#uhhhh it’s not like you need a deep backstory to want to heal but that saviour complex of his has been around for a very long while

[akkivee]

this is probably a strange thing to wonder lol but i wonder if jakurai has alive parents 🤔

#this is vee speaking #like dohifu’s parents are presumably okay besides whatever honobono did to hifumi’s #and it’s probably because they’re older we don’t hear of their parents but like it was a source of drama for otome our eldest character #so jakurai’s parents can be a thing lol #(i’m acting like parental figures aren’t a driving force for a very large chunk of these characters lol) #see tho back when mtr was the primary brain rot i hc that jakurai was also an orphan lol #the backstory i gave that man before it was defined lmao #i thought he was a product of a child assassin program the government ran using orphans esp from the war #like jakurai’s generation grew up with war and jakurai in particular was bred on it #and i used it to reason why jakurai has such a bleeding heart for children he didn’t want the kids to grow up like he did #canon has now said otherwise thankfully lmao but like he could still be an orphan lol #uhhhh it’s not like you need a deep backstory to want to heal but that saviour complex of his has been around for a very long while #he was in college already to be a doctor before the war started so presumably he’s always wanted to be a doctor right??? #did the looming war influence him???? or did he have a similar familial reason like hitoya’s to be a doctor???? #like he lost his parents to disease and he was helpless to help #(because he was a child lol but kids blaming themselves for stuff they have no control over is a thing in hypmic lol) #but yeah here’s some jakurai flavoured thought for today rare form on this blog nowadays lol #c: sensei

[badger-writes]

Star Wars OC Ship Week 2021 - for light and love

uhhhh Hello! 😄

This fic and all its chapters was written for Star Wars OC Ship Week's inaugural year 2021, an event spotlighting OCxEC romances & platonic friendships helmed by @findswoman! It's also the first time I've personally ever taken part in an event week so I hope I do a good job! 😅

Whether you're a High Republic fan or you just want to see the big lizard get smooches, hope you enjoy! Leave comments and kudos if you do! Looking forward to sharing all I've written over the course of the week w/ y'all!

1 - How They Met

It all started, as these things do, in a medical bay.

Kelto Lem, a Jedi healer, had been busying himself with organizing the implements and instruments of the first aid wing in the Halls of Healing. This was light work, and peaceful, which suited him fine. Rarely, if ever, were there emergencies in the Jedi Temple of such scope and scale as to totally overwhelm the medical ward, and to the best of his recollection they had never occurred in the early morning, when dew was still settled on the trees and grasses of Monument Park. This made it an optimal time for preparing the ward for most of the day’s eventualities well ahead of schedule; this making good sense to him, he settled into this habit as a padawan and had never quite given it up. In time, it became almost a meditative practice for him - refilling stores of fresh bandages, taking stock of available pharmaceuticals and herbal remedies, refilling the kolto canisters…

And so it was in the middle of this daily routine that he was interrupted by the door sliding open. He turned to look and nearly dropped the medical scanner he was holding - for two reasons.

 The first: his guest was built like a permacrete E-Web bunker. Broad and tall, with an implied physicality that not even Jedi robes concealed, the visitor - a Trandoshan - strode into the ward with an aura of stern command, stolid orange eyes locking upon Kelto almost immediately. His emerald scales shone with a slight luster as he walked, the claws of his toes clicking against the tile floor, until he came to the edge of the biobed in the center of the room less than a foot away from the resident healer. The sheer weight of his presence made Kelto feel small by comparison - he, a shorter pale-scaled Rodian with stripes of deep blue running along his jaw and neck, who wore a satchel of first aid essentials on his hip everywhere he went and tied back his spines in a long, narrow topknot ending in a spiky pom where they escaped the hold of the strip of linen which restrained them.

The second: he was covered in scorchmarks.

“Star’s End,” Kelto said, when he could finally get his (dry, dry) mouth to work correctly. “What in the world happened to you?”

The Trandoshan rumbled, mouth pulling to one side in chagrin. It was a deep, bassy sound, and it landed straight in the pit of Kelto’s stomach. 

“A… mishap with the duelling droid,” he grunted, in the sibilant speech of his species. “I was not focused. Lost sight of my present. It seized the opportunity, as you can see,” he added, gesturing to his scorched robes.

“You were training? This early? Chee,” Kelto said, shaking his head. “And I thought my morning habits were odd - jump up on the bench, here, I’ll patch you up.”

He turned away to fetch some burn relief supplies, piling them on a tray. When he turned back, the Trandoshan had sat upon the biobed - and his tunic was resting carefully folded on the bench beside him.

“Ahghg,” he said, and everything on his tray rattled as he short-circuited.

The Trandoshan gave him an odd look. “Yes?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing. I’m fine,” Kelto stammered. “Let me just, uhhh… set this down here.”

He let the tray’s repulsorlifts catch it in midair, so that it would hover at his side. Then he took a ball of fluff and daubed it in a squat open vial of kolto, letting the excess drip off and trying not to think too much about the barrel-chested masterpiece of physicality sitting just within arm’s reach to his right.

“So, how did this happen, Master …?”

“Knight, actually,” the patient replied. “Not master - not yet, anyway. And as I said, I was training.”

“Only a Knight? ...Well, I guess if you were a Master, you wouldn’t have ended up - err, you know what, forget I said that.”

With kolto-ball and medigauze dressings in hand, Kelto turned to his patient and gave him a quick once-over. There were injuries in areas roughly corresponding to the placement of scorch marks on the surface of his clothes, but fortunately, most of them didn’t seem too severe - the robes acting as a layer of insulation against the worst of it. Quite intentionally, he started on the outside limbs, an attempt to spare himself another hot flush provoked by looking straight on at his patient’s torso. Sskeer didn’t even flinch when he touched the wet medical fluff against an abrasion on the side of his arm.

“I train on one or two levels above the normal training setting,” the Trandoshan offered, by way of explanation. “Thus, my injuries.”

“Ah,” Kelto murmured, mostly to himself. “A masochist.”

Sskeer grunted reproachfully. “The training settings are designed to hold back. There will be no such reprieve in the field. Therefore, I train the body to anticipate the presence of harm - to become numb to its threat, and then, to surpass it.”

“So you’re fine with the pain?”

“Pain can be ignored. And my people have thick hides. I endure.” 

“Well, I’m no duelist, but in my estimation you could probably stand to bump back down a few levels,” Kelto observed, winding a bandage around his forearm. “At least until you can defeat one of those saber-happy droids.”

Sskeer hrrred. The sound landed in Kelto’s gut again. “Bold words from a nurse.”

“Bold enough to be a Knight, like you.” The Rodian retorted, flashing him a smirk - and turning away immediately when the sensation of being perceived became too much. (His cheeks were so warm - was it supposed to be so hot in here?) Falling silent, he took one of Sskeer’s wide, thick-fingered hands in his own, turning it to inspect the green welt on its back.

“I did not realize you had risen to Knighthood as well,” the Trandoshan offered as Kelto dressed his injury. “If I offended, it was not by intent.”

“It’s fine. I’d rather people forget, honestly. Most people, they see a Jedi and think, ‘wow! Laser swords! Magic powers!’ - but that’s… never really where I felt comfortable.”

“You feel your place is here.”

“It’s where my talents lie, I think. I’ve sort of been drawn to the healing halls ever since I left the creche. And… well, to be honest, I like being able to help people doing this. So… I guess it’s true what they say, about the Force having a path for us all, and all that.”

Sskeer hummed. “That is good.”

“Yeah, and I remember when I was little, Master Rancisis came by the ward and said a-- I’m sorry, am I rambling? I’m rambling, aren’t I? I’ll just shut up and tend you--”

“It’s fine.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I just dropped basically my whole backstory on you--”

“It’s fine,” Sskeer said - firmly, but patiently. “Really.”

And Kelto believed him.

It’s funny, he thought suddenly, how quickly you can get comfortable with someone else. A moment ago he could barely stand to meet Sskeer’s gaze - now, though, he could look him straight in the eye without feeling like wilting. Sskeer had surprisingly deep eyes, he noticed, for how small they were. Deep and dark. Like he could dip into his pupils and fall forever --

Oh gosh, there’s a huge green mark right on his temple. How did he miss that??

Kelto dunked a fresh puffball in the healing fluid and held it up to the Trandoshan’s brow, cradling it in his long, sucker-tipped fingers. This time, when it touched his skin, Sskeer flinched and barely suppressed a hiss. On instinct, Kelto shushed him - a habit picked up from soothing much younger patients, when he got his start tending the younglings’ skinned knees and broken bones.

“This one’s not so bad, I think,” he murmurs. “Just needs a little kolto to help keep it clean. Just put some ice on it every few hours for the swelling and it’ll go away soon.”

“And this?”

“Hm?”

Sskeer gestured again to a long line of angry green flesh across his trunk.

“OH Force,” the Rodian cried, slapping a hand against his forehead. “I completely missed that somehow, thank you so much, I’m so sorry. Gods, I’ll get right on that--”

The Trandoshan surprises him with a chuckle. “Rather absentminded for a healer, aren’t you?”

“D-don’t judge!” Kelto sputters. “I’ve been distracted.”

“By what, exactly?” Sskeer asked, with a smirk.

“... J-just lie all the way down, please?”

Sskeer leaned back onto the biobed, hands resting behind his back. Now the whole of his broad, stocky abdomen lies prone under the glowlights, throwing the long diagonal burn across his trunk into stark, unmistakable relief.

“Why is this one so much worse,” Kelto wonders aloud.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘worse’. As I said, I endure.”

“I’m sorry, this doesn’t look like a giant, stinging saber-welt to you?” Kelto peered closer at the mark, hesitantly plying the flesh of the Trandoshan’s belly under his fingers. “...Actually, wait. This is almost a first degree burn. What kind of training saber makes marks like these?”

Now it was Sskeer’s turn to fall quiet and avoid eye contact.

“...You… did something pretty dumb, didn’t you.”

“...When my performance against the droids began to suffer, I… disabled some of the limiters on the droids,” Sskeer growled, at length.

“Y-you did WHAT?”

“I thought it would motivate me to improve,” he shrugged.

“So when I called you a masochist earlier and you didn’t really deny it--”

This time, Sskeer almost snarled. “It’s no crime to seek out a proper challenge.”

“Oh, and if every adrenaline junkie Padawan jumped off the High Council Tower, you would too?”

“Will you just stop arguing and fix this?”

“I--” Kelto groaned. “Okay, whatever, big guy. Just - just hang on.”

He arranged his hands on either side of Sskeer’s wound - one above on his chest, one below on his stomach. Then he sucked in a deep breath through his snout and released it slowly, letting his eyes fall shut as he exhaled. 

He was panicking, he knew. Overcorrecting. There was no reason to take things this far when he was literally standing in a room filled with other, more practical solutions - and certainly not over something so silly as a shouting match with a Knight he barely knew. But by now, good sense and training had momentarily fled him. 

Here, in this moment, Kelto sank into the Force and let himself be guided by the simple instinct to help.

He took another slow breath in, and out, and began to concentrate.

And then…

Sskeer sensed it before he saw it. He craned his neck over his chest to see - and rose up on his elbows, watching intensely.

With preternatural speed, the hideous burn across his torso lightened, shrank - and then vanished. In its place only unblemished scales remained.

Like he’d never even been touched.

Kelto let out one final, explosive breath - and almost collapsed. Sskeer jolted to his feet and grabbed his arms, cradled his back in one arm, steadying him on his feet until he could recover.

“Nice catch,” Kelto panted, when he’d finally recovered.

Sskeer was looking at him differently, the Rodian noticed through the blur of lightheadedness. Looking with him with something like awe.

“That was… quite a feat,” the Trandoshan noted. “It seems you were correct to follow the path of the healers.” 

“Y-yes, well,” Kelto murmured sleepily, “we all have our own special talents.” 

His eyes trailed back to Sskeer’s chest, fingertips idly following their gaze down his trunk. They tickled, just slightly; Sskeer registered an unexpected, but not wholly unpleasant shiver down his spine.

“Think we’re all done now,” the Rodian mumbled. Then his big, sea-blue eyes blinked - slowly, then rapidly, like a Wookiee propeller-engine starting up - and he realized his hand was just shy of cupping one of Sskeer’s pecs.

“UM,” he said loudly, jumping away. “YEAH, so, all done. Clean bill of health. You should be completely fine within the next day or so, and then you can go get your butt handed to you by the training droids again, right? Yup, glad to help, have a nice day, May the Force Be With You and all that jizz, ahaha~”

The Rodian became a flurry of hyperactivity around the ward, re-stocking and re-checking shelves and cabinets for reasons Sskeer could not divine. To appear busy, he supposed - and discourage his continued presence.

It was, he decided, reather endearing. 

Sskeer let the flustered healer flail a moment more before saying, “I don’t think you ever shared your name.”

When he looked over his shoulder, Kelto’s face looked as bright as a Life Day orb - only much, much greener. “Huh?”

“Force healing is no small feat,” the Trandoshan observed, slipping his tunic and tabard back over his shoulders. “To have seen it performed is a privilege; for something as small as my own self-inflicted injury, and after my own stubbornness - an honor. 

“I’d prefer to thank you for it properly, and to apologize. But for that, I must ask your name.”

The Rodian stared. Then coughed, turning to lean back against the counter before him. “Uh, well… That’s … kind of you, but I - you know, we’re Jedi and all. W-we don’t really serve for gratitude’s sake.”

“For the sake of a fellow Jedi, then, and a friend?” 

“…Friend?”

A bemused head tilt. “Are we not?”

“W-well, that’s moving a bit quickly, isn’t it? I mean - we don’t even know each other’s names.”

Sskeer stared.

“Sorry. Sorry. I’m not dumb, I swear, I’m just -- panicking.”

The Trandoshan gave him a funny look. (It was kinda cute, Kelto noticed, when his nose scrunched up like that.) 

Just spit it out. Spit it out. Spit it out. You’re blowing it. Just spit it out spititout spititout---

“My name’s Kolto,” he said -- and groaned.

“Your name,” Sskeer echoed, “is...‘Kolto’?”

“Noooo, no, not ‘Kolto’ - Kelto! Kelto! My name is Kelto. Kelto Lem. I just - I’m just called ‘Kolto’. By - certain people.”

“Because… you work with kolto?” he ventured. “Or because it happens to sound similar?”

Kelto sulked, crossing his arms. “Because Torban Buck thinks he’s funny.” 

Understanding dawned. “Ah. Yes, he certainly does.”

“Mmmmgh. Well, now that I’ve botched my own introduction, I guess you know me. So you can leave me to my shame, now, I guess.” Kelto returned to the business of managing the ward - opening and closing cabinet doors slightly harder, this time.

A wide, three-fingered hand landed on his narrow shoulder, making him jump.

“Thank you, Kelto Lem,” Sskeer said. “Truly, you’re a credit to the Order.”

His voice was deep and warm. Kelto swore he could feel his breath tickling his ear.

“A-anytime,” he replied, spine locking ramrod straight.

He senses Sskeer’s presence pass by behind him, and imagines it’s what little Rodian swamp-fish feel like when big surface trawlers pass by, and catch them in their wake. “And perhaps when I continue my training,” Sskeer added, “I will remember to return here, for my wounds to be dressed.”

“Orrr you could crush those droids and never need to come back here again!” Kelto shakily returned.

“I’m sure I could, at that,” Sskeer chuckled. And the door slides shut behind him.

The moment Kelto was certain he was alone, he took a little paper cup and pours himself a drink of cool sinkwater. It takes gulping down two full cupfuls before he cools down, sinking heavily on his elbows against the counter.

“‘Kolto’,” he muttered, scoffing. “God damn it.”

#StarWarsOCShipWeek2021 #star wars #the high republic #sskeer #original character #oc x canon #how they met #fanfic

[saeranlover]

Oh hey uhhhh a second part to the OC backstory stuff I was writing the other day???

Time went by, and much to Alessia’s horror… Not a single attempt was made by her friends and her family to rescue her. Out of anyone though, she was angry at Sol. He claimed to be her best friend… His parents even claimed that he loved her! But she felt… Abandoned. He hadn’t done… well, anything.

About three months into being stuck in Hell, she had accepted her fate, living there for the rest of her life. There were guards at every possible exit, ordered to return her to their king if she was seen outside the castle. She was just going to remain there…

At least she was granted freedoms inside the castle… And surprisingly, Dusk was better company than she had thought…

“Yeah, I’m the only living demon in my family, but I prefer it this way. My parents were never about, too busy killing other demons to really do shit. Hell basically fell apart until I got hold of the throne.” It was evening, and Dusk had pulled Alessia along to eat with him. “We got to have responsibilities too, you know? It’s stupid how angels assume all demons were like my failures of parents.”

“Not all angels...”

“Of course, you’re the wonderful exception, Ale,” Dusk was smirking as Alessia began to choke on her food at the nickname, before she looked away awkwardly. “Aww, what’s the matter, never been given a nickname before? Humans do that at times to those they see as a close friend.” She glanced back at him, slightly confused as he reached out and patted her shoulder. “… Those other angels disgust me. How can they not want to be close to somebody like you? Maybe it’s a sign that you’re fated for better things than unfortunately being one of them.”

Those words affirmed the fear that was building up in her mind. None of them really did care for her… None of them were truly close to her… Tears of frustration built up in her eyes, before she slammed her fist onto the table. “It says a lot that I’ve been treated better by a demon than one of them… Everything I’ve known so far… it’s just been a huge lie!”

“That’s right… It has been. All it takes is a few weeks of living here in Hell to learn the truth that those head angels have been keeping from everyone… I believe that you, of anyone, deserve much better.”

It took a few minutes of taking deep breaths (and eating a surprisingly delicious dessert) for Alessia to calm down, before she stood up and stretched out her arms. Following that, she looked at Dusk before turning around to leave, before she felt a sudden chill in her wrist. She recognised that feeling… Dusk had grabbed her wrist with his tail.

“I want to show you something before you go off doing whatever you’re doing...” He then released her wrist, before extending his hand for her to take. By this point, Alessia had grew used to taking hold of his hand as he led her here, there, and everywhere. So, he led her to a room which she had never seen before… It was rather high up in the castle, there was a window in which she could see the entire town outside from it.

She watched with slight curiosity as he opened the door as she wanted to know where this was, before gesturing for her to follow him inside. It was dark… Until he snapped his fingers, and there was a slight blue light in the air as a variety of candles suddenly lit around the room. She never got used to the fact that fire was blue here…

“Hmm...” Dusk looked at Alessia, before grinning. “You suit being in this room much better than that little cell you sleep in at night...” He then released her wrist, before he paced back and forth as he spoke some more. “Of course, it is entirely up to you, Ale… But this is my room in the castle. The best room, of course, with the best views, most comfortable bed...”

Alessia turned pale as she looked around a bit more. It figured that a king would want to put himself in the highest possible place within the castle…

But… being in the same room as him…? It felt as though he was attempting to strip away what little freedom she had left…

When Alessia then went to look back at him, to ask why he wanted her to stay in there with him, she realised that a door to the side of the room was open, and he was no longer there… She slowly approached the door, and peered around to see if he was there. It was a balcony which he was stood on, staring out at a dark, mysterious looking mountain range which was splayed out before him.

“One of the things I like about this room… To one side, there are the demons I’m meant to rule over. To the other, the mountains which tower above me… Keeps me grounded, lets me know that even though I’m above all those others, there’s something above me too… even though it isn’t alive. Looks good too, sunsets are really nice to look at here. It’s private too...” Dusk then turned around, and gestured for Alessia to join him. “It’s gonna be sunset soon, actually…”

Slowly she walked over to him, and squinted as she went to look at the skies just above the mountains. As she was distracted, he went over to the door and silently locked it before returning to her side.

“Ale… Is there anything I can do to persuade you to stay in this room with me?”

Alessia’s eyes slowly moved downwards, towards the jagged, rough bottom of the mountains, before she clenched her fists. “I want to write a letter… I want to send it to the son of the head angels.”

“What? Why? And why their son?”

She scoffed, before turning her back to the mountain, but remained leaning against the stone railing of the balcony. “I want to tell him how pissed off I am at him still… It’s his fault I approached that inn in the first place, I wanted to prove him wrong. And his parents had the audacity to say that he loved me on his behalf when I first ended up here… And I want to rub it in his face that I’ve had a better life living with a demon for three months than in the heavens for twenty years...”

Dusk seemed quite impressed at how much anger Alessia was feeling towards the angels now… In particular the one which he knew had done several attempts to invade Hell simply to retrieve her, not that she would ever know…

“Wow, are you sure you’re an angel, and not really a demon? Because you sound as though you’re one of us now...”

Alessia diverted her eyes again, and spoke rather quietly. “I’m definitely still an angel… But I do feel like a demon at heart...”

“Perhaps, Ale...” He took hold of her chin, and made sure she was looking at him. “It’s because you really wanted to become a demon by stealing mine. It’s a very big feat, being able to steal the heart of a demon king...”

“What…?”

Dusk rolled his eyes then, before he placed his hands at either side of her on the railings. “Oh, don’t act so naive, Ale… You know what I’m implying. I can see that blush on your face...” He leaned in further, and pressed his forehead against hers. “How about we… trial having you stay in my room for one night. Tell me in the morning whether you want to stay or not...”

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

“Sol! Gosh, you’re killing us with how much stress you’re causing! Stop leaving without saying a-!” Sol had angrily returned to his home in the Heavens, just to be met by his father looking tired and frustrated. “Son, what happened?!”

A pained look formed on Sol’s face, before he pushed past his father and sat down. “Alessia’s younger brother heard about my attempts to try and get into Hell to rescue her… He’s her only family, so I told him no, as he needed to be here for when I got her free… But he followed me…” Sol closed his eyes, and proceeded to hit a wall. “He was impaled by a demon! I tried to get to him, to rescue him… Heal him… But some demon big shot appeared! I don’t know who it was, except the fact that he had green hair… He muttered something to him, before he- he- he killed him!”

Sol’s father remained silent as Sol explained what had happened, before he sighed and rolled his eyes. “Alessia is not worth your life, son! Your mother is ill, and I’m getting to a point where I can hardly keep things together on my own. You are next in line to be the head angel, and so, you need to be here… It’s time for you to move on...”

He failed to mention the bitterly worded letter which had arrived for his son whilst he was away.

#mari's OCs