i'll let you | fem!reader x din djarin
Chapter 3: a little adventure
18+ | Kalena takes Mando and his new "friend" up on an offer for a little adventure.
word count: 2200
chapter warnings: mention of guns/knives
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read chapter 1 | read chapter 2 |
a/n: Continuing with the season 1 episode 5 storyline for your reference!
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The sound of one of the pit droids rummaging through the workshop woke me up from my short-lived nap. I dragged myself out of the cot, walking over to the mirror. My hair was an absolute mess, so I ran my fingers through it, trying to put myself together in some way. I was about to holster my blaster when I heard heavy footsteps headed up the ship’s gangway outside. Knowing it couldn’t be the droids or Peli (given how loud the footsteps were), I decided to investigate; perhaps the Mandalorian had returned.
I grabbed my weapon, putting it in its holster, and headed outside to investigate. Just as I made my way into the hangar, I noticed the Mandalorian’s cape as it slipped into the ship. I looked up to the window of Peli’s office and could see her and the child still passed out, unaware that he had returned. Deciding now would be a better time than any to get some answers to my previous questions, I followed the Mandalorian quietly into the ship.
As I entered the Razor Crest, I took in my dim surroundings. The space wasn’t huge, it consisted of what appeared to be a gear and weapons locker, an alcove that housed a metal cot, a ladder and doors leading elsewhere, and several control panels that did who knows what. The space felt dark and isolated, almost lonely. I couldn’t imagine anyone living in it for an extended period of time, but it appeared the Mandalorian did just that.
I found him messing with a data pad; he seemed to be viewing info on a bounty. I almost made out who it was when –
“Are you attempting to spy on me?” the Mandalorian asked, turning the data pad off abruptly, but not altering the direction of his gaze.
“You’re a hunter, aren’t you?” I asked, ignoring his accusation, and making one of my own.
“Yes, I am.” he admitted.
“Is that green thing one of your bounties or something?” I asked. At the mention of the kid, he jerked his head in the direction of the metal cot, now realizing the child was missing from the ship. His next focus was directed towards me, making his way over to where I stood in a few swift strides. With each step he took, I backed up further and further till I hit the wall with a loud thud. My head had hit the metal paneling behind me, and I hissed, rubbing the sore spot.
“Where is he?” he demanded, his helmet inches from my face.
I raised my hands up in defense, “It’s with Peli! You left it in here to fend for itself, what did you expect?” but he was already gone, and I was chasing after him.
Storming down the gangway, he yelled, “Hey!”, the sound jolting Peli from her nap. She came running down from her office, child in hand. I heard her start to give him a lecture about parenting and how to care for a child and I couldn’t help but laugh. I didn’t take Peli for the caring motherly type, especially with how she treated her droids. The baby was now crying, having been woken up from his nap too, and she was trying desperately to console him.
Everything she nagged him about had gone through one ear and out the other. “Give him to me.” he insisted, pointing to the kid. So, I guess it was a he.
She ignored him. “You know, you have an awful lot to learn about raisin’ a young one.” The child looked up at her, calmer now and cooing. The man just stood there staring at her through his visor, most likely realizing now that she wasn’t after his kid. She continued to hold him as she carried on, “Anyway, Kalena finished the repair on the fuel leak. I had a couple other setbacks I wanted to talk to you about. You know I didn’t use droids as requested so it’s taking a lot longer than I expected.” She rambled. “But I figured you were good for the money since you have an extra mouth to feed”. She looked up at him expectantly, probably trying to wring more credits out of him for her new babysitting gig.
“Thank you.” Was all he replied, walking out of the hanger with a tote bag in hand that he had grabbed from his ship. Peli looked astonished at his offering of thanks, but rolled with it, running out of the hangar after him. “You got a job, didn’t you? You know, it’s costing me a lot of money to keep these droids even powered up.” She complained further.
I followed, curious as to what this new job of his entailed. Especially since the bounty guild no longer did business on this planet and I was eager to see what happenings might be occurring still. Outside the bay stood a young man next to two speeder bikes. He had short, dark hair and light blue eyes. He dressed like a hot shot with tight pants, a blue vest, and gold hooped earrings. He was leaned up against one of the bikes with his arms crossed, a cocky look on his face.
“Hey, Mando, what do you think? Not too shabby, huh?” The man asked, gesturing at the bikes. Mando didn’t reply, but paced the length of the speeder, sizing it up. He jiggled what looked like a loose part of the metal framing and it made a clicking sound I suspect it shouldn’t have. His blank stare back at the guy made it clear he wasn’t impressed.
“Okay, what did you expect. This isn’t Corellia.” He defended himself. His attention now turned to me; a cheeky smile plastered on his face. “Ma’am” he said, nodding his head at me. “And what might your name be?”
“The name’s Kalena.” I answered him.
“Well Kalena, my name is Toro Calican. Have you ever hunted a bounty before? I see your well strapped”. He said, observing the blaster and knife attached to my sides. I scoffed, but quickly remembered I didn’t want to openly announce I was once a mercenary and kept that fact to myself.
“Nope. Not really the bounty hunting type.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, I hunted anyone I was paid to hunt, bounty or not.
“Coincidentally, neither have I. Mando here is gonna show me the ropes. Why don’t you tag along with us? We could use the extra gun.” Toro asked, mounting his bike. Mando secured his tote onto the back of his own bike and sat down, ready to go.
I laughed, “You’re first bounty huh? I don’t think me tagging along is a very good idea. Besides, I’m sure Peli here needs my help with… a coupler… or a motor… or something?” I turned to her, begging her to help me excuse myself from this scenario. However, she offered me no assistance. “Please, what good are you here? You basically already did the one thing you know how to do! Unless you want to help babysit the little guy.” She said, nudging her head in the direction of the kid in her arms.
I had never babysat a single thing in my life, and it kind of sounded like my nightmare. As much as I had gotten used to laying low and staying out of the scene, I missed the adventure of a hunt. This being Toro’s first bounty and all, it couldn’t be that difficult of a target. Plus, it seemed like this could turn out to be pretty amusing.
“Ugh, fine. Why not.” I gave up.
He tossed me a set of goggles and patted the space behind him, inviting me to hop on. I flashed him a fake smile and gave him the finger. Instead, I saddled up with Mando, throwing my leg around the back of his seat and wrapping my arms around his armored torso.
“Suit yourself.” Toro shrugged, pulling his own goggles on, and revving his speeder’s engine.
Toro took the lead speeding off, Mando and I following suit. Toro seemed to be the one who knew the way, he most likely had a tracking fob for whoever this bounty was. As we drove through town, we passed merchants, homes, shops, and establishments. It had been a while since I had left the hanger, and it was nice to see life again.
My hair whipped around in every direction, dust covered me from head to toe, but I was content in my newfound adventure. Once we were out of town entirely, we sped up and zoomed over dunes of sand, passing farms and assorted wildlife here and there. I gripped Mando for dear life, not wanting to find out what would happen if I were to fall off somehow.
He was stiff as a board, obviously very uncomfortable by the forced intimacy. It's not that I wasn’t uncomfortable myself, it had been a very long time since I had been this close to another person, let alone touched one. The idea of him being nervous and stiff over me holding him made me chuckle, though.
He didn’t have a face or a name to me, but I was admittedly attracted to the Mandalorian. I guess I’d been couped up for so long that those typical prerequisites were no longer necessary to me. His voice, though modified slightly through the helmet, was low and smooth. His body fit and tall. He was very overprotective of his child, which was a good sign. Actually, I had no clue if the kid was truly his or not, I mean it couldn’t be HIS, he’s a human. At least, I assumed so; he hadn’t taken his helmet off to prove otherwise.
Before I could get lost in this bizarre train of thought further, we came to a halting stop. I looked around but couldn’t spot anything that would call for a sudden break in our journey, and apparently neither could Toro.
“What’s going on?” he asked the Mandalorian.
“Look. Up ahead.” was the reply. Far in the distance, I saw a few specks but couldn’t make out what they were. Toro hopped off his bike and grabbed a pair of binocs he had in his bag, walking further up ahead to get a better look at the specks.
“Tusken Raiders. I heard the locals talking about this filth.” Toro said, looking through the binocs.
“Tuskens think they’re the locals, everyone else is just trespassing.” he replied.
I peeled myself off Mando and got up to stretch my legs. It was at this moment I realized a pair of Tuskens were approaching us, and I launched backwards into the Mandalorian, who was now standing behind me. He saw me go for my blaster and quickly placed his large hand over mine, signaling with the other to wait.
“Well, whatever they call themselves, they best keep their distance.” Toro said, still unaware we had company.
“Yeah? Why don’t you tell them yourself?” Mando asked. Toro whipped his head around, taking in the Tusken Raiders standing before us. He looked like he was about to shit his pants, which I would have gladly paid to see. Unfortunately, that did not happen. In a surprising turn of events: Mando knew Tusken Sign Language! He began a silent conversation with them, baffling both Toro and I. It was an amazing sight that ignited so many more questions about the mysterious Mandalorian that I settled on asking him about later.
Toro seemed just as astonished as I was, looking back and forth in awe at them and Mando. “What is going on?” he asked, concerned as to whether or not we were about to be captured and killed. Not wanting him to interrupt Mando’s negotiating, I helped explain: “Are you not from around here? He said they view themselves as the locals. This is their land, and we need safe passage across it”.
It appeared as though the parties had come to a decision, and, with that, Mando turned to Toro. “Let me see the binocs.” he demanded.
Toro looked him up and down with a puzzled look on his face. “Why?” he asked. What could Mando need the binocs for? Surely his helmet had that kind of equipment built in.
Mando continued to stare at him in reply, not having time for any questions.
He shrugged, rolling his eyes, and plopped the binocs into Mando’s gloved hand. The moment he did, Mando tossed the binocs to the Tuskens and the trade had been made.
Toro waved his arms frantically as if to catch them. Failing, he exclaimed: “Hey! Wh-What? Those were brand new!”.
“Yeah? They were.” replied Mando coldly, already walking back to the speeders to leave. He hopped on to our bike and revved it, our signal to hurry up and join him before they changed their minds. With the Tuskens satisfied, it was our time to leave. Toro scoffed and trudged over to his bike complacently.
“Fun’s just begun.” I muttered under my breath, smirking as I rejoined Mando on the bike. With that ordeal settled, we sped off, back on our hunt.
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a/n: Super proud of how this chapter came out, I'm glad I was able to double the character count! Next chapter will hopefully be even longer and we will see some development between Reader and Mando. Let me know if you'd like to be added to a taglist for this story and also my ask box is open for any suggestions!
