#shoutout to the very nice asks recently

[dappermouth]

i don't know what it is about your art that makes me so motivated. i think it's the way you depict wild animals in the most unassuming, americana settings. i've always felt as if i'm not fully meant to be here, some sort of detached - perks of being korean-american and southern - and looking at your art makes me feel seen.

looking at your art makes me feel at home, which is something i don't usually feel. if this makes any sense, it feels like i am the jaguar at the top of the staircase, the stag leaping rooftop to rooftop, the girl with the face of the wolf, that's me.

every time i'm scared that maybe i won't make it, i trot on over here and feel comforted.

i hope you have a great night (or morning, or afternoon, or whatever else it may be in your world), because after looking through your pieces, i know i sure am :)

What tremendously kind things to say — I genuinely used to fantasize that someday my art might make someone feel this way. Messages like this blow my mind. Thank you!

#jentalk #shoutout to the very nice asks recently #kinder by far than i could deserve #msgs you screenshot and stick in a folder to revisit when you fear you'll never cook again

[anonymous-dentist]

A Very Long qRoier Theory

Okay so here's what I actually think, and TRUST THE PROCESS OKAY:

I think that Roier really was kidnapped by the Federation, but I don't think that he was taken because he was looking for Cellbit strictly because the Feds themselves are actually more or less actively searching for the missing islanders and hoping for their return so they can continue the murder investigation. Despite the terrible things going on, the Feds legitimately want all their islanders/lab rats back on the island so they can continue with whatever experiment they're holding. Every time Cucurucho has held a meeting recently, it's asked about the status of the missing islanders, so it really wouldn't make sense for it or the Feds as a whole to punish their one single lead in the case when every actual Federation agent assigned to the case has either come up with nothing or disappeared entirely.

Nah, I think Roier was taken because he was vulnerable and because the Feds figured nobody would've missed him. They know that he isn't really super close with anybody on the island but Cellbit, and they know that he's been actively pushing people away for a while now- basically since Bobby's death, and moreso since his return from Purgatory.

Looking at the QSMP channel's streams, particularly Elena's, we know that the Feds seem to be a pharmaceutical company. They, simply speaking, make drugs. Look at the "happy pills" that Elena helped create, this is what the Feds do.

Roier mentioned that he was drugged. He never said that they stopped drugging him. I think he's still being drugged and that he isn't a rat- not a literal one, anyway.

I think that Roier is still under the effects of the drugs he's being given because he is currently a test subject. He's a lab rat.... at the moment, anyway.

More on that later.

Do I have any evidence for this? Not really, but also some things just didn't add up cinematically. Like, okay, go back and watch everything from after when Roier 'wakes up' in the dungeon:

Everything's got this weird otherworldly fuzziness and glow to it. It's almost dreamlike in a way. Only the focus of the world is, well, in focus. The rest is blurred like a bad 3D movie:

There are all these weird cuts and jumps, too, like 11:16 when we suddenly cut to black for a few moments as Roier goes down the hallway, or 12:13 when we smash cut to the rat and 12:16 when we cut to Cucurucho. It's super sudden and jarring and it sets up a real nice feeling of unease (shoutout to ccRoier, this is SPECTACULAR)

And the music, okay, the background music is exactly the kind of shit you'd hear in a 'Dreamcore Music Video' on YouTube. It's super Backrooms, super weird esoteric vibes, and that's very on purpose.

None of this is real, and "Doied" is the final proof because like. He isn't real lol, if he's real then so is Roger, and the only times either of them front are when Roier's goofing around or when he's extremely homicidal (we saw Roger pretty recently, actually, back in October when he said that Cellbit killing everyone might be a good thing, actually.) Doied isn't like Abueloier or Melissa, he's one of Roier's 'alters', and he's a bit of a freak lol

I think about everyone can agree that this whole 'Ratoier' thing is a hallucination, but then we have to think, huh, what the hell does any of this mean?

First, we gotta follow the whole 'Roier is Currently Super Drugged' thing, because he is. He literally is. If he's not, well, laugh at me when the next tape comes out.

Roier is drugged by the Feds right now probably to test a new drug, possibly a drug meant to- just like the Happy Pills- make people happy again. In this case, however, I think that the pills may actually have something to do with memories, particularly the same memory retrieval stuff the Resistance did to Bagi. Because, well.

I want to go back to the rat, and I want to go back to Doied, because this stream actually implied a LOT about qRoier's character.

The thing about Doied is that he's the manifestation of Roier's "Um, actually!" Nerd Emoji self. He's a nerd. He's a loser with glasses and a nasty attitude.

Doied, in the dream, is a scientist. Doied, in the dream, performed horrible, inhumane experiments for the Federation. He put Roier's brain into a rat's, a lab rat's.

Once a long, long time ago in August, Roier quietly came to the realization that maybe he has a past history with the Federation and that's why Osito Bimbo has always been so weird about him- it basically had a crush on him for the first week or so of the island, and it still seems to, and he is still the only one outside of Foolish the Federation Employee to be addressed directly by his train ticket number: 0037. He brought up the possibility of being a Federation worker in the past to Cellbit, who brushed it off and said that he wouldn't care because he's a worker, too, technically, but what if it isn't a possibility?

We've always wondered how Federation workers end up the way they do. Why are they all the exact same type of bear? Why does only Cucurucho get to have a face and a voice? Why do they all have human minds and emotions? Why are they all dedicated to the Federation?

Easy. Because maybe they were people before, just like how Bagi and several other islanders think they are. But maybe someone put their brains inside of an animal's body- or, at least, inside of a worker's body, God only knows if they were actual polar bears at some point. Somebody had to help come up with that technology, and maybe it's the guy who managed to build an entire computer and radio-satellite setup over the span of about a week in his goddamn backyard without anybody knowing about it.

Roier has always had some weird connection with the Federation. He's the only civilian islander to ever be addressed by his ticket number, and later we find out that Foolish's ticket number- 0039- is his Federation Employee ID Number- W0039. He was Osito Bimbo's favorite for the first week on the island to the point of Osito just giving him whatever he wanted. He and Jaiden were paired up for the Egg Event (something that was intentional, btw, admin confirmed), and it's later revealed that Jaiden has a past with the Federation regarding the SMILE Units (aka Osito Bimbo and Cucurucho and the new guys.) The "Gods" (aka the admins) will happily follow him around and revive him when he's alone and strike him with lightning when asked and give him dirt and whatever. He managed to get someone onto the island from off of the island, Abueloier, and Abueloier was saved from the brink of death by the Federation in the Federation's hospital. His literal pet dog is a Federation employee. He got to name Jorgito the IV Drip.

Doied put someone's brain into the body of a rat, and Doied is Roier's nerd self.

I think that Roier may, in fact, have a past history with the Federation, and that it isn't because his grandfather worked/works for them. Maybe Roier did, just like he suspected months ago, and maybe he did some really bad things. But they were excused at the time because the people being converted into workers were bad people who made mistakes. Roier made the mistake of breaking the rules trying to connect with Cellbit, and so he got turned into a rat. There's been a functional prison on the island for long enough for it to be partially abandoned (see: Tazercraft Prison Stream.) Walter Bob was held there, possibly because he was part of the Resistance, or possibly because he wasn't done cooking yet.

Roier has always been a man of justice. When people do bad things, they get punished, and then things can go back to normal. He ruined Quackity's life. He wanted Slime to be properly punished for killing Tilin and he threatened to murder him when he tried threatening the kids. He built an entire torture dungeon in his basement for the explicit purpose of torturing Spreen to the point of death repeatedly and possibly for the rest of Spreen's miserable life. Cucurucho took Bobby away, and Roier said that the Federation would regret putting and keeping him on the island. Pozolito the Capybara blew Cellbit up, and Roier has literally tried killing every Capybara he's seen since. The Federation screwed with his family and with himself, and Roier is more than happy to join Cellbit in massacring the entire Federation.

He's a man of justice, but not of morals. He's a ruthless killer when it comes down to it, and he only shows regret when it comes to his husband's deaths during Purgatory. He doesn't fight unless he has to, but he's been thinking about killing everyone on the island since the first week of the server when he was betrayed. But, when it comes down to it, he doesn't actually want to hurt anyone he cares about. It's why Purgatory fucked him up so much.

His moral alignment actually matches up pretty well with several other Federation workers'- particularly workers like Elena and Fred who are nice but are willing to do terrible things in the name of their cause. The difference here is that Roier has had the same privilege that workers like Walter Bob and Ron got: he got a chance to socialize.

He doesn't have memories from before the island, but he remembers enough about his childhood to be a little suspicious.

But what if these drug-induced hallucinations are actually hints to Roier's backstory? What if it wasn't Doied running all these terrible experiments for the Federation, but it was Roier? Just a guy acting under the belief that he was making the world a better place, punishing criminals (aka rule breakers) while helping the Federation's cause: finding true happiness and spreading it to the world.

The Eye said that everybody in Purgatory was a sinner, and maybe Roier's sin was some mad scientist bullshit.

The dream today, Tape 1, had Roier being punished. Maybe it's because that's what he did as a scientist to new employees, or maybe it's because of his own guilt over everything he's done; remember, the reason he stopped smiling in Purgatory wasn't because he was killing his friends (because he's thought about killing his friends for a VERY long time), but it was because he killed Cellbit, and then it was because he left Cellbit behind to die. That's why the dream specified Cellbit's lost signal and not, say, Jaiden's, and it's why all the cool cinematic landscape shots focused on either Roier himself or Cellbit.

If my prediction is correct, Tape 2 would have Roger instead of Doied. So we'll see what happens then, I guess. Roger, who represents Roier's anger and his various homicidal tendencies.

Fit said that everybody was on the island for a reason, and Roier has been cooking for a long time now. Maybe qRoier is just like qJaiden: a former Federation associate.

TLDR; qRoier is currently hallucinating due to him being a Federation lab rat. His drug-induced dreams may be implying that Roier has a past within the Federation as a scientist completing the same experiments that "Doied" did in the dream to Roier.

But that's just a theory, a Game Theory. Thank you for reading.

#qsmp theory #qsmp #qroier #long post #guys idk if this makes sense #but it does to me!!!!!

[melonsharks]

Tell us everything about the parent trap au immediately please please please

to give u an insanely quick rundown with a wip art i have:

aziraphale as elizabeth. wedding dress designer under his pen name A.Z. Fell. (hes an artist as confirmed in s2 and the whole "drawing on napkins" thing elizabeth would do appeals to me immensely)

crowley as nick. owns a vineyard. I NEED HIM TO OWN A VINEYARD SO BAD. shoutout to Old Vines on ao3 for changing me in a fundamental way. he makes wines and he tends to the vines and he is so passionate about it to an abusurdist degree. he yells at his vines when they arent growing right. you already knowwww.

when they meet for the first time, they don’t meet on a boat like in the movie, they actually meet at a wedding party :J crowley was a wine collector, just starting out. he loved offering aziraphale samplings of his most vintage collection out of impulse. (he likes seeing the way aziraphale savors them) (he’s besotted) Wants to own his own vineyard one day. aziraphale, on the other hand, has dreams of becoming a fashion designer of sorts, always drawing ideas on any scraps of paper he can find. his designs are very old fashioned, but thats like… part of the appeal. his work very much reflects who he is, and the people who flock to it understand that.

they enter this kind of… whirlwind relationship, they get married, and then eventually adopt two golden haired blue eyed baby boys. twins. :J warlock and adam.

they break things off because aziraphale leaves... alluding to their recent breakup in season two, the reason he left was because "we both clearly had very different ideas on where our lives were going. so. i packed up and left." (parallel s2 divorce 😋 they don’t know how to talk to each other) (aziraphale throws a book at his head after this argument, like the hairdryer in the movie LOL. it was pride and prejudice. crowley still has it.)

aziraphale leaves with adam. warlock is left with crowley. crowley eventually leaves London because he finds he cant stand being anywhere near Aziraphale (hes just irresistible in that way), and he goes to California where he finally fulfills his dream of owning a vineyard. a nice one on Napa, Northern California.

Aziraphale’s wedding dresses become more and more well known, Adam grows well-adjusted. Same kid you know from the show and book, natural born leader, a good head on his shoulders. (Aziraphale has no idea why Adam is like that, but he is so proud)

Crowley’s vineyard (The Garden Of Eden) grows and grows… Warlock is spoiled rotten, but he does love actually working at the vineyard with Crowley to and he and Crowley have a really good relationship…

Eventually the kids go to a summer camp together in London (i dont know if they . do this in the UK, but suspend your disbelief if you will) Adam meets The Them there, then meets Warlock after a nutty fencing thing, they kind of hate each other at first and the rest is history :J

side characters UM. LOL. idk……. i mean i kind of know but not really? theres just so many possibilities that make the rounds in my head. chessy could be anathema OR nina (ive had people suggest eric too?) and martin could be newt OR maggie (ive also had people suggest muriel????) gestures vaguely.

as for meredith…….erm…………🤷‍♂️ ive had everything under the sun suggested to me and i still……have no idea. LOL. gabriel, lucifer, shaX, FURFUR, THE WIFE FROM THE NON-SPOILER SPOILERS. I DONT KNOW. IT ALL FEELS WRONG. its hard to come up with this role in particular when these gay bitches literally only have eyes for each other. always. forever. u know. i think lucy is like. the classic answer. but idfk.

ask me about . more things if u want. this is consuming my every thought.

anyways the cover im working on for. for something:

#good omens #good omens 2 #gomens #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley #adam young #warlock dowling #parent trap au #asks #paradox-progressing #i said insanwly quick but this is so fucking long. im sorry

[kyberblade]

Back To You - (Din x Reader) Epilogue/Prologue for Close To Home

A/N: IT IS HEREEEEEEE!!! So sorry it took so long. So much happens. I was going to divide this and then I thought, “Hmmmmm…. No.” As one does. Another note at the end to avoid spoilers. Seriously. Don’t read it until you’ve read the whole thing. You’ve been warned. I have spoken. This is the way. Yada yada yada. …..You just jumped forward and came back didn’t you? 🙄 Also, once again, there is some lore in this that @writerlyhabits​ wrote in a fantastic short, and I loved it so much, I asked if I could use it.

There are parts of this you won’t understand if you didn’t read the Dincember 2022 Drabble Carry You With Me, but they are very small mentions, you will be fine as a whole if you don’t want to read it. But why wouldn’t you? 🥺

(This takes place two years after the other one, and goes to the beginning-ish of episode 1/5 of TBoBF, Return of the Mandalorian.)

I do not own Star Wars or it’s characters. Sadly. But I carry them in my heart. Does that count for something? My soul says yes.

Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff, Grogu being the cutest thing you ever did see, (Nobody touch me he’s still here okay?) and Din is once again a warning in and of himself in this one. Helmetless Din. What? Who said that? 😬 Typical show violence. Swearing. Space swearing. Grogu is a menace. Arguing? Mando’a. Show dialogue, so spoilers? (But if you’re here, you know how this works.) Return of past characters. Tears. Shenanigans. Lots of banter. Throwback to chapter one with dialogue repeats but in the best™️ way, and copious amounts of me trying to work in back to you as a normal thing in a sentence bc why not.

Word count: 16,655 (I said what I said.)

As always, thanks to @grippingbeskar for encouraging me, looking over this for me, and being the one to introduce me to Din fanfiction in the first place, getting me hooked. You are fantastic and I always love our chats.

And for @fordo-kixed-rex, you deserve so much more than a shoutout for reading all 75 million iterations of this massive chapter from start to finish, and helping me in between. You’re a real one, friend. This series would not have gotten this far without you.

Also a shoutout to @what-the-heckin-heck, @dontletyourchildrenwatchthis, @lloweryourstandardss, and @littlemisspascal for being a sounding board for me over this whole process. (Also to @deceiver-of-gods for all of your help over all the chapters with the Mando’a. I hope I got it right in this one.)

Previous | Series Masterlist | Next

Xxx

Two years later….

Tatooine was bustling. As always. Vendors with their wares, smells and brilliant sights everywhere you turned. Something new and exciting to pull you in and suck all your credits dry just like the planet's heat stole every drop of moisture…. 

But it was all nothing without the kid. It was dull and drab without Grogu at your side. His soft babbles, the odd ‘Patu’ he’d throw at the next snack he’d like to steal…. 

Dank farrik! Turning away from the hanging frogs at the nearest vendor, you swiped at the most recent batch of tears rising to the surface. Sniffling loudly, you melted into the warm hand that came to rest on your back, eyes fluttering shut.

“It’s okay, mesh’la. I miss him, too.” The modulated voice at your ear carried unspoken sorrow of its own, sadness it’d never dare to even whisper into the universe, lest that make it real. If he kept it hidden, secret…. Like his face, nothing in the galaxy could use it against him. Somehow it made him stronger. And you both resented that and wanted to squeeze the life out of him for it at the same time. 

“It’d be nice if you’d show it once and a while….” You grumbled, turning toward him but keeping your eyes cast down to stare at the sand.

His hand fell to his side slowly. “What?” Head tilting to the side as he peered down at you in question, barely any space left between you, it leaned the other way when you shook your head with a sarcastic grin.

“Nothing. Forget it.” Your eyes lifted up to meet his visor finally, squinting against the glare of the twin suns. “Got everything?”

Din nodded. “Almost. Just need the-”

His words were cut short when the satchel across his chest suddenly dropped to the ground, the strap cut inconspicuously by a passing Rhodian seeming to casually bump into the Mandalorian only moments before.

You turned to try and find the culprit but Din tugged on your upper arm. 

“Forget about him. He’s just the-” Both of you looked down at the ground to find the satchel missing, “-distraction.”

You smirked. “I see.”

As Din’s head began to swivel in search of the thief, you attempted to reach out through the crowd with the Force, searching for the familiar signature of the contents in the satchel.

“How did you not get an alert?”

Now your head was on a swivel. Directly to the Mandalorian. “A what?”

“You know.” He wiggled his fingers like Cara always did when referencing the Force. “Why didn’t you know?”

You rolled your eyes with a sigh, looking back to the crowd. “It doesn’t work that way.” The world weary words you’d said a thousand times felt like a mantra at this point. Then after a moment you added, “I’m not a security system.”

“Well that would be handy,” Din said offhandedly, beginning to walk purposefully in the direction the two of you had come not minutes before.

Stumbling after him, your face scrunched like you’d eaten something sour, you pulled on his upper arm to try and turn him around, but it only stopped him, his head still on a swivel. “Wait, what?!”

Din sighed in frustration. “I don’t know. I’m just looking for the thief. That bag has something impor-”

“Your old armor, I know.” Din’s full attention was on you now, his head tilted slightly in question. “Everything has an energy, that’s a really simplified way of how the Force works. Right now I’m trying to track the signature of your armor.”

“What is it?” He asked hesitantly, his weight shifting to one side.

Smiling softly, you took a step forward, grabbing his hand and pulling him down a side alley toward where you felt the signature grow stronger. “Nothing but goodness, Man- Din. Light and strength.” You stumbled over his name, still not used to using his actual moniker in public.

He chuckled at your fumble, shaking his head in disbelief. “From that dingy old stuff?”

“It’s not the quality of the armor that I’m reading.” You looked at his visor over your shoulder, eyebrow raised. “It’s the quality of the warrior who wore it.” Turning back forward to navigate between the street crowded with lifeforms, one side of your mouth lifted in amusement. “That type of thing leaves an impression.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” he finally grumbled quietly. When you looked back at him once again, your brow arched higher than before, he huffed. “How did you know it was there?”

Smiling softly as you held the gaze of his visor, you turned back to face forward, moving a bit faster. “You’re about as subtle as your new armor.” Din let out a soft, annoyed groan. “I saw you packing it back in Peli’s hangar.”

“I can be subtle,” he groused, slowing his steps slightly.

With your own groan, you turned to face him with a toss of your head for emphasis. “Yes. So subtle, Mandalorian. My big, shiny tin can. Now come.” Grabbing his hand once again with both of yours, you began to walk backwards, pulling him along with you. “We have a thief to catch.”

The alley had quieted down, the masses of beings thinned out so it was basically only you and Din, and maybe a handful of beings milling about, using the cross way as a shortcut to somewhere else. No one was lingering, their faces streaking by as they hurried to move on with their day.

“Hold that thought.” Din pulled you to a stop, planting his feet as he turned his head toward a crate on his left. On top of the box sat his satchel, untouched, his armor still causing it to look awkward and lumpy. “We may have just lucked ou-”

A surge of panic behind you caused you to turn toward the source, a small figure darting out of your line of sight as a familiar small voice muttered, “Oh shi-” before spinning around in Din’s hold, his grip around their forearm holding them tight.

“Okay, you little nerf herder, nice try- Sola?” Din’s voice dropped on the name.

You turned to fully face the pair, eyes going wide on the small girl now a young adult, maybe twelve, possibly thirteen years old now. 

She looked between the two of you, her expression a mirror of your own, as her body deflated in Din’s hold, her weight going slack in his grip while she cried in disbelief, “It’s you?!”

You couldn’t help the highly intelligent thing that tumbled out of you next. “It’s you?!”

Sola sighed a sigh worthy of a Mandalorian before she grumbled, kicking one foot at the sand path of the alleyway. “I knew I recognized that armband.”

Reaching up, you traced over the ribbons on your left bicep with the tips of your fingers on your right hand, eyes darting down to look at it briefly before they pulled back up to level a stern glare on the girl.

Before anything else could be said, heavy footfalls came racing up behind your little gathering. A female stumbled the last few steps, coming to a stop and collapsing, slapping her hands onto her knees before you could see her face, struggling to catch her breath. You opened your mouth to greet the newcomer, but she held up one finger before you could utter a sound. 

Din finally muttered in disbelief, “Cara?”

Your head whipped over toward the figure, eyes wider still. “It’s you?!” A hand came up to rest on your forehead, massaging back and forth as if that would help things sink in and make more sense. Your brows practically knit together in confusion with this new information, one arching up as you stared at the woman. “I’m so confused.”

Standing up, with one last heavy breath, Cara offered the two of you a tired smile. “Following up a lead.”

She held up a hand to stop Din before he could even ask, her eyes closing in mock annoyance. “Long story.” She opened them once again to land directly on you with a wink as Din sighed in exasperation before her attention turned onto Sola, her hand falling to gesture to the adolescent before landing at her side with a graceless slap. “And this little womp rat stole my commlink.”

Din looked down at the girl, giving her arm still in his grip a little shake. “This is Sola.” 

The girl shrunk under the stare of three adults. 

Cara’s gaze flicked up towards his visor, almost accusingly. “Friend of yours?” You nodded, and she sighed, hands going to her hips, weight shifting to one side. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Sola,” you tried calmly, going over to grab Din’s satchel before it was forgotten in the chaos. “Explain, please.”

“Nothing. It was nothing. I just grabbed hers by mistake, that’s all.” She shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant.

Cara leveled a look on the girl, her tone dry. “Off my belt?”

Sola tried a grin. “Whoops?”

The Marshal lifted the look to Din. 

“Don’t do that to me,” he complained. “I didn’t teach her that.”

“Don’t even pretend to look at me next, Cara,” you held up your hand to stop her before she even tried. “I only taught her good things.”

Sola rolled her eyes and tried to tug out of Din’s hold, but the Mandalorian easily held her in place.

“Have a seat,” you offered sweetly, pulling the crate the bag had been on toward you with the Force, and giving her a nudge to sit. “Talk.”

She stared over at the wall behind you, grinning in disbelief. “It was a dare, okay?” Her eyes pulled up to meet yours, their hard stare melting slightly once they did, revealing something vulnerable, something broken. Her voice softened just slightly, but still held the mock vibrato she started out with, making you huff as she continued. “Some kids dared me to take someone’s bag, and I was just unlucky enough to choose you.”

“And my comlink?” Cara tried.

Sola turned to her with a cheesy grin. “That was just bad luck on your end.”

“I’ll show you bad luck,” Cara grumbled, stepping closer to the teen.

You stepped between them. “Cara.”

“What?” She barked, trying to peer over your shoulder at the girl before looking you in the eyes.

“No.”

“She stole-”

“She’s a kid,” you corrected. “Tell me you didn’t do dumb stuff when you were her age. Hell, you do dumb stuff now.”

“You’re one to talk,” Cara grumbled.

You smirked, arms crossing over your chest as your weight shifted to one leg. “Ah, but I travel with a Mandalorian. What’s your excuse?”

Cara scoffed. “I knew him first, if we’re going that route.”

“I’m right here,” Din said, somewhat offended, reaching out to gently push Sola down by the shoulder without a second glance when she went to stand up.

You kept your voice even, mildly distracted as you spoke somewhat flippantly. “Mandalorians who shot their partner in the leg don’t get to talk right now.”

“I didn’t shoot you!” He protested, voice going up at the end in agitation.

“You shot her?” Cara asked at the same time Din spoke, turning to look at him with raised brows.

“I didn’t shoot her!” Din corrected before Cara could even finish, his visor swiveling back to you. “It was a ricochet.” His head tilted to the right as he stared at you. “On Gideon’s ship. The bolt bounced off the droid when she launched at it, and-”

You waved your hand dismissively, gaze landing on nothing in particular across the street. “Same thing.”

“It is no-”

“Ugh!” Sola threw her head back and groaned, staring at the sky with wide eyes, her voice went up with each following word. “This is torture!” Her head lowered back to look between the three of you, eyes narrowed to slits before they fluttered shut and she heaved another heavy sigh. “Fine. I’ll talk.” She leaned back on her palms on the crate, her face finally relaxing to something more neutral. “Just…. Stop whatever…. This,” she gestured vaguely with one hand while her nose scrunched up slightly in disgust, “is.”

You turned back to face her, nodding for her to go on, but Din interrupted.

“Later.”

You rolled your eyes as he waved his finger at you in admonishment before landing them back on the girl, smiling softly. “Go on, Sola.”

She hesitated before taking a quick breath and letting it all out on an exhale, speaking quickly. “My parents are diplomats from a planet in the Mid Rim.” 

“Woah, woah, woah, slow down, kid!”

Sola glared at you, taking an exaggeratedly deep breath before speaking overly clearly the rest of her explanation. “We’re here to broker peace between the different ruling houses and our world.”

“Hey, if you’re going to have an attitude, we can just leave,” you warned.

“Great!” Sola beamed. “Bye!” She went to rise from the crate but both Din and Cara pushed down on a shoulder on each side respectively, earning a soft oomph! from the teen. 

She sighed resignedly before going on. “But as you can probably guess, that goes as smooth as sand in a hyperdrive.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not allowed to do anything. I have to keep up appearances, and stay inside most of the time now because we have gotten death threats after a deal gone bad recently.”

Din visibly stiffened beside her, Cara, too. A chill ran up your spine as she continued.

As she relaxed further back into the crate, her words seemed almost lazy, lackadaisical. “So I started sneaking out. Nothing major, just needed some fresh air, well, it’s Tatooine, so, air.” Her tone went rigid with her posture, the spark in her fading to a dull ember as her volume faded to a mere murmur. Her index finger traced lines along her knee as her eyes followed the invisible trails it made. “Then I met them.”

“Who?”

Sola met your eyes, almost startled when you asked, like she’d forgotten people were listening. She shrugged one shoulder, her eyes dropping back down to her lap, her tone still soft. “Doesn’t matter. A group of kids. They do petty crimes and stuff, I wasn’t going to do anything, but they said they were going to tell the people who had been sending death threats how I was sneaking in and out at night.” Her hand stilled, then began poking at the ankle of her foot tucked up under her absently, her eyes cast down at the ground. “They had been watching me, I guess. Let them know all our weak points in security. If I didn’t do a job for them, then they’d tell….”

“And one job turned into more….”

She nodded at your comment. Her eyes flickering up to meet yours for only a second before they pulled down again.

“Why didn’t you just tell your parents and beef up security?” Din’s voice was in planning mode.

Sola peered up at him, squinting against the suns’ light. “And prove I’d let them down?” She looked down at her lap, fiddling her thumbs. “Sneaking around, been committing petty crimes? Would you have done that?”

Din looked at the ground, his voice quiet. “Probably not.”

“Give me my comlink,” Cara said, holding out her hand toward the girl.

You huffed, arms crossing over your chest. “Really, Cara? You hear all that and you’re still banging on about your damned-”

Once the device was in her hand, she took a few steps away and spoke into it in a professional voice. “This is Marshal Dune. Please call off the search. It wasn’t stolen, I just dropped it. Sorry for the confusion.” A male voice you couldn’t quite make out garbled over static on the other end. “Yeah, I’m fine,” Cara replied, turning to face the three of you. “Also, I’m going to take off the rest of the day. Found some booths I want to wander through. We’ll pick up our meeting tomorrow. Yeah. See you then.”

She made her way back over, clipping the comlink to her belt. “I just bought us about twelve hours. What’s the plan?”

“Plan?” Sola looked between the three of you with wide eyes.

You smiled. Her gaze was up and off the ground for the first time this conversation. And it was full of hope. 

“Of course,” you said, smiling gently. “Nobody messes with a member of our family and gets away with it.” Sola grinned at your words. You’d do pretty much anything to keep it there. “Now, let’s go scare some thugs, shall we?”

Xxx

“Now, I know that you packed it,” you said, standing in the fresher of the Crest, voice jiggling as you hopped slightly to pull the armor higher up your chest. “But I don’t know why.”

“Oh, the Jedi is stumped, is she?” Din’s sarcastic amusement was muted through the door, making you roll your eyes. 

Setting your weight to one hip, you pressed the button, and the durasteel barrier hissed open to reveal your Mandalorian leaning against the frame. His arms across his chest as he waited for you, his posture easy and relaxed, he looked like a growth on the walls of his ship.

Cara and Sola were out in the hangar with Peli, their voices faintly heard along with the annoyed bleeps and bloops of R5 as they echoed off the stone walls and up the open ramp. 

“Not stumped,” you countered quickly, walking around him to the middle of the cargo hold as you pulled your gloves on, chin held high as you chose your next words with care. His visor followed you as you went. “Just…. Curious.” You finally landed on with a huff, looking down at your hands as they fiddled mindlessly before adding on a mumbled, “And I’m not a Jedi.”

Din pushed off the wall, his head shaking gently in disbelief as he walked toward you slowly. “I was going to have Boba melt it down and forge it into something better.” He stopped somewhere behind you. You were purposely not paying attention, trying not to get distracted and make sure your armor was set up correctly, only faintly registering the absence of the soft thud of his boots on the metallic floor of the Crest right behind you before he went on. “I don’t know where the armorer is right now, and it’s not full beskar anyway, so any smith could do it, but I trust him.”

“Something better?” You turned to face him, head tilted to the side as you clicked your vambraces into place, their gears whirring to life. Stumbling back an inch as you startled, his chest plate brushing against your nose he was so close, you reached out to swat his arm lightly in annoyance, muttering a Don’t do that and shaking your hand out to the side with a grimace after it pinged off his beskar. Craning your head back to look up at him properly, you couldn’t help the small grin when you found him already peering down at you. “Like what?”

Din’s head tilted just so to the right. “Something for you.” He didn’t miss a beat. 

Your eyes widened slightly before they narrowed to slits. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

He was smiling. You could tell by the lilt in his voice as he leaned into the tilt of his head, his body following and started down the ramp. “You know me so well.”

Reaching out, you grabbed his cape. “Nu-uh. Not so fast, Tin Can. Hold up.” Pulling him back to you, though he gave very little resistance, you leaned around to look into his visor when he was a few inches away, his hands on his hips in mock annoyance. “You don’t have to do that.” Your voice had gone soft. He turned to face you fully. “I know that armor is important to you.”

“So are you.”

You grinned. “Smooth, Shiny. Real smooth.”

Din shrugged one shoulder, his hands falling to rest at his sides loosely. “I have my moments.”

You nodded, starting down the ramp, and talking over your shoulder. “And they are few and far between.”

Din scoffed. “Lucky for you. You couldn’t handle me at full throttle.”

Grinning, you looked down at your vambraces and twisted them a bit. “That sounded like a threat.”

“It’s whatever you wanted it to be, mesh’la.”

“You look like a Mando.” Sola’s voice pulled your attention away from the man at your back before you could reply. 

“What? In beskar?” You gestured to the armor down your body. “No.”

The young girl rolled her eyes at you.

Grinning, you reached up to adjust your scarf tucked in to make the armor fit a bit better, and noticed her posture go rigid.

“You kept it,” she mumbled, pointing lamely toward the blue material around your neck.

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just….” She pulled at her flowing poncho, revealing her bright pink scarf, still vivid as ever, tucked away underneath, close to her heart. “I have mine, too,” she amended softly. “I keep it hidden so it doesn’t get dirty or torn.”

“Kind of like my armband….” You mumbled, closing the last few steps between you before reaching out to softly roll the fabric of her scarf between your thumb and index finger as she traced the ribbon on your bicep with the tips of her own.

“I still have no idea what hyperspace looks like,” she mused, staring at the glittering fabric with a sad smile. “I was so little when we came here, and my parents wouldn’t let me anywhere near a cockpit. I’ve only ever been in a cabin while the ship was moving. No viewports….” She met your eyes again, hand falling to her side. “Supposedly we flew beside some purrgil and even then they wouldn’t let me look.”

Letting your own hand fall to your side, fiddling with the air aimlessly, you held her gaze. “Why not?”

Sola shrugged. “Not sure. They said something about safety at the time, and I just never pressed it, but now it just feels suffocating.”

“I know it’s annoying,” Din chimed in softly from behind you, his shadow looming over the young girl in the dying sun’s light, “but I would give anything to have my parents be overbearing one more time.”

Sola’s eyes flew up to the Mandalorian. “What happened to them?”

“A story for another time,” he said stoically, turning to the right and going deeper into the hangar. “Let’s confirm the plan.”

You turned with Cara and Sola on your left to head that way, Peli falling in step on your right as the droids followed along behind.

“They aren’t around anymore. It happened when he was very young, about the same age as when we met you. That’s why he became a Mandalorian. That’s all I’ll say,” you offered quietly. “The rest is his story to tell.”

The first stars were twinkling overhead as the sky said good night in brilliant shades of red and orange. 

Once your party had circled around one of Peli’s many cluttered tables off to the side, the top of it littered with ship parts, Din turned to you. 

“Gar beskar'gam jate slanar?” (“Your armor good to go?”)

You nodded. “Elek. An jate.” (“Yes. All good.”)

Sola turned her head slowly up toward Cara, one brow arched in confusion.

The Marshal slowly shook her head, eyes closed. “They do this….”

“Do what?” You asked, brows knit toward your friend.

Cara leveled you with a look. “Start speaking in any one of a thousand languages none of the rest of us know.”

R5 started beeping animatedly, trilling as he wheeled back and forth on his treads excitedly, and ended on a raspberry, making you and Peli laugh.

“Oh, great,” Cara rolled her eyes, “even the droid’s are in on it.”

BD and Treadwell made their way into the circle, the Pit droids not far behind, all of them chattering away as they approached you until Din sent a blaster shot pinging off of a piece of scrap pipe over in a corner.

The droids all screeched before going silent, freezing in their steps as Peli cried in protest, “Hey! Watch it!”

“Yeah, we don’t want another ricochet,” you mumbled, adjusting your armor for no good reason besides looking down and away from his judgemental visor.

Cara and Sola snickered from their spots across the table from you, the weight of Din’s stare beside you nothing short of stifling.

“If you stare any louder, Din, they may ask you to be quiet all the way on Coruscant,” you muttered quietly, adjusting your vambraces needlessly for the umpteenth time to hide the growing smirk across your face.

“I’ll just tell them it’s because of you, they'll understand. Garner sympathy.”

Only your eyes lifted up to glare daggers at his visor, his head tilting to the side teasingly as he held your gaze.

“The plan?” You groused, looking across the table with a sigh as your weight shifted to one side - away from the Mandalorian. 

His tone was light, as if it held a smile, while he laid out the steps of the plan one more time. “Sola said they would be meeting her back at the market in an hour. She meets them as planned. The three of us follow her, and stick around in the shadows, as inconspicuously as possible-”

“Says the man who’s a walking mirror.”

Din didn’t even bother to look at you, only sighing at your remark, his shoulders rising and falling with the effort before he went on. “From there, we follow them back to their base of operations. From what we’ve heard, shouldn’t be too hard to get into. We get in, cause a little chaos, get them to release Sola from this…. Contract, then we leave as quietly as we came.”

“No one dies.”

Cara nodded at your words, Din nodding once in agreement, his body going stiff at your next statement. 

“Even if we run into a Jawa.”

He took a deep breath to begin to protest, but you held up a finger to stop him, mocking his words from earlier.

“Later.”

Xxx

Spotting the culprits was easy enough. They weren’t sly about anything as they paraded through the streets with their puffed up chests, smirking as people scattered from them should they get too close. They hassled a vendor or two, shaking them down for a payout, and Cara grumbled beside you, gripping the buckle that showed she was a Marshal tightly through her poncho she wore to conceal it.

Before you could do anything, Din was hot on their heels, handing the vendors a stack of credits to make reparations as soon as the thugs’ backs were turned. They would try and insist he keep it, lightly shoving the money back into his hands, but Din somehow managed to sweet talk them into accepting every time, his head ducked down slightly, hand over theirs in a calming gesture. You wished you could hear what he said.

“I’ve never seen this side of him,” Cara muttered offhandedly. “Caring, soft almost. It looks good on him.”

“Yeah, it does,” you agreed softly. “That’s how he is with the kid. Grogu brought out a side of him I don’t think would have seen the light of day otherwise.”

She elbowed you. “Oh, I dunno. You’re pretty persuasive. Think it’d’ve come out eventually.”

You slid only your eyes sideways to look at her. “Why must you shit talk me?”

“Because if I don’t I’ll simply fade away. It gives me sustenance. I could go days without food, but teasing you? That simply wouldn’t do.”

Turning your head to peer at her incredulously, you spoke in a low voice after a long moment of silence. “I’m going to go stand over there,” you pointed behind you, “as far away from you as possible right now.”

Cara scoffed. “Good. Go. Your beskar'gam is drawing too much attention, anyway.”

With a grin, you began walking backwards down the street, keeping to the shadows. “Aw, you paid attention.”

Your friend glared at you. “Don’t make me regret it.”

A shit eating grin was across your face. “You’re speaking Mando’a….”

Cara huffed, her attention turning back to the street as she mumbled, “Last time I make that mistake.”

Stopping short, you stood up straight. “Aw, don’t be afraid to show your feelings, Cara. Feelings are a good thing. They make us human-”

“If you don’t stop talking-”

“Are you two done?” Din’s voice across the alley from the two of you pulled both sets of eyes his way. “They left a few minutes ago, but I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, what with your bickering.” His head swiveled between you and the Marshal, judgment heavy through his visor. “Sola is with them, I gave her a tracker, slipped it to her when no one was looking while someone,” he looked at you pointedly, “wasn’t paying attention.”

“I was paying attention,” you groused, voice lowering as you kicked at the sand below your feet. “Just not to that.”

“She was talking about you,” Cara tattled, stepping out of the shadows and into the moonlight, stretching like a loth cat.

“So were you!” You protested, also stepping into the nightlight, making Cara squint as she held up a hand as if to block the glare of the reflection off your armor. Swatting her hand down, you knit your brows at her. “It’s not that bright out here, don’t be dramatic.”

“Children. I’m surrounded by literal children,” Din muttered, turning and walking away exasperatedly.

“There’s no need to be rude,” you grumbled, following after him.

“Then prove me wrong,” he called over his shoulder. “Right now you’re worse than Grogu.” You gasped. “When he needs a nap.” Cara gasped. “And he’s hungry.” You both gasped.

“I take it all back,” Cara stormed past Din, her words brusque and aloof. “You’re the meanest person I know.”

“Person?” Your tone was incredulous as you sped up to fall in step with her ahead of the Mandalorian, head swiveling to land on him with a sly smirk over your next word. “Droid.”

Din stopped in his tracks and sighed, head tilting back to the sky just slightly with a gentle shake. “Oh, this mission is off to a great start.”

When both you and Cara kept walking ahead of him, the bounty hunter finally called out on a hiss, “Hey! Are you two done?”

“I don’t know, are we?” You turned on your heel to face him, hands on your hips as you planted your feet and arched your brows in question, almost accusingly. 

Din bit his tongue before he turned this into a whole something else before this entire endeavor even got off the ground…. again. For the third? fourth? time. He’d lost track of how many times they’d gotten off track in the last five minutes alone, let alone today as a whole.

With a jut of his thumb to his left down a narrow alley, he tilted his head that way for emphasis. “Thugs’re that way.” 

Both you and Cara hesitated for only a moment, weight shifting slightly from side to side before you dropped your hands from your hips with a huff and headed toward the alley, your Marshal friend in tow.

As you passed by Din, he muttered a low and amused, “Oh wise one.”

“I’ll tell Sola you said so,” you shot back in a low murmur. “She already knows I’m the smart one.” The alley was so small you had to form a single file line, and somehow you were in the front with Cara behind you, and Din pulling up the back. 

“She just lets you think that’s what she thinks,” Cara hummed. “We all know it’s me.”

Din snorted. “It’s neither of you.” He shook his head at the two sets of eyes shooting daggers at him over their shoulders as they came to an abrupt stop in front of him. “I’m the one with the map and the tracker, remember?” He tapped the right side of his helmet with his index finger.

“Oh, will you just get in front and lead, you overgrown Tin Can?!” You hissed, flattening yourself against the wall to let him pass, the heat of the day still clinging to the wall at your back.

Cara rolled her eyes as she squished herself, allowing him through, but it was still a tight fit all around between the three of you. When Din passed her, his back against the opposing wall, she grimaced though he moved quickly. “Will you just get out of my face, Shiny?”

“What, you mean you don’t want to get to know me this well?” Din relaxed his weight a little, leaning into her slightly. “I thought we were friends.”

Cara shoved him with one arm toward you, making him laugh as he kept going, stumbling slightly from the impact. “We won’t be if you keep on that thread of conversation, Mando.”

Din stopped directly in front of you, tilting his head sideways as he muttered softly, “Hi, mesh’la.” Leaning his forehead into yours, he chuckled softly at Cara’s over exaggerated gag in reaction.

“I’m trying to be mad at you,” you grumbled, fisting one hand into his cowl as you ignored Cara’s groans, elbowing her in the ribs with your free arm when she continued.

“What was that for?!” She cried in protest.

“Just because I’m happy, doesn’t mean you need to moan about it.”

Her face scrunched in disgust as she looked away at the wall across from her. “Go be happy somewhere else. We have a job to do.”

Din sighed. “She’s right,” and pushed off the wall to get in front.

You held on to his cape from behind him. “No. No, she’s never right.” Cara landed a swift kick to the back of your boot. “Ow! What was that for?”

“For being so wrong all the time!”

“Don’t make me speak Mando’a to you,” you grumbled. “Or how about Huttese? I also know Shyriiwook now, too.”

“How about you speak silence.”

Din snorted at the Marshal’s words from his spot in front of you, Cara huffing out a laugh from behind.

“When all of this is over, you both are gonna pay.”

“You don’t scare me,” Cara scoffed.

Looking over your shoulder, you arched a brow, holding up one hand by your face and wiggling your fingers. “Well maybe I should.”

Her face went pale, her steps faltering slightly as understanding dawned on her features. “You don’t scare me,” she repeated, her voice softer after she swallowed roughly.

You chuckled, turning back to face Din’s cape once again. “The Force works in mysterious ways.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before you could answer, Din cut in, without bothering to turn around, “It's just her way of threatening to trip you. Don’t read into it too much.”

He no sooner said that than he was stumbling forward down the alley, reaching out to brace himself on the walls with his forearms.

“Look at that? My boot also works in mysterious ways.”

“What happened?” Cara asked, oblivious to you tripping Din with the toe of your shoe.

“Gravity. Don’t read too much into it.”

Grinning up at the back of the Mandalorian’s helmet where he had stopped in front of you, you let go of his cape still in your grip. “Careful, Din. There’s gravity there.”

“What did he even trip on?” Cara’s voice was incredulous.

“Air? His ego? Pride…. The options are endless….”

“The foot of an over eager Jedi that’s about to be in her mouth if she keeps talking,” Din hissed, barely looking over his shoulder at the two of you, arms falling from the walls to his sides.

“How do you mean?” You scoffed, following after him as he began to move down the alley again.

“We’re here,” he said with a flourish, the small avenue opening up to a wide street brightly lit with several buildings that dead ended down on the right. With a swooping gesture, he moved to the left, making room for the two of you to step forward beside him, his visor following you closely before tilting to the side. “You’re welcome.”

“She’s right,” Cara mused quietly. “Your ego is big enough for all three of us to trip on.”

“At least it’s well deserved,” Din groused. “I got us here, didn’t I?”

“You followed a map. That was attached to a tracker. A blindfolded bantha wouldn’t have had a much more difficult time….” You said offhandedly, surveying the area.

Din stared at you for a long moment. “That armor makes you mean,” he grumbled.

“It makes me wonderful,” you countered, eyes across the street on a conspicuous crate, narrowing when it jostled slightly. “You’re just jealous that it looks better on me than it ever did on you.”

“Yeah. That’s it,” Din agreed sarcastically, his weight shifting to one side as he followed your line of sight. Pressing the side of his helmet, he immediately went into planning mode. “I’ve got two heat signatures.”

“Matches up with what I’m sensing. Two life forms. A whole mess more inside.” You took your blaster from its holster, its gears whirring to life. “Everyone set to stun?”

Hums of agreement came back at you along with nods in your peripheral.

“I’ll go in on the right while you two take care of whoever is lurking over there,” Cara gestured across the street with her blaster. “Sneak in that side door and start clearing until I find Sola and slip her a blaster, then we’ll find this boss.”

“I’m in,” you agreed, while Din nodded in agreement beside you. “Let’s go, Tin Can. We have some thugs we need to introduce to beskar.”

Xxx

Storming the place was easy. These thieves didn’t know the first thing about defending their home base.

Getting out on the other hand…. That was proving to be more difficult.

You pulled up behind a wall, tucking your arms into your chest as tightly as possible to make yourself a smaller target, your blaster held between both hands at the ready.

“You said this would be easy!” Din yelled from his mirror position across the hall. Well, almost mirror. He leaned on one shoulder, blaster held up in the opposite hand near his head. His whole body looked just on this side of casual. 

“I said no such thing. You did,” you countered, trying to mimic his posture subtly. “And on that note, Cara was the one who said you and I should go in together, so this is all-”

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Cara’s voice carried from down the hall, the first word elongated as she slid across the floor on her hip to avoid flying blaster bolts to finally land next to you before popping up. “Don’t you dare drag me into this lovers tiff. Nuh-uh.”

Both you and Din spoke in tandem, “This isn’t-”, “We’re not-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sola said dismissively, jogging up easily behind Din, a singe mark on the shoulder of her poncho. 

Din stood up straight in an instant, took her arm in his hold gently to examine it, turning her every which way to get a better look. “What happened?”

“Told the boss I quit.” She grinned proudly before it melted into a grimace. “He didn’t take it so well.”

Blaster bolts zinged down the hall between the four of you, streaking the air in vibrant shades of purple and red, even an errant green here and there.

“If I could just use my saber-” you started, cut off by the unanimous voices of your friends.

“No!”

Letting your head lull back against the wall with a gentle thump, you rolled it in aggravation before facing the others again. “And why not?! I’ve saved your asses so many times!”

“Close quarters!” Cara was gesturing with her hands while she spoke, referencing the hall. “Too many people!” She gestured between the four of you. “Laser sword very bright! Very hot!”

You narrowed your eyes at your friend. “I singed one corner of your tunic. One!”

“And that was one too many,” Din countered, popping around the corner to let off a barrage of shots before coming back for safety.

“This was my favorite,” Cara said forlornly, looking down at the smoldering fabric. 

“I’ll buy you another one.”

“No you won’t,” Cara scoffed. “You can’t afford my tastes-”

“Can we please focus on getting out of here!” Sola’s annoyed voice rang out louder than the blaster fire, pulling all three gazes her way. 

Din was the first to break, turning back to lay down cover fire once again around the corner. “Kid’s right,” he grunted, before letting off a shot that was accompanied by a pained scream at the end of the hall.

“I thought we were set to stun?” You hissed.

Din looked down at his blaster and shrugged meekly, flipping it back to stun. “Sorry. Old habits….”

“I know I am,” Sola said matter of factly, pulling you back to the topic at hand. “Now what’s the plan?”

Stepping a little closer to the corner you were tucked behind, you holstered your blaster. “The plan is for you all to eat your words tonight.”

“What are you doing?” Cara’s worried tone sounded at your back, Din’s incredulous one to your left. “Mesh’la, come on, don’t do something-”

“To save our skins?” You finished for him, looking up into his visor with a determined glint in your eye. “Watch me.”

After taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes and stepped out into the hall where the blaster fire had died down just slightly. The few earrent bolts bounced away from you as if they were hitting a force field. Confused whispers from the enemy preceded a pickup in the rapid fire, bolts flying at a new frenzy, none of which came anywhere close to touching you or your friends.

Lifting your hands in front of you, the bolts began to stop, hovering in mid air inches from your face, your hands, some several feet from you. The room glowed with multi-colored plasma bolts hovering above the floor. As the shots died out, silence filling in the blanks left behind, the corner of your mouth twitched up in an amused smirk.

With a small twitch of your index finger, all their blasters were disabled with a tink. 

When you opened your eyes, the blaster bolts that hung suspended all immediately flew the other way, back toward the senders, but in such a way that they wouldn’t hit anybody. 

Within an instant the group of thieves at the end of the hall were left cowering, curled away from the stranger approaching them from the opposite end of the hall. Some blinked wide eyes while others scrambled back, all of them surrounded by smoke swirling around from the black scorches left behind from the blaster bolts.

“I think we win,” you said calmly, walking toward them slowly.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” One rogue thief said, jumping to his feet, blaster aimed at you.

“I wouldn’t do that,” you warned, not even looking at him.

When he pulled the trigger and nothing happened, he looked at his blaster in confusion, pulling the trigger a few more times before shaking it incessantly. “Oh, well.” He shrugged. “I have this.” He pulled a spare from the back of his pants.

In two seconds flat Din had stepped forward and shot him with a stun bolt, dropping him to the ground.

“Like I said,” you pulled the active blaster to you with the Force, disengaging the firing mechanism like you had the others before tucking it into the back of your own pants. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“You don’t need another one,” Din groaned. “That makes what, seven now?”

You scoffed. “Not nearly.” With a dry chuckle, you shook your head. “Try three.”

“Including the knife?”

“Oh, yeah! The knife. No, that’s four.”

“Guys!” Cara cried, walking up to stand on the other side of you. “Seriously?”

“What?” You looked at her a moment before cutting your eyes toward the thieves still looking on in silence. “I’m just recounting the weapons I’ve won from our various missions! I see something I like, I take it.”

“These guys don’t care.” Cara gestured to them with her blaster.

“No…. But I do.” You turned to look at the punks with a broad grin. “And something tells me they want to keep me really happy. Right?”

They all nodded vigorously. All but one. He got to his feet as he said, “Oh, kark this!” He was no sooner on his feet than Din had hit him with a stun bolt, dropping him into a heap of limbs where he stood.

“At least you remembered to use stun this time,” you threw over your shoulder towards Din, never looking away from the band of thieves still looking on wide eyed at your little party of four.

“Yeah…. But I’ve been known to forget things real fast,” Din mumbled, shifting his weight just slightly to rest easily on one leg. The way he held his blaster would make anyone think he’d gone soft, but you knew if someone made a wrong move, they’d be down in an instant.

“Here’s what's gonna happen,” Cara stepped forward, her Marshal voice in full swing. “Sola over here is out. I don’t wanna hear of any of you within spitting distance of her ever again, do you hear me?”

Most of them nodded, wide eyed at the Marshal. All but one. It’s always one, you thought with a smile and gentle shake of your head. 

“And what’re you gonna do about it? Marshal?” The way the punk said her name dripped with so much sarcasm and venom, you were surprised Cara was still standing. If looks could kill, she’d be dead right now. “You don’t even live here, so how are you going to enforce anything?”

To his credit, he looked slightly afraid when you and Din took measured steps forward while Cara spoke.

“I have friends all over. I don’t think you want to find out just how far my reach can go…. Young man.”

Cara winced slightly on the last words and it took everything in you not to burst out laughing. The way her eyes darted over to you, however briefly, with a mighty rise and fall of her shoulders told you she knew she’d never hear the end of this.

He scoffed. “Like I’d believe any of that.”

“But you’d believe blaster bolts levitating in space then flying the wrong way?” You challenged, taking another small step forward. 

The kid scoffed again.

“You believe this?” Din was striding forward, his vambraces whirring to life as the flame thrower charged up.

Reaching out with the Force, you disengaged his vambrace as the wall of fire just started to lick at the toes of the boots of the insolent kid.

“Not now, Mando. I think he gets it.” Shooting your eyes over to the kid before looking back into his visor, you saw him glance over to find the teen cowering behind the others, mumbling apologies.

Din strode over to you, keeping his body facing the group of adolescents to make them think he was still a threat, which he was, but you knew him well enough to know he was looking at you now and not them, his head turned just slightly.

“Turning off my vambraces now, huh?”

You shrugged. “What can I say? You shouldn’t be frying teenagers, Din. It’s not nice.”

Leaning closer to your ear, his voice hummed through the modulator, something in his tone different this time. “Later,” he promised again.

You grinned, winking at Cara as she rolled her eyes and walked off with an over dramatically gagging Sola. “Can’t wait.”

Xxx

Back at the hangar, the four of you tried to move as quietly as possible, to not wake a sleeping Peli. 

“I can’t thank you enough. I don’t know how I could ever repay you-”

Placing your hand on Sola’s shoulder, you smiled down at her when her big eyes looked up your way. So much like the first time you met her all those years ago. “There’s nothing to thank. That’s just what families do.”

“We help each other,” Cara agreed, stepping up behind Sola and putting her arm around her shoulders. Tilting her head to the side in thought, she added with a grin, “And yeah, sometimes we want to murder each other, too, but….” She looked at Din. “It comes and goes.”

“Mostly comes,” the Mandalorian muttered, adjusting his belt before walking off toward the ramp of the Crest. He stopped at the foot of it, withdrawing a vibroblade from his boot before he turned around and walked back. “Hey, kid.” He offered Sola the blade. “Take care of yourself.”

“You bet I will,” she mumbled around a grin, flipping the blade in her palm with expert precision that had your brow arching. Upon closer inspection, she saw a mudhorn upon the hilt. “That’s the same symbol that’s on your armor….” She looked over at your saber. “And your….” 

“Like I said,” you pulled her into a hug. “We take care of family.”

“Where’s my mudhorn?” Cara groused.

Din extended a blaster with a freshly etched mudhorn he had tucked into the back of his belt to Sola as he looked at Cara, head tilted just so. “Hidden with your act of valor. Go find it.”

“You’re mean,” Cara shoved his shoulder.

“You’d get tired of us anyway,” you mused in response to Cara, wrapping your arms around Din’s waist in what seemed an innocent manner, then lightly pinching his side in admonishment, smiling at his slight groan in response. Before he could get his own arm around your waist in retaliation, you pinned it to his side with the Force, smiling up at him smugly when he grunted in unamusement. 

“I already have,” she agreed, looking down her nose at the two of you.

“No you haven’t,” Din countered tiredly as he turned back toward the ship, heading up the ramp.

“What do you know?” She called after him.

“Everything!” His voice came from inside the ship overlapping your muttered, “Nothing.”

“Not enough,” you amended with a grin, meeting Cara’s eye as she returned your smile. “He doesn’t know nearly enough.”

“It’s a good thing I love teaching, then.” She laughed, offering you a hug before she turned to leave the hangar. After a few steps, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “You coming kid?”

Sola hesitated in her spot in front of you. “But I don’t…. I don’t wear armor.”

“Verd'ika….” You reached out and rested your hand on her shoulder. “Ad’ika. Cyare'se. Daworir’ika. Ka’ra’ika…. Almost all of my nicknames for you had something to do with little.” (“Little soldier. Little one. Loved ones. Little stink. Little star.”)

“Not so little anymore.”

“I can see that,” you smiled softly. “Tal tomad.”

She pulled a face. “Do I even want to know?”

“Blood ally.” You reached out and pinched her scarf between your finger tips. “Verd ori'shya beskar'gam.”

“What…. What does that mean?”

You smiled. “I need to come with a protocol droid….”  She laughed. “Warrior greater than armor. It means armor isn’t everything.” Moving your hand from her scarf to rest on her shoulder once again, you felt Din come to stand behind you, his reflection beginning to morph in Sola’s watering eyes. “It’s who wears it.” 

Xxx

As you watched Cara and Sola walk out of the hangar, Din pulled you to the side gently.

“Speaking of armor, you don’t have any now, either.”

Looking down at the armor still very much on your frame, you looked up at his visor and blinked at him once. Twice. “Excuse me?”

He shifted his weight, hands resting on his belt in his default I already explained this pose. “I’m about to meet up with Boba in a few minutes. Need the armor so I can give it to him.”

You matched his posture, ignoring his indignant head roll. “Oh right. For this super secret thing for me I can’t know about.”

Din nodded once. “You got it.”

Shaking your head in disbelief, you turned and made your way up the ramp of the Crest, not bothering to turn around as you grumbled, “You’re awful.”

“I know.” His tone was nothing short of beaming.

Xxx

The next day, the two of you were up with the suns and beginning work on the Crest with a handful of Peli’s droids. 

The woman herself had appeared after a while, but she obviously was not intended for morning hours.

Peli had disappeared into the shaded depths of the hangar, citing paperwork of some sort, but her snores could be heard from the main landing area. 

One thing led to another, and the work on the ship was forgotten in favor of brushing up on footwork with two chosen weapons.

The hanger sung with the clashing of beskar on kyber, his spear standing resilient against your purple blade.

The pit droids were hard at work on the Crest to try and cover up the cacophony of battle sounds rising up into the air.

As it hit a new fever pitch, you and Din drawing close together after some particularly fancy footwork, the glow of kyber straining against beskar painting your faces in a soft illuminated glow as you pulled closer still, you smirked. 

“I think that means I win, Mandalorian.”

Din scoffed, his modulator popping with the sound. “Nayc. A’nuhunla,” he drawled, his voice low. (“No. But funny.”)

Pulling back from one another, you huffed out a chuckle as you began to circle each other in assessment, waiting for the other to make the next move. “Give it to me in Basic, Mando.” Disengaging your saber, you stopped dead in your tracks, arms dangling limply by your sides. “I’m too tired to fight and translate at the same time.”

“Gar Jetii’kad,” Din pointed to the now bladeless hilt in your hand. “Nau’ur kad.” (“Your lightsaber.”) (“Light up a saber.”) 

“Din-”

But he didn’t let you finish, his hands tightening around his spear as his weight lowered, ready to charge. “Kad’au, Jetii.” (“Lightsaber, Jedi.”)

“Ne'johaa,” you mumbled, igniting the blade and lowering yourself into a ready stance to match. (“Shut up.”)

Once you were set, you stood straight up again, smiling softly when Din let his lowered weight relax as well in aggravation, his modulator hissing in annoyance. “This was just supposed to be for fun. Some training, maybe. Not-”

“Kad,” he almost barked, before launching at you. (“Saber.”)

“Mir’sheb,” you hissed through gritted teeth as you blocked an overhead blow from his spear, squinting your eyes as sparks flew from the impact. (“Smartass.”)

He took a minuscule step closer, pressing his weight into you and making you bend back slightly. His voice was low and mocking, but strained to show his struggle against your strength as you continued to push back. “Only for you.”

With a shout, you pushed him off of you with a last reserve of strength.

“That’s it. That’s it. I’m done.” You held your hands up by your head. “No more.” Twirling your saber as you stretched your wrist, you tilted your head from side to side. “You’ve got some unresolved issues with only using the stun back there at the hideout or something,” gesturing to him with a swooping hand gesture, you ignored his snort and slight shift of weight, “but I’m done with all your nonsense.” Turning away you took a deep breath and disengaged your saber, mumbling under your breath, “Ni copaani buy'ce gal.” (“I want a bucket of booze.”)

The next thing you knew you were flat on your back, sand flying out around you as the Mandalorian stood over you, flipping his spear back to its resting position with a flourish. All you could process as you blinked up at the cloudless sky was heat, grit, and what?

“I think that means I win…. Manda Jetii.” (The state of being Mandalorian in mind, body and spirit.)

Eyes flying to his visor, you had to squint at the glare of the suns off the brilliant metal. You could only blink up at him, taking his hand when he offered it and helped you up. After a shared moment of simply staring at one another, he turned to survey the hangar, repeating your words from earlier. “Ni copaani buy'ce gal.”

It was at that point you noticed Peli’s face. 

Her very, very, very distraught face. 

Following her line of sight, your eyes went wide as you took in the Crest over your shoulder. Sparks flew, singe marks lined the hull. Did I do that?

A poor little astromech Peli had just acquired was trying to tune up something near the ramp of the ship, and Din, once he turned to survey the damage for himself, spying an unfamiliar droid linking into his ship, let his spear loose without a second thought. 

If you hadn't had the mind to divert it midair with the Force right before impact, the droid would be a pile of steaming wires right now instead of a trembling pile of bolts.

The screech of terror it let out as the spear made impact right above its head made you want to laugh, but you stifled it into your hand, turning a disapproving glare on Din when he asked why you did that.

“We don’t murder innocent droids.”

“No droid is innocent,” he grumbled, looking over at the scrappy little astro unit. 

“They are until proven guilty.”

“I don’t need any proof,” Din mumbled. “Have all the proof I need.”

“You have nothing.”

Before he could say anything else, the angry mech was rolling toward the bounty hunter with an electrified arm ready to zap him, but you held it at bay with the Force. You also held Din back, snorting when he turned a look on you. 

“No.”

Peli somehow materialized beside you, everything about her bewildered and distraught. You let the two arguing tin cans go as you turned your attention to your friend, the final zap from the droid to Din’s thigh before it rolled off not going unnoticed. 

Pointing every which way with each new statement, Peli began to protest. “I was- They were- You just-” Her hands slapped down to her sides, her face pulled determinedly. “That’s not fair!”

She turned to her pit droid crew. “Why do I get all the defective droids in this town?” They began to prattle but she cut them off. “You guys couldn’t fix the wrong side of a bantha.”

Reaching out with your mind, a twitch of your foot sideways ever so slightly, and one of the compartments at the back of the Crest flew off, the wiring inside plopping out like the ship had drunk too much spotchka the night before and now had something to prove.

“It’s alright, Peli. It wasn’t all you.”

“You bet your beskar it wasn’t!” She turned a look on Din. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that massive spear sticking out of the side of my ship.”

Din had the decency to look sheepish, turning his gaze to stare across the hangar, hands on his hips.

“Now I’ll have to track down the Jawas to find enough ancient parts to fix this hunk of junk.” She smacked the hull closest to her with her palm, her eyes fluttering shut as a panel fell off to her right with a clatter.

Leveling her gaze on you, a shudder ran down your spine as Peli stared at you in silence. Finally she spoke again. “You. You’re going to help.”

“And you,” she pointed at Din. He pointed at himself in question and she nodded, maintaining the accusing jab of her index. “Yes, you. Mandalorian.” Din tilted his head curiously. “You are going to go to the cantina to look for a job to pay for all of…. this!”

Peli gestured wildly to the sparking Crest behind her. 

You winced at the singe marks left behind by your saber, beside the puncture mark from the spear as it had let loose from his hands and flown across the hangar. Its beskar body still stood proudly from the hull, glinting in the afternoon sun.

Reaching up high above her head, Peli jerked it from the body of the ship with a grating screech of metal on metal. Green goo began to shoot from the new opening, coating the sand of the hangar around her feet in several inches in a matter of seconds.

She looked down at it before bringing menacing eyes up to glare at Din.

“I’ll be at the cantina,” he mumbled, turning to leave without anymore fuss.

“I’ll…. Be here, I guess,” you mumbled, catching Peli’s death stare out of the corner of your eye. “Pick me up some of those blue cookies on your way back?”

“Really?” Din stopped, cocking his head at you.

“Yeah!” You shot back. “The kid isn’t here, so I don’t have to share them.”

“Who says I don’t want some?”

You scoffed. “Experience.” Crossing your arms, you stared at him. “Besides, who says I’m sharing regardless?”

Din took a step back toward you, his voice lowering playfully. “I could make you….”

“Cantina!” Peli hissed.

You’d never seen Din move so quickly.

Xxx

Peli had dragged you out to the large rolling fortress of the Jawas after she had given her pit droid crew a stern talking to. 

You couldn’t make eye contact with them as you stood just behind her and listened to her admonishments. Their judgmental stares from their single ocular lenses could be felt even across the hangar. 

Looking over the wares, you were just glad Din wasn’t here. Jawas would be dropping like flies if he were. He really had a problem.

Bringing your scarf up to cover your face, wrapping it around your head to keep it secure and protect you just a layer more from the suns beating down and sand blowing in the rough winds, you squinted at an old astromech tucked away in the back near the ramp.

“What about that one?” You asked, pointing to it.

The little hooded figure helping you turned, exclaiming something when he realized what you were asking about, then began talking a mile a minute and gesturing even faster.

Holding up your hands, you cut in, “Yeah, yeah, hold on little guy,” your new Jawa friend grunted at the name as you turned to call for help. “Peli! Get over here!” Waving your hand to gesture her over, you hoped it’d help her find you a bit faster.

You saw her curls before you saw her, turning your way and quickly weaving through the junk as her grumbling got closer and closer, but the exact words were never quite clear enough to understand. “What?” She finally asked in exasperation when she was about ten feet away, a power coupling in one hand and…. Something else in the other, you didn’t know what it was, but it had a lot of exposed wires and reminded you of an eyeball on a stick.

Pointing to your little robed shadow, you smiled at her. “Translate. Please.”

With a roll of her eyes, she focused on your small companion, nodding as he went along. “He says you want that R2 unit.” She turned her focus back to you, hands on her hips, eye on a stick still tightly grasped in one hand, “Any particular reason? I have plenty of good droids back at the hangar….” R5 started tweeting and blipping in concern, making her roll her whole head over to look at the droid on her left. “Oh, keep your dome on. I didn’t mean you.” She gestured to the droid with the eye-stick lazily before her eyes cut over to you. “Unless….” R5 let out a mighty whoop before rolling away.

Chirping and blooping from the R2 unit pulled your attention back to the matter at hand, watching in amusement as it rocked from side to side quickly on two of its three legs. Its shiny dome twisted back and forth as it let out shrill beeps and whistles, a lone raspberry cutting off the tirade before it focused on a Jawa coming up to stand beside it. 

As the tiny cloaked figure reached out to adjust the restraining bolt on its front, one of the droid’s front compartments sprung open in the blink of an eye, a surge of electricity arcing through the air and making the Jawa scream. The little scrapper jumped back, stumbling as its cloak began to smoke, strings of Jawaese getting lost in the wind as the tiny thief marched back over to the droid and swiftly kicked it near its treads.

“Stop!” You ran over, holding up your hands to try and intervene, turning to Peli with a pleading look on your face.

She tossed the junk in her hands onto the ground, doing a double take for the eye on a stick before deciding against it and made her way over to you, thrusting the odd part into your chest as she passed by. With a roll of your eyes, you tucked it into the bag of parts to make its way back to the hangar that was slung across your shoulders. 

The bag was over half full, and getting heavier by the minute, but you’d yet to see anything resembling a part you recognized go into the satchel. At this point you think ninety five percent of what she had picked up wasn’t even for the Crest, she was just exacting her revenge on Din. And you had no problem with that.

Peli tilted her head as she listened to the Jawa go on a tirade. Eyes flickering between the tiny robe with eyes and the droid, she finally looked back over her shoulder at you. “He said this droid is just a problem. It’s memory hasn’t been wiped in too long, so it’s developed an…. Ah, well,” she quirked her eyebrows, her hands landing on her hips as she studied the droid. “A strong personality.”

The R2 unit blooped before zapping the Jawa again, a warbling whistle following after in what almost sounded like a taunt for more.

“Stop,” you said again, taking another step toward the feisty astromech. It was very hard to not smile as you studied the round dome, its light blinking red and white at you rapidly as it scanned you up and down, finding something it trusted enough to calm down. It didn’t zap a third time, but it kept the utility equipped, sending a surge down the line when the Jawa got too close again as a warning.

It reminded you of Din. It even kind of looked like him. You had to really try to contain the smile as you thought of his reaction if you said that out loud.

The head tilt.

The finger.

“Later.”

The body was the typical white of most R2 units, though obviously worn and aged, some pockets of rust peeking through here and there along the edge, along with carbon scoring like it’d seen some firefights. With a darker silver dome, close to the color of your vambraces, you could tell it had received repairs along the line, the contrasting metals denoting different eras in its lifetime. 

The bands along its body that contained the attachments and along the sides of its legs were a warm coppery color, while the panels along its head were a dark gunmetal gray that reminded you of the Crest. 

Altogether it was a patchwork of parts, but it made something beautiful to you. Like when the suns hit the sand just right and caused a reflection in the distance. This droid was a mirage, a shadow.

“What’s wrong with it?” You interrupted the Jawa currently on another tirade that made Peli look like she was struggling to keep up. Getting down on one knee, still a good distance from the droid, you stared into its lense as it studied you once again.

Your friend turned to face you more fully. “What do you mean, they just told you. It hasn’t-”

“No, why hasn’t it moved?”

Peli asked the question, turning to look at the droid as she listened to the answer, its lense now turned on her.

“He said the tread on the right foot is broken. They have it out here because someone is coming to pick it up to wipe the memory. Its-”

“Not anymore,” you said quietly. “It’s coming with me.” Getting to your feet, you began to walk away, stopping when several Jawa voices began to follow after you, each more insistent than the other. You looked at Peli, brow raised in question.

“They say you can’t do that. It’s already a done deal. Now they’re asking if you want any of the other droids, they have an-”

You turned, looking at the gathering of red glowing eyes blinking up at you expectantly. Keeping your voice even, you made eye contact with each pair as you spoke. “You will release the droid into my care.”

A string of Jawaese was mumbled back to you, which you assumed was just them repeating your words, so you went on.

“Remove the restraining bolt, load it in the speeder, and let us go on our way.”

As they mumbled again, they broke off into groups to do what you said. 

Tapping the leader on the shoulder, you held firmly when he turned to look at you. “And it won’t cost anything.”

He nodded before going to join the others.

“How did you….” Peli’s voice dripped with amazement. “Can you-”

“No.”

“You didn’t let me-”

“No, Peli.”

“Fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms and facing the Jawas as they loaded the droid who whistled happily while they worked. “I’m just saying-”

She stopped when you slowly turned to look at her, brow arched.

“Yeah, no, forget about it. Not important.”

Xxx

As you unloaded the droid at the hangar, once it was down on the ground, you knelt down slowly to inspect its injured foot. 

“I’m just going to tilt you a little bit to get a better look, okay?”

The pit droids began lowering some type of harness down to help you, but the droid began to rock back and forth, protesting loudly as its dome swung back and forth.

“Okay, okay,” you held up your hands placatingly, gesturing for the other droids to stop. “No lifts. I’ll do it myself, but you’ve got to trust me. It’ll feel a little strange, but you’re completely safe, I promise. Alright?”

The droid bleeped in agreement after a moment of hesitation, and without further hassle, you nudged it slowly onto its side, floating at the proper angle, held just right by an unseen force. As it moved into the proper placement, the R2 unit blooped an amazed sound.

After poking at the tread for a moment, you wrinkled your brows. “This isn’t broken. What did they mea-”

You were cut short when the tread on the other foot whirred to life where it still rested on the ground, spitting sand in your face in a rapid fire. As you drew back quickly, swatting at the sting settling into your eyes, you just caught a glimpse through your squint of the droid falling the rest of the way to the ground with a screech, your concentration broken.

Before you could really react properly, the R2 unit had popped upright, all manner of Binary curses and colorful language beeping and whistling as it whipped out the zapper it had used earlier on the Jawa, sending a warning jolt down the spine while rotating in a circle to keep all the advancing droids and Peli at bay. 

Then it started to lift off with some sort of propulsion, a victorious squeal echoing off the hangar walls that was all too soon followed by the sound of sputtering exhaust. Its lense pointed down, watching it all unfold, a quiver of fear warbled out of its voice box. The flames keeping it afloat flickered then died, sending it hurtling to the ground with a scream.

You were just able to stick out a hand, focusing enough to catch it inches from the ground. “I got you!” As you lowered it the last few millimeters back onto the sand, you let out a heavy sigh, relaxing into the warm earth beneath you with a quietly muttered, “I got you.”

“Well, that was a first,” Peli announced loudly, amused, as the R2 unit looked at you, a spurt of oil suddenly spewing onto the ground as it moaned in distress.

“It’s about right on track for me, honestly,” you huffed, laughing as you got back to your feet. 

The droid quaked as you got closer, worried coos softly filling the hangar.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” you spoke softly, coming back onto your knees a few feet from the R2 unit. “That was actually kind of impressive.” You smirked, watching as the trembling stopped. The droid was silent and you smiled a bit broader. “I would expect nothing less, honestly. It’s what I would do in your situation. Hell, I have done it a few times….” The droid whistled softly in amusement.

You laughed, feeling victorious when it wheeled a bit closer to you.

“I have, too. I live a very extraordinary life, my friend.”

A questioning bloop.

“Yes, I said ‘friend’. I consider you that, not anything less.”

A series of beeps and whistles, the red light blinking much more slowly now.

“I do speak Binary. Very observant.”

A raspberry.

You laughed, and it was followed by the closest sound a droid can make to the sound, a series of trills.

“Can we start over?” 

The droid wheeled closer, bumping its front foot into your knee gently before wheeling back slightly as if to say, ‘go on’.

You introduced yourself, reaching a hand out toward the droid. A panel sprung open on its front, the zapper coming out without a charge, making you arch a brow at the unit as it tittered playfully. The panel closed before another opened, and a small three pronged metal hand extended, closing around two of your fingers and shaking them in jerky movements as it beeped and blooped away.

“R2-B4?” The droid whistled in confirmation, releasing your fingers and closing the panel. “Can I just call you Bee?” A beep that sounded like ‘yes’ and also meant ‘yes’ in Binary chirped happily, filling the hangar. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Bee. How about we get you tuned up, into a nice hot oil bath, run a few diagnostics to make sure you’re running as optimally as you can be, then starting tomorrow we can-”

Some angry bloops and bleeps filled the air, while she rocked back and forth on her feet.

“No, no, no! No memory wipe! That’s not what I meant! I wouldn’t do that to you.” She stopped rocking, but her lense scanned you up and down rapidly, her light flashing between red and white faster than you had seen yet. “You don’t know me yet, so I don’t blame you. But I’m not going to do that to you. That won’t happen so long as you are here. With me. With us. That makes you you. I don’t want just a droid, I want you, Bee.”

Reaching out your hand, you rested it lightly on her dome and an affectionate beep came out quietly.

“I just meant to make sure you’re running as optimally as you can be. You deserve it, friend.”

It was at this point Din came walking back into the hangar. He stopped short when he saw the new astromech snuggled up so closely with you, the disarray of the hangar floor with the spilled oil and obvious scuffle, and Peli with her army of droids behind her and new eyeball on a stick waving around animatedly as she greeted him with a smile.

“Mando! Finally!” She walked toward him. “You will not believe the day we’ve had.”

The look Din leveled on you through his visor was nothing short of stifling. “Try me.”

Xxx

Once Din had calmed down enough to not shoot the new droid on sight, and Bee had calmed down enough to not zap the Mandalorian on sight, you sat down to explain the situation to Din as the astro unit underwent an oil bath.

“I don’t know, Man- Din.” You pulled a face at yourself as he chuckled at the slip up. “It just felt like I was supposed to, and she….” You looked straight into his visor. “The voices stopped when I saw her. Everything did. I don’t know.” Looking down to the table top to your right, you began to fiddle your fingers aimlessly. “I swear you won’t have to-”

“Okay.”

“Now don’t just- what?” You shook your head to dislodge any sand that may be plugging your ears and causing you to mishear because you could have sworn he said…. “Okay? ….Okay? Did you just say okay?”

Din laughed softly. “Yes.” He nodded. “Fine. I trust you.”

Narrowing your eyes, you leaned forward onto your knees, getting closer to him and peering up with scrutiny for an agonizing minute. “What did you do?”

Leaning back in his chair with a sigh, he rested his hand on his thigh. “Got you a present.” His head tilted to the side as you sat up a bit straighter. “Still gonna look at me like that?”

Eyes going wide, you sat back and matched his posture.

“That’s what I thought,” he said with a snort. “I met up with Boba last night, as you know, and after going to the cantina, he caught up to me with the finished product.”

Din reached over and pulled a tarp off a crate to his right, how you’d missed it you had no idea, especially since the item before your eyes still sang with the same signature as his armor had. 

A jetpack.

Raw beskar and durasteel glinted under the twin suns, polished to perfection and ready to earn their first scuff marks.

“Din…. No.” You looked at him in disbelief. “You didn’t.”

Reaching for the pack, he groaned slightly with the effort, sighing once it sat in his lap. “I couldn’t look at you in that horribly fitting armor one more time, and it was just taking up space on the ship.” He set the heavy gift in your lap. “Now I don’t have to lug you around anymore.”

Scoffing, you leaned in closer to him, batting your lashes. “Don’t lie, you like lugging me around.”

He tossed his head side to side. “It has its perks, yes, but now….” He gently nudged you back with a finger to your shoulder so you were sitting normally in your seat again. “Lift yourself, mesh’la.”

Sitting up straight as you held the jetpack in your lap, you traced its curves with your hand. “I don’t know whether to be offended or say thank you.”

Meeting the gaze of his visor through your lashes, he simply nodded.

“That’s all I needed to hear. Now, let’s get you fitted and flying - but first, I have to sync them with your vambraces, or else you might-”

“Let me guess,” you sighed, relaxing back into your chair with a thump. “Or else I might blow something up?” Din nodded once in confirmation, and you mirrored him. “Some things never change.”

“And some things change all the time….”

“Well that was cryptic.”

“Fennec found a contact for me that might know where the Armorer is. Where the covert moved to.”

Your eyes went wide and you froze, halfway to attaching the jetpack between your shoulder blades. “Excuse me, what?”

“It’s a job, but I head there in two rotations-”

Your face fell flat, along with your tone. “Excuse me, what?”

“Are you broken?” You arched a brow in question at him. “You haven’t moved since I mentioned the Armorer and you’re repeating yourself.”

With a huff of disbelief, you let the jetpack to the ground beside you with a gentle thud, and faced him once again. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s because you’re insane?!”

“Excuse me, what?”

“See?” You gestured to him. “A perfectly valid reaction.” Din huffed, his head tilting to the side in annoyance as you went on. “First off I was excited for you, but then you go and say something crazy like you’re going alone?”

“Well I just assumed….”

“Go on,” you deadpanned, smiling slightly when he trailed off, swallowing roughly.

When he never did, you sighed heavily and forged on for the both of you. “Since I’m your wife,” you began, eyes cast down to the sand, ignoring the way he tossed his head back with a groan, “I think it’s only right I go with you.” You looked up to meet his visor. “Not to mention I continue to save your skin daily.”

“One time. I….” He held up one finger. “That was. I let that slip one time with Peli and it was an accident.” He huffed, staring at you for a long moment. “You're never going to let me forget that are you?”

You grinned. “No.”

Xxx

The two of you landed at the front of Peli’s hangar when you saw an unknown droid approaching in the street from where you were training in the air.

“Oh! Pardon me!” The courier droid raised its hands up in surrender. 

Reaching out, you lowered Din’s blaster. “You have a problem,” you mumbled. “You need to ask questions first, shoot later.”

Din grunted. “That’s not how I work.”

“Well, maybe you need to upgrade your circuitry, Tin Can.”

Both Din and the courier looked at you.

“Beg your pardon, miss, but that is a Mandalorian, not a droi-”

You couldn’t help your snort of laughter. “What’s the message?”

“Oh. Yes.” The droid reached into a bag fastened to its hip. “You have a holo from a Greef Karga? It’s marked sensitive/eyes only. I suggest you watch it someplace private.” Leaning around to look behind you into the vacant hangar, the only other soul being R5 rolling past with an offensive blip, the droid then looked back at the two of you. “Or just stay here.”

Taking the device from the droid with a smile, you were surprised when it didn’t just leave.

It reached back into the satchel and procured another device. A puck. And handed it to Din.

“What’s this?” The Mandalorian asked dryly, looking at the small device in the droid's hand as if it were the most confusing puzzle in the galaxy.

“Courtesy of Greef Karga…. once again.” When Din made no effort to move, the droid looked between the two of you. “They go together. I assume they offer some explanation. Otherwise, I have nothing to tell you about them.”

Din sighed, taking the puck and shutting the hangar door before the droid could say another word.

A muffled, “Oh. Well, good day, then!” Came through before the retreat of mechanical footsteps was heard.

“That was rude!” You mumbled, turning to go deeper into the hangar, but freezing when you saw the info spinning above the puck in Din’s hand. 

No.

No it couldn’t be.

Quickly activating the comm, you let Karga explain what you already feared.

“If you’re playing this message, you’ve already opened the puck. Yes. I know. I was just as shocked, too.”

There, in letters as big as day was your name.

“It was issued by the head of some small town crime group on Tatooine. Said you decimated their numbers yesterday?”

Din grunted. “Nobody died. What do they mean decimated?”

“I’m not issuing the puck to anyone, but be on the lookout. It could make things…. Difficult.”

The comm went dead, and all you could do was stare at the puck in Din’s hand, the info being presented to you but truly not being absorbed as all you could do was watch and blink.

The puck displayed your picture, slowly spinning with all your details next to it. 

Name: Eesra Kesyk

Last known location: Tatooine

Known associates: Din Djarin, Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, Peli Motto, Sola Kei, Cara Dune, Greef Karga, Mythrol, Bo Katan Kryze, Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker

Karga, Mythrol, Bo Katan, Luke, Ahsoka? For some small time group on Tatooine, they had really gone out of their way to find info on you….

Your gut sank. 

Unless….

You shook your head. There’s no way this went beyond a small town crime lord on a backwater planet. No way.

Focusing back in on the list, you squinted to read the fine print it was in to have everything fit on the little readout.

The rest was just details, date of birth, previous work…. reason for bounty.

“Are they serious?”

Unlawful use of star cruiser in restricted airspace, failure to comply with law enforcement, breaking and entering, damage to public property, battery and assault….

Din thought this was all very funny. He was practically giggling by now, snorts of laughter trickling out of his modulator as he stood to your right.

He’d tried to stop under your glare, he really did, but it just wasn’t possible, little snickers escaping here and there. 

“Who knew I married such a horrible person?”

He did this from time to time. Brought up his little misstep with Peli where he’d called you his wife, leaning fully into the absurdity and embracing the silliness you often tried to pelt at him mercilessly by saying it himself first.

Rolling your eyes, but unable to contain the small grin climbing up your face,  you looked back at the puck and crossed your arms firmly over your chest. “You knew what you were getting yourself into, Tin Can.” Tilting your head at the readout, you pursed your lips. “And we’re not actually married, no matter what you said to Peli. You’re not ready for all of this.” Making a swooping gesture to yourself, you ignored his mocking snort of amusement. 

You stared at the list for another loaded minute of silence before going on. “Besides, half of these aren’t even true!” Gesturing to the list with one hand, you turned to look up at his visor, brows raised. “Unlawful use of starcruiser…. When did we even leave the planet?”

He was still chuckling warmly as he turned to you. “Did I? Know what I was getting into, I mean? I don’t know about that, mesh’la.” His chuckle grew louder as your face fell into unamusement. “And are you sure? Only half?”

Turning to face him fully, you raised one hand to wag a finger in his face teasingly. “Hey, you’re the one that keeps coming back.”

Pulling you into his arms, he hummed contentedly. “And I always will come back to you.”

Copying his hum of satisfaction, you reached up and grabbed his cowl like always, tucking your face into the fabric and taking a deep breath before turning to the side to look at the holo once again with a sigh.

“They got my name wrong, though.”

“Did they?”

“Mmm-hmm.” Tucking your face into the crook of his neck, you smiled. “Eesra Djarin of Clan Mudhorn…. That’s so much better, don’t you think?”

He groaned softly. “I-”

Bleep!

Din grunted in mild annoyance as Bee rolled up the ramp, stopping beside the two of you and trilling animatedly. “Not now, Scrap.”

Bee let out as close to a matching grunt of displeasure a droid could make, flipped out the electrified arm on her front, and waved it at Din in warning. 

“See? This is why I don’t like droids,” Din grumbled.

Rolling forward bit by bit, backtracking just slightly in between, she pried her way into the small amount of space between the two of you, making you step back just slightly to make room.

“Well, hello there,” you mused quietly to the metallic dome whose lense was looking up at you, smiling back at the tiny bloop in greeting. “May I help you?”

She babbled away in Binary animatedly, charged hand still extended toward Din in warning as she rolled ever so slightly closer towards you, tilting forward just a bit and causing Din to grunt as the forward motion pushed the bottom of her housing into his shin guards with a ping.

“I’m sure R5 didn’t say all that. What are you getting at?”

More beeps and whistles, this time containing squeals as her lense switched between red and white rapidly, almost faster than her sounds, as she animatedly continued her story.

“Wow,” you finally said when the droid stopped, staring at you expectantly.

“What did she say?” Din tilted his head at you.

“No idea.” You looked up into his visor. “All I caught was something something BD said and then Peli, Jawas….”

Both of you started to chuckle softly, Bee looking between you as she rotated her dome back and forth, a bloop of disappointment before a raspberry of annoyance, and you couldn’t shake the growing grin on your face if you wanted to.

After a moment she reached out just a little further and zapped Din with the electrified arm, tittering a laugh as she rolled away at speed as Din chased after her after crying out in pain. “Ow! Get back here, you rolling scrap heap!”

Crossing your arms, you leaned against the opening of the ramp to the Crest, and watched the scene unfold in Peli’s hangar.

Droids, a mechanic, and a Mandalorian all running in circles after a goal you weren’t quite sure of. All that was clear was Din was losing.

You were home, with the people you loved.

Looking to the side, you saw the bunk of the Crest open, the child’s hammock still strung across the top. The corners of your mouth pulled slightly down.

Well, almost everyone.

You were a clan of three.

No, it was more than that.

You were also a family.

And someday, you’d all be back together again.

Someday soon.

You’d find a way to bring it all back to you.

Adjusting your weight slightly, you bumped something on your vambraces in the process causing the jetpack between your shoulder blades beginning to whir with an increasing hum. Flames began to sputter at its base with a growing roar, sending a wall of heat down the backs of your thighs as it prepared to lift you into the skies once again.

“Din?” You called, quietly at first, staring over your shoulder at the new death trap strapped to your spine, then more urgently, “Din!”

He was already jogging up the ramp toward you, his posture easy and relaxed. “Calm down.”

A quick glance behind him showed an amused Peli and her circus of droids, all of them tittering in amusement. Bee rocked back and forth in glee at the foot of the ramp before rolling back to the others. 

“Calm down?” You repeated in bewilderment, watching him disengage the jetpack from your vambrace with a single button push, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

“Calm down?!” He began to chuckle, his hand skimming up the inside of your forearm to lightly grab your elbow and push you further into the ship as you went on. “I was almost a flying projectile and you-”

You hadn’t noticed the way he’d nudged you backwards completely out of sight of the rest of the hangar until your spine sealed along the bulkhead by the weapons locker, the lights of the cargo hold going to half brightness with a deft swipe of his hand over a control pad to your left. 

Half, but still plenty bright to see.

“Din?”

Taking in your new surroundings, you looked back up to see him taking his gloves off and tucking them in his belt. His helmet came next, the quiet hiss of the mechanism causing you to screw your eyes shut. The familiar sound of beskar thunking onto the metal floor of the Crest made them close even tighter.

Din chuckled softly, the unmodulated sound tickling your face with his warm breath. “Open your eyes, mesh’la.”

“Oh, yeah.” Slowly you blinked your eyes open, looking up to see warm brown eyes, and the sweetest smile waiting to meet you. “I still forget.”

Winding your hands up into the curls at the base of his head, you smirked when he let out a contented sigh through his nose. 

After a moment of simply holding the other’s gaze, you muttered quietly, “Hello, brown eyes.”

Din was on you in an instant, his groan of annoyance muffled against your lips as you laughed softly into the kiss. 

“You always have to ruin it,” he mumbled, crowding you further into the wall, his bare hands coming to cradle your face and making your eyes slip shut at the contact. “Nu-uh. Open your eyes, mesh’la.”

Fluttering them open, you tried very hard to keep them that way. “Sorry. It’s not every day a Mandalorian is half naked in front of me. I’ll try harder.”

“Half naked?” He tilted his head, the tip of his nose bumping against yours, one brow arching up in question. 

“For you, a helmet and gloves is the equivalent of a-”

Din was back on you again, this time growling in mock frustration against your lips as you laughed a bit louder. The upturn of his lips gave his amusement away, though.

Pulling apart just enough that only your foreheads rested against one another, the two of you held that moment together for quite a while. Simply breathing the other in, and existing in this quiet moment before the storm. 

Before you left to find more Mandalorians. 

More Mandalorians. 

Now that was going to be interesting. 

After a moment, you rolled your head to the side slightly and peeked up through your lashes to find his eyes closed.

You opened your mouth to speak, only for you both to speak in tandem, “Open your eyes.”

“I will if you will,” you were quick to retort.

Warm brown eyes met yours once again as the setting suns’ light poured in through the open ramp somewhere behind him, painting the cargo hold of the Crest in vibrant shades of gold, orange and red.

Din smiled softly, pressing his forehead further into yours, using his hands at your cheeks to maneuver your head back a bit and into a better angle for him to lean his forehead into. “Only for you.” His fingers began to move up and thread into your hair. “Always for you.” It was hard to tell where he stopped and you began. “Gar cuyi ner aliit. Ni kar'tayli darasuum gar. Gar cuyi ner mir'sheb bal gar utreekov kar'tayli darasuum gar, cyar’ika.” He pressed his forehead even further into yours, his lips ghosting over your own with each word. (“You are my family. I love you. You are my smartass, and your idiot loves you, darling.”)

“Gar cuyi ner yaim. Ner yaim'ol. Ner yaim'la.” The light of the day was fading, much the same as the two of you were melding into one another, practically becoming one being, all his hard edges blurring where your soft lines began. The Crest began to fill with long shadows as the lights in Peli’s hangar kicked on, filling the cargo hold with just enough extra light to see. (“You are my home. My homecoming. My comfortable.”)

Reaching up, you cupped his face in your hand, and he melted into it, his eyes fluttering shut as he leaned into your palm, his voice a low rumble. “Ni ratiin yaimpar gar.” (“I always return to you.”)

In the quiet moment, you rubbed your thumb over his cheek bone slowly back and forth before finally whispering with a smile, “Open your eyes.”

Once he was looking at you once again, you pulled your head back just a bit and tilted it to the side. “So, where are we going to find the covert?”

He went stiff. “We?”

You sighed, laying your head on his pauldron. “It’s been how long, and you still haven’t learned that I’m always going to come with you?”

Din looked at you with a matching sigh. He tilted his head at you, his weight shifted to one leg, his hands on your waist moving you along with him. “You sometimes stay here when I go out on a job and help Peli work on the ship. It’s almost done after what Gideon tried to do- er, it was until today.”

“Exactly. So after this last massacre, I don’t think Peli wants to see my face around here anymore,” you laughed, making him shake his head and let out a huff of laughter. “I think Boba would give us a lift to wherever.”

“And then how do we get back?”

You smiled as you closed the small space between you, speaking softer as the situation began to feel more delicate. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Why are your ideas usually half baked or somehow involve fire?”

You closed the distance between you yet again, wrapping your arms around his neck tightly, and pressing your forehead into his. “And yet they always work….”

“You get lucky sometimes,” he groused half heartedly before he returned the gesture, a warm ungloved hand spread across your back, the other moving up to the back of your head to tuck your face securely into the crook of his neck.

You weren’t about to pull away as he held you there gently. Turning your face towards him where it rested on his shoulder, your nose brushed against his neck, and his grip grew tighter. Glancing up towards his face, you thought back to a time in the bar when this all started when all you could see before the helmet obstructed your view was a small sliver of skin that bobbed as he swallowed roughly. 

Now you had an unobstructed view….

….Of unruly dark curls long overdue for a trim….

….Golden skin dusted with a light facial hair that had the slightest hint of grays peppered in….

….Kind, warm brown eyes that looked at you with so many promises….

….A nose that had definitely been broken once or twice….

….And a smile that took your breath away.

You turned your head up fully towards his face as you pulled away just enough to look at him straight on, and he turned his gaze down to meet you with a slightly playful tilt of his head like before.

“I’m just that good.” Your hands fell to rest on his chest plate. “Now let’s go find your people.”

“Let’s go find our people,” he corrected.

With a gentle nod, you pulled away slowly after a moment, turning towards the ramp with wide eyes as what just happened sunk in.

Our people.

Din walked past you, looking over his shoulder once he was on the ramp. “Are you coming?”

Our people. 

Turning your head slightly to the left, you saw he had stopped, helmet back on, gloves securely fastened, and every bit the Mandalorian you had met all those years ago, only now he stood waiting for you, hand outstretched in invitation.

Mine.

You smiled, walking forward and taking his hand. “Moff Gideon couldn’t keep me away.”

Xxx

Yes, I gave her a name. Eesra Kesyk. (Ee-sruh Keh-sick) Let’s face it, Mesh’la is still what’s going to be used 99.999999% of the time, and “you” the majority of the rest. But we’re going into a part of the story with a whole lot of other new players and I wanted to have something to call the reader besides “you” and nicknames. I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m sorry. But, it’s my story, and that’s what I chose to do. I have a plan, so if you’ll bear with me, thank you, and I hope we can see it through together. ❤️ Plus, Din still just calls her *sigh* or “stop it!” 99% of the time, so…. 🤭

Xxx

Tags to come!

#din x reader #din djarin x reader #din djarin fanfiction #star wars imagine #star wars reader insert #mando x reader #mando x you #mando x y/n #din x you #din x y/n #din djarin x you #din djarin x y/n #star wars x reader #star wars x you #star wars x y/n #din imagine #din djarin imagine #mando reader insert #the mandalorian #star wars #din djarin #mando #grogu #grogu x reader #the mandalorian reader insert #the mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x y/n

[horseimagebarn]

hello friends welcome to the horseimagebarn weekly interaction recap where i respond to all the asks reblogs comments etc i received in the previous week every single friday

however as some of you may have noticed i have done you all a disservice in that i missed last weeks recap due to life reasons that i will not specify but i will tell you i have been listening to weezer more than normal which i believe is ample insight into my life at the moment

i beg your pardon in this slight as i take my duty as the horseimagebarn curator very seriously and i know i have dropped the ball a bit recently by decreasing my posting frequency and missing out on last weeks recap i sincerely apologize and it will not happen again

to atone i shall include posts from the past two weeks in this weekly recap so that you may see all i have had to say

i do not know who you are idespisehorses or why you have such hate in your heart but i hope you know you greatly soured my 9 11 and every day after

she horse on my image til i barn

horse masseuse thats awesome i am glad your mom enjoys my posts and i wish you and her both very well however i have found my niche as it were on tumblr and i enjoy the folk here very much and i dont think i would get on as well with the facebook crowd and i am not doing this for fame or community though the community here is very nice and enjoyable and a welcome benefit i do this out of love for the craft however i do look at horses on facebook from time to time

thank you for your praise my friend you see i always found image descriptions to accurately convey the physicality of the image only and never the emotions or aura of the image so i felt that for something debatably non vital like horse images i might try to employ a more abstract and possibly more spiritually accurate manner of writing image descriptions

never do i feel more satisfaction and joy than i do when i find out the names of the horses in the horseimagebarn this account does excellent work

it is no worries some horse images are not for everyone

yes my friend i tag my horses based on ten key emotions though i am planning on adding more when i have the time to go through and resort my posts as i want people to be able to use the tags to find a horse image that reflects whatever emotion they are seeking perfectly if you have any suggestions for new tags please let me know

please spare me for my sins against car tumblr i fear i will never recover from this

yes this is true and i have read that a horse if old enough may die due to a lack of teeth if it grinds them down enough in its life

you can always look at horses on google sweatybeard the horses can sense negativity

my homie has spotted me in the wild hello homie

congratulations sylvia42

my friends you touch me deeply with your messages and i appreciate your patience greatly it heartens me to know so many people enjoy my efforts i have never risen to such heights as i have on this blog and i appreciate you all so much

i am happy for you my friend i deeply wish to go on a trail ride one day with a horse but i live in a tourist town so it is approximately one million dollars to do such and i am trapped within the throes of capitalism i am glad no horses were harmed on your trip and i am pleased to know you had a wonderful time

shoutout isaac

#horse #horses #horseblr #horseposting #horseimagebarn weekly recap #happy 6000 followers

[daydreaming-en-pointe]

So I recently had a not-so-nice anon in my inbox asking why I write for desi readers when ‘barely anybody who is actually desi’ reads my works. I chose not to respond to their original ask because it has a few racist stereotypes, not to mention blatant insults.

First off, I’m sure that’s not true. I refuse to believe that on this enormous site with well over a million people there is not one desi who watched ATSV and fell in love with its characters, and wanted to see more of themselves in readers. I refuse to believe that because I know for a fact it’s not true; I’m moots with a few desi writers and let me tell you even if they don’t necessarily write fics targeted towards explicitly Indian readers, their works are still fantastic and yes, they read my desi fics. (vee silvia shoutout to u guys ily ❤️) And I’m sure that there are others, too. Maybe they don’t read my writing but I’m sure they’ve searched for a fic that has a protagonist that they can relate to, at least once.

That first part may not have made any sense but anyway — secondly, it is not my duty to have to write for everyone else. I can very well choose to write about my own culture and my own experiences if I want to. I write desi readers because in a way, ATSV helped me love my culture and my background. And now, I want to introduce other people to my experiences, and to my culture, because I think it’s beautiful. I personally LOVE reading fics with Latina (or any ethnicity at all) readers that highlight parts of their culture. I love reading about cultures that I previously wouldn’t know much about.

Anyway, to summarise this: fuck you anon I’m just gonna write more desi-centred fics 😊

#⋆·˚ 🪴 ༘ * — 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗶 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 #this was written at 3am btw #not coherent at all #queued post #also i might be getting pissed for no reason at all but #the way they said it was very aggressive for no reason #also a little bit racist #kinda wish i’d taken a screenshot #some of the things they said were pretty wild lmao #but i deleted it the moment i read it and sat and fumed in the corner for a good few minutes #i need to go to sleep #SHOUTOUT TO DESI ATSV WRITERS #AND DESI WRITERS IN GENERAL #I LOVE EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU ❤️ #all writers as well ofc #unless you’re a racist piece of shit who feels threatened or smth when they see other cultures they can’t relate to #in which case #fuck you and fuck off

[standingappa]

Somebody reblogged my post and asked for my favourite scorbus fics so.. ASK AND I SHALL DELIVER!😁

(if the fic description is too long i might just put a little summary as to not make the post too long)

My Top Favourites:

Greater Expectations 196k

featuring hufflepuff albus and slytherin scorpius! this fic is just so special in the fandom, it’s so unique and wonderful honestly! There is no other fic that I have read where scorpius is depicted in quite this way :)

Also- if you follow me and have seen my stoner scorbus fic- this fic inspired those posts😉

Albus and scorpius are ‘very platonic’ series

Stories featuring chubby Ministry employee Albus and cheerful history student Scorpius

I love chubby albus😭 I just love their relationship here in general honestly.

My favourite series/ long fics

I Knew It All Along (series) 469k

The story of two Slytherin boys and a relationship everybody but them saw coming

a fandom classic.

The quietly series 407k

classic slowburn scorpius. Spanning from meeting each other- to getting together, to starting a family

Sun Sinks Down, no curfew 123k

Nobody really expects them to take a month-long trip around Europe to escape from their impending future. But, Albus thinks, they've never had the simplest of lives, so why would they start now? A month away from the hustle and bustle of life at home is exactly what the two of them need after their recent escapades and perhaps, Albus thinks, it'll give him time to try and work out when Scorpius started to look so pretty in his eyes.

Bloom 114k

Love is fragile. Rarely, it's fleeting.

Albus knew the feeling very well. He held his adoration for his best friend - Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy - in his hand like a small, glass structure. If he were to slip or fall, it would shatter like a firework. He held on carefully; protecting it like it were a small, injured bird. Albus' heart often felt like that - a small, unprotected entity.

He'd been foolish to believe that love was safe. It bloomed in his chest; a stupid, frilly flower that hardly hesitated to kill him from the inside out.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- all i have to say on this fic

oh, i’m going to let the future in 41k

Al only speaks English, and he sings in the shower, badly. He likes tea, and he cleans when he’s stressed. He sees a therapist. He has a total of two friends, and one of them is his cousin. He isn’t smart; he’s simple.

He wishes that could be enough.

Escape 41k

Scorpius Malfoy liked to keep himself to himself. He was fine on his own with just his headphones and music. Until he’s paired with Albus Potter for Defence Against the Dark Arts tutoring, and Scorpius learns that being alone is nice, but having a friend is nicer.

There are plenty of ways one escapes their own mind, their own demons. There’s drugs, running, alcohol and Scorpius Malfoys personal favourite: music.

Fave Mid-Short fics 30k- less

Find My Way 32 k

ft. blind albus

Keep it on 5k

smut and bottom albus😁 (adult scorbus)

camera-clicker 14k

Albus Severus Potter has been to many weddings, though none of them have been his own. Really, it was an 'always a bridesmaid, never a bride' situation, or rather - 'always a wedding photographer, never a groom'.

But you’re here right now and I think you’ll stay- 13k

Albus and scorpius visiting the burrow during chirstmas 🤗 If you like this sort of fic- you should definitely check out every fic made by sunshinescorpius (the author of this fic)

special shoutouts:

the painful eagerness of unfed hope

Where life is a dance composed of one step forwards and three steps back, and Albus is still trying to work out how to dance without falling over his own feet. Albus is a poet, Scorpius is an aspiring archaeologist, and they learn together the beautiful way love demands to be felt.

beautifull writing, ft poet albus. (the only reason its a special shoutout is because I need to finish the last chapter)

The moments that made us 116k

So long story short, this is the story of how I, Albus Severus Potter, got with the love of my life: Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

Or rather, the moments that made us.

I put it at special shout out because of the first person pov and angsty 15 year old narration might not be everyone’s cup of tea- i definetly liked it a lot

Wildcard 59k

I just HAD to add this muggle football au!! Also- not everyone likes muggle au’s but i definitely thought it was a fun ride!

O come, let us adore him 42k

one of the two weirdest scorbus fics I have read- had a lot of fun tho.

unfinished fics (as of april 2023)

wake 60k 5/12 chapters

scorbus established relationship during a summer holiday in australia (i think ?)😁

The Lost Potter 30k 10/17 chapters

loving it so far- very intriguing

OK i actually have WAY more recommendations for each category but the post is becoming way too long lol i might make a part 2 if anyone asks🤗

#scorbus #scorpius malfoy #albus severus potter #the cursed child #fic list

[jils-things]

hii jil !! for the ask game, if you haven’t already — i’d love to hear even more about jaide, so; 6 & 10? <3

SARA HALLU 🥺🥺🥺🥺💚💚 I APPRECIATE IT!!

6. does your self insert have any pets? Pokemon?

OK SO. YEAH. everything's pretty much explained here!

she caught them all from her encounters as a trainer but for me personally i like to think jaide's actual token pet is to.gepi (she affectionately nicknamed pipino) she only had him recently from an interesting incident :3c she doesn't want to let him battle because she babies him a bit too much 🥺🥺💚

quick run down!

• galla.de (remy) - her partner pokemon! gallade tends to drags her out of danger because shes too reckless 🔥 also funne contrast to jaide stone having a garde.voir 🔥🔥

• blazik.en (chuy) - big shoutout to my friend who big brain'd on this - anyway, kid!red got a torchi.c for kid!jaide before she left for joht.o. a parting gift for her :3

• leafeo.n (vivi) - i dont have much input, but another contrast to jaide stone who has a gla.ceon :3

• ma.ntine - caught in her alol.a trip. the funniest thought I ever had with this is jaide going waterskiing with man.tine pulling her and she's zooming by so quickly and it scares the hell out of red and blue who's just chillin with lap.ras and gya.rados respectively 😭😭😭

• reuni.clus - i only considered adding this one recently so i dont have much input yet! it also looks like a pkmn jaide would have.... i mean look at the face! (i plan to catch one in my new bw2 save hehe)

extra bit - jaide has... A LOT of 'mons, so this is only one set for sure 😭 she could have several sets of teams because shes a catcher and has been to nearly every region at this point! a few pokemons i'd like to mention however are: cin.derace, decidueye, hatenna and sw.ampert 🥹💚

10. how do the other characters feel about your self insert and f/o’s relationship?

holy shit. its the funniest thing istg.

so blue, blue was the guy who managed to bring everyone together after being away from each other for too long. all he wanted was to be with his best buds and thats all. however him slowly getting the hints that red and jaide MMMIIIGHT BE INTO EACH OTHER IS A BIG WHAT THE HELL MOMENT FOR HIM bro wanted reunite with his childhood best friends but childhood best friends are now having MATCHING BRACELETS WHAT ABOUT ME GUYS 🥲🥲🥲 AKDLFKFJS part of him thought this was complete bs because red willingly put himself in mt. silver for years and suddenly he's gonna get a girlfriend before him?!?!?? what!!!!! dude said i pulled a bad bitch by being au- /JJJ

but despite the initial shock i think part of blue is really proud of red because blue knows how socially awkward he is and he's not the best with people - so seeing him at least be with someone he can fully trust and be in love with is certainly a development that he hopes nothing but the best for. i think blue would try his best to help red out too! blue is quite fashionable, can totally see him helping red find a nice outfit for their casual stroll date :D

as for jaide, i think jaide would just constantly send or tell stuff to blue about how cute red is 😭 shes not immune to being so gushy abt her big bf 💔💔 will probably send pics of red sleeping on her lap and shes fuckign crying on pokemessenger or whatever the hell JALSKSJDJJSKA over all blue says yes i approve ☝️

ethan (jaides little brother) would be overjoyed! maybe a little shocked as well because wait a minute 💀 didn't i battle this guy in a seemingly cold place before 💀💀 JAJDJFHSJJD

methinks professor oa.k (who had been with the trio since they were little) is proud. he has quite literally watched these kids grow since they were preteens and seeing where they are today is just infinitely outstanding to him! they're both very smart and strong in their own fields (she's a pro catcher and he's the living legend) and they're still a young couple. lots of potential in those two for sure!

#satosara tag #THANK YOU SO MUCH... IM REALLY A BIG FAN OF TALKING ABT RED/JAIDE/BLUE they really mean sososos much to me <333333 #~ loreposting #red.rom #blue.plat #color pallet trio

[artemiseamoon]

Flirting with Danger

Chapter 3: Too close for comfort

Ramon x f reader (or read as an Oc)

Fic info | previous | next

Words: 5,254

⚠️ warnings: a fight, a handsy creepy guy, mention of blood, a gun, parts that are def NSFW, heavy making out, fade away sex scene with body parts mentioned (this is just fiction but you know, in real life, practice safe sex!) 

*Mega shoutout to @thesolotomyhan & her Ramon jealousy HC. It inspired 2 scenes! Read og post here. *

GIF credit to owners | if you’d like your gif removed, msg me and I’ll remove it

Content disclaimer: You know my usual Narcos disclaimer, this is fic, made up, not an effort to glamorize the horrific acts of real persons. If this bothers you, just don’t read it, it saves us both time and energy. Thanks!

Standing in the abandoned warehouse, in the middle of nowhere, silence falls between you and your supervisor.

You’ve just submitted your recent report, and answered a whole lot of questions he had for you. Though it took many moving parts and a whole team to make undercover missions work, Jones was your contact person.

Jones continues to study you, one eyebrow still raised. You can tell he wants to say something. Plus, he was one of the many who didn’t think you should take the job.

“I have a long ride back, if there’s nothing else -”

He cuts you off, “next month, you need to check in, on time.”

“It’s not easy to check in at my scheduled time,  you know that. I’m in the thick of it. I can’t just go find a phone while surrounded by people.”

“I get that, but you still need to find a way to check in. You know that. I’ll take care of this.” He shoves the thick brown folder you handed off under his left arm. The older man sighs, then runs his free hand over his beard. “I’m not going to lie kid, I never liked this. It’s dangerous. This isn’t just any family. You know that.”

“I can handle it.” You step closer to him. “If it gets too hot, I’m out. I’ll make the call.”

As you say the words, you feel confident in them, but at the same time, not so much.

Jones nods and motions to the entryway. “Stay safe.”

“I will.” You head for the door and stop. You look over your shoulder at him. “I noticed a plant at Roxanne the other day. Stood out like a sore thumb. You guys can’t do that.”

“We didn’t hear from you, he was just checking in.”

“If I need help, I’ll ask for it. And if you must send anyone to make sure I’m not dead, send someone who blends in.” You leave on that note and start your very long drive back to Tijuana.

…

You haven’t seen Ramon, or any of the family, in a few days. You managed to convince him, after some very believable sweet talking, that you had to handle some stuff out of town.  

The family was also having their most recent drama with Sinaloa. It gave you some time to get your head back on straight, finish your report, and meet with your superior.

After the long drive, you finally arrived home.  Sinking onto the sofa, you kick back and  enjoy a cold drink. The way Jones looked at you lingered on your mind. He was nice enough to you, but still old school with some outdated ideas about women and the workplace. But you didn’t sign up to be a damn secretary and dress cute for the male gaze.

Grabbing the remote, you press the on button. You hope mindlessly watching some t.v will help your mood. Seconds later, your eyes drift to the vase on the side table where fresh flowers sit. Ramon had them sent to you yesterday.

As you stare at the vibrant assortment, you grin, it was sweet. At the same time, the delivery nearly gave you a heart attack. It was no secret Ramon knew where you ‘lived’, he picked up here before.

Still, every reminder that he knew, still raised the hair on your arms a bit. It’s why you had to be smart and why you went way out of town just to submit your report and meet with Jones. You knew you couldn’t do any of that here.

Your thoughts shift to Ramon. It’s been 5 days since he fell asleep on your lap, five days since you gained entry into the massive Arellano Felix mansion and got the closest, most intimate view of them yet.  If it was hard before to see them as just criminals, being in their home, though only once so far, and treated as a guest, really complicated shit.

The sweetness of that last night continues to rule your thoughts. Shifting position on the couch, you get comfortable and stare blankly at the tv. Sometime after falling asleep that night, you awoke to Ramon gently nudging you.

In a sleepy haze, he guided you to a spare bedroom that was close to his. Even in your half awake, half asleep state, you noticed it was a nice room, one of the nicest you’ve ever seen. You were sure you didn’t own anything as expensive as the stuff inside.

Ramon returned with some clothes for you to sleep in, then very sweetly hugged you goodnight. It was soft, warm, and tender. A hug that remains with you still, if you let yourself think about it for too long, you can feel it, you can smell him. You slept like a baby that night. After rising, you exited the room to find a lavish spread of breakfast waiting.

It felt like a surreal head trip, sitting there, in some fancy pajamas that belonged to…someone. And eating breakfast with half the family. A short while after breakfast, you washed up, dressed, and Ramon drove you back home, as promised.

That was five days ago. You still couldn’t believe that experience was real.

…

The next time you see Ramon is later that week. He invited you to a birthday party for his niece Ruth at the family home. It’s the kind of thing undercovers dream of, you accept the invite.

There were so many people and kids there it nearly made your head spin. As the party goes on, you drink and socialize with the family and their friends, all while taking mental note of anything important.

The family was always careful and didn’t talk about business in public, if they had to, they’d step away and do it from prying eyes and ears. Still, you do your best. Being here is like another door opening, giving you closer access to the family.

Even with the closeness you are gaining, you still remain hyper-aware of yourself. One slip up, and surely Enedina or Benjamin, or someone else would notice. Then, your tightwalk rope with danger, would be for nothing. You knew you couldn’t let your guard down, just because Ramon is enamored with you, it didn’t mean others weren’t watching you with a closer eye.

Being at the party stirred something inside of you, something you were trying your best not to think about. One couldn’t say the Arellano Felix family was normal. Being the biggest drug family in Mexico, they made all kinds of calls and moves to make it to the top. You were well aware of the bad, more versed than normal person.

Still, being here at a birthday party as people smiled and laughed, they seemed so normal so…relatable. The affection they have and share with each other is heartwarming, and a reminder you need to keep in mind why you are really here. Affection for the family is a dangerous thing to have, it could seriously hurt your investigation and you in the process.

Two reports down, you stand at the beginnings of your 3rd month undercover. You feel proud of yourself. Sure, you knew this job is massive, huge, and you were likely biting off more than you could chew. But you took it. And now, you’re going through with it.

…

As the party died down, and most of the guests left, Ramon wanted to go out and dance at Roxanne. Some of his siblings would be joining too. You know you should say no, you should go home, go to bed early and put some distance between you and Ramon.

But the more you hang out with him, the harder it becomes to say no. You like spending time with him. You like the way he laughs with you, looks at you, smiles at you - you even like the way he pulls you against him with those very warm lingering hugs of his. As you spent time with him, you had to remind yourself that Ramon is just a job. A means to an end. One very big foot into a very important and private door.

You were getting the best intel you could, even with the family being as secretive and close knit as they are. Everything you picked up was subtle and you had to make the pieces fit, it’s not like the movies where people spill the beans and talk about whole plans loud enough for people to hear.

If you, or any non-family member were around, the family would wait until you were out of sight before speaking. They didn’t care who you were, you’ve seen it plenty of times, even with Barron, despite him being one of Francis' trusted friends.

You had to be crafty, smart, sneaky - you had to keep your ears open all the time and collect all the crumbs you could. It wasn’t the kind of job for those lacking patience. The Arellano Felix family has armor around them and did not make it easy for people to eavesdrop on their business.

Before heading out to Roxanne, Ramon tells you there’s something you have to see. Like an excited kid or over energized puppy, he drags you to the guest bedroom you previously stayed in. Before entering, he covered your eyes with his hands.

“Ramon, what is it?”

“That’s not how surprises work.”

Ramon barely contains his excitement as he leads the way, as the two of you walk in unison, and you try to keep up with his rushed pace, you feel his body press into yours every so often. You try your best to not think about it, to ignore it, to ignore the way your body stirs with each fleeting moment of contact.

“Okay stop,” you do, anticipation has your body vibrating, “okay, open your eyes…now.” He lifts his hands from your eyes and rushes to the other side of the bed so he can watch your reaction.

Before you, on the King sized bed, are more bags than you can count. Bags with name brands on them in fancy stamped letters - the kinds of brands you’ve never owned in your life and only saw when you drive through the rich parts of town.

Ramon makes a sweeping motion with his arm while wearing a silly grin, “it’s all yours Princesa.”

You gasp as your eyes try to take in the amount of stuff on the bed. Climbing onto the mattress, curiosity gets the best of you as you peak into the bags and start pulling things out.

You can barely believe your eyes. Dresses, jackets, shoes, jewelry- all of it. These weren’t gifts, this was half of fashion avenue, and your mind can’t even commute the numerical value of all this stuff.

“Ramon - “ you pull out a gorgeous dress and look at the price tag, your jaw drops, “ I - uh…” at a loss for words, you stop speaking and stare at him. The fluttery feeling in your belly intensifies.

Ramon smirks, savoring your reaction. He moves some bags over and sits on the otherside of the bed.

“I couldn’t decide. So, I bought everything. “ A proud grin animates his lips as he shakes his hair out of his face.

Distracted by the luscious mop of his hair, you stare at him. You don’t realize how long you’ve been starting until you see his very pleased reaction. His smile reaches his eyes.

You’ve never had anyone spoil you before. Or spend a small (in their world) fortune on you. It’s nice. It’s really nice. But you have to remind yourself this is blood money, drug money. Death money.

Even the harsh honest reminder isn’t enough. It doesn’t dominate the other feelings and instincts you have right now. Like leaping across the bed and pressing your lips to his, fucking him on top of all this expensive stuff. Letting Ramon do all the things you know he’s been imagining doing to you.

You know Ramon wants you, there is zero doubt. He is just on really good beahvior. Shockingly. You also know there are two ways a kiss could happen. A, you give him the green light. Or B, Ramon stops playing nice.

The tension between you two has grown thicker each time you hang out, so much so, if he pulled you beneath him right now and kissed you, you wouldn’t be surprised at all. You may even give in.

Pulling your eyes from his stupidly handsome face and soft brown eyes, you reach inside another bag and find out a gorgeous jacket. You were impressed, this stuff is actually good, really good and you could imagine yourself wearing most of it.

Sure, there’s some stuff that is way too loud and ….dramtic? But for the most part, you like what you see. You wonder, in the back of your mind, if the shop girl or maybe even his sisters helped.

They have seen enough of you at this point to visualize your style. This definitely has a womens touch on it. You could also imagine some of the wilder things, and the things you weren’t too  sure about, were of Ramons choosing.

Ramon continues to watch you, adoration in his eyes. He leans over a little more, “you like it?”

“Of course, “ you beam and put the bag in your hands down, “ but, I - can’t take all this. This is a lot of stuff Ramon.”

``Have it. Keep some of it here,” he jumps up from the bed and walks around the room. Ramon has some kind of inner timer for how long he could sit still, it was pretty amusing to watch. The alarm is definitely going off internally now. “Pick something to wear, let’s go dancing.”

He grins at you, then heads for the open door. You watch as Ramon stops in the doorway, his eyes lingering on you.

“Well, I need to get changed right? Get out of here.”

Ramon flashes a cute, almost shy smile and steps out of the room backwards. After a moment, he closes the door.

When the door closes, you fall back on the bed, against the bags.

“Oh my god - “ you mouth the words. Legally, you can't even accept this, you can’t take it. Well, you could take it for now, to keep your cover, but you can’t keep it. “Fuck.” You mutter under your breath before sitting up again.

Looking around, you pick up a smaller bag with a rose sticking out of it. Reaching inside, you find a bottle of perfume. You’ve heard about this one. Curious, you open it, and spray a little in the air.

“Wow, that does smell really good…” you sniff the air again and spray a little on the inside of your wrist. Shaking your head in amazement, you continue to rummage through the bags until you find it, your outfit for tonight.

It’s your style, just a much more expensive version. Bonus? You could keep on the shoes you already had on. Standing, you notice one more bag with chocolates in it. Smiling to yourself, you pop it open and eat a few as you get dressed.

…

Ramons eyes nearly pop out of his head when he sees you in the dress. The combination of the look on his face, and his verbal compliments is enough to make your skin hot. He even gives you a hug that lasts longer than any of the other ones.

The ride over to Roxanne is - interesting and dare you say, amusing. Energy continues the build quickly between the both of you, your bodies feeling charged like batteries.

Ramon can barely keep his eyes off of you while driving, you remind him more than once to focus on the road. You tell him, neither a crash nor dying is on your to-do list anytime soon.

The burning desire in your body is near volcanic by the time you arrive at Roxannes. You are instantly thankful to see some of his family and friends are already there, you needed at least one or two other people you could talk to. It feels too risky being alone with Ramon right now.

Ramon is like fire, you’re drawn to him, warmed by him, yet all the while aware of his destructive and explosive side. You’ve been smart on all your other Undercover jobs, you never felt at risk of fucking up, not until now. The thought scares you, but excites you at the same time.

You quickly busy yourself with one of his sisters and her friend, you get along with them well, too well, in another life you all could be girlfriends. It’s easy to imagine ladies night, movie nights, girls trips - you really did like them. Sometimes, while chatting with them you felt bad, but you were doing a good thing, right? You know you shouldn’t, but you feel connected to them.

The night is going really well until a drunk guy keeps hitting on you. Each attempt growing more aggressive. You’ve never seen him before so can’t place him. And after a few months, you knew all the regulars like the back of your hand. This guy is a stranger.

Despite being nameless, you can tell enough about him from the way he acts and looks. Flashing money, name dropping, showing off - just some rich asshole, or some rich asshole's son. The first two times, the creep was subtle about it, catching you when you were alone. But the third time, the third time he grabs for you right in the middle of the dance floor.

Just before the creeps' hands land on you, Ramon was laughing it up with the narcos juniors in VIP.  A drink in hand, he moved away from the guys to look for you. Once he spotted you, Ramon watched you dancing from the balcony with a grin. At first, nothing he perceived to be a threat caught his eye, you were just dancing with the girls after all.

As Ramon watched, taking occasional sips from the glass, he tried to calm the raging desire inside of him. It was easy for him to seek and receive pleasure, he didn’t have to work hard for it. If he wanted, he could take any girl he wanted into a back room and have her right now.

But he can’t, not when the only thing he wants is you. Ramons has never wanted, craved someone so bad in his life. He also didn’t want to scare you away, so he was trying to calm his impulsive nature, but it’s hard. It gets increasingly harder with every moment you spend together. He’s not sure how much longer he can control himself.

These thoughts fill Ramons mind, his body moving to the music and eyes still glued on you from above. Just as he’s about the turn around, he sees it. The stupid motherfucker who stands behind you and grabs your ass.

The music fades. Conversations fade. His eyes zoom in on you as everything else disappears. Everything slows down. Ramon clenches his jaw, his body tensing, he’s on edge.

Gripping the railing with his free hand, Ramon leans over, continuing to watch. You push the guy away, and though Ramon can’t hear you, from the way your mouth moves it seems you’re cursing the guy out.

Seeing red, Ramon steps back and smashes his drink on the ground. Ignoring his name being called,  Ramon charges past his group and heads for the stairs.  Making his way downstairs, the pounding in his ears getting louder with each step.

Ramon reaches the ground floor, pulls out his gun, and takes the safety off. The smart ones in the crowd started parting as he came down, the others jumped back as soon as they saw the gun. The Narcos Juniors are right behind him, like wolves following their Alpha.

It’s not until you hear people reacting to the gun, and moving away, do you realize what’s happening. Before words can reach your stunned lips, Ramon grabs the guy by the collar and presses the barrel of the gun against the center of his forehead.

What comes next is almost more chilling than the gun, it’s Ramons smile. A smile that would seem friendly at first but is filled with nothing but venom, hate, maliciousness.

“Who the fuck do you think you are motherfucker? Tryin to dance with my girl?” Ramon holds the smile, the spine chilling smile. You’ve never seen his eyes as dark as they are now.

You find yourself frozen in place. Over the years, you’ve seen a lot of shit go down and rarely freeze, a breath is caught in your throat, and you feel one of his sisters gently guiding you back, away from the confrontation.

The man, clearly drunk, makes a very foolish move, “I don’t see a fucking ring on her fin-!”

Ramon chuckled darkly, then swiftly knocked him in the nose with the handle of the gun. As the man cries in pain, holding his bloody nose, Ramon flips the safety back on, then holsters the gun.

Cursing, the man stumbles back, holding his nose. You watch as the Narco Juniors circle the man, getting in position. Ramons eyes land on yours.  He signals to the Narcos Juniors. Like a pack of hyenas, they move in on the man and drag him outside. The sound of their comments and cackles chill you to the bone.

Before you can react, or suck in a breath, Ramon grabs you by the arm. Without a word, or a second glance, Ramon drags you down the hall to the private rooms. Each time you ask a question or call his name, he ignores it.

Stopping in front of a room, Ramon turns the knob and pushes it open. Ramon grabs your upper arm and shoves you inside of the room. Then closes the door behind him with a slam.

Stumbling in, you quickly catch your balance and stare at him angrily, trying your best to hide the fear in our voice, “Ramon what the fu-”

Ramon rushes forward, grabs your face with his hands, and presses his lips against yours. Even with the desperate feel of the kiss, his lips are soft, so soft and the way he holds your face sends warmth throughout your entire body.

You break the kiss. Taking a step back, you press your palms against his chest in an effort to put space between your bodies. As you stare at him, searching his eyes and trying to make sense of all the emotions raging inside of you, Ramon snakes one arm around your body and jerks you forward, bringing your body flush against his.

It happens so fast.

Faster than your logical mind can keep up.

Before you know it, Ramon is kissing you again, touching you, his hands exploring your body over the dress. As the kiss intensifies, you find yourself pinned against the wall.

This feels good

He feels good

Passionate kissing soon leads to heavy making out and grinding against each other. Ramon pulls the dress up over your hips, presses you back against the wall, and slides his hand between your thighs.

His lust filled eyes stay locked on your face, watching your reaction the moment his fingers slide inside of you. His eyes fall to your lips as a moan rolls off of them. He smiles, grabs your chin with his free hand, and continues to kiss you.

You should stop this

You should stop him

Losing yourself in him, the way he tastes, feels, smells, you let your hands explore, doing places you only imagined touching before. Ramon grabs you by the neck, pulls back, and watches you with hungry eyes before claiming your lips again, his fingers still inside of you. Like some kind of evil mind reader, he knows just how to touch you, just how much pressure to apply; it’s a blessing and a curse.

With each passing second of making out, you lose your logic, your common sense, your three rules. You slide your hands down his body and undo the button of his pants. Carnal desire has its claws in you, with no plans to let you go.

As you slide your hand over his hard cock, flesh against flesh, Ramon grabs your throat again. Ramon stops kissing you, and leans back, letting his eyes hungrily take you in.

Grabbing your hips, Ramon guides you away from the wall, and closer to the couch. Drunk with desire, Ramon undresses you, stopping you each time you try to help. He wants to do this himself.

Whenever he imagined this, he'd tear your clothes off, rip them right off you. But now, not that’s it’s finally happening and not a sex dream, he slows down, so he can savor it, every second of it.

Only wearing a dress, underwear and shoes, there’s not much to remove. But Ramon takes his time, and the slow pace feeds your hunger for him even more. He presses soft kisses on your skin and whispers compliments along the way.

Completely naked now, you stand there, fingers in his hair as he kisses your breasts, his hands on your hips. You close your eyes and bite back a moan.

An undercover screwing someone on the job is a huge no-no, a major fuck up. But it happens. You just never thought it would happen to you. You were supposed to be immune to such temptation.

You were better than this

Until now

Ramon ruined everything

Grabbing a fist full of his hair, you tug up upward and greedily seek his lips again. Consumed by passion, you quickly unbutton his shirt and undress him. By the time you reach the couch, you leave a trail of clothes behind you.

Ramon positions himself between your thighs, the soft cushions at your back. When his eyes meet yours again, you hold your breath. Locked in a stare, the room falls silent except your heightened breathing and racing heartbeats. Your body quivers with a level of desire you’ve never felt before.

It’s almost a beautiful moment, a tender moment. But you stop the thought. You can’t feel that, you can’t feel that for him. Ramon caresses your face, as he holds himself up with his other arm.

As he looks into your eyes, your body beneath his, Ramon realizes why he’s been able to control himself with you. He cares about you. He wants to see you happy. To see your smile, hear your laugh. You make him feel things he hasn’t before. He’s never thought this deeply about a sexual partner before.

It was just attraction and sex. Plain and simple. Nothing complicated, nothing emotional. But you, something about you is different. He’s never felt whatever this is before.

Ramon knows you’re not just any girl, you’re not some nameless conquest he can just forget about with ease. Not you. Patience isn’t something Ramon possesses, but he tries, for you.

As you gaze at him, it surprises you how still Ramon has become. A fire blazes in his eyes and the longer you look you see something else, something more - emotional.

Ramons flashes a smile at you, leans in, and claims your lips with his own again. Sliding your left hand in his hair, you grip his shoulder with your right. As Ramons fills you, a breath catches in your throat, you tug his hair harder.

The soft moment passes as Ramon loses himself in you; the way you feel, the taste of your lips, your breasts pressing against his chest, your thighs around his hips - Ramon breaks. He fucks you hard, fast, and deep leaving you little room to take charge.

You submit to him, fully, blissfully, and enjoy every second of Ramon having you. Each change of position, each change of pace, each heated kiss…he only stops when you don’t look at him. When his cock is deep inside of you, his hands gripping your throat, his eyes fixed on your face, waiting for you to look at him.

Each time he’d punish you for it by stopping , pulling out, or edging you until you made eye contact. Each time, the panting mess he’s left you in, your eyes finally meet his, he responds with that devilish grin before fucking you again…

By time Ramon’s done with you, your body buzzing with sweet euphoric release, he nearly drags you out of Roxanne and brings you home. He drives too fast on the way over and is ontop of you again before the door fully closes.

You two continue to fuck thought the night, with breaks, on the softness of his very expensive mattress. You lose all concept of time, of right and wrong, of morality -

At some point, fresh off another orgasm and out of breath, you fix your eyes on the ceiling. The first signs of daylight show, sunlight trickles into the room. Your heavy lids start to close, sleep lulling you once more.

You feel the bed shift as Ramon climbs out, pulls the curtains closed and jumps back into bed. The look on his face is a mix of bliss and sleepiness. Ramon lays on his side and pulls you against him, then wraps his arm around your body.

Ramon takes a deep breath, squeezes you a little tighter, then falls asleep. So do you.

…

Later that morning, you awoke to an empty bed. Pulling your tired body into the bathroom, you take a much needed shower and clean up. On the way out, you notice Ramon bought some of the bags into his room. You shift through, finding something as close to casual as you can get and slip it on.

Before leaving the bedroom, you stand in front of the mirror, staring into your own reflection. You fucked up. You fucked up bad.

Taking a breath, you shove it aside for later and leave the room. You find Ramon in the massive living room, the side with the pool in it. He’s dripping wet, sitting on the floor and eating a pastry. Just to his left is Dina on the couch, they’re talking and occasionally looking at the TV on the wall.

When Ramon sees you, he lights up and rises to his feet. The leopard print speedo is impossible to ignore. Ramon takes no time getting to you, not with those long legs. He leans forward and kisses you.

“You want some breakfast?” His smile is contagious, so you smile too. But you don’t really feel like smiling.

You aren’t hungry.  You just betrayed yourself, your career, the oath you took. You betrayed it so many times in one night, you lost count.

But you can’t confess any of this. One wrong move, expression, or comment and you could blow your cover. It’s already taking everything in you to hide how anxious you’re actually feeling.

You were finally in the clear with Dina, or so you think. Maybe she’s just distracted with her upcoming wedding. Either way, this is not a moment for you to break. You kiss Ramon once more and notice Benjamin entering the room.

Matching Ramons smile, you smooth his wet hair away from his face and say, “I’m starving.”

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Tags so far: Current tags: @thesolotomyhan @yourlocalspacewitxch @curaheed​ @kucchikopi @hastalunes​ @mysticalfairytales

#ramon arellano felix #ramon narcos #narcos mx #narcos mx au #Ramon x f reader #read warnings #fic: flirting with danger #narcos mexico #not the real guy

[cochineal-leviat]

Hello! Hi! I'm one of the invested reader in your most recent fic Gimmighoul for your thoughts? And also the one who's writing a fic vaguely inspired by it. (And also one that commented a lot, haha.)

You may recognize me by username (there's an extra 's' here but, eh, it's the same.) I decided to ask the questions I wanted to ask there because of, uh, anxiety issues.

So here are my questions:

1. Would you be okay with it if I were to use your character, Flore, in my story? It's most likely too late because I already started with the female MC, but I may write more Pokémon stuff in the future and I'd like to write it with a non-binary MC and I now have as a headcanon that, if there was an option to be non-binary, their default name would be Flore (like Juliana for the girl, and Florian for the boy). Also, if you're okay with it, would it be okay to alter a little bit their story and their taste? Like, they have Koraidon instead of Miraidon or they chose Sprigatito instead of Fuecoco as their starter. Or, they're fond of cute stuff instead of macabre stuff. Their personalities would most likely stay the same, but there would be slight alteration like that. Just like how people write Juliana or Florian: things changing depending of the person personal experience.

2. Next, I wanted to know if I should give you a shout out if I ever post my fic somewhat related to yours? Since you gave me the idea for the prompt, in a sense. Like, I would say the name of the fic that inspired me and your author's name and saying something like: "check out their stuff, they're great." I don't know if I should, because I'm, anyway, a way smaller author and my story will, probably, not even be remotly similar to yours. Furthermore, I'm a very strange person and I write the idea out of my mind with barely any filters. My works are tagged properly, at least, but, you know, not safe for work. You're a SFW author, so I'd understand if you'd like to not be associated with me in the slightest. However, since I would be the one doing the shoutout, it wouldn't be as bad as if you were to do it. If there's one thing I really dislike it's making people uncomfortable against their will. I'm a strange person, maybe a bit scary at first glance, but I'm not a creep. I do not approve of tricking people into seeing weird things. No need to worry, this fic I'm planning to write will be, at max, rated teens and up. I looked at your other stuff and you're more inclined toward family friendly and I respect that 100%. On my side, my taste change and my mind shifts every two months so my works are all over the place. (I wanted to explain that, because, you know, the internet can be wild sometimes and get to the most extreme conclusion.)

3. I forgot to ask: what are your preffered pronouns? I should have asked that first. Sorry if I'm indiscreet, but I just want to be safe. I assumed you were non-binary since you seem to like turning some character non-binary (by looking at your works). So, my brain default to they/them pronouns. Also, asking in case I need to give you a shout out. (And, in case you want to know too, I don't have preffered pronouns. Any is fine.)

Anyway, that's it! I know this is a lot, but I think those are important questions. Sorry if it was badly written, I have trouble to write my personal thoughts on paper; I write stories, not emails. Thank you for your time and I wish you the best of luck for whatever adventure you are currently on! ^_^ (Also, random compliment: I like your art. Especially the coloring. The way you use colors is magnifico!)

Ah! Good to see you, and what a nice lengthy ask. I will answer in kind to make things easier.

1 Go ahead! You can use Flore for your fics. I am over the moon that you want to write about them. But if you do, I would like you to please credit me. I put a lot of time and effort into writing them and their design, and it would hurt for them to be used without credit. But I am assured you will do that; if not, you would not be asking permission in the first place.

As for changing Miraidon to Koraidon and other story details - you have my permission! I don't sweat the small stuff. Flore likes cute things, too; it's usually overworn by their love of spooky stuff most of the time (they and Lacey geek out about cute Pokemon in most of their hangouts). And you can change their Pokemon to whatever team you have in mind. It will be like a fun alternate-universe version of them. It makes sense that OG Flore and your version of Flore differ, and I'm all up for seeing it!

2 You can give me a shout-out or not. I will leave it up to you. I gave you the prompt indirectly, but you don't have to mention me if it varies too much from the original. But again, as above, please credit me if you use Flore.

Being told I'm an SFW author is pretty funny! I suppose I am, even though I have written horror and creepy stuff before - it never needed a mature rating. I respect NSFW authors for being so brave. So ditto!

3. I use He/him, they/them pronouns. I go through life mostly as a guy, but I also feel non-binary, so you are not entirely wrong.

And don't cha worry! This is not poorly written at all. I can read that you are excited, and that is nice to know. Thank you very much for the well wishes (I will need them) and for complimenting my art. It's lovely of you.

Have a sketch of Flore as a farewell gift! I wish you an absolutely awesome day or night further!

#asks #pokemon #pokemon scavio #Flore (OC/MC Scavio) #frosmoth #sketch #Siela (Frosmoth) is not very happy #my art

[gamerism]

What's one compliment that you've received that's always stood out to you? Could be anything from your life really!

And I'll say one here bcs why Not. You're a really great friend and v cool person that I'm happy I and so many others have had the joy of knowing :)

This is a very nice ask but tbh me and my memory problems have been stressing about it bcs like...i dont knowwwww.

So guess I'll just shoutout @andromedasummer & @apricot-flyer what they said to me the other day on discord when I shared my latest mod release! They were both so encouraging and positive about (in their words) the skills I've been developing over the last couple years, modding in particular now but mentioning gifmaking as well... It just meant a lot is all 💗 So shouting that out, even if it's a recent example.

And thank u very much Kyle! 😭🫂🫂🫂 That's a really nice thing to say. 🩵

#my.stuff #asks #answers #friends

[frecklystars]

you are single-handedly convincing me to watch ryan gosling's filmography dsjafkshd. i've only watched three of his movies so far, and i'm tempted to see the others. what's your fav movie of his so far (besides barbie)? :0

Oh I answered in my most recent ask, I've only seen 4 so far! Barbie, La La Land, The Gray Man, and then The Notebook I recently saw in theaters bc it was the movie's anniversary or something I think... soon I'm gonna watch Bladerunner 2049 and The Place Beyond the Pines. I've heard The Nice Guys is a fun watch too!

My favorite BESIDES Barbie??? HMM.... The Gray Man, so far. Ryan's character Sierra Six became a comfort character very quickly for me. I feel safest with him and that's a feeling I've been rly needing lately when dipping my toes back into self shipping again <3 and they had a little Ken shoutout in one of the fight scenes. that made me laugh ;w;

#anonymous #asks #but ive only been exposed to Ryan as Ken until i started branching out to more of his movies #so im looking at all of these characters and thinking WHY ISNT HE BLOND #WHERE'S THE KENERGY™?? WHO IS THIS DUDE. WHY'S HE GOT A BEARD??? #WHO IS THIS BROODING STOIC MAN WITH BLOOD ON HIS HANDS?? #but. the rest of the world doesnt live under a rock like i do #the rest of the world is like oh yeah i know ryan gosling from [insert action film here] #and they're like 'its so weird seeing him play ken' but i didnt know him as anyone else #so me seeing him in all of these very serious roles is jarring #bc i keep expecting him to rip off his shirt and sing dramatically about being an accessory #or do a fist pump bc a lady asked him for the time.............

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 206

In which I relentlessly mock Sophia for being nosy, while also addressing some of the questions @baelpenrose, @quantumizedinsanity, and @writing-with-olive brought up when the last chapter featuring Noah was being written. And some other questions that came up in my own mind while I tried to go to sleep several nights in a row, because hyperfocusing on the plot is what I do to combat insomnia.

Reader shoutout this week is for @nicestpamkale.

Extra shoutout for everyone who has been suffering through my drawing skills while I tackle Inktober 2022.  To the three very nice people who alerted me that someone is stealing my posts.... GOSH I wish. Unfortunately, I’m posting the art both here and on my main blog, @areasontobreathe.

Help request: I got xkit for Firefox, but can’t find the plug in to build my tag clusters so I don’t have to type out all the tags. If you know where I can get it, please PM me!

After leaving Arthur’s office, I felt compelled to meddle.  Asshole could have just told me, I sulked while fervently hoping that Simon figured out that Nixe was somewhat interested in him.  Adding to my pout was the fact that Arthur had been spot on - Teeth was already adopted, and the only thing I could do was ask Charly or Nixe if either knew exactly why their goblin had been hanging upside down so much. After that, it was in their capable hands.

To burn off some energy, I decided to walk the ship.  I had several hours of spare time, and this could be counted as cardio. After all, the Ark was huge, Tyche and Charly were both at work, and it was my off shift.  A couple hours of meandering were very much overdue.

I made it a whopping four decks before realizing there was a massive presence rather close to me. “Geezus, Noah.” Jumping, a hand landed on my sternum as I tried to calm down. “Warn a girl next time.”

“I was not aware your proximity alert was disabled.”

Waving vaguely at my head, I explained. “I’m walking through the ship during a busy time of day.  My options are mute it and assume that bystanders will see anything crazy, or let it keep going off for hours on end.”

Four blunt appendages flew up in an approximation of a human surrender. “Administrator Costa has demonstrated the auditory equivalent of the alert. I believe I understand why you would temporarily disable it.”

My hand swept flat in a pretty standard there ya go. “Can I help you?”

“I would like to hear your thoughts regarding the recent proposal.”

Oh.

“Well then, walk with me.” The smile plastered on my face was less forced than I had expected it to be. “I actually did have some questions, so your timing is perfect.”

“The previous discussion was quite brief, as I understand it in human terms, so inquiries are welcome if they will assist in decision making.”

“Awesome,” I exhaled. “I thought about it a lot, and really my biggest concern is… we’re talking about a life form that has lived solely on a starship for hundreds if not thousands of years.  Teeth only lived on one for about twelve, and they’re having a hard enough time adapting.  But on the other side, the comparisons I have available range from subsisting on plant collagen all the way to actually eating radioactivity and even high risk pollutants.  I can’t tell if the environment suggested will be too extreme or not extreme enough.”

“Tens of thousands of years would likely be most accurate, which further validates your concern.” A vomu gestured elegantly around us. “However, testing has shown they are able to survive and adapt quite quickly to the environment on the Ark, so estimates indicate that they will be fine on Von.”

“Even with the temperature extremes?” I pointed out. “Regardless of how flexibly the Ark is designed - and I mean, this ship is pretty awesome - humans have an incredibly broad range of tolerable temperatures.  It won’t be comfortable for us, but we can take it.  It’s the whole reason this planet was selected for our relocation - literally no one else could survive the damned thing, so it was free for colonization.”

That bought me about two decks of silence before one spidery hand started rubbing their eyespots. “I will admit, extensive testing has been done in the BioLabs to ensure the temperature range could be tolerated.”

I stopped abruptly. “How extensive?”

“Extensive enough to know that the aquaponics lab is tolerable and yet entirely unpleasant.”

“Steamy hot cow farts will do that…” I bopped my head for a moment in consideration. “That’s good, but there’s another issue: the hive mind sentience threshold.  As new bodies develop, will it be fast enough to replace the ones that are being worn out by any unexpected changes in environment?  Or will they at some point, however brief, lose sentience?  You pointed that out, yourself, when we realized that Else was allowing themself to die to keep from killing us.”

“There may or may not be several fully mature bodies already on the Ark from the environmental and temperature extremes testing.”

I groaned before continuing my walk. “Is there a percentage I should be asking about?”

“Working with our most recent information on the planet, enough. Given the age of the data?” They paused. Noah never paused, and my stomach sank. “Hopefully enough? Is that the term?”

Anxiety sped my steps up even further. “Shouldn’t you already know this? There has to be data somewhere. Or ancestral knowledge, or… I dunno, something. There’s no way y - this being could have existed for so long, and have no definite idea of what the exact threshold is.”

“In broad strokes, the information exists.  But in fine detail, less so.  It is apparently profoundly rare for one to go below the sentience threshold before reaching one which can absorb them to avoid the loss of knowledge. And in the cases where the loss has occurred - “

I waved off the rest of the sentence. “Yeah, I get it… can’t exactly report how many there were when you lost sentience if you’re not sentient anymore.”  I let the conversation lull for a bit, until we get to a less crowded area. “But why come to me? You and I weren’t even on speaking terms.”

“We spoke.”

“We were on speaking terms at the same level that I am on speaking terms with a food console.” The comparison was blunt, but accurate.  “You still have somewhat cordial relationship with several people. Hell, on the Council alone, you are on semi-social terms with Xiomara, Huynh, and Charly.”

“All of whom, as well as most others you could suggest, currently need to focus all of their spare energy on the tasks surrounding settlement on a new world.”

Figured.

“In addition to this,” Noah continued, “Due to the exact incident to which you are alluding, you feel a strong need to make amends, in addition to being the last person I would be expected to ask such a favor of.”

“Wooooooooowwwwwwww,” I drew out, half laughing. “You know how to make a girl feel special.”

Randomly picking an Else-chick off the wall, they stroked it gently before setting it on a limb. “Odvub is also interested in you, and I find that intriguing.”

“Odvub is fascinated by humans,” I corrected.

“Indeed. But you were the first human to inquire about even the potential of such a being, much less being able to identify a signal you were never expected, intended, or even conceivably believed capable of identifying. All by a pattern.  Odvub is fascinated by clever beings, I have found.”

Both of my hands raised over my head, and I twirled without stopping my forward progression. “Look around you, dude. The Ark has what might be the highest concentration of clever humans to ever exist. Sure, we’re assholes, bastards, and broken in mind, body, and soul, but we are very clever.”  My hands dropped, and I choked out in a whisper. “When you can’t escape, you don’t survive the end of your world without being clever.”

Thankfully, they let that statement pass without response. We walked for nearly half an hour before I spoke again.  “So, you told me because, of all the clever-ass people on the Ark, I’m the one who wasn’t busy.”

“It is an overly simplistic answer, but essentially correct.”

“Damn, Noah. I thought we were friends.”

“We were what humans would call ‘friends’. I would like to believe we still are.  However, I also consider other people on the Ark my ‘friend’, but I do not trust them to keep a secret. As I said previously, others, such as Charly, cannot be distracted.”

My pout was back. “I want to be really, really mad, but it’s really hard to be angry at being second-place to Charly.”

“She is incredibly likeable, unfortunately.  It’s terrifying.”

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#the miys #found family #humans are weird #humans are space orcs #humans are space fae #haw #original science fiction #original fiction #original sci fi #post apocalypse #post post apocalypse #my writing

[gutsybitsies]

what's love got to do wi' it

from this post, also shoutout to @kingburu for my first glimpse into pipianca and now here we are.

-------

Two dames in dark bar croon out a lovely jazz duet, as the band behind them thump out a funky beat.

Piper swirls a glass of red wine, the nicest the one this dingy hole has to offer, as she waits for her date to slither in. She's dressed up for this occasion, wearing her nicest boots and cleanest shirt and jeans combo. She borrowed Jason's old glasses and took out his prescription lenses, so that the golden frame brought out her kaleidoscope eyes. Her hair is no longer the choppy waves it was in her teens, and she'd managed to put it in an "elegant but effortless" bun. 

He's late. She frowns at the taste of the wine.

Someone smoothly slides into the seat next to her, but he's not who Piper is waiting for.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing here? Let me buy you something stronger, sweetheart," he croons disgustingly. He looks likes if a scientist did a horrible experiment with a potato and created a man whose blandness was offset by his inherent creep factor. 

"Not interested, leave me alone," her dark hooded eyes give him an unimpressed lookover and return to gazing inside her wineglass. Bubblegum pink lipgloss kissed the rim of the glass. 

"Let me show you a good time, I promise I'd make it worth your while-" the man was inching his arm around Piper, but before she could kick him where the sun don't shine, a hand reaches out to push him back and a figure shoves himself between her and the asshole.

"Hey," he says dangerously, his dark eyes glinting with madness, "What do you think you're doing, moving on my girl?"

Piper grimaces, but lets the charade play out. Nico looks crazy and creepy, and if that kept more guys off her back, then so be it. His hair is a greasy mess, and his leather jacket has obvious tears in it. Piper doesn't want to be racist, but what's the point of fake dating an Italian if he doesn't even put in the effort to dress up? If she can put on mascara and lipgloss for him, he can at least wash his hair and shave his five o clock shadow. 

Nico moves in on the asshole, his small frame pushing up against him as he dares the other guy to make any kind of move so that he can unleash hell.

"What the fuck man-whatever, who'd want an ugly bitch like that?" the guy slinks away in shame, huffing.

Nico scoffs and slithers into the seat that the asshole vacated. "Pussy," he says.

"That's sexist," Piper reproaches him. She downs the glass of wine and nudges him to get her another glass. "You owe me."

"Yeah, yeah," he orders two shots of whiskey for them both, and the two of them pretend that they're on a nice and interesting date for half an hour for the very obvious paparazzi lurking behind them trying to take a shot of Piper, before Nico slides his arm around her and they leave the bar,  tripping over their feet as Piper hails a cab to take them to Nico's place. 

Nico's hand is dangerously low on her back, so Piper takes the initiative to slap his ass. They see a flash out of the corner of their eyes.

He glares at her.

"The cake is a lie," she whispers in his ear. "Someone needs to do more squats."

They don't let up in the cab, pretending to giggle at each other while playing with the other person's hair. They fool around all the way till they reach the front of Nico's house, where he fumbles around with his keys and unlock the front door, before picking Piper up and carrying her through his door.

The moment he kicks his front door closed, he unceremoniously dumps her on the couch and goes to the kitchen to pull out his dinner that's being kept warm in the oven.

"Hazel came over to use my kitchen and left lasagna," Nico explains, giving Piper a plate before digging in. "She's been stress cooking a lot recently."

"Poor Hazel, is she worried that much about her debut?" Piper asks, "She can keep stress cooking though, this is divine."

"Yeah, her boyfriend has no idea about our family, he thinks she's a struggling graphic designer instead of, y’know, this," Nico gestures around his opulent home. "Guy doesn't even have a range hood or a gas stove. Whatever, here's the files you asked for."

He throws a USB at Piper, who catches it in one hand. She grins in excitement. "I knew you'd come through!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't know if it can hold up in court though," he says. "Your dad, he's doing better?"

Piper's smile fades a little, "He's still booking roles, but he doesn't listen to me when I try to tell him about all the shady financial dealings the production companies and his agent is involved in."

"You're the only one who believes me," Piper continues forlornly. "Even Jason thinks that I'm overthinking."

"That’s because Jason is a cop bastard," Nico shrugs. "I don't know what's so difficult to believe about a production company partnering up with shell corporations to use hundreds of millions of dollars in film making to launder money for various arms dealers and drug smugglers. At least now you can make headway," he nods at the file that Piper's clutching in her hands.

Nico looks Piper up and down, "By the way, you said you were going to meet me in your nicest 

outfit."

Piper looks at herself, "I look nice in this outfit."

"Aren’t you a private investigator? Don’t you have a closet full of disguises? You couldn’t pick the nicest one? You're going to look better at our engagement party, right?" Nico asks, because he's a little shit.

Piper rolls her eyes, and doesn't argue because he's done her a huge favor. “Got it, promise I’ll look like the perfect trophy wife. Then I'll come in you can announce me to your family and business acquaintances, and I'd simp over your every word, and laugh at all your jokes."

"Good," Nico replies, not catching on to her sarcasm. "When I take control over the company, I'll be able to help you a lot more."

"Why doesn't Bianca have to be engaged to take control of her shares?" Piper asks. "You said that she's been in shareholder meetings ever since she turned 18."

Nico groans, "I know, it's not fair! She's father's chosen successor. I have to fight for scraps and dignity. You'd meet her at the family dinner next Friday, try not to be put off by how stuck up she's becoming."

Piper showers and changes into the fresh pajamas that Nico keeps in his place, before climbing into his spacious guest bedroom and sighing at the soft mattress and even softer pillows. When she’s in the liminal moment between wakefulness and sleep, she hears the front door being open and a rich female voice with a soft Italian lilt call out, “Nico? I know you’re awake.”

For some reason, the voice sent shivers down her body. She couldn’t make out more of what the woman is saying while she drifts off to sleep, but she lets the timber of what she could hear settle down into the most intimate part of her ears as she melts into the bed and passes into the land of slumber. 

When she wakes up, Nico is in the kitchen banging pots and pan together as he makes breakfast for the two of them.

“Change of fucking plans,” he says. “Forget meeting the family before the engagement, we’re announcing it this Saturday.” 

“This Saturday? Isn’t that-”

“Hazel’s debut? She doesn’t care, we’re taking over the headlines, I’m proposing to you in front of everyone. Fuck this shit, cazzo!” He curses as a drop of oil sizzles on his skin when he breaks the egg over the hot pan with more height than intended. “Fuckin’ Bianca, telling me what to do, she’s not my boss!” 

Piper’s seen Bianca in the various family photos that Nico had around his home, and occasionally she scrolled by pictures of her in the socialite news and on instagram, but she’s never seen Bianca in person before. “Did she come by last night?”

“She did, she said that this engagement is a bad idea, she wants me to meet a woman from another family. The Lawrences. She can’t tell me what to do, she hasn’t taken over yet!” Nico turns to Piper and points his spatula at her. “Mclean, I need you to be on point this Saturday. You need to be the most beautiful woman in the gala. Get someone to slap some makeup on your face and show off whatever straight men like. I don’t know, womanly shoulders? That’s what’s sexy right now right? Show off your shoulders.” 

Piper makes herself a cup of coffee as she watches Nico frantically make a mess of his kitchen.

“BOOBS!” He snaps his fingers in a eureka moment. “That’s what they like! Piper! I need you to-”

“Don’t say another word,” Piper smiles dangerously, and Nico sheepishly complies. “Nico, look at me.” 

He looks at her, and Piper brushes her hair away from her face as she flutters her lashes at him. Nico continues to look at her blankly, with a what am I supposed to be seeing expression on his face. 

“Ugh, you don’t understand how hot I am,” she complains. “Just trust me, I’ll knock everyone’s socks off for you.” 

She twirls a strand of her hair and blows a kiss at Nico, who raises an eyebrow and goes back to making the two of them a hearty breakfast. He shoots her a comeback, “Why aren’t you this good at flirting with women you’re actually attracted to?” Piper winces, that stings.  

Nico continues to hum as he moves around in the kitchen, and Piper focuses her eyes on the various photos that he has on his walls. She’s met Hazel before, her almost golden eyes and bright grin shine out from the frames. She’s never met Bianca, but she looks into her dark eyes as Bianca smiles gracefully into the camera, and Piper could almost hear her sultry voice in her head accompanying her dark gaze. 

“Breakfast is ready,” Nico interrupts her thoughts to place a huge plate of food in front of her. 

“You spoil me, future husband,” Piper blows a kiss and giggles as Nico pretends to shoo her kiss away. 

He plops down across from her with his own plate of food and begins to dig in.

Piper groans around the shakshuka that Nico made. He’s not a natural cook, but being the only boy with two sisters who demanded (Bianca demanded, Hazel asked politely) that he wait on them hand and foot meant that he could bake, cook, and clean with the best of them. 

“You’re going to make someone a very, very happy husband one day,” Piper reaches over to pinch his cheeks. 

“Not if those old assholes don’t die anytime soon,” he says. “If they start talking to you about kids, just tell them we plan on having three.” 

Piper chokes, “Three?! Nico!” 

“What’s one more lie?” Nico asks. 

“You’d drown with just one kid, you can’t deal with three.” 

The two of them bicker and eat as the morning light dapples them with softly shining kisses. The cool  breeze gently ruffles through their hair as they gather their dirty dishes and put them in the sink, before Piper attacks Nico and drags him to the bathroom to rinse water in his hair. 

“Why are you so strong?! Stop!” He tries in vain to struggle out of her grasp, but she has an iron grip on his neck. 

“You better stay still when I shave you later.” 

“You won’t dare!” Nico gasps. 

Piper waves a cheerful goodbye to a newly shampooed, blow dried, and shaved Nico, and he gives a wave back before slamming his front door in her face.  

She takes the bus back to her home, a condo she just moved into this year, and settled in front of her computers. Piper makes herself another cup of coffee and cracks her neck, she plugs in the USB file Nico gifted her, and goes to work. 

The files were a lot, it had all the dealings that Pom Corp, Nico’s family’s holdings, had with the Triumvirate holdings. 

Ledgers, mergers, deals, as well as pages and pages of email chains. She prints everything out and begins to sort through them before adding them to the other mountain of stacks of files she’s already compiled on the Triumvirate Holdings. Five cups of coffee later, she wakes from her bleary daze of concentration and notices that she ran out of her instant coffee mix. She debates cracking open the forbidden red bull, but her stuttering heartbeat tells her that it’s a bad idea. 

Piper yawns, and cracks open the window to let in fresh air, she leans a tired cheek against the cool ledge. The sun is already setting, how has time passed so fast? Piper gets up and leaves her task to take a quick trip in the kitchen, where she is disappointed by the lack of food in her refrigerator. Piper glares at its emptiness, and spares a glance at the luscious mini herb garden that’s flourishing on the windowsill. 

“Don’t mock me,” She says to them, like a normal person would to inanimate plants. In her imagination they wiggle back mockingly. Her condo was entirely full of plants whose purpose of existence was to mock her, plants that couldn’t be transported to Hylla’s home, ones that Piper begrudgingly potted and brought to her new condo after Reyna left their shared home. 

The first week she moved out, she imagines with viciousness Reyna’s taut expression when she eventually returns to her home to see a dead garden and even more dead houseplants. Eventually Nico nags at her enough that she takes it upon herself to divide Reyna’s various plant babies between her, Nico, and Hylla’s place. 

Piper would just have to live with  less schaudenfreude that comes from thinking about Reyna’s expression on seeing her house empty of plants instead. She glares at the shelf of orchids that Reyna used to fawn over when Piper lounged around their home in nothing but a thong and a bathrobe. One of their petals take this moment to slowly fall off its stem. Piper sticks her tongue out at it, another completely normal interaction between a normal human being and her ex-fiancee’s beloved houseplant. 

“She better come back from her worktrip soon and get these assholes out of my place,” Piper mumbles to herself as she pulls out her wallet and shoves it into her cargo shorts. She’s given up on cooking, there’s a Thai place nearby with good vegetarian options that she’d shove her face into. 

There’s a fancy pale green electronic vehicle parked right in front of Thai To-Go! when Piper leaves the store with her curry and Thai iced tea, but she doesn’t notice it until she’s barrelling into the owner who took that exact moment to come out of her car and make her way to the restaurant. 

Piper yelps as her curry spills out through its poorly packaged container, and as it splatters out of its plastic bag and onto the very expensive looking white blouse that the driver was wearing. 

“My curry!” She gives a look at the frowning woman with her dinner all over her clothes, she looks vaguely familiar but Piper couldn’t place her face at the moment. “And your shirt! I’m so sorry, are you okay? How hot is it?”

The woman gingerly pinches the shirt so that the worst parts of the spill isn’t touching her skin directly. “I’m fine, it certainly is quite hot. Smells nice, good to know the place Google picked is delicious,” She jokes, her dark eyes crinkle up in a smile. It’s only at this time that Piper notices how beautiful the woman she embarrassed herself in front of is. Her olive toned skin glinted in the waning sunlight, and her eyes were shaped like drooping black diamonds. She towered a few inches above Piper, and her voice was lulling with a slight accent. 

“I, um, I live above the restaurant,” Piper points at the direction of her place. “I have a spare shirt, let me make it up to you, I don’t want you to walk around with a spill like this because of me!:

The woman’s eyes brighten up, “Thank you, that would be very helpful.” 

She follows Piper up the stairs, walking a little bit closer to Piper than she was used to. Piper could almost feel her dark hair curling up against her own skin, as the strange mix of curry and what the other woman smelled like twisted together in the air. She recognized the scent as pomegranate scented perfume, it was very similar to the bottle that Nico had gifted her last Christmas. 

Piper leads the mystery woman into her condo, thanking the heavens that she didn’t have any time to create a mess since she last cleaned it up two days ago. The only mess was in the walkout alcove that doubled as a terrace in the summer and a greenhouse in the winter, it was what made Piper fall in love with this place. Currently it’s littered with Piper’s bookbinding projects and beadwork designs.  

“Feel free to take a shower,” Piper says, well, squeaks. It’s been so long since she was near someone who was her exact type that she’s forgotten how to emote properly. 

“Thank you,” the woman says again. “I wanted to ask, because I have a meeting in a while, but I was afraid it’d be awkward.” 

“No, not awkward at all!” Piper shoves a towel in her direction. “I’m going to get a shirt for you!” 

Piper rests her head against a wall and tells herself to get it together. Now is not the time to be attracted to mystery woman! She hears the shower in the bathroom start to run, and realize that she hasn’t given the woman a shirt yet, so Piper rushes to her room and rummage around her outrageously sized closet for a generic white blouse. She scrolls through her phone while she waits for the woman to finish showering, and texts Jason so he can receive her inner screaming. 

Piper: THERE’S A HOT WOMAN SHOWERING IN MY PLACE RIGHT NOW. 

Jason: Nice, good job! Knew you could do it! 

Piper: no :( she’s only here because i spilled curry on her. 

Jason: Oh that’s a real meetcute. But aren’t you and Nico “dating”? Is this the best time for hot women

Piper: nothing’s going to happen, she’s just borrowing my shower

Jason: Oh...is that a good sign or a bad sign...? 

Jason: Will Nico be at your place soon? I have to return the tupperware Hazel gave me. 

Piper: didn’t i already give you hazel’s number? 

Jason doesn’t reply for a while after Piper’s last text, which is just as well because it’s at this moment that the woman walks out of Piper’s shower looking like she was wearing nothing but a towel. 

Upon a second glance, Piper realizes that she was wearing her slacks and a bra underneath, but covering her shirtless top with the towel. 

Piper’s eyes locks onto her, the steam billows out from behind her. 

The woman’s eyes trace over Piper’s body, and the towel falls to the ground. 

“Oops,” she says, still looking at Piper. 

Piper slowly lets the blouse in her hand flutter down to the  ground as well. She sees that the woman’s waist had a tattoo wrapped around it, it was a scene of a hunt.  Under her ribcage on the right, a beautiful stag was rearing its hooves and attempting to escape the arrows of a huntress under the left side of her ribcage and closer to her abdomen. In the center of her chest, Piper sees a tattoo of a skeletal horse head. 

“Want to take a closer look?” the woman offers, and Piper walks closer as if mesmerized. 

“It’s beautiful,” Piper’s hand hovers over the designs before the woman gently guides fingers to trace the lines of her ink. 

“This is from when I was a teenager, it’s my first one.”

“It’s so intricate,” Piper feels her minty breath and breathes in the heady scent of her perfume- did she reapply her scent? It feels more overwhelming, she keeps moving closer to the woman who keeps backing away and beckoning Piper forward. “It must’ve hurt a lot, especially if it’s your first time.” 

Piper’s the one who’s backed the woman into the wall, yet she’s the one who feels trapped as the woman casually leans against the wall as she loosely circles her arms around Piper’s waist. Piper lifts up her face and is met with a kiss, her lips are soft and she tastes like how a beautiful moonlit evening in the spring feels. Her arms gather Piper closer, and Piper melts at the gentleness and circles her own arms around the woman’s neck. 

Their kisses don’t feel like a lust fuelled frenzy. Rather, they take their time, their kisses punctuated by little nips and cheeky tongue swipes. Piper feels the stranger’s hands come up, one cupping her face and the other placing a strong hold on the back of her neck. Whenever Piper gets a bit too excited, the woman squeezes her neck like she was an excitable kitten and Piper shamefully backs off, only to be met with more kisses and gentle nibbles against her throat. 

Just as Piper was finally about to take the bra off of her mystery seductress, a cellphone rings and breaks the two of them out of their reverie for each other. 

“Cazzo,” the woman curses adorably and in a slightly familiar way. “Sorry, I almost forgot about my meeting. What’s your name? I also forgot to ask.”

“Uh-” Piper’s still reeling from the haze of her first makeout session in years with someone who wasn’t Reyna. 

Her phone rings again, this time it sounds even louder. She walks briskly to the blouse that Piper dropped and puts it on, grabbing her phone in the meantime and takes out a business card. She winks at Piper and slides it inside Piper’s shirt.

How was Piper supposed to speak when something like that happens? 

“Ciao bella,” She walks away to the front door and finally answers the call. “Nico, calm down! I’m five minutes away, promise, be there soon.” 

The door shuts and slams Piper out of her brainfog. 

She looks down and clumsily takes out the business card that the woman handed her. 

Bianca di Angelo 

Shit.

A/N: if you liked this pls consider giving kudos on ao3 as well <3

#piper mclean #bianca di angelo #pipianca #jason grace #nico di angelo #jasico #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #hoo #heroes of olympus #wip #my fic #bianca seems very suave here but actually shes also a mess but just quietly #she got a horse skull tattoo on her chest to show her little siblings how much she loves them #and nicos like ugh that's not even where the heart is bi! and haze's like oh no a dead horse im sad #she cant win #also #pipeyna #one sided bitter exes #i say one sided bc its v obvious piper is bitter about it

[lee-minhoe]

✨ content creator year in review ✨

tagged by @alrightyaphroditie @ambivartence @chanrizard love you all <3333 🥺🥺

1. first creation / most recent creation

my very first gifset ever was this one where jaemin freaks out after he realizes he talked about strawberries haha. my most recent set is this one of lee know's eyes :)

2. one of your favorite creations

hmmm honestly, even though they often don't get the most notes (or many at all), my fav creations are actually the ones i make for my moots bc i love seeing them love something made for them 🥺(and seeing them lose it in the tags hahaha) for example, this hyunminsung set; this soft lino set (and the infamous siyuan bias list set i made though i think there have been some new additions in the past month LOL); this changbin set; this tyong set

3. a creation you're really proud of

any of my comp sets!! apple hair lino, glasses lino, bw cap lino, shit lino says, the lino mood sets. i love making them, but they take a while and it's really nice to see the resulting set

4. a creation that took you forever

this lino maniac one took quite a while because i wanted to make all the clips move in sync, sometimes it works on my computer and not my phone so idk if it actually worked lol but had a lot of fun pain making that one

5. the creation that received the most notes

my first linotonin set, i am blown away by it but also maybe not surprised hahaha while we're here i will also plug my linotonin pt 2 and my linotonin in video form lol in case anyone needs a little linotonin in their life rn

6. a creation you think deserves more notes

like kass and sa and siyuan have all already said better, i don't think i necessarily deserve any notes because we're all here screaming about kpop in our little corners of the internet so it's not that deep lol, i'm glad if people like my sets and it brings them joy like it did for me to make them but i make sets because i want to <3 though i certainly appreciate the nice tags that people leave of course

that being said, i am still so shocked that this set received so many notes, like I GET WHY but i truly was just putting some random clips of lino that i liked from that skz talker hahaha. so i guess that just goes to show you, even if you do care about the notes it is hard to predict how many a set is going to get. so i try to remind myself to just enjoy the process :)

7. a new fandom you joined and a creation you made for it

oh man there were a looot of new groups but the big ones would be skz and txt (it truly does not feel like i joined those fandoms only last year in 2022). also nine.i !! some other groups too like n.flying, xdh, oneus, though i haven't made any sets for those. i also started to learn tbz and mx, and learned ateez and p1h names by osmosis thanks to siyuan lmao so you can thank her for the fact that i have now listed 9 new groups even though the question only asked for one

also!! k-actors!! :D

8. a creation you made that breaks your heart

lino eyes set because they make me melt

9. a "simple" creation that you really love

haha.....this was my pinned post for a while (sorry jaemin)

10. a creation that was inspired by another one

the lino mood sets inspired by this one, this mark set inspired by @tyongsies taeyong set hehe

11. a favorite creation created by someone else

there are literally so many i wouldn't even know where to start!! though i will give a special shoutout to nini's secret santa set for me because it is so amazing

12. favorite content creators for the year

okay here we go: @agibbangs @alrightyaphroditie @ambivartence @changbeens @chanrizard @chanstopher @chenleyah @dearlyminhyung @ggthydrangea @hyunebear @hyunpic @jinniebit @jisungsjaistandjeekies @leemarkies @minchanz @minzbins @ohoshi @potatzu @shorelinnes @snug-gyu @strayklds @tyongsies @yyukhei (this also serves as a tag if you haven't done it and want to, no pressure. otherwise this is just a hi and hug from me, love yall <3

#okay this just makes me look like a crazy lino blog #is there even a question here that doesn't have 'lino' in my answer #but i mean honestly it's true so oh well 🙃 EMBRACING IT #also no obligation to do this if u dont want to since it is literally almost february #this was fun to do though ty for the tags friends <3 #tag game

[geesenoises]

hello!

it’s my birthday today. and here’s my secret about my birthday: i have always really wanted someone to make a big deal of it, but i’ve always been too shy to ask or do it myself, and i come from people who rarely make big deals out of celebrations. but this year, more than almost any other, my heart is so full. whether or not i get the cake or the presents (well, i’m an adult, so i guarantee myself cake and presents these days! in great quantities, even!), i’m so pleased to have made it through this many rotations around the sun and i’m so looking forward to the next one. and that’s in large part due to many of you folks here!

the last 365 days of my life have been full of ups and downs, and things that feel like both an up and a down at the same time somehow? it’s been a strange year. it’s pushed me to accept and adjust to a lot of changes. but one of the best changes has been joining this little drarry community, and especially our little microfic server space. i think to a lot of people on the outside, it sounds insane, preposterous to have found such a beautifully loving and compassionate space in something that has been tied to so much hurt in recent years. but here we are! we persist and we thrive in direct opposition to bigotry and hate. and we love each other every day in such a tangible way, even if its through a digital medium.

i’m so grateful for all of you. it’s like the best neverending sleepover!! and the most generous and supportive writing workshop! and the most compassionate and loving support group! and maybe like an mlm without the scamming pyramid scheme of it all? i literally did some recruiting yesterday. hmmm.

anyway. by some wonderful confluence of events, @saintgarbanzo and @rockingrobin69 kicked off a whole runaway train of love which dovetails so nicely with this general thank you i’d wanted to write for today! so first, a general message: thank you!! thank you so much, drarry fandom, for taking me in with open arms and wrapping me up in the softest blanket. i’ve never felt so fully embraced in a fandom before. i’m a very low output creator and have such low bandwidth for things that it’s always been hard for me to create any sort of impact in fandoms, and even harder to connect with other humans. you’ve all just taken me in as i am, and i’m so grateful. i’ve recently started to describe my brain as a dollhouse colander: low capacity, full of leaks. please know i’m always doing my best to plug the leaks so i get to experience more of your brilliant work, to express my enthusiasm and joy about it all, and to be present for you the way you’ve been present for me.

and to more specific shoutouts—in alphabetical order! i know for sure i’ve missed some incredible people, i’m so very sorry. there are so many brilliant people in this community! i have only my tiny dollhouse colander of a brain, and also am quite shy and bad at one-on-one conversations! i promise it's not you, it’s me. i treasure you all so very much!

(i've put it under a read more to save your scrolling hands, but please know i'd happily shout all this from rooftops 💖)

@academicdisasterfic - your genius writing and incredible good humor. and your and joy’s letters just take me apart every single time. please, take this enormous crate of honey buns.

@cavendishbutterfly - one of my fellow asians in drarry (please read that exactly like “women in stem”) and fellow whale shark lover! i hope we both make it to some shark infested waters someday

@corvuscrowned - my favorite yoga flow (cat, cow, crow)! sprint friend, life trail guide, baking buddy. what would i do without your enthusiasm? your bread pics? your gorgeous writing? your reminders to go look at the moon? i just don’t know.

@katie-alden - real life internet quokka?? the cutest aussie ray of sunshine?? i’m so glad my disaster sleeping habits make it possible to hang out with you. i’ll mourn the day i have to be an “adult” and “responsible.”

@ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm - my husband, love of my life. i think i've made it abundantly clear to everyone what you mean to me, but just in case you somehow forgot: i love you so much, you brilliant artist, genius, philosopher, poet, mouse, etc etc etc. and i’ll keep reminding you forever.

@lqtraintracks - an actual legend in our midst. not only a legendary writer, but the kindest and loveliest human. and so lovely to get to chat to you about your past career and to hear that you’re finally able to reunite with it in your own way!

@makeitp1nk - incredible super woman of business? actual life saver? idk how you fit it all in. kicking ass at work and school, planning a wedding, being a genius beta, microfic mod, and writing your own amazing work??? if i’ve got a dollhouse colander for a brain, you’ve got one of those enormous salad mixing bowls

@moonstruckwytch - olympics watch buddy! owner of a 12 ft long resume. i can’t believe how much life you’ve already packed into your years! please save me a seat next to you for 2024.

@m0srael - i love the way your brain works!! drarry getting a dog? the pleasure of fleeting year? upcoming work? and so many others!! they’re all so brilliant and original. and our dedicated microfic mod, making sure we’re all aware of all the most important holidays.

@oknowkiss - your genuinely astonishing writing! my god, you really just took us by storm. i’m very impatiently waiting for your return to new york so we can go karaoke and kbbq and cry about drarry together. and someday i’ll make it to the pnw and then you’ll be strong armed into taking me to the coast.

@phd-mama - sage advice, incredible writing, and such a generous heart. so honored to be in your presence and to get to hear the insane amazing stories of the many lives you’ve lived!!

@phoebe-delia - brilliant ray of sunshine, just shining her brightest everywhere—in your writing, at work, in fandom. thank you for being so full of love and kindness. you’re doing amazing, and i can’t wait to see how high you fly

@rockingrobin69 - the absolute monarch of short form domesticity and softness. every single post is a gift and a clinic in writing something gentle and beautiful. i couldn’t believe i made it on your list of writers! i am so humbled and thankful!

@saintgarbanzo - NEW FRIEND, in that i’ve been slowly worming my way into your good graces and then springing my trap to get you into the microfic server. i will listen to anything you have to say about food forever, in fic or in life. i owe you a raving, foaming at the mouth comment on sweeten to taste, so expect that coming this summer.

@sorrybutblog - my millennial media diet twin! an actual WOMAN IN STEM! i feel that i’m probably remiss in leaving comments, but your fics are among some of my favorites. the incredible mix of soft/sexy vibes? the best. let’s keep the memory of the awl network alive. and may your irises bloom for decades to come!

@sweet-s0rr0w - fest extension friend! fellow Thought Haver on fandom platforms. i’m so deeply remiss in not having experienced your writing yet, but oh, it’s coming for me and i’m so looking forward to it.

@tackytigerfic - oh tacky, your gentle calming presence and your thoughtful way of considering everything! i love hearing your opinions on things as much as i love reading your beautiful writing. your perseverance with your fth fic is awe inspiring!! you’ll get there! i believe in you!

@thebooktopus - you were one of the first to save me from myself when i wrote my first ever drarry fic and needed a beta, over the holidays no less. i can’t thank you enough still! and you keep everyone here afloat with your incredible kindness, generosity, and positivity!

@thesleepiesthufflepuff - loveliest sprint friend and new penpal!! i read “almost like home” when it was mentioned yesterday and it did not disappoint. i can’t wait to talk more, digital and analog, and keep reading your work!

@wolfpants - i am just slack jawed every time you post another absolute gem of a cross gen fic. your other work is absolutely superb, of course, but my god. a bigger splash and the hollow are just mindblowing. i have also been absolutely dying to read tiny home, and everything, really. and knowing it’s all written by the loveliest human makes it all that much sweeter.

i could literally keep going on forever. but as i’m writing this, my birthday starts in just a few minutes and i have to get this post on the road! really, i hold you all so dear. thank you for making the fandom and community such a gorgeous place. i’m so excited to be spending another year amongst you all!