someone like him or Hunter could follow.

“Don’t worry, adike, I’ll get you back.” He said, before leaping onto the next branch.

#hunter bad batch #omega bad batch #tech bad batch #wrecker bad batch #echo bad batch #captain rex #rex clone wars #crosshair bad batch #cal ketsis #star wars the bad batch #the bad batch #summerofwhump #summerofwhump[14]#summerofwhump[21]#whump prompt #writing challenge

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detroitbydark · 4 years

Text

Chapter 4

Characters: Hound/Nuna (OC) , Ryk (Clone OC), Tully (OC)

Warnings: Not a one!

A/N: went back and forth on wether this chapter would be sweet or spicy. In the end I’m happy with the direction I chose because these two are absolutely cinnamon rolls and I love them.

———

“So…uh, that guy? He seemed like kind of a sleen, right?” Oh Fett. He was saying the wrong thing wasn’t he? He was going to blow this whole thing to the Outer Rim and-

Nuna laughs. Not just a soft feminine laugh but one that builds and bubbles up from deep inside her. It’s a laugh that leaves her cheeks adorably pink and her chest heaving to pull in breaths.

“A sleen? Maker! That is literally the best thing I’ve ever heard. Yes, absolutely!” She yells over the music as one song shifts seamlessly to the next. The bass pumps in his chest like a second heartbeat. Hound glances over his shoulder to see Ryk and Rule in conversation with Nuna’s friend, also apparently his new friend, Tully. The Pantoran gives him a wink when she catches his eye and he turns back to Nuna quickly.

“Do you wanna drink?” She beats him to the punch. “I feel like after that rescue mission I probably owe you. Also, this song?” She looks up as if the music were an actual entity hovering above them. “I love it.”

Kriff. He was supposed to be the one getting her a drink. Right? He never realized how utterly useless at this he was. No wonder Mouse never gave him the time of day.

That wasn't exactly fair though, was it? Looking back now, Hound can see that his failure had nothing to do with him being himself and everything to do with him not being Commander Fox.

Mouse had eyes for the Commander before she probably even realized it. When it came down to it, the Commander was happy and that made it easier on them all. Al’verde deserved something nice, good, and all his own.

They all did.

“I guess that would be nice, but I don’t want you feeling like you have to because you don’t.”

Nuna rolls her eyes dramatically. “My treat. You can get the next one. Sound like a plan?”

The next one. He liked that idea. He gives her an affirmative nod and her bright smile lights up the darkened club. His chest squeezes uncomfortably and he takes just a moment to wonder what the kriff was going on but then he’s watching her side step through the crowd and he wonders if he shouldn’t have gone with her.

Tully joins him as the pair watch her finally get to the bar.

”Took ages to get her to realize she didn’t look like the wrong end of a Hutt,” Tully offers.

“Huh?” He glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

“After things went sideways with Alistar and let me tell you they went sideways.” She emphasizes the syllables on the last words as she clarifies.

Hound doesn’t press even though he wants to know. Instead he chooses the next question on his mind.

“Which end is the wrong one?”

“Take your pick.”

He can’t help the grin that crosses his face as he looks over at the Pantoran. She’s grinning back.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because she won’t and she deserves better than the likes of him and his kind of scum. You seem like a good guy.”

Hound rubs at the back of his neck. He wasn’t used to compliments outside of the backhanded one he and his vode threw about jokingly. ‘Good guy’ seems like a big deal coming from Tully.

“I try?”

Tully laughs. “No you don’t. It shows when someone is trying. You’re a natural.” Maybe she can sense he’s about to argue because she gives him a serious look. “Deal with it trooper.”

Something about the way she says it tickles him. A bark of laughter rises up in his chest and spills out. “Ok, yeah, roger that Commander.”

“Who’s the Commander now?” Ryk is pressing between the pair, an arm coming to rest on each of their shoulders. Rule is talking up a pretty green twi’lek and in a world of his own a few steps behind them.

“I’m the Commander, pretty boy,” she hums, tapping the younger Sargeant’s nose with a finger.

Ryk turns to Hound with wide, slightly drunk eyes as Nuna slides back up to the group. She hands Hound his drink.

“Did you hear that, Hound dog? I’m pretty.” His head snaps back to Tully.

“You think I’m pretty?”

The smile that fills the Pantorans face is almost feral. “I can think of a few ways you’d be prettier.” The way her eyes trace over his face is unmistakable and Hound hides a cough in his drink. It’s like watching some fragged up mating dance.

“Can you get your hands on some cuffs?” Tully asks sweetly.

Ryk’s jaw nearly hits the liquor sticky floor. “Stasis cuffs? So fast it would make your head spin, beautiful.”

Hound watches the pair, head snapping back and forth. Nuna leans against his side and rises to her toes. She rocks idly to the sound of the music as if it was second nature for her body to find a beat and follow it.

“Do you think he realizes that she would eat him alive?”

“I think he’s kind of into that.”

Ryk was into that. No question about it. It just wasn’t Hounds place to say.

They all had their own proclivities (except for maybe Thire). Ryk just chose to wave his freak flag a little bit harder than the rest.

Nuna chokes off a laugh and takes a drink. Tully, long legged and stunning, was absolutely a hunter on the prowl and tonight 79’s was her natural habitat.

Hound hasn’t seen Ryk so keyed up in ages.

“Good for him,” Nuna says after a long drink, “If she has her way, neither of them will walk straight for a week.” There’s a wistful tone to her voice that throws his mind into immediate overdrive.

He nearly swallows his tongue as he looks down at her. He was used to pretty frank locker room talk. Even shinies who’d only just seen their first woman getting off the transport in the Triple Zero had “stories” to tell.

There was nothing new or fascinating about talking sex. Except… he hadn’t realized that girls - women - could and would talk about it just as openly. The fact that the one he was feeling all google-eyed for was the one doing it made a heat rise up in his cheeks - and then sink low in his belly.

Nuna offers him a sweet smile, completely oblivious to what she was doing to him.

“So do you like to dance?”

Wait a minute she was just talking about- how could she just move past that-

“Uhh, not really. I mean- I really never have. I’m more of a wall holder-upper,” he offers as the DJ of the night begins to morph one song to the next.

“Oh…” she glances at the dance floor, “because I really love this song.”

“I feel like you’ve loved every song you’ve heard,” he teases. Her smile is bashful as she shrugs.

“Occupational hazard?”

“If you want to dance don’t let me stop you. I can hold your drink.” He offers as Nuna bites at her lower lip glancing between him and the pair of Tully and Ryk.

“Ok then... but you can join me if you get bored.”

“Noted,” he says with a laugh as she grabs onto her friend's arm. Ryk pouts as the pretty pink Pantoran blows him a kiss and stumbles to catch up with Nuna’s insistent pull.

”Do you think she’d step on me if I asked really nice?”

Hound’s head whips to the side and the toothy grin of Ryk standing next to him.

“What?!”

“Tully vod, keep up. I would lick that woman’s boots if she told me to.”

“You are a freak. Certifiable,” Hound laughs shaking his head.

The troopers watch silently. Hound sips at his drink and holds Nuna’s safely in the opposite hand. The girls dance close, smiling and laughing as the beat drops. Tully’s hand wraps around the back of Nuna’s waist and holds her close.

It reminds Hound of the affection batted around by his brothers. A playful, physical grounding touch that told a vod that they were cared for. Usually for him it was a sparring match or a quick bit of boxing but for the two women they watched dancing seemed to do the trick.

“While I do find watching can be rewarding in its own right” Ryk says nodding lazily toward Nuna and Tully. “I think participating would be much more rewarding”

Hound grunts as he watches. Nuna’s hips swirl and roll with the beat of the music. It’s kriffing mesmerizing and he can think of nothing better than having his hands on them as they move in tight little circles and figure eights.

“I don’t dance… at least not like that.”

Ryk laughs, “Vod! It’s flash training! If you can’t pick up a simple dance you are a failure as an ARF trooper.”

Just the accusation makes Hound bristle. He’d done far more difficult things during advanced recon training. It was just dancing. It wasn’t that intimidating.

Except he was feeling very intimidated.

Ryk runs a hand over his face before slinging an arm around Hound’s shoulders.

“Listen, you can choose to stay here, but if you do I can guarantee at least one of those shinies over there is going to do it for you.”

Hound's eyes follow Ryk’s line of sight to the group of shines off to their opposite side. Their heads are close together but their eyes are on Tully and Nuna. Watching their mouths, Hound can make out every third or fourth word and he’s not impressed.

Ryk doesn’t let his brother's indecision stop him. Hound watches with frustration as the other trooper makes his way to the two girls and slots in behind Tully. She gives him an appraising look before she relaxes back into his grip. Nuna steps back. While she’s still with the pair she’s definitely on her own. It doesn’t seem to bother her though. She really did seem to enjoy being out there.

Hound glances back to the shinies. One of them is bouncing on his toes while the ones on each side slap at his armor hyping him up.

Uh no. Not happening punk.

It was the sense of pride alone that finally gives him enough courage to move away from their table. He downs both the remainder of his drink and hers as he goes, setting the empties on a passing tray.

Nuna catches him in the flashing lights just as he reaches her. She doesn’t quit moving and he finds it even more distracting up close.

“The wall ok to hold itself up?”

“Yeah, I guess…” he lets out a rough breath.

Flash training, he reminds himself. This was no different than the rapid learning expected of them on Kamino. There wasn’t even any live fire to deal with. He could do this. A warm tingling ignites in his belly as the pair of drinks slosh around.

“I have no clue what I’m doing,” he admits. Nuna offers a soft smile.

“I can help.”

She’s in his space in the blink of an eye, already pressing In close enough where he can feel her body heat through his armor. Her arms move around his neck and he relaxes down just a little to make it more comfortable for them both.

Tully and Ryk are in their own little world just feet away. Hound can see the way his vods fingers flex on her hips. Tully has her head resting back on Ryk’s shoulder and her mouth turned in toward his neck. She’s whispering things that have both of them heavy lidded. Their bodies move together in a precursor of what was probably to come later.

“Hot, right?” Nuna asks looking up with bright mischievous eyes.

Hound is too dumbfounded to speak. She laughs at his silent nod, reaching up and ruffling his hair. She’s less shy now then she’d been earlier, more relaxed and less guarded.

“We’ll get you there.”

Hound stumbles through the next few minutes as she instructs him on the quick-quick-slow steps the music called for. His hands rest high in her waist. It’s frustrating and he knows his nerves are making it worse. Ryk’s chuckle from behind doesn’t do a thing to help.

“Easy on her toes trooper!”

Hound turns his head to bark something at his brother but Nuna’s hand grips his jaw and turns it back to her.

“Be a good boy and pay attention-“ she winces as he steps on her foot, “to me.”

If he wasn’t so embarrassed, he may have noticed how funny it was to have such an unintimidating creature ordering him around but his cheeks are hot and he’s mentally berating himself.

“Hound?” She dips a little lower to catch his eyes that are busy following their feet. “Look at me, not my feet.” She beams when he does as she’s asked and he finds he gets a little lost in the pale blue of her eyes and the way her dark lashes fan across her cheeks each time she blinks.

“That’s much better,” she praises. Her hands slip down over his and press them lower. His pinkies span over the top of the round ass he’s been admiring the better part of the night, while the others rest around her hips.

“You’ll be able to feel me better like this.”

Yeah, he could certainly feel a lot of her this way. No doubt about that. The music slows and transitions to the next song and Nuna makes a sound of approval. The beat is more sedate and the lyrics, though in a language he’s not familiar with, have a sensuality to them that is unmistakable. Nuna’s boot taps at his own.

“Wider stance,” she orders, nodding to herself when he complies. Hound watches as she steps closer, nearly straddling one of his slightly bent legs. His focus is honed in like a laser as she twists her hips slowly. He can feel the bunch and release of muscles in his hands and tries to mimic and mirror what she’s doing, adding the steps tentatively.

Her voice comes out as a purr. “That’s so much better already.”

Her hand slips behind his head and pulls him close til his forehead is pressed to hers. “Now stop thinking and just go with it.”

It’s a novel way to learn something, but it works. Like any other flash training he’s completed something suddenly clicks. The steps become second nature the movements of his own pelvis against hers become smoother.

“You're a good teacher. Has anyone told you that?”

Nuna looks away, hiding a blossom of pink high on her cheeks. It’s Hound’s turn to take control. Fingers trail up her back and tangle in her hair, turning her face back to him.

“You need to learn to take a compliment, Mesh’la.”

Her eyes go wide. Glitter strategically placed on her face catches the flashing lights and sparkles.

“I’m not- I’m not beautiful,” she stutters out, her body falling off rhythm for a second before he takes the lead and guides her back to it.

Couples press in around them, the temperature rising steadily. Hound barely notes it in shock of his own. It doesn’t even register that she’s translated the sweet endearment- a tactic troopers had learned would win women over in a heartbeat. He’s more awestruck that she didn’t see how amazing she was. Not just pretty - though he felt the term fit perfectly.

“Of course you are and fun and nice and-“ her finger presses to his lips stopping anymore words from slipping from his mouth.

“You’re embarrassing me,” she whines playfully, trying to lean back. Hound reels her back in.

“These are things you should hear all the time.” Alcohol and a little bit of confidence from picking up a new skill leaves him feeling a little bolder then he’s been.

“Well that’s definitely one opinion.”

Hound leans in close, nosing next to her ear as her body rolls against his. Her shampoo smells like candy, like something he’d crave time and again after having it. “I think it’s a pretty important one.”

Nuna sighs dreamily, wrapping one leg behind his. His hand drops down to her thigh, feeling where the fabric of her skirt rode up. “So it would seem. Hound-“

He gives her thigh a gentle squeeze. The feel of her so close is more intoxicating than the boozy drinks she’d brought them.

Her voice isn’t any higher than a gentle whisper but this close he can hear desire lacing it. He wasn’t the most experienced of all his vode but he’d certainly had a few… educational ones and what he lacked in experience he had the likes of Ryk and Rule to make up for in reconnaissance.

It’s hard to imagine things not going further with the way she presses against him. The mental images become that much more clear when he releases her leg and she turns in his grip, leaning back against his chest the way he’d seen Tully and Ryk earlier. The way her round ass presses against him makes him both despise and thank the codpiece of his armor. It’s gotten uncomfortably tight, but it was still doing wonders to hide that fact.

One of Nuna’s hands slides up and around the back of his neck and he lets his own trail from her wrist on down her arm before finding its home on her hip. Tiny goosebumps breakout along the trail his fingers leave. When her body rolls next, his stays locked with hers. She tips her head back and glances up at him.

He’s going to lean in and kiss her. With her head upside down. In the middle of a crowded dance floor. Where everyone can see.

The Maker must take pity on him because that’s no way to kiss a girl for the first time and certainly not how he wanted the first of (hopefully) many to go. The song cuts out just as his nose brushes against hers and a soft puff of her breath tickles over his chin. She smells sweet and the honeyed candy scent sticks with him as she pulls away. He wants to know what her mouth tastes like, what her skin tastes like, what her-

“Not bad for your first time,” she hums with big blown pupils as she turns and presses her hands into his chest.

“I’ll take your word on it.”

“Nunz?” Tully slides behind Nuna, bending to rest her chin on the shorter woman’s shoulder. “Imma drag this one down to the arcade a level down.” She glances back at Ryk who is smiling like the Tooka who ate the Tik-Tak.

“He says he’s got excellent aim and there’s a stuffed wampa I want. You two wanna come?”

It feels like Tully is asking a different question but Hound isn’t sure how to decipher it. Ryk looks smug, like he already knows the correct answer.

Nuna’s pale blue eyes flash to him for a split second. “I think I’m getting tired. I’ll probably head home in the not so distant future.”

Hound’s heart sinks. Time was not something he had a lot of extra sitting around. He wanted to spend it with her. He’s feeling the creeping of disappointment when he catches Tully’s smile lengthening from ear to ear.

“Hound? You wouldn’t mind seeing her home, right? I’d feel so much better knowing she wasn’t by herself after that run in earlier.”

——-

Nuna hadn’t foreseen this, sitting in the backseat of a speeder taxi pressed against the far door with Hound next to her and a pair of strangers sucking face next to him.

He lets out an irritated puff, the sound coming out augmented through his bucket, as the Rodian and Twi’lek to his right continue to go at it.

“They’re really… enjoying themselves, huh?”

The sound he makes has more humor in it. “Yeah, I wasn’t familiar with Rodian mating habits, but it didn’t mean I needed a crash course.” Hound jerks forward, his bucket coming within centimeters of her own head as she snickers. If looks could kill, she’s sure the one he shoots over his shoulder at the unaware couple would have them both in an early grave.

“Just ignore them.” She offers.

“Yeah? How do I do that?.”

Nuna bites at her lip trying to hold back a smile. “Pay more attention to me.”

The way his helmet quirks, to the side and just a little back, is comical.

It’s another one of those things she’s finding she really does like about Hound. He made her smile. Not even just smile. He made her laugh like she hadn’t in ages and not the sexy girly giggle. No, these were full on belly laughs that made the abs, hidden deep down under a layer of fluff, ache.

The game Tully had been playing hadn’t been subtle and Nuna loved her for it. She hadn’t wanted the night to end after a drink and some dancing. She wanted more. It was exhilarating and nerve wracking in the best possible way. It left her tummy full of butterflies. It had been a let down when the other couple had piled into the taxi behind them. It only got worse when the noises had started.

Nuna wonders, not for the first time, if Hound was blushing as hard under his helmet as she was sitting next to him.

“More attention?” There’s a distinct humor in his voice. The sound of it is warm and inviting. “Maybe something like this?”

Nuna feels the soft nudge of his gloved hand against her own fist balled at her side. She wills her nervous fingers to relax. The second they do Hound is slipping and twining his in between them.

Did all clones radiate so much heat? Nuna can feel the burn of his skin through the thick tactical gloves he wore. Was he warm like that all over? The thought makes her cheeks burn.

“I think that’s a good start,” she murmurs, glancing down at their interlocked hands and avoiding his eyes.

“Looking at me would make it better,” he says quietly, nudging her chin up with his free hand.

It takes a deep breath and another minute of thought before Nuna has it in her to look. His helmet is cocked just slightly to the side and she can imagine him smiling underneath it, all toothy and smug.

“I’m looking now.”

“Looking beautiful.”

A laugh sputters past her lips despite his earnest tone. How was she even supposed to respond to that? He was legitimately being serious and she’s almost afraid to look in the mirror because the person he was seeing really couldn’t be the same one she saw staring back at her everyday. So, instead of thinking harder on it or, you know, accepting the compliment, she does what she’s always done best - deflect.

“Do you wanna maybe come up for some caf?”

“That sounds really good.”

And it was really as easy as that.

The amorous pair next them finds the ability to separate for long enough to give the cabbie notice of their building. It’s a relief to be free of them. Hound moves allowing them more room but his hand doesn’t leave hers. He uses it to bring her along with him, moving her away from the door but allowing no real distance between them. Nuna approves, leaning her head against his armored shoulder as the taxi dips back into the sky lanes.

“That can’t be comfortable”

“It’s not so bad,” she manages, trying to stifle a yawn, “I’ve had worse.”

“I’m aiming for best here Mesh’la.” Not only can she hear his warm voice but she can hear it rumble through his body. Paired with the soft circles his thumb is making in the back of her hand Nuna feels the first traitorous pulls of sleep begin to take hold.

“M’not beautiful,” she hums without any real fight to it.

“Y’are too.” He mimics her speech pattern and Nuna laughs quietly.

“I’m not gonna be able to fight you on this, am I?”

He surprises her when he turns his head and rests his helmet for just a second against the mess of hair he can reach. “You can try. I’m always up for a challenge.”

She should come up with something sassy or witty to say but she’s literally lost for words. Her mind is a perfect blank. So instead she snuggles into plastoid and enjoys the attention.

It’s only another few minutes before the taxi speeder is pulling up to her landing platform and the pair are stepping out. Nuna slips her hand from Hounds long enough to hand a few credits to the driver.

When she turns back to him, Hound is giving her a bewildered look or what she assumes to be bewildered behind the dark visor of his bucket.

“This isn’t the building you had me drop you off at the day we met.”

“Oh… oh! Yeah. That?” Nuna offers him a shy smile. “We don’t let strange men know where we live.”

“We?” If anything, the bewilderment only seems to intensify.

“Women silly,” she pauses as he reaches up to pop the seal on his helmet. She most assuredly does not ogle him as he pulls it off and tucks it under his arm. Her heart definitely doesn’t start beating double time when he runs a hair through the messy strip of hair atop his head and shoots her a sweet smile, waiting for her to continue.

Stars, she was in trouble with this one.

“I guess you really don’t know? You gotta play it safe. Stranger danger and all that? Anything ringing any bells?”

Hound shrugs, good-natured smile firmly in place. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to worry about the dangerous sort. Unless…” his voice turns teasing as he reaches for her hands. “Ms. Skii, do you have anything unsavory planned for me?”

Nuna doesn’t resist when he laces their fingers and draws her in.

“Do I look dangerous to you?”

“You have no idea how dangerous you really are,” he says softly, tipping his head toward her.

Nuna tips her chin up, rises to meet him. Her eyes flutter shut at the warm breath so close that it tickles her lips. Alas, what she assumes to be the best first kiss of her life is thwarted by the blare of a speeders horn.

Because they were still on the platform.

Jumping back she shoots the driver a look that she hoped spoke volumes. She thinks maybe it’s the arms crossed over her chest that has the driver suddenly gesturing in apology but a glance over her shoulder shows an extremely unhappy clone trooper. Her look hadn’t killed, but a few more seconds and maiming was possible from Hound’s

Nuna nearly laughs before latching onto his arm and pulling him into the building and toward the turbo lift. It’s cute because he comes along without any real trying on her part and by the time the lift is in motion, the mean mug has melted back into a grin.

The nerves don’t hit until the lift has stopped. She hasn’t brought a man to this apartment. Ever.

After Alistar she’d made a promise to herself of a fresh start and Tully had said there were openings in her building and the price was right and then natural lighting was to die for and-

It’s been two years since she’s brought a man home and the thought is suddenly terrifying as she leads the way down the hall. Hound is pressed in close. One short step and he’d crash into her back. She wasn’t ready for this. As much as she thought she was, as much as she thought she could bring him home and fool around and do all the fun, reckless things that any single woman her age would be up for doing with such a fine specimen of a man has her bordering on panic with each step she takes.

By the time she’s reaching for the keypad her hand is trembling enough that Hound notices.

“Is something wrong?” Everything about his presence is warm, from the heat he radiates to the rich deep timbre of his voice. It should be perfect, but Nuna just can’t shake her nerves.

“No- I mean. I’ve never brought someone home before for… you know…” She flinches as she turns around and presses her back to the door.

Hound’s brows furrow together before he softens, “For caf? I mean, it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to go through the trouble. I’m fine with tea.”

Nuna lets out a shaky laugh, “You nerfherder! You know what I meant-“

“I did- I do and I want you to know I didn’t come here expecting anything from you. I just wanted to spend some more time with you and, if it makes you more comfortable, I’ll say goodnight right now.”

“You're serious?” Nuna asks after a moment's pause, “I mean you’re not going to hit hyperspace trying to get away from me if I don’t want to sleep with you?”

The look of offense that darkens his features is instant. “Listen, I don’t know what kind of guy you think I am, but” he takes a deep breath and runs a hand over his face. His voice gentles, “I like you. I get it. There’s been some scum in your past and I don’t know what you had to go through but know this. I’m not him.”

“Hound, I’m sorry.” He holds his hand up.

“All I ask is that, whether it’s today or tomorrow are a standard month from now, you give me a chance.”

“My turn to be honest,” she says quietly “I’m out of caf but if you still want to I’ve got a comfy couch and a few bottles of ne’tra gal chilled. We can watch something on the Holonet?”

“Ne’tra gal. Like real Mandalorian Ne’tra gal?”

Nuna shrugs as she half turns to finish punching in the access code. The door slides open and the pair enter.

“Yeah, I get it from Ordo’s. Near little Corellia?”

———

Hound feels like he’s gotta be the luckiest trooper that’s this side of wild space. He’s got a bottle of sweet Mandalorian ale in one hand and the other gently stroking the hair of the prettiest girl he's ever met. Nuna looks up at him and gives him a small smile as the next round of commercials start up.

“What?” He takes another quick pull of his Ne’tra gal.

“Just remembering that I’d been about to kiss you earlier.”

“Yeah. Shame that speeder pulled up and ruined it.” He sets the near empty bottle on the end table. Nuna’s eyes flash mischievously. He’d been really worried when they’d gotten to her door earlier that she was going to send him packing immediately. It’s not like he wouldn’t have left the second she said goodnight but he’d hoped, and the Maker had seen fit to give him a small blessing.

They’d been watching and laughing over Holocomedies for over an hour when she’d tucked in close, wiggling slowly up under his arm. She felt right against him, even through the armor he’d refused to shed. If she was nervous just to have him there, he wasn’t about to do anything to encourage further anxiety. The armor stayed on even though the thought of feeling her pressed against his actual flesh and blood body made him a little dizzy.

“Hound?” She cranes her neck up to look at him.

He hums quietly, fingers ghosting over and through her hair. He’s struck again by how soft everything about her was. He wasn’t used to soft. Not on Kamino and not here on Coruscant. Even Grizzer, though he wasn’t complaining, came with a rough and tough hide.

“Yeah?” She squirms out from under his arm and turns on her knees facing him.

“If I asked you to kiss me, would you?”

“Is this you asking, Mesh’la?”

By Fett and the Maker he hoped this was her asking. Nuna’s chin bobs up and down and she bites back a grin.

He can’t deny one of his own as he leans in slowly.

Her lips are soft as his fall against hers, a test run as his hand cradles the back of her head. She’s soft like flowers though he’s never had much experience with flowers. He should bring her flowers. Something just as special as she is, maybe those little ones he’s seen that smell like summer rain and sunshine.

Nuna sighs softly and Hound opens his eyes to see hers still shut and a pink flush creeping into her round cheeks.

He pecks her again. And again.

Soft feather light brushes that draw more soft sighs from her each time he pulls away. Innocent, teasing brushes of his mouth against hers that have a tension drawing tight in his belly.

When he does finally pull away it takes a moment to realize the trembling he’s feeling is coming from his own hands.

Nuna’s pale eyes flutter open and he’s trapped. A shy smile is tucked away at the corner of her mouth.

“Again please?”

Yeah, he really was the luckiest son of a rancor this side of wild space.

#sergeant hound #sergeant hound/oc #hound/oc #tcw #the clone wars

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prongsisabadger · 3 years

Text

TWP Chapter 33

To say Wolffe was frustrated would have been the biggest understatement in the galaxy. There he was, muscles burning with fatigue, sweat clinging to his blacks and panting like a Hutt that just took the stairs to the third floor. He hadn’t felt like this since he was a cadet, damn, even the first battle of Geonosis seemed like a breeze right now. Still, he forced himself to maintain his stance, he would be damned if they caught him slipping now. It was so infuriating, Kriari was breathing a little deeper than she usually did, she was trying to control her breathing, but that was the only indication that they had been fighting the last thirty minutes.

He knew she was a Jedi, he knew they trained since they were children, so did the clones and they were engineered to keep up with Jedi, but the gap between their abilities was still quite large. He resisted the urge to scratch his fresh scar out of annoyance. They had been at it for a week now and he was making progress -slow, but progress nonetheless.

Kriari slipped into her offensive stance once again. Wolffe resisted the urge to sigh. He admired her and her abilities -whether influenced by the Force or not- but he was not going to lie and say getting his ass handed to him on a platter by a teenager didn’t hurt his pride a little. Kriari moved, and this time, Wolffe could actually follow the movement, his new eye a little sharper than his original one. He blocked one strike, then the counter strike, he parried and went on the offensive. Kriari blocked his roundhouse kick with ease, using his own strength and momentum to redirect the blow and get inside his guard.

The first time she’d done that, Wolffe had ended in the med bay with a heavily bruised rib, he knew better now. He backed away from her and created more space for him to move. Kriari wasn’t incredibly big or strong, but she was quick and she knew what she was doing. Putting some distance between them was the smartest thing to do. Once he was out of her range, he went on the offensive again, looking for an opening in her defence. And then he saw it, Kriari had left her left side open, and Wolffe respected her too much to go easy on her.

As Wolffe’s fist collided with Kriari’s left side, all the air in her lungs was forced out. He heard the little “umph” that escaped her lips as she stumbled away from him. She looked at him in disbelief as she held her side. He smirked but he really should have kept a straight face. Well hindsight is 20/20. Something lit up in Kriari’s eyes, something only her fellow Padawans had ever seen, something her masters found both concerning and incredibly amusing in equal measure: Competitiveness.

“Ah, shit, Commander- wait!” he said, backing up slowly as a predatory smile crept onto her face. Panic started to grow inside him steadily as the woman in front of him slipped out of her stance and started circling him like a predator, surrounding him, watching him, stalking him.

“You landed one on me, Wolffe. Let’s see if you can do that again.”

But he never got to find out, because General Koon announced their time was over. They all had responsibilities to attend to. It was quite remarkable how the fight left Kriari the second she stepped off the ring, Wolffe definitely still had his guard up. Sometimes he forgot that, for all her emotional volatility, Kriari was still a Jedi. Granted, not a fully trained Jedi but a Jedi nonetheless, so of course she knew when to quit.

Sometimes it felt like he knew very little about her, about her upbringing, about her culture and her relationships outside the 104th. But it didn’t really matter, he knew who she was at her core: brave, bold, selfless, loyal. He didn’t need more than that, even if the urge to know -to know her- was growing with each passing day. He wanted to be able to sit at the canteen and drink caf with her and talk, or more specifically, hear her talk.

He was a man of few words and 80% of those were usually sarcasm, so he wasn’t one to make good conversation, but he could listen, he was very good at that. Wolffe had always been the observant type, and it was most likely the reason he had become Commander in the first place.

“Hey, Wolffe?” said Kriari beside him. “I won’t be able to train with you for a while. I’ve been assigned a mission and I don’t know when I’ll be back. You’ll train with Master Plo while I’m gone.”

Her smile was a little strained, like she didn’t really want to go, but orders were orders. The thought of her leaving with the 212th again made him more bitter than he cared to admit to himself, and once again his feelings were making his job far more difficult than it should have been.

“I guess you could give Cody my regards then..” he said as he put away his water bottle and towel before swinging the strap of his backpack over his right shoulder.

“Oh, no, I’m not being deployed with the 212th. I was assigned an undercover mission. It’s just me and two other troopers. We’re going to Ord Anlata.”

Wolffe looked at Kriari for a moment, not really understanding why she was sharing this information with him. Did she feel guilty for leaving him again and felt like she had to explain herself? Did she simply not realize she shouldn’t be telling him this? No, it was none of those. And then it dawned on him, Kriari was nervous. But why?

He didn’t have time to figure it out, because Kriari crossed the space between them and slowly, gently, reached her hand up. Wolffe was frozen in place as Kriari’s hand caressed his jaw, his cheek, the bottom of his scar. He wondered how the yellow of her skin would contrast with his dark complection and if she could feel the stubble starting to grow. She was looking at his face so intently, like she wanted to memorize it. She was touching it so softly, so reverently it made him feel fragile. It made him feel seen.

The moment ended before he could understand what was going on. Kriari took a step back and clasped her hand behind her back. She sighed at the floor before looking up at him once again.

“Goodbye, Commander. I hope we see eachother again. May the Force be with you.”

…

Sinker was almost done packing when Wolffe entered the barracks. He didn’t really pay him much attention, he still needed to double check his weapons were in top shape for his next mission. He had packed his new civvy clothes and fake IDs, he had hidden as many weapons among his luggage as he could without making him an easy target for scanners. He checked for ammo, then for his maintenance kit and the first aid pack Twitch had given him. He took a deep breath in. This one would be tricky.

“Can I have a word?” Asked Wolffe beside him.

“Of course, Marshal Commander.” answered Sinker teasingly. Wolffe had been a little reluctant when he had been promoted, but the Pack was glad for him, he deserved it.

“None of that, this is more of an unofficial matter,” he said before sitting on the cot across from Sinker. “I have a bad feeling about this mission, the Commander made it seem like she- like you wouldn’t be coming back.”

Now this was way out of Sinker’s area of expertise. He knew Wolffe and their Jedi Commander had a special bond, hell there was an ongoing bet on the status of their relationship. But to have Wolffe approach him about Kriari was not something he had expected.

“Well, we are going undercover and we might not be back in a while…”

Wolffe sighed.

“It’s not that, when she said goodbye- it seemed almost too final '' If it hadn’t been for the fact that his brother was voicing his concern, Sinker would have thought Wolffe was completely indifferent to the situation. If one looked at his face, the only thing they’d see was confusion and a little frustration, but not concern.

“Maybe you should speak to her about it, vod.” Sinker let go of any pretence of formality. This wasn’t his CO talking to him, it was his brother. “The only thing I can tell you is that I will do anything to keep her safe, and so will Art. But I can’t speak for how the Commander feels, I care for her because she is loyal and kind, but that doesn’t mean we are close.”

Wolffe looked away, as if ashamed of something, as if speaking to Kriari was the last thing he wanted to do. And it was probably true, Sinker thought, they were walking a very fine line and one step in the wrong direction could prove to be catastrophic to them both.

“Come on, Wolffe.” he said finally with a smirk and a rough pat on his brother’s shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of a teenager, Commander.”

“Sinker-”

“It’s Just talking, vod. Clear things up before she leaves, because if something happens to either of you, you will both regret it the rest of your lives.”

…

I stared at my folded robes, the urge to take them with me was great, but I would not be a Jedi for the duration of the mission, and as such, I would not be able to have anything that could identify me as one. Still, I would not be erasing my identity so easily, even if my clothes, my armour and my braid would not be coming with me on this journey.

I wore robes that resembled traditional Tusken wear -with a few alterations to make them easier to fight in-, my face would be covered most of the time, and the only weapon I’d be able to use was the old rifle I’d brought with me when I first left Tatooine all those years ago. It was a jarring experience, to let go of one’s identity completely and become no one. The ego was yet another attachment Jedi were encouraged to let go of, but only few managed to do it.

And there I was, staring holes into a few layers of clothing that had become a part of me, a part of my identity. I would no longer be Commander to the 104th and the 212th. I would no longer be an apprentice to masters Plo Koon and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I would no longer be Kriari Foreas.

Someone knocked at my door. It was past lights out, and I would be heading out at first light. Few people knew where I was going, but they all knew I’d be leaving for a while. Whoever was out there wanted a word before I left. I should have been surprised, I really should have. But when the door opened to reveal a very anxious Wolffe, all I could think about was the fact that he was there.

“Commander, can I have a word?” He said after a moment.

All I could manage was a nod as I stepped aside from the door to let him in. He seemed just as lost as I felt. The Force around him was anxious as well, and he couldn’t bring himself to look me in the eyes.

“About today, Commander- what you said….”

“I apologize if I overstepped, Wolffe” I interrupted. “I just, Where I’m going isn’t exactly safe at the moment, and I wanted to make sure… I don’t know what I-”

“You made it sound like you wouldn’t be coming back.” He said, his tone slightly accusing.

“I might not be.”

“You will, you have to.” He insisted, finally looking at me.

“I can’t make promises like that and you know it.” I said, almost pleading.

I was confused, overcome with emotions I couldn’t place. Why was he here?

“Then I’ll make a promise,” he said, taking my right hand in both of his. “I will tear this galaxy apart to find you, Kriari. So make sure you come back.”

He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed my palm before placing it on his cheek.

“I promise.”

#TWP #clone wars fan fiction #star wars the clone wars #plo koon #obi-wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #commander wolffe #captain rex #padawan!oc

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ironmandeficiency · 4 years

Text

13 x 7 = 28

pairing: no pairing (no reader mentioned)

word count: 1907

summary: naturally is in deep shit. he got in over his head during sabaac with a member of the five-oh-first and now owes the man in blue more credits than he’s ever had at once. luckily, his ori’vod have his back.

a/n: apparently a sequel to “who’s my commander” was something ppl wanted, and i was all too eager to write something with my darling twenty-fifth boys. heads up, this is a dialogue-heavy piece. tagging @boba-thot, & @morganas-pendragons . please ask me abt my oc boys!! i have so many of them, i would love to share them with y’all!!!

“jort! ba! wait up!” the men in question slow down upon hearing their names being frantically shouted. if there was something bad happening that pertained to combat or one of the carnivorous felucian plants, they wouldn’t be the ones sought out. so they realized that it must be something of a personal nature and that allowed their heart rates to slow back down as they turned to identify the vod calling for them.

naturally was in deep shit. he had made the poor decision to join a few members of the five-oh-first in a game of sabaac and now owed them ninety-one credits, which was more than he’s ever had at once. the credits he had now only added up to half of that and knew that if he didn’t think of something, he’d be stuck on sanitation to pay off his debt to the cog-headed man.

jort would not admit that his mood softened a little upon identifying the distressed man as naturally. ba, however, knew that the man beside him was indeed sympathetic (sometimes too much for his own good) and that jort was now planning his evening around the needs of the frantic kih’vod in front of them.

“naturally, what’s wrong?”

“i was playing sabaac with the five-oh-first and got in over my head! i owe jesse more credits than i’ve had since i left kamino and i-“

the rookie was almost trembling and that was it, the older troopers were done for. naturally was now officially under the protection of him and jort, jesse be damned.

a metaphorical lightbulb lit up over jort’s head. ba could see said lightbulb the way he always does when his batchmate has an idea. the lightbulb hasn’t been able to distinguish good ideas from bad ones yet, but there was hope for jort yet.

“ninety-one, you say?”

“yeah, ninety-one credits.”

“well nat’ika, i’ve got just the trick to help you out.”

the youngest was almost too busy preening at the term of endearment to realize that his ori’vod was indeed going to help him. ba helped snap him back to reality as jort found a stick, beginning his lesson in the felucian mud.

ba had to admit that this plan was not only kriffing insane, but extremely world-tilting if executed right. it was jedi-level insanity and he didn’t doubt for a second that his batchmate learned the trick from the general.

after running naturally through the trick two more times, he felt that his training was paying off. ba had made the point of jesse knowing if naturally was lying about the credits he had on him and they both nodded their agreement. the youngest pulled his credits from his pouch and counted out twenty-eight, dropping the rest of them into ba’s hand.

jort takes this as a cue to continue. “now remember, you have to let him work some of it out himself towards the end. if you did it right from the start, he’ll be thinkin’ like you the longer it goes on and he’ll fall right into your trap.” naturally is soaking in the information like a sanitation duty sponge, part of him still reeling from the fact he’s being given such attention by a superior.

“does this trick help you a lot?”

jort smiles at the question. “only when the total i’m weaseling out of is ninety-one.”

ba rolls his eyes and butts in, “you say that as if you don’t try your damndest to make the total ninety-one as much as possible.” jort playfully scoffs at the insinuation as ba turns to naturally and grins like a loth-cat, enjoying the laugh he earns almost a tad too much.

this kid was making him soft.

to be truthful, ba would have taken the rookie under his wing the same as jort was currently doing if given the chance to do so in his own time. they’ve discussed as much with fortune, who led oracle company, about snagging a company transfer for the bright-eyed brother. fortune was on board with the idea because he saw how the newer medic worked, the way vode lost the panic in their eyes while being treated by him. it was a valuable trait to have as a medic and even more valuable to the men who fell under his care.

footsteps were heard around them and jort quickly went to mess up the numbers written in the mud. he didn’t want his information being spread where he didn’t want it, and judging by the look on his vod’ika’s face, the man approaching was indeed jesse.

“you think you can do it?”

“i know i can.”

“good man! find me when you’re done!”

ba and jort departed as jesse neared, and naturally was on his own.

“hey, naturally! you owe me for that game!”

naturally moved a hand to his pouch and made a show of getting every credit out. he let them clink together in the outstretched palm of the man in blue. “here’s twenty-eight credits, i’ll see you later-“

“alright, i- wait just a minute! there were seven rounds, and you bet thirteen each time. that’s way more than a measly twenty-eight!”

“that comes out to twenty-eight, vod.”

jesse’s wondering whether this guy’s tube was cracked. this rookie medic owes him ninety-one credits! on what planet does thirteen times seven equal twenty-eight? “did you get dropped on your head as a cadet?”

naturally suppressed a grin. “not that i can recall.”

“do you mean to tell me that you can prove that thirteen times seven is twenty-eight?”

“it’s gotta be, i owe you twenty-right credits.”

“tell you what: if you can prove it, you can keep the credits. if you can’t, you’ll owe me double.”

naturally stiffens a little at the prospect of having to owe one hundred and eighty-two credits to the cogged man who doesn’t seem to be the type to forget things like this. but he has faith in himself and the trick jort taught him, so he agrees to the deal and grabs the stick from earlier and begins the trick.

“seven into twenty-eight’s gonna come out to thirteen, watch.”

naturally draws a large seven in the dirt, followed by a significantly smaller twenty-eight separated by a slash, then another slash on the other side of the twenty-eight.

“can seven go into two?”

“no it will not.”

“that’s a giant seven to fit into that little bitty two.”

“... yes it is.”

“but we’re not gonna hurt the little two, so i want you to hold onto it for me.”

naturally “grabbed” the two from where he drew it in the dirt and “placed” it into jesse’s outstretched palm. that was simple enough so far, but there was still so much farther he had to go before getting out of this mess.

jesse was going with it only because he wanted his credits. that’s the only reason he was entertaining the bullshit of this rookie medic.

“can seven go into eight?”

“once.”

“right, so i’m gonna put the one over here,” naturally drew a one next to the second slash.

“now we’re gonna carry the seven, because it’s a big seven and it’s getting kinda heavy, and we’re gonna drop it down here below the eight.” as naturally speaks, jesse nods and follows along intently. “and seven from eight is?”

“one.” come on, jesse thought, i’m not that kriffin’ stupid.

“alright, now you’ve had that two long enough, give it here.” naturally holds his hand out for jesse to give him the two, and the older trooper isn’t sure as to why he’s playing into the little game this rookie’s got going but he “drops” the two into his palm nonetheless.

“you see that twenty-one? how many times can seven go into it?”

“three times.”

“so the three goes over here,” naturally continues as he draws a three into the dirt next to the one, “and look at that, thirteen.”

sure enough, there was now a thirteen drawn into the dirt next to the twenty-eight. jesse didn’t completely believe what he was looking at, much less the fact it made sense! he had to get more evidence, surely this wasn’t right.

“nah man, you’ve gotta prove it better than that if you expect me to believe that your math checks out.”

“alright, certainly.”

“you gotta multiply it.”

apparently there was still more to say and write if he wanted to save his head from being mounted on a five-oh-first bunk. thank the maker for jort’s extensive explanation or else naturally would have been screwed.

so he smeared away the numbers with a gloved hand, not bothering to care as to how it dirtied the leather, and continued on.

“let’s see here,” naturally mumbles to himself as he begins to draw in the dirt once again, tongue poking out between his teeth. a thirteen is now in the dirt with a seven below it, with a line under the seven. “okay. so we’ve got thirteen times seven. three times seven is?”

“twenty-one.”

“exactly, so we bring a twenty-one down. now one times seven is…”

“seven.”

naturally hums in agreement as he draws a seven below the one in twenty-one. “now twenty-one plus seven is-“

“twenty-eight.” jesse seems to be contemplating the lesson very hard, putting it side by side with everything he had been taught prior to then. it looked like it made sense, and his brain said it made sense, but to make him feel better he had to check it one more time.

“but now we gotta add it, just to be sure.”

“of course.”

this is where naturally sees if his hard work paid off, if jort’s lessons paid off. if he did his part good enough, then jesse would follow along and this would be easy peasy. most importantly though, he wouldn’t be bucket deep in debt to the trooper next to him.

smearing the mud one last time, he began to give jesse the final piece of the puzzle. “i’m gonna our down seven thirteens and add ‘em from there, alright?”

“alright.”

he puts the numbers down, one above another, and draws a line below the last. taking his stick, he begins to count by threes when the other man cuts him off halfway through. “no no no, let me do it this time!”

jesse starts to count by threes and ends on twenty-one, like he should, but also jort was sure to tell him that if he didn’t take over now that the plan was doomed to fail.

so in an effort to save his plan, naturally began pointing to the ones with his stick as he counted, “twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight!”

he spoke the numbers with confidence as he wrote the twenty-eight into the dirt, turning to give a dignified smirk to the cornflower painted trooper next to him.

jesse looked so lost and had no idea as to why this made a lick of sense, but had to concede that the young medic was right. to answer his earlier question, felucia is a planet where thirteen times seven is twenty-eight.

with a grin naturally collected the credits that had still been clutched in the other’s hand, stepping on the numbers casually enough to not raise suspicion as to why he was stepping on them. he was saved from a terrible fate and got to keep his money; it was a good night for naturally.

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lifeofclonewars · 4 years

Text

Time to Fix Some Hives

Also available on AO3. Link on my page so this still shows up in tags.

I’m not sure how this got as long as it did. Part 3 of the Pun Wars, but can be read alone.

Summary: “Hey, was Prime allergic to anything?” Fives asked casually.

“I don’t think so," Kix replied, swiping through a datapad. "But if so, the Kaminoans probably engineered it away. Why?”

“Uh, I think I might’ve gotten it.”

“Fives! Vod!" Kix looked like his blood pressure just skyrocketed. He let out a sound that didn’t quite sound human.

In which Fives gets some hives and Kix has to fix it.

-----

Food in the GAR was something to be discussed. Or maybe not. Ration sticks were varying degrees of bland and dry. The mess hall meals had some flavor but, after weeks in hyperspace or in orbit, had the same monotony as ration bars. If someone wanted good food, they’d have to wait for leave. Unless, of course, they took the method that involved not-quite regulations breaking.

Somehow, though, every once in a while, a shipment of supplies would bring in something to liven up meals. A small bundle of juicemelons here, some shuuras there. Once, somehow, some varos, which had led to a large celebration and special dessert. Whenever command was able to get some brightness to the meals in shipments, it was a cause to rejoice. However they managed to sort it out, they received eternal thanks for it.

The latest shipment had included such a treat, if breakfast was anything to go by. Fives grinned when he saw the options for the day. Stacks of space waffles and various toppings were available. Sitting neatly labeled, easy to grab, was muja sauce. They hadn’t had muja fruit before, so it would be exciting to see how this tasted.

With a tray full of food, Fives plopped himself down next to Tup. “Morning.”

“Morning,” Tup responded, already digging into his food.

Fives spared a peep at his brother’s plate. “How’s the muja sauce?”

“Pretty good. A tad sweeter than I expected.”

Fives nodded and set to eating, first eating the bland porridge that was required for vitamins or whatever. He and Tup chatted amicably, recounting the pandemonium that had come from a training game Rex had attempted the previous afternoon. It went well until Focus had— unlike his name suggested— gotten sidetracked and blew up a dummy droid; it was all downhill from there.

Porridge gone, Fives moved onto the space waffles. Tup hadn’t been kidding: the mujas were the sweetest fruit he’d tasted.

He must have made a face, as Tup laughed. “See? I wasn’t exaggerating.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Fives said. The waffle itself must’ve been dry; his throat was suddenly a shade scratchy. Eh, so maybe the waffles suffered in favor of the sauce. It wasn’t too big of a deal. A sip of water solved it, anyway.

He continued his conversation, irritated when the waffles continued to make his throat scratchy. Try as he might, it was hard to ignore.

“Hey, vod,” he asked in a lull, “are your waffles making your throat scratchy?”

Tup’s eyebrows furrowed. “No. Are yours?”

Grimacing, he answered, “Yeah. I somehow managed to get the one dry one they made. The sauce and some water helped, though.”

“That sucks.”

“I’ll live. You know what does suck?” With that, Fives launched into an explanation of what was rumored to be the Captain’s next training exercise. While it was a rumor, you could never be too careful in preparing for them. The less you could avoid feeling like dying while doing them, the better.

-----

The rumor turned out to be just a rumor. But, that was because the training exercises ended up even more strenuous than the rumor stated.

Fives took a breather, leaning against a wall. He watched while some shinies seemed to have mental breakdowns, struggling to keep up to pace but still fighting through.

Faintly, he realized his arms were itchy. Huh, that was odd. Looking down, his arms appeared slightly red. That hit to the mat he'd taken earlier must've given him a burn. It wasn't anything he couldn't fight through; he was an ARC trooper, after all.

"Doing good, Fives?" Rex called over to him.

He straightened off the wall. "Never better, sir."

"Good. You're next."

A fast-paced but by no means short spar later, Fives found himself admiring the ceiling lights, the Captain standing over him. Exhausted and beginning to catch his breath, the itch in his arms made itself present once again.

“Still good, Fives?” Rex offered his hand and Fives took it, standing up.

“Uh, yeah. I think I got a floor burn and definitely some bruises, but it’s nothing I can’t deal with.”

Rex patted him on the back, taking a glance at Fives’ forearms. “Hmm, make sure a medic looks over it when you can, just in case.”

“Yessir.” With that, Rex dismissed him to the cycle of training and called up the next trooper to spar.

As he made his way over to the next station, which was sure to increase in intensity, Fives checked out his arms himself. The redness appeared to be a scattering of small bumps across his arms. Some of the bumps were larger than the others. But the fact that there were bumps... maybe it wasn’t floor burn after all. That would explain why it was itching more than stinging. But what else could it be?

He reached the station. The redness-debacle could be solved later. He’d tell Kix later; there was stuff to be done.

-----

Sometime after lunch, Fives found himself on a patrol shift in the lower levels of the star destroyer. A gaggle of mechanics, squabbling over something or another, were nearby, seemingly working and not working simultaneously. All he had to do was walk the halls.

With the time available and no obvious threats around, Fives allowed himself to reflect on what was up with his arms. His blaster slung carefully across his back, he took off his left vambrace, gauntlet, and glove then rolled up his blacks to his elbow.

The bumps stood out brightly against his skin. A floor burn could not have produced them. The ARC trooper had had many before and none of them had ever looked like this. In fact, it almost looked like… a rash.

Fives thought back to the bit of medical training ARC training had given him. A potential rash with bumps that were itching. And if he counted the scratchy throat he’d had at breakfast as something other than dry space waffles— well, it all added up.

It looked like Fives had an allergy to muja fruit.

Interesting. He put his armor back on and continued along with his patrol. That’d be something to tell Kix later. A crash sounded around the corner and Fives pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. Finally, something marginally exciting was happening. Slinging his blaster around, he took off down the corridor.

-----

Once off patrol, he headed to the medical bay to talk to Kix. That one crash had led to an action-packed end of patrol involving helping some shinies and forgetting about everything else he’d been thinking about. He remembered he needed to talk to the medic but hadn’t the slightest why. Shrugging to himself, he made his way inside.

Kix was stationed at the front desk for the moment, busy with something Fives couldn’t see over the top of the desk. He paused and looked up as the doors closed behind Fives. “Hey, vod,” he greeted.

“Hey, Kix.”

“You’re not here because you sprained something else, are you?”

Fives smiled at that. “Not this time. No promises for the future, though.”

His brother rolled his eyes. “Well, since that’s not the case, feel free to talk about anything. I’m trying to avoid paperwork and also answering Jesse’s comm about how many people a hypothetical stunt he might hypothetically pull he will land in here.”

Fives hummed. Soon enough, the brothers were talking about anything and everything that came to mind. Kix began to flick through some of the datapads stacked high next to him. They talked about the craziest reasons for injuries Kix had encountered recently, what they expected from their upcoming campaign, and more.

Activity around the bay was low. Out in hyperspace for a few weeks between campaigns had let the majority of the injured to heal. The handful of medics on shift shuffled around between beds, chatting and joking with their patients. One or two visitors sat next to their brother’s beds. For once, the atmosphere was light and easy and not clouded with stress and worry. Fives had no problem leaning against the front desk while talking to his brother.

With the light conversation and calm, Fives’ thoughts drifted back to what he had discovered on patrol.

“Hey, was Prime allergic to anything?” Fives asked casually.

“I don’t think so," Kix replied, swiping through a datapad. "But if so, the Kaminoans probably engineered it away. Why?”

“Uh, I think I might’ve gotten it.”

“Fives! Vod!" Kix looked like his blood pressure just skyrocketed. He let out a sound that didn’t quite sound human.

“Chill, it only made my throat scratchy for a bit. Plus, I got these little bumps but they’re not that bad. I can deal with it.”

The sound came out again, this time even longer and even less human. Kix shot out of his chair and dove for a nearby container, ruffling through the contents, datapad forgotten. Fives stood and watched idly as his brother began to have a breakdown. “Where are the epi-pens for the nat-born officers? Those are kriffing hives, di’kut!”

Oh. Oops.

Kix found what looked like two hypos. “Finally!” he exclaimed and rushed over to Fives, pushing him by the shoulder to the nearest bed. The few people on the other end of the medbay who had looked over when Kix shouted made themselves look busy when Fives sent them an apprehensive glance. Once seated, the medic set the hypos aside and began removing the cuisse on Fives’ leg.

Fives jerked away. “What are you doing?!”

His brother scowled. “Stay still! I’m treating your allergic reaction, what do you think I’m doing?”

Once Fives stilled, Kix finished removing the armor and took one of the hypos. Uncapping it, he took it and shoved it into his thigh. He looked up and scowled at Fives before moving to dispose of the hypo properly and grab a new datapad from a shelf.

“Now we wait for five minutes to see if you need a second one or not.”

“A second one?”

His response made Kix’s eyebrows somehow furrow even closer. “Yes, a second one. You’re lucky that the reaction didn’t get any worse than that. When you ignore a reaction, the mild symptoms can suddenly spiral and can turn into anaphylaxis. And that can kill you, Fives.”

Fives grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t know it could get worse. At least it didn’t…?” he attempted to reconcile.

The medic took a deep breath. He then took off Fives’ vambrace, gauntlet, and glove. Inspecting his forearm while pushing the sleeve up, Kix took another breath. “See here, Fives? These are one hundred percent hives. You really thought hives weren’t a big deal?”

“I thought it was floor burn at first,” he admitted. “I didn’t realize they were bumps until I was busy and then things happened and it wasn’t my top priority.”

Kix inclined his head towards the arm he was still grasping. “If this ever happens again, this is your top priority.” He released Fives’ arm, grabbing the hypo that was still sitting on the bed. “This is an EpiPen, and it’ll help you with any future allergic reactions, tayli'bac? Keep this in your utility belt. And when I say keep it there, I mean always, always have it there. Since you have this allergy, you might have others. We’ll need to do a test sometime soon to check since Kamino didn’t test for them because they normally don’t need to. We’ll have to teach you how to use the EpiPen then as well. You’re going to take this more seriously now, right?”

“Right.” Fives took the hypo and placed it into his utility belt promptly.

“Okay, so I have to update your health file to reflect your allergy. Hold on a minute.” Fives nodded and Kix started to flick through the datapad in his hands.

After a minute or so, a little beep sounded. “Alright,” Kix said, placing the datapad down on the bed. “That was the five-minute timer. Arm.” Fives obediently held his arm out. Kix took it, gently twisting it back and forth. “The hives are already swelling down. You won’t need a second one.”

“Great,” Fives stated tentatively.

“Great,” Kix repeated. “Now either sit here quietly or help me figure out if Prime had an allergy to mujas you somehow got.” He handed Fives a datapad he materialized out of nowhere.

“Shouldn’t you be watching the front desk?” Fives reminded.

“Shh,” Kix said. “Coric got it when I went for the EpiPens, anyway.” A quick look over Kix’s shoulder confirmed that, yes, Coric had indeed taken the front desk while Kix treated the ARC. “Now get to work.”

-----

“What’s up, vode?” Fives announced his presence, plopping down first his tray and then himself at the table. “Turns out, I have a mutation.”

“WHAT?!” came from three of the four people gathered around. The only one who didn’t react vocally was Kix, who just rolled his eyes from where he sat next to Jesse. If Fives had credits, he would bet that Kix had been waiting for him to say that since they concluded their research earlier.

“What do you mean you have a mutation?!” Tup asked, fork halted halfway to his mouth. “And how did you just find out?!”

“You know how I had a dry waffle this morning?” Tup nodded and Kix snorted. “Turns out, my waffle wasn’t dry. I was having an allergic reaction.”

Jesse raised an eyebrow. “I’ve seen you scarf down space waffles before. What changed?”

Fives smirked and waited a beat to see if his brothers would figure it out on their own. When no one said anything, he continued, "There was muja sauce today."

Another beat. "Oh!" came the three reactions.

Jesse began to laugh. "Your mutation is a muja fruit allergy? That's gotta suck, dude."

A shrug. "Eh, now that I know, not too much. The mujas were a bit sweet for my taste, anyway."

Focus grimaced. "You still suck at lying, Fives." Fives scrunched his nose at the scout but otherwise didn't acknowledge his words, taking a tentative bite of what looked suspiciously like something’s liver.

"Yes, an untreated allergy is something to laugh about," Kix groused. When Jesse laughed at his attitude, Kix shot a glare his way. The lieutenant only laughed harder.

"What happened?" Jesse prompted, evidently sensing a story to be told.

“I can tell you what happened,” Kix grumbled, stabbing a piece of lettuce. “Kaysh mirsh solus, Jess. I can’t emphasize that enough.”

Jesse doubled over cackling, clutching his stomach. He set his other arm on the table and buried his face in it. He struggled to form words for a moment, then finally spit out, “The allergic reaction must’ve killed the rest of them.”

“Wow, thanks,” Fives deadpanned. “To both of you.”

“Anytime.” Kix stabbed another piece of lettuce, giving Fives an unbreakable glare. “If you pull anything like this again, I will check if you really do only have one brain cell left.”

“I expected nothing less.”

Jesse composed himself and rested his elbows on the table and his head on his hands— he was by far the most amused by this. He was going to get stuff out of this for weeks if he played his cards right. His grin was quite possibly one of the biggest ones Fives had ever seen on a brother. His food, which he hadn’t touched since Fives sat down, sat ignored in front of him still.

“Okay, but seriously,” Focus cut in, “how did you not know you had an allergy to muja fruit?”

Fives swiveled towards the scout. “How did you manage to blow up a training dummy when your name implies that shouldn’t have happened?” he quipped back. “It’s not like I had muja fruit before, and it’s not like that’s something that they tested for on Kamino. None of us are supposed to have allergies!”

“It’s not like we’ve seen anyone have an allergic reaction before,” Tup pointed out.

“Fine. Fair point,” Focus conceded.

Fives pointed at Tup. "Actually, he's right. I first thought I had a floor burn from sparring with the Captain."

"I still don't get how you thought hives were a floor burn," Kix griped.

"At first, Kix. I said at first. Once I got a closer look, I noticed otherwise. I just got busy."

The medic shook his head, rolling his eyes slightly and taking a sip from his water.

"Anyway," Fives continued, avoiding the meat and picking at a blob next to it, "our little bit of research told us Prime wasn't allergic to muja fruit so it really is a random mutation."

"Maybe someone in Prime's biological family had it?" Tup offered.

"Just because allergies can be genetic doesn't always mean they are," Kix supplied. "I wouldn't be surprised either way."

"Either way, I don't care," Fives said. "What I do care about is that now I have to suffer through an allergy test just to be safe."

“K'atini. You’re an ARC trooper, you’ve suffered worse.”

Fives scoffed. “Just because I have doesn’t mean I wanted to suffer. Or suffer more, especially because of you.”

The group descended into bickering the way only siblings could. Little did they know, a new and improved version of their conversation would take place a mere two days later when it was revealed that Fives was also allergic to yot beans and chando peppers and severely so to zherries after Kix ran the allergy test.

Mando’a Translations:

Vod: Brother

Di’kut: Idiot

Tayli'bac: Got it? Okay? Understand? (Often very aggressive.) Basically, the Mando'a version of Capisce

Vode: Brothers. Can refer to the clones as a whole or just a group of them

Kaysh mirsh solus: He’s an idiot. Lit. “His brain cell is lonely”

K'atini: Suck it up! Or: It’s only pain!

Thanks for reading!

#b writes #pun wars #kix #fives #arc trooper fives #star wars the clone wars #star wars #clone wars #sw: tcw #star wars clone wars #writing #jesse #tup #captain rex

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foryouthegays · 3 years

Text

its time for a ‘assembling an army [Dream SMP]’ liveblog pogggg

bc people seem to like techno saying “puppy!” heres the timestamps for the times he says it in this stream and a few i remember from other times

10:30

12:35

2 mins into ‘minecraft VR is the ultimate fitness program’

and he doesnt say puppy but ‘train ‘em young (Collab with GURL GAMER ERMAGERD)’ is just. its so cute. please watch it. its techno playin and his little sister is in the background and i love it nd he says ‘pony’ nstead of horse so that counts. also his nod at 2:27 after his sister says ‘thats u!!’ is so cute like ahhhHHH and at 3:25 his sister says doggy and it sounds so similar to how techno says it in the vr vid ahhhhhhHHH sorry i just love that vid so much u can hear techno in the bg its so good

ALSO HE DID A ‘DO DO DOOO’ AT 15:20 :D!!!!!!!AND 1:07:45

if yall dont watch vods, he starts his stream with ‘starting the streaamm!!!!’ and its adorable. i highly recommend watchin the start of his streams just for that

as always, he says three in the prettiest way possible and i hate it. how can you make the word THREE sound nice its. its not allowed

hes calling the wither skull place (which i had been calling theseus’ vault/home) the bunker and i kinda like that. (1:15)

“worst case scenario, he’s building an ugly tower outside of my base, best case scenario, he died!” 2:50

heres the link tommy sends at 7:10 https://www.reddit.com/r/tommyinnit/comments/kfdsid/i_know_tommy_likes_cobblestone_towers_so_heres_an/?sort=new

7:50

tommy: “what are your deepest emotions”

techno: “uhhh....revenge.”

tommy: -laughs- “what about like, you know, love.

techno: “not so much.”

tommy: -laughs- “hey, ok”

techno: “love? sounds kinda cringe,”

tommy: -laughs harder- “love?? all i know is anarchy!”

techno: “all i know is anarchy, violence, and get subscriber, ok? thats all you need.”

aroace c!techno pog??

the “i know another word for dog” “puppy!!!” convo is at 10:30 btw. techno is just. am love he

“you’re trying to think of one redeeming quality you have and you’re stuttering. you’re stuttering, tommy.” LSFJDLKDSJF 14:30

techno making fun of tommy falling through snow and then immediately doing the exact same thing is so funny a;sdkfjkasd 15:25

17:10 ah yes, a sheep, the opposite of a dog, mhmm

19:25 “tommy i dont believe in laws” LKSFJHDLA

“i need you i need you i need you” “i’m right here.” AWWWW 20:25

DREAM JOINED OH GOD 21:00

i feel like techno is just,,,,constantly redirecting the convo back to dogs to try nd distract tommy

OH GOD DREAM NO 28:00 GO AWAY

hhghn the way that techno asked tommy to describe his location,,,,,,isnt that LITERALLY grounding??? ik it was so tech could find him but just,,,tommy immediately started talking clearer and responding better to techno,,,,,hhgnn

AWW TECHNO CALLED IT ‘OUR HOUSE’ AT 29:25

why is technos laptop just randomly telling him abt pagodas im ksfhjdal 30:20

30:50 techno has access to twitch in universe

31:40 tECHNOS ‘Y O U’ IS SO FUNNY SFHGDJKAL

32:05 dream no. ‘hey I’m on my way to your house, need to have a chat with you’ GO AWAY

WHY DOES HE HAVE A SECRET CHEST WHY IS HE LIKE THIS WHY IS HE SO SECRETIVE AHHHH 36:05

37:55 as much as i hate c! dream i just. i love dream nd technos dynamic so much but i know dreams gonna be in character and it makes me sad bc nooo dont be mean :(

38:50 “tommy....left” “who?” GFJHSKDL TECHNO IM IHUGFJSKDLA

wait but techno couldve made skyblock canon in the smp universe if explained the sell foot as the ‘pigs foot’ from slaying dragons in skyblock and saying that they made people faster but nooOOOOooOOooooOOoooOOOoo gkfjshdl 39:45

techno just spelled coughing ‘caughing’ and idiot ‘idfiot’ im,,,,,hfdgkjs 40:50

TECHNO WHEN WE SAY U USE BIG WORDS WE DONT MEAN ‘ALOOF’ WE MEAN SHIT LIKE ‘RECIPROCITY’ HFGJDKSL 41:00 i doNT EVEN KNOW IF THATS THE WORD HE SAID IM SO DONE WITH HIM AHH

“what does impaired mean?” so THATS who technos talkin bout not knowin english 52:30 (bonus: “it means its out of pair, tommy”)

52:50 my god these people are so dumb im crying could u imagine just casually walking ur dog and u just hear yelling in the distance and u look up to see two sets of enchanted netherite, one with a dog and one with a llama who seems to be spitting at the owner, yelling at each other about staying stealthy and ur like ‘this may as well happen’ and one of them jUMPS OFF A BRIDGE and the other just yeets the llama down before jumping off as well and u see the dog walk up to u and u can kinda see an outline of someone and ur like whatever and then the other person walks by holding bamboo and no armor on with the llama still spitting and then one of them starts yelling at the other and ur like iS THAT TOMMY??? I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD??? and u realize the other is techno and ur like,,,,god why did i move to this cursed country and then the llama starts talking and spitting at u just. and u just. u leave. u just gotta leave.

and then now ur ranboo, going to figure out whats happening and theres a llama that starts spitting at u and ur like ????? and u see some dogs and u turn around and then theyre gone and then tommy (who, once again, is thought to be dead) texts you and says u should join vc3 and then the llama starts talking and telling u to give up all ur things and then u DIE sjkdfal;

anD THEN THE LLAMA DIES ALSDKJFALDKFA I LOVE THIS SERVER ITS SO DUMB

GKJHSFDL I LOVE RANBOO SO MUCH

god these people have no braincells when theyre together its so funny

1:10:20 sCHLATT????? WHA T

🦀TOMMY IS GONE 🦀 1:15:00 (also: “he died as he lived, an absolute moron” JFKSDL TECHNO)

SJKHFDAL RANBOO JOINED THE GAME JUST TO SAY ‘THAT BETTER BE CANON TOMMY’ AND THEN JUST L E F T (1:18:45)

SFDGHJKAL TOMMYS MAD BC HE HAD 18 LEVELS AND DIED AND TECHNOS JUST C A S U A L L Y AT 100 DFSJHKLA I LOVE THEM

“ew, imagine using valid arguments to refute my idiotic points” god i love techno so much (1:19:50)

#stream post

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spc4eva · 3 years

Text

Mandokar: Chapter Three

Summary: Sena must conquer her first battle to fully understand what it is to be Mandalorian and not a princess. The First Trial looms on the horizon, but the galaxy is not a kind place.

Word Count: 15,610

Rating: M (18+) for the end duckies

Trigger Warnings !! : Latter part of the chapter has brief details of sexual assault (not to the main characters) please use caution.

Author Notes: Remember that Jedi and Nobility tend to have 'English' accents. Whereas Outer Rim and regular blue collar people tend to have 'American' accents. Definitely something people would notice.

Crossposted on AO3

"What's going on with you and Aya?" Xivi asked during their routine practice. The girls were hanging upside down on the pullup bars seeing who could last longer. It was always Sena, but Xivi still tried to best her.

A month had passed since Aya began her minor infractions toward Sena. She'd been a lot more careful, especially to make a point not to use her full strength against her in combatives when they were stuck together, but there were times that the girl could've pulled her punches more. Rather than give her any satisfaction, she dealt with each blow and started to humiliate Aya when she had the opportunity to. Want to throw hard punches? Fine, Sena could dance around her like a squirrel beneath a clumsy troll. She could also strike just as hard, despite her size. The first time she'd planted a full on blow on Aya, she thought the girl was going to snitch. However, Aya kept her trap shut, thus Sena did as well.

On top of that, Aya continued to be annoying. Bumping her, tripping her, pulling her plait - anything she could do to get under her skin. Papa's words echoed through her head, words she had never heeded back in Genmaris. Be the bigger person. Never acknowledge those who bother you, in which case you'll hold the power, not them. So, she practiced her patience, each grinding, aggravating fiber of it and realized she did have power over Aya. Satisfaction would be derived from Sena throwing a fit and she had decided she wouldn't give her that luxury.

"Eh, she's still mad at me or something," Sena shrugged, trying to play it off and diminish the twinge of anxiety she felt each day wondering what Aya would try to do.

"Over inviting her to practice with us, still?" Xivi's voice hitched and she shook her head. "You should challenge her to a duel."

Sena snorted. "And lose?"

"Fair point," Xivi grumbled, almost forgetting that Sena would fail miserably at a hand to hand fight with the girl. "Well, if she keeps doing it, I'll fight her."

"Thanks, but it's not that bad."

"We're all vod . You didn't do anything wrong and if you did, she should challenge you for her honor, not skulk around and take her frustrations out on you. What happened to her buir sucks, but it's not like you shoved that in her face. She's being a shabuir because she's jealous of you."

Jealous? Sena blinked a few times. Was it really jealousy? She had just assumed that Aya was just hanging onto a grudge because she was hurting. Turning over a new leaf, Sena had not wanted to alienate her further by bringing this issue to the adults. "What makes you say that?"

"Because you're better at things than her. You're faster, smarter, and the teachers know that. Aya was never going to make a great hunter. Not before you got here and not since you've arrived. Then you show up, fast enough to keep up with Djarin, you have the teachers praising you, and y'know, it's history from there. I think she has a crush on Din, which is probably why she hasn't stopped."

"On that kriffing buckethead?" Sena chortled, watching as her friend swung her legs back down and touched the ground. What was there to like about Din Djarin? He barely talked and any brushes she had with him were curt. "I won again."

"We knew this was going to happen," Xivi grumbled, holding her head. "And why not? He's the top of the class."

Sena leapt down, sporting an elegant flip before sticking the landing like a loth-cat. Maybe there was attraction in mysteriousness, but Sena still thought he was annoying and not a good sport. They could’ve had a better rivalry if he didn’t act like he had a stick up his butt half the time.

"Show off," Xivi poked.

"But why do you say it like that? He barely talks to anyone, let alone me," Sena pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but obviously Aya doesn't have a lot of brain cells or she would've realized you and Djarin are rivals," Xivi reasoned. "And he does talk to you more than most people."

" Lek , to be rude, not to profess his love for me."

" Vod of few words. Except for youuuu ," Xivi sang, clasping her hands together as she pretended to swoon.

" Ne'johaa ! You know it's not like that!" Sena hissed, cheeks burning beneath her bucket. "What about you and Kedth? You think I'm blind?" She tried to round the conversation on her friend, keenly aware that Xivi had been sitting next to the boy in class and doting on him. Sometimes he joined them for Mando'a studying and practice.

"I do like Kedth, but at least I'll admit it," Xivi snickered, hands planted on her hips as she made a silly, but mocking noise.

"I don't even know him! He's just all broody and quiet," Sena complained, trying to convince Xivi. While she enjoyed her rivalry with Din, because it kept her on her toes, she didn't know much more about him. In fact, she knew less about him than any of her other peers which she'd seen outside of class and trained with - with the exception of Aya.

"The two tops of the class, sitting in a tree, M-U-R-C-Y-"

Sena headbutted Xivi, taking her down to the ground where the girls scrambled in the grass, rolling around like playing pogs. A bit of giggling and squealing ensued as they fought for dominance, which was short-lived when Sena clamped onto her back and attempted to put her into a headlock. Xivi sat up and bashed her into the ground, winding her, before seizing the opportunity to throw her off. Tackling her down, Xivi restrained her, clucking in disappointment.

"You suck at combatives. You'll definitely lose if you fight Aya," Xivi told her as if it were glaringly obvious. "You should get your Ori'vod to teach you better."

"All Paz has to do is poke me and I'll break," Sena laughed.

"More like breathe on you."

"Alright, alright," she squirmed at the insults. Now this was just turning into a roast session. If it had been anyone other than Xivi, she might have taken offense. But from the first day, the two had clicked like a cartridge in a firearm, two bolts to be fired one after another. Finally, she was released and could sit up, frowning at all the grass stuck in her armor. Xivi stood up and wrenched her up to her feet, patting her off. "I'll get you back later. You know that I can sneak up on anyone in the Tribe and they'll never see it coming."

" Jai'galaar ," she brushed the shriek-hawk eyes on Sena's pauldron, painted in white. "Almost like you fly around when you're sneaking."

"One day we'll both fly. Once we get our jetpacks," Sena reminded her. Their Rising Phoenix drills weren't until next year, but everyone was still excited to start them and put all their theories and lessons into practice.

Returning home for the night, she was surprised to find that Paz wasn't lingering around. Instead, it was just her buir , set over the table with a simple dinner. Over the weeks, her tongue had become desensitized toward the spiciness, though nothing had been as hot as the first night where they'd intentionally over done the heat for a laugh. Now, she sort of liked the burn and the way it would clear her sinuses right up.

" Su'cuy buir ," she greeted, pulling her helmet off and going over to the sink to wash her hands. "Where's Ori'vod ?"

"Our for recon this week," Hux replied, waiting patiently for her to sit down with him.

"Oh he must be thrilled," she snickered, aware that Paz wasn't a fan of having to do stealth missions or having to navigate through landscapes and shoot azimuths. "Where did they go? It's not too hard to navigate around here. Unless you're trying to find a load of banthas instead of nerfs."

"Off plant. What are your plans for the weekend?" Hux inquired conversationally.

"Probably train with Xivi." Plans were loose and formed mostly on whim. Prior weekends mingled with a few other peers, but usually it was the same. Hang out, get some work done, talk about their academics, maybe shoot a little banter, but everyone was keen on keeping up with their work and not falling behind. Even young Terri was around often.

"Set in stone?"

" Nayc . Why?"

Hux creased a tempered smile at her, one that set her skin on fire and stood her hair on end. "Well, if you've got a little free time for your buir , I think I might have a few kal'e laying around."

"I'm free. All weekend. Never been freer," Sena informed him, her attempt to not seem hasty thwarted. Xivi wouldn't be upset if she wanted to spend time with her buir . She'd gotten to train with Paz often, trying to get better at her hand to hand combat, but Hux was almost always busy. Often he was gone on hunts to support the Tribe. Since being on the Kote , she hadn't been given another chance to show her buir how far she had come or train with him again. Now he was offering to play with knives with her. They hadn't done much knife combat in class yet, so getting ahead on this would be ideal.

" Jate . 0600 tomorrow morning. How are your classes going?"

The food was surprisingly savory today, mixed with root vegetables and rice. "Academics are easy still. I have learned quite a bit about land nav, which I also like. At least one Vizsla will have a brain cell devoted to reconnaissance."

Hux snorted into his ale, spewing a little. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "Nidak tells me you've been having a little trouble with one of your vod ."

Her spoon froze and she very carefully lifted her head to look at him. Nibak had noticed? How much did she know? Nibak hadn't mentioned anything to her. "We don't get along, but it's alright. When it comes down to the wire, we're still vod ."

"Cut the princess diplomacy out," Hux's voice was hard and stern, drawing her eyes back up. She hadn’t heard this side of him since Anaxes when he had spoken to papa. It was cold, all beskar and blaster fire, and unyielding. "If this vod is insulting you, then you must face her. Ignoring her shows weakness."

" Buir , I can't fight her. She's twice my size. I thought if I was the bigger person she'd stop eventually." But it had been a month. How much longer should she wait before it turned into something that ended up getting her hurt?

"You make Clan Vizsla seem weak by tolerating it. What will you do when you begin hunting and face foes much larger than yourself? You will always be small. Did that stop you when you fought the stormtrooper?"

Her face was heating, eyes glaring down at her food at her buir 's scolding. "But I can't fight her with a knife. If I ask her to duel, then I'll have to do it hand to hand."

"Then do it. What is the worst that happens? You fail, but defended your honor?"

These words hung over the dinner table, pressing a heavy weight on her shoulders, going against what her papa had taught her. Fight? Of course she would if it came down to that, but wouldn't it be a dishonor to lose outright? "Ok," she whispered, washing down the lump in her throat with the mulled juice. "I'll challenge her on Monday."

" Jate ," Hux sat back, lightening considerably. "When you do it, make certain that others can see. Throw your glove at her feet and demand a fight. She can do it there or at a later time. The decision is up to the opponent.

"Do not doubt yourself. Paz tells me you are a better fighter than you give yourself credit for. Confidence helps in fights. If you think you are going to lose, you'll lose before the battle has even begun."

That was easier said than done. For all the skill she had, it could be overwhelmed in an instant if she wasn't careful. Aya was much stronger than her and it'd only take one good throw for Sena to be indisposed for too long. If she fought, she'd have to rely on every ounce of her agility to tire the pink buckethead out. She must've been glaring at her food still, because Hux let out a small sigh.

"You are doing well, ad'ika . You have the promise of a great hunter, but the path is not easy and there will be those who think you weak. If you let those people walk all over you, you shall suffer in the long term. Being a hunter is not only a physical skill, but one regarding respect. You cannot let Aya hold her dominance over you and ignore it."

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she'd let it go on for too long. Trying to be the bigger person, thinking herself so smug in the fact that she ignored Aya... Only to be shocked that it was quite the opposite. Aya was making the fool out of her and Sena hadn't even realized it. Maybe that's why Xivi had brought it up, trying to get Sena to pick a fight without outright telling her that she needed to. Xivi was trying to be a good friend and she appreciated her vod's tactful approach, but her buir had laid it out to bear. Fight Aya or disgrace the aliit further. There was only one choice.

Complicated. Why is everything so opposite here? she wondered quietly, enjoying the rest of the evening with her buir , settling on the couch to watch some holovids and relax. He wasn't papa, but Hux filled the shoes as best as he could. Not once had he made her feel unwelcome and since the adoption ceremony, had called and treated her as his daughter. To outsiders, the affection shared between the both of them over the course of such a brief time might seem odd, but Sena didn't think so. He wasn't like papa at all, but he was the only father she had now and Sena wasn't willing to let him go.

She fell asleep against his shoulder, only waking up when she felt herself being set down in bed. "Alarm clock-" she mumbled.

"I'll wake you up tomorrow, cyar'ika . Go to sleep."

‘Wake you up’ in Mandalorian is never a gentle term. Even if your buir tucks you in and gives you a keldable kiss goodnight, not waking up on your own came with risks. Sena woke up to the sound of an alarm blaring in her room, the high pitched squeal resounding from her buir's vambrace. The noise was as wretched and piercing as nails on a chalkboard. She toppled out of bed, hearing his muffled chortling through his modulator as he stepped out of the room and she groaned into the carpet.

" Vaar'tur !"

"Dank farrik-" she rubbed her ears, which were still ringing, cursing Hux's name beneath her breath. Cursing was developing into a rather bad habit for her, but then again everyone cursed here. Over the weeks, she'd learned how to dress swiftly, how to deftly attach her armor, and lace up her boots with a single, good yank. Tucking her ears away, she plaited her hair and threw her helmet on, blaster in its holster, and trotting out, barely having time to react as he threw her a piece of fruit for breakfast.

Eating fast also came with Mandalorian territory and this meant forsaking all her courtesy lessons. Rubbing the juice off her chin, tossed the core in the trash and ran out the door after her buir. "Where are we going?"

He had a duffle bag over his shoulder, striding out behind the house and toward the plains which were blushed with the sunrise. Slanting shades of amber and pink wrapped the hills in a warm, lovely embrace. She saw it every morning, but had always admired the beauty of nature, even if it was opposite of Anaxes. She wished she could smell it, but resolved to filling her diaphragm with air before wooshing out a wistful sigh, chased quickly with a grin.

"Meeting up with Fos," he retorted.

"Fos-" Before she could ask the next question, she saw the unpolished armor of the mando in question, flanked closely by his ad ; Din Djarin. Groaning quietly, she kept close to her buir, leveling a narrowed glare at the boy. Great. Couldn't even have a weekend together, it had to be with them. She didn’t know Fos very well, but it was obvious that her buir respected him from the subtle posture and leveling of his helmet as the two squared off in an acknowledging greeting.

With a thud, he set down the bag and began opening it, unfurling blankets filled with various daggers, knives, and blades. Her eyes grew round like golden suns beneath her helmet, ogling the arsenal as if it had been made in Manda for just her. A few were for practice, hewn of wood and balanced properly to simulate a regular blade. Until this point, there’d been little blade combat, only getting to use practice ones once since her arrival. “Pick the ones you want.”

Unable to resist, she tilted her helmet toward Din. “You heard him, ladies first.”

Din just leered at her silently, stiff and unmoving.

Fos chuckled, “Definitely your ad .”

She took it as a compliment, straightening slightly, but decided to spare Din and also wanted to pick first. Bending down, she swiped up the two largest, which weren’t quite swords, but also were too slender, curved, and angled to be dirks. One was longer than the other, the smallest half the length. “Shoto and tanto,” Hux told her, making her grin widely beneath her helmet. She already had names in mind if she was allowed to keep them. “Take a practice dagger as well.” Obeying, she took one, holding her prizes as she waited for Din to select his weapons.

He contemplated a little longer than her, which made her chew her lip, wondering if she’d been premature and if there was a cooler weapon than the two blades she took. Eventually, he settled with a long vibro-blade which reminded her of Paz’s Bantha-Sticker. Rather than pit the two kids together, the broke off and her buir began to explain the weapons that she had chosen.

“The shoto and tanto are good weapons for kyramud , which you will make one day when you are a hunter. See the curve of the blades and only one side which is sharpened? … These are made for slicing and while they can penetrate the skin in a stab, they are not used in the same manner as a double edged blade. There are variants on grips, which you know the standard, but showed interest in the reverse grip or icepick grip. For these weapons, a reverse grip would be useful as you can deflect blows with the flat of the blade rather than the edge. It is going to take a considerable amount of practice to know both grips, but it’ll suit your abilities quite well as you’ve proven before that you have talent with assassinations. Image what you could do in close combat with these?”

She leaned into every word, clinging like a life raft in an ocean, as Hux continued to teach her about the purpose, applications, pros and cons of the weapons. Since they were blades, she still had to be careful about positions she put herself in. Given her acrobatic abilities, in tight areas, she would win. A blaster was more difficult to maneuver and if she got the jump, her enemies would almost always fall from a swift addition of a second smile. Eventually, they moved on to apply the grips, the standard coming easily as she’d used knives before and the icepick requiring a bit more finesse. Fortunately, only one side was sharpened, so she wasn’t too worried about cutting herself.

Rotating through different forms, strengthening exercises, and strikes the day listed on and they broke for lunch in the grass. For once, Djarin came and sat beside her as she picked at the grass.

“What did your buir mean you have talent with assassinations?”

Ah, so it wasn’t to have a normal conversation, he’d overheard Hux and was curious. Either way, she supposed he wasn’t being a little shit. “When my aliit found me the Empire was attacking my home. My ori’vod got a little lost-” she chuckled lightly, realizing now he didn’t have the more stellar sense of direction. “-and cornered. I snuck up on a stormtrooper and cut his throat, buying Paz enough time to shoot the others. Wasn’t the most graceful thing, but I’d managed to go unnoticed and launch myself at one like a feral loth-cat. Got right in between the helmet and chestplate.” She marked on her own neck where she’d plunged the blade, skin prickling with a twinge of adrenaline at the memory.

“ You managed to sneak up on a stormtrooper?” he was disbelieving, as if her story had been made up to make herself sound cooler than she was.

Beneath her bucket, she frowned and narrowed her eyes at the boy. “ Yes , I did,” she sneered back haughtily. “You asked what my buir was referring to. That’s it. I know how to use a knife somewhat already.”

Returning to his brooding, she rolled her eyes and set her chin on top of her knees as she gazed out amongst the moors, rolling like green ocean waves. “I’ve not killed anyone yet,” Din muttered, gloves plunging into the grass, tearing handfuls out at the admission.

Oh. That’s what it was about? “It’s nothing to boast about,” she shrugged, but knew she was wrong there. Mandalorians prized battle prowess and the ability to neutralize targets. Sena already had her first kill and it hadn’t been with a blaster, it had been up close and personal. “Anyways, who’s keeping count. Unless… you want to, in which case I’m already winning.” Her trademark, dopey grin unfurled beneath her bucket as the boy jolted up and snapped his visor toward her.

“That’s not fair. You had a headstart-”

“ Not fair ? You’ve been training way longer than I have. Should be easy for you to beat me as soon as we’re allowed to hunt,” she countered airly, puffing her chest up and being as indignant as she could to ruffle his feathers. “I’m only ahead by one.” A macabre game, but one that would happen either way. They’d kill people. Her intention wasn’t to be sociopathic and purposely go looking for folks to murder. No, it would lighten the burden of those they did kill, making it easier to cope with the fact that their hands would spill so much blood. And it amused her that she was technically already beating Din.

“You’ll be ahead by one for a while ,” he pointed out, their training still slated for at least a couple more years before the covert would even consider taking them off planet.

“Fine, if you don’t want to play-”

“I’ll play,” he interrupted tartly.

“Well, as of right now you’re losing,” she announced gleefully.

“You said-”

“Still winning,” she boasted. “Plus, knife kills are way harder. Blaster just takes a trigger pull, does the rest of the job for you. What I did requires finesse, talent, and grace.” Now she was just milking it, seeing how far she could go before Djarin got irritated and just left.

“Considering you can’t use most firearms…” he drew his rebuttal out, making her scoff at him.

“ Hey! One day when I’m bigger I will be able to!”

“Bigger?” he gave her a one over, as if that were out of the question and she’d be as big as a Jawa her entire life.

“ Ne'johaa , Djarin!” she squeaked, giving him a shove that unbalanced him and made him fall over in the grass. “I just have to grow up. I won’t be this tiny all my life.”

Sitting up, he returned the shove, easily sending her flopping to the ground. Quickly, the pushing devolved into an all out brawl, the pair toppling in the grass and scuffling as the adults did nothing but watch on with amusement. “You’ll always be smaller than me!” he grunted between parrying her strikes. There were no rules right now, so anything was fair game. She wasn’t play fighting with Xivi, she wanted to pummel Djarin into the ground.

He flung her off by driving his boot into her belt, jetting his leg up to propel her over his head. Sena adjusted quickly, able to turn in the air to land on her knees. A glove locked around her wrist, but she wasn’t willing to be dragged up so quickly again. She bunched the strength in her knees and headbutted Din’s bucket hard enough that her teeth rattled. Both sprung to their feet, Djarin threw the first open palmed strike, which she ducked beneath. She’d only get a few good chances to land a decent blow and his guard was much better than anyone else she had faced until this point.

Coiled like a serpent, she bided her time, turning blows rather than letting the entire shock of parrying hit her small frame. Paz had taught her that, telling her that parrying would hurt her more than glancing or diverting. Since she was light on her feet, she shouldn’t ever need to parry unless she was injured or cornered. Strike, strike, turn, strike. Then she saw it, the small opening which she could dive through. Jolting for it, she realized in horror that it had been a trick to bring her closer and she didn’t have the time to evade as Din leaned into his feint. Her palm still met his chest, driving a puff of air through his vocoder, but he caught her by the same wrist and threw her right to the ground.

The battle was lost, the impact squeezing every ounce of air from her lungs as she gasped like a fish out of water. Taking the dominant mounting position, he raised his hand in a strike, waiting for her to tap out. She squirmed a few times, but knew she had been beat. “ Fine! ” she relented, glad that he wasn’t putting his full weight on her.

What he did next absolutely surprised her, getting up from the ground and offering her a hand up. She accepted, easily wrenched up to her feet, able to hear the fluttering of her heart in her ears, breathing hard, but elated from the thrill of the battle. Her pride was a little wounded, but it wasn't as if she thought she would win. Din had years of training on her. Despite that, the fact he was top of the class made her want to best him to prove to her buir that she was an asset to Clan Vizsla, not some soft little princess. He was the biggest hurdle to leap, because Paz was way too far off from her capabilities. All her brother had to do was bear hug her and she couldn't lift a finger. Djarin was bigger than her (as were most people) but at least she had the confidence to stand toe to toe with him.

Lunch ended and they picked back up on their lessons for the remainder of the day. She learned quite a bit, but also knew that her skill would require repetition. Nothing could be earned in an instant. Silently, she was debating when she would slot the time after classes to keep her blade training, contemplating doing it after the sun had set and her work with Xivi was finished. After dinner she usually just had her tea, but Paz and Hux wouldn't bother her if she went outside in the back to practice. She could still get plenty of sleep and squeeze in a couple of hours to hone herself. Out of everything she'd done until this point - aside from running and obstacle courses - playing with the knives was her favorite.

"Keep those and maybe one day you'll be able to forge them of beskar," Hux told her, handing her the sheathes for them.

The shoto and tanto were made of durasteel, strong enough to rend some armor, but also requiring sharpening and care. They could be fractured or chipped more easily than beskar. Taking her new toys with her to bed, she took paint to the holsters and wrote their names on them in Mando'a runes; the shoto was Cu'Sith and the tanto Pog-Sticker. The girl was so excited, that she fell asleep with them in her arms, tucked into bed, forgetting to set her alarm again, dreaming about running through the forests of Genmaris.

Shrill screeches thrust her out of bed again, her buir huffing in mild disappointment as she didn't tangle herself in her blankets and fall out of bed. Either way, his icy eyes gave her a hard look before he left the room and she groused underneath her breath. Her disdain was short lived as she dressed up and scampered out of her room, catching the fruit, and scarfing it down before trotting after Hux. She wished every weekend was like this, with the exception of Din Djarin and instead being replaced with her brother. She had found comfortable positions to strap her blades onto her, equipped on her belt, where they would remain permanently. None of the other vod in her class had such amazing kal'e .

By this point, Sena had decided that she wanted to live and breathe everything about knives and blades. Her inability to use a good amount of firearms while she was still so slight led to her predisposition to ask an unrelentless amount of questions. Hux had her work with some throwing knives, the vibro-blades vibrating with power between her fingers as she tried to learn how to toss them, rotating the handle to her pads, and aiming to plunk it into the center of the targets. She wasn't any good at it, which was sort of aggravating, seeing that she wanted to be good at it, but Hux reminded her that perfection took lots and lots of practice.

When school came on Monday, she found herself still so overhyped with her amazing weekend, that the thought that she had to challenge Aya was in the back of her mind. Look at these cool new weapons! No one else had a shoto or tanto! She made certain to show her friends, but was careful not to say the name of her shoto, as it was an animal indigenous to Anaxes. Standing outside at lunch, Kedth, Xivi, Terri, and Oyiin were clustered around her, showing off their own vibro-blades, which all looked like little toothpicks in comparison to her awesome new swords.

"And what are you going to do with those, vaar'ika ?" Aya couldn't contain herself from butting in, drawn in by the comradery of the group - one that she did not share with them. Spiteful and teasing in her tone, the others tilted her helmets up and Sena knew why. By this point, it was no secret that Aya had been picking on her, though Xivi was the only one who had brought it up until the point. The others kept their mouths shut, knowing it wasn't their place to try and tell Sena how to approach the situation.

"Stick pigs," Sena answered darkly, holding her tanto in an icepick grip. "Want to be the first?"

Everyone was astonished by her uncharacteristically menacing words. Sena was typically lighthearted and goofy, mild mannered, and helpful when she could be. She did have a bit of a temper when it came to friendly rivalries with her peers, but she'd always chosen diplomacy over threats until this point. Buir had been right - cut the princess shit out.

Aya was just as taken aback, eventually finding her words as she barked a laugh in an attempt to brush it off. "Got something to say to me, Vizsla?"

" Lek , I do," she shoved her tanto back into its sheath with a loud click, sauntering forward with her shoulders thrown back. Reaching for her right glove, she pulled it off in the slowest, most methodical manner she could - one single finger at a time - before throwing it down at Aya's feet. "I challenge you to a duel for insulting the honor of Clan Vizsla. Name the time and date." Despite the calm voice, her heart was beating erratically and she could have sworn everyone could hear her heavy mouth breathing. She was going to lose, but she couldn't let that show.

Flabbergasted that Sena had finally snapped, Aya's visor just tilted down at the glove. Finally, she laughed again. "Today after class. Out by the obstacle course."

" Koor ," taking her glove, she returned amongst her friends, face billeting with heat beneath her helmet as she tried not to feel absolutely sick. The beat down was coming and even her buir 's words about being more confident didn't change the fact that she was half Aya's size.

Xivi slapped her on the back reassuringly. "Kick her shebs today. Maybe she'll get her head out of there."

"Just tire her out. She might be bigger than you, but she's got no stamina. You could run circles for hours," Kedth added, squeezing her pauldron. "'Bout time. Xivi and I were talking about catching Aya after class one day. Glad you challenged her."

"You were?" Sena blinked a few times, some of her nerves slipping away.

" Lek ! She's been insulting you when you did nothing wrong," Kedth hissed, crossing his arms over his chestplate. "We're all vod . We help each other out. She's been pushing Terri around too."

Terri nodded slowly. "I think she just likes to push those that are a lot smaller than her. Hut'uun. "

She had not been aware of that, but felt her frown deepen beneath her helmet. Beating on Sena was one thing because they were closer in age, but Terri? Terri was 10! All the pity she'd once felt for Aya was gone. Even if there were churning emotions that estranged her from the rest of the group, that didn't give her the right to take it out on the smallest in her class. Empathy could only go so far and the rest of the vod were getting fed up with the behavior. At least, this way, Sena could save Aya the embarrassment of getting her shebs kicked by multiple people.

"If you get the opening, give her a good one right here," Oyiin tilted his head up and pointed to the base of his jaw. "You know how to plant your strikes. That will take her down."

For the remainder of lunch, her friends gave her pointers, which considerably bolstered her confidence. They thought she could win! It was true that Aya was out of shape in comparison to her, so maybe she could just wear her down to the point where one good hit would render the fight. According to the rules of a duel, there was only a loss if one of them was rendered unconscious or forfeited. This meant that bones could be broken and the fight could still continue. Word spread like wildfire, though the mandos in Paz's class were still out on their recon.

By the time class ended and Sena was pumping herself up for the fight, all of her classmates had mustered out by the course. But not only just them. Thak, Nibak, Fos, Hux, Bhone, the Armorer, the Smith, and Rhenx were also in attendance along with Lolli and a few of the children, including Zim. In a moment, all the confidence she had shattered into a million pieces as she comprehended how important this fight actually was. Half of her had been expecting that it was just going to be her 10 peers watching, not their teachers and parents.

"Hey, good luck today," Djarin stopped her before she headed down the hill, giving her a hard look. Those were the nicest words she'd heard from him.

"Gonna kriffing need it," she snorted, wringing her hands together before approaching where she was gonna get her shit kicked in.

Her buir motioned for her to come over, her chest tightening as she trotted up to Hux and gazed up with wide, horrified eyes. He crouched down in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "No matter what happens today, you defended the clan's honor," he reminded her, bumping her helmet with his. "You are not a hut'uun ."

He had to have felt her shaking, the palpable fear rolling off of her, thankful for her bucket to hide her paling face and sagging ears. Removing her weapon belt, she handed it off to him and approached Aya who was waiting between the small crowd that was gathered. Towering over her like a mountain to a hill, Sena stepped up to the plate.

"Can still withdraw your offer, naar'ika ," Aya offered smugly.

"Scared?" Sena spat back indignantly.

"I'm not pulling my punches today," she growled.

They both turned around, walked three paces, faced each other and the fight began. The words of encouragement and tactics her friends had given her were running through her mind. She'd taken down a stormtrooper. Aya wasn't as big as that soldier. Anything was fair game. Patience was not her opponent's virtue and it was obvious the pink buckethead wanted to throttle her into the ground. Light and limber on her feet, Sena darted around her, dodging punches and open palmed strikes like a dragonfly in the wind - impossible to catch, illusive, and swift. There were noises around them, cheers, comments, and taunts. But she heard nothing.

Only the calm buzz in her ears, the hyperfocus as she predicted Aya's clumsy moves. Strength might be on her side, but she did not practice. The months leading up until this point were Sena's advantage as well as the wrath which propelled the other girl forward. Seeing only red when there was much more to observe. The minute plants of Sena's toes as she glided on the grass, once rolling out of the way, another time evading a grab as if she were made of mist. Aya was getting slower, expending too much energy in trying to catch a ghost and each movement Sena observed and calculated. They were done in sloppy rotations, harping upon the forms they would use in class. There was no independent thinking or tactful readjustment. Aya was only using what she had learned, rather than fighting with instinct.

The moment came, the desperation creeping into Aya's weary muscles as she charged at Sena. Bunching her muscles, the Anaxian was coiled like a nexu ready to pounce - and she did. Vaulting, she sprung over Aya as she tried to throw herself down to meet Sena's crouching form. Her left boot planted on the pink bucket like it was a swaying tree branch in Genmaris. The impact unbalanced her opponent, causing her to fall; Sena flipping gracefully like she had after dropping from the pull up bars with Xivi on multiple occasions. Sticking the landing like a loth-cat hopping down from its perch, she rounded and drove with breakneck haste. Aya was stumbling to her feet, a hand placed on her knee as she panted. Her helmet tilted up and Sena saw the exact location Oyiin had told her about.

Sena threw her first punch.

Her fist cracked back after connecting with the exposed jaw of Aya. Pain exploded in her knuckles, but she didn't pull back. Swaying, Aya dropped like a stone, thumping onto the ground, groaning and still choking for air. " Ori'jagyc, " Sena declared, turning around, aware that she had won. She had kriffing won. How the hell was that possible? Her eyes went down to Zim as he squealed in delight, pointing and babbling loudly to Lolli. "Zim’ika, wha-" her words were strangled out of her throat as a bicep curled around her from behind. Lifted entirely off the ground, she kicked futilely as her vision began blurring immediately.

Shouting ensued and she was dropped to the ground, her chest heaving as she drank in the air, confused as to what had just happened. Hux was bent over her, snarling in Mando'a and she saw why. Craning her head, Aya had been thrown to the ground again as she sobbed loudly, being reprimanded by Thak who had peeled her off of Sena.

"You have lost! Attacking an opponent from behind in a duel is cowardly!" he was snarling, the rage that Paz once warned her about, bubbling over. It was true. She had never seen her teacher this furious before, his words lancing into the air with vindication enough for all the spirits in Manda to hear "How dare you! You insult the honor of the Tribe and our ways!"

But rather than listen to him continue to berate her, she felt her attention drawn back up to her buir . " Kandosii! Kandosii !" her repeated, just loud enough for her to hear, but with fervor and insistence. The earnesty and depth of his words tethering her back to reality, grounding her. "I'm so proud, cyar'ika. So proud."

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes at his praise, nodding into his helmet as he squeezed her shoulders. Silently, she let them slip down, her heart still beating rapidly, blinded by the water in her eyes as he continued to mutter to her.

"You will make a great hunter, cyar'ika, " he insisted, bringing her up to her feet, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Everyone had remained, much to her chagrin, and she hoped they hadn't heard her sniffling. She hadn't been crying because she was upset or hurt by Aya's last grab, but because she was utterly overwhelmed by her emotions. Between the shock of her win to her buir 's congratulations, she had brought honor to Clan Vizsla and it almost made her heart explode with pride. For the first time in her life, Sena felt as if she truly belonged. Surrounded by all her vod , by her adopted father, and finally having purpose, she was soaking her face with tears beneath her bucket. Sena had never wanted to be a princess and get married and waste her life away in a gilded cage. She had wanted this. Acknowledging that it had cost all of Anaxes for this to happen - hurt.

"We knew it! We knew you could beat her!" Xivi bowled into her, drawing her out of her buir 's grasp and squeezing the life out of her.

"That was Kandosii! " Terri squealed. "The way you flipped over her! And how you were so evasive! I didn't know you were so agile!"

"She can do all sorts of tricks," Xivi gushed. "I think there's a nexu under that bucket, not a Sephi."

"Nice strike!" Oyiin had trotted over, pretending to plant the punch that had won the fight. "Told ya it'd knock her out."

"Thanks. Thanks all of you," Sena told them with her hoarse, choked up voice. "I honestly thought I was going to lose."

"What?! Why would you think that?" Terri squeaked in astonishment.

"Because she was so much bigger than me-" And Sena had been afraid, so afraid that she'd be broken beneath Aya's strength.

"Size isn't everything," Kedth reminded her. "You just proved that. You brought a lot of honor to Clan Vizsla today. Too bad your ori'vod wasn't here to watch that."

Sena wished Paz had been there, but shrugged her shoulders and grinned beneath her helmet. "There will be many more battles in the future he can witness. Maybe next time I'll actually get to use my kal'e ."

"Djarin's got to watch out now. Sena's gonna be vu'traat . Gonna give everyone a run for their credits," Oyiin jested, eliciting a braw bit of laughter.

"She trains like vu'traat ," Xivi admitted grudgingly. "How many hours a day do you train after school?"

"Until bed, but that's because I had a lot of catching up to do and I'm still smaller than everyone," Sena told them sheepishly. Her win had been a fluke in her mind. Any of her friends could easily best her because they were in much better shape than Aya was. Din had proven that just over the weekend and she wasn't bloated headed enough to think that Aya was a huge accomplishment - though she was preening in the fact that she had actually done it.

She lingered with her friends a bit longer before returning home, where Hux taught her how to make uj'alayi . Instead of normal dinner, they had the cake to celebrate, her buir pointing out what she had done correctly during her fight. Still riding the high from the fight, she went out at dusk to practice her kal'e. Moonlight slanted over the moors, casting a long shadow in front of Sena as she went through her forms; slashing, turning her grips, maintaining proper spacing of her legs.

Slicing moonbeams with durasteel, she bathed in the glow, the wind in the grass tickling the calves of her boots. Turning swiftly, she paused when she saw the ethereal starlight glancing down on unpainted beskar. Lowering her shoto and tanto, she stood like a solemn sentinel in the night, wondering why he was there. Rather than get any answer, only the wind sighing through the grass murmured a repy, punctuated by a nerf's moo.

Peace shattered by the cattle, Din took a step toward her and stuck his hand out. "Want to see something?"

She cocked her head at the invitation, staring at his hand, wondering what it meant. Finally, she sheathed her weapons and took it. Pulling her away from the covert, over the soft rolling hills, and far from the protection of their people they ran. Past the crowds of cattle and toward the moon's face they went. Sena should have been more nervous about going so far away, about getting in trouble with her buir for straying. But she was with a vod , nothing could go wrong, could it? He was top of the class.

Cresting a large hill, she glanced down toward a pool that reflected the stars on a mirror smooth surface. Sliding down the steep sides, they approached the edge of the pond, which shimmered a pale milky white as if it were filled with star dust and moonlight. There was a single tree off to the side, shading part of the water, branches spindling out like knobby fingers flecked with verdant leaves. This was the first tree she'd seen in months.

"I come here sometimes," Din told her, letting go of her hand. "You're from Naboo, so I thought you might like to see water again."

While the water was a welcome sight, she was more enthralled with the tree. No words escaped her lips as her breath pelted against the inside of her helmet. She began walking toward it, her feet quickening until she was running. Colliding with the trunk, she pressed her steel cheek against it and shuddered, wishing that she could feel the kiss of the wood on her face. When her chest had stopped heaving, she glanced up and located the nearest branch. Bunching her muscles, she jumped, gripped the branch and swung herself up and over. Landing neatly on top of it, she began to climb higher and higher, reaching for the moon. At the summit, she stood to her full height, grinning widely beneath her helmet.

Sucking in a deep breath, she let out a howl into the air, like those ones that Cu'Sith would make in the woods. Djarin froze beneath the shadow of the tree, having observed her weave her way up.

His petite vod was baying like some kind of wild animal, the moonlight turning her long dark braid nearly white as it basked her. She had conquered the tree, just as she had defeated Aya. In the way she had fought and the way she had slipped up the tree with feral grace and dexterity unlike any human he'd watched. Din didn't know what a Sephi was other than the fact that they had pointed ears. He'd heard of Naboo, because Gungans lived there and people liked to joke about them. Whatever the Sephi were, they did not move like humans - Senaar did not move like a human.

She howled again, making him flinch. This was his hideaway. His place to calm down and practice if he couldn't sleep. After watching her fight Aya, without so much as being touched, he'd decided he would show her. Now, he was glad that he had, her joy palpable even from where he stood down below. After the third cry, she began to maneuver down and made his heart jump up into his throat when she hung from a high branch, swung back, and then launched herself. The height was enough to break a man's knees upon impact. Senaar listed downward, before colliding with the ground. There was no grunt of pain, nor cracking of bone. Palm against the grass, her legs absorbed the shock of the impact and she remained for a brief moment before standing; unharmed.

"Thank you," she told him, still breathless and his readers picking up on the pure bliss in her modulated voice. "You don't know what this meant to me. To see a tree again, after-" her tone cracked and she glanced back, staring at it.

After whatever that had happened to her had brought her here amongst the Tribe. Din knew the answer, because he'd noticed it in her. The other children in their class had been raised Mandalorian. After hearing her tell the story about killing a stormtrooper, he knew that they were more alike than he cared to admit. War had taken their homes from him and so he had wanted to share this little space away from the rest of the covert.

"You earned it today, vod ," he shrugged, trying not to seem as if he cared too much. The last thing he needed was his rival to think there was more to this than a casual favor between kindred souls.

"We should head back. It's late," Sena pointed out, visor still tilted in the direction of the tree as if she were afraid it would get up and walk away. She offered her hand to him, just as he had done upon entreating her to trust him.

Din's heart fluttered a little before he took it.

10BBY

"Pack up your arsenal," Paz ordered his vod'ika , shining his helmet and the new beskar cuirass that he had set on the table in front of him. They had to look damn good today. It was an important day for her and as her mentor, it would also be pertinent that he looked just as stellar. His eyes trailed fondly toward Senaar, a smile creasing the corners of his lips as she went through her blades. The kriffing brat had so many now. Mostly because their buir kept giving her more, arming her to the teeth. Even if she'd been too small to use rifles and shotguns a few years ago, she'd grown into her skin and hiked up a few inches. Naturally, as an Anaxian, she was light boned and slender, but she was of a more average human height, growing like a weed overnight.

She had repainted her helmet, taking the same dark sherwood green as their buir , framing her visor with shimmering gold paint. Marked upon the crown were golden teardrops, reminiscent of her people's Goddess Marks. Now, her vambraces were also of beskar, inky green and gold, adorned with a hidden blade on the inside of her forearms. Buttons for the Kote , a whipcord launcher, and poison darts. A pistol on her bandolier, framed by her shoto and tanto. Leather had since been replaced with durasteel, painted like her helmet and embroidered with more tears. Her pauldrons had golden Jai'gaalar eyes, which winked at Paz.

His vod'ika was growing up. The young man could've shed a tear for how far she had come and how impressive he thought she was now. All fangs and claws, with kriffing knives tucked in nearly every crany imaginable. She was obsessed , giving each one a stupid name, mostly ending in '-Sticker'. Around her thigh was a band of throwing knives and a ragged, slightly fringed cloak of pine green. While similar to their buir' s, she had told him her inspiration was Anaxes and the forest surrounding Genmaris - an homage to a planet and people that no longer existed.

"Think I've got it all," she told him, her voice not half as squeaky as it had been when they’d met outside the palace gardens.

"Check again. I'm not coming back here because you forgot some kriffing tiny kal ," Paz snorted, loading his heavy blaster and standing up to begin strapping on his armor. " Buir has given us the Kote to do this. I've got the fobs for your hunt."

"That knife wasn't tiny last time! I literally forgot Pog-Sticker," she snarked, crooking a finger in his direction, patting the tanto fondly.

"I don't know how you forgot that one, it's basically your left arm," Paz retorted, bickering with the 16 year old.

"Well if someone didn't insist I take my belt off for hand to hand combat practice-" she returned with just as much bite as him, causing him to roll his eyes at her.

It was all in good nature. Neither of them were often authentically pissy with each other. Sibling banter. To them it was endearing, even if it just seemed like a bunch of hissing. "Will you two shut up? Get out of the house. I need some peace and quiet from you!" Hux poked his head out of his room to grouse at the both of them.

"Why? Have a lady friend coming over?" Sena went right for the kill, Paz trying to hide his chortling behind his hand.

" GET OUT !" Hux thundered, closing his door before his children devolved into malice filled laughter in the karyai .

They both picked up their travel packs, saddling them over their shoulders before heading for the door. Sunlight was quickly filtered by their visors, the village humming with activity as various students in Sena's class were preparing to go out for their First Trial. Each was shadowed by an older mando, be that their buir or an ori'vod like Paz. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to share a ship since Hux owned the Kote . On their way to the landing area, they passed Din and Fos. Paz chuckled as Sena flipped off her friend, which caused Djarin to just stare forlornly, wondering what in Caraya's Soul he had done to deserve that. Sena was just a brat and now had a terrible habit of flipping off all her friends, to include Paz as well.

"So when are the two of you exchanging riduurok ?" he teased, aware that she was sensitive about any subject that encouraged romance.

Sena sputtered underneath her helmet at the suggestion. "Zim’ika will have a heart attack if I marry anyone other than him. Y'know, I promised," she answered, deflecting entirely. The kid loved her to death, the moment he’d set eyes on her bucket, deciding that Sena would forever be the female of his dreams. Paz thought it was amusing, because while it was cute now, Sena had no idea what trouble she was in for when he was actually an adult.

"Come now!" Paz bellowed, hooking an arm around his sister's shoulders and drawing her in as they walked. "You're getting to that age now. The birds and bees-"

She groaned loudly, trying to worm out of his grasp, but he was much too strong and had mastered the ability to keep her from slipping his hold like an eel. "Stooooop. I already hear it enough from Xivi. Not you too!"

"Xivi is clever, that's why. You must've given a few of your brain cells to her over the years," Paz rumbled, pressing his vambrace to lower the dock to the Kote .

"I'm a Vizsla. Everyone knows we each only have one," she retorted glibly, her stupid smile audible in her voice.

"And to think you were so bright-eyed and bushy tailed when you got here," he feigned wist, shaking his head as he clucked.

"You corrupted me, ori'vod . It's all your fault," she blamed as they started up the platform.

"Vizsla!"

Dropping his arm from around Sena's shoulders, the both of them turning to see who'd called their names. At the base of the gangplank stood Hyvhast, one of Paz's peers, in muddy brown armor highlighted by stripes of moss green. " Oya! " he bid with a wave, wishing them a triumphant hunt. Paz was aware that there were ulterior motives, his vod having expressed interest in his little sister. Growling quietly under his breath, he slammed the door shut in his friend’s face.

Humming to herself, Sena trotted off to toss her bag onto a bunk in the crew quarters. Paz used the captain's quarters since he was in charge in their buir 's stead. He was a full hunter now, having passed his Second Trial. Keeping a close eye on his vod'ika , he'd watched her improvement and growing into her own skin. Every Mandalorian was different, which had been hard for her to accept in the beginning. Smaller than her peers, weaker strength wise, to the point where she wasn't allowed to shoot anything more than a pistol on the range - he'd known it had been difficult to swallow at first. Still light boned like a shriek-hawk, she'd passed the most worrying bit of her training.

Understanding where her talents laid, Senaar had dug her heels in and became the unofficial blades specialist of the Tribe. Her love of kal'e the subject of loving teasing amongst the Tribe. Jokes included that any child she had would be born holding daggers. Even if she was disinterested, she was coming of age and becoming the fixation of many available bachelors. Once she passed her First Trial, she would be open for hunting - or as non-Mandalorians considered it - courting. Ironically, none of them knew the exotic creature beneath the helmet, aside from the fact that she was 'Sephi'. She was precious and Paz was keen on protecting her from any unwarranted advances or overinsistent suitors. Most were his age, which made him even more disdainful over the fact that they were interested in at 16 year old like that. But aside from Djarin, she was top of her class and favored by Elder Rhenx the Alor .

He might've teased her about her relationship with her rival and peer, but Paz decided he liked the quiet Djarin better than half the hunters that were asking for his blessing when they returned from the Trial. The other teen was hyper focused and talented and absolutely atrocious at expressing how he felt. Paz had long suspected that Din might like his sister, but the idiot hadn't done anything aside from ask Paz for some hand to hand combat lessons, trying to glean Vizsla life a little better. He knew that Djarin wasn't expecting the copious amount of yelling that occurred in their karyai or the verbal assault he faced from the grouchy head of the clan or from Sena, whose favorite thing to do, was complain about everything . Apparently, she was much more mild mannered in class.

Sena's blatant disinterest in suitors pleased him and Paz might've had something to do with that, telling her she had ages to get married and settle down. She wanted to be a hunter. Her head wasn't filled with romance, it was filled with blood lust. Again, he might've... uhm, helped with that, but he was her ori'vod . To him, no one was worthy of the princess beneath the beskar'gam . Plus, he doubted most of the Tribe could actually handle living with her and were just attracted to her prowess.

"Paaaaaaazzzzz," she shouted for him in the cockpit, her voice echoing throughout the ship.

Leaving the captain's quarters behind, he climbed into the cockpit to see her sitting in the pilot's seat. Her helmet was cocked on the edge of the dash, dark lashes framing vibrant eyes on copper tan skin.

"Where's the Guild we're going to? Planet?"

Ah, right. He'd forgotten that he had stowed the inactive fobs. They would need to check in with the Guild before officially being sent off. To keep from too many members of the Tribe showing up at the same Guild, they had coordinated who would get which planet. "Dadrus."

"Solid," she muttered, starting up the ship, flipping a few switches, before her gloves settled on the controls and they squeaked from the tightening of her fingers. Taking the Kote off the ground, she began moving to get them out of atmo. "Any idea what these bounties are?"

He shook his head. "They're handed out randomly as not to show favoritism toward a specific group," he informed her, plopping down in the co-pilot seat. His job was to step in if needed, but Sena had to fly the ship, navigate them to the right planet, pick up the job, do the job, hand it in, and then return back to the covert with her reward. "Depending on the bounties, they pay more if you bring them in alive. Sometimes they don't care, but we'll throw them into carbonite either way."

Bounties were quite popular right now amidst the war for the galaxy. None of that was their business, but plenty of others had bets levied and people they needed to find. They wouldn't be bothered by the Empire as long as they flashed their fobs and mentioned being on Guild business. Paz hated encountering them, his blood rushing at the thought of what they had done to Anaxes. There was no doubt that Sena felt the same way and wouldn't be opposed to gifting more stormtroopers with second smiles on their gorgets. Such a beautiful planet and culture, erased, because they wouldn't submit to the Empire's will. Were there any other survivors aside from Sena?

Leaving the grassy moors of Vorp'ya, they broke atmo and Sena began plugging in coordinates. She listed through the hyperlanes, mapping the correct coordinates to start for the other Outer Rim planet, frowning at the calculations coming back. It would take them four days to reach Dadrus at the quickest the Kote could move. She attempted to find a swiffer route, to map between lanes, but couldn't pull any quicker numbers.

"Fuck," she grumbled.

"It'll be four days then," he shrugged, wondering why she was so bitter about it. Dadrus wasn't right next to them and it wasn't uncommon that hyperspace might take a few days.

"I made a bet," she continued grumpily.

"With whom?"

Sparing a glance back from her molten gold eyes, he knew. Her rival: Djarin.

"What did you bet?" Paz was actually impressed, but that quickly faded.

"Nothing more than bragging rights," she groaned as if that were the worst thing in the galaxy. Out of all the kriffing things they could have bet, it was just that? Maybe Din thought it was worth it, because Sena had such a huge amount of pride that losing would get under her skin for months - maybe even years.

Idiot, Paz complained silently. "Who knows how long of a trip he's got to make it his destination. Four days isn't that long."

"In addition to wherever we have to go to collect the bounty and then return it to Dadrus. Then we've got four days to return to Vorp'ya," she reminded him astutely. "At the very least, I expect we're going to be out 10 days."

"Then we'll just have to keep ourselves busy, won't we, vod'ika ?"

Punching the hyperdrive with the petulance of a Foundling on the brink of a tantrum, she muttered to herself.

"What, spending some bonding time with your ori'vod that grim of a prospect?" Paz pouted.

The angsty look she threw at him made him laugh. "It might be depending on what the hell you're going to tease me about."

"I'll lay off about Djarin," he promised, but crossed his fingers behind his back. "Come back down to the karyai . I've got a surprise."

Highly suspicious, his little sister followed him out of the cockpit as the ship chugged onward using auto-pilot. Plopping down cross legged onto a pillowed seat at the table, she folded her arms and waited expectantly. Cracking open the cooler, he pulled out growlers of ne'tra gal. She arched a dark brow at him. "Before the mission?"

"We've got four days," Paz pointed out, placing them on the table and retrieving a set of cups. "Let's play a game."

"Of course there's a catch," she narrowed her eyes at him, drawing the offered cup over toward her. "So, what's this game?" Taking a dagger out, she used the hilt to pop the cap off of the growler in front of her, the ale hissed slightly, frothing but not touching the rim of the container.

"Truth or dare," he challenged, opening his growler. " Ni dinu. "

"I've already opened it!"

"Looks like you're playing," Paz shrugged nonchalantly.

" Shebs ," she muttered, pouring herself a cup. "What are the rules then?"

"Truth, you ask a question. If you refuse to answer it, then you have to finish your cup. Dare, you have to do the dare. Again, if you refuse it then you have to finish your cup."

"Then why wouldn't I just do dare everytime?" Sena pointed out.

Paz laughed, but did not elaborate. "Start then."

"Dare."

"I dare you to open the dock."

Sena just leered at him, her bright eyes blinking slowly. "WHAT THE KRIFF! How am I supposed to do that?!" she roared, seizing her cup as she began to chug it.

"You said dare," Paz chortled in his minor victory.

"You're the worst."

"I pick... truth."

"So what's going on with you and Voomri?" she piped, her voice becoming sickly sweet as she inquired about a female mando that Paz, most certainly, did not like. Not that this mattered, because Voomri would spare every moment she had doting on him, all but hanging on him in an attempt to start the hunting cycle with him.

Paz growled, picking up his cup and draining it. "Your turn."

"Dare."

"You know where this is going, vod'ika ."

"DARE."

"I dare you to go for a swim in hyperspace."

The game continued like this, the both of them too stubborn to answer questions or relent in their impossible dares. Smacking his sister much sooner than him, she sagged over the table, a hand on her brow as she propped up her face, eying the other half of her ale dubiously. "Truth," she groaned.

Squirming delightedly in his seat, he placed his elbows on the table, leaning forward to grin at her. "Do you like Djarin?"

She gave him a venomous glare, picking up her drink, considering it for another moment. "Like how? Can I ask questions?"

"Enough to date."

"Why are you going to pummel him if I say yes?" she retorted snidely.

"Answer the question."

"I don't like anyone that way. I'm not interested in relationships like that currently," Sena answered honestly. "He's my friend, so yes, I like him. Not to the extent you're worried about. Although, I give you full permission to kick his shebs because it would be funny."

"Dare," he decided, pleased with the answer he had gotten.

The absolutely malicious glint in her eyes, lighting them like fire, made his stomach twist disconcertingly. "I dare you to run laps around the Kote . 3 of them, in full beskar'gam ."

This was the first dare that either of them could actually participate in and if Paz opted for a drink, he'd be labeled the loser. Curling his lip, he pushed himself up to his feet, swaying slightly, before considering his ale again. He did not want to run at this moment. No, his stomach complained at the idea. Hissing a few expletives beneath his breath he began his laps, the carbonation in the ale making him burp a few times, bile rising in the back of his throat. He finished the laps, the ship wasn't too big, but it still unsettled his insides.

Offering him the prettiest and smuggest smile she could manage, she said, "Truth," again.

"Do you think Djarin likes you? In the aforementioned manner," Paz hissed, holding his rebelling stomach.

Her brows pushed together and she frowned deeply. "How the kriff would I know? He's the quietest person in my class."

"But if you had to guess?"

"Maybe? I really can't say for certain. I've never really thought about it."

"You haven't thought about it?" Paz's voice hitched.

" Lek , I'm not hormone riddled. You humans age differently than Anaxians," she snorted, picking up her ale and taking a few mild swigs.

"What do you mean?"

"Anaxians don't reach maturity until their second decade of life. If you... ahem, catch my drift," she blushed slightly at admitting such a thing to her brother.

Paz's gums flapped and he felt incredibly uncomfortable in that moment. "Didn't need to know that... Really didn't need to know that-" he muttered loud enough for her to hear. Now he couldn't get the images out of his mind, standing up abruptly, picking up his growler and stomping away. He locked himself in the captain's quarters, bringing the ale to his lips as he felt even more disgusted with himself. It had all been in good fun until he realized even he had been sizing up his sister, considering the expansion of their clan. Running his hand over his face, he flopped back onto the bed and groaned.

---

Dadrus was an unimpressive, dustball planet. One of the first she'd been to since becoming Mandalorian and not at all her type of place, which would've been green, blanketed in trees, and with mild weather. Instead, the air was arid, made her skin parched even beneath her helmet, and the suns glared at her as if she had slapped its girl's ass in the cantina and got away with it. It was a small livable area on the gas giant and an even smaller outpost village that sat nestled between the amber and gold canyons. The Guild establishment was settled in a nook in the center of the town, the only thing worth traveling to on Dadrus. Otherwise, the planet might've been empty save for a few souls who were looking not to get captured for some sort of war crime. Place like this, the Empire would never bother with.

The bell on the cantina door tinkled pitifully as the Mandalorians entered. One dark green, shadowed by an impassive and impossibly large dark blue figure. All activity guttered to a halt, heads turning anxiously to look at the pair that were marked with the same Jai'galaar eyes on their pauldrons. Didn't get visitors often, let alone two Mandalorians. Usually they traveled alone, not in pairs. None of them knew that the two were just teenagers, because it was in the way they walked; tall, erect as if they were about to snap to attention, and with feral prowess indicating their years of training. From the visors, eyes then followed to the weapons. The female had an arsenal of knives and blades, whereas the male saddled himself with a heavy blaster and a few other smaller firearms.

He nudged her, motioning toward the back of the room where Jace nearly spat out his spotchka. They were going toward him. Well, he was the official leader for the Guild on Dadrus, so he shouldn't have been too surprised that they'd be bounty hunters looking for pucks. Draining the rest of his cup in his anxiety, he motioned for the bartending droid to bring a double - stat. Interlacing his fingers on the table to keep them from shaking, he listened to the dull metallic ring of each boot's footfall before the Mandalorians were standing at the end of his table.

The female reached into a pouch, all but slamming the unactivated fobs in front of him. "We're here for work," he wasn't expecting the accent. It was crisp, clear, and definitely not from round these parts. Outer Rim folks all had a certain accent, hers was cultured and smooth like velvet, despite the shift in it from the modulator. Jace leaned forward, earning an aggressive leer from the bigger mando. Was nice to hear such a pretty accent, but he wasn't looking to get throttled by the blue guy.

Swiping the fobs, Jace flipped through them and nodded his thanks at the droid who brought over his second spotchka. "These are all claimed," he muttered. "Where did you get these?"

The female glanced over at the male, her head tilted, maybe confused?

"Do you have any other work?" the male's voice was deep like rolling thunder.

"I have a few," Jace sat back and considered them. A pair like this could really be used for anything, not just a small fry job. "Tell you what, mandos, I'm in a gracious mood today. I've got one puck if you're willing to take it, but it's on Tatooine and deals with the Hutts."

"What does it pay?" the female inquired, his heart clenching at the sound of her voice again.

"Well. As long as you bring the bounty in warm. Leaking? That'll be fine. But alive," Jace picked up his spotchka and took a deep swig, eying the green mando while he did so. He saw an obsidian braid swaying and wondered what might be underneath that helmet.

"We'll take it," she didn't deliberate with her partner, holding out a black glove expectantly.

Jace found the puck in his stash and activated it, taking the three fobs they'd had that were no longer any good. Those were pitiful bounties anyways for a set of Mandalorians. They'd be better suited for walking amongst the Hutts and not being bothered. Jabba would probably entertain them, since he liked Mandalorians. Plopping it in her hand, Jace smiled fondly, "Happy hunting."

---

"Why are all these kriffing planets hot as fuck?" Sena complained loudly to her brother as they stepped off the dock into the hangar of Mos Espa. Visor adjusting rapidly to the light to cut the difference from the darkness of the Kote , she glared at anything and everything around her. She liked warm planets, not scalding ones. Despite there being a habitable zone in Tatooine, it was hotter than the devil's armpit and wearing full armor was not comfortable. Dadrus had also been slightly unpleasant, but now she was beginning to think that it was absolute paradise when held next to Tatooine. Plus, the Guild Master had been kind of cute. Ugh, she'd literally just told her brother she wasn't interested in anyone that way and now some random human had garnered her interest?

"The Outer Rim isn't known for being the most favorable place to live," Paz reminded her, but also groused quietly at how hot it was. Tatooine left much to be desired aside from the climate, to include the absolute rabble that littered the planet. They were Mandalorian and wouldn't be bothered, but he disliked the atmosphere here, the casual slavery, and the disdain toward life as if it were something to be taken for granted. This wasn't exactly the place he'd wanted Sena to go for her first hunt, but she'd snatched the puck up before he could stop her and he wasn't going to argue with her in the cantina on Dadrus. Not in front of other people. Any gripes could be taken behind closed doors unless they were life threatening.

"Should be easy. Pick up the quarry, shove him into cryo, then double back," she reasoned, spotting the mechanic who governed the bay they had landed in. "Hey!"

The old man froze beneath the shadow of the Mandalorians, dropping the wrench in his hand and paling. Bending down, Sena picked it up and offered it back to him, the small bit of courtesy confusing him. "W-welcome to Mos Espa," he greeted, taking the wrench and rubbing the accumulated sand off on his coveralls. "What can I help you with today?"

"We're just docking for the day. How much will that cost us?" Sena asked, gesturing back to the Kote.

"If you leave before morning, won't cost you more than 200 credits. "

That seemed like a lot, but then again Sena hadn't really bought anything off planet before. Their allowance was 1,000 for fuel, food, docking and other miscellaneous necessities. If this bounty went without a hitch, then they would be getting a lot more for the scum bag in Hutt palace. Hearing the word palace again was odd, but this place was nothing like her old home.

"Here's half now," she fished the credits out and put them into the mechanic's hand before locking up the Kote with a few buttons on her vambrace. Thinking that it was hot from within the shelter of the hangar, she was immediately dismayed the moment she walked into the sandy streets and felt the sunlight billeting off her dark armor. Sweat pooled beneath her flight suit, against the back of her neck, and rolled down into unpleasant crannies. Holding the fob in her hand, she followed the quiet pinging while her head remained on a swivel.

Everything was earth toned. Despite being a miserable planet, there was actually quite a bit of activity. Folks of multiple races meandered the streets in robed attire, a wave of gritty activity as they plucked along on daily activity. Her eyes noticed the people with collars, eyes cast down, going about their business though they were considerably more demure than most other locals. Slaves. Her lips curled beneath her helmet in disdain, recalling what papa had once told her about those who used slaves rather than paying people for honest work. They were despicable. No one, not even pilfering Jawas, deserved to be treated like a disposable object.

Paz had mentioned that Tatooine was a shitty planet and with each step, she continued to wade into the trash and find things she didn't like about it. From the old durasteel domes that were stained from whipping sandstorms, marred by scars of the sunlight stripping it of its dignity. Everything here was for purpose, not appearance. With water a high commodity, people would typically resort to sonic showers to clean things, which was sort of gross in her opinion. At least, Vorp'ya had its rainy seasons and was never truly parched like Tatooine. Grass had to grow in for the nerfs to graze on, their population growing ever larger.

They cut their way through the crowd like butter, folks shuffling out of their way as if so much as touching the Mandalorians would burn them. Sena wasn't taken aback by this, people were terrified of Mandalorians and eyed the arsenal of weapons each of them were decorated with. Did it make her feel lonely? No, she had the whole Tribe back on Vorp'ya, her friends, her vod, her best friends. There was nothing to be desired and she had a job to do to prove her worth to the Tribe. She wouldn't let her aliit or the Elders down.

The Hutt palace wasn't exactly what she'd call a castle. A big, cylindrical dome with a few black rings toward the top which were windows set inward, strong enough to withstand the storms. While it was quite large, she thought it had a phallic shape to it and was unimpressive and nondescript. No, compared to Genmaris Castle it was a lewd joke, more akin to a run down outpost in the forest than a place where important people should dwell. Through her academics, Sena knew that the Hutt Clan was not a force to be reckoned with lightly. They were slavers and crime lords, with no qualms in dispatching anyone they disliked. Fortunately, they were fond of Mandalorians and their success in retrieving bounties, so Sena was hopeful that they wouldn't run into too many issues.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Inside the palace. Well, she'd been expecting it, eying the pair of Niktos by the door who gave the two of them brief glares before jerking their heads in approval and letting them through. Smoke buffeted their helmets upon entrance, the haze a swirling combination of whatever the patrons were dragging between lips and a machine near the jazz playing band. Lively music filled the air, but did not disperse the blatant profligacy that filled the cantina chamber to the brim. Slaves were everywhere, identifiable from the metal shock collars around their throats. Servers ferried drinks between tables, some playing sabacc, others engaged in deep conversations, and eyes immediately distinguishing the mandos through the murk, almost as if they weren't truly there, and their eyes were playing tricks on them.

Upon a stone plinth was the ugliest creature that Sena ever had the luxury of laying eyes on. Once that title had belonged to Rathas, but now she'd decided that Jabba the Hutt was a much more suitable champion. A big, lumpy mass of molted green, brown, and tan with piercing orange eyes, slitted pupils blown as he picked up a tiny, live, and miserable creature which squealed for dear life before disappearing into the sticky maw of the Hutt. A shiver lanced down her back, a pair of scantily clad slaves tethered to him by chains. They looked absolutely petrified, as if they might be the next thing to disappear into his gullet.

There were dancing platforms where various female slaves swayed to the music and gripping poles. Clearly, they weren't doing it for pleasure, their collars a little smaller as not to impede them from their work. Lecherous eyes trailed them, some of the customers and guests muttering about what they wanted to do to them and if maybe Jabba would let them if they paid. The absolute filth being translated through her helmet made her want to vomit.

Paz brushed her arm, reminding her to keep moving, and not get distracted. Steadying herself, she placed her palm on Cu'Sith's pommel and felt her heartbeat ease back down to normal. While she wanted to murder everyone in this room, aside from the slaves, and paint a beautifully macabre mosiac with crimson (and whatever other colors of blood there might be) - she knew they couldn't. Not only were they vastly outnumbered, but killing anyone in here without permission would mean turning the Hutt Clan against them and the Tribe. Too much of a risk to free a few slaves. They weren't there to be heroes.

Approaching Jabba, he turned his repugnant eyes toward them, his impressively wide mouth curving up in what could only be described as a slimy smile. A protocol droid stood beside him as he spoke, translating the Huttense, "Welcome Mandalorians. Jabba is most pleased to see you amongst his ranks today. He asks what he can help you with today? Are you looking for work?"

Sena drew out her tracking fob. "We have a quarry that has led us here," she informed him curtly, keeping voice under control and thankful for the modulator to cut the edge off of her bitterness in having to deal with this monster. Pressing the identification button, the silhouette of their charge sputtered in a crystalline holographic view; a Twi'lek male in his early 30s.

Jabba considered it and then wobbled the top of his slug-ness. He didn't really have a neck which could discern what was his head and what was his body, but she supposed it was as much of a nod as she would get. "Jabba says that your quarry is here in one of the back rooms. You are permitted to collect him as long as no one is disturbed."

Sena put the fob back into her pouch and gave a discreet nod, unwilling to thank the creature. Turning away, she trotted along through the back halls and toward the rows of chamber doors. This area was akin to a hotel, where bounty hunters could stay whilst in Jabba's care. Lighting was subpar, yellow like piss, and casting a sickly glow against the rusted walls. Down the hall, she stopped where the fob indicated, glancing to see if there was anyone nearby. A few scampering slaves, who ducked away and ignored them, a passing Nikto, but no one who had any interest in bothering them.

From her pocket, she removed a lock pick, giving Paz the signal to let her handle this on her own. Sena could use her stealth to her advantage, but Paz wasn't gifted in the same talents. He'd trundle right in and give her away. He would post outside whilst she took care of business inside. Didn't take long for her to find the right combination. She'd practiced on Paz's door just to annoy him by putting random bugs in his bed. He hated bugs.

Slipping in like a shadow, she pinned herself to a wall and slowly removed her kal'e from her belt. The lights were off except for one on the nightstand, allowing for her to drink in the surroundings before deciding what she would do. Her head cocked, a strange slapping and wet noise garnering her attention. Creeping forward, her feet rolled heel to toe to prevent any noise. Her light weight allowed for an even more soundless approach as she cut the corner slightly and her stomach dropped into her feet.

Caged in the corner was a young woman who was barely clinging to life as her captor gripped her by her slave collar. Head bent back at an uncomfortable angle, Sena could only watch on in horror as he pummeled into her, each wet slap punctuated by a terrible whimper from the woman’s mouth. The animalistic grunts, the absolute disregard for the slave’s deteriorating health, her skin marked by bruises and lesions, slicked with sweat and blood.

Finally finding her feet, she stepped forward, each rolling of her heel to toes silent. Not that the bastard would have even heard her, fixated in his conquering. She raised the pommel and collided with the back of his head.

The Guild Master had said leaking was fine. Her lip was peeled back in a wolfish snarl that the quarry couldn't see, groaning as blood trickled down the back of his head. A hiss escaped the door for a second time and Paz stomped in to see what the commotion was. Immediately, he went rigid, observing the barely breathing form of the slave as Sena bent over her, chewing her lip as she tried to decide what to do. Maker, she was bleeding everywhere.

"She's not going to make it," he told her.

"Why? Why would anyone do this? What sort of sick pleasure do they get from this?" her voice was hoarse, but crackled with unbridled fury. "Can you hear me? Hello?"

The slave girl's eyes fluttered open for just the briefest of moments, unfocused, pupils blown as she let out the faintest cry of shock. Of course. Two Mandalorians were hunched over her while she was bleeding to death. Gritting her teeth, Sena placed her arms under the slave and lifted her, taking her over to the bed instead of the damp corner she'd been bludgeoned in. Setting her down, dismayed by how much the human weighed, she pulled the blankets up and tenderly wiped away the spittle and other fluids from her face. Continuing to clean up what she could, she sat in the chair beside the female and waited, observing each rattled breath until the slave opened her eyes again.

"What... are you doing?" she asked weakly.

"I'll stay here with you," Sena promised, clutching her knees to keep her hands from shaking as the scenes replayed in her head over and over again. Primal, animalistic, and disgusting.

"P-p-please. Can you finish it? It hurts... so bad... it hurts..."

" Vod , I'll do it-" Paz stepped up.

The slave whimpered at the sight of him and Sena snapped her head up. "Take him out of here. I'll help her. She's afraid of you."

Paz's shoulders sagged slightly, gripping the quarry by the cuffs and dragging his limp body out of the room. When the door snapped shut again, Sena turned back to the young woman and let out a shuddering breath. "Is there... anyone you want me to tell about you? Family? A friend?"

"I've always been a slave. N-n-no one," she answered quietly, closing her eyes against and shuddering. "Be-before you do... Can I see your face? S-so I know?" Know who saved her and put her out of her misery. That was her request.

The question shocked her, shaken to her core by the question to see her face. Aside from her aliit , no one had seen her since she left Genmaris. No living thing could see it or she'd have to kill them. Drawing her blade, she knew what she had to do. Sena was discreet, hiding it on the outside of her thigh as she reached up with a trembling hand and disengaged the seal of her helmet. Setting it down, her eyes rapidly adjusted to the dim room, glowing faintly in the reflection of the lamp.

Eyes widening, the slave sputtered slightly at what she saw, the tanned countenance of a young female. Then she softened, resigned to her death, a faint smile creasing her frothing lips. A secret she would take with her to the grave and the only luxury and honor she'd been spared in her entire life. "Th-thank yo-you," the slave muttered as Sena bent down, almost in the way a mother would crane to her child to kiss their brow before bed time.

Smoothing the mess of hair from the female's face, Sena's eyes burned as she maneuvered the blade carefully, out of sight and mind. "Go to a better place. You will be safe there and no one will harm you, mesh'la ," she promised, sliding the blade up into the girl's ribcage. Her lids snapped back, before a long winded sigh parted her mouth and she eased down into an eternal slumber. Dragging the pads of her fingers down, Sena closed the slave's eyes and withdrew her tanto, wiping the blood off on her pants. Taking her helmet, she placed it back on and cleared her throat, finding it constricting on her as she stared at the girl - who might've been sleeping peacefully if not for the dark scarlet stain in the fabric where her heart had been pierced.

I will remember you, Sena promised, spinning on her heel and storming out of the room to find Paz waiting. The quarry was coming to, eyes still rolling into the back of his head. She'd probably given him a concussion.

" Vod ?" Paz was even toned, entreating her to see how she was faring.

"Let's return to the ship."

The silence between them was thick enough to cut and Paz was worried. While talking outside the privacy of the Kote or their covert was not necessary, he saw the stiffness in her shoulders and the fists she balled her gloves into. He'd only caught what had happened at the end, but had been able to see quite clearly that she had found the quarry torturing the slave. Kriffing Tatooine. Absolute hellhole of a place. This was why he had been worried about coming here. It was no place for a 16 year old and now she'd seen too much.

Sena paid the mechanic in the hangar, following Paz closely as he dragged the charge who was starting to become more lucid. He was about to thrust the bastard into cryo when his sister caught his arm. "No. I'm not done with him," she informed him, preventing him from sealing the Twi'lek in carbonite. Any normal person might've been sickened by the suggestion, the idea that she was going to torture him as he'd tortured the slave. But Mandalorians often abided by the rules of an eye for an eye. The quarry needed to be alive, but they'd never said he couldn't be scarred.

He left her, heading up to the cockpit just as she secured the trembling Twi'lek to a chair and pulled out one of her knives. Just as he closed the door to the cockpit, he heard the first guttural scream, silenced quickly by some article being stuffed into his mouth. The creature deserved it. He deserved every lasting mark that Sena would place on him. Being a master of blades had always encroached on this territory - Paz just wondered how long it would be before she actually wielded them in this manner. He'd been hoping she would be older, but he couldn't change fate. No, he just worried about what his vod'ika had seen.

Translations

Shabuir - motherfucker Buir - parent Vod - comrade/brother/sister Lek - Yeah Ne'johaa! - shut up! Shebs - ass Murcyur - kiss Ori'vod - big sibling Su'cuy - Hi Kal - blade Kal'e - blades (i made the plural up) Nayc - No Jate - Good Ad'ika - daughter/son (affectionate) Aliit - Clan Cyar'ika - darling, sweetheart Vaar'tur! - Morning! Ad - son/daughter Kyramud - assassin Vaar'ika - pipsqueak Koor - Deal Hut'uun - coward (a very heavy weighted insult in Mandalorian) Ori'jagyc - bully; one who picks on someone smaller than themselves Kandosii! - Well done Vu'traat - special forces Riduurok - marriage vows Oya - Stay alive ! Cheers ! Ni dinu - Take it or leave it

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End Author Note: Dear Readers, absolutely all my resolve has vanished and I am now hopelessly writing a romance fic. Heck.

My original intention was to really drag out growing up, but I like the vein I've traveled down more. The biggest point to take away from this is that Din is very inexperienced (and he's reserved) whereas Sena is very outgoing and popular (with the addition that she's not in an Anaxian's adolescent form yet, so relationships of a sexual nature are still weird to her).

We've got that awkward in between phase in tandem with Sena's distaste for what happened on Tatooine. Our poor little bird isn't gonna be ready for an intimate relationship for a while and Din is hopeless anyways since he doesn't talk.Anyways, I'm really excited to publish the next chapter in a week. There will be a lot of timeskips before getting to present time of Season 1.

Additionally, Paz will eventually also have a love interest in a few chapters. I couldn't forget him completely when Din and Sena's ship sails.

Tags will change once those chapters are published.Publishing day will be Sunday - no specific timeframe.

#big brother paz vizsla #paz vizsla & oc character #the mandalorian fanfic #the mandalorian fanfiction #oc mandalorian #growing up mandalorian #din djarin x oc

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