#So with a big bounty on her head she hops from system to system trying to keep a low profile until she lands the Argos job and plot happens | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumgik (2024)

I haven't gotten very far in Starfield yet but looking back it's kinda hilarious that I basically went to the character creator and I guess subconsciously decided "I'm gonna make her the exact opposite of my CP2077 character" right down to them having the exact opposite hair color.

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FebruarOC - Penelope

Penelope "Nelo" Straylight is a character I created back when some friends invited me to a short-lived idea of doing a campaign of Scum & Villainy. We barely got of the ground with character plotting before it fell through, so I just had a hot muscle woman kicking around in my head with nothing to do. Her class was literally "the muscle", which for anyone who knows anything about S&V the system or just Forged games in general meant that she could have the ability that made her count as a small gang. So like, ma'am 😳

Around that time, I had also brought Kerri into the FTL space games (I originally created her for a game of Follow that was about superheroes, actually, but now she sort of lives in the sci-fi space despite also using her for City of Gulls) and I went "hehe what if I just put them together in a story".

So, you know, I did? (Kerri still kicks around with the gorls from FTL, who are Sol, Merril, and Max, but it's easier for me to use her in my own projects because it's quite literally at my own pace and I don't have to bother anyone because I'm real bad at collaborations)

The long and short of it was a vaguely political space-opera, or as I liked to call it, "space lesbians". Unlike in the FTL space games, I brought back Kerri's ability to do magic mostly because of Penelope's backstory!

For Nelo, her in-game vice was gambling. She's from a planet that is recovering from a war, and has a big para-military presence on it still, so the only interesting thing for her really is gambling. To the point where she goes massively in debt and gambles away the last thing she has on a losing hand: her own identity.

So she steals a new one: Penelope Straylight, a hunter for what the game called "mystics" but we can call Jedi. They were Jedi. And she thinks "well, it's fine, all the mystics are gone and this one was dying in a ditch on a back-water planet so no one is going to come looking for me trying to demand my participation or w/e".

Her old name had been Enise, but as these bounty-hunters stole it, it sure isn't her name anymore!

Eventually she uses what little money the identity "Penelope Straylight" had on hand to get passage off her home planet, and from there just hops around stations and planets doing odd-jobs (and gambling) until she picks up a request from Kerrigan Kestrel to be a bodyguard. Kerrigan is extremely cagey about the details, and is way too pretty to be from this ass-end of space, but she pays well enough for a cushy job of riding on a luxury cruise liner that it doesn't really mean anything at first.

Until she realizes that Kerrigan is the daughter of the leader of the big political faction.

Until she realizes that Kerrigan herself is a mystic (I call them "whisperers" in this setting).

So she's caught up in Kerri's political struggle to wrest control away from her father and stop a civil war and also the bounty hunters who have her old identity now demanding that she turn over Kerri and they can all get a big payday.

Somewhat recently I decided to combine the space lesbians with my project HOWL, because I loved the cast of HOWL but they had no plot, and I loved the space lesbians but it felt like such a huge galaxy with only the two of them. I'm still working out what this means, especially since I'm making Jack a whisperer and so I have to figure out what that means with regards to Kerri and Nelo's role in all of that.

She also has a prosthetic leg (knee down) and arm (mid-bicep down); she lost them in an accident when she was 12 (land mine), and only just recently was able to afford nicer cybernetic prosthetics -- tho they're still on the low-end of tech available. Kerri finds out when Nelo somehow manages to hurt herself while playing soccer with a bunch of kids.

You can see her pinboard here, and her playlist over here!

Today's Drabble I am cheating and using one of the OC Kiss Week drabbles, so that's a separate post.

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Unfamiliar Fruit

PART TWO

Friends to lovers, sex pollen Boba Fett x f reader

Words: 6k

- You and Boba are guests in a palace on a different planet. The King serves you some strange food, with the intention of doing both of you a favour -

No mentions of pronouns, hair or skin color, sexuality. Minors, do NOT interact!!

Warnings: smut, fluff, age gap (reader is 18+), oral (m and f), face f*cking, spit, cumplay, fingering, choking, slight innocent kink, slapping, degradation and praise kink, mirror sex

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With one hand, he pulled the door close behind him. A sigh escaped him while he looked at the maid in front of him. She was wearing something more casual this time, what showed that she also got caught off guard with the message. She waved her hand to signal him to follow her.

“Again, I'm really sorry. I know that this is probably a very bad time, but we wouldn't call you if it wasn't necessary. Also, no one answered when I knocked at your door, so I figured you were with your partner.” Her steps were big while she walked him to the communication center.

“It's not your fault. No need to apologize.” A hand ran over the bounty hunters face. It was hard for him to keep up with the woman in front of him. His erection was still very present and the pain made his legs ache with every new step.

He hadn't cum yet. When he touched himself and heard your org*sm through the comlink he thought he would, but then you said those words. Said you wanted him to touch you. His hand stopped in the second the last word left your mouth.

At first, he thought he was imagining things but he didn't. He heard your voice so loud and clear, the words repeated themselves in his head over and over again.

Never ever, in his entire time knowing you, would he have thought you liked him in the same way he does. But right now, a little spark of hope made its way into his heart. Sure, you were in ecstasy and still reeling from the affects of the fruit , but he would have been damned if he didn't even try to find out if you really meant what you said. And he did. Thank the Maker.

“How are the symptoms going so far? You don't look too bad but your partner?” Her questions cut through his thoughts. Boba drew his eyebrows together in confusion.

The woman's head turned around to look at him, after he stayed silent. “You know, from the fruits.”

“He knew what they were going to do to us?”

She laughed a little and looked back into the direction she was walking.

“Sure he did. He actually wanted to do you a favor after being away from your 'partner' for so long.”

His eyes widened at her words. This was what this all was about? The King thought you two were in a relationship? “Me and my partner are not together in that way. Why did he assume this?”

Her figure stopped for a second and turned back. The man could see the surprise in her blue eyes. “You two are not- Oh, Maker.” She cut herself off and thought about something. “We... we thought you two were... Oh no. I'm so sorry.”

Sorrowful eyes looked up at him.

“It was just... the way you talked about your partner and the way you two looked at each other... We really thought the two of you are in a relationship, that's why The King decided to get you those fruits.”

Her hands started to shake and he could see that her eyes started to tear up. Today was really not the day he wanted to deal with this.

“It's alright. Forget about it. Just take me to the call with my other partner.”

The maid nodded and started walking again. Both of them stayed silent for the rest of the walk. Boba was confused. Were his feelings for you so obvious that the King really thought you two had a romantic bonding? He told him about you, but he couldn't recall what exactly he said about you. Probably not much, after all of this was business.

When the two arrived at the communication system the woman walked away to give him some privacy. Fennec's face was simmering as a blues light in front of him as he approached the holograph in front of him.

“What's wrong?” His voice was annoyed. He didn't want to be here, he wanted to go back to you and finally do what he was wishing for, for so many nights.

“Hello to you too. I see you don't even wear your armor around here, it seems like you got comfortable.”

Boba rolled his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. He wasn't in the mood for this banthash*t right now. “Just tell what you need. I don't have much time.”

“Busy, huh? I can see that.” Even though Fennec was just a hologram he saw that her eyes wandered down his body. A smirk played around her lips.

He realized that his whole body was on display for her and stepped closer to her face, covering everything underneath his shoulders.

“Fennec.” He sighed.

A light chuckle fell from her mouth. “Alright, alright. Do you remember the guy you made a contract with two months ago?”

The man brought his hand up over his mouth and thought for a second. His eyes wandered back to Fennec, the look in them telling her he had no idea.

Boba was good in what he did, he has always been. He kept track of the people he talked to, noted all of his partners down, had all the contracts sorted, he knew what he was doing. Just, in this moment he couldn't focus. It was hard for him to stand upright and follow Fennec's words.

“Great.” Her words drowned in sarcasm. “Kero Raff. The Twi'lek from Coruscant. You made a contract with him about the slaves on Tatooine. Some of your men would free them and he would take care of them when they arrive at his base. Remember?” He nodded. “Well, he isn't happy about the money we sent him, he wants more or he's out. He's wants a response, or he will hop of today.”

“How much more?” He leaned his hip against the table behind him. His intention was to finish this as fast as possible, not wanting to waste any more time.

“That's the problem. Wait a second I wrote down some calculations.”

Boba frowned and rubbed his eyes. This couldn't be real.

You were laying on your bed again, sweaty and shivering at the same time. The tears stopped some time ago but you were still not able to control your breathing properly. One of your hands was between your legs, trying to get another org*sm out of you but it just didn't work.

Blood was pumping quickly through your veins, the adrenaline making your body buzz. Every muscle was tense, like you were about to have the worst cramps in your life. The fingers in your wet c*nt hurt from moving but you didn't stop, not wanting the pain to become even worse.

Your fingers slipped back inside your dripping hole. You grew even more wet with every passing second, you were sure the sheets under you were already soaked too. With a fast tempo you wanted to force yourself to have another climax, but without Boba talking to you, it felt like it was impossible.

His voice was like a song stuck in your head and you listened to it on repeat. The little pantings during his sentences, sounding like he forgot how to breath normally. Maker, nobody did to you what he did to you with only talking. Beside the fact that you fell for him a long time ago, his words were doing things to you you couldn't describe. There was something so arousing about him you weren't able to point out.

Maybe it was the fact that he told you that he wanted you, for quite some time now. You still debated with yourself if his confession was real or just something you made up in your head. Boba wasn't someone to talk about personal stuff. He rarely did it, even when it came to Fennec or you.

Your eyes squinted shut when you felt just the smallest amount of heat rising in your lower stomach. Trying to focus on the picture of Boba's head between your legs in your mind, you brought your second hand down to your core to start rubbing your cl*t.

Whispering his name, you did what he told you when you two masturbat*d on the comlink together. Imagining it was him, his hands inside of you and his dark brown eyes locked with yours. The movements of your hands got sloppier and finally you felt yourself getting close.

You recalled the conversation with him, replayed the way he called you 'Princess' and 'Little one' over and over again until you pushed yourself enough to let go. Silent moans filled the room and your body arched up. You felt yourself clenching around your fingers, while you rode out the light aftershocks.

This org*sm wasn't even close to the first one you had, way too weak and less helpful than the one you had with Boba guiding you through it.

You couldn't tell if the pain got less or if you just got numb after this amount of time. Both hands fell beside your head, not being able to keep them moving without getting a cramp. If Boba wouldn't come back soon, you would have to think about other options to get rid of the pain and to be honest the best idea you had by now was jumping off the damn balcony.

The bounty hunter was furious. They managed to build up a connection to the man and now he had to watch Fennec and Kero arguing. Boba suggested to just give him the money he asked for but his partner tried to talk him out of it. He couldn't tell how long this discussion was already going, but he sure knew that he was beyond pissed and fed up. His body was slightly shaking and he didn't know if it was because of the anger or the pain that still flowed through him.

“Enough!” He screamed at the two holograms in front of him. Both pairs of eyes looked at him, waiting for what he had to say. “I don't have the time nor do I have the nerve to keep listening to you two. Kero, I will give you twice as much credits if that's what you want.”

The Twi'lek with the light green skin started smirking and nodded. “This sounds like a fair deal.”

“Boba! What the hell?” Fennec protested against the man.

“Great. Fennec, write it down in my books. We will see each other soon.” And with that, he broke the connection and let out a deep sigh. He rubbed his hands over his head before he turned to leave the room.

The maid that led him here was still standing in the long corridor they walked through before. She smiled weakly at him and started walking him back to his chambers. Not a single word was spoken on the way back and this time it was Boba setting the pace, so she had to keep up.

His head was full and empty at the same time. He couldn't keep his thoughts away from you now that you were even closer to him than before. With every step closer to your room, his blood started to pump faster and his co*ck twitched at just the mere thought of you.

The two arrived back at the corridor where she picked him up some time ago. “Thank you.”

He said silent with his eyes locked to the door of your quarters.

The woman nodded and was about to walk away, when the bounty hunter snatched her arm to stop her. “It doesn't matter what happens or whoever may call tonight. I wish no further distribution.”

She nodded a second time..

“Yes, sir. I won't let it happen.” And with those last words she was gone. Boba's look fell on your door again and he rushed into its direction. He was about to open the entrance when angst made its way into his head.

He was gone for quite some time, what if you were able to get rid of the pain yourself? What if the pain got less and now you saw things in a different light? His hand drew away from the doorknob. You asked him to touch you, but you weren't in the right state of mind. Maybe you thought about it and came to the conclusion that it wasn't right to do this.

“sh*t.” Boba whispered to himself. Since when was he thinking about such things? He never doubted himself in anything he did but you made him think of things he didn't even consider before. You made him ask himself about so many of his decisions. He didn't care about anyone's opinion until he met you. One day, you would be the death of him, he saw it as clear as water.

Still drowned in his own thoughts, he didn't realize how the door to your room got opened. You heard him swearing and thought he was about to return to you but after waiting some more moments, you got impatient and wanted to see what was taking him so long.

When you opened the door, his back was turned to you. You heard that he muttered something to himself but you couldn't make out what exactly. So you reached out to him, carefully touching his shoulder.

The man jumped in surprise and turned around, now looking at you. His breathing stopped when he saw that you were only in the green lingerie he caught you in before the dinner. Both of his eyes roamed your body up and down until they found yours again.

“Do you still want to...” You didn't finish the sentence, too afraid that he might have changed his mind.

Boba's eyes wandered back down to your breasts, his co*ck jumped at the sight in front of him. “Yes, f*ck I-” But before he could keep talking, you grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him into your room.

You pressed your lips on his and started kissing him as if it was the last thing you would ever do. His hands found their way to your waist, squeezing it. Your teeth bit his lower lip and tugged slightly while your hands went to his pants. One of them brushed his dick through the thin material and his hips jerked up at the feeling.

Breaking the kiss to get some air, you drew your face a little more away from him, his lips trying to chase yours. You smiled at him, finally able to open his trousers and letting them fall down to his feet. In a matter of seconds, Boba got rid of his shoes and pants just to bring his hands back to you, connecting his lips to yours again. Trying to signal him to pull off his shirt, you tugged at the hem of it and he broke the kiss to throw it off as fast as possible.

His big hands captured your face once more as he started to kiss you again. You let your hands glide over his chest and to the waistband of his, also black, briefs. Feeling his smile against your lips yours let go of his and made their way down his throat. A deep growl escaped him when you licked over his Adam's apple, feeling the vibration on your tongue.

Your mouth went deeper, starting to bite and lick over his collar bones. His eyes were pierced on you, watching every single movement you made. Your tongue moved over his chest, through the small patch of dark hair till down to his navel. Placing a light kiss just underneath it, your eyes went up to meet his while you settled yourself on your knees.

His dark pupils were even wider than normal and you could see the lust burning in them. Not breaking the eye contact, your mouth followed his happy trail, till you reached his briefs. A mischievous smile painted your lips when your fingers hooked around the waistband of his underwear. Not being able to wait any longer you pulled them down and Boba's co*ck sprung free.

With big eyes, you mustered his twitching member in front of you. He was thick, thicker than anyone else you ever been with. His length was a little bit more than average but you were sure that he knew how to use every single inch of it. The pubic hair around the base was dark and short, like he knew what would happen today and prepared himself for it.

One of your hands reached around his co*ck and the man grunted. It wasn't the touch that was drawing those sounds out of him, no, it was the sight in front of him. Your hand seemed so small compared to his hard dick. His hips twitched and he accidentally pumped himself in your hand, what made him moan even louder.

Looking back up to him through your lashes, you gave him a few slow pumps before you brought your tongue to the underside of his base and licked one long stripe up till you reached his tip. The man groaned, throwing his head back in pleasure. With some feather light licks, you collected the precum on the head of his co*ck. Boba's hand flew up, going directly to the back of your head, trying to hold himself steady.

Carefully and not too fast, you brought your lips around his co*ck, starting to bop your head back and forth. With each move you tried to take him deeper into your mouth. You looked back into the bounty hunter's eyes, seeing him watching you.

“Now look at that. Just when I thought you couldn't look any prettier I get proven wrong.” Your tongue swirled around his dick, making him hiss through his teeth. “Kriff, Princess you look f*cking gorgeous with my co*ck in your mouth.”

You took your hand away from around his base and brought both of them up to his thighs, looking for something to hold. Keeping the eye contact you tried to signal him that it was his turn now. One of his eyebrows rose, not really understanding what you meant.

Nudging your nose up, you told him that he was in charge now. Finally understanding, Boba started to slowly pump himself into your mouth.

“So this is what you want? You want me to take control, little one?” A dark chuckle rumbled through his chest while you nodded eagerly. “”How could I ever say no to you?”

And with that, his pace started to pick up. His hand was clenched into your scalp, bringing your head towards his hips with every thrust. Spit started to drip down your mouth, making its way down your chin and breasts. You relaxed your throat when he continued to go deeper, breathing steadily through your nose.

The now brutal pace made you gag around him and tears started to swell up in the corner of your eyes.

“Look at you. Taking me so well. You are so good for me.” He panted, shoving his dick even deeper into your throat, keeping you there. Your nose was nuzzled in his pubic hair and the tears now started to fall down your face. An animalistic sound escaped him before finally letting go of you.

You pulled his member out of your mouth and started to breath heavy, trying to get air into your lungs.

“f*cking hell, you feel so good. But as much as I would love to cum into your mouth right now, I think we should wait with that so I can help you too.”

Shaking your head, you reached for his dick again and started pumping it. “No. Believe me, you will be able to cum more than just once. You need more than one org*sm to get rid of the pain.”

Boba smirked down to you. “Princess, I'm a bit older than you, this won't work.”

Still touching him, you tried to argue. “But you have the same reaction as I do. f*ck your age, it has nothing to do with the situation we are in right now.” Your tongue licked his dick again, wanting him to change his mind.

When you brought him back into your mouth, he gave up. It didn't take long until he took charge again, pushing his co*ck faster and faster into you. His hand went down to your throat, wanting to hold you but instead he felt himself.

“Kriff, can you feel that? f*ck, I can feel myself in your throat. You are such a good girl, taking me so well.” You squirmed at the nickname and tried to push your thighs together, but it didn't work at giving you any sense of relief. Taking one of your hands off his leg, you sneaked it between yours and started to rub your cl*t.

The wetness in your folds was already on your thighs, before you even touched yourself. You were almost dripping and it would be no surprise if you were able to wring out the panties you wore right now.

Boba's eyes fell down to your hand and that was it. He pushed himself so deep into your throat one last time that your whole face was pressed against his abandonment. Grunts and curses rolled over his lips and you could feel his hips twitch. Not a second later, you tasted his salty release on your tongue, stopping your own hand.

After some moments, he came back down from his high, pulling himself out of you. With innocent eyes you looked up at him, opened your mouth and showed him the mess he made.

“Oh, you like that, don't you? You want to swallow it? Wait a second, little one.” His hand grabbed your chin in a hard grip and tilted your face up to him. He brought his mouth above yours, tipped his lips and let a drool of spit drop into yours. You couldn't help yourself but moan at this kind of filthiness. “There you go and now swallow it, every single bit.”

With a theatrical loud sound, you swallowed every drop and opened your mouth once again to show him that everything was gone. He hummed at the sight.

“If I wasn't still hard I'm pretty sure this would've changed that, but I guess you were right when you said one org*sm is not enough.”

You grinned up at him. “Told you so.”

His hand came down to your cheek and stroked it slightly. “That's my pretty girl. And now I should give you something back, after you've been so good for me. Get up and lay down on the bed.”

Without hesitation you got up, went to the bed and laid yourself down. Boba stood in front of you, pushing your legs apart with his hands before he went on to the bed on his knees. He hovered over you for a second, enjoying the view. A smile formed on your lips, which he gladly returned.

“Marker, you are so f*cking beautiful.” You were about to giggle but his lips crushed down on yours, shutting you up.

The kiss didn't last long because his lips started to wander down your body. Normally he would have taken his sweet time with you, would tease you but he knew that the symptoms of the fruit were still going through your body, so he decided he would do it another time.

One of his hands sneaked around your back, clasping your bra open. You pulled your arms up to get the straps off. Finally free from it, he tossed it behind him, not carrying where it would land.

“I actually thought you would rip the clothes off of me.” You purred into his ear. He looked at you, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, don't you worry princess. This will happen sooner or later, I promise. Also, I want you to keep this set as a memory for our first night together.” A soft expression painted your face. “And because you look f*cking hot in it.” You started laughing at his words.

“To be honest, I would have loved to tear it down since the first time I saw it on your body, but now I'm glad I didn't do it.”

He gave you one last smile before his head dipped back down, starting to kiss your breasts. You moaned at the feeling of his wet mouth against your hard nipples, but he didn't spend much time there, already on his way down to your core, leaving kisses and marks all over your body.

Now that he was finally where he wanted to be the most and where you also needed him the most, he wasted no more time. Getting on his knees in front of the bed, just like he did earlier, he pulled your panties down.

You hissed when the fresh air hit your wet center.

“sh*t.” You heard the man in front of you swearing and you popped yourself up on your elbows to look at him. “You are so f*cking wet, princess. I know it's because of the reaction but do we want to try and see if I can get you just as wet when we go back home?”

You could feel yourself clench around nothing by his words.

“Dank, yes, Boba.”

“Oh, I love it when you say my name like this. Let's see how loud I can make you scream my name tonight, alright?” And with that, he brought his mouth to your c*nt, starting to eat you out like a man's last meal before death.

Your head flew back and you started twitching at the feeling of his tongue between your folds. Boba brought one of his hands up and sneaked it underneath your thigh, pressing his flat hand against your hip to hold you in place.

His tongue flipped over your cl*t, making you whimper. Your hands grabbed the sheets underneath you, trying to hold on to something.

Suddenly you felt a sharp slap against your heat and you looked down. The man's face was inches away from your heat, dark, devouring eyes looking at you.

“Look at me, while I make you feel good. I want to see your face.”

Not brave enough to look away again, you kept the eye contact while he brought his face back to you. His tongue circled at your entrance, while his nose nudged against your cl*t. He moaned into you and the feeling rumbled through your whole body.

The bounty hunter raised his other hand, carefully thrusting one of his fingers inside of you. It felt like all the air got pushed out of your lungs. And before you were even able to get used to this feeling, he added a second finger.

The fast pace he started off with was enough to make you go crazy. It was hard to hold eye contact but you forced yourself to keep going. His two fingers crossed inside of you, stretching you out, while his tongue kept flipping over your sensitive bundle of nerves. He curled his fingers, making you arch your back and moan out his name.

You felt the heat rising in your lower stomach and your legs began to shake. “f*ck, Boba. I- I'm gonna cum.”

Without taking his mouth away from you, he started talking. “Go ahead. Cum all over my face, little one.” He curled his fingers one last time, sucked your cl*t between his lips and you were done.

Your legs pressed together around his head, keeping him in place. Your eyes fell shut, while a high pitched moan left your lips. Both of your hands still clenched at the bed sheets, ripped them out from their place under the mattress. Shaking and twitching, you pushed Boba's head away from you. Feeling nothing but the hot pleasure filling your body, you tried to calm down your breathing .

After some moments, you finally came back down from your high. You looked down at Boba who still sat on the floor by the bed. With one finger, you signaled him to come to you and so he did.

His body was over yours again, kissing you like there was no tomorrow. You tasted yourself on his tongue and moaned at the sensation. He rubbed his hard co*ck against your inner thigh.

“Kriff, I want to f*ck you so bad, can I-” He wasn't even able to finish his sentence, because you already turned the both of you over so you were on top. Your hands were on his chest, steadying yourself while you grind your wet heat over his dick.

He brought his hands up to your waist, helping you move. When you were sure he was wet enough you rose up a little bit, grabbed his co*ck and lined him up at your entrance. Slowly you started to lower yourself down on him. Maker, he was so f*cking thick.

Boba's dick stretched you like no one else had before. It was almost painful, but the pain was way too good to feel bad. When he was finally seated inside of you, you both took a moment to adjust yourselves to the new feeling.

“You are so f*cking tight, Princess. I probably won't last long with this pretty, little c*nt around me.” He breathed out underneath you while he squeezed your waist. You were still sensitive from your previous org*sms so you didn't mind. The most important thing was, that you were finally able to feel him.

You brought your hands back to his chest, holding yourself up and started to move. With the first few thrusts, you could already feel how his tip hit just the right spot in you, so you started to move faster.

Boba's hands helped you to keep the pace and from actually falling over. It felt so good that you were almost sure that you couldn't feel the pain anymore. You moaned and whimpered on top of him, looking directly to the part where both of you met, being sure that you never seen something so f*cking hot.

The man grunted and had to hold himself back from thrusting into you from beneath. He saw that you were out of breath, at the end with your power. But Dank, if you weren't a sight to behold. Your tit* bouncing with each thrust, your eyes closed in pleasure and your mouth open, making the prettiest sounds he has ever heard.

“sh*t. You look so good right now, f*cking perfect. If you could see yourself right now, Princess.” His eyes fell onto something behind your body and he finally knew how to finish all this in the right way.

“Stop. Hey, hold on for a second.” You stopped in your tracks looking down at him. He smiled in your confused face.

“Is everything alright? Did I hurt you?”, the panic in your voice set a warm feeling in his chest.

“Don't worry. Everything is fine, just move with me.”

You were about to ask what he was talking about but his broad chest was already pressed against yours, while he scooted over to the edge of the bed. A wicked smile danced around his lips, while you were still just confused.

“Get up and turn around.” You had no idea what his plan was, until you turned around and saw what was in front of you. The f*cking mirror. Boba's hand pulled you back down to him and with his other hand he pushed his co*ck back inside of you.

This was something new. You have never seen yourself during sex, but something in you got excited at the thought. The man pushed your legs apart again and laid them over his own, so everything was on full display.

You saw your c*nt, wet and swollen, stuffed with the co*ck of the man you were in love with. He smiled at the sight of your face, curious about what is happening in front of it right now.

His hips made an experimental thrust while to try to catch your reaction. Another thrust and he wasn't able to hold back anymore. He pumped himself in and out of you, watched your whole body reacting to his actions. It turned him on even more.

Your eyes wide in pleasure, your mouth open, your body bouncing with his and your hands on your thighs. f*cking perfect. Not being able to help yourself, you let your head fall back on to his shoulder. But that wasn't the plan. One of Boba's big hands grabbed you by your throat and pulled your head back up.

“No. Don't look away, or I won't let you cum. Look at yourself getting f*cked. Look at how f*cking perfect you are for me.” The hand around your throat tightened and you clenched around his dick at the feeling.

“Oh, you like that too?” He added a little more pressure, making you slightly light headed. “This is the best f*cking c*nt I've ever f*cked. You want me to keep doing that? Hm? You want me to keep f*cking you even when we get back home?”

An obscene moan left your mouth at his words. Kriff, if it was for you, he could f*ck you for the rest of your life. You were sure that no one would ever be able to give you the feeling Boba gave you in this moment. You never wanted to miss out on that again.

His other hand went to your c*nt and landed a sharp slap on it. A scream coming from your mouth, so loud that you were sure everyone in this palace heard you. The familiar feeling built itself up again, already bringing you to the edge with how sensitive you were.

“I asked you a question, little one.” His grip around your throat let loose a little bit so you were able to speak.

“Yes, f*ck yes. Boba, you can f*ck me whenever you want to, please. I'm yours, only yours.”

His hand returned to your c*nt and started rubbing your cl*t. “That's exactly right and now cum for me. I can feel that you are close. Cum all over my co*ck.”

And with that, he pushed you over the edge again. Your legs twitched on top of his, making it very hard for him to keep pushing into you. White noise filled your ears again, almost making you deaf. Boba let go of your throat, letting your head fall back on his shoulders while you screamed his name on the top of your lungs.

The aftershocks were so strong in your body that you almost missed his question.

“Where do you want me to cum, little one?” His movements got sloppier with every thrust, just waiting for you to tell him where he can finish.

“Inside.” Your voice was so weak and silent that you were sure he didn't hear you, so you brought your last strength together and raised your head again to look into his eyes through the mirror. “I want you to come inside me, Boba. I'm safe.”

And that was all he needed to hear. You could feel how his release pumped into you, his co*ck twitching while he finished. His hands on your waist squeezed you so hard, you were sure he would leave bruises there. Your name fell from his lips, with many other swears.

Coming down from his high, his sweaty forehead fell to your shoulder and you could feel his hot breath on your back.

After a while of just sitting and trying to catch your breaths, he brought his head up again and put his chin on to your shoulder. “f*ck.”

“Yes, exactly.” You laughed breathless and he joined you. Carefully you tried to stand up and whine when his co*ck slipped out of you. To both of your lucks, he was already soft. As soon as you stood you felt his cum running down your thighs. He smirked at the sight.

“That’s actually kinda hot.”

“Ah, f*ck off.” You said, pushing his shoulder and made your way to the bathroom on shaky legs. With a washcloth, you cleaned up the mess between your legs, doing your best not to touch any of the highly sensitive parts. Washing your face too, you looked at yourself in the mirror and all the marks Boba left on your body. You knew that he would be proud of them.

Stepping out of the refresher, you saw that no one was in the room. You looked to the balcony but the door was closed too. A bad feeling slowly started to overcome you. So, this was what this all was about? Not even his clothes were still here. Maker, you were so stupid. How could you think that the King of the Underworld would have interest in having a real bonding with someone?

You wanted to scream and cry, but before you were able to do so, the door to your room got opened and Boba stepped back inside. Fully dressed and in his hands a white bed sheet.

“I just thought it would be better to get some new sheets instead of sleeping in the dirty ones.” He went to the bed and threw the old sheets on to the floor, putting the new one on the bed. His eyes fell on your, still naked, figure standing in the middle of the room watching him. “Are you alright? Do you still feel some pain?”

“Are you gonna stay the night?”, you asked. The man let go of the sheets and went over to you, carefully taking your face in his hands.

“If you want me to.” He pressed a light kiss to your nose. “And if you want to, we can spend every night together from now on.”

You looked at him with a soft smile.

“That would be great.” He slightly pulled your head into his direction and kissed you deeply.

“Now, I think we should go to bed. We have to go back home tomorrow, without getting poisoned by the King again.”

“Poisoned by the King?” A confused look washed over your face while you made your way to the bed. You slid underneath the sheets right next to Boba after he got rid of his clothes again. He opened his arms for you and you went over to him, laying your head on his chest. His arm tugged you closer to him.

“Yes. It seems like the King thought we were in a romantic relationship, so he wanted to do us a little favor by giving us an aphrodisiac, so we could have fun.” He explained. And finally you were able to catch up.

“Ahh. Okay, that makes sense.” Some of the events of this current day went through your head and now you really got what it was about with all the expensive underwear, beautiful dresses and looks from the other guests at dinner. There was just one thing you didn't understand.

“Wait. Why did he think we were a couple? I've been here for only one day and the first time they saw us together was at dinner? That doesn't add up.” A sigh left Boba's mouth.

“The maid told me that they assumed that by the way I talked about you.” Your head shot up and you looked down at him with raised eyebrows and a wicked smile.

“What? Really? What did you tell them about me?” His dark eyes studied your face, while his hand went up to stroke your cheek.

“To be honest, I don't even remember. But I know for sure that they caught up on my love for you way sooner than you did, Cyare.” You leaned down to kiss him.

“You didn't catch up on my love either. Even though it was pretty obvious for a certain amount of time now.” With a hand to the back of your head, he held your face close to his and pressed his forehead against yours.

“Just good to know that we both had the same feelings for each other for such a long time and both of us weren't able to realize it.”

“Fennec will never let go of this. She will say 'I told you so' for the rest of our lives.” You chuckled against his face.

“Oh, she sure will. We will never hear the end of it.” Boba said with a smile across his lips. “But we should sleep now. I don't want to leave too late tomorrow.”

You brought your head down to his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat.

The man kissed the top of your head before he whispered:”Good night, Princess.”

“Good night, Boba.” You said, snuggling closer to him.

This trip was totally worth it.

_________

Taglist:

@darthmama1618

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lacuna- part 3

din/reader

she’s dropping early because i have no patience and i’m extremely proud of the last 2/3rds of this. thanks as always to my darling @brothersdrxke​ for being encouraging and yelling with me 💛

MASTERLIST

word count: 3.5k

warnings: swears, overuse of italics, discussion of violence including graphic injury, mentions of scars (causes not discussed), one use of‘their’ as a pronoun for reader, usual poetic smut, 18+ no babies thanks

You didn’t think you’d be back here.

Maybe ever, but definitely not after only a couple of years, and your smile is tight as you flick the lever to lower the small freighter’s boarding ramp. You’re sure it won’t come back if you drop it.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Qin’s teeth are sharp in his own smile.

“You’re not.”

His snarled response is cut off by Ran’s booming laugh before it starts. Your old boss claps him on the shoulder, saying something in lieu of a real greeting about how he’s missed your jokes. It’s a little tense, the way the men take you in for a moment. You didn’t wear your uniform, there’s not a thing on the ship that points any fingers towards the Rebellion, but it’s clear you’ve done well for yourself since leaving. Something they clearly have not, judging by the holes in the jacket tied around Qin’s hips.

“Thanks for letting me stay, system hopping takes a lot longer when your hyperdrive’s busted.” You relax a little, let your shoulders drop, let them think you’re more than comfortable under their scrutinizing gazes.

“We’ve probably got something laying around here you could use. For a price, of course.” Ran grins, in that predatory way that he always has. He seems so unassuming, but you know different. You know better.

“Your prices always land me on the wrong end of a blaster. I’ll take my chances in open space, thanks.”

He laughs heartily again, and you can breathe. At least they seem to believe you.

Ran had offered you your old room, something you’d graciously thanked him for, and left you to it. The station seems to run the same, more or less. He hasn’t hired anyone in your place, or in Din’s for that matter, but it’s difficult to find somebody without loyalties to any one side of the war. Leaving the spots open for now is probably safer for him. You’d raised a hand in greeting to Xi’an when you passed her in the hall, she’d hissed in return but any time she didn’t threaten to cut you is always a win. So at least you’re still in somebody’s good graces here.

Still, good graces don’t last long. And neither does your patience. It’s only a few hours into the night cycle on the station when you creep out of your room and towards the main hangar. Your old workspace looks exactly the same, a few bits and pieces missing, but mostly untouched by time and sticky fingers. Good. It takes less than an hour to completely gut the bench. Every single old motivator, circuit board, gear, and valve packed up neatly in the cargo hold of the ship. There’s still larger engine pieces that the base mechanics are in desperate need of, but Shara’s working on that lead. You find a black marker lying on a nearby workbench and draw a big smiley face on the dulled metal. For good measure.

It’s with a deep breath, and a prayer you never have to return, that you maneuver your ship up and out of the station. You ease it into lightspeed, the definitely-not-busted hyperdrive humming, and disappear.

“Did you think I don’t keep tabs on people, Mando?”

Din would rather go swimming on Mustafar, or get swallowed by a Krayt dragon, or be literally anywhere else in the galaxy than the hangar on Ran’s station. How he’d even known he’d joined the Bounty Hunters’ Guild is a mystery to him, but the call came through nonetheless. The new representative on Nevarro, a very theatrical man if their short contact was anything to go by, had popped up in the holo-com display talking about a special assignment and given him coordinates he knew all too well. Whatever it is, it isn’t good.

“You know, Xi’an’s still broken up about you leaving. Convinced herself that you and the pilot organised it, that you’re holed up somewhere together. But we both know that’s not true.”

Din says nothing. He doesn’t need to, Ran’s tone leaves nothing to be discussed. Whether he knows for sure that you went straight to the rebels or not, he has his suspicions. Xi’an can think whatever she likes, he’s just grateful he doesn’t have to deal with her trailing after him like a lost puppy anymore.

“They said you have a job for me.”

Ran gestures out for him to follow, leading him to a desk he knows all too well. Your workstation was always cluttered, always a tangled heap of wires and unidentifiable spare parts. Organised chaos, you said, it was about the piles. Except it’s been completely cleared out. There’s shelves underneath that he didn’t even know existed, and a big smiley face drawn carefully on the worktop. Din turns his head towards Ran, a wordless question.

“We had a visit from our old friend, a favour done out of the kindness of my heart. So imagine my surprise when we all woke up to find their room empty, and my hangar pillaged.” Ran’s laying it on thick, thicker than usual. Pillaged is a strong word, it’s clear you only touched your own bench, those parts belong to you as far as Din’s concerned. But it’s not his concern that’s the problem.

“So, what’s the job?” He doesn’t feel like playing games anymore. He doesn’t see what any of this has to do with him anyway.

“I’m putting a bounty on that little thief, it can be yours or it can go to the Guild. Or,” Ran hesitates, watching the way Din’s shoulders tense, “You can help me out. Help me with this one thing and I’ll drop it.”

Din doesn’t even ask what he needs to do, he only nods and finds himself trying his best to tolerate Qin’s chatter from the Crest’s passenger seat while he flies.

It should worry him, that he didn’t even consider his own safety. But something about it feels right, he’s sure he’d put anything on the line if it meant you were safe.

It’s almost boring, standing guard at the door as Qin ransacks some official’s office on a planet he’s already forgotten the name of. Ran mentioned something about a trade agreement, although given the largely illegal nature of his dealings it doesn’t take a genius to work out exactly why something like that would have been refused by any law abiding citizen. Although law in the Outer Rim is generally subjective to everyone’s personal code.

“One more office and we’re done.” Qin assures him as he exits the upturned office, pressing a drive into Din’s gloved palm. He pockets it without question, experience has taught him that wasting time asking will only get them in trouble.

Trouble seems to find them anyway. It always does.

He races through the beige hallways, following the blinking dot on the display of his vambrace with Qin hot on his heels. The security guards aren’t fast, they aren’t even armed, there’s no point in shooting when the two of them so clearly have the upper hand. Until a burly Trandoshan leaps out of a doorway and tackles Qin to the ground. But Din doesn’t look back, he just presses forward to the Crest.

Din hightails it out of there, jumping to lightspeed still in atmosphere. Just in case. And breathes his first sigh of relief since he stepped onto the station. He’s not sure what’s on the drive, honestly he doesn’t want to know, and he just hopes it’s important enough to Ran that he might overlook the tiny detail of leaving Qin to the guards.

Ran only seems mildly annoyed that Din comes back alone, more interested in the drive dropped into his waiting hand, and agrees to forget about setting a bounty. So long as you don’t turn up on his doorstep, lie, and steal from him again. Din promises to pass on the message.

You’re on Tatooine, arguing with a scrapper in Mos Espa over the price of a rusted laser cannon, when he finds you. The scrapper quiets when he appears over your shoulder, and nods reluctantly at your suggested fifty percent of the asking price. It’s hot and you’re tired, you don’t have the patience to pretend to be surprised when you turn to see him standing behind you.

“Help me with this?” You ask. Din watches a bead of sweat drip down your temple, tries not to wish it was his tongue instead, and nods wordlessly.

Between the two of you, you manage to haul the cannon to your docking bay and roll it up the loading ramp. Only once it’s secure in the hold do you take a moment to survey his armour, the way you did last time.

There’s no obvious new scratches, although the dust on this rock of a planet will dirty anything in a matter of seconds, but you find yourself relieved by the familiarity of his dark red armour. Nothing has been replaced since the last time you saw him, it seems. You’ve come a long way since then.

“You’re stealing from our old boss now?” Din’s voice breaks your careful study of his armour, and your brow furrows. You thought he might understand, out of everyone in the galaxy, but you don’t even know how he found out.

“We’re in a war.”

“You’re in a war.”

Your eyes snap up to his visor, and he has to physically plant himself so he isn’t rocked back by the intensity of your stare. You find his eyes every time, you always have. But yours have never held such a cold fury for him than they do now. It’s kind of terrifying, it’s kind of beautiful.

“This is not about me. This is so much bigger than just me. You may have grown up underground learning how to kill people with your thumbs but I grew up under imperial rule. I grew up building parts for star destroyers and running messages for rebels. All I know is this f*cking war.” You’re rambling but you don’t care. He has to know, he has to understand that this is what you do now. The last couple of years have been the best of your life, you’ve found a purpose. Something that makes you want to get out of bed in the mornings and reluctant to go back to it at night, you’ve thrown yourself into the brewing fight and it feels like you were born for it. The names of all the friends you’ve lost to the Empire sit heavy on your tongue for every TIE you take down, every supply you steal, every bit of intel you scrape together. It’s for them, it’s for everyone who came before, it’s for everyone who will come after.

Din says your name softly, but the tears are falling and you can’t stop.

“I’ve been fighting my whole life so kids in the future don’t have to live the way I have. I think a few spare parts are worth that.”

You tell him your whole story, standing there awkwardly in the belly of the freighter. You tell him about the messages you ran between workers who resisted, who rebelled, who heard whispers of uprising and felt the roar of hope in their chests. You’d started young, too young really to understand the danger of what you were doing. But what about being young on Corellia was not dangerous? You tell him how the group started to grow, branching out from your factory line to the docks and the mechanics and further. The way they started to include you more as you got older, planning and whispering in darkened corners and safehouses away from the ears of the Empire.

Not that it did anyone any good in the end. You tell him how they stormed the house one night. No warning, no whispers. Blew the door out of the wall and started shooting. So you’d started running. Nothing but the blanket from your bed, the one you’d had since you were a child, around your shoulders and a younger girl’s hand in yours. You’d almost gotten her to the loading docks. To safety. Almost. You can still taste the blood in your mouth when the blaster bolt split her head open, but you’d left her where she fell and kept running. You tell him how you dove into the first open cargo bay you saw and hid. For days. How you’d cried when you felt it finally lift from the bay. How it had been Ran’s ship, one of his first trades. You hadn’t had the courage to leave the station until somebody had shown you it was possible.

Din doesn’t interrupt once. He only watches. Watches as the tears stop streaming, as you pull yourself back together again. He’s sure you didn’t want him, anyone, to see you so vulnerable. You’ve always had that mask of quick jokes and bright smiles, it’s only now that he realises it's a mask, and it’s oddly fascinating to watch you piece it together. You wipe at your cheeks with the sleeve of your jacket until there’s no trace of your tears and take a deep breath. In the blink of an eye, it’s as though you never cried at all.

Even so, the bags under your eyes don’t lie. He’s sure he’s got a pair to match.

“When’s the last time you slept?” He asks quietly, and if you didn’t know better you’d swear he was concerned about you. But you do know better.

You shoot a glance over to the freighter’s sorry excuse of a bunk. It’s even worse than the last one he took you in, although you’re not sure he’s suggesting a good f*ck will get you off to sleep. It’s very pointedly not been touched, starched sheets still stretched military-tight over the mattress. Not that it’s much of a mattress.

“Let’s find a room somewhere. I think a real bed might do us both some good.” He makes it sound like an offer, but you know it’s non-negotiable. And deep down, you really could use a good hour or two before you have to fly back to base. The pilot’s seat is definitely more comfortable than the bunk, just about. You dip into the co*ckpit at the last second to snag your old blanket. For comfort’s sake.

There’s not a lot in the room that an older Twi’lek woman hands you the keycard to. Only a desk with a chair, an attached refresher, and a small bed. But it’s big enough for the two of you. The suns start to dip below the horizon, and Din finally reaches out to touch you. Just barely, just a light stroke of his fingers along your shoulder. But it’s enough to convince you to take a shower, you’re sandy and sweaty and tired and it’ll take more energy to argue than it would to just take the shower.

You’re in there for longer than you intended, zoning out as your eyes lose focus of the little square tiles on the wall, and it’s dark outside by the time you’re dried and dressed in the spare clothes you keep in your go-bag. Din’s pulled blinds shut, locked the door, and piled his armour carefully on the desk. The ancient wood creaks under the weight of the metal. The man himself is lying spreadeagled on the bed, in only his underclothes and his helmet, the dull light from the single bulb in the refresher reflects off of his visor when he turns to look at you. It might make you laugh if you weren’t so tired.

“Better?”

You nod. Of course you feel better, anyone would after scrubbing what felt like an inch thick layer of sweat and sand off of their skin. You smell of the pleasantly neutral soap from the dispenser and, for the first time in days, you think you can breathe again. Although the weight of exhaustion threatens to drag your bones through the floor.

Din pulls himself to stand with a low groan, shoulders protesting when he rolls them, and tucks the sheet back far enough that you can get in comfortably. It doesn’t escape your notice that he’s laid your blanket out beneath them, a thought that sits jagged in your throat. He approaches you slowly, carefully, as though he’s afraid you’ll bolt if he moves too fast. But you take his hand the moment he offers it and leans around you to switch the fresher’s light off, let him lead you back to the bed, and follow him down onto it.

There’s the barest sound of metal brushing against his hair as he pulls the helmet off and sits up for a moment to set it down on the floor.

“Din?” Your voice is quiet, careful not to disturb the peace that’s settled in the room, but it makes him shudder all the same. He returns to you, tucks the blankets up around you both, and tugs you into him. The Armourer’s words, the ones that swirl in his head every time he thinks of you like this, are silent. Din finds he’s not even a little bit guilty.

Warm fingers trace your body, soft over your exposed skin, light as they dip under your shirt. He says nothing, only traces the scars on your back, on your sides, along your ribs. He doesn’t ask how they got there, running his touch along the raised marks you’ve collected through your life and leaving goosebumps in his wake. For the first time in a long time, you don’t feel quite so empty.

You shift further into the warmth underneath you, a vain attempt to keep a hold of the last few dregs of sleep. But you feel rested, at least. That’s not something particularly familiar, and you bask in the feeling. A hum rumbles beneath you. Oh, that’s where you are. You’re not embarrassed, or shocked, like you thought you might be if this ever happened. If you ever thought it possible he wouldn’t leave you to wake up alone. But Din is solid under your head, under your arm, the soft fabric of his shirt clutched in your fist. He’s speaking softly, coaxing you from dreams. It’s still dark as anything when you finally open your eyes, so it can’t have been more than a few hours you spent snoozing.

It’s his story, you realise when your brain finally kicks into gear. He’s whispering about the memories he has from before, his parents. You’d always assumed he was born and raised Mandalorian, how he carries his Way so heavily on his shoulders, but the shake in his ribs as he recounts them tells you all you need to know. Your fist tightens in his shirt when you shuffle a little closer, press your face into his shoulder, a little more over the top of him. A human blanket.

Din likes it, the weight of you on him, your body helps him to keep focus. He never thought he’d tell anyone what happened to him. A dirty secret to be kept hidden away. But something about you pulls it out of him, something about the peace he’s created here with you in this little room makes the truth ease its way out of his throat. You’re not the only one who felt the wrath of the Empire as a child, you’re not the only one who wants it gone, he needs you to know that.

It breaks something inside you, to hear him so clearly struggle through the details of the attack and his rescue, and you can’t help but push yourself up further. Unwrap your hand from his shirt to find his cheek, press your lips to his softly, slowly. He’s suffered enough. You need him to know that you’re here, you have him. You’ll always have him. You let him lose himself in your body, and maybe your heart. He’s already made a home there anyways.

It’s careful, tentative, more so than the other times. The way you hold each other as though you’re made of glass. There’s no rush, no pressure of a goodbye, no adrenaline of a hunt. You have time. And, god, does it show. The way Din touches you is reverent, like you’re holy. You put everything you are, everything you have, behind every kiss, every touch, every whisper. It belongs to him, you’re happy to give yourself over. Just as he belongs to you, you’re sure of it. The fear that he touches someone else in the way he does you is soothed by the roughness of his voice in your ear, the way his teeth scrape against your throat, the way you hear the words without them needing to be said. Because he does, as you do.

You’re the first one to leave this time, blindly finding your clothes in the dark. You leave him a neutral comm, one you already have the pin saved for. He’ll know what it is. It connects to your personal pin without leaving a trace, and you can buzz him at any point. So long as he keeps it, you think he will. You take a moment to listen to him breathing, steadily in the dark, and raise your blanket to your nose. Din.

There won’t be a day goes by where you don’t think of him, of that you’re certain.

TAGLIST (lmk if u want on or off the list):

@brothersdrxke​ @remmysbounty​ @aq-vetina​ @1800-fight-me​ @mandos-co​ @kesskirata​ @sarahjkl82-blog​ @firstofficerwiggles​ @keeper0fthestars​

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Fire Keeper: Chapter 16

Douxie x fem reader

Chapter 1

Masterlist in bio!

Series Summary: You are Jim’s older sister who is taking a break from college and has moved back home to Arcadia. You end up joining Jim and his friends on their adventures.

Chapter 16 summary: You go with Aja, Krel, and Stuart to the moon to rescue Varvatos.

If there was one spell you were using more often it was the lullaby spell. You quietly sang to the baby in your arms. It was late and you had caught her crying. Thankfully she hadn’t woken any of the other babies and your lullaby was helping her fall back into a peaceful sleep.

Just as you put her back into the crib you felt your phone vibrate. You took it out of your pocket and saw that Toby was calling. You quickly left the house so you wouldn’t wake anyone.

“Hello?” You asked, answering it.

“Hey, Y/n, so my friends, Aja and Krel need help with something and I immediately thought of you.”

“Oh, I know Aja and Krel. What do they need? Is it another bounty hunter?” You asked, concerned. You had only known them for about an hour, but you had grown to care for the siblings. Your older sister instincts had kicked in.

“They need help finding their friend and since you were able to track down Glug I thought maybe you could help them out.”

“Yeah, I can figure something out,” you said. You knew you couldn’t ask Archie to help Aja and Krel, but you could look for their friend’s aura. “Text me the address and I’ll be there soon.”

“Okay, and Krel said you might need a disguise.”

“Got it.”

~~~~

After dropping Mao off at Douxie’s you arrived to see Aja, Krel, Eli and Toby waiting.

“He should have been here by now. Those Durians are always late!” Krel whined.

“And this is all one big rescue mission for your geezer friend?” Eli asked.

“For Varvatos, yes,” Krel corrected. “He's being held at a bounty hunter outpost on the Earth's moon.”

“The moon? So flipping cool!” Toby exclaimed. “Although, probably not so much for your friend.”

“Wait we’re going to the moon?” You asked.

Krel, Toby and Eli turned to you. “Oh, hey Y/n. Thanks for coming,” Toby said.

“Um, yeah. I’m here to help.”

“Thank you,” Krel said. “Our friend Varvatos is trapped on the moon in this Bounty Hunter’s guild and we don’t know how big it is and Toby said you could help us find him.”

You smiled. “Yep, I just need you to tell me about him.”

“We can talk on the way there,” Krel said.

Aja paced behind you, talking on the phone. “I told you, we're at a sleepover with our friends Toby, Y/n, and Eli.”

Aja sighed. “Y/n does. I'll find out more and report back. Tomorrow.”

Aja hung up and turned to Toby and Eli. “Thanks for covering for us. Did you bring the gear?”

“As requested,” Toby said, patting a box. You jumped as a spaceship appeared behind him.

Eli gasped. “Awesome!”

“Sauc-er!” Toby joked and you shook your head, smiling at his pun.

“Greetings, Your Majesties. Your chariot awaits. Ah!” The green alien yelped as the ship sputtered.

“That doesn't inspire confidence,” Krel muttered and you nodded.

“And how long is it going to take us to reach the moon... in that?” Aja asked, jumping onto the ship.

“Assuming we make good time, 20 to 30, tops,” the alien said as Krel hopped on after his sister, with the box. He almost fell backwards, but you caught him with your magic. You levitated onto the ship.

“Wow! Minutes?” Eli marveled.

The alien laughed. “Very droll. Ha! This one's a comedian. No, not minutes, hours! So, if you have to use the john, do so now or forever hold your pee.”

“Oh dear,” you mumbled, slightly regretting your decision to help out. However, you weren’t gonna chicken out now, you really wanted to see the moon.

You hopped into the ship and took a seat.

“Who’s she?” The alien asked.

“I’m Y/n. The sorceress, but, uh, you can’t tell anyone that last part. Toby thought I could help, so here I am.”

“Well, I’m Stuart. Welcome aboard,”

~~~~

You yawned, waking up to hear the same song playing that you had fallen asleep to. “How long have I slept?” You asked, confused. In your sleep deprived state you had expected yourself to get a lot more, but the song was still playing.

“Most of the journey,” Krel said.

Aja groaned. “Why do I feel like I've heard this song a thousand times?”

“Ah, ah, ah! It is Uncle Stuey's turn to pick the music,” Stuart said.

“But I'm the-“ Krel started.

Stuart cut him off. “Yes, yes, king-in-waiting. It's a nice try. Out here, rules of the road, thank you very much.”

“But there are no roads,” Krel protested.

“I'm so bored!” Aja groaned.

“Are we there yet?” Krel asked.

“No,” Stuart said and you sighed.

“Are we going to be there soon?” Aja asked.

“No,” Stuart replied.”

“How much longer?” Krel asked.

“Not for a while,” Stuart answered vaugly, which was beginning to annoy you.

“Like, ten mekrons?” Aja asked and you wondered what a mekron was.

“No.”

“Twenty mekrons?” Krel suggested.

“No!” Stuart snapped.

“Thirty mekrons?” Aja asked.

“We'll get there when we get there! Oi!” Stuart yelled. The ship settled into silence again and you decided it was time to try your hand at entertaining the kids.

You did a few magic tricks, mostly creating things with magic, but they were entertained nonetheless.

~~~~

Krel chuckled. “Huh.”

“What?” You asked, turning away from the game of chess you had created using magic.

Krel gestured out the window where you could see earth and the sun rising behind it. It was a beautiful sight.

Aja yawned, as Krel woke her up. “If you're waking me up, we better be there,” she threatened.

“Come on! You're gonna wanna see this,” Krel said excitedly.

“Oh, lively!” Aja breathed.

“You know, for a dump heap, it's really quite beautiful,” Krel admitted and you gave him a look.

Aj smiled. “Or as Vex would say, glorious.”

You continued to admire the planet when you heard gas hissing from Stuart.

“Ah!” Krel cried.

You plugged your nose. “Really?”

“Ah! Stuart!” Aja scolded.

“That was rank, even for you,” Krel said.

“The fact that you'd assume immediately that it's me, it's really very offensive,” Start said as he pulled down towards the moon's surface. You marveled at it.

“As far as I’m aware, I’m the first sorceress to step foot on the moon,” you said excitedly.

Aja patted your back. “Lively.”

Stuart called you over to the computer screen. “According to the computer, there appears to be an anomaly in quadrant two hundred and forty five, here in sector fourth five.”

The spaceship docked, and you, Aja, and Krel rushed out of the spaceship. You were glad to finally be out of the cramped ship.

Aja gasped. “Get me out of here!”

Krel took a deep breath. “I can't take it anymore!”

“I can breathe!” You cried.

Aja jumped to the ground, but she instead hovered in the air. “A moon with low gravity. So lively!”

Krel jumped after her. “I got you, I got you!”

Aja sighed. “Great, but who's got you?”

Stuart jumped up to get them and he sighed contentedly as they floated to the ground. “Ah! I forgot how much I love it here. You weigh less, you've got none of that unnecessary oxygen clogging up your respiratory system.”

They reached the ground, landing in front of you. “Y/n how are you breathing?” Krel asked, suddenly realizing the lack of oxygen.

“Magic,” you said vaguely. “I cast a spell when I realized we were going to the moon.”

Krel nodded as the four of you continued walking.

“Zadra's ship! Alpha must have taken it when he captured Vex!” Krel stated excitedly. You and Krel had exchanged life stories on the long ride over, so you knew what he was talking about.

“Then the intel from that hammer guy was right. They're here,” Aja said.

The siblings went to walk away, but Stuart grabbed them. “Yeah, whoa, whoa! Easy there! This is the Hunter's Guild Lunar Outpost, where the most dastardly bounty hunters in the galaxy refuel and reload. It's also got a temporary prison. Humans would call it a drunk tank.”

“Oh yuck!” You exclaimed, you did not want to deal with a bunch of intoxicated aliens.

“I get it! It's a rough crowd,” Aja said, shrugging off Stuart's hand.

“Which is why we're going to stick to the plan, thanks to Toby and Darci,” Krel said, spinning the box and tossing it. He held his arms out for the box, but it took awhile for it to fall. He sighed. “Let's do this.”

Krel took out the mole mascot costume and he put it on while you put a large black cape around you to hide your face and body.

“Oh!” Krel cried as a cup hit him when you walked in.

“Bounty hunters are a touchy lot. You have to stay alert.” Stuart warned.

“You try staying alert without any peripheral vision,” Krel pouted.

“Psst. Zeron Brother, 12 o'clock,” Aja warned. You looked to see a weird coyote looking thing.

The Zeron guy pulled a dagger on the robot. “I didn't order this.” He cut the robots head off and you shuddered. “Heads up, comrades. I have a drink I call the energizer. Light it up, Tronos.”

Tronos laughed. “With pleasure! Bottoms up!”

“Heh, rough crowd,” Stuart chuckled.

“Psst, keep them busy,” Aja ordered as the two of you went to find Varvatos.

The two of you eventually found him after you looked for an aura similar to Aja and Krel’s.

You approached the cell and Varvatos growled. “You enter this cell, Varvatos Vex promises you will only be hastening your own dismemberment.”

“That wasn't the reaction I was looking for,” Aja said smiling.

“Aja? Queen-in-waiting!” Varvatos exclaimed.

“Shh! That guard could come back any mekron,” Aja warned.

“Varvatos thought you were-- What are you doing here?” He asked.

“Krel and I thought a little rescue mission might make for a fun summer vacation,” Aja explained.

“A suicide mission is more like it. This place is replete with bounty hunters! Varvatos did not train you to be this foolish,” Varvatos reprimanded.

Aja grinned. “I'm glad to see prison hasn't changed you, Varvatos.”

Varvatos sighed. “This prison is a fitting punishment for what Varvatos did. Now go, and leave him to rot.”

“Haha, I didn’t come to the moon just to see it. Krel told me all about the amazing Varvatos Vex, I’m here to save you too,” you explained, hoping to encourage the poor Ackaridian.

“And who are you?” Varvatos asked.

“She is Y/n. A sorceress, but you can’t tell anyone that last bit,” Aja explained, obviously losing patience.

“Don’t worry, Aja,” You soothed. “We’ve got this.”

Aja grumbled. “We don't have time for this! As queen-in-waiting, shouldn't I decide what's a fitting punishment?” She cleared her throat. “By order of the Akiridion-Five throne, I grant you a royal pardon. I overturn your banishment and sentence you to the protection of House Tarron. Come home, Varvatos. We need you.”

Aja didn't wait for Varvatos to answer, she blasted the key pad, but it didn’t open the door.

“It's no use. The diavelant laser grid can't be deactivated without the prison guard's key,” Varvatos explained.

Aja began to scream. “What are you doing? You'll alert the guard!” Varvatos warned and you realized what Aja was doing. You began to scream too.

“I'm getting the key,” Aja said.

You didn't have to wait long for the guard to come. “Hey, what's with all the noise down here?”

You and Aja hid and when he walked to Varvatos’s cell she attacked the guard.

Unfortunately the guard fought. Back and you did your best to blast them without hitting Aja. The guard growled when your magic skimmed him.

“This is some rescue, really,’ Varvatos said.

Aja huffed. “A little patience? Or did you forget that part of your warrior training?”

Soon enough the two of you were able to kick the guard towards Varvatos’s cell. “No touching!” Varvatos warned as the guard fell into the wall. He then fell to the ground unconscious. Aja got the key and freed Varvatos.

“Varvatos was wrong to doubt your tactical prowess. It is most impressive.”

Aja smiled. “You taught me well. Wait, you're missing something.”

“Varvatos' serrator?” He laughed as Aja handed him his protractor like weapon. “Oh, how he has missed you, sweet mistress of death!” He kissed his serrator.

“I can't tell if you're happier to see me or your serrator,” Aja laughed. You began to lead them out of the dungeon, but Varvatos stopped.

“Wait. Wait one delson. Where is Zadra?” He asked.

“Come on,” you interrupted. “We need to go, I can hear fighting.”

The three of you made your way to the bar. “A room of Foo-Foo fighters. A battle of the ages!” Varvatos laughed.

“There they are!” Aja said, ignoring him. You ran over to Stuart and Krel.

“Glorious!” Vex yelled, as he watched the fight between what appeared to be all the bounty hunters.

A robot that looked like a rabbit found a gun and started firing it while you hid. “Die, die, die, die, die, die!” It yelled.

“Vex, wow! Looks like someone's been getting beefy in the clink. Really digging the lats, brah. Boom-boom!” Stuart joked.

“Hello, Stuart,” Varvatos said, but he didn’t seem too excited. His eyes lit up though when he saw Krel. “Your Highness!”

Aja interrupted the reunion. “Run now, reunions later.”

“Varvatos approves of this plan.”

The rabbit robot continued yelling. “Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die--“ Varvatos jumped out at him. “I'm dead.”

Varvatos grabbed the rabbit and began to spin it around. “Now come get some!” Varvatos challenged.

“Let’s go!” you called, creating a shield around your group as Varvatos took care of the bounty hunters.

“Varvatos thanks you for the light exercise,” he called as you left the bar. You burst out of the doors only to stop when the low gravity made you run slower.

“Varvatos Vex!” The coyote bounty hunter yelled. “Your death is mine!”

“Glorious!” Varvatos yelled only to be slowed as he exited the building. “The gravity here is most unhelpful.”

“Kleb!” Krel cursed.

“Yah! They're mine!” Coyote guy slammed the doors to the bar, keeping the other bounty hunters out.

“Hurry! He's right behind us!” Aja called.

“If we want a shot at outrunning these guys, we should take Zadra's Stryker,” Krel said, pointing.

“Hey, what are you trying to imply about my ship?” Stuart protested. You ran towards Zadra’s ship only to stop when it exploded.

“Ah!” Krel sighed. “Oh, but I'm sure we can make it work.”

“You three, go ahead. Varvatos Vex will hold him off.”

“We came all this way, we're not leaving without you,” Aja said.

“Alpha killed Varvatos' family. Varvatos must end this.”

“Now give Alpha a glorious death,” Aja encouraged, running off.

You made it to the ship and helped Aja up.

“Is no one gonna back up Vex?” Stuart asked.

Aja shook her head. “The Zerons killed Vex's family. This is his fight.”

You hopped into the ship to help get it ready, just in case you had to make a hasty getaway.

You heard shouting outside.

“Do you think he's winning?” Stuart asked. You heard something hit the ship. “It sounds like he's winning.”

The lights outside the ship turned off and you heard Varvatos grunt.

“Any idea what's going on out there?” Aja asked, concerned for her friend.

“Still too dark to see,” Krel said.

It got quiet. “I’m going out there,” Aja said.

“Me too,” Krel agreed.

“Here,” you cast a spell that lit up the hanger. Aja nodded to you and left.

Eventually they came back and you smiled at them. “Who’s ready for the up to thirty hour journey home?” You asked, sarcastically excited.

~~~~

You watched the window as earth steadily got closer. While space was fun, you really missed earth.

“Varvatos must admit, he is looking forward to returning home. If you were to grant him that honor, despite his own failings.”

“Hey, we've all made mistakes and we've all lost people that meant the world to us,” Krel consoled.

“But the three of us are a family,” Aja said and you smiled, it was sweet seeing them happy. You were glad you could help.

Stuart cleared his throat and you all chuckled. “And Stuart,” Aja added.

“And Varvatos will not fail his family again.”

You watched as Stuart pulled you closer to Arcadia and you were excited to see your home. That excitement suddenly disappeared when someone shot at you.

“Somebody is shooting at us!” Varvatos yelled.

“But who?” Stuart asked.

“Maybe it’s the government lady,” you suggested, falling as Stuart did his best to make a crash landing.

You coughed as the door opened and Stuart fell out. “Uncle! Uncle! We come in peace. Ah! Ouch.”

“I thought you were an enemy ship! I could have killed you!” An Acaridian who you believed was Zadra said.

“Well, you... you definitely tried,” Stuart pouted.

Aja cleared her throat and Zadra came over to her.

“What? You said you were at a sleepover,” Zadra said.

Aja laughed sheepishly. “I am sorry. I feel bad about that.”

“You have no idea how much I worried! I nearly took up knitting!” Zadra said and you laughed.

“Such is the pain of raising teen-agers,” Varvatos said as he came out of the ship.

Zadra narrowed her eyes at Varvatos. “I didn't ask for your opinion, nor did I authorize the rescue of a traitor.”

“He's family. We had to rescue him,” Aja protested.

“We will discuss your actions later. For now, I fear a far greater battle lies ahead,” Zadra said ominously. You heard your phone beep from your pocket and you checked the message.

You sighed. “As much as I’d love to stay and hear about this great battle, I’ve got to get going. Thanks for bringing me along.”

“Any time Y/n,” Stuart said.

“Thank you for assisting,” Varvatos said.

You smiled and turned to Aja and Krel. “If you need anything just call me. I’m here to help, okay?”

“Thank you, Y/n,” Aja said, hugging you.

“Of course. Just send me a text if you need to. I’ll be visiting my brother Jim in New Jersey next week, but I’ll still be available to talk.”

“Bye Y/n, thank you!” Krel called as you walked away. You turned and waved at them before settling in for the long walk in the heat to the bookstore. You were glad Douxie had air conditioning.

~~~~

“Where’s my darling?” You asked, walking into the book shop.

“Up here!” Douxie called and you followed his voice to his living room. Mao was curled up with Archie next to Douxie.

“Aww, see you had nothing to worry about,” you said, gesturing to the adorable kitten sleeping peacefully.

“At first she was a little hesitant, but she warmed up to him,” Archie said.

“Of course she did, I never had any doubts.” You took a seat next to Archie and leaned back into the couch. It was pretty comfy and his home was so cold.

"So, what was the errand that called you out in the middle of the night?" Douxie asked.

"I went to the moon," you said excitedly. "I made friends with these nice kids who are from a planet far from here. They needed to rescue their friend from a bounty hunter's hide out on the moon. It's a long story."

Douxie chuckled. "Huh, who knew."

"Arcadia has a lot to offer." You smiled brightly, it warmed your heart that Douxie didn't even hesitate to believe you. You had really fallen for him. He was just so great.

~~~~

The two of you continued chatting for quite a while longer until you grew tired.

The past few days had been very eventful for you and it has been over a month since the eternal night so you were out of routine. Not only had that made you tired, it was the crying babies who currently at your household. You adored them, but you where definitely much more tired than normal.

Archie and Mao cuddled up close to you and Douche brought you a blanket and pillow. He understood what it was like to be exhausted and he wanted to do his best to help you feel better. Unbeknownst to you he really cared for you. He really liked you.

****

Thank you all for reading, I really appreciate all of you and I hope you have fantastic weekends and stay safe! Next half chapter will be you visiting Jim in New Jersey, so stay tuned for that next week!! 💕

P.S. if you want to be on the taglist feel free to ask. I hope it works and please message me if it doesn’t.

P.P.S. I'm totally open for requests on fluffy half chapters! If you have any ideas for the half chapters send them in and I'll do my best to include them.

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routine comforts | Foxiyo Week 2020

AO3 Link | 1,800 words (approx)

A/N: Posting this from a tent by the river in the mountains so formatting may be a mess, sorry. Big shoutout to @lilhawkeye3 and CollisionTheory (AO3) for proofreading this for me and to @amukmuk for hosting this event! <3

Summary: After the destruction left behind by Cad Bane and Rako Hardeen at the Coruscant Prison, Fox is forced to take a break by the two beings closest to him.

Routine: schedule, daily, familiar. Day 1 @foxiyoweek

Fox sighed as he flicked the flimsiwork into the ‘complete’ pile on the far side of his desk. Despite how much that pile seemed to grow, the ‘incomplete’ pile wasn’t shrinking. Or, at least, it wasn’t shrinking fast enough. He should have been done by now. He would have been done by now and at Riyo’s apartment, wrapped up in her arms, if some of the more notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy hadn’t chosen that night to break out of prison.

But they did.

So he was here in the Senate filing death certificates, new clearances, and security protocol approvals instead of burying his face in Riyo’s hair. Worse, he could’ve been sprawled out on her couch at this very moment, dealing with this all on a datapad, had the prison records been online. But if it was online, it was susceptible to power failure and exploitation. That was how it was justified to them. Fox thought that they just didn’t want to spend the credits when he was the one suffering for the system’s failure.

“Want some caf?”

Fox sighed and rubbed his fingers across his eyes. He didn’t know if he did. It could help him concentrate or it could give him a headache. He didn’t think he could stand the latter right now. “Thanks, Thorn, but I think I’ll just die instead.”

“That’s my line.” Thorn let the door shut behind him as he entered Fox’s office. “Go home, Fox.”

“I can’t.”

“I can get the rest of this. You need to drink a shot of caf, hop in a speeder, and run home to the beautiful woman who’s been waiting to see your face all day.”

When Fox looked up, it was to find Thorn leaning over his desk, their faces inches away.

“Do you want me to sign with my number or your number?” Thorn persisted.

“Mine. Or they’ll send it back to me for secondary approval.” Fox rose from his chair and switched sides of the desk with Thorn. “Thorn, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Fox.” Thorn took the pen Fox had discarded and twirled it between his fingers. “You have Riyo Chuchi at home, I’ve got Stone. You have a lot more to look forward to.”

Fox paused before he reached the door. “I’ll tell Stone you said that.”

“Like you’ll remember in the morning.” Thorn made a shooing motion. “Give Chuchi my love.”

“It’s not worth a lot.”

“Well, neither are we. Out!”

---

Fox nearly collapsed at Riyo’s door. He might have, had her security system not notified her of his approach so that she was standing there when he opened the door, her arms open for him to lean in to.

“Long day?” She asked as she buried her face into his chestplate.

“Horribly so.” He admitted, letting his helmet fall to rest against the top of her head.

“I have a cure for long days, you know.”

“You are my cure for long days.”

She pulled herself from his grip so that she could bring both hands up to his helmet and pull it down to her lips. “I know. Go strip this off and we’ll get the cure started.”

When his armor had been laid neatly on her dresser, Fox walked back into the living spaces to find Riyo sitting at the bar with a platter laying before her.

“I knew you wouldn’t be too hungry after today, so I had my aide grab some Pantoran cheeses and meats earlier. You pick the wine.”

Of course. She would have heard about the prison by now. Fox walked into the kitchen area to the cabinet where Riyo kept the food items she received as senatorial gifts and from receptions. He grabbed the first wine bottle he saw. “I didn’t know Pantora was known for its cheese.”

“It’s not. But did you expect us to live off silk?”

Fox laughed and held the bottle out to the small uncorking mechanism hidden under the kitchen lip of the bar. “Point taken.”

“Have you ever had a platter like this?” She asked when he began to pour them each a glass.

“I’ve seen others eat them. You put cheese and meat on the cracker and eat it together.” He shook his head and recorked the bottle. “I sound like a droid trying to describe eating.”

Riyo held out the cracker she had just assembled. “Try it.”

Fox bent over and gently took a bite, staring down into the marbled stone of the bar top as he chewed, taking in the new flavors. “That’s amazing.”

“Then come sit down and make your own!” Riyo said before eating the rest of the cracker she had offered him.

So Fox made his way back around to the barstool beside Riyo and listened as she began to tell him about her day, the senators and representatives who had irked her, and his brothers’ conversations that she had overheard in the Senate halls as he munched on some of the nicest crackers, cheeses, and meats that he had ever been allowed to touch. Before long, he was lounging on the couch with her in his lap, unconsciously swirling another glass of wine in his hand as he related the latest Coruscant Guard office disputes. The petty pranks his brothers pulled on one another were far easier to share than the deaths and injuries that had also occurred that day. Like this, surrounded by nice things and with Riyo in his embrace, he could almost imagine he was something other than property. The only thing stopping him from fully falling into that fantasy was the knowledge that his comm could beep with an emergency at any time and that Riyo didn’t care if he was a free being or property. It didn’t stop her from staring up at him in pure adoration. And when he had run out of happy things to say, it didn’t matter who he belonged to when she reached up to bring his lips down to hers.

“Can we go to bed early tonight?” He murmured once she allowed him to withdraw.

“Of course, love.” She murmured back before untangling her limbs from his and rising from the couch, offering him a hand to follow her.

When Riyo dragged him into her bedroom, Fox stopped her to pull her back in for another long, slow kiss. She had told him before that his kisses were almost too gentle, but he could never be rough with her unless she explicitly told him that she wanted something rougher that night.

“How in the galaxy was I the one you chose?” He sighed.

“I liked how you walked.” She winked up at him.

“And were your suspicions confirmed?”

“Confirmed and more.” She tugged on his hands again to pull him towards the bed. “Come hold me, I’m cold.”

She knew exactly how to hook him. “I swear, you only love me for my body heat.”

“No...” She drew the word out, giving him a pitiful look. “Something far more artificial, I swear.”

“Well, that settles it.” He gave into her gentle tugs and followed her to bed.

---

When he woke, it was to Riyo gently tracing her finger across the curve of his hips. He opened his eyes to find her propped up on her side beside him, her hair cascading down in messy waves over his face.

“You need to shave.” She beamed down at him.

“Good morning to you too.” He closed his eyes again as he felt a tired smile tug at his lips. “Shower?”

“Do you even need to ask?” But she didn’t rise, so neither did he. Instead, Riyo lay herself across Fox’s bare chest and took in a deep breath, breathing him in. “I don’t suppose that clones can take sick days?”

“Not unless you’re actively dying, no.” He could feel her weight on his chest as he breathed, warm and comforting.

“Then I suppose a shower will do.” This time she rose from the bed, padding quietly across the wood floor to the bathroom. Fox waited until he heard the water tap begin to run before he too rose and followed her.

Riyo’s shower was truly meant for only one being, but with some maneuvering the two of them could fit with Riyo pressed against Fox’s chest. Fox didn’t think that she quite minded and he rather enjoyed the excuse to be the one to rub her soap across her skin, especially since she would then do the same for him. Anything to touch her, or feel her touch. But the shower never lasted as long as he wished it would and far too soon he was slipping his blacks on while Riyo dried her hair. Before Riyo needed the mirror to assist with her senatorial hairstyle, Fox quickly lathered on shaving cream and reached for the elegant razor Riyo had bought him.

“What would they say if you grew a beard?” Riyo asked as she watched him in the mirror.

“Instant death.” He paused to grin at her. “No. But my helmet line would itch while it grew out.”

“Can’t have that.” She shook her head, not even trying to hide the smile spreading across her features as she laughed at him.

When he had finished, he moved aside to let Riyo occupy the space. She had already parted her hair, and he gently took hold of one section and tugged it down so that he could lean over to kiss her. “Breakfast?” He asked when he had pulled back.

“I’m meeting with Senator Amidala, actually.” She smiled apologetically. “But you’re welcome to cook something for yourself.”

“I’ll just get Thire to grab me something. He needs tasks or he gets bored.” He bent over once more to kiss Riyo’s cheek then went back into the bedroom to reassemble his armor. When put together, he went back to the bathroom doorway to watch Riyo put the finishing touches on her hair before selecting a headpiece. “Want me to grab you your robes?”

She met his gaze in the mirror. “Please. The turtleneck, if you don’t mind.”

He never thought he’d be familiar with her closet, but here he was picking out the beautiful maroon and gold dress for her. Then a few seconds later he was slipping it over her head, careful not to smudge her makeup, and buttoning the back.

“Thank you!” She beamed at him as she finished tracing the curve of her eyes. Simple, beautiful. Then again, he always thought she was beautiful. “Will you be escorting me to the Senate today?”

“As always.” He promised. As he had the day before, as he would tomorrow, and as he would every day for as long as he could return to her.

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Five Minutes

In response to a prompt from @sassygirl579, and a desire to write something short. I did it!! It’s a one shot!!

“Mando!” it was half a greeting and half an expression of surprise. Since she had joined the guild, she got around the galaxy a fair amount, but the Galaxy was a big place. To say that running into someone she knew on Ord Mantell was unlikely was a vast understatement.

She saw the moment that his whirling surprise transitioned to recognition as he turned and spotted her across the street. He nodded as she crossed to meet him.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she said with a grin. She could practically see his raised eyebrow under his helmet.

“Looking for me Dune?” he asked skeptically.

“Don’t flatter yourself Mando,” she said, clapping a hand against his shoulder, “this is an honest to goodness coincidence. What are the odds, hey?”

He cut his eyes towards the closed pram that was floating to his right, “Not as long as you might think,” he said with exasperation.

She tilted her head at him in question.

He let out a long suffering sigh. “No leads on the kid,” he said, moving forward down the street so that they didn’t draw any unwanted attention by standing still for too long, “Thought I’d show him a map, see where he wanted to go.”

She let out a short laugh as she fell into step beside him, “Boy, you’ve really got nothing, hey?”

He leveled an impatient glare at her, clearly discernable by the angle of his helmet and the set of his shoulders. “Yeah, well, who knows what the kid can do. I thought it was worth a try.”

“Still a pretty big coincidence that the kid flailed at Ord Mantell on the map though,” she said.

“No,” he said shortly, “He wasn’t flailing. The little womp rat just wanted to see you.”

Her stride broke as she almost stopped in her tracks, “You think he knew I would be here?”

“He seems to know way too much for his own good,” he ground out, sounding like nothing so much as a frustrated parent of a curious toddler.

She grinned at his tone. “Look, I’ve got a job to do here, and there’s no point in exposing the kid on the street. Tell me where the Crest is and I’ll come by later tonight.”

He nodded at her and, with a few taps at his gauntlet, sent a set of coordinates to her comm unit.

“Well,” she said, as they reached the end of the street, “nice running into you Mando, but my time is up. If I don’t get moving, I’ll miss my target.”

He nodded at her as she tossed him a two fingered salute and walked off in the opposite direction.

She shook her head with a smile. It had been surprisingly nice to see him, even if just for a few minutes. But she tossed off the feeling and refocused as she pulled out her blinking tracking fob. She had a job to do.

+++++

She didn’t end up making it to the Crest. She got the job done, but attracted a bit too much attention and had to get off planet in a hurry with no time for more than a quick holo to explain why she couldn’t come by.

Based on the astronomical odds of them running into each other on Ord Mantell, she probably should have given a bit more credence to his theory that the kid made it happen.

When she saw the two of them walking towards her in a backwater cantina on Taris, she was ready to believe.

“Dune,” he said as he collapsed into a seat next to her. He looked tired.

“Mando,” she said, “and kid.” The kid was sitting up in his pram, his wide eyes focused on her with excitement. She reached out a finger to poke at the kid’s round tummy, and he chirped delightedly and waved his arms at her.

“So,” she said, giving into the child’s wordless demands and picking him up to tuck into the cradle of one arm, “How did he get you here this time?”

He sighed deeply and slid a bounty puck across the table towards her, “If I had to guess, I’d say that you’re here after the same job.”

She checked the puck. He was right.

“Nice work kid,” she said, without any real malice, “now I’m going to have to go find another job.”

The kid looked up at her with wide and trembling eyes, his lower lip sticking out in an exaggerated pout.

“The job’s yours,” he said quickly, “We can find another.”

“Don’t be stupid Mando,” she said, “You two are the ones on the run. I work for Greef. I can always come by another puck.”

There was a brief staring contest between them across the table, but she won in the end, and he slid to puck back towards himself with a nod.

“Thank you,” he said.

“No problem Mando, happy to help,” she chucked the kid under the chin as his sad eyes melted back into his usual bright expression.

“Din,” he said in a low voice.

She looked at him in surprised, “What?”

“It’s Din,” he said again, “You know that.”

She looked at him for a long moment, and he held her gaze steadily. She did know his name, but something he told her when he thought he was dying didn’t seem like the sort of thing to bring up again. In fact, she really didn’t like thinking about that particular incident at all, and she didn’t want to interrogate the reasons for that too closely.

“Din,” she agreed finally with a nod, and then she cut her eyes to the side as she caught movement at the entrance to the cantina, “I’m about to do you another favour.”

“What that?” he co*cked his head curiously, leaning in ever so slightly.

“I’m going to watch the kid while you take care of that,” she gestured subtly to the bounty who had just walked into the bar.

“Thanks,” he said, sounding a bit less tired as he geared up for a fight.

She leaned back in her chair, shifting the kid so he could watch as Din strode across the cantina. “All right kid,” she said with a grin, “Let’s watch your dad work.”

++++

They hadn’t had any more time to catch up on Taris, as the bounty had to be delivered alive. But she assumed she would see him again, even if just for another few minutes, as soon as the kid figured out how to make it happen.

She wasn’t even surprised to see the Crest landing at the space port on Mimban.

“Let me guess,” she said, leaning against the wall as he strode down the ramp into the landing bay, “The Crest suddenly developed a need for repairs as you were moving through the system?”

She could see him freeze for a moment, and then look down towards the kid in his pram with a long suffering sigh.

“I should stop being surprised,” he said as he closed the distance between them, holding out a hand.

“You really should,” she said with a grin, clasping his wrist in greeting.

“Hey kid,” she said, breaking the moment after she realized that maybe she was holding his strong grip for a little longer than was polite, “How’ve you been?”

The kid babbled at her excitedly.

“Oh yeah?” she said, as if she could understand anything that the kid was saying, “Well you’ve got to start picking your moment better kid. Maybe then we could catch up for more than five minutes at a time.”

“You’re on your way out?” Din asked, and she thought he sounded disappointed.

“Yeah,” she said, well aware that she was disappointed and sure that it was obvious in her tone, “I’ve got to go catch my ride pretty quick.”

“You…you can’t wait until we get the Crest repaired? I could give you a lift,” he sounded hesitant, and it made something flip over low in her gut.

“Can’t,” she said, willfully ignoring how badly she wanted to toss the bounty that was secured in the hold of a freighter willing to take her where she needed to go, “got to go close a job.”

He nodded tightly, and they stood there for a long moment before a confused chirp from the child made her realized that they were just standing there staring at each other.

It felt…different, somehow, and tense, and exciting. She was thrown off balance, which she supposed might explain why she stepped forward to wrap her arms around him in an embrace.

After a surprised moment, she felt his beskar clad arms settle around her back.

“Stay safe out there,” she said, her cheek pressed against the cool metal of his breast plate for a moment before she pulled away.

“Cara,” he said, his hands still resting against her hips, “I…” he paused, and she swallowed heavily past a knot in her throat. “You too,” he finally finished a bit weakly.

She nodded, aware that her smile was somewhat thin, and turned to go.

“Dune,” he called, and she turned sharply to look back at him. “Until the next five minutes,” he said.

“Who knows,” she said, her grin now real and wide, “maybe one day I’ll even have six minutes for you!”

++++

When the Imps came back to Nevarro, she couldn’t say it was entirely unexpected. They were still looking for the kid, and they were clearly just looking for information, not to move back in.

The bounty hunters on planet at the time were holding their own, and she held out hope that they might get out of this one, even as she crouched behind an over turned table in the cantina snapping out shots at the storm troopers trying to make their way in.

What was entirely unexpected was the easily recognizable sillouette of Din Djarin moving with steady purpose through the smoke and dust of the fight, taking the troopers by surprise as he came up behind them.

It was over in a matter of minutes after that.

“Cara,” he said as he found her behind the bar, “are you alright?”

She hopped to her feet, favoring her right side where she had caught the edge of a blaster bolt on her thigh.

“What the hell were you thinking!” she hissed at him, “they were looking for you and the child. How could you bring the kid back here!”

“The kid is safe in the Crest. And they’re not looking for anyone anymore,” he said with a shrug, “It was my fault that they were here, I put you in danger, and I wasn’t going to leave you to deal with it alone.”

All of her anger deflated at once as the adrenaline of the fight began to fade.

“Well it’s hard for me to argue with you when you put it like that,” she said with a wincing grin as she limped out from behind the bar.

“That was the point,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice as he slipped an arm around her to help her walk. “Come on, let’s get you patched up.”

He was all business as he helped her pull the burnt fabric of her pants off and dropped to his knees to take a look at the injury. She, however, couldn’t help feeling a frisson of excitement up her spine. She willed it away to listen to him.

“It didn’t cauterize well,” he said gruffly, “probably needs to be closed up, but I need to get a better look.”

“What do you mean a better look?” she scoffed. His head was very close to her thigh, and she was very aware of it. It was making it very difficult to ignore her attraction to him, which had been growing in five minute increments over the last few months.

“The helmet’s not great for this sort of thing,” he said casually, “I need to take it off.”

“Woah!” she said, instinctively moving away from him and then wincing as pain shot up her leg, “It’s a blaster burn Din, not a good reason to abandon your creed, kriff!”

He wrapped a hand, gloves already off, around her thigh above her knee to pull her back, “Don’t worry,” he said, sounding amused, “you’re not going to see me.”

He pulled out a strip of medical gauze from the med kit. “Pull your hair back,” he said, as he moved to stand behind her.

She shivered as his breath fell against her neck, but did as he asked. She closed her eyes as he tied the gauze behind her head, blocking out her sight. A moment later, she heard the metallic thud of his helmet against the table.

She felt taut as a bow, her inability to see him making her hyper aware of his movement, of his breathing, of his hands against her skin.

She sucked in a tight breath as she felt his touch on her thigh.

“Okay?” he asked, his voice clearer without the helmet, warmer.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

She could admit, at least to herself, that something about the situation, the blindfold, him was really doing it for her. She willed herself not to squeeze her thighs together, desperate for some friction.

“This might hurt a bit,” he said, his tone low and soft, “ready?”

“Just get it over with,” she said, her eyes screwed tight under her blindfold. She almost looked forward to the pain to distract her from everything else about her current circ*mstances.

With three quick bursts of pain, he pulled the edges of her wound together, quickly followed by a bacta patch which started to leach away the pain at once.

“Done,” he said, and she could hear by his voice that he was standing. She could feel by the heat of him down her side that he was standing close.

“Thanks,” she said, hearing the breathiness of her voice.

Things were quiet for a moment before she felt like she needed to break the tension, “You know,” she tried for casual, “This has got to be at least ten minutes now. We’re ruining our track record.”

“I don’t like our track record,” he said quickly.

“Oh?” she asked.

“Don’t want to see you five minutes at a time,” he said, and she felt him settle beside her, “want you around.”

“Wh...” she swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, “What do you mean ‘around’?”

“Come with me,” he said, in a rush and with an endearing uncertainty, “On the Crest. Come with me.”

“You know,” she said slowly, “You ought to be careful. Almost sounds like some sort of romantic declaration.” She meant to make light of it, but it came out serious and soft.

“What if it is?” his voice was quiet and sincere and very close to her.

Her breath left her in a rush, and a fluttering started up low in her gut.

“Well,” she said, her tone not as even as she would like, “I suppose I’d be okay with that on a few conditions.”

“Which are?” and she could hear a little hitch in his voice which told her that maybe he was feeling something close to what she was feeling.

“You promise that we’re partners, you’re not going to try to keep me out of the action.”

“I’m not stupid enough to try anything like that Cara,” he said, his hand reaching out to catch hers.

“You’re not going to compromise the search for the kid’s people, that comes first.”

He squeezed her hand in an unspoken thanks. “Anything else?”

“Just one more thing,” she said with a grin, “we’ve got to get a better blindfold.”

He let out a soft noise from the back of his throat, and then his hand was against her cheek and he was kissing her.

She had thought it would be sort of strange, at first, but it was just like the first time they had fought. They were well matched, in synch, and electric together.

They were both breathing hard when they broke away. She could tell that his gaze was focused on her as he smoothed her hair down under the blindfold.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” he let out in a breathless rush.

“Why didn’t you?” she rand her hand up his arm to find his face, her fingers mapping what she couldn’t see, lingering on the smile lines at the corners of his eyes.

He laughed shortly, “How was I supposed to try anything? Couldn’t seem to get more than a few minutes with you.”

“Got lots of time now,” she said, her tone suggestive as she shifted closer to him, hyper aware of her bare legs pressing against beskar as his hands fell against her hips.

“Kriff Dune,” he said, his voice strained, “you have no idea what you do to me.”

“I have some idea,” she said. “Always walked away from those few minutes with you more worked up than I’d like to admit.”

All of a sudden, her back was pressed up against the wall, Din pressed against her at the hips while she heard him unsnapping his breast plate.

“Oh yeah?” he asked, his armor clattering to the floor piece by piece, “Let’s see what I can do with a few more.”

She let out a sharp gasp as his teeth grazed the column of her neck. She could already feel her knees shaking, and she grinned as Din fell to his knees in front of her. She wasn’t entirely sure she’d need more than five minutes at this rate, but she was sure they could find ways to spend the five minutes after that, and the five minutes after that.

In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure that she hadn’t found a way to spend all of the minutes spinning out in front of her. She thought that maybe she should share the thought with Din, but it would keep for five minutes, or a few more.

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f*ckin’ Amphibians || Anita &Nicodemus

TIMING: A few days ago.PARTIES: @professoranieves and @bountybossierSUMMARY: Anita and Nic are both out in the forest when they run across some Ballogbogs. Things get a bit psychedelic.

Anita had lived in White Crest for almost five years now. When she first arrived, she knew of a handful of supernatural beings, but her worldview expanded exponentially even within the first few months of living here. It didn’t hurt that she spent a lot of her time in the woods, mostly for the bugs partially for the isolation. But even in her years of experience, she apparently still had more to learn. In her exploring, she found herself near a small pond out in the forest. Perfect place for some interesting breeds of bugs. But then she saw them, very large and very gross looking toads. She didn’t think much of it, toads love bugs too. But as she drew closer to the pond she noticed one of the toads puff up, and then shoot something at her. “sh*t, sh*t…” She groaned, as she tried to run before it hit her. But she wasn’t so successful. Initially she didn’t feel much of anything, and thought for a second maybe she was immune to whatever this was. But then the leaves on the trees began turning pink? And the ground began to slowly melt under her feet? No, something wasn’t quite right.

The place farthest away from the lake was the woods on damn near the other side of town. In between trying to figure out any thing that might help deal with the f*cking squid, Nicodemus went about business as usual. Took up a job and saw it to completion. Traditionally, he wasn’t picky about jobs that demanded a bounty dead or alive. He took whichever. But lately, he wasn’t in the mind for killing. Just a catch and release to the shadow paying him. The task of catching a handful of fatflitters was just mundane enough that he didn’t expect to be bothered too much. The hunter tapped his fingers against his thumb as he walked, a small perforated cage in his other hand. The things were quick and liked their fatty tissue, so it was just a matter of finding the right tracks of a larger creature and hoping the quick sh*ts were on it. The croak of toads sounded loudly to his left and he briefly looked over in that direction. Over the sound of toads, a voice. A voice that sounded a hell of a lot more bothered than he did. The hunter considered just keeping on the way he was and even as he did, he was already heading over to the noise. As he drew closer and his night vision made out the shape of a person, he looked over at the pond. Oh hell. f*cking ballybogs. They didn’t like when anyone got too close to their little domains. And it looked like the stranger had found that out. He cleared his throat to try and get her attention. “You, uh, you good?”

For a split second Anita thought she saw a person approaching, but it quickly became clear to her that this was no person, but rather a very tall and mobile ice cream cone. Interesting. It was rocky road, which wasn’t her favorite flavor. No pun intended but she really wasn’t a fan of nuts. But then the strangest thing happened, the ice cream spoke to her? No that couldn’t be. She slowly got closer to it, trying to figure out if maybe someone was just standing behind it? But no, just one singular cone of ice. “You can talk?” She asked, the disbelief thick in her voice. She sat down on the ground in front of the ice cream and dropped her head into her hands. “This ice cream cannot talk to me. This ice cream cannot talk to me.” She whispered, then rubbed her eyes and looked back up. “f*ck.” It was still an ice cream cone.

She was looking at him like she wasn’t really seeing him. Nicodemus squinted. Ballybogs made homes out of the swamps he grew up in and he had seen people when they got hit by their sh*t. Woodstock had nothing on what ballybog crap could do to a person. Once, a few years ago, not even he had escaped it and he was stuck trying to hop into the Mystery Machine that had just been a hollow log. The shame of that still haunted him sometimes. f*cking Scrappy Doo. “Yeah, I can talk,” he answered with a sigh. Damn it. He just wanted to find some damn fatflitters. Not this mess. When she sat down, he stepped back and put a hand on his hip. Oh hell. “This, uh, ice cream is f*ckin’ talking to you. That’s me, one big damn waffle cone.” Alright, so she was seeing him as an ice cream cone. Maybe she wouldn’t feel like attacking him. He glanced down at her. “And I might be able to waffle us the f*ck outta here.”

Anita was shocked when the guy? Yeah, sounded like a guy, seemed to respond to her delusions … and knew that he was a waffle cone? Anita stood up, eyeing the frosty treat with delicate suspicion. But it was almost as though the moment that he acknowledged that he was in fact a waffle cone, things began to shift. Anita began to hear odd voices coming from all around her in the forest. They weren’t speaking any language she understood, but something told her they were not nice voices. Suddenly, the nice ice cream cone began to melt, causing large puddles of melted chocolate ice cream. “Oh no.. oh my god… here let me help.” Anita tried to scoop up the puddles of ice cream and put it all back into the cone. “We can’t get out of here until I fix you… I can’t just leave you here for them to get you.”

Her eyes, large and confused, were directly on him and Nicodemus couldn’t help but feel a little scrutinized. Waffle cone or not. Jesus, he was starting to refer to himself as a waffle cone. Maybe he had been hit too. When she started to try and put dead leaves, plus bits of grass on him, he decidedly was not feeling like a waffle cone. “Alright, no need to go and do that,” he asserted as he took a step back. “Think you’re the one needin’ help here.” Surely someone else would come along and help. People in town had a habit of running headlong into sh*t every day. As he waited for a beat, a ballybog croak answered him. f*ck. He was the person that had run headlong into sh*t. And she had too. “Let’s get the hell on outta here, huh? I think somethin’ nearby is causin’ me to--f*ckin’ Christ--melt my ice creamy bits all over the place.” He winced and shook his head. He was a hunter, for f*cks sake. With a reserved expression, he offered a weathered hand. “Name’s Nic, alright? Let’s get on away from the f*ckin’ acid trip frogs.”

Anita had been ignoring his claim that he didn’t need help getting all of the ice cream back into his cone, largely because that was just insane? Why wouldn’t a giant cone of ice cream want all of it’s contents securely inside of itself before running off? But then he finally offered a real reason. He was melting because of something nearby! Of course! Quickly, she stood up and stopped scooping up the ice cream melted in giant sticky puddles on the ground around them. Anita reached out to take the cone’s hand, finding it a bit odd that he had hands to begin with. “Nic the Ice Cream Man.” She repeated, clearly making up those last three words herself. His comment about frogs threw her for a loop. She had heard stories about supernatural frogs. As she was just about to open her mouth and say something, she saw all of the ice cream quickly melt away from Nic and the cone break off into a million tiny pieces. That’s when she realized that he really wasn’t an ice cream man… he had been a giant toad in disguise all along. She let out a soft scream, then quickly pulled her hand away from him. “You! You’re the acid trip frog!” Without paying much attention to where she was going, she began to slowly back away from him.

Nicodemus breathed in sharply through his nose, thankful as hell that she had stopped trying to help get his ice cream back together. Jesus, he was already in too deep with the ice cream bit. It was too much and he can feel a nerve pulsing somewhere near his temple. He shook her hand a bit stiffly. “Just, uh, Nic works,” he said. “The...Ice Cream Man is my father?” Whoever the hell that was. He had never met the poor bastard. And just when it had all been going so well, she looked at him like he was coming apart at the seams. Hell, he just might have been. Ballybogs spat serious sh*t and she had been hit with it. His hand clenched by his side before it came up to pinch the bridge of his nose. She was backpedaling towards the ballybogs again and he could see the damn things puffing up. He moved toward her and attempted to act as a buffer between. Like a dumbass would. “No. Nope, I’m not the acid trip fr--Oh f*ck.” The ballybogs spat and Nicodemus blocked his hand with his face. He blinked twice, squeezed them shut, then opened his eyes to see his hands melting. His ice creamy hands with weirdly frog-like fingers but hey, he had been born with those. He stared at them for what felt like a century. “I...I think I am the ice cream frog,” he said as he looked at her. “And we gotta get out of my f*ckin’ swamp.”

As the giant ice cream began to move towards Anita, she began to panic. How was she going to get out of here? She didn’t even know where here was anymore. Had she hiked here? Was her car nearby? Could she even drive like this? Unlikely. She heard a faint noise from beside her and while it took her a moment to place it, she eventually recognized it. Amphibians. And this ice cream frog was likely their king. Of course the dumb f*cking amphibians still had a monarcy system. Reptiles had evolved beyond that need of hierarchy. “If you’re the ice cream frog… can’t you just make them stop! They’ll listen to you. Amphibians are really dumb.”

“Reckon they want us to move away from the party we weren’t invited to,” Nicodemus said as if it were obvious and it was. He could understand them. He splayed his hands out to his side, ice cream and all, in a sign of submission. They could respect that. “Partners. Fellas. We’re just gonna hit the, uh, old dusty trail now as it were. Didn’t mean to bother you fine folks this evenin’.” He made a sound as close to a frog as he could before he turned on his heel and took to walking away. He turned his head toward the stranger and spoke in a stage whisper. “They might not be bright but they like bein’ respected. Let’s just go on elsewhere.”

Anita watched the frog’s leader try to talk them down, finding the level of kindness he was showing them to be more than a bit annoying. In fact she might have rolled her eyes at his big performance, or maybe she just thought about rolling her eyes and actually didn’t move at all? It was really hard to tell. So she tried again, feeling pretty confident that she did this time roll her eyes and not just roll her head around in a circular motion. “Of course they’re not bright,” Anita quickly replied, not bothering to follow suit and speak in a whisper. “Why would I want to go anywhere with you? You’re like their leader or something stupid.” Despite her resistance, Anita followed this strange somewhat suave smooth-speaking ice cream man. At least wherever he was going was away from here, and away from those f*cking frogs.

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Two Sides of the Coin (5)

Chapter 5: Not Exactly According to Plan | Jidné Sheedra x Cal Kestis

Summary: Hell-bent on exacting revenge and retrieving the Holocron, the dreaded Darth Vader is now on the hunt for the young Jedi Knight, Cal Kestis. Under the assumption that he still possessed the artifact, while fueled by the intrigue of the boy’s strength and skill with the Force, the dark lord hires the bounty hunter, Jidné Sheedra, to track him down and have him delivered alive. However, the task becomes a trial for young Jidné, as she faces a conflict that tests her beliefs of a scarred past she had hidden for so long.

A/N: And now, the moment y’all been waiting for~~~ :”D

Tagging y’all for this pivotal moment: @berenilion @stellar-trinity @peterwandaparker @calgasm @silver-is-in-too-many-fandoms @queen-destenie @justtinfoley​ @sweeetteaa​ @calsponchoemporium​ @fallenjedii​ @cal-jestis​ @superwarsofthrones​ @ayamenimthiriel​

Also in AO3

Tags: Fem OC, Jidné Sheedra, Force-Sensitive! Fem OC, Bounty Hunter! Fem OC, Jedi! Fem OC

Chapters: 1 – 2 – 3 | Previous: Part 4 | Next: Part 6 | Masterlist

5 of ?

OMBARI, PONDARA SYSTEM, OUTER RIM TERRITORIES

In the lusher parts of Ombari, the Mantis has landed itself near the hilltop town. The most prominent landmark of that settlement was the temple spire that soared to the heavens and nearly pierced the clouds—it was a sanctum of another long-forgotten civilization before this one. Buildings wrapped around the foot of the spire, whether it be homes or business establishments, thieves and honest people alike loitered the streets; a populace of diverse species and humans have housed themselves in this crude location.

If one would take a good look at the surrounding forest, remnants of what ought to be an ancient city—in the same timeline when the temple was at its prime—have been devoured by the flora and the fauna had made it their dominion along with the wilderness. The main road branched into different directions, leading to several other establishments in a fair distance from the city, and even branched through the “safer” part of the woods.

The Mantis kept her distance from the town, docking just behind the city across a river; Cal insisted that they land near the river that divides the city and the woods so that they’re in the median, personally, it’ll just be easy for him to find his way back, whether he goes to the forest or to the city.

The young Jedi also argued that they still remained closer to civilization, knowing that the captain preferred that instead of wild animals that can fold the Mantis in ten seconds. Greez took it to great consideration—much to his hidden chagrin—and landed the ship amongst the high trees that walled the settlement from the unforgiving badlands beyond.

“I should’ve fit some more armaments on this old girl!” Greez stressed, flailing his arms to further express his chagrin.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, Greez,” Cere reassured, her tone is a perfect contrast to the captain’s. “Besides, predators don’t usually show themselves in the open.”

“Yeah, it makes them more vulnerable to the bigger ones,” Cal added.

Greez stammered, uncomforted by the Jedi’s logic, “There’s always a bigger one!”

“Well, I guess there’s no going around for me, not until I’ve convinced Greez enough that everything’s fine in this planet,” Cere sighed as she confided to Cal in the holotable room.

“Ya know I can hear you!” Greez cried from the co*ckpit.

Cal chuckled before adding, “You guys can take a look around if you like, we’d still end up meeting back here in the Mantis anyway.”

“Fair point, you be careful out there,”

Cal straightened the neckline of his black poncho, BD-1 hopped over and clutched on the belt strap on his back and exited the Mantis. The door unfurled to reveal to him the world in a much larger scale. He felt small, but in a good way; he surveyed the horizon, not knowing which direction to go to first.

The first step onto Ombari’s soil hit different. Cal basked in the warm sunlight and felt a cool, light drizzle kiss his freckled cheeks. Rain and sunshine have mingled together, which was typical in a tropical planet. Meanwhile, in the first few miles into the badlands from the border, Jidné docked the Scarab by the greater water hole that stretched to the more abundant half of Ombari’s mainland.

Her end of the homing beacon continued to glow blue, it beeped a slow, monotonous rhythm indicating that her distance from the target was still far. Panning her head across the desert, she doesn’t spot any silver dorsal fin sticking out like a sore thumb in this reddish-orange wasteland; so, she headed north, towards the denser part of the planet.

The badlands was composed of uphill mesas that overlook the valley of the other side. From Jidné’s vantage point, the city was in sight, as well as the surrounding forest. She fished out her binoculars and scanned the area, searching for the ship among the trees—they were high enough to conceal an Imperial outpost or tower, but that won’t stop her from finding her target.

“Now, where could you be hiding, my little redhead?” Jidné muttered as she peered through her lens left and right.

The sun caught a twinkle of a silver tip shyly peeking out of the treeline. The bounty hunter immediately focused her binoculars in that direction, her thumb turned the knob of the zoom, even with her binoculars she still squinted her eyes in the viewfinder, attempting to see through the thin gaps between the trees.

The homing beacon beeped again, only this time the rhythm of the glow sped up a few beats. She put away her binoculars and went downhill, literally crossing the between the badlands and the mainland. Her boots scraped against the rocky slope, the forest floor carpeted by fallen leaves cushioned her fall; when she erected herself after her landing, she patted the holster on her hip and the felt for her rifle—both weapons are still on her person.

She stalked through the dense greenery, the dimness of the trees’ shade unsettled her little droid on her back.

“Yeah, it’s a little spooky. We’re getting out of here, don’t worry,”

Through the thick foliage, Jidné and ID-3 weren’t alone; amongst the shrubs and treetops where they hide, their sights followed the girl whom they immediately labeled as an intruder of their home. Black claws gripped around the branches, the muscles on their hind legs strained and prepped for a lunge if need be; the ones on the ground slipped and stealthily passed through the plants, concealing themselves from the human’s plain eyes.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, ID, we just need to move fast if we don’t want anything catching up to us,” Jidné reassured, although she was getting uneasy herself. Her hand subtly crawled down to the flap of her holster, carefully unbuttoning the cover.

The animals were surely making their presence known, Jidné had already spotted one of them moving from its hiding place to the next; their low growling grumbled amongst the tree trunks. By instinct, she fished out her lightsaber hilt with a slight tug using the Force and is beginning to prepare herself in a stance.

She focused on the animal that she spotted moving cover to cover, little did she know that this one was a decoy. The true predator was waiting for her on its perch in the treetops. Jidné engaged at the animal when it revealed itself from the bushes: a large cat-like animal with dark, coarse fur, it carried itself with a silent grace with its slender yet muscular limbs, curved claws as deadly as a scimitar, and a long tail used to grapple on its perches.

It bared its teeth as it approached Jidné, asserting its frightful dominance in this jungle. Its back arched and its lips pulled back to show more teeth, agitated at the hiss of the saber’s blade, threatened by the foreign, purple glow that shone in its golden brown eyes.

“Down, kitty,” Jidné hummed.

The decoy still confronted Jidné, affording its companion to descend upon her in the speed of light, its claws fixed on the rifle, assuming that it was a bodily appendage than an actual weapon. Her startled shriek must have alerted every single creature—big or small—within the forest. In the distance, Cal jerked his head to the direction of the human scream, he squinted his eyes as the sound died down and was replaced by the harmonious chirping of birds.

“That doesn’t sound right,” Cal tells BD-1.

Jidné’s true assailant dragged her violently across the forest floor by the rifle on her back; she unbuckled the strap across her body to break free, she succeeded and crawled away—saber still in hand, but her grip was trembling, trying to pull herself together while her life is still flashing before her eyes. The animal thrashed its head wildly left and right while chewing at the weapon in an attempt to eat it; realizing that it was inedible, it flung it far behind its back and focused on the real prey.

Her fingers tensed around her hilt. For every flimsy swing she did to make them back away, they come back at her two steps closer with their yellow, blood-stained fangs in full display. She focused on the one that was closest to her—the decoy—and she grazed its shoulder with her lightsaber. It wailed in pain as the searing heat cooked its skin and fur, Jidné’s attack just made it angrier, all of the hairs on its body pricked up as it arched its back in retaliation.

“Come on!” Jidné screeched tauntingly.

She finally attacked the decoy. The decoy continued to lunge at her, thirsting for revenge after being nicked by her blade. Cal had heard the wail of the animal that Jidné had maimed, it rang loud and clear in his earshot, he knew he was in the right track. He sped through the forest: vaulting over fallen logs and boulders that stood in his path, shouldering his way through the large-leafed bushes and the trees until the humming of a saber was audible.

Cal discovered a girl wielding a purple saber, flailing it at the animals’ faces as she tried to keep herself from their claws’ or fangs’ reach. He watched her for a moment, slashing away at the one already riddled with seared cuts over its body. The wild cat creature lunged at her, in turn, Jidné smoothly evaded it and followed it by piercing the ribcage of the animal with her saber.

A third cat appeared in the place of the one she just killed, angrier and hungrier for meat. As if to exact vengeance on its fallen member, the pack leader charged at her, claws at the ready and reared—its heavy paw slapped away the saber from her hand, buried within the thick foliage of the forest floor.

“NO!!” she screeched, the animal had rendered her empty-handed and vulnerable.

Just when the animals thought that had her in their jaws, the newcomer tried to pounce on her until she seized the leaping animal in mid-air using the Force—Cal witnessed this, awe-stricken at the discovery of a fellow Jedi—her Force-push flung the animal away but quickly shook it off and readied itself back on its four paws.

Cal jumped into the action, instinctively stretching out his hand to inflict Force-slow on the alpha as he joined Jidné. She didn’t take her eyes off the animals, though she stole a glance at her unlikely helper.

Red hair.

Her stomach sank, but everything was happening so quickly that she couldn’t register them all at once in her panicking brain.

Cal was on the offensive and targeted the alpha, riddling its body with orange-and-black searing cuts the same way Jidné did on the one she killed; seeing that she was empty-handed, he quickly twisted the sleeve and separated his lightsabers.

“Here!” he tossed his second saber at Jidné. She caught it, and in a graceful twirl, she’d severed the newcomer cat’s forelegs in a clean, perfectly-timed sweep, killing it in the process.

The alpha backed away, leaned its head back and produced an ear-shattering roar—so loud, in fact, that Jidné had to duck and shield her one ear with her free hand. Little by little, leaner versions of the animal—which ought to be juveniles learning how to hunt—appear out from their hiding spots upon the call of their pack leader, it’s as if they’ve organized this whole ambush for the sake of finding food—which neither Jidné nor Cal do not exactly plan to be.

The juveniles appeared in all sides around them, they spun while literally back-to-back with one another as they surveyed the jungle clearing, counting the reinforcements with their eyes.

Four of the creatures rejoined their leader on the ground, backs arched, and throat rumbling with threatening growls. The death scent of their two fallen members roused up their senses, baring their teeth in anger at the two assailants.

“Something tells me they’re not here for belly rubs,” Cal jested.

That drew a giggle out of Jidné, “No, I don’t think so!”

Both Jidné and Cal brandished their lightsabers at the large, feral cat-like creatures. One immediately lunged at them, buckling its claws at Cal and pounced on him, trying to rip his throat open—Jidné kicked it away from him and left a diagonal gash across its chest, killing it instantly; the scarred alpha attempts to strike back at her, charging at her at a feral speed, she dodge-rolled it and only managed to scratch its thick, aging hide.

“On your left, ginger!”

Cal took on the two new juveniles on his left, he tossed his saber at one while the other jumped on him—he backed away, dodging the jump attack by a hair and skillfully caught the returning lightsaber, he didn’t spare a second in killing the second. That leaves them with the surviving juvenile and the sturdy alpha, who was still standing strong after being nicked repeatedly by both of these humans. It probably had its last straw and paced cautiously at the two.

The remaining juvenile pounced at Jidné—already exhausted at this whole debacle—and dug its sickle-shaped claws onto her shoulders. The borrowed saber was still in her hand, she angled her wrist so the emitter faces the animal, and with a single press of the button, the blade pierced through one side of the animal’s neck to the other. She rolled it away from her body and brought herself on her knees, catching her breath as she stayed close by her unlikely ally.

The alpha had enough of this, of course. Out of mercy, its lunging attack was seized by Cal who Force-pushed it with an intensity that it resorted to run away into hiding. When the whole ordeal was over, Cal turned to the girl.

“You alright?”

He reached out his hand in front of Jidné, she stared at the hand for one second and then turned to the face of the boy who helped her. She denied that her heart skipped a beat. Cal pulled her up to her feet the moment they joined hands.

“Yeah… just a little shaken,” she dusted off the dirt that stuck on her jacket and removed her cowl to do the same. She remembered that she still had his saber and briskly returned it to him. “Thanks for this, by the way.”

He takes his second saber and conjoins it with the other, “Don’t mention it.”

The awkward silence between was filled in by the insects chirping amongst the woods. BD-1 hopped off of Cal’s shoulder to scan the dead animals and skittered briskly back to him.

“So those cats were called Bashiji, huh? I’ll give it a read later,” he whispered to BD-1, and then cleared his throat, recomposing himself in front of the girl. “Name’s Cal. Kestis. By the way.”

He stretched out hand again at her. Her eyes shifted between Cal—beaming a small yet friendly smile at her—and his hand.

“Jidné. Jidné Sheedra.”

She takes his hand and shakes on it. From her touch, the ripple of the Force that has been lightly nudging at Cal ever since he came in to this planet seemed to have amplified. He gave himself the benefit of the doubt and smiled as he exchanged niceties with Jidné.

“Jidné, I’ll remember that,”

A flustered Jidné attempted to subtly pull her hand away from her own target. She awkwardly managed a smile and walked past his shoulder, walking to the foliage where the Bashiji had slapped her saber away. Using the Force, she extended her open hand and the hilt popped out of the pile of leaves where it fell into. She instantly clipped it to her belt the moment it returned to her.

“You’re a Jedi, too?”

Well, sh*t. Her voice in her mind hissed.

Her stomach sank again just right when it worked its way back up to where it should be. The bridge of her nose crumpled upon realizing that she has no escape from that question, luckily, she had her back turned to Cal when he asked.

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Died a true guardian; Rocket raccoon x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey all well this request took some thinking and I feel like I may not have delivered to the fullest I can but I tried my best. So for the long waited Rocket raccoon angst request that both an anon and @guardiana6543 wanted, I hope this is still to your liking.

Warnings: ANGST, DEATH OF CHARACTER, words mentioned like slu*t and prostitution, so if this isn’t your cup of tea don’t give me any hate. I’m not asking you all to read this fic. But if you do read at your own risk.

Permanenttaglist:

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

______________________________________________________

“Of all the things in this world you just had to go and do that?!” I snapped.

“What?” Rocket said.

“We had a game plan Rocket. Get the information out of the guy by any means! And you just had to step in too early!”

“He had his hands allover you! What else was I supposed to do!?”

“Let me handle it. I know how to handle myself if a guy gets too handsy with me!”

“Uhh guys can I say something?” Peter spoke up.

“Shut up Quill!” both Rocket and I snapped.

“You’ve always gotta let your pride and anger take control of you. When will you learn to control that temper of yours Rocket? I have put up with that sh*t for 2 years since we started dating and 5 years since I’ve known you and I’m tired of it!”

“Hey, I’ll learn to control my anger issues when you learn to stop being such a slu*t when it comes to undercover missions!” At that word, it was just like being shot at (which I have been, multiple times by some of our bounties we’ve tried to find together before we met up with Quill).

“You did not just say that to me.” I muttered.

“Well what other word is there to use? Should’ve just left you there in that whor*house to begin with, since that’s all you’re ever good for.” he sneered. I just glared at him and didn’t say another word as Quill spoke up again.

“Hey guys, hate to break up this little pow-wow session but our dude we tried to capture, he’s popped back up on our radar, but he’s not alone this time.” Rocket turned away from me and hopped into his chair and said.

“Lock in the coordinates.”

“This is my ship you aren’t the Captain here.” Quill spoke up. But everything else around me just muffled because all I kept hearing were rocket’s hurtful words.

He had some nerve to call me that. He should never have brought up my past like that. You maybe asking what he means well long story short ever since my mother died giving birth to me, my father wasn’t—well a kind soul. He never once acknowledged me and then once I got old enough, he sold me to a ‘prostitute house.’

There I learned how to seduce and swindle men. That’s how I actually came across Rocket and Groot—or well they came across me. For you see I wasn’t just going to allow men to do whatever it was they felt like they were allowed to do.

I’ve taken down men 5 times my size with just a kick and the right place for a knife to cause some serious pain without killing them or severing any main arteries.

“(Y/n)?” a soft voice spoke up and I felt a hand touch my shoulder and the voice said again, “You feel—betrayed. Hurt.”

“Mantis please take your hand off of me.”

“I am sorry. The puppy didn’t mean to say those things, I could tell he was just jealous of the fact that Peter choose you to distract our target.”

“Well you don’t know Rocket like I do. He’s a touch shell to crack but I’ve found the way, and when he talks a certain way to me, he always means it.” I said solemnly. I sighed heavily before I asked her, “How’s your power to make people feel things coming along?”

“I have greatly improved on it. But it is still not a permanent thing.”

“That’s fine. Just….make me forget about what just happened in the last five minutes.” I turned towards her pleading for it, I knew that if we needed to catch this guy then I couldn’t be distracted.

“(Y/n) I don’t…..”

“Please Mantis. I don’t care what it is you have to say in order to make me forget, just do it.” She looked down sadly before placing her hand on my shoulder and her antennas glowed blue as she said to me.

“Focus on the mission.” Suddenly the hurt washed away and I was consumed with the focus of the mission at hand.

“Okay so get Quill and Gamora, I’ve got a plan in mind.”

We soon arrived at the location of our target Quill and Rocket landed the ship and we all exited the Milano and began circling the perimeter cutting off all escape routes for our target. I was with Gamora as we went to the right and that’s when I heard her say.

“(Y/n). About what happened earlier…..”

“Not now Gamora, please I—I’d rather not talk about it.”

“But (y/n)….”

“Gamora. Not now.” I snarled softly at her. The two of us stared each other down before she backed off and said.

“Alright, I understand. But when we get done with capturing this guy, I’d like to keep talking about this. I—I may not know much about relationships as I am still learning, but I do know that company of other women can help.” My eyes softened and I said.

“I have heard that before. Thank you Gamora.” She nodded and we continued to walk forward until we both stopped and there was our target.

Serial bounty hunter killer Naveen Samir. He’s wanted not only by the Nova Corp but 12 other systems as well, including the Kree government. He’s well known for killing any and all bounty hunters from every single part of the galaxy. Rumor has it that he’s known to detect whether one is out on the hunt for a good bounty just by simply looking into your mind.

And since the—well my previous life before becoming a Guardian of the galaxy taught us how to lie extremely well and how to make someone think you’re only after one thing, I was the best candidate for the ‘trade off’ before the guys would attack, but then you all know what happened after that.

And now here we are at attempt #2 of trying to stop this homicidal maniac.

We watched as Mantis slowly came up towards Naveen. Since she was the quietest person for a sneak attack. We figured she could use her powers to either make him sleep or think that he couldn’t move his legs in order to run. But as Mantis kept walking towards Naveen, I kept hearing Rocket’s words in my head.

‘Should’ve just left you there in the first place. I’ll learn to control my anger issues when you learn to stop being such a slu*t when it comes to undercover missions!’ I shook my head trying to rid of it when suddenly we heard the sound of Mantis’ grunting. We both looked to see Naveen gripping her throat.

“You are scared.” Mantis’ antennas glowed but shockingly it didn’t work. Her eyes widened in fear and Naveen said.

“Specialized empathic conductor. With this headband your powers are useless against me.” He then tossed her aside like a piece of garbage. Mantis fearing for her life, backed away from him as Naveen proclaimed, “Now where are the rest of the Guardians of the galaxy? Too afraid to come out and play with the big boys?”

“Damn it, just go for it. Go! Go! Go!” Quill’s voice spoke through our commlinks and soon it was just a sudden burst of a fight. First he managed to kick Drax to the side before literally flipping in the air and dodged both Rocket’s and Quill’s gunfire. Now Gamora and I were trying to attack, with the levels of training we both had, we managed to at least stay on him sword on sword.

The two of us trying to bring him down but he soon kicked Gamora’s leg so hard that he actually broke it. She let out an agonizing scream before being kicked aside and suddenly I found myself locked in his arms, his and my sword up against my neck and my back against his chest.

“To be honest, I expected a bit more. After all you did promise a fun time.”

“Then let’s have some fun.” I sneered as I slammed the heel of my boot into the front of his before headbutting him and getting free of his grasp. The two of us went at each other’s heads with our swords almost doing a dance around each other until our swords crossed and he tried to get the upper hand by using his upper body strength to try and make me kneel down.

I held on as strong as I could until our swords slid across each other and like a whip, he kicked me right in the chest sending me backwards. He chuckled as he walked towards me.

“Hey dickbag!” Rocket’s voice came up. We both turned to see Rocket scarred up and bleeding but he held his gun and aimed it right at Naveen. “Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time?”

“I did, in fact that’s why I came better prepared.” Suddenly a detonator appeared into his hand. “Get rid of the jealous lover before you make your move.” He then pressed the button and suddenly the ground under Rocket’s feet began to crumble until he suddenly fell through.

“ROCKET!!” I didn’t hesitate. I raced towards the crater and fell down into it hoping that I would reach him. I extended my hand out to him but it soon got so dark I couldn’t even see a thing and next thing I knew was pain, dust and the sound of rubble still falling down on top of me.

*Rocket’s POV*

When I finally came around, I let out a pained groan and reached for my torch hoping it was still working. Thank kriff it was, although; it flickered but with a couple of smacks it was finally lit up.

“(Y/n)? (Y/n) are you there?” Oh god where is she? Please tell me she’s not buried underneath all this rubble. Slowly I managed to get up, feeling nothing but soreness. “(Y/n)!? (Y/n), where are you?” I suddenly heard a groan and when I shined my light to the right, there was (y/n) lying on her side under a large piece of rubble.

I quickly ran over to her and touched her cheek softly calling out to her.

“(Y/n), baby say something c’mon. (Y/n) you okay?” She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at me.

“R-Rocket?”

“Hang on babe I’m gonna get you out.” I quickly moved aside any of the smaller rocks aside before trying and trying to lift up the boulder that was crushing her.

“Rocket.”

“Just shut up and hold still will yah? I’m gonna get you out.”

“You can’t…..”

“The hell I can’t.” I growled as I tried to lift the rubble again and I wouldn’t stop until I felt her cup the side of my face.

“Rocket, you—you’ll always be the love of my life.”

“Why are you talking like that? I’m not gonna let you die here! I’ll get you out I promise.”

“You can’t—because it’s too late.” She looked down and that’s when I shined the light to finally see blood pooling down from between the rubble. “My—I think a pipe has gone through my left side. I can feel something poking through me.” She then coughed out blood.

“No, no, no, no, no, no please (y/n) look at me. Keep your eyes on me!” I pleaded with her.

“I feel—so numb. I…..Rocket….”

“Just hang on baby, the guys will find us. We’ll get you out and I’ll take care of you. Just hang on, please.” I sat down and leaned her head against my leg while I stroked through her hair. “Please…..I can’t lose you too.” When I looked down at her I saw that she wasn’t breathing. “Baby? Baby doll?” I shook her head and held my hand to her nose hoping to feel her breath.

I didn’t.

Tears filled my eyes and I held her as I sobbed and blubbered hysterically.

I don’t know how long it was, but finally Quill and the others managed to find us but when they saw me crying by (y/n)’s dead body, they knew it was too late for her.

On the Milano much like we did with Yondu, we dressed up her wound, made her look beautiful once again and covered her face up with wraps as surrounding around her were her two swords. We sent her down the hatch where her body burned and her ashes went off into space.

My eyes were red as my heart was nothing but broken pieces. The last thing I ever said to her was that she was a slu*t, now I can never take it back. I can never apologize to her, and now in death she’ll always remember that being the last thing I ever said to her.

“I am Groot.” Groot spoke up as I felt his hand come to my shoulder.

“She might’ve. But it’s too late for me to apologize to her.”

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The Making of a Monster

The Battle of Dragons changed many things for Rallis. She was seen as a betrayer. She was hunted by bounty hunters and slayers alike. People across the world wanted her dead for one reason or another. She began to hate the world and everyone in it. But her real enemies weren't the people after her life or her newfound power. It was something much more wicked and inescapable, something that began to turn her into the monster the world wanted her to be.

Rallis held a hand out. "Watch your step."

Peg was glad to take it, stumbling down the rocky entrance to Taverley Dungeon. She tripped into Rallis as she hopped over piles of stones. Adam stumbled a bit more gracefully behind her.

As the three steadied themselves, Rallis smiled and held her arms out. "Welcome to my old home!"

Peg had been assigned to look into an issue regarding the hellhounds of Taverley Dungeon and Adam and Rallis tagged along at her request. Apparently the dogs were leaving their normal territory and growing far more aggressive. Someone needed to look into it and report back with findings and the girl was a bit too nervous to investigate the beasts on her own.

Peg rubbed her eyes and looked around. "It's pretty dark in here."

"Don't worry, it gets brighter deeper in. Humans hang up torches and other lights and there's lots of lava that keeps the caves warm and bright," Rallis informed.

Her eyes quickly began to adjust, raccoon-cursed eyesight kicking in. Sometimes her curse was a blessing in disguise, she supposed. Adam meanwhile was blind as a bat. He flicked out his lighter to light the way until they got farther in. Rallis eagerly pulled the girl deeper into the dungeon as Adam followed behind.

"So you've never been in here, right?" Rallis asked Peg. She didn't wait for her answer. "This place is great! There's so many friendly dragons and warm spots to sleep in and lots of small spaces to crawl through and explore! It's great! My momma and brothers live here too. I'm gonna visit them when we're done. Hey, do you guys wanna visit them too?! Momma Blue is the best, you'll love her!"

Rallis continued to gush and narrate as they went, neither of her companions ever able to get a word in. She had stories about everything they walked by, even for the smallest cracks in the stone walls.

"Don't get too distracted," Adam reminded her when she finally paused. "We're here to investigate the hellhounds, not explore your old home."

"I know, I know!" Rallis said with a pout. "But if we get this done fast then we can explore! We're almost in their territory anyway."

She motioned for them to listen and sure enough they could hear savage growling echoing off the cavern walls. The beasts were just up ahead. Peg bristled, Adam readied his shield just in case.

"Try not to start a fight with them," Rallis said. "They're one of the few animals I don't get along with. I won't be able to tell them to go away or that we're not bad."

Adam nodded and motioned to a large pile of rocks up ahead. "We should be able to safely hide behind those and watch the hounds. Keep low and quiet."

The three quietly snuck behind cover and looked into the pit that now stood before them. Their rocky barrier stood on the edge of a rather large ledge that descended into a wide pit full of hellhounds. Large holes dotted the cavern walls, presumably dens for the dogs. Laying around the pit were hellhounds of varying size, and they all looked dangerously underweight. One was so thin all its ribs poked through its short red fur and its skin sagged around its face. Others weren't nearly as bad but it was apparent the entire pack was weak and starved with hardly the energy to stand.

"They're not eating," Rallis whispered. "I've never seen them this weak before. They're normally strong enough to drive dragons out of their dens in a big enough pack!"

"Are they sick?" Adam wondered.

Peg hushed them quickly. "Something's coming! Be quiet!"

On the far side of the pit, three hellhounds growled as they dragged a corpse behind them. The rest of the pack perked up at the noise. The three dogs tossed their kill to the middle of the pit and the rest of the pack staggered over, drooling.

Rallis blinked in surprise. "They killed a human to eat? That's not normal. They should have plenty of food that's far less dangerous to kill."

The three watched as the hounds debated over who could eat. "Red robes," Adam pointed out. "A Zamorakian mage? That's ironic."

"Not a mage, a druid!" Rallis corrected. "The bad druids live all the way on the other end of the cave system. That's not a short trip by any means. Why would they hunt all the way over there?"

"You move to the food when there isn't any nearby," Peg said. "They look desperate enough to risk a fight." She knew she was growing up on the streets. The dogs were no different.

Three small hellhounds, hardly the size of a full grown cat, ran over to the dead man and began to eat. A tired adult dog trailed after them, weakly dragging its feet along the ground. The pack watched as the four of them ate their portion before jumping in to latch onto any scraps left.

"A mom and puppies!" Rallis exclaimed.

"They're adorable!" Peg couldn't help but blurt.

"And they're extra mouths to feed," Adam said. "But three puppies surely can't be enough to make an entire pack of hellhounds thin as sticks. What do they normally hunt, Rallis?"

"Overgrown spiders and the other big bugs and mammals that wander around, usually. They used to eat the lava fish too but the dragons have taken all those spots over since the humans drove the dragons back. Sometimes they'll hunt humans that wander by unprepared and on super rare occasions they'll try to hunt a dragon. I've only ever really seen them actively hunt in the bug and mammal dens though."

"It might be a good idea to investigate there then," Adam said. "Show us the way?"

"You got it! Let's go!"

Rallis continued to lead her companions through the winding tunnels of the dungeon. To Adam and Peg, this new section of tunnels hardly looked any different from the last, but to Rallis it was an entirely new neighborhood. "This is where most of the mammals gather," she said as she motioned to the wide cavern filled with den holes. "Lots of big rats and other huge rodents and the like." She sniffed the air and frowned. "Something isn't right though. Nothing is here and hasn't been for a while. The scents are stale."

"The dogs could have hunted enough to cause the animals to move, perhaps?" Adam suggested. "Or they ate them to extinction down here."

"Nature doesn't do that," Rallis said. "Animals know better and there's a balance that's maintained between all creatures. Which means this isn't caused by something in the natural food chain. It must be a hu--"

An ear splitting screech rattled the walls. The trio flinched and covered their ears as they waited for the sound to pass. Silence followed for a short moment only to be succeeded by ferocious roars.

"There's no doubt that's a dragon," Adam informed.

"And she's in trouble!" Rallis exclaimed. She ran off as fast as she could down the tunnels, leaving her companions trailing after her dust.

The dragon's roars grew louder with every twist and turn, until every growl and snap was punctuated by the sound of metal. 'A human!' Rallis thought with a snarl. She unfurled her whip and ran faster.

One final corner turn led her to a black dragon's nest. A mother was standing guard protecting her three children as a human geared in dragon hunting attire stood her down. One of the three babies had been stabbed by the hunter's lance but luckily it wasn't lethal. The poor thing was collapsed in the nest as its two siblings licked the wound in its leg. The mother had taken a beating as well, sporting stab wounds in her front legs and paws and a deep swipe across her face. Rallis screeched and dove at the attacker, wrapping her icy whip around his neck before he had a chance to react. He choked as he tried to pry it away, and the mother dragon took advantage of the situation. She let loose hellfire onto the hunter, but even under attack by a new enemy he didn't forget his basics. He threw up his shield and the flames bounced harmlessly to the side, nearly burning the two new arrivals on the scene. Adam turned away and covered Peg, protecting her from any stray flames and taking a nasty burn to the back. He winced and pulled her away from the fight, hiding her behind the rock piles of the nearby opening back into the tunnels. Neither of them were equipped to be near a wild dragon fight.

Rallis snarled and yanked on her whip harder. It came undone and lashed back to her side, but not before ripping a hole in the hunter's armor. His neck was exposed now and a prime target for Rallis' fangs. She lunged for the opening but it seemed the hunter was no pushover. He blocked her mid lunge and shoved her away with a bash of his shield. The dragon landed on all fours, snarling and practically foaming at the mouth.

Suddenly, Rallis' vision began to cloud with rage. A wicked voice in her head egged her on. The cries of the baby dragons, the pain caused by this foul hunter, the knowledge that it was people like this that were ruining the ecosystem here and causing the beasts to starve, it was fuel for the fire that voice was starting. She couldn't control herself, her mind went blank save for one simple thought: kill. Rallis shrieked and dashed at the hunter, mouth open wide. He caught her with the pole of his lance, her teeth scraping the metal and chomping down in hopes of breaking it. The hunter kicked her and sent her flying down the tunnel, passed Adam and Peg, out of the dragon's den, and into a clearing farther back. Rallis scrambled up with a snarl and her claws and eyes began to glow the faintest bit blue.

Adam realized what was about to happen and knew it needed to be stopped before it started. "You stay here!" he demanded from Peg and ran ahead with his shield at the ready.

The hunter strode closer to Rallis, co*cky and far too confident. He knew she would lunge again, and sure enough she did. Just like before, he blocked her futile attempts to harm him, but this time one of her scratches burned. Her fresh claw marks across his shield had caught fire, blue flames eating away at the protectiveness of the shield. He shouted beneath his helm and dropped the shield before it erupted in a blaze of glory. Rallis struck again, and this time he blocked with his lance. Her teeth caught hold once more, but now the sound of bending metal pierced the hunter's ears. With a mighty crunch, Rallis snapped the lance in two. The hunter cried out and staggered back, staring aghast at the half a spear in his possession. The other half melted away in her mouth, molten goo trickling down her chin.

She smiled and chuckled savagely. "Stupid little human. Your life ends here for your crimes. Maybe I'll make those dogs happy and feed your corpse to them!"

The hunter cried out and threw his arms up in defence as Rallis lunged once more, only this time she didn't make contact. Adam had caught her on his shield and swiftly grabbed and pinned her before she could strike back. He turned to the terrified hunter and shouted. "Get out of here! Now!"

He didn't need to be told twice, running for his life and disappearing into the darkness of the cavernous dungeon. Rallis snarled and thrashed beneath her captor, snapping her fangs every which way in hopes of grabbing something to crush in her rage. He managed to grab her by the snout and hold it shut. "Rallis, you get ahold of yourself right now!" he commanded. He was furious, her rage-filled rampage endangering both him and Peg in what was supposed to be a simple scouting mission. The girl in question was still hiding, watching the scene unfold from a safe distance.

The blue glow left Rallis's eyes, but the fury stayed. "YOU LET HIM GET AWAY!" she snarled.

"Of course! I wasn't about to let you kill him!" he defended.

"Oh but it's fine that he tried to kill my friends?!" Rallis snapped. "And that it's his kind that's ruining the lives of everything here?!"

"No it's not but that doesn't give you the right to murder the man either!" Adam barked back.

"AND WHY NOT?!" Rallis roared, fury burning wilder in her eyes, and shoved her friend off her. "He is a slayer, a monster! He was made to murder and kill and destroy! He deserves nothing less than death!"

That was it. That sent Adam over the edge. He was shaking with a rage he couldn't hold back, a slew of scathing remarks just waiting to burst out. Endangering their lives, nearly murdering someone once more, and now this?! He had had enough of her growing mindless ferality as of late and couldn't stop what wanted to come out of his mouth. "Oh 'made,' huh? I'm sure you know all about that, don't you?" he started, borderline venom dripping from his voice. He was beyond incensed at her outburst. "Tell me Rallis, what were you made for?! And how is that going?! When will you realize you do not have the right to murder someone because of what they are?! PEOPLE CAN CHANGE!" His shouting echoed throughout the cavern, bouncing off the walls to taunt her again and again.

All grew quiet. Adam calmed himself with a huff, Peg stared at the scene in silence, and Rallis stepped back, ears starting to droop and eyes wide. What emotion was that splashed across her face? Anger? Shock? Heartbreak? For a moment, she looked broken, the weight of her friend's words forcing countless emotions to storm inside her. But she caught herself enough to fight back. "You think... I don't know that?" she replied, much quieter than either of their previous yelling. Her fury was gone, replaced by a scared and quiet sadness. "I'm friends with you, aren't I, 'Bull'?" She emphasized the last word with a hiss. Adam's breath hitched in his throat at the title. She turned away from him, couldn't bear to look at him any longer. "Some people can change, I know. But most never will... Not even..."

What sounded like 'me' caught in her throat, trapped by the sound of a cracking voice and the beginning of tears. Without another word, Rallis ran off, leaving Adam and Peg far behind.

__________________________________________________

Adam was about to finish his third beer that night at the Rising Sun Inn. He intended to drink until the rising sun, just like the name said. He even let Peg get a drink of her own, a definitive sign something was wrong and it was time to worry. He slammed the dregs of his drink back and lifted his empty mug to the barmaid. "Wontchu be a dear and hand me another one, Emily?"

The woman thought about saying no, but at the end of the day she needed money and was running low. She slid him another as he dropped more gold onto the counter. He immediately started to drink.

Peg sighed. On a normal day she would be ecstatic to break the "no alcohol" rule. But as she watched Adam drown himself in the golden ale, she just felt sad.

Adam noticed her sad stares after another long swig. "What's got you down? We finished the job! Those mutts had their food supply scared off by hunters and now they're dying. Now we report back and life is peachy. Easy job!"

The girl grumbled. It was most certainly not the stupid job that was weighing her down. "I can't believe I'm about to be the responsible one and tell you to stop drinking and go find Rallis. It's been hours."

Adam sighed through his nose. "She'll know where we are. I'm sure the last thing she wants to be around right now are humans." He said the word in an almost mocking tone but he didn't really mean it. Even he was a bit upset human intervention had begun to ruin an entire ecosystem, even if it was for monsters.

"You should still go find her. You really messed her up."

Adam looked ashamedly into the mug and took another small sip. "I suppose I did."

"What did you say even mean?" the girl asked. "What were you made for, or something? Really freaked her out."

He hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose I never did tell you. I found out a good while after we joined the Myths' Guild, after she came back, so it wouldn't have come up during our trek back to the Guild." He took another sip of beer. "You understand she's an experiment, right? Made by some dragonkin from f*ck knows how long ago."

Peg nodded. It wasn't something she actively thought about, but she knew. To her Rallis was just Rallis, her friendly dragon partner. But she supposed when you got down to the facts, it was true; Rallis wasn't a natural being.

"Well, what you wouldn't know is what she was made for," Adam continued. He paused, thinking over whether he should say it or not. He hushed his voice so only Peg could hear. "She's a bioweapon, and a dangerous one."

Peg sputtered. "What?! That's not--! That can't be--! There's no way that's true!"

"Lower your voice," he scolded. "There's a lot of evidence that points to it, a lot of which I've seen firsthand. It's safe to assume that Rallis was created with the purpose of destruction." He stopped Peg from interrupting him. "But that doesn't mean she has to be that way. That's what I believe anyway. Don't you agree?"

"Hell yeah I agree!" she exclaimed. "She's no weapon! She's just... Rallis! She's our friend!" She thought back to what Adam had said during their argument in the caves and realization dawned. "Oh so that's why what you said freaked her out. Don't you think that was kinda low?"

"It did come off that way didn't it?" he asked with a grimace. "I was just so frustrated. She needs to realize that people can change, no matter who or what they are, and that killing them because you don't agree with them isn't acceptable. And she needs to realize that she can change too. No one is 'made' for anything. They choose what they are, and they can always change."

"You should tell her that," Peg encouraged. "I don't think I've ever seen her run off like that before. You really hurt her, you dumbass, and you should apologize."

Adam smiled and finished off his last beer. "How funny to hear you being the responsible one for once! I like it! But you're right. I need to find her. I'll be back in a bit."

______________________________________________________

Adam had been looking for Rallis for what felt like hours, scouring every inch of Taverley and the open area west of Falador. He was regretting drinking so much before going back on a trek in the black of night. He was tripping over everything and his head had begun to ache. He really hoped she wasn't somewhere in the dungeon. If that were true he'd never find her. Luckily a druid by the river managed to point him in the right direction, toward the end of the river as it poured out into the ocean. Sure enough, there she was, sitting in the sandy dirt beside the water as she solemnly watched the waves come and go. She hugged her legs to her chest and rest her head atop them, making her seem even smaller than usual. Adam quietly stepped closer.

"Rallis..." he whispered, sound nearly vanishing on the slow crash of the waves. Rallis jolted to attention, not expecting Adam of all people to visit, but also not willing to turn around and face him.

She sniffled and wiped her face with her arm. "Go away, Adam," she cried, voice hoarse and raw. "Leave me alone."

He deflated. Hearing her of all people choke out through tears that she wanted him gone, it cut deep. He tried to think of what to say, how to even begin repairing the damage done. "... I'm sorry," he started honestly. "I really am. What I said, it wasn't right of me."

Rallis sniffled again, lowering her head back onto her knees. She didn't know if she accepted that apology just yet. She thought for a moment in the silence. "...Tell me," she asked the crashing waves. "What were you made for?"

Adam furrowed his brow in confusion. "Huh?"

"What were you made for?" she asked again. "Your purpose in life, what is it?"

"I... Well, I've never really found an answer to that that I've been satisfied with. Redemption, perhaps. I suppose I don't truly know yet."

Rallis scrunched even farther in on herself. "You don't know because you weren't made. You were born, as all humans are. You're all born, given the ability to do whatever you want in life with no force telling you what to do. You make your own decisions, your own goals, your own path. You live free, without something commanding you behind the scenes, without being a puppet. You have choices, you can change, you have no force pulling you back onto some predestined path, and you can find your own purpose. All because you were born instead of made." Her voice lowered, the sound of the waves swallowing it up. "I'm not like that..."

Adam stepped closer until he was only a few paces away. "How do you figure you're not like that too?"

Rallis growled, more at herself than anyone, and spun to face her friend. Her eyes were red and her face stained with tears. "Because there's a voice in my head that constantly reminds me I was made to kill. It tells me to kill and I have to listen to it. It makes my heart burn with the desire for murder and destruction, like I was meant to feel that way. I feel like I have no choice of my own anymore! I was created to kill and I can't go against what I was made for!" Her voice raised to a shout as she spoke, until she was all but screaming at her friend. "You couldn't possibly know what that feels like! Not someone like you with the privilege of being born!"

Her face looking up at him, lost and confused and scared. It truly hurt. He had never seen her so helpless before and it broke his heart. He sat down next to her. "Oh Rallis... I probably know better than anyone." Her face begged for an answer at that. "Maybe I wasn't some science experiment made in a lab," he continued, "but I still know how you feel. There are times when it feels like I've got a voice in my head too. Sometimes it shows up and tells me I need to kill again, that I need to go back to my old ways and run wild with murderous rage. To let fury and chaos run wild and remind the world who I used to be. But I don't let it control me. I fight back. And I know you can fight back too."

Rallis turned to face the crashing waves once more. "It feels like I can't... It feels like I don't have a choice anymore." Her lips began to tremble and tears began to well up once again. "I feel like I'm going to turn into a monster one day and hurt everyone I love and there's nothing I can do to stop it." The end of her sentence broke down into sobs. She bawled into her hands and howled.

Never in their years as partners had he seen her so distraught over something. This issue ran deeper than he thought and her tormented sobs were heartbreaking. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, less awkwardly than usual. He was finally beginning to get used to this whole comforting thing.

"You'll never turn into a monster like that. You're far too good to be something so cruel. And even if you do slip up for a moment, you've got friends to smack some sense into you just like before. Like I said, people can change, and that includes you." He sat with her and let her cry until her tears ran dry. Her howls turned to sobs and those turned to whimpers then eventually sniffles. Her head fell onto his shoulder and her eyes began to fall shut. The excitement from the day topped with all her crying left her exhausted. Adam nudged her to ensure she didn't fall asleep. "Come on. It's cold out here. Let's go back to Falador and get some rest. Peg is worried about you too."

Rallis chirped in agreement and let Adam help her up. They quietly strolled back to the Rising Sun, dragon holding her friend's arm tight the whole way. She had more she wanted to say, how she was sorry for earlier, how she hoped he would stay with her even though she felt she was slowly going mad, how she wanted to ask for his help to keep her from becoming the destroyer she was meant to be. But no words came. Instead she thanked him with a purr and looked forward to putting an end to this horrid day with a restful sleep with her invaluable friends.

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How Rex was almost blown up but, at least, he wasn't eaten by a wild eopie

Beta by the awesome @myurbandream , one of the stories I wrote for @clonewarssavedexchange I wanted to post it there the day of reveal, but the end of the week has been quite busy, so hop, here it is.

Rex x Obi-Wan, post Revenge of the Sith

Under the cut, the story, for @captainrexsbiggesthoe

Ash was obscuring the air and Rex’s ears were ringing. He needed a few seconds to determine why the world seemed sideways: it was because he was lying flat on the ground. He rolled over with a pained groan, spitting out some dirt and half-decomposed leaves.

What….

Where…

He shook his head, like it could reboot his brain, but put that in the bad idea category when his pulsing headache immediately intensified.

Where the kriff….

No, first things first, was there a chance people would shoot at him in the next few minutes? Because it was more or less a daily occurrence and he was feeling too badly right now to add a few burn wounds from blasters.

Cautiously, he raised his head, watching for impromptu Imperials, bounty hunters, or crazy Sith. The usual, in a way.

Since nobody tried to kill him right away, he crept over to the nearest tree big enough to act as cover and tried to remember how he had landed himself in this situation.

There had been… there had been a mission, and he would surely remember everything, if his head would just stop ringing.

There had been a mission, with the young Rebel Alliance, and Rex had volunteered. He had been on Alderaan at the time… He had been on Alderaan, with Obi-Wan, because young Leia had terrible nightmares, and the Organa family had called Obi-Wan to help, terrified that Leia would unknowingly call Vader (or Sidious) in her sleep, would make herself vulnerable.

They had been on Alderaan and Obi-Wan was supposed to go back to Tatooine the next week, and Rex was supposed to go with him for a week of downtime, before an important mission in the Hapes Consortium. It was then that the news had come. Mon Mothma had narrowly escaped death on Coruscant. One of the Alliance operatives, a woman named Motée who Rex had met a few times, even worked with, had rescued Mon Mothma from the transport taking her to prison, awaiting a trial where she would certainly be declared an enemy of the Empire and executed. Now the two women needed extraction from the space station, a few systems from Coruscant, where their ship had fallen apart.

Rex had learned a few things that day.

One, Motée and Mon Mothma were two of the members of the long list of past lovers Obi-Wan had had, a list Rex always did his best to not think of, because it made him feel like a bumbling amateur on this particular subject.

Two, Obi-Wan was apparently bored enough on Tatooine (a planet where life was cheap and where, as Beru had once confided to Rex, Obi-Wan apparently couldn’t go a week without troubles with Tuskens/Jabba’s goons/slavers/all of the above) that going on a dangerous mission only a few systems from Coruscant, when he was still one of the most wanted men in the Empire, seemed like a good idea to him.

Rex had abandoned the effort to convince Obi-Wan against taking the rescue mission twenty minutes into their spectacular row. When Obi-Wan was like that, trying to make him change his mind was fruitless.

“A bath,” Rex had said, “and then to bed.”

His lover had scowled at him from the corner of his eyes.

“Oh for Force’s sake… I still think you’re acting like an idiot," Rex had said, "and I regret that coming along to protect you is impossible, since I have to head off for the Hapes mission soon. But I’m not letting you leave on a sour note. So, no more talk about this idiotic, death-wish idea of yours. Warm water and your sexy lover in it. And perhaps when we're clean, I'll feel better enough about that mess to f*ck the stupidity out of you.”

And then of course, because Rex (as a deserter from the Imperial Army) was only slightly less wanted than Obi-Wan, he had decided to go with the Jedi on that rescue mission after all. He had nagged Wolffe until his brother accepted the Hapes mission in his stead and… Obi-Wan had had the nerve to ask if it was really reasonable, as Rex's face was too well-known to risk himself so close to Coruscant.

What had happened after that?

Yes, he had decided this rescue mission was a good opportunity to field-test one of the gadgets from Alliance Intelligence, some prosthesis supposedly good enough to make a human pass for a Twilek. He had sacrificed, with a note of despair, his beard. Then he had almost been strangled to death by the damn prosthetic lekku, which had made Obi-Wan cackle, a very un-Jedi-like reaction in Rex’s opinion. But the Jedi had still helped with the prosthesis and the make-up on his face.

The prosthesis.

Rex groped around his left ear, searching for the emergency release catch, and the whole thing came apart, taking with it a good part of the headache. Rex turned it, examined it. The prosthesis apparently made for a good helmet: half of it was charred and ripped apart, but it had probably saved his life.

It had probably saved his life when someone had tried to blow them up , on the moon where they were supposed to ditch the public transport shuttle used to extract Mon Mothma and Motée from the space station, and to join an Alliance ship waiting for them.

Rex stood up and, blaster in hand, he went to search for Mon Mothma. He had credits in his belt, if necessary he could take her to an Alliance hideout a few systems from here and come back later to search for the other two.

He was trying not to think about Obi-Wan. Rex had definitely seen him fall, but the Senator was the first, the only priority. She needed to live, even if his lover died for it. Mon Mothma was a beacon of hope in a way few people could be, and they couldn’t let that hope die.

Kriff… that’s why smart armies didn’t send lovers as agents on the same mission! Because even if Rex knew his duty, his heart was raging, demanding Obi-Wan as the first, the only priority!

Of course, because nothing had ever been easy for Rex, the first person he found was neither the one he wanted to for duty, nor the one he wished to for love, but the one he had (he could admit it in the privacy of his brain) totally forgotten in the adrenaline: Motée, the operative of the Rebel Alliance.

Her shoulder was bleeding, but she was quite busy interrogating a trembling Devanorian, with a small blaster so close that the poor idiot was squinting at the menacing barrel.

“Where?” Rex asked.

“I'll know in a minute,” Motée answered, and indeed, she did. Whoever had trained her before her time in the Alliance had done a good job. They only needed three hours to find the bounty hunters. It was, and Rex was quite vexed by this, a big collection of idiots. Amateurs, served by incredible luck, who thought they had made such a catch, simultaneously capturing the newly wanted Senator and the infamously known General Kenobi, two traitors to the Empire. The bounty hunters had been lucky, until Rex and Motée had arrived to rescue the two red heads. And the moment where Motée had broken down Obi-Wan’s Force suppression collar was the moment things really took a turn towards the ugly for the bounty hunters.

A few lightsaber-severed hands on the ground later, the four Rebels were escaping. Motée was piloting, and Rex was bandaging his head and having a crisis of self-worth.

Ten years ago, at the end of the war, Rex was sure they would have been quicker to rescue his lover and the Senator, but today, he was pretty sure he had slowed down Motée.

“I’m getting too old for this,” he grumbled, watching his face in the mirror to be sure the bacta was correctly applied.

It wasn’t the first time he thought that and once, a few months ago, a drunken Gregor had confessed the same thing. In his darkest insomnia-filled nights, Rex feared it was true, that his usefulness on the field was getting thinner every day. Time passed rapidly for the clones, engineered to grow up quickly, and soon he would be reduced to training new recruits, slowly going mad because he couldn’t take a more direct approach to destroying the darkness that was taking over the galaxy.

Would he ever see the end of the Empire?

Would all his still-enslaved brothers be decommissioned because they were getting too old, before rescue came for them?

He sat down heavily on the bunk, at the same moment Obi-Wan entered the small cabin.

“Motée plotted our way to the safest rendezvous point. We have three days of travel ahead of us.”

“Don’t know why they sent anyone,” Rex remarked, “she really didn’t need help to bring the Senator to safety.”

“Naboo’s handmaidens are strong and wise.”

“She was… that’s why she was so kriffin familiar! She looks…”

“Yes, she looks like Padmé would have, if she had had the chance to age past her twenties.”

Obi-Wan sat down next to him and put his hands on Rex's cheeks to inspect his wounds.

“If I hadn’t insisted on going on this mission, we would be on Tatooine right now and you wouldn’t have been hurt,” Obi-Wan said.

“Cyare, thinking like that is the way to madness. Our ship could have crashed down in your damn desert, I could have been eaten by a wild eopie-“

“A wild eopie, really?”

“-what I'm saying is that you can’t play the what if game, and even if I get killed one day, it certainly won’t be your fault.”

Obi-Wan made a self-deprecating sound, which didn’t surprise Rex for a second. Instead, he threw his arms around the Jedi’s shoulders and hung on until Obi-Wan got the message. He guided their bodies until they were lying on the too-small bunk, so close together that Rex wasn’t sure which limbs were his.

“Thank you for saving my life,” Obi-Wan said.

“I didn’t-“

“You did.”

“You would have-“

“We can’t be sure of that, any more than we could be sure that you would have been safe on Tatooine.”

Rex grunted, amused despite himself.

“ A vacation in your crazy desert,” he declared, like it was an order, “and I hope nobody tries to kill us for at least ten days. No, fifteen!”

“You aren’t choosing the right planet, if that's your objective, love.”

“I’m choosing the perfect planet, since it’s yours,” Rex said and even if he couldn’t see Obi-Wan, snuggled behind him, he just knew the other man was blushing.

Rex drifted into sleep, content to feel Obi-Wan safe and close against him.

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Dark Paradise

((Thanks a million for beta-ing and being amazing @thelucariosfish!))

__________

"Looks like a storm is heading this way." Kai says, looking out from the deck of the Bounty, spotting the dark clouds heading their way. "Should we find a spot out of its way?" Kai asked, looking across at Nya.

"It's too big of a storm for that. We'd waste fuel. We should find somewhere on the ground to dock so we can ride through it." Nya says as she was watching lightning flash behind the clouds.

"Are you sure?" Lloyd spoke up and they looked at him from where he stood on Nya's other side, Cole beside him.

"Yeah. I mean… It was stormy when it happened. Maybe… We can go around the storm this once? For Jay's sake?" Cole asked quietly, and the siblings shared a look.

Nya sighs.

"Cole, it happened almost 5 months ago." Nya says quietly. "I know it has been tougher on him than us but… He has to get over it eventually. Sooner than later. Lingering on the past like this isn't healthy. Look what it's done to him. It's best he learns to move on. Starting with storms." She told them and they sighed, knowing she was right.

"Yeah… I miss the old Jay. The joker, dorky Jay that took screaming as a sport." Cole says, placing a hand on his jaw.

"The Jay that spoke." Lloyd whispered, then gripped the railing tighty.

"Hey. It wasn't your fault.," Kai says, cutting Lloyd off before he could blame himself. "You did everything you could. We all did." He whispered as Nya placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"If I was faster-"

"Lloyd." Cole says and the teary-eyed blond looked up at the taller ninja. "You did everything you could." He says gently, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Lloyd sniffled but nodded, brushing his tears away.

"Come on. Let's go dock the ship." Kai says, walking back to the bridge, the others following him.

He did feel a little guilty for what was to come though.

'Sorry Jay. Zane would want you, want us to move on.'

____________

Thunder rumbled low from the outside, signaling the approaching storm. Jay watched it come from the cabin window, once bright, expressive blue eyes now dull and near lifeless. Out of all places, they chose to dock near the sea. Though he couldn't blame them for that. They didn't know about the morning before he lost it all…

"Zane…" Jay whispered with a grin as he slipped off of his own bed and walking across to look at the Nindroid who was asleep.

He smiled softly at him then grinned mischievously. He lifted the sheets up then climbed in, working his way further and further up. By the time his head popper up on the other side, he found amused sky blue eyes on him.

"Good morning, Jay." He says softly, wrapping his arms around his partner's waist and he grinned widely.

"Good morning…" He says, reaching up to prod at his cheek.

The Nindroid chuckled then pressed a soft kiss to the lightning ninja's lips, Jay immediately melting against him. He smiled against his boyfriend's lips. Mornings like this filled his heart with so much love for him and joy. It reminded him of his mission for the day.

"Let's go for a walk before everyone else wakes up." He whispered with a grin and Zane rose a curious brow but was intrigued enough.

"Alright." He agreed and Jay grinned widely.

The memory already had a ghost of a smile appearing on his face. That morning was the making of the best day of his life.

"It's lovely out." Zane comments as they walked along the beach together, hand in hand and Jay nods, a nervous smile on his face.

Oh boy. Could he really do this? What would he say?

"Are you alright?" Zane asked, tugging him to a stop, concern evident on the Nindroid's face.

"Y-yeah! Great! Why do you ask?! Are you fine?! ‘Cuz I am but if you aren't let me know and I'll-" Zane shut up his nervous rambling with a kiss, pulling back a moment after to look down at him with a warm smile.

"Forgive me. You're always so endearing when you're nervous. I couldn't help myself." Zane says and Jay flushed deeply, his freckles disappearing under the intense red of his cheeks. "Talk to me. What's on your mind?" He asked and Jay looked up at his boyfriend, at the softness of his eyes and smile.

He fell in love all over again. His love gave him the strength and courage he needed to finally start talking.

"Well, I had a speech all planned but I forgot it so here I go on the fly." He says with a shaky laugh and Zane's concerned look returned. "Ok. Before I lose confidence, I want you to know that this past year with you have been amazing. Sure it was a little rough at the start after the whole Overlord and Chen thing but it was worth it to get to right where we are, together." Jay told him, giving his titanium hand a squeeze as the Nindroid's worry turned to awe and affection.

"You see, I love you Zane. A whole lot. With my whole heart and everything I have." He says seriously as the Nindroid tried not to cry, even as clear liquid filled his eyes and Jay smiled, feeling his heart swell impossibly more.

It gave him even more courage to…

"In fact, I love you so much, I wanted to ask you…" He pulled out the circular gold, black and white pendant from his pocket as he slipped down to one knee. "Would you be my Yang?" He asked, presenting him with the Yin Yang pendant, a smile on his face as he watched Zane cover his face with both hands, the blue filling his face acting as a clear sign that his internal temperature has risen and his cooling systems have kicked in.

Man he loved him.

"Jay…" The lightning ninja perked up at his name, albeit a bit nervously.

Zane removed his hands looking down at his boyfriend with softly glowing blue cheeks as the lense cleaner his eyes produced ran over, falling down his cheeks. But despite it all, he looked sohappy. It made Jay's heart throb, overflowing with love. He had never been certain about anything but this? Them? He was certain that he wouldn't let what they had slip through his fingers. He watched as Zane parted his lips… Then said yes.

Jay watched as the storm arrived with rain, each drop pelting against the ship like bullets. Zane had kissed him so hard, they were both breathless afterwards. They had never been so happy, wearing their respective pieces. Looking into Zane's eyes as he had then, he knew he wasn't the only one who kept falling in love all over again. They had headed back to tell the others the good news- except they had a mission to attend to.

Jay slipped out of bed, walking out the door barefoot. He passed by the rest of the team as they all worked together to make a meal, not even batting an eye at them. He walked out on deck, the harsh, icy autumn rain immediately soaking him though. It's been a while since he's been outside. The others don't let him go on missions unless absolutely necessary. Which was fine. He didn't want to do anything. Not without Zane. Shivers traveled up and down his spine as his duller, curly hair flattened, weighed down by the water. Lightning lit up the space around him briefly, allowing him to see just an inch further into the thick fog of rain. He looked towards his left, hearing the sound of the sea over the rain still. Without much thought, he walked in its direction, hopping over the railing to get there. He grunts once he ended up landing on his feet but the impact from the fall had him falling backwards, his back slamming against the ship. His legs gave way and he sat there, trying to recover from his completely spontaneous jump.

He was too cold to feel the pain anyway. He sat there, staring into the fog of night, unflinching against a huge clap of thunder. He got up slowly then walked towards the water, the rain washing the sand off his clothes from the fall but splashed more onto his feet. As he walked aimlessly along the shore, the dreery, cold night flashed in and out, into the soft light of early morning then back to story night as a familiar laugh filled his ears. Jay's tears mixed with the rain as he smiled, Zane’s face haunting him sweetly. That day, he did nothing to help… He… Failed.

Their mission was to stop the Chaos Sisters. They were two women who used their smarts to hack into a few of Cyrus' security droids and steal them, all while creating weapons and tools of mass destruction, just for the satisfaction of the chaos it would bring. Knowing just that made Jay want to insist that Zane stay but he knew he wouldn't, knew he would fight with his all. So instead, Jay stuck close to his side, watching his back as Zane returned the favour. The Nindroids that worked for them were easy to take down. They've done worse. They even managed to pull out some witty quips. It was easy… But then it wasn't.

"Lloyd's found them! He needs- ugh! Backup!" Kai yelled as he took down the yellow-eyed Nindroids swarming him.

"Jay and I will back him up, you three handle the Nindroids!" Zane says as they both took off to the main area of their creepy mountain top base, the rain from the storm pelting them immediately, soaking them through.

They both rushed onto the scene to see Lloyd blocking and dodging the laser fire they were putting him under.

"Ninja go!" They both yelled, rushing over with their Spinjitzu to take them down.

Thunder rumbled over head. It was supposed to be that simple. Take them down, go home and celebrate being engaged. But it hadn't been like that.

Jay gave a soft sigh, his breath coming out as a dull fog between his pale blue lips.

He underestimated them, masters of robotics, next to Borg himself. It was a mistake he paid dearly for.

"No! Zane!" Jay yelled once his boyfriend was swept off his feet with a yell, robotic claws holding him up high overhead.

"Let me- go!" Zane yelled, struggling fruitlessly against the limbs holding him up.

"And where's the fun in that?!" The ravenette sister asked, grinning madly as she held a remote controller in hand.

"Unluckily for you, my sister has been dying to try out her latest invention." The formerly unconscious brunette sister says with a smirk, pushing her rain-slicked hair back from her place leaned against a dented piece of machinery.

Jay wasn't listening. His internal alarm bells were going off wildly, sending his heart pounding a mile a minute.

"Don't worry Zane!" Jay yelled out, charging electricity into his palms as he rushed over, ready to short-circuit the claws holding him prisoner.

"No!" He looked over at Lloyd as he yelled, and everything slowed down in those few seconds.

The blacknette was bringing her hand down to push the button as Lloyd rushed to where she was, her sister cackling from the ground. He brought his head back to where Zane was as he ran still, seeing the odd device behind him, pointed at him. He knew in that moment, it was over. That didn't stop him from trying however. He blasted his lightning at the claws desperately, his lightning traveling quickly to their source- but not fast enough.

She pushed the button and the device behind him glowed white. The last thing he saw was Zane's terrified expression before blinding white. He must have screamed since when he could finally see again, his throat felt raw. That wasn't all that felt raw. Coming to a stop and staring up at the space Zane was, he couldn't help but wonder if this was all a vivid dream. Before he could try to consider that he's been sent to another realm possibly, something blue caught his eye. He numbly walked forward, the closer he got, the more the numbness set in.

Because the closer he got, the more evident it became… That the flickering glowing blue object…

Was Zane's core.

Jay dropped to his knees, his legs too weak to hold him up anymore. He stared at it, as it struggled and flickered…

Before finally going dark.

He didn't know how long he knelt there, staring at the lifeless core of his boyfriend- of his fiancée -his tears mixing with the rain that drenched him. All he knew was that the others were there, could hear their distress as a distant buzz in his mind. He had shakily reached out, gently taking up the dead core and saw the cracks it now carried. It sunk in then and he shook as he sobs, dissolving further and further into hysteria. He hunched over, ignoring the comforting hands of his friends…

Then screamed up into the storm.

Jay looked up silently from his place standing still in the storm, the higher tide allowing the warmth of the sea to lick at his feet. The burn of the rain water in his eyes was a welcoming feeling.

After that, he never spoke again. What's the point? Without Zane… He clenched his pale fist as he gritted his teeth.

Without Zane…

What does anything matter?

He looked down, at the salty water pushing its way up on shore and dragging itself back.

The others, they try to help. They do. Their hearts are in the right place but… They don't understand.

"It's time you moved on Jay.”

"This isn't healthy."

"Zane would want you to get better."

"You have to learn to let him go.

"He wouldn't want you to be this way."

"The past is the past, and the future is the future."

Jay knew Zane wouldn't want him to be this way. But he's also not here. He… Won't ever be. There's no second chance like with the Overlord. This time, he was gone for good. The knowledge keeps him awake more nights than not. They didn't seem to understand that he knows that and he accepts that but that won't make him stop loving Zane. He owns his heart and that will never change. Loving him forever can't be wrong. Even though he isn't here with him anymore, he refuses to move on. There's nothing to move onto. There's nothing else waiting for him.

Waiting…

He looked ahead again, taking a step forward- only to collapse against the sand with a grunt of pain. He looked back at his throbbing ankle then noticed that it was turning purple as it remained swollen, most likely from the fall. The warm sea water lapping at him made him shiver but briefly.

Sometimes, he ponders the reason he's continuing on. Why bother? More days than not, continuing on didn't seem worth it. But then he'd think of Zane, of how sad he'd be if he'd done anything like that… His eyelids drooped heavily.

Move on. Let go.

He can't.

He doesn't want to.

“Jay?!”

Right now, he just wants to sleep.

He heard multiple footsteps approaching as he drifted off, water lapping at the back of his head.

__________

"Jay."

Huh?

"Come on Jay. Open your eyes…"

That voice… It sounds so familiar…

"For me?"

He fluttered his eyes open, wincing against the bright light of the sky.

"So bright…" Jay groaned and Zane laughed lightly.

"It always is here." He says then helped him sit up.

Jay blinked at Zane as he sat there, smiling patiently at him. His eyes widened before he grasped Zane's cheeks with wide eyes, looking him over.

"Z-Zane?!" He sputtered and the Nindroid smiled.

"Yeah. It's me." He says, reaching up to rest his metallic hands over Jay's.

Tears filled Jay's eyes as he looked at him, looking exactly as he remembered: happy. The tears skipped down his cheeks as reality continued to settle into him.

"You're just a dream, aren't you? I'll wake up again and you'll be gone…" He whispered, voice wavering as he looked away.

"Oh Jay..." Zane whispered softly, reaching out to turn his face to him. "I'm no dream but I won't be there when you wake up." He says, brushing his tears away gently.

"I had asked for the chance to talk to you before you do." He continued softly, Jay sniffling but he was listening. "I would have never left you if I had a choice. I love you more than anything, remember?" He reminded him and Jay found himself nodding as he sat in the middle of the open field of green, golden flowers littered around them.

They've never been here before. This was… Different from his dreams. He could feel it.

"I love you too. More than anything." Jay whispered, shifting to his knees do he could press their foreheads together.

"Oh, I've missed you…" Zane choked out, cupping his cheeks still. "But I don't have much time." He sniffled, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Why not? Why can't I just stay here with you?" Jay asked softly, brushing his hand against his cheek, his heart warming for the first time in a very long time.

"Jay, you can't. As much as I want us to be us again, you can't." Zane looked up at Jay, wrapping his arms around his waist. "Ninjago needs you, Jay. Our friends do. Your parents do. You have so much more to live for." He whispered and Jay though back to his parents, he recalled visiting once in a while, but not much more.

He's been that out of it...

"Jay. It may be awhile before we can be together again but that's alright. It'll be worth it. I'll wait for you. Even if you do move on to someone else, I'll-"

"Never." Jay immediately declined. "Never anyone else. I can do anything else but let you go." He declares and Zane smiled, more tears slipping past his cheeks, landing on his yang piece from their engagement.

"Alright," he nods then takes Jay’s hands. "But I need you to do something for me, Jay, before you go back for good." He requested and Jay frowned, even though he was nodding.

"Yeah, of course but can't I stay a little longer? I mean, it's been so long a-and I just got you back and I don't- I can't- I need you to stay! Just for a little while? Please? Zane, I-"

Zane pressing a kiss to his lips, cutting off his panicking rant. He wanted this to last a little longer too but he needed him to keep going...

To live.

__________

Jay jolted straight up, a cool taste on his lips and a cry of Zane's name on his tongue. He looked around, panting a bit before he slouched, gripping the covers over his lap tightly.

Zane…

The sheets darkened with each drop of his tears that rolled hotly down his pale face, his teeth gritted tightly. Again. Again he lost him. Again he was out of reach. It felt so real, touching him, his lips even felt the same as he remembered… It had to be. He lifted his head, realising something. Lloyd described a place to him once, a place from his dreams. He had no doubt it was the same place he was just at.

The Departed Realm.

Zane was there. He was happy…

And he was waiting.

Even more tears rolled down Jay's cheeks as he recalled the whole scene, his brief moment with Zane opening his eyes… And reopening his heart. He gave a watery huff of amazement...

But he smiled.

Thank you Zane…

The door to the cabin opened and he looked across to see Cole walking in.

"Oh, you're awake! I knew I heard something." He says with a relieved smile. "We're sorry. We should have tried to get out of the storm's path. We just thought this would be a good time for you to start to move past things and-" Cole shut up realising that he was rambling.

"A-Anyways. How are you feeling?" He asked Jay, noticing his face was still as pale as when they found him in the storm.

He face palms, forgetting Jay was now mute.

"I-"

"Good." Cole did a double take at the quiet, underused voice. "Really good." Jay continues, a smile on his face, completely throwing Cole.

Was he delirious with sickness? Was he the one who was delirious? He hasn't seen Jay smile or even hear him speak since before Zane passed!

"O-oh. That's um… Great! Let me just… Get Sensei real quick." He says then all but dashed out.

Jay huffed then looked up at the roof.

"I'll miss you. That won't change. But I'll keep going for those who need me to… For me." He says softly then smiled. "Hey Zane. Whadoyah say we get married as soon as I get there? When Destiny decides it of course." He asked, fiddling with his half of his pendent around his neck he never took off.

Realms away, Zane smiled, stroking his own half as he looked down into the golden pond, seeing him, hearing him.

"I'd say…" He smiled wider.

"I do."

_____________

(My peeps these past couple days have been a doozy! I can't believe it's taking me this long to finish writing CI7. I'll freaking finish it, I swear so for now,,,, I heard it was angst week. :) Thanks for reading!)

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chapter four : blind rage

chapter four of cosmo hunters!

word count : 4.7kwords

synopsis : crimson is dead and hope has finally received her reward. but it is not a celebratory event considering she was injured during the mission, all because of a dumb move from her pirate passengers. and her anger is bubbling up, ready to overflow, or worse, explode.

her ears were still ringing from the explosion.

it’s indescribable what being near an explosion can do to you, but being near two may potentially mess you up in ways unimaginable. hope has never been the type to set off bold traps like that to catch her criminals. she’s always been very precise and quiet when it comes to killing, making a ruckus just didn’t make any sense to her.

at this point, her head was throbbing from increasing agony. it felt like someone had taken a drum and started banging it repeatedly by her head. it came to a point where keeping her eyes were better off closed. but she needed to get back to the ship fist.

now, she had no idea how those pirates found their way to her, how they’d managed to find the location and set up two explosives on the walls. whatever tactics they used, whatever reason they had, she didn’t want to hear any of it. if anything, she didn’t want to hear anything from them at all.

on the hoverbike ride back to the docks, hope was fighting against the exhaustion that had come from that mission. but she had officially killed the criminal on top of her bounty list.

crimson, in his life as a criminal, had pillaged, stolen, killed and hurt hundreds of people for his own sick pleasure. and with him gone, hope considered the galaxy to be somewhat safer. but there were people still out there who would still challenge peaceful ways of living. and hope wasn’t for it.

people such as pirates.

for some reason, the trip back took longer, and it was probably because hope gave up on the idea of reckless driving and wounded up being careful this time around, mostly because she felt like she was dying and that if she acted recklessly here now, she would end up doing more damage to herself.

hope soon said goodbye to the main road and took a harsh left before she was riding through the docks once again. it took her a while to finde dock, and upon seeing nebula, she heard a small jingle tapping against her ear into her earphone.

a.j.

“ you’re injured ”.

hope sighed whilst dismounting the hoverbike. and upon disconnecting it from her system, she then sent the hoverbike on an autopilot mode. it drove off along with its helmet, most likely to the nearest hoverbike parking space. she was going to miss it dearly, it had helped her a lot that day.

“ it’s only a migraine, a.j, relax. besides, being injured won’t stop me from giving those pirates a nice smack over the head of every single one of them, who told them to get involved with my mission?! ”, she yelled and noticed the rise of her tone. realizing she couldn’t bring attention to herself, she blinked and shook her head.“ but i’m okay. did you call voyage? i want my reward. ”

a.j sighed,“ hope, i have scanned your condition. you might have a blast injury. ”

hope paused for a moment and let out a laugh. hope rarely laughed. maybe she was going insane.“ what? those two weren’t even a-bomb level explosions. i’ll be fine, it’s just the shoc— ”.

“ hope, i recommend laying down. blast injuries can cause damage to air-filled organs in the human body and something in that explosion was off. it wasn’t just a grenade or something of the sort ”, a.j explained. hope listened carefully.“ i recommend laying down and looking for medicine. ”

hope didn’t like arguing with a.j. usually, there was no point in arguing with him because he was always factually correct and she wouldn’t not trust him. he’s been her companion for years, he wouldn’t lie about something like this. something like an injury.

so she bit her lip and chose to follow his instructions. she watched the hatchet open up and the stairs appear and began to take the steps up into the ship she was worried about fo the whole mission.

upon entering, she found that the pirates hadn’t returned yet. and she didn’t care if they didn’t. she hoped that they would find themselves caught by a voyager officer. ever since she took them in, they’ve been nothing but a headache and now they were out causing mayhem. and hope didn’t like it.

the first place she went to was her bedroom, where she quickly changed out of her clothes and into her bathing robe. if she was going to relax, she might as well do it properly. before leaving for the shower, though, she set down her change of clothes folded neatly at the foot of her bed.

now that the engine was working properly, the warm water was allowed to come on. the bathroom was actually quite big, big enough to fit a shower and a bath in case she got bored of one. hope didn’t take to long when it came to showering. she simply got rid of the ash and dirt that had settled on her skin and then washed her hair quickly. it was like when she was back home, excited to finish her shower to get more sleep-time after a long day at school.

i should probably give mom or dad a call soon, she thought after stepping out. she put on her robe once more and she didn’t leave until she’d dried her hair, finding it hand to brush it at first because she had no more moisturizing cream.

in around twenty minutes, she had changed into some suitable clothes and had taken the medicine that a.j had recommended for her. her eyes would often dart to the time, wondering just where those pirates were and if they would be making an entrance before she left the docks. if not, she wouldn’t mind it either.

before she could even think about relaxing, though, she realized she had to come into contact with voyage in order to tell them about crimson’s status. so she went up to her navigation cabin and after fiddling with the control panel for a bit, a projector emitted a holographic figure of some sort. it took a moment for the image to clear but hope soon found it to be lieutenant creed.

creed was a tall man of african origin, with a strong and defined facial structure and deep-set eyes holding a mixture of sagacity and purpose. hope had never noticed it but there were freckles which could be seen scattered against his cheeks, a charming detail to a man who often terrified her with a single glance.

“ hope. how lovely for you to call. i expect some good news? ”.

hope nodded and bowed her head respectively.“ crimson is dead. i’ll give the coordinates to where you can find his body. it’s an alleyway, east-central of j-colony. nearby the shopping district. i don’t suppose it’ll take longer for your team to find him ”, she explained, typing in the said coordinates into a dialing pad.

creed seemed to have received it. his gaze fell down to something hope couldn’t quite see but she imagined it to be the details she’d sent.“ well done. i suppose you can finally cross him out of your bounty list. your reward will be transferred to your account by tomorrow, earth-time ”, the lieutenant explained. hope let out a sigh of relief and nodded.“ but, hope. i can’t help but ask why you look so pale. ”

hope blinked. creed was always a man who centered his attention on his work but it never stopped him from behind somehow caring. or at least critical and watchful.“ oh, it’s nothing. a.j says it’s a blast injury ”, she spoke and saw an expression of alarm pass over creed’s face.“ b-but it’s okay, sir. well, uh, crimson managed to lead me into a trap into this alleyway. but i got him nonetheless before he could escape. ”

she didn’t know why she, even now, dared to cover up the work of the pirates. it was most likely because she didn’t want creed to suspect that maybe she was hiding criminals in her ship. yes, she just didn’t want her reputation tarnished because of those guys.

“ still, i hope these explosions didn’t cause too much damage. we need you, hope ”, his voice became kinder in a way, hope couldn’t help but be reminded of her father back home.“ i suggest getting some rest. and if it is serious, travel to the hospital over at j-colony. i’ll even put you down for an emergency check-up if you need it. ”

hope quickly shook her head,“ n-no, sir, that won’t be necessary. the symptoms have only been a slight migraine, nothing too serious. ” she says that even though it felt like a dozen nails were being hammered into her skull.

creed nodded, and she saw the way his head seemingly dropped with some tone of worry. he then tilted his head but he didn’t look towards her, it was like he was avoiding her gaze.“ i’ve received some news from your father ”, he exclaimed in a put-on, lighthearted tone. hope’s interest skyrocketed.“ he’s been dispatched from the hospital. but it appears they won’t be able to get him a metal arm for a couple of months. there’s been a high demand for them in the corporation, especially for those who sustained injuries in battle. ”

hope’s gaze dropped to her lap. her father worked for voyage just like she had. he’s been there even before she was born and has always said it was his home, but a month ago he got into an aerial altercation and the blast his ship suffered was enough to shatter his arm beyond repair. they found it would have been best to amputate the arm and wait for a metal reestablishment until they had enough money to pay for a surgery to give him a new arm with his own cells.

hope hasn’t been there to visit him once.

“ i suppose that is good news. i was expecting something worse ”, hope chuckled and lightly shook her head as to avoid another pinch of the migraine.“ i-if you come into contact with him before i do, tell him i miss himterribly. and that i’ll try my best to visit him soon enough. ”

creed nodded his head,“ certainly. well, i hate to cut this short but duty is calling. again, thank you for taking care of the major problem. and rest and take care of yourself before you even think of hunting again. ” hope laughed lightheartedly. creed wasn’t threatening when he was caring.“ goodbye, hope. ”

she waved and watched the holographic projector turn off. her smile dropped as she leaned against her chair and let out an exasperated sigh. too much was happening all at once, her thoughts were accumulating into a worse headache and it was difficult to sort even the smallest of things, like the fact that she could rest now.

but hope still remained anxious even on her way to her bedroom. her father . . . she was worried about his reaction to all of this. he’s always been so eager about his job and what he does and to suddenly have to stop working might impact him negatively. he was like her, in that he always had to be doing something, even whilst not working.

by the time she reached her bed, the pain was overbearing and she thought she was going to start screaming in agony. but it seemed that the agony knocked her out before she could think to complain. her eyes were droopy and the feeling of hard, heavy rocks bashing against her head faded slowly as she dozed off. too exhausted to think about the pirates. too exhausted to think about anything at all.

time skip ﹏

a jovian day is nine hours. hope, therefore, didn’t know whether she had slept a day or perhaps two days based on when the cobwebs of sleep lifted at the feeling of something being pressed to her forehead. she had lost the sense of time in her sleep, but it didn’t matter entirely too much because those hours of sleep were perhaps the most sleep she’s ever gotten in her young adult life.

hope awoke with a sense of discomfort somewhere in her body. there was an overwhelming ache that felt like it was affecting her bones more than her muscles, like there was something biting at her skeletal structure and sometimes gnawing at her nerves. she thought that maybe she had been kidnapped by bizarre aliens and was being experimented on.

but after a couple of minutes, she was able to open her eyes through the exhaustion and found a figure sat at the side of her bed. a figure holding what seemed to be a wet cloth to her face. if she had been feeling energized, hope would have smacked the hand away. but she was drained, unable to move or keep herself awake for too long.

her vision cleared and that’s when she recognized this figure to be dawn.

the soft-faced girl seemed to sense hope’s waking presence as she caught her eyes and jumped slightly, but her expression softened as she removed the cloth from her face. hope almost asked her to put it back, it was a nice distraction from the pain.

“ you slept for twelve hours ”, dawn began by saying. her tone was soft, almost inaudible. but it was better than being welcomed by an out-going voice or even worse, a.j’s sultry, matter-of-fact, sarcastic tone.

hope craned her head to the left slightly to peer at her digital clock, it was around 3 o’clock, jovian time. she sighed and turned her head back to its original position slowly. so the pirates had managed to find the ship. from what she could tell, nebula hadn’t taken off. so nobody had navigated her whilst she was sleeping. at least, she hoped that was the case.

dawn continued,“ we took our time getting back because we needed to get some stuff. clothes, weapons, that sort of thing. vivi also wanted to see the city properly, it’s the largest in the galaxy, after all. ” the girl chuckled softly and hope just watched and listened.

“ i-i couldn’t help but worry about you, though. t-the explosive enzo set up, he thought it would just be one that would stun anyone within the premise of its location. he thought it would have been useful for you to be able to catch crimson. b-but it ended up being a toxic smoke that was released ”, hope’s eyes widened slowly.“ w-we all managed to cover our mouths and noses but we forgot to warn you as well. ”

crimson had been wearing a mouth-mask during the chase. it had come off at some point but hope recalls him slipping it on after the first explosive went off. so he knew it was a toxic bomb rather than anything else. and she had been the one completely oblivious to all of it, the one injured and affected by the toxicity and only her. nobody else seemed to have gotten hurt.

hope’s blood started to boil, and it didn’t help that she was injured. but she was so angry, so bitter about all of this that she lost that sense of care towards her own well-being. what she knew is that she hated every single pirate aboard her ship at that very moment.

not only had they nearly ruined her mission by acting recklessly and independently, but they also didn’t think to warn her just before the second bomb went off that she could have at least avoided being poisoned by toxic gas. it didn’t even run through their overbearingly confident minds that she at least deserved some clarity in her own mission.

they had stepped out of the nebula when she told them not to. they had jumped into action when they weren’t needed and they had nearly caused her target to run away when they could have just sat back and avoided screwing it all up for her.

oh, the rage hope felt couldn’t be explained even with the widest lexicon of a human being.

soon, she had kicked off her blankets and forced herself up. dawn yelped and tried to get her to lay down but hope managed to avoid her panicked pushing and broke through and got herself out of bed. then, without some effort required, she charged towards the door. there was a slight limp in her step as her right leg felt like it was asleep, or perhaps it was just the toxicity eating away at her bones.

her bedroom door slid open and hope could hear dawn running after her,“ h-hope, you should lay d-down! y-you can’t be making sudden movements, y-your body is still recovering. ”

hope laughed bitterly as her eyebrows suddenly became stuck in a growing frown.“ now’s not the time to be caring about my well-being when we could have avoided this problem, to begin with, had your crew, i don’t know, told me about toxic bombs which they’d planted. or better yet, stayed inside the goddamn ship! ”, tone rising, hope’s footsteps quickened to where she heard voices.

the doors to the lounge opened and hope stepped in to see the pirates sat around so comfortably, at home as if they weren’t totally worried about the fact that she was a second away from perhaps strangling one of them with her bare hands.

when the doors opened, enzo was the first to turn and look back and the smile on his face suddenly dropped. hope took a moment to lean against the wall and heard the doors open again and dawn rush over to her side, as if bracing herself for something.

“ w-why are you out of bed? ”.

“ let me do you one better, why are you still on my ship?! ”.

enzo jumped to his feet with furrowed brows,“ we were trying to help! i know you warned us but you’re not the boss of us here, at least not of them. i am. and i thought we could have helped you. we just didn’t want our ride to pluto getting into trouble. w-we meant no harm, hope! ”.

hope couldn’t help but let out an exasperated laugh, she couldn’t believe it!“ how about next time you’re trying to help someone, you use some of those brain cells to conduct a plan that won’t kill them!? ”, it wasn’t even a question, she was genuinely angry.“ god! and you still have the courage to come back here like i’m still going to take you somewhere. pack it up, get the f*ck out! ”.

“ h-hop— ”.

“ get out! ”.

the more she yelled, the more lightheaded she felt. she took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair, pulling at it slightly to ground herself because she felt like she was due to faint at any moment.

“ you enter my ship. you take my sh*t as if it’s for free. you strike a bargain and sit around like you own the place and then you have the audacity, the audacity to intervene with my mission by dumping two toxic explosives into an alleyway. crimson almost got away! but hell, even he knew that the bombs were toxic, who cared to tell me that if i’d covered my mouth and nose, i wouldn’t have been poisoned!? ”, she continued.

“ we didn’t know it was a toxic bomb. we just took whatever sh*t you had on your ship and rolled with it ”, now dom spoke, and hope really wished he hadn’t. because every single time he opens his mouth, he enrages her to her breaking point.“ i mean, aren’t you like a 4-star bounty hunter? why didn’t you notice there were two explosives? ”.

“ because i was chasing a f*cking crook into an alleyway with the intention of killing him, without the knowledge that you idiots would go against my orders and hatch a plan amongst yourselves and then never warn me! ”, hope shouted and threw up two fingers.“ two chances. you had two chances to warn me. you could have tapped into my tracker and told me. or you could have told me that the gas was toxic so at least i wouldn’t be limping all over the place! ”.

her throat started aching at this point and she burst into coughing, painful coughing that caused a shattering trail of torture throughout every bone in her body, it felt like a bomb had gone off her in her and her brain was barely able to hold itself in place.

hope felt a gentle hand against her back, probably dawn’s hand and didn’t really have the courage to pull away. she held her own hand to her forehead and furrowed her brows. she was out of breath, she could barely think but she knew that she was angry and at any moment, the anger might turn to murder.

vivienne’s voice broke through the silence,“ i think we should let her rest. whatever happened, it’s done now. and hope’s injured. she needs to be in a good condition even if she does end up taking us to where we have to be or not. ”

“ i won’t ”, hope muttered slowly.

dom laughed,“ well, i think it’s a damn shame. ” even with a migraine, hope could see him stand up from his seat on the couch and move towards her.“ i mean, i told you guys that you don’t trust someone who just happens to work at voyage. they’re perfectionists and any slight inconvenience makes them have a hissy fit. ”

“ dominic ”, quinn called in a doubtful tone.

“ don’t dominic me, quinn. come on, even you agreed that this wasn’t a good idea. i mean, it’s a shame our lovely captain here got injured. but think about it in a positive light! if she’s gone, we can just take her ship and go. ”

hope didn’t know where the energy came from. but it was like something murderous and malevolent had awoken from within her aching body and suddenly she forgot all about the sense of consequence and the idea of karma. that went out of the window in a heartbeat.

because dom had approached her and he had said something that had her heart racing in the worst way possible. suddenly, she got up from her hunched position and moved forward and with a swift swing of the hand, smack!

she heard dawn gasp behind her.

she’d slapped dom, and she made the effort of curling her fingers into her fists to add even more damage and when he staggered back, she wrapped her aching fingers around his throat and wounded up pushing him against the nearest wall, forcefully and violently.

her forearm came to where her fingers were as she kept him pinned to the wall. she noticed her breathing was erratic and only when she saw the redness on his right cheek did she think to step down.

but she didn’t.

“ listen here. listen very f*cking carefully to what i’m about to say ”, hope spat, eyes blazing and wide. she knew she probably looked like a maniac in the eyes of many but she’s been cool for too long now and all that was happening around her had blood steaming and evaporating with rage, the heat, and hatred she felt was unbearable.“ you’re going to have to learn your place. right now, you’re on the verge of being throw into the middle of space-time continuum if you keep this up. if you even think you have a single ounce of power on this ship, you’re mistaken. you’re not touching nebula until my dying breath and that won’t be anytime soon so long as i stay alive to make your life a living hell. ”

“ l-let me g— ”.

hope stopped dead in her tracks and a maniacal smile suddenly reached her lips.“ only because you asked nicely ”, she said. her grip on him loosened and she watched his figure go limp before he settled in a crouched position near the floor, coughing.

hope began to feel lightheaded again. but she had time. so she turned to the others and looked at them individually.“ and that goes for the rest of you. if you think you have a sense of authority over me for any sort of reason, don’t count on it. but know something; we’re not a team, we’re not friends, we’re not comrades. we’re not anything ”, hope declared.“ and know that so long as you’re on my ship, you’ll behave. or i’m dumping you all on the nearest planet. i hope i made myself clear. ”

coughing into her hand, hope inhaled deeply before swiftly exiting the lounge. she didn’t care what they thought. hopefully what she did was enough to encourage them to get off the ship right now and never return. she hoped they would leave and allow her to rest in peace, and let her go back to her normal way of living. she wanted them gone, gone.

she came to her bedroom and sat down on her bed before rubbing her tired, aching eyes.

“ f*ck. ”

hope hadn’t lost her patience in ages. she realized now the effects of being isolated from people for so long. she was accustomed to an obedient, smart a.i who didn’t run around causing mayhem for her. she was accustomed to a smart ship who would take her anywhere and provide her a dozen adventures around the galaxy.

she wasn’t used to pirates and toxic bombs and being poisoned. she wasn’t used to the way her life had changed over a day or two. all because she allowed herself to be generous towards a group of people she hoped wouldn’t give her trouble.

but they did.

because she was stupid enough to throw her trust on the table when the trust wouldn’t be mutual when it wouldn’t be noticed and respected.

“ hope, i’d like a sample of your blood, please. ”

hope rose her head towards her bedside table and saw that it was only a.j doing a health check-up. she sighed and placed her hand on a small device. soon, she felt a needle strike her index finger and she hissed and quickly searched for a bandaid. all whilst waiting for a.j’s response.“ so, am i dying? ”, she questioned with a timbre of sarcasm.

“ the toxicity levels seemed to have gone down during your fit of rage. perhaps you should head down to the gym to blow off some steam ”, a.j recommended and hope didn’t respond, she just slowly got up from her bed and walked to her wardrobe. but then he spoke again.“ i sense guilt from you. ”

hope rolled her eyes,“ reboot your system, a.j. ”

“ i am not joking, hope. i heard everything. i can understand the reason for your rage. what they did was incredibly idiotic but i sense that you don’t feel too good about having yelled at them ”, he justified and his tone seemingly changed into something quieter, almost skeptical.“ you never lose your patience. ”

“ yeah, yeah, but i’m human and other humans piss me off. especially those who try to mingle with my style of living and feel entitled to help me like i’m a damsel in distress. i’ve been doing this for years, i don’t need help! ”, hope hastily snapped and groaned.“ stop making me talk about it. ”

“ my apologies. ”

hope started to browse through her workout clothes but then her mind wandered for a moment. she bit her lip and frowned. since when was she such a bitch to her a.i? since when was she such a bitch in general?

it’s those pirates, she knows it.

they’re the reason she’s like this.

but for some reason, she hasn’t gotten rid of them. and doesn’t plan to.

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CHASING SUNS: Chapter 5 Giving Chase

1,264 wordsTiny chapter, but mostly something to get the plot advanced. Still hope you enjoy, as always tagging the soulmate AU buddies @blindbae and @nifwrites

For the first couple weeks at HQ Cam went on as many hunts as she could handle, and as many as Greyson’s time permitted. A routine developed; up at eight, an Ebony to go, handful of hunt flyers stuffed under her arm and ammo clips stacked in her pack at the ready.They’d plan a route based on the locations and do a circle around, one after the other, snapping pictures of their slain and dog-earring the hunts they’d completed. Cam’s cellphone gallery became a grotesque slideshow of dead daemons, but after so long she treated them as trophies, the more the merrier.

She thought the same for the gil. Hunt bounties paid well and even with the retainer percentage given back to HQ Cam had earned enough to purchase a second pistol and more armor, a black leather vest that zipped snug just passed her bosom and a set of fingerless leather gloves that helped her grip on her guns, especially when coated in daemon ichor. Prompto gifted her a bandana and she’d tied it around her neck, blending in with seasoned hunters in no time at all.

The sharpshooter himself had tagged along on the occasional hunt as well, providing a world’s worth of pointers and showing Cam the weak spots on larger creatures. Had she’d known that firing straight into a Bomb’s mouth that it would trigger their self destruct, she’d have saved a f*ckton of ammo from their hunt a few days ago.

Cam was forever grateful for the time Greyson dedicated to training with her. He joked that he needed it, that his chestpiece was getting loose. Much to Cam’s annoyance however, he was still listed as provisioner until the new guy was fully trained in, so they had to quit around the dinner hour while Greyson went off to take care of that responsibility, leaving Cam alone to reload her ammo clips, alone with her thoughts.

She despised downtime. The ache in her side would creep back, her mind no longer occupied with predicting monster’s movements or counting her bullets or memorizing the hazard colors on each hunt flyer, red being the most dangerous while blue were easy pickings. It was during these hours before sleep that she dreaded most, because despite her attempts to focus on something, anything, she thought of him.

And it was hard not to because he turned up everywhere she went. Asshole. Cam had to wonder if it were spontaneous, complete coincidence, or if he felt the draw as well. It was automatic, sometimes remarkably before even catching sight of him. In rare instances she’d have to hold onto something to steady herself, and stop her feet from taking her towards him.

But regardless of the problems encountering him alone prohibited, catching him with Steph was a whole other story.

It always burned, pain in varying degrees depending on their level of PDA, the more intimate the gesture the hotter the sting. Prompto had mentioned the woman's name in conversation one night at the bar and it left an aftertaste on her tongue.

He’d also mentioned his name; Gladio.

“That short for something?” Cam asked, trying her best to not seem overly interested.

“Gladiolus,” Prompto had responded, drawling out the O and rolling his tongue. It caught the man’s attention, who was holding hands with Steph from across the bar, his other hand peeling the label from his beer, just as Cam was doing to hers…

“That’s the name,” His rough voice replied, “what’dya want?”

She’d never heard him speak before. Of course it was music to her ears, of course she could hear it for a lifetime and beyond. She hated him for it, downing her stale beer before slapping ten gil on the counter and heading out, her hand trying to smother the fire at her hipbone.

Had it not been for the thrill of the hunt, the absolute mind-numbing trance the sight of daemon blood induced, she would have left on day one. But she hunted to stay sane, savoring the moments where her brain wasn’t saturated in thoughts of her soulmate…thoughts of Nolan….it was constant tug of war, both the living and dead vying for her tormented mind, both causing pain. When she hunted, that pain was pushed off to the side, survival instincts taking the wheel.

She needed that now, the escape. She needed a big payoff.

Greyson was out on a supply run with the new driver, so she was left to her own devices. He was foolish to toss the keys to his own truck under his bunk.

Cam scanned the board for a hunt to fly solo on, several blues and some greens standing out. They were quick hits though, something that would distract her for a small amount of time before reality came crashing back. She needed something with meat to it.

Smack dab in the center of the board, a yellowed flyer peeked out from beneath newer, easier hunts plastered around it. Cam pulled it free, scanning the details in red font.

Naga.

She pocketed the hunt paper, checked her bag was stocked with ammo and slipped into Greyson’s truck.

“Okay but you’re getting the next round, big guy.”

Steph looked at Gladio through her lashes, hoping he was picking up what she was putting down. He wasn’t. He couldn’t tear his attention away from that goddamn woman who stormed out. For weeks he’d wanted nothing more than to get her out of his head, get the drive to be near her out of his system. Sure Steph was a good distraction and an even better f*ck, but she lacked something. A sun on her hip, to be exact.

Gladio sighed, turning back to his girlfriend. “Oh, that so? Well I-”

He stopped, unable to speak.

Steph waved a hand in front of his frozen face. “Hey, babe. You there?”

Something had hooked through Gladio’s core, the very fibres of his being splitting at the tension, the force shooting through his soulmate mark. He couldn’t ignore it, the weight of the world countering his mass. Without a word, he stood and stormed out of the bar.

“Dude! What’s the deal??” Prompto called after him, spinning around on the bar stool.

Steph watched Gladio leave and shook her head. “Whatever, he’ll be back. He owes me a rye and co*ke.”

Once outside, Gladio followed the internal compass tugging him forward, towards the…hunt postings? That couldn’t be right-

He caught it. Being stationed at HQ for so long, everyone and their dog had scoffed and joked about taking on one of the strongest daemons ever sighted. You were smart though, to not ever take it on. If you said you were serious, people would talk you out of it, tell you to jump a bridge if you’re feeling that way, because you’d save someone a hell of a lot of cleanup.

The flyer with said hunt, was now missing. It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.

Gladio’s marking burned like hellfire as he spun around, the sound of tires against asphalt catching his attention.

The girl was going out to by herself, and she picked the mother of all hunts. She had no idea what she was getting into. Or did she?

No. He wouldn’t sit idly by to find out. The thought of how her death, this star-crossed stranger’s death, would affect him…

Gladio hopped into his Jeep, cranked the key in the ignition, hoping like hell he had some spare elixirs in the glove box as he sped off after her.

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Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Review - Space Truckers

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/rebel-galaxy-outlaw-review-space-truckers/

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Review - Space Truckers

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw sits at a crossroads somewhere between American Truck Simulator’s slice of trucking Americana and the iconic combat of Freespace 2. It’s a highly competent, single-player space combat sim complete with warring factions, pirates, corrupt cops, and dubious sectors filled with all manner of undesirables, a nicely detailed trading system, and stellar combat. While intense difficulty spikes and lacking mission information leaves some scarring on the hull, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw delivers a worthy payload.

You play as Juno Markev, a pilot stuck between the search for her husband’s killer, her need to make cash to cover the debt of replacing her recently junked ship, and her shady past. Told largely through comms messages and cutscenes between missions, many of the characters you meet are fairly archetypal, but share a sense of relatability and groundedness that lends them a lot of their charm. Character animation in story cutscenes can feel quite stiff, lending them an uncanny valley vibe, but these moments are short and don’t distract from the wider storytelling. Juno herself is a big highlight; her endearingly grounded sense of self-belief and her inability to suffer the fools she finds herself constantly dealing with always makes for fiery dialogue.

Story threads are easy to lose track of due to the sheer number of things to do. When it’s just you and your ship, it’s all about surviving the hustle of being a space trucker; trading and smuggling goods, taking mercenary jobs, mining and selling resources–anything you can do to keep those credits rolling in so you can upgrade or outright replace the colossal junker of a ship you’re given at the game’s outset. In the opening hours, your travel is limited to one system and a handful of local missions, but once you get your hands on a jump drive you can start making your way across the galaxy, and things start to open up some more.

There are five ships you can purchase from various stations, each with traits that make them suitable as freighters or as fighters. While some ships are better suited for certain tasks than others, you’re not locked into a playstyle because of your choice. Fighters can add cargo bays to move more items, and you can take a freighter fully kitted out with advanced weapons pirate-hunting and it’ll still feel pretty good.

The beautifully detailed co*ckpit is the default view, and it is daunting at first–though you can also play in third-person–which seems weird given that you play an experienced pilot; the numerous switches, lights and dials each flicker away, and you’re not really sure what they do at first. There’s no tutorial to help with this, so it can feel like you’re being thrown in the deep end. But while it takes some time to understand what the ship systems are telling you, it’s not long before you’re fluent in reading the controls and gaining a better grasp on any given situation. There is support for a flight stick and a HOTAS, but I found it best with a gamepad as everything you need is right at your fingertips.

Stations are where everything outside of combat happens, although you don’t hop out of your ship and wander around. Instead you browse a handful of menus to get what you need before setting off on your next journey. This is where you make repairs or ship upgrades, handle commodities trading, sign up to one of the guilds that offer side missions, or browse the standard side missions for that station. It’s an elegant way of handling station traversal, and the nice visual shots and animations of the station internals give you a sense of what type of station you’re in and the kinds of things you might find there. You can bother the local bartender for helpful gameplay tips, sector news, or other information or play one of the handful of trite but fun mini-games like slots, 8-ball, or Star-Venger, a simple take on an Asteroids-based sprite shooter.

Missions are either picked up from stations or, in the case of story missions, given through dialogue. They generally amount to going to a waypoint and finding or killing something for varying factions. Some of these have an effect on your standing with different factions, which can change who treats you as hostile when out amongst the stars as well as the stations you can land at. Missions also show a level of risk from mild to extreme, but these aren’t a great benchmark, as countless times I warped into a mission zone of mild-to-low risk only to be completely overwhelmed within 10 seconds of my arrival. At least a reload after death is super fast, returning you to the last jumpgate you took or station you’d left and allowing you to do something else for a while before coming back to try again. But this is also a huge source of frustration as the only way to push through these difficulty spikes is to grind for credits and ship upgrades.

The tension in a good firefight is wonderful. When you’re not tuned in to one of the seven different radio stations that broadcast throughout the galaxy, the game’s southern hard rock soundtrack kicks into overdrive as the lasers start flying. Firefights will sometimes offer up instant rewards, either as bounty credits or loose cargo that’s been freed from the breached hull, and you can freely engage the tractor beam to suck these up in order to sell on yourself and reap the benefits. In some cases you may also find an ejected pilot who you can haul in for detention, or you can enslave them and sell them on the black market, though doing so will put you on the wrong side of the space cops, which can make life in the outer rims much harder than it needs to be.

The co*ckpit views on each of the game’s crafts are tight, and there’s no option to move your head around, so you rely heavily on your radar to know where to go and what’s around you. It’s invaluable when in the thick of the action, which can very quickly get overwhelming unless you act decisively. Power management is a big part of this, and it’s a system that adds a nice slice of tactical thinking to the visual feast of the combat. Weapons fire has two modes, linked and staggered, and while linked fire will unleash the full power of your hardpoints, it’ll drain your available power quickly and severely limit your ship’s capabilities. Staggered fire only fires one hardpoint at a time, meaning it uses less power overall, but can be sustained for longer. You can also quickly reroute power between the engines, weapons and your shields, but as there’s only so much to go around you’re always settling on a compromise between offense and defense, so the system as a whole works wonderfully well as a test of situational awareness.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw’s gorgeous visual design is one of its biggest strengths. There’s a huge assortment of stations, ships, planets and other things to see while out in the vastness of space. From the huge casinos of the Nevada sector to the glass-capped atriums of Hobbes Station, there are postcard moments to be found almost everywhere in the galaxy. There’s also a wildly in-depth and excellent ship painter that lets you completely redesign the paint job of your ship, so you can customize to your craft’s look down to minute details. That extends to the combat, too, with under fire shields flashing in protest and hull plating falling apart as its struck by cannon fire before bursting into a flaming wreck in front of you. Distant firefights look like a laser light show.

There is a lot to do in Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, so much so that it’s easy to lose yourself among the myriad of activities beyond flying around and shooting things. Juno is a great character despite her sometimes jarring movements, as are much of the rest of the charming cast. The combat is fast, frenetic and consistently challenging, although that challenge can sometimes feel impossible without stepping back and grinding out some progress elsewhere, which quickly gets frustrating. Thankfully the core of the game–its combat, trading, and space flight–are all superb and had me launching into the stars for many hours of galactic trading and explosive firefights.

Source : Gamesport

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