Main blog is ilikemymendarkandfictional. This is my side blog for posting my fanfics. Star Wars, Arcane, and Stargate Atlantis. I have MANY original characters, so feel free to ask about them! Requests are open! (check rules) Header by @sanagii
I have been writing (also read as creating an entire universe inside my head) for quite a long while for both Star Wars and Stargate Atlantis. I post my stories on both FFN and AO3, but wanted to try my luck here as well!
I write mostly OC/Canon character pairings. I have many original characters for both fandoms. While my stories focus a lot on romantic pairings, they also explore many different situations and relationship dynamics.
I try to follow canon events and my stories are meant to be read alongside what exists in canon (with some alterations as needed for plot reasons). Everything in the main stories is SFW with more adult content being strictly implied only or posted separately. That being said, some of my writing deals with heavier topics. If anyone wants me to tag things they would rather avoid, let me know and I will happily do so.
Please have a look around and enjoy yourself! I am always happy to answer any questions you may have about OCs and am open to discussion. Likes, reblogs, and comments are always appreciated! 😊
Series Summary: Silco has returned to take over Vander’s position as leader of the Undercity, only to find himself facing a new challenge. The woman that had once been devoted to him wants nothing to do with him. Can he convince her or have things changed too much in his absence?
Pairings: Post Act 1 Silco/OC (Olillia), Implied past Sevika/OC, Young Silco/OC
Parts: Series Masterlist || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
Warnings/Tags: Minor angst, parenting troubles, minor violence
A/N: Hi...it's me again. Another long gap in update, but hopefully I can make the wait shorter this time. Hope you enjoy!
As spring transitioned into summer, progress continued to be made at The Last Drop. The closer things got to being finished, the more things that needed to be done appeared on Silco’s desk. It seemed like every day that passed added another mountain of paperwork to be looked over, another task to be fulfilled, and another responsibility on his shoulders. But, he knew that progress came at a cost.
Once her implant had fully healed, Sevika had been fitted for a mechanical arm. That had been a challenge, as Smeech had been reluctant to share anything innovative in the selection process. With some convincing, however, they had come to an agreement. Sevika seemed happy with the end result, and that was what mattered most to Silco in that instant. She had lost her arm protecting him, after all.
Not long after that, the good doctor had made a reappearance before him. He looked significantly worse for wear, but was willing to continue working in any capacity his healing injuries allowed. Silco had told him not to rush into work that he couldn’t handle, but that he wanted his focus to be on the improvement of Shimmer. It was the base of his control over certain parts of the Undercity, so it needed a constant state of improvement and distribution.
These situations seemed small in comparison to the challenges posed by the upbringing of Jinx. Since her separation from Olillia, she had become snippy and unmanageable. Every tutor Silco tried to find for her was gone after a day or two of dealing with her antics. If she showed up for her lessons at all, she was belligerent and uncooperative. He had watched as more than one tutor left covered in pink paint or smoking clothes and hair.
When he had tried to talk to the child about her behavior, she had melted down to a point of being unconsolable by anyone but Olillia. He had called upon her for assistance more times than he could count, dragging her away from the work she was supposed to be doing. While she didn’t seem to mind coming to help with Jinx, it wasn’t a feasible way to deal with the underlying problem. A solution needed to be found, and fast.
After a particularly bad tantrum, Silco had simply sent Jinx to her room. He had no desire to interrupt Olillia’s work for the third time that week and was exhausted from trying to reason with the child. As he watched Jinx disappear through his doorway, the door slamming so hard behind her it shook the painting on the wall, he let out a long, heavy sigh. Running his hand through his slicked hair, he leaned back in his desk chair and stared at the dark beams of the high ceiling above him.
“I don’t know why I ever thought I could be a parent,” he said aloud to the empty room. “The chem-barons are easier to deal with sometimes than that girl.”
A knock at his office door brought another deep sigh from his chest. It didn’t seem he could have a moment’s peace.
“Come in.”
The door opened a bit and Lil’s head popped through the opening. He could see small tendrils of her purple hair sticking out from her usual neat hairstyle, likely caused by the extra heat and humidity in the air. He thought it was an endearing look. That thought prompted him to look down at his cluttered desk rather than her face, wanting to avoid any such train of thought.
“What do you need?” Silco asked, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice.
“I’ve been doing some cleaning and thought maybe your office could use some tidying up,” Lil said, fully coming into the room. “But I can come back at a different time if you’re busy.”
Silco shook his head, continuing to look down at his paperwork. He wasn’t truly reading anything on the desk in front of him, just trying to distract himself until he had righted his thoughts.
“I’m always busy,” he said. “You may as well do what you can now.”
“Alright, I’ll try to be as efficient as I can to avoid disturbing you.”
Silco hummed in reply. After a few moments, he resigned to actually do something about the paperwork he had been pretending to read. He and Lil worked together in relative silence, leaving each other alone to their respective tasks. He could hear the soft thuds and clinks as she moved things around to clean. It was enough noise to remind him that she was there, but not enough to distract him.
After about ten minutes, there was another knock on his office door. Silco glanced up at the solid wooden barrier in annoyance before calling for the person to enter. Sevika came in, carrying a case in her right hand. He had noticed that she avoided carrying anything important with her mechanical hand. Silco was no psychologist, but he guessed there was a mental reason she did that. But that was Sevika’s business, not his.
“Is that what I think it is?” Silco asked, eyeing up the case in her hand.
“New and improved formula,” Sevika answered, hefting the case up to place on his desk. “Straight from the lab.”
Silco turned his gaze from the case to where he figured Lil was in the room based on the noises he had heard earlier. He was about to dismiss her so he could talk to Sevika privately, but the words escaped him as soon as he saw her.
He hadn’t looked at her since she entered the room to clean and he was suddenly glad he hadn’t, or he wouldn’t have been able to focus on the work he had been doing. Lil was wearing a pair of shorts that hugged her hips nicely, stopping a third of the way down her thighs, which gave him a nice view of the rest of her legs. On her torso was a green shirt that had been tied up around her waist, exposing her stomach. A green shirt he recognized. He could see the spot she had mended so many years ago. The shirt had belonged to him.
In the back of his mind, Silco registered that Sevika was speaking to him, but the buzzing in his head prevented him from hearing any words. His entire focus was on Lil. Not that her outfit was inappropriate, especially given the recent heat wave that had swept across the area. He appreciated the style of her clothing choices, he wasn’t going to deny that she was an attractive woman; she always had been. It was the fact that she was wearing his shirt that had amazed him.
Lil must have felt his gaze on her, as she turned to look at him with a questioning glance. He must have been expressing some of his inner feelings, hopefully not in the capacity they were in his mind, as he could see her expression morph into one of awkward discomfort. She knew what he had noticed and was embarrassed. Silco didn’t know what to make of that.
“I’ll let you two deal with the business I have no part of,” she said, hurriedly grabbing her supplies and heading for the door.
Silco watched her every movement, his gaze drifting over various parts of her body as she departed. He didn’t think he’d get another chance to look at her in such a way, mentally making a note to avoid it in fact, so he took what he could get. The office door shut firmly behind her and he sighed again before looking back to Sevika. He was taken aback by the angry expression on her face.
“Don’t do that,” she said, shaking her head at him.
“Do what?”
“We’ve been down this road before Silco. You lust after her from afar, refuse to acknowledge your feelings, and hurt her immensely. It was bad enough when you were younger and she returned those feelings. Don’t put her in that position again.”
Silco scowled at the woman in front of him, but he knew she was right. He had to behave himself. Some mistakes didn’t need to be repeated.
Once she had moved a safe distance from Silco’s office door, Lil leaned against a wall to steady herself. Things had been going so well, so the sudden rush of unease coursing through her body was a shock.
She had initially been confused by the feeling of Silco’s gaze on her. She had mistaken it for anger or annoyance until she had met his eyes and seen the surprise and desire in them. That had also confused her until she remembered the shirt she was currently wearing. It had become part of her wardrobe so long ago that she hadn’t given it a second thought when she chose to put it on that morning.
Of course he recognized it. It had once been his, why wouldn’t he? Lil made a mental note to never wear it in his presence ever again. Maybe it would be even better if she got rid of it, remove the problem altogether. She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea about her connection to him and their past. As far as he was concerned, she wanted that to stay where it belonged; in the past.
Lil took a deep breath and pushed off from the wall, grabbing her cleaning supplies from where she had dropped them on the floor. The bar would be opening soon and she had to get ready for her first night as the server at the new establishment. She headed down the stairs to put her stuff away and passed the new bartender on her way through.
“You look nervous,” he said. “Something up with the boss?”
Lil gave him what she hoped was an encouraging smile.
“Just anxious about opening night,” she said before asking, “Your name is Theiram, right?”
He nodded and smiled back at her.
“This is my first night ever working in a business like this. I’ve worked in a few small places, but nothing to this scale.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great.”
The two of them started double checking everything to make sure it was ready, working steadily until they saw one of the men on guard unlock the front doors, indicating that the bar was officially open for business. Lil glanced over at Theiram, noticing his shoulders were tensed up.
“Hey,” she said to get his attention. “Everything will be fine. If anything happens, I’m prepared.”
Lil showed him the retractable staff she had attached to her hip, ready for her to grab and use against anyone that gave her trouble. She had learned that it was vital to know how to defend yourself in this environment. While things had never gotten bad when Vander was in charge, the large man’s presence being enough to discourage anyone from causing a scene, she was always prepared.
The first few hours of the night passed without incident. The stream of people coming into the ‘new and improved’ version of the Last Drop was slow at first. Lil knew things would likely pick up as it got later, so she knew not to let herself get lulled into a sense of false security. She said something of that nature to Theiram when he commented on the small number of people.
Sure enough, she was right.
Around nine, larger groups started showing up. Large waves of people coming off their shifts, looking to enjoy the rest of their evening at the bottom of a bottle or on the dancefloor. Lil and Theiram worked together to keep the customers satisfied. At a certain point, there were less new people coming in and more simply sticking around. Lil started to make the rounds to the different tables against the outer walls, checking to see if anyone sitting there was in need of new drinks or was interested in dealing with their bills now before the night got away from them.
Lil made her way over to a corner where Sevika was sitting in a booth with a scantily dressed lady on her knee. Sevika nodded to her, summoning her to the table. She whispered something into the woman’s ear, perhaps asking her to get them new drinks, sending her away from the table. Soon enough, she and Lil were alone in the dark corner.
“How are things going?” Sevika asked. “Any trouble so far?”
“Nothing yet, but now that I’ve said that, I’m sure it’s bound to happen.”
Sevika rolled her eyes, dismissing Lil’s suspicious comment.
“If anyone gives you trouble, you let me know and I’ll take care of it.”
“I thought the point of teaching me how to defend myself was so I wouldn’t need you there when I got in trouble?”
“Your little stick can only do so much. It’s much more effective when I throw someone across the room.”
“That’s very true,” Lil said with a huff of laughter. “Give you a chance to test out your new arm.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, if such a problem presents itself, I’ll send up the flares for your assistance.”
The woman had returned with new drinks for Sevika and herself, so Lil left them to continue her rounds. After getting orders, she headed back to the bar to fill them. She read off the list to Theiram, grabbing him glasses to speed up the process. As the two of them worked, the music in the club suddenly got louder. They had to shout to be heard over the overpowering thumping of the bass.
Once all the drinks she had listed were ready, Lil put them on her tray and headed out to deliver them. One by one they disappeared and she was soon left with an empty tray. She’d make another round in a bit, but for now, it seemed like everyone was satisfied. As she pushed her way through the crowd back towards the bar, Lil felt a hand encircle her wrist. The firm grip brought her to a sudden jerking stop, nearly making her drop her empty tray.
Over the loud thumping of the music, Lil thought she could hear someone shouting in her direction, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She turned to look at the owner of the hand holding onto her, trying to pull herself from their grip. A tall skinny man glowered back at her, gesturing angrily with his free hand. He seemed to also be the source of the shouting.
“Let go of me!” Lil shouted back, managing to finally pull her hand free.
This seemed to anger the man further and he reached for her as she backed away from him. Acting on instinct, Lil’s hand released the tray and flew to her hip to grab the staff anchored there. She pushed the button to extend one end of it and swung it in the man’s direction. The connection with the man's face sent a jolt down her arm, knocking her off balance and causing her to stumble back. The man dropped to the floor from her blow, his body limp and unmoving.
People in the crowd around them backed away from the scene and formed a circle around where the man was unconscious on the floor. Lil stared blankly at his unmoving form, her grip on the staff so tight it made her hand hurt. She hadn’t meant to hit him so hard, only to get him away from her. The music continued to drown out the sounds around her, but was joined by the loud thumping of her heart inside her head.
A soft touch to her shoulder brought Lil out of her dazed state, shaking her head before looking at the person beside her. It was Theiram. He reached down and took the staff from her hand, pressing the button to retract it again. He gestured to the bar, guiding her to turn around and head that direction. Lil followed his guidance and they pushed through the crowd together. She glanced over her shoulder to see one of the security guards grabbing the unconscious man by the arms and dragging him in the direction of the front door.
Once they had reached the safety of the bar, Theiram guided Lil down to the stairs beside it that led to the storage area. It was a lot quieter down there, some of the noise from the club muffled by the thick walls. They walked into a small staff room where people could store things while they were working and Theiram shut the door behind them. Lil moved over to a chair against the wall and fell into it.
“Are you alright?” Theiram asked. “I didn’t see what happened before you knocked him out. Did he hurt you?”
Lil shook her head and held up her wrist.
“He just grabbed me. I managed to pull away from him, but he was going to grab me again. I reacted automatically to stop him.”
Lil knew she had possibly overreacted to the situation, but it had happened so fast that she hadn’t had time to think things through before reacting. The man that had grabbed her reminded her of someone she knew, multiple someones in fact. Her experiences had taught her that it was better to do whatever was necessary to get out of the situation, even if the person hadn’t really meant her any harm.
“He shouldn’t have grabbed you,” Theiram said. “If he wanted something, he should have come to the bar directly or talked to you when you were near him.”
Lil rubbed her face with her hands and let out a heavy sigh.
“I’ll be okay. You go up and tend to things, I’ll come up in a bit.”
“You sure? I can go tell Sevika what happened and she’ll bring it up with the boss.”
The thought of Silco being witness to what had just happened hadn’t even crossed Lil’s mind. She didn’t think he would be angry with her for her actions, as he probably would have done something similar in the past. She knew that he would find out regardless; perhaps it would be better if he heard it from her directly.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’ll deal with it.”
Theiram pursed his lips and shook his head but didn’t say anything. He turned and left the staff room, and Lil could hear his footsteps disappearing down the hall before they were completely drowned out by the music above.
Lil leaned back in the chair until her head rested against the wall behind it, closing her eyes. She took a few deep breaths and let her body settle down into a more normal state of being before opening them again. Flexing her fingers, she stood up from the chair and shook her head. She was almost back to feeling like herself and was ready to go back upstairs.
Lil left the staff room and made her way to the stairs that led up to the bar. She took one final deep breath before ascending, the deafening music filling her ears again. Theiram noticed her and gave her a thumbs up, almost as if he was questioning if she was alright. She nodded and headed to his side to help him with the new drink orders.
Thankfully, the rest of the night passed without any other incidents and by closing time, things were calm at the bar again. Lil made her way around the room, grabbing discarded glasses and garbage while Theiram lifted the chairs up onto tables to sweep the floor. As she was depositing the glasses on the bartop, Sevika appeared at her side.
“Silco wants to talk to you before you head home,” she said. “He wants to know what happened.”
Lil nodded and pointed at the glasses.
“I’ll go up after I’m done with these.”
“You good?” Sevika asked, a look of concern etched into her face.
Lil nodded and gave her a half-hearted smile.
“Seems like my little stick was enough to save me tonight.”
Sevika’s concerned expression evaporated and she shook her head with a small smirk. She waved and bid Lil goodnight, heading out the door to go home for the night. Lil went behind the bar and washed all the glasses she had brought over, setting them aside to dry when she was done.
“I have to go report to Silco,” she said to Theiram, who was finishing up with the floor. “If you’re not down here still when I’m done, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Theiram gave her a small wave and returned to what he was doing. After wiping her hands off, Lil started towards the stairs to the upper levels. She felt nervous, not because she was worried about what Silco would say about the incident earlier in the evening, but because of what had happened that afternoon. She hadn’t had the opportunity to change her clothes, so she was still wearing the green shirt that he had been staring at.
When she came to his office door, Lil hesitated for a second before lifting her hand to knock. She heard Silco’s voice call for her to enter, noticing to herself that he sounded tired. Then again, she had never known that man to get a decent rest, so she imagined he was always tired. Lil opened the door and walked into Silco’s dimly lit office.
“Sevika said you wanted to see me?”
Silco didn’t look up from his desk, obviously focused on whatever he was reading. He gestured vaguely at her, which Lil took to mean ‘just a minute’. She walked over and stood in front of his desk, waiting for him to finish what he was doing. When he finally looked up at her, she could see the tired look about him that she had suspected.
“You look exhausted,” she said. “When was the last time you slept?”
Silco paused as if he was thinking about it, tapping his finger on the desktop.
“Day and a half?” he said. “I lose track of what day it is sometimes so it’s hard to tell.”
Lil narrowed her eyes at him, but decided against saying anything. That wasn’t her purpose for being here.
“I’m guessing you wanted to hear about what happened downstairs?” she asked. “Is that why you sent for me?”
Silco nodded and gestured to the chair off to the side of his desk, indicating she should sit. Lil grabbed it and moved it closer to the desk, settling down into it. Silco leaned back in his chair and stared directly at her, waiting for her to give her account.
“It was busy down there, as I’m sure you expected for opening night,” she started. “Also quite loud, so it was hard to hear what other people were saying.”
Lil bit her lip as she pondered over how to phrase the next part of what she had to say.
“I was walking back to the bar after delivering drinks and a man grabbed me. I don’t know if he had tried to get my attention before and I didn’t hear him or if he was trying to start something.”
“Surely if he was going to start a fight, he wouldn’t go after you,” Silco said. “Unless the fight he was trying to start was with this establishment overall.”
Lil shrugged.
“I don’t know what he was doing. I told him to let go and pulled my hand from his grasp. He angrily moved to grab me again, shouting something I couldn’t hear. I reacted without thinking and hit him in the head with my staff, knocking him unconscious.”
Silco let out a soft huff that Lil guessed was in amusement.
“A bit harsh of a punishment for such a simple act.”
Lil looked down at her lap, shame filling her. Her hands felt clammy as she clasped them together. She had known it was an overreaction, even if it was done in a moment of fear and instinct.
“Olillia,” Silco said gently.
Lil looked up to meet his gaze and could see his amusement had vanished and understanding was in its place. He knew what had caused her to react that way.
“You do not need to explain further. If anything like that happens again, let me know.”
Lil nodded. She could feel the shame lifting from her. Though he was speaking as her boss, Lil could see her friend Silco underneath.
“I would like to ask you to refrain from assaulting my customers, though.”
Lil laughed softly.
“I’ll try my best.”
She could see a tiny smirk lift the corner of Silco’s mouth.
“I appreciate your efforts,” he said. “Now, it’s late and I’m sure you want to head home.”
Lil stood from her chair and wiped her hands on the front of her shorts. She saw Silco’s gaze trail over her, lingering on the green shirt.
“Nice to see the shirt you so kindly mended has survived all this time,” he said. “You must have done a good job.”
Lil showed him the spot she had originally mended for him years ago. A small heart was stitched near the sewn up hole.
“It’s served me well,” she said. “Did you want it back? It is technically yours.”
Silco waved a hand at her.
“Keep it. Suits you better than it ever did me.”
“I guess it doesn’t really match your current wardrobe,” she said, gesturing to his maroon clothing.
“Not exactly,” Silco said, the smirk widening. “I’m glad it has a loving home.”
Lil gave him a small smile and bid him goodnight before leaving his office. She found the bar empty when she came down, Theiram having finished the cleaning up and gone home. She grabbed her stuff from the bar and did the same.
A week had passed since the incident in the bar and Silco hadn’t heard of any other problems. He assumed that anyone that regularly came to his establishment had witnessed the event and learned from what they had seen. That thought had given him an idea.
Teach people not to mess with anyone that was under his command.
That included Jinx. Though she was just a child, Silco could see potential beneath the surface. She had proven to be quite scrappy, as most Zaun children were at her age. Perhaps training her in a more official capacity would be a good way to burn off the energy she had been using to terrorize her tutors.
He called Sevika in to talk to her about the training that needed to be done for those under his employ to make them a force to be reckoned with. He pointed out that he couldn’t rely on only a few to make a point, it needed to be everyone. Sevika seemed to agree with him. Until he brought up Jinx.
“Are you insane?” she asked. “Did you forget the damage that she’s already done?”
Silco’s gaze drifted to her mechanical arm before meeting her eyes again.
“No I haven’t. What happened was an accident. If she was properly trained to deal with situations, there would be less accidents like that.”
“It would take a miracle to accomplish what you envision.”
“Many say the same about our vision of Zaun, but we still fight for it.”
Sevika gave him a scathing look.
“You cannot seriously compare a dream to make the Undercity a better place with the militarization of a demon child.”
Silco set his mouth in a firm line. He knew that Sevika had never liked Jinx, even before he took over. But calling her a ‘demon child’ was too much.
“Watch how you refer to her,” he said in warning. “She is in my care and I wish for her to be treated as someone valuable to this cause.”
Sevika scoffed at that, which irked him. As he was about to say something further, he heard a noise from above him. Silco glanced up and saw a glimpse of blue amongst the rafters. He knew that Jinx had started climbing around up there, but he hadn’t had the will to tell her not to as it seemed to be a place of comfort for her.
“Jinx?” he called out. “Would you like to say anything on the matter?”
Sevika’s expression shifted to one of angry confusion. She also looked up to Jinx’s new hiding place and scowled when she evidently saw the child. Jinx’s face peeked out from behind a beam, evidence of tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I don’t know…” she said quietly.
“She shouldn’t be in the field and you know it,” Sevika said. “No matter what she thinks.”
Silco didn’t have time to react to Sevika’s statement before a form dropped from the ceiling to land in a heap on his desk. He was startled by the child’s appearance before him, and alarmed by her falling from such a height. She didn’t seem injured, however, as she uncurled herself and crawled off the front of his desk.
“I can do a lot more than you!” Jinx screamed at Sevika. “You’re just a big bumbling ogre!”
Silco was genuinely concerned that Sevika would slap the child, if not worse. He reached out a hand to Jinx, trying to soothe her rage.
“Jinx…”
Jinx pulled away from his hand and ran past Sevika to the door. She flung it open and ran out, nearly crashing into Olillia, who was standing on the other side. Silco heard her call to the child, who seemed to ignore her voice.
“What’s going on?” she asked, coming into the room. “I heard shouting.”
Sevika angrily gestured in Silco’s direction.
“Will you talk some sense into him?”
Lil looked from Sevika to Silco with a questioning gaze. Silco sighed deeply and gestured in the direction Jinx had fled.
“I thought with recent events, it would be good for everyone to be trained to deal with problem situations. Show people that we are a force to be reckoned with.”
“What does that have to do with Jinx?” Lil asked. “Surely you don’t mean to train her as well?”
Sevika looked at him with an expression that had ‘I told you it was a bad idea’ all over it.
“Is it such a horrible idea?” he asked.
“Yes!” Sevika shouted.
Silco glared at her, his anger bubbling beneath the surface. Evidently seeing that he wasn’t going to listen to her, Sevika turned and left the room, the sound of her angry stomping echoing from the hall. Lil was silent, simply staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Silco sank back into his chair and stared at the ceiling where Jinx had been sitting before.
“I can feel you judging me,” he said.
He heard Lil walk over to the desk and shifted his gaze to look at her.
“I want her to be ready. To be able to participate.”
“She has plenty of time to prepare for that,” Lil said. “She’s just a child, Silco.”
“We were children like her once,” he retorted. “We didn’t have the luxury to not learn things like that. We had to learn to survive.”
“But she shouldn’t have to. Isn’t that the point of this future you’re working towards? So she doesn’t have to live the life we did?”
Silco had to admit that she had a point. That was part of his goal and he had envisioned Jinx as the reason for accomplishing that as soon as possible. But surely, there was no harm in teaching her how to protect herself.
“Let her be a kid, at least for a little while,” Lil said. “She can train when she’s older, learn the ropes then.”
Silco let out a resigned sigh. It seemed he was outnumbered.
“Very well. We’ll hold off for now.”
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this part! Please reblog, like, and comment! I would really like to hear your thoughts! If you would like to be added to or removed from the taglist, let me know!
Summary: A small creature causes chaos for the Bad Batch, bringing Tech and Anaj back together to assist the feathery menace.
Pairing: Tech/Jedi!OC (Anaj Rotz)
Warnings/Tags: Injured animal, bird shenanigans
A/N: This is part of my wider Star Wars fic verse. Connected to the story "Plant Yourself in My Heart". Divider by @/djarrex.
AO3 Link
Tech scrolled through the info on his datapad as he walked down the path back to the Marauder. He had received a slew of new information from the contact they had come to meet and was eager to go through it. He had said as much before leaving Hunter and Wrecker at the cantina that belonged to the resident de facto ruler of the area; their contact, Maz Kanata. As usual, Wrecker had thrown an insult in his direction, calling him lame and a spoilsport. And as usual, Tech didn’t really care. He much preferred the quiet of the ship.
As he walked, he heard his comm beep, indicating that someone was trying to reach him. He pressed the button to answer and heard the raspy voice of his third brother, Crosshair, from the other end of the link. Crosshair hadn’t joined them at the cantina, preferring to disappear into the forest that covered the planet Takodana for some solitude. At least on this planet, nothing had tried to eat him yet.
“There’s something here I think you might want to take a look at,” Crosshair said. “I’ll ping my coordinates to you.”
Tech confirmed that he had received them and changed the direction of his journey, leaving the main path to head to the edge of the trees. He didn’t have to go very far before he could see his brother’s gray armor in the middle of a cluster of tall trees. He walked over to Crosshair, adjusting his goggles as he approached.
“What is it that you thought I should see?” he asked.
Crosshair pointed to the base of one of the trees. Tech bent down to look where he was pointing, not sure at first what he was supposed to be looking at. But, a moment later, there was a slight movement that caught his eye. A small brown and green bundle shifted amongst the leaves, wide dark eyes staring up at him.
“It’s a convor,” Tech said. “A fairly young one by the looks of it.”
“I heard a noise that sounded too low to the ground to have been coming from the trees,” Crosshair said. “It sounded like a call for help.”
Tech moved close to the bird, pushing aside some of the leaves surrounding it. The little creature let out a soft hoot that sounded both afraid and curious at the same time. Tech was careful not to touch it, trying not to scare the bird further. It cowered against the base of the tree, trying to move away from him. The high pitched trill it made following the movement led Tech to a worrying conclusion.
“I believe it is injured.”
Crosshair looked up to the higher branches of the tree they were next to.
“Likely fell from the nest,” he said. “Was hurt by the impact with the ground.”
“Or it was pushed out,” Tech said.”Probably by one of its siblings.”
“I understand the desire to do that,” Crosshair grumbled. “Wish I could have done that a time or two.”
Tech glanced up at his brother, furrowing his brows in anger.
“If you like, we could leave you to be eaten the next time a creature is after you.”
Crosshair scoffed and turned away, walking across the clearing to look up at the branches of the other trees. Tech guessed that he was searching for the nest the bird had fallen out of.
“Do you think we can return it to where it belongs?” Crosshair asked.
“I don’t think so. With the injuries it has, I don’t foresee it surviving on its own for much longer.”
Crosshair hefted his rifle in his hands, gesturing in the bird’s direction.
“Perhaps we should put it out of its misery then.”
Tech pondered Crosshair’s suggestion for a moment before shaking his head. He had done research on the fauna of many planets and knew that convorees were special. They were known to have a connection to the Force and were valued in many cultures for this reason. That thought brought another thing to mind.
Perhaps a Jedi could help this creature.
Tech thought about the Jedi woman he had met on his visit to the temple. Anaj Rotz. She had mentioned her special connection with animals when they had spoken, which led him to wonder if she would be able to help this animal in particular.
“I think we should take it with us,” he said. “I know of someone that might be able to help it.”
He didn’t have to see Crosshair’s face to know that his brother was giving him a strange look. It wasn’t a suggestion Tech would have made at any other point in his life, and he wasn’t sure why he was making it now. It seemed like the right thing to do.
“Hunter’s not going to like this,” Crosshair said, pausing for a few moments before continuing. “Let’s do it.”
Tech shrugged his pack from his back and rummaged through it until he found the military issued blanket he kept in there for cold night missions. He returned his bag to its original position and moved in the direction of the bird again.
The bird tried to push itself further away from him, almost as if it was going to burrow into the ground or climb the tree to escape. Tech made a soft hushing noise as he moved the blanket over the bird and gently scooped it up into his arms, wrapping it up in a bundle. The bird made a few distressed hooting sounds before seemingly calming down, as if it could sense that it wasn’t really in danger.
“That wasn’t so difficult,” Crosshair said, peering over Tech’s shoulder to look at the bird.
“Not the best method for transport, but it will have to do for now,” Tech said. “Let’s get back to the ship and call Hunter and Wrecker.”
Tech walked carefully over the uneven forest floor, trying not to jostle the bird in his arms too much. He didn’t want to cause it further distress by making its pain worse. Eventually, they made it back to the Marauder and Crosshair lowered the ramp. Tech walked up it and gently placed the bundle down on a chair just inside.
The convor poked its head out of the blanket, its wide eyes examining the new surroundings. It seemed displeased by the metal of the ship and the blinking lights, furrowing its brow before burrowing back into the blanket.
“They’re on their way back,” Crosshair said, coming to stand beside Tech. “Wrecker didn’t sound too happy, but they’ll be here in about ten minutes.”
“I’ll get the ship prepped,” Tech said. “Stay here with the bird.”
“Why am I on babysitting duty?”
“You both enjoy spending time in high places, perhaps you’ll find something to talk about,” Tech said with a small smirk before heading to the cockpit.
Once the ten minutes had passed and the ship was ready for takeoff, the sound of Hunter and Wrecker returning made Tech turn around in his chair. Wrecker shot him a dirty look when he reached the top of the ramp.
“Why’d we have to go so soon? I was having fun!”
“Something came up,” Tech said. “I’m sure Maz will be happy to have you back again soon.”
“To be more precise, something came down,” Crosshair said. “We found an injured bird on the ground and Tech wants to get it to someone that can help it.”
“A bird?” Hunter said, raising an eyebrow. “We’re leaving because of a bird?”
“If you prefer, I could leave you here and return once I’m done with my task,” Tech suggested.
Hunter shook his head and waved him off.
“We’re already here, just go.”
Tech spun his chair around and started the takeoff sequence. The Marauder left the ground and headed for the atmosphere, leaving the lush greenery of the planet below behind. Within minutes, they were in space and Tech typed in the hyperspace coordinates for Coruscant. The bright lights of hyperspace flared and they were off. Tech left the cockpit and returned to the area his brothers were sitting in. Wrecker was peering at the little bird wrapped up on the chair. His previous annoyance seemed to have dissipated.
“It’s a cute little thing,” he said. “What is it?”
“A convor. They’re native to several planets. I’ve read that they are believed to have a special connection to the Force.”
“So I assume we’re taking it to a Jedi?” Hunter asked.
Tech nodded and he noticed Crosshair’s posture stiffen at the mention of a Jedi. He assumed his brother was thinking of a different Jedi than he was, however.
“I met someone when I went to the temple to find information on those carnivorous plants. She has a very strong connection to nature and animals. I’m hoping she’ll be able to heal this bird.”
Once again, Crosshair’s posture changed, slumping in disappointment. While he was sure that Lena would have been happy to help them, Tech felt Anaj would be a better choice for this particular situation. Besides, he was interested in seeing and talking to her again.
“I’m going to contact her,” he said. “She gave me her personal com frequency in case I had any questions about something.”
He thought he noticed a glance from Hunter to Crosshair that seemed loaded with some secret meaning, but Tech wasn’t sure what it meant. He shrugged it off and removed his datapad from his pack on the floor. Heading to the back of the ship, he looked up the information Anaj had given him and typed in the frequency on his comm. It wasn’t long before the beep of a connection told him his call had gone through.
“Hello?”
The voice on the other end was softer than he remembered, but it sounded right.
“Hello, this is Tech…CT-9902…we spoke some time ago about plants?”
“Oh, Tech! Hello!” said the voice, the softness morphing into something more excited. “I hadn’t expected you to contact me. You seemed to know what you were doing on your own about most things.”
Tech felt a sense of satisfaction at her observation of his competence. They hadn’t spent much time together, but knowing that she had noticed his talents felt nice.
“I have a particular issue that I believe your help is required for,” he said. “My brothers and I were on Takodana and we discovered an injured convor. It is quite young and I fear it would not survive without assistance.”
“What kind of injury?”
“I’m not certain, but it seems to have fallen from the nest and was trapped on the ground. Which leads me to believe that it injured one of its wings.”
“Hmm, that sounds like delicate work that I’m not sure I could help talk you through,” she said. “It’s something someone experienced in working with birds would have to do.”
“We are currently on our way to Corsucant with the bird,” Tech said. “I was hoping to bring it to you directly so you could help it.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end before Anaj spoke again.
“I’m honored that you would think of me for this task. Healing is not one of my specialties, I’m afraid. But it is a talent my brother possesses. Bring the bird to the temple and we will see what we can do for the poor creature.”
“We should be there in a few hours.”
“I will contact my brother and ready things for your arrival.”
The link was severed, bringing the conversation to a halt. Tech was confident that he had done the correct thing. Even if Anaj herself could not help the bird, she knew a way to get it done. He walked back to the front of the ship to where his brothers were still sitting with the bird.
“How’d your talk with your girlfriend go?” Crosshair asked.
Tech narrowed his eyes at him, not understanding the question.
“This is merely the second time we have spoken, she is by no means my girlfriend. Also, she’s a Jedi. Just because you choose to ignore that fact about the woman you’re obsessed with doesn’t mean everyone does.”
Wrecker laughed in his loud booming way, smacking Crosshair on the shoulder.
“That’s gotta sting,” he said.
“He’s got a point Cross,” Hunter said. “It’s unwise to involve yourself with a Jedi.”
“Not that Lena would even consider you,” Tech said. “You were fairly cruel to her, Crosshair.”
Crosshair scowled and turned to walk to the gunner mount at the back of the ship, obviously done with the conversation. Tech could hear him muttering something as he walked away, but chose to ignore it.
When they arrived on Coruscant, Tech landed the Marauder in one of the ports and started turning off various systems. He was glad they had finally arrived.
About halfway through the journey, the bird had grown tired of being trapped in its blanket prison and had ventured out. Wrecker had seen it trying to find a way down and had gently helped it to the floor and watched as it wandered around the ship. Tech had seen no problem with this. Since the bird couldn’t fly, he didn’t think it could cause too much trouble.
He had been wrong.
Not ten minutes had passed before the bird had chewed through some wiring that was luckily not very important, grabbed a box of Crosshair’s toothpicks and scattered them all over the floor, and pooped in Hunter’s shoe. Once they were able to catch the bird again, Tech was instructed to lock it away in a small storage container. After some air holes were added and the blanket was placed in with the bird, it was left alone for the remainder of the trip. Judging by the irritated hooting it made every few minutes, Tech guessed it was not happy about the current arrangement.
“Get that bird off my ship,” Hunter said as soon as the landing sequence was complete.
Tech nodded silently and lifted the container in both hands and descended the ramp. He made his way over to the speeders that were available for use by clones and chose a small open top one. A bike didn’t seem like the correct way to transport the bird and it would likely distress the creature further.
Tech flew directly to the Jedi temple and headed for the hangar bay he had used the first time he visited. He didn’t have clearance codes this time, so he wasn’t sure what the proper procedure was for this visit. He landed his speeder on the outer edge of the bay and climbed out before reaching back in for the container. The bird within was hooting again, although it seemed to have evolved from annoyance to anger.
An older human man walked across the hangar in his direction, looking at Tech suspiciously. He seemed ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice if he thought Tech was a threat. Given the state of the galaxy and things that had happened on Coruscant in the past, Tech didn’t blame him.
“Greetings,” he said to the man. “I am here to see the Jedi Anaj Rotz. She should be expecting me.”
“Do you have clearance?” the man asked. “Not just anyone can be granted access to the temple.”
“I do not. I did for my last visit, given by General Kenobi, but I’m afraid I forgot to ask this time. Surely you could contact her and let her know that I am here?”
The man narrowed his eyes briefly before raising his wrist up to press a button on the comm located there. A few moments passed before Tech could hear a voice from the other end that was not Anaj. It sounded a bit like General Kenobi.
“There’s a man here that says he knows you and you gave him clearance before, can you confirm that Master Kenobi?” the man said into his comm.
Tech was confused that he was being treated like a stranger rather than a member of the Republic military, but then remembered that most Jedi didn’t know about Clone Force 99’s existence. He didn’t look like most clones, which explained the suspicion.
“I am CT-9902,” he said. “Otherwise known as Tech. My squad and I have worked with General Kenobi many times. Also with General Lena Orim.”
Tech heard Kenobi confirm this and say that he saw no issue with allowing Tech into the temple. The man before him made a humming noise before saying farewell and cutting the transmission.
“I cannot simply let you wander freely through the halls,” he said. “You should have an escort.”
“Perhaps I can help?” a voice Tech recognized spoke up from behind the man.
Both Tech and the man turned to look for the source of the voice and saw Master Shaak Ti standing near the doorway out of the hangar. She smiled softly at Tech and bowed her head in greeting.
“Hello, Tech, it is good to see you.”
Tech returned the gesture and held up the container he was holding.
“I have something to deliver to Anaj Rotz. She knows I’m coming.”
Shaak Ti gestured to the door beside her, inviting him to accompany her.
“Thank you for your diligence, Master Drallig. I will make sure our guest gets to his proper destination.”
Tech glanced over at the man, Master Drallig, for confirmation that he was free to go before accepting Master Ti’s invitation and leaving the hangar. She guided him along the same path that Keebo had on his last visit, nodding in greeting to other Jedi that they passed.
“What brings you here today?” Master Ti asked. “Do you have some strange plant for Anaj to examine?”
“A bird actually,” Tech said. “A young injured convor.”
The bird in question had been quiet for a while, almost as if it knew that it was amongst friends in the safety of the Jedi temple. But at the mention of it, it let out a quiet hoot. Master Ti paused and peered through some of the holes on the top of the container to see the bird. She sighed softly as she put her hand on the lid.
“I can sense her pain,” she said. “Poor creature. Hopefully, she will get the help she needs.”
Tech was astonished to discover the bird was a female. The petulant behavior she had displayed on the ship had reminded him of Wrecker when they were much younger, so he had assumed the bird was a young male as well.
“I believe Anaj said she would call on her brother for assistance?” Tech said. “She mentioned he was a healer?”
“Indeed he is,” Master Ti replied. “A talented one at that. He should be able to help her get everything back to rights.”
They resumed walking and traveled in silence until they reached the frosted door he had visited before. Master Ti bid him farewell and repeated her statement about being glad to see him before walking off and leaving him on his own. Tech pressed the button to open the door and stepped inside the office space of the greenhouse.
Two figures turned to face him when he entered. One of them was Anaj, who raised her hand in greeting. A taller, green, Nautolan man with yellow markings stood beside her. He wore a mix of brown and dark blue, a band around his bicep bearing a mark that looked much like the symbol of the Republic medics.
“Hello, Tech,” Anaj said. “This is my brother, Seoj.”
The man nodded his head in greeting to Tech, which seemed to be a common thing with Jedi Tech had noticed.
“I hear you have a patient for me,” Seoj said.
Tech placed the container down on one of the desks, which he noticed were much more organized than his last visit. He lifted the lid and removed it from the container, allowing the Jedi to peer into the box.
“You weren’t kidding when you said it was young,” Anaj said. “This poor thing is barely out of infanthood.”
“I was informed by Master Ti, who guided me here, that she is a female.”
Anaj smiled at the mention of her former master. Tech remembered she had mentioned being fond of the serene Togruta master in their previous conversation.
“Master Ti has a slightly different relationship with animals than I do,” she said. “But she has a strong empathy for those who are suffering.”
Anaj reached into the box and carefully lifted the bird out. She cradled her gently in her arms and made soft comforting noises. Tech could see that the bird was much more at ease with her than she had been with him and his brothers.
“It was good of you to bring her here,” Anaj said. “It would have been a shame for this accident to lead her to perish.”
Tech simply nodded and stood watching as Anaj set the bird down for Seoj to examine. He was equally as gentle in his interactions, slowly lifting the bird’s wing and removing his touch when it cried in pain.
“Her wing is likely broken,” he said. “I can heal the break, but she will still need time to recover before she will be able to fly.”
Seoj closed his eyes and held his hands hovering over the small bird. He seemed to be deeply focusing on something within himself. Tech guessed he was calling upon the Force to work some kind of healing power. He still knew so little about the Force himself, so he wasn’t sure how any of this worked. But, he trusted the experts to do their job as well as he would do his if the situation were reversed.
After a few minutes had passed, Seoj opened his eyes again and peered down at the bird. He gently lifted the wing again and when the bird didn’t react with any large amount of distress, he let out a satisfied sigh.
“I believe I’ve done what I can. The rest is up to her.”
He lightly patted the bird on the head with a single finger before turning to his sister.
“I will go gather some herbs from the greenhouse and make them into a compress. They should help expedite the rest of the healing process.”
Tech watched as Seoj left the pair of them and disappeared into the warm plant room. Anaj leaned down to get her face closer to the bird.
“I bet that feels a lot better, hmm?” she asked her. “I’ll help take care of you until everything is all healed up.”
“What will happen when she’s healed?” Tech asked.
“We can’t very well return her to where you found her,” Anaj said. “She will have missed crucial development steps by being away from her family.”
Tech pondered this thought for a few moments. He hadn’t thought of this outcome when he had taken the bird from her home. He had been focused on finding her help instead of thinking of the big picture.
“I will help her learn,” Anaj continued. “Perhaps find her a new home.”
“I’ve heard that many people keep them as pets,” Tech suggested. “Perhaps you can find someone interested in adopting her once she’s healed.”
“That’s a wonderful idea, Tech,” Anaj said, smiling at him.
Her words combined with the smile made Tech feel the warm feeling he had experienced before while in her presence. Such a simple thing pleased him in a way he couldn’t explain. He felt the corners of his mouth lift in a smile in return.
The moment between them was interrupted by the return of Seoj, who had a handful of herbs. He brought them over to a work station and began grinding them up. Once he was done, he added them to a small bandage and brought it over. Working gently and slowly, he wrapped it around the bird and secured it in place.
“That should help her be healed in no time,” he said. “You did the right thing bringing her here, Tech.”
Tech nodded again. He felt his mission was complete.
“I should probably go,” he said. “My brothers will be waiting for me.”
“It was good to see you again,” Anaj said. “I’ll save your comm frequency and let you know how she’s doing as she heals.”
“I would appreciate that,” Tech said.
Anaj smiled to herself as she watched Tech leave with a final wave. She hadn’t been sure if she would ever see him again after his last visit, and had been very surprised when he contacted her. She was glad he had.
She hadn’t had much interaction with many clone troopers, other than her meetings with Chip, the medic for the 394th. Tech seemed much different than Chip in ways she couldn’t put into words. Then again, he seemed different from anyone she had met before, so that wasn’t saying much.
“What are you thinking about?” Seoj asked. “You’ve got that faraway thinking look on your face.”
“What did you think of Tech?” she asked.
“He seemed decent enough,” he said with a shrug. “A bit different from the other clones I know.”
“Sometimes being different is a good thing,”
“Very true,” Seoj agreed. “I’d be interested in meeting the rest of his squad to see if they’re anything like him.”
“Maybe we’ll meet them someday. I’d very much like to get to know Tech better myself.”
Anaj tried not to notice the look her brother sent her way. She knew better than to form any kind of attachment to Tech, or any clone. She knew they were at risk of disappearing in the blink of an eye.
But perhaps it was worth the loss, if you got to know an amazing person in the first place.
A/N: Give this a like, comment, and reblog and let me know what you think!
Summary: After an unfortunate incident in the hangar bay, Wolffe is there to scold you about a few things.
Pairing: Wolffe/F!Reader
Prompt: "Is that my [blank]?" Non-established relationship.
A/N: This is part of the @cloneficgiftexchange and is written for @jetii! I've never written for Wolffe before, so thank you for the opportunity. I hope you enjoy it!
(Divider by /lornaka and /freesia-writes) AO3 Link
If General Plo Koon had heard the curses that left your mouth when you slammed your finger between the ship parts you had been working on, he surely would have reprimanded you. Luckily for you, there wasn’t anyone around to hear the foul words. Wincing, you pulled yourself out from under the ship to examine your injured finger.
“That’s gonna leave a mark,” you said, shaking your throbbing hand. “Hope it doesn’t mess with my form.”
You slid the rest of the way out from under the ship and got to your feet, wiping the grease from your hands on the shirt you were wearing. You hoped it wouldn’t stain, but given that the shirt was black, it didn’t seem likely. A hiss slipped from your lips as you grazed your injured finger in the process of wiping your hands off. You shook the hand again, muttering a few extra curses under your breath.
“Does your master know you use such language?” a voice said from the other side of your fighter.
You jumped at the sound and peered over the front of the ship to see who was speaking. Your gaze was met by a scowling face, mismatched eyes narrowed in reproof.
“To be fair, I said some things that were a lot worse a few minutes ago,” you replied. “But I’d like that to remain between us, if you don’t mind Commander.”
Wolffe raised an eyebrow at you, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I think you’ve been learning some bad habits from the men,” he said. “A young lady shouldn’t use such language, especially a Jedi.”
You scoffed at his words. You knew very well that there were Jedi that swore much more and used much worse words. Some in multiple languages.
“First of all, I’m older than you, Wolffe. Even with the accelerated aging.”
“Okay then,” he said, rolling his eyes. “A proper lady such as yourself shouldn’t say those things.”
“I hardly think of myself as a proper lady,” you retorted. “Even Anakin is more proper than I am. Although that might be from spending time with Master Kenobi.”
The tired sigh you got in response made you grin. You knew that he didn’t want to deal with your sass right now, but you enjoyed it nonetheless.
“If you don’t need anything else, Commander, I will be heading to my quarters to take a shower.”
“What about your hand?” Wolffe asked, gesturing to your injured appendage. “Surely a wound that caused you to say such filthy things warrants medical attention.”
You waved off his concern, hiding your hand behind your back.
“I’m sure it’s fine. I’ll put a bandage on it once I’m clean.”
You moved to walk around the front of the ship, but stopped short when Wolffe stepped in front of you. It was your turn to raise an eyebrow at him. He held out his hand, clearly wanting you to do the same.
“Really, Wolffe, it’s fine,” you said, hoping you sounded reassuring.
He stood there silently, staring intently at you until you gave in with a resigned sigh, placing your injured hand in his palm. Wolffe peered down at the injury, turning your hand over with a gentleness that surprised you.
“You should at least get it looked at,” he said. “Don’t want it to get infected. Or like you said, affect your form. Could be dangerous in battle.”
You narrowed your eyes at him as he spoke. Had he really heard you say that?
“How long were you watching me?” you asked.
He raised his gaze to meet yours, something you couldn’t read flickering in his good eye for a moment before disappearing.
“Long enough.”
Wolffe released his grip on your hand and stepped out of your way so you could walk past him.
“You should go get yourself cleaned up and have someone look at your hand.”
You made a humming noise in response. As you walked past him, you could feel his eyes on you, following you to the door out of the hanger. You paused at the door when you heard him call your name and turned to face him.
“Is that my shirt?” he asked. “I’m missing the shirt from one of my sets of blacks. Thought maybe Sinker had taken it, but perhaps I was suspicious of the wrong person.”
“Maybe it is,” you said. “But right now it’s covered in grease so I don’t think you want it back at the moment.”
Before he could say anything else, you turned and walked through the door and down the hall. You hadn’t expected to get caught taking one of his shirts, and you didn’t feel like dealing with the consequences right now.
After a few hours, you were clean, your hand had been bandaged and you had exchanged the dirty greasy shirt for a clean one from the laundry room. You made your way down the hall to Wolffe’s quarter with it in your hands. In your head, you tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for why you had the shirt in your possession in the first place.
Judging by the surprise lacing his question earlier, it seemed that Wolffe had forgotten the incident from last week when your tunic had torn during training, nearly exposing you to everyone in the room. He had noticed almost immediately and had quickly taken his own shirt from his body to give to you to cover yourself. You had never returned it to him after that incident. It seemed like the laundry droid had noted its absence amongst the dirty laundry and hadn’t seen fit to give him a replacement.
The real reason you had never returned it yourself was a bit more complicated. It hadn’t been very dirty when he gave it to you, but it still held his smell. The clean, but slightly musky smell that you tried to ignore when he stood too close to you at briefings. The smell that made your brain shut down for a few seconds sometimes, which made you miss parts of important conversations.
You had no idea how to explain that to him without sounding odd or creepy. So you decided to go with the explanation that you had simply forgotten to return it to him. That would help avoid any awkward conversations that would have followed the actual truth.
When you reached his door, you lifted your hand to knock. Not even thinking, you knocked with your injured hand, sending a shooting pain down the length of your arm. A few more choice words slipped out of our mouth as the door slid open.
“Again with the language,” Wolffe said. “What is with you today?”
You peered at him standing in the doorway in front of you, missing the very article of clothing that you had come to return. Your jaw nearly hit the floor at the sight of his bare muscled chest. Given the state of mind you had been in on your way to his door, you weren’t prepared to deal with the feelings the sight inflamed in you.
“Did you need something?” he asked.
Despite the ease of words leaving your mouth several times that day, at this moment you couldn’t find anything to say. Your mouth felt dry as you tried to form a coherent sentence. Clearing your throat, you lifted your eyes from his bare chest to meet his gaze.
“I came to return your shirt,” you managed to say. “Or at least bring you a new one.”
You held out the garment in question, your hand shaking slightly as you did. Wolffe’s eyebrows lifted in confusion at your behavior, but you saw realization dawn on his expression soon enough. Something that you rarely saw appeared on his face, a smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.
“Is there a problem?”
You shook your head and turned to leave.
“I’m just a little distracted is all,” you said. “Sorry for keeping your shirt for so long.”
You almost swore you heard a soft chuckle as you walked away, your face heating up with embarrassment. Despite your careful planning, you didn’t think your attraction to him was a secret anymore. Which was going to be a problem.
A/N: Give this a like, comment, and reblog and let me know what you think!
Prompt: “It was the only way.”/untimely chip activation/Pacific Rim AU
Prompt list by @ladysongmaster Divider by djarrex
Tags/Warnings: Angst
A/N: This is from a 2023 prompt list, finishing the challenge 2 years late. Continuation from part 17 (Mando AU).
“Why are we meeting with the Republic soldiers again?” Sparx asked as he pulled on his boots. “I didn’t think we wanted anything to do with the Republic.”
Howzer looked at his brother in the reflective surface he had been using to adjust his pauldron. He knew very well that the situation had been explained to Sparx at least 3 times at this point.
“Because we’re not doing as well against the droids as we would like, and we need some assistance. It won’t come from Mandalore and Drael doesn’t want to reach out to any bounty hunter contacts. He’d rather not owe anyone any favors.”
Howzer watched as Sparx ran his hand over his blonde mohawk, attempting to smooth down the tangled curls. He didn’t know why his brother tried to fix his hair all the time when it would just get messed up the second he put on his helmet.
“So he’d rather work with the people he stole from and risk exposing us like that?” Sparx asked. “I fail to see how that’s better.”
“To be fair,” Flame piped up from the other side of the tent. “The Republic didn’t even know about us when we left Kamino, so they won’t know the history.”
“And we’ll be wearing our helmets the whole time, so they won’t see our faces,” Howzer added.
He tossed Sparx’s helmet to him to add to his point. Sparx scowled at the headpiece, probably lamenting the mess it would make of his hair.
“Hope we don’t end up seeing anyone we know,” Flame said, walking over to stand beside his brothers. “That could be awkward.”
Chip swung his pack over his shoulders as the gunship came to land on the ground near the Mandalorian base. Beside him stood his Jedi General, Lena Orim. She looked over at him with concern.
“Everything alright, Chip?” she asked. “I can sense some anxiety from you.”
“Let’s just say that I don’t have the best history with Mandalorians,” Chip said.
“I can relate,” Lena said in response. “From what I’ve heard, this group isn’t anything like Death Watch or your donor Jango Fett. Hopefully, this will be a beneficial arrangement.”
“Just as long as it doesn’t last very long,” Chip muttered, turning to face the opening ship doors.
The two of them walked across the landing zone in the direction of a small group of armored people. Behind them, the other men they had brought with them started unloading supplies from the transport ships. Chip could hear Commander Blaze giving orders on where to put things as he received information from the crew in charge of the area. When Chip and Lena reached the group they were heading towards, she stopped a short distance from them, Chip following her lead.
“Welcome,General Orim,” a man said, stepping forward. “Thank you for answering our call for assistance.”
“I’m glad we were able to help you,” Lena said, reaching out to shake the man’s hand. “As I’m sure you’re aware, our resources are spread a bit thin with the war right now.”
“Of course,” he said. “We appreciate that you were able to spare some to help us. Let me introduce you to the men in charge of this operation. They’re the ones you will be working with during your time here.”
Chip followed Lena and the man over to the rest of the group, his eyes scanning over the men assembled there. Something about them almost seemed familiar. Something he could place. Then, a man stood up from where he was sitting behind the other men. A tall man with dark, curly hair that had an arrangement of horns poking through the curls. Chip stopped dead in his tracks.
Drael?
Chip could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he looked at the man that had trained him as a child. The man that had given him his name. The man that had left Kamino, taking Chip’s brothers and squadmates with him. The man that had left him behind.
“This is Drael Arwani,” the first man said to Lena. “He will be the main one you will be working with.”
Chip didn’t hear most of Lena and Drael’s exchange. He simply stared at him from behind his helmet. He saw Drael gesture to the other men and Chip’s gaze shifted to them.
“These are three of my foundlings, they are like sons to me,” he heard Drael say. “I have another one, but he is with my wife and our children in a different settlement dealing with the issues there.”
Chip watched as the three men nodded their heads in greeting, but didn’t speak. He narrowed his eyes at them, as if he could see through their beskar helmets.
“I was told you have some wounded?” Lena asked. “I brought my medic along to help with that.”
Chip’s gaze snapped back to Drael when he felt his eyes on him.
“Yes, they’re over in the med tent,” he said, nodding to the three men beside him. “Why don’t you escort him over there?”
The men looked to each other, seemingly participating in a silent conversation only they could hear before one of them turned to Chip and gestured for him to follow. Chip followed the one that had taken the lead, the other two following behind them. When they had gone a short distance from Drael and Lena, the leader finally spoke.
“We’ve been short on people with medical training, so there hasn’t been much help around here besides basic bandaging and using our limited bacta supplies. You’ll have a lot of work to do.”
While the voice sounded like the one he was used to from other clones, there was something different about the way this man spoke. His accent was different, as was his manner of speaking.
“Do you have a name?” the man asked. “I would assume by this point, you would have one.”
Chip stopped walking, bringing the whole group to a halt.
“Actually, I’ve had one since I was on Kamino. Was given to me by my trainer when I was still a boy.”
“What is it?” one of the men behind him asked. “Something boring based on a personality quirk?”
“Chip.”
At the reveal of his name, Chip could feel the atmosphere around him change. He had his suspicions of who these men were, but this confirmed it. They were his former squadmates.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” he asked.
The man in the lead reached up and removed his helmet from his head, revealing a face that was as familiar to Chip as his own. The face he saw everyday on his brothers and in the mirror.
“Pyro is with Venri, Binti, and her brother Jarex,” the man said. “But Flame, Sparx, and I stayed here with Drael to help him fight the droid presence.”
“Howzer,” was all Chip could say before he felt the reality hit him like a brick. “You abandoned the Republic, abandoned me, and now you ask for our help?”
“Asking for help wasn’t our idea,” one of the other two said. “And we didn’t abandon you. You chose to stay behind.”
“Because that’s what we were made for!” Chip said, rounding on his former squadmate.
“What? To die fighting a war we had no part in starting?” Sparx said, ripping off his helmet to get up in Chip’s face. “Your life is no more honorable than ours. At least we have a choice!”
“It was the only way we could make what we wanted of our lives, rather than following the path chosen for us,” Howzer said calmly. “We fight for a cause that means something to us, not because we were ordered to.”
“You think this is the only way to live?” Chip asked. “What about the millions of brothers that have formed bonds that could never be broken. That fight side by side everyday to work towards peace in the galaxy?”
“We fight that same fight,” Howzer said. “As a family.”
“I thought I was part of that family,” Chip said, his voice breaking in the middle of his sentence.
“You were,” Howzer said, “and you still are. We never forgot about you.”
“You see this crest?” Flame asked, stepping forward to show Chip his pauldron. “It has 5 flames in the center of the dragon. One for each of us.”
“Even if we were separated, you are still part of us.” Howzer said. “We always agreed that if we met up with you again, we would welcome you with open arms.”
“Didn’t expect to ever see you again, though,” Sparx said. “You could have died right at the beginning of the war and we would never have known.”
Chip silently took in what they said to him. They still cared about him and wanted him to be in their family. They had begged him to come with them when they left Kamino, but he had felt the strong connection to his duty as a soldier to follow the path laid out for him. He still did, perhaps even stronger now.
“I have a new squad, people that are important to me,” he said. “I have a duty to uphold. To the Republic, to my friends, and to myself.”
His brothers seemed to understand what he was saying, no doubt reminded of how he had always been in the time they had known him. The thing that made them stop asking him to come with them when they left. He could see that they respected his decision, even if he hadn’t respected theirs.
“There will always be a place for you here, if you want it,” Howzer said. “We won’t ask you to give up on what you think is right.”
Chip nodded in thanks, not trusting himself to speak in that moment. He gestured in the direction of the med tent they had been escorting him to.
“I have my responsibilities,” he said. “Please take me where I’m needed.”
Howzer nodded and placed his helmet back on his head before turning around, walking on again with his brothers following him. Chip could feel the pain from a mostly healed wound being torn open again. Somehow this hurt more than the first time. His brothers had held out a hand to take him away and he had refused them. He would have to find a way to heal all over again.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this! Please reblog, like, and comment!
sign ups for the 2025 exchange are officially open, and will continue to be through october 25th!
the faq for the event can be found here and the rules can be found here, and you can find specific information about life day and what it could mean for fic here!
here’s how the exchange will work:
1. Read over this post, reblog it to the blog you want to participate with, and fill out the sign up form linked below!!
When you sign up, you’ll choose which of the clones you would like to receive an xreader fic about. Because this event is random, I require participants to at least be comfortable writing and reading for Rex, so no one gets an assignment they can’t fulfill.
2. The day sign ups end, you will receive two emails from me:
I’ll be using a secret santa website to do the matching, so one email will come from that website, and it will tell you who you will be writing for. I can easily randomize the assignments this way, and it ensures that everyone has a match.
The second email will come from this blog’s event email ([email protected]) and it will have posting information, general information for the participants, and a document of all the prompts. Once you find out from the secret santa website who your person is, you just need to find them on the list to see your prompt and the characters you have the option of writing for.
3. You will have about seven weeks to write your fic, and the word minimum is 800 words. On December 13th (that’s a Saturday), participants will post their fics to tumblr. I’ll send out more details about posting when the event gets closer, so don’t worry about that. I will also put together a list of all the fics when the event is over, which will be linked on the blog’s pinned post with the other past exchanges.
you can sign up here!!
please feel free to reach out to me with any questions! hope to see you in the signups :)
tagging those who said they were interested: @toomanybandstocare
Series Summary: Silco has returned to take over Vander’s position as leader of the Undercity, only to find himself facing a new challenge. The woman that had once been devoted to him wants nothing to do with him. Can he convince her or have things changed too much in his absence?
Pairings: Post Act 1 Silco/OC (Olillia), Implied past Sevika/OC, Young Silco/OC
Parts: Series Masterlist || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter
Warnings/Tags: Silco eye treatment, mentions of grief
A/N: Hello readers! It has been a long time since the last update. I have been very busy the past year+ and haven't had the time/energy/motivation to write much of anything. But here I am again! Quick note that this story will not be taking Season 2 of Arcane into account, so nothing found there is applicable to this story. That includes the names of Jinx and Vi's parents. They will be known as Adele and Matthias in Who We Were.
Big thank you to @deny-the-issue for beta-reading for me!
Every day that passed required a new way for Lil to occupy Jinx for the day. Until things progressed on the remodeling of The Last Drop, she didn’t have much else on her schedule so this was her task. Today, Jinx had asked to journey a bit closer to the surface of the Undercity, wanting to get away from the ordinary scene she had been stuck in for so long.
As the two of them journeyed up through the lift that took them to the higher levels, Lil could feel a distinct change in temperature. It seemed that spring was coming to an end and summer was approaching. While that meant that the torrential downpour that flooded the Undercity every spring would be coming to an end, it also meant that the temperature would rise with each new day.
“It’s so nice up here,” Jinx said as they left the confines of the lift. “Not all gross and wet.”
Lil agreed with her, taking in the rays of sunlight beaming down on them in a way they couldn’t experience in the lower levels. There were select sections where it was a bit more open to the surface and some light made it down to the bottom, but those were rare and hard to access. Lil had even heard rumor of an area that was cleaner than most other parts of Zaun and had a giant tree growing in the middle of it. Having never seen this place herself, she leaned more in the direction of believing that to be a myth rather than the miracle it could represent.
Lil followed Jinx around for a few hours, pulling her away when she wandered in a direction that she shouldn’t, but otherwise letting her have freedom to choose where they went. She didn’t know how much longer it would be before Silco came up with an alternative plan for the girl and the freedom of childhood would be taken away from her.
Vander had always let the kids roam free when they had the time, allowing them to go where they wanted as long as they stayed out of trouble. Lil wondered if maybe it would have been better to keep a tighter leash on them at times. Perhaps they could have avoided the tragedy that had happened if there had been more restrictions.
Jinx called out to her from a railing she was perched on, pointing up at the sky to one of the flying contraptions used by the people of Piltover. Lil had heard the girl express many times that she wished to fly in one of them someday. She earnestly hoped that would be possible, but unless things changed in a drastic way, she couldn’t see that happening anytime soon.
“Look how colorful it is!” Jinx shouted, leaning too far over the edge of the railing.
Lil reached forward and grabbed the back of her shirt, preventing her from toppling over.
“Yes, it is very colorful. Just like your art.”
“I think I’d add even more colors to it if I could,” Jinx said. “More pink for sure.”
Lil smiled softly at that. For someone so based in the color blue, Jinx sure had a strong love for pink. Her smile faded, however, when she thought about why that may be. The color pink definitely had a connection to someone that Jinx loved. Someone she had lost.
Every day that passed, Lil tried hard not to think about the other kids, especially Violet. She still didn’t know for certain what had happened to any of them. Silco had told her that a contact of his had confirmed the girl’s death. Jinx had been unresponsive and sullen for days at the news. She seemed now to have pushed the thought away to wherever she was holding the grief for the rest of her family.
Life in the undercity didn’t leave much room for grief, Lil knew that. Her own grief for Silco, for Adele, for Matthias, for everyone she had ever lost, still lingered. She didn’t let it consume her anymore, especially now that Silco had returned to her. It still hurt, but in a dull ache kind of way rather than an overpowering pain. She imagined that would be how Jinx would feel with time.
After several hours of running around, it was time to return to the Drop. Lil could tell that Jinx was getting tired of their adventure and was ready to go back to what was familiar. As they approached the bar, the girl’s speed increased and she ran to the door, slamming it open. The people working inside jumped at the sound but quickly returned to work after Lil apologized when she followed Jinx through the door.
Lil glanced around at the work being done. It seemed like the framework that had always existed was remaining the same, mostly just the aesthetic was being changed. The warmer, cozy atmosphere had been replaced by a darker and more industrial look. Large lights and speakers sat in the corner, ready to be installed. The lower part below the bar had been remodeled from the residential space into a staff area, with a kitchen and storage room taking up most of the space.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about this change, but there wasn’t much she could do about it so Lil saw no need to mention her disagreement. Silco did what he wanted with what he believed to be his. She imagined that he probably wanted to change it from a place that held so many memories into something new that could serve his purposes, whatever those may be.
Lil and Jinx made their way past the construction team and up the stairs to Silco’s office, doing as he asked of them and checking in when they returned. Jinx pushed through the door without knocking as she often did. Lil knew this annoyed Silco, but he never said anything to the child on the matter. The man in question looked up from the paperwork covering his desk at the sound of their entry.
“Ah, Jinx. Did you enjoy yourself today?” he asked, focusing his attention on her.
Jinx bounded up to his desk and slammed her hands down on the paper covered surface.
“Yeah! Lil took me to the surface and I got to see the airships!” she said excitedly. “It was so warm up there and really sunny!”
“I suppose it is getting close to summer now, I’m sure you’d enjoy spending more time outside rather than being cooped up here.”
Jinx nodded and looked up at Lil as she approached the desk at a much slower pace.
“Can we go again tomorrow?” she asked.
“That’s not up to me, Sweets,” Lil answered. “Silco might have something else in mind for either you or me.”
Jinx looked expectantly at Silco, a small pout forming on her lips.
“I’m afraid that I might have a different task for Olillia tomorrow. But, we can talk about it more later.”
Jinx’s pout grew but she seemed to accept what Silco said and nodded in agreement.
“Why don’t you run off and go find something to occupy yourself?” Silco asked. “I have some things that I’d like to speak to Olillia about.”
Jinx nodded again and headed for the door, moving a little slower this time as her excitement from before faded. Lil watched her go with a sigh. Her previous thoughts of letting Jinx have some freedom came to mind and she worried that they may have already run out of time. The door closed with a click behind JInx and Lil turned to face Silco.
“She did seem to have a good time today,” she said. “She seemed happier than she has been and I think the sunlight did her some good.”
“That is indeed a good thing to hear,” Silco said. “But she cannot spend every day galavanting up to the surface. Especially not on her own.”
“She doesn’t have to be alone. I don’t see a reason why I can’t take her up there when she wishes.”
“You said yourself that you didn’t want to be her caretaker fulltime. I have other work that you could be doing and she will need someone else to step in to be with her during the day.”
“Are you talking about a babysitter or someone that can help her with learning things?” Lil asked. “It would be beneficial for her to have someone around to teach her things. She’s very smart and being able to grow her knowledge would be a good way for her to grow into someone who can enjoy this future you’re planning.”
Silco seemed to be contemplating what she said, but didn’t say anything in response.
“You want a better future, then do what you can to ensure she has one.”
He nodded and gestured to Lil.
“You don’t want that job yourself?” he asked. “You seem to care about this subject a great deal.”
“You know I don’t have the skill or knowledge for that, Silco. I can teach her to live in the Undercity. I can help her become an adult. But her mind and the way it works have always been beyond me. She needs someone who knows what they’re doing and can help her develop in a way that neither of us can.”
“Do you have any suggestions? Anyone that you know of that could help her in this way?”
Lil shook her head. While survival skills were valuable knowledge that was learned and honed in the Undercity, book knowledge was not as common. Some people had specific skills that they needed to help them make a living, but not many evolved beyond that. She had heard of some young people that had brains and had managed to make it in Piltover, even attending the academy, but that was rare.
“Mai was in charge of teaching the kids before, as she learned some stuff as a kid before her family moved here. I helped occasionally with some stuff I picked up in my time working in Piltover, but I can’t think of anyone that would be a good choice otherwise.”
“Mai will never step foot in this establishment as long as I’m here,” Silco said. “She never liked me before and I imagine that her opinion has not improved over the years.”
Lil thought back to Mai’s desperate pleading for her to stay away from Silco and how she had always warned her away from him. Even years ago, she had always steered clear of him. Mai would not be a good option going forward.
“I will figure something out,” Silco said. “I’m sure there are many from the city that would love to ‘educate’ those of us they think they can save.”
Lil made a face at his phrasing, but admitted that he had a point. It was one of the things that had led to her getting her job when she was younger. She was a project that could be worked on, until she became a problem instead. Silco would have to look elsewhere to find someone that fit the description she had laid out.
“What do you want from me in the meantime?” she asked. “You said that you had something else for me to do rather than stay with Jinx.”
Silco sat back in his chair and gestured vaguely to the building around him.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed the work going on around us. As well as the dirt that has accumulated since it began.”
Lil dragged a finger across the base of the lamp on his desk, leaving a trail in the dust sitting on it.
“I had noticed things were getting a bit dusty,” she said. “So you want me to step into that cleaning position you talked about before?”
“Again, a temporary position until things are truly up and running downstairs and you can put your charming demeanor to work there instead.”
Lil wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or complimenting her. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
“Fine. I will clean things up for you, just like old times.”
“You always did say that this place would fall apart if you weren’t here to keep it together,” Silco said. “Time to follow through on that thinking.”
Silco winced as the ladder creaked beneath him. It really wasn’t safe to be climbing up here, but then again, it wasn’t safe to climb up on any roof. He scrambled over the top and wiped his palms on the front of his pants, scanning the rooftop for the person he came to find. His eyes landed on her at last and he started walking towards her.
“I thought you might be up here,” he said as he approached.
Lil turned her head at the sound of his voice and gave him a sheepish smile.
“Am I that obvious?”
Silco sat down beside her on the edge of the room and swung his legs to dangle over the side like she did.
“Nah, I just hadn’t seen you in a while and figured you were hiding somewhere. Also, I saw your feet from down there,” he said, pointing down to the alley below. “Who exactly are you hiding from?”
Lil sighed and tossed a rock over the edge of the roof.
“Petro. He won’t leave me alone. He’s ten times worse than Odette ever was.”
Silco furrowed his brows in confusion. He had never heard the name Odette.
“Who?”
Lil glanced at him curiously before something seemed to dawn on her.
“I suppose I never gave you many details about my romantic escapades in Topside.”
“Other than the fact that you were a homewrecker, no you didn’t.”
Lil shoved his shoulder and he laughed softly.
“Odette was the name of the daughter of the household I worked in. You know, the one whose future I was going to ruin? She was a nice girl and I enjoyed spending time with her, but didn’t see anything serious happening between us. I gave her space when I noticed things heating up, but she pursued me relentlessly. Eventually, I gave in. We had a lot of fun, I even started to get some genuine feelings for her. But then we got caught and everything came to an end. I was fired, and she was shipped off to some dance school overseas.”
“Sounds tragic,” Silco said with mock sympathy. “But what does that have to do with poor Petro?”
“Surely you’ve noticed him following me like a lovesick puppy?” Lil asked.
Silco flinched slightly at the mention of the other man’s behavior. He had in fact noticed his attention being focused on Lil many times. He didn’t enjoy the pit he felt in his stomach every time he noticed it.
“So he’s got a crush,” he said. “Give him time and he’ll move on to greener pastures.”
“Are you implying that I’m not good enough for him?” Lil asked in slight offense.
“Of course not,” Silco said, trying to backtrack. “You just aren’t the right one for someone like him.”
“Look who’s suddenly a relationship expert,” Lil teased, shaking her head at him before looking away across the other buildings. “I already know I’m not right for him. He’s commented several times on how I would look better if I cut my hair shorter.”
Silco stared at Lil and his eyes trailed over her long thick waves of purple hair. He had often found himself wondering what it would feel like to touch her hair, but he always stopped himself before he let that thought go too far.
“I personally like your hair long,” he said. “But you’d look good either way I think.”
Lil turned to smile at him.
“I could say the same to you,” she said. “I like your longer hair, but short could suit you as well.”
“Glad we’re in agreement,” Silco said with a smirk.
The two of them sat in companionable silence for a short time before Silco felt another question creep up in his mind that made it to his mouth before he could stop it.
“Is there any other reason you feel you shouldn’t accept his interest in you?”
He saw Lil bite her lip and look down at her hands in her lap.
“There’s someone else that I would rather be with, but I’m not sure how they feel about me.”
Silco felt his heart jump in his chest, hoping that she was talking about him. He could hear his own mind screaming at him to say something, to gain more information, but this time he kept it in check.
“Anyone would be lucky to have you, Lil.”
“Thanks, Silco.”
Lil stood up from her place beside him and stretched her arms above her head. Silco averted his eyes to prevent himself from ogling her. He was surprised at his lack of control lately, it was something he needed to work on to make sure he didn’t make things awkward.
“Did you know that you have a hole in the back of your shirt?” Lil asked, startling him out of his internal scolding.
Silco glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Lots of my clothes have holes in them,” he said. “What’s your point?”
“I can fix it for you if you like,” she said. “I’m actually quite good at that.”
Silco shrugged and slowly got to his feet as well.
“If you want to, I’ll take you up on the offer.”
“Okay, just give it to me tomorrow and I’ll get it done when I get a chance.”
“Thanks,” Silco said. “Don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Fall apart, most likely,” she said with a smirk.
Lil waved at him and started walking towards the ladder he had climbed up a short time ago. Silco watched her disappear over the edge of the roof and followed her trail down the alley when she reached the ground. It wasn’t until she disappeared around the corner that he finally looked away.
He was falling for this woman head over feet and he had no idea what to do about it, which terrified him.
Silco stared out his office window, watching as people ran back and forth across the street outside. He’d noticed that every time someone went by, they always seemed to be in a hurry, as if they were afraid to be noticed if they lingered too long. Little did they know that he could see everything regardless of how fast they moved.
He wasn’t quite sure how widespread news of his takeover had spread. Surely people in the Lanes knew that Vander was dead and gone, Silco stepping in to take his place as the leader to oversee things. While it’s true that the Undercity didn’t officially have a leader of any kind, it was the power that influence held that made someone be viewed as such. So far, it seemed that his influence was based in fear. Silco was alright with that if it helped keep people in line and helped him achieve his goals. He could always alter the way people saw him in the future if he wished to, but for now, fear would suffice.
The thought of fear led his thinking down a different path as his fingers trailed over the syringe sitting on his desk. It was time for an injection in his eye. He had put it off for far too long, not wanting to do it when Jinx was around. He was concerned that it would scare her, especially in the fragile state that she seemed to flux in and out of some days.
Grabbing the syringe, Silco made his way over to the couch he had recently added to his office space. It seemed like a more relaxing place to perform the unpleasant but necessary act. Lifting the device above his face, he pushed the trigger to activate the needle. The burst of pain that seared through his skull was unexpected. The device fell from his hands as he doubled over. It had been a long time since it had been this agonizing, likely because he had waited so long to do it. It was almost enough to force him into a state of unconsciousness. Silco let out a grunt as a new wave of burning pain shot through his head, making him nearly fall off the couch.
The sound of a door opening registered faintly in his mind through the pain, but he couldn’t find the energy to move and see who it was. Rushed footsteps approached him and he could hear his name being called. It seemed to be happening over and over.
“Silco! Silco, talk to me please!”
Silco blinked his good eye rapidly and he could see the world starting to come into focus again. A face hovered in front of him, worry etched into beautiful features. The face seemed to belong to the voice that was calling his name.
For a moment, Silco thought he had stepped into the past. A lovely face framed by purple curls, asking him if he was alright. He blinked a few more times until his vision fully cleared. Although the face remained the same in most aspects, he could see changes. The curls changed into thicker waves, gathered on one side of her head. A tattoo that hadn’t been there before curled around her eye.
One thing hadn’t changed though. The loving concern that furrowed her brow, the wide brown eyes searching his face for signs of injury. While she may have changed over the years, his Lil was still in there somewhere. The thought of ‘his Lil’ was enough to fully bring him back to a state of alertness and address the woman in front of him. She had continued saying his name and asking if he was alright.
“I waited too long between treatments for my eye, that’s all,” Silco said, trying to reassure her. “The pain was stronger than anticipated.”
Lil pursed her lips and gave him a scolding look.
“You never were very good at taking care of yourself. You need to rest, Silco.”
“I don’t have time to rest, there are things that need to get done,” he insisted, trying to stand up from his place on the couch.
Silco felt Lil’s hand softly push on his shoulder, keeping him in place. He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, surprised that she touched him of her own accord. Before, it had seemed like the last thing she wanted was physical contact with him.
“You will make time for rest, or your body will,” she said. “And it will happen at an inopportune time. Believe me, I know.”
Silco sighed and rolled his good eye.
“Very well, if you insist.”
Lil removed her hand from his shoulder and placed both hands on her hips, staring down at him with a disbelieving look.
“Are you serious, or are you just trying to appease me so I leave you alone and you can do nothing of the sort?” she asked.
Silco held up his hand as if he was taking an oath.
“I will rest,” he said. “I can’t accomplish anything if I’m dead.”
This seemed to appease Lil and her stance relaxed.
“I’m going to come check on you in an hour. If I find you working, there will be consequences.”
After a threatening look and some aggressive pointing, she turned and walked towards the door.
“You do realize you work for me, not the other way around?” he called after her.
Lil ignored him and left the office, closing the door behind her. Silco sank back into the couch and rubbed at his good eye with his hand, sighing deeply. Maybe she was right, he did need rest.
Then again, she had almost always been right the entire time he’d known her.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this part! Please reblog, like, and comment! I would really like to hear your thoughts! If you would like to be added to or removed from the taglist, let me know!
Not sure how long it will last, but I hope to get some stuff accomplished. A new chapter of Who We Were (my Arcane Silco/OC story) should be posted tonight!
Few things on my list:
-Finish up the Clonetober promps from 2023. I would still like to round that out and complete the set.
-Update Fazed and Bad Timing. The next chapter of both fics overlap so they should hopefully come out around the same time.
-Few other side stories from within my Star Wars fic verse.
Those are the things I hope to focus on. There were a few requests that I never did that could make it in there as well, but it has been a long time since they were requested so not sure if the interest is still there.
If you would like to send in a request, you are welcome to and I will add it to my list. The rules are posted on my pinned post.
Thank you to anyone still around and willing to read my stuff 💜
- One 2.5” Acrylic Charm (Hardcase)
- One 2.5” Acrylic Charm (Delta Squad)
🍪FLAT PACK
- Three 3x3” Cookie Trooper Die Cut Stickers (Rex, Cody, and a Shiny)
- One 3x3" Clone Trooper Soda Die Cut Sticker
- Two 2x6” Prints (Bad Batch and the 501st)
Summary: Blaze learns to love his chaotic brothers, despite their shenanigans.
Gen Fic
A/N: This was written as part of a digital ad-on for "Batched: A Clone Wars Zine" that features Clone trooper OCs. The zine is having leftover sales right now, so go here to find more info! @batchedzine
Commander Blaze looked over the files he had been given on the new troopers that were joining the 394th, scanning for anything unusual. There were a number of shinies that were being added, but what interested him most were the four men that were coming with their new Jedi General. There seemed to already be a solid working relationship there, so he figured that was good. His main concern was how they would integrate into the larger battalion after being in such a tight knit group for their whole deployment.
Two of the four were currently on Kamino, having gone with their former squad leader to receive additional training for their new assignments. The other two he was meeting today with the rest of the new troops. Judging by their numbers and matching names, they seemed to be what clones called “twins”. Blaze had never actually met any of these supposed twins, and frankly, he thought the whole concept was ridiculous. They were all genetically the same, so it made no sense for any specific men to have a deeper relationship with their brothers than the rest of them.
Blaze did, however, find their names amusing. Pyro and Flame of the Dragon Squad would fit in nicely with his own fire-related name. He was sure he would get some comments from the other commanders about having his own little minions, especially from Cody. The other two, Chip and Sparx, wouldn’t be as matching, but it would be good to have a new medic and his own ARC trooper to rely on when they returned from their training.
As he left his office, Blaze was stopped in his tracks by the sound of clone voices alongside two feminine-sounding ones. He guessed those were the Jedi and the two men he had been musing over. He headed in the direction of the voices and found exactly who he had thought they belonged to. Four heads turned to look at him as he approached. The two Jedi said their goodbyes and left the men to get acquainted.
“I’m assuming you two are Pyro and Flame?”
The two of them nodded in sync and stood at attention with a “yes sir”. While Blaze was used to unity with the troops, the way these two moved as one person was a bit unnerving. He figured that was a symptom of their time together. It was unusual for squads to stick together after training, so the fact that this group was still together was unique—especially these two with their sequential numbers.
“I’m happy to welcome you to the 394th,” Blaze said. “I hope you will settle in nicely with the rest of the boys.”
“We’ve mostly just spent time with those from Dragon Squad,” one of them said, “so it will be an interesting experience for us.”
Blaze nodded in agreement as his eyes drifted down to the teal paint that adorned their armor.
“We’ll have to get you some purple paint, so you can match the rest of us.”
No matter how many times he rubbed his eyes, Blaze couldn’t erase the image before him in the mirror. While the rest of his hair was still its normal orange, the roots that he had been attempting to touch up were not. They were bright red.
Double checking the bottle of hair treatment, he could see that while it appeared to be labeled normally, there seemed to be something off about it. It was almost like the label had been altered to match his normal coloring. While he couldn’t be 100% certain, Blaze had a pretty good idea who was responsible—the same men who said he would look good in red.
Flame and Pyro.
Clenching the bottle of dye in his hand, Blaze left his quarters and headed in the direction of the office of General Lena Orim. His jaw clenched angrily as he thought of all the horrible punishments he would assign those two to get back at them for this. They would never think of doing something like this again, fearing the wrath they would bring down upon themselves.
When he reached the door to the office, he didn’t knock as he customarily would. They were expecting him, having made lunch plans that morning. It didn’t seem the occupants were expecting such an entrance though.
Upon seeing his ruined hair, the people in the room had a variety of reactions. Sparx spat out the liquid he had been drinking, coughing as he did so. Commander Keebo Torra’s assistance by smacking him on the back seemed to do nothing to help. Lena and Chip glanced up at the sound of Sparx’s reaction, their shocked expressions barely concealing their amusement once they realized what was wrong.
“Oh dear,” Chip said. “What happened?”
“Those two troublemakers you lot brought into my life happened,” Blaze seethed. “They sabotaged my hair dye.”
“If it makes you feel better, it looks more like fire now,” Sparx offered between coughs.
“Surprisingly, that doesn’t make me feel better.”
Keebo abandoned her attempts to help Sparx and walked over to him, looking up at his two-tone hairdo. She reached up and brushed aside a few wayward strands as if she were assessing the damage.
“I’m sure we can fix it,” she said. “I’ll help you try to fix it.”
“I’ll talk to Flame and Pyro,” Lena piped up as the pair of them were leaving. “They won’t get off without some kind of punishment.”
Blaze grumbled as Keebo escorted him down the hall back in the direction of his quarters. He could see she was trying to contain her laughter to spare his feelings. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Go ahead and laugh.”
The loud snort followed by howling laughter was not what he expected from the Jedi beside him, but Blaze took it in stride. Once he got past his initial anger, he could see how it was a bit funny. Just a bit.
The bright beams lighting up the side of the venue for the party were hard to miss as Blaze approached. He was certain he had reached the right place, seeing many groups of clones in their dress uniforms scattered about the walkway in front of the large building. They all wore armbands to signify which battalion or squad they had fought with during the war. So far, however, Blaze didn’t see the purple band with a yellow circle in the center that signified the 394th. None of the men he came across were familiar to him.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a shout from down the way grabbed his attention. He turned to see four men walking in his direction, the band he had been searching for resting on their arms. Two of them broke off from the group and started moving towards him at an almost jogging pace. Pyro and Flame, their movements still in sync after so much time had passed.
“We were worried you weren’t going to show,” Flame said. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
“We saw one guy with orange hair, and thought it might be you,” Pyro added. “But given the fact that he was in the middle of yelling at someone for turning his hair orange, we figured it wasn’t you after all.”
“No, I made mine orange on purpose,” Blaze said. “Not green, purple, or even red. Despite you two trying to change that.”
The two men grinned in unison at his accusation. The other two that had lagged behind approached the trio, catching the last of Blaze’s statement.
“They did apologize for that, didn’t they?” Chip asked, narrowing his eyes at his brothers. “I told them to.”
“I think it looked good red,” Sparx said. “Maybe we should go find Howzer and convince him to dye his hair red instead?”
Before Blaze could say anything to stop them, Sparx and the “Fire Twins”, as he had started calling them, took off in search of their former squad mate. He let out a deep tired sigh as he watched them disappear into the crowd.
“No amount of war and destruction could take away the mischief from those three,” Chip said, giving Blaze one of his rare smiles. “Just be glad Keebo isn’t here to help them, or we’d all have red hair by morning.”
“I’d say I’m glad that I won’t have to deal with their antics constantly,” Blaze said. “But I think life would be pretty boring without them.”
Chip didn’t say anything in answer to his statement, but Blaze had a feeling that he agreed with him. Having these men, his brothers, at his side for the last few years had been interesting to say the least. But, he wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything different if given the chance. They made the fire of brotherly bonds burn brighter.
A/N: Give this a like, comment, and reblog and let me know what you think!
I spent most of last year in a writing slump due to being super busy in my personal life and would really like to get back into writing.
I'm asking for people to send in requests to help me get the writing juices going. Even if you don't have a request yourself, I would appreciate a reblog of this post to spread the word and let others send in requests.
I will write for Star Wars and Arcane. My SW request rules are listed here. For Arcane, please look here.
I need to get the writing juices flowing again, so I'm asking for people to send in some requests! Even if you don't have a request yourself, please reblog this so others can see. Help a local writer out and get the brain working again! 💜
I'm willing to write short little drabbles or one-shots. Be as vague or specific as you wish (but specific ideas help me come up with an idea). Doing character x reader for female, male, and gender neutral readers. Both platonic and romantic pairings.
What I'll write:
Fluff
Angst
Hurt/Comfort
AUs
SFW (suggestive is fine, but no NSFW please)
Platonic only for child characters
Who I'll write for:
Silco
Viktor
Vander
Sevika
I can attempt Jayce, Mel, Vi, and Caitlyn but have no experience
If you have a character in mind, but no specific idea, send me a DM and we can talk about possible ideas. I will try my best to write for any character, but I can't guarantee if I don't know them well enough.
In addition: I am also open to writing platonic character groups/relationships without a reader insert.
Summary: Two days at the Winter Solstice Festival, years apart.
Pairing: Silco/Reader (F)
A/N: This was written as part of a gift exchange for my friend @sirenofzaun. Love you Lauren!
Tags: Slight Angst, Established Relationship, Time Skip
AO3 Link Divider by saradika-graphics
The breeze that blew through the alley chilled you down to your bones, setting off a round of shivers that made your teeth chatter. You leaned against the wall behind you and wrapped your arms around your midsection in an attempt to trap some of the remaining body heat. You should have dressed warmer, but the thin sweater you wore was one of the only warm pieces of clothing that you had.
Why, in Janna’s name, had you agreed to meet Silco up here?
It would have been much warmer down in the Undercity. The closeness of the walls, the hot air coming from the fissures in the ground, and even Jericho’s cooking would have been ten times better than this. Up here, everything was open and exposed. This alley was the closest thing to shelter you had been able to find while you waited for Silco to join you.
Just when you were about to give up and head back home before your fingers froze off, you heard footsteps from the other end of the alley. You turned to look and saw a lanky figure that you knew well heading in your direction. He seemed to be carrying something bulky in his arms, something you couldn’t identify from this distance.
“Kept me waiting long enough,” you accused, shaking your head at him. “What do you have?”
“Something that I hope will help you forgive me for making you wait so long,” Silco said, lifting the large bundle. “I worked hard to get it for you, so please take that into consideration before you yell at me.”
You scowled slightly before closing the remaining distance between the two of you. Your gaze trailed up and down the thing Silco was holding, still not quite sure what it was. He lifted it higher and the bundle unfurled into its full size, nearly touching the ground.
It was a coat. A nice, long, fuzzy coat. Just looking at it made you feel a bit warmer. You reached out a hand to touch the sleeve and nearly gasped at how soft it felt. You had never gotten close to something this nice, let alone touched it. Your gaze shifted up to meet Silco’s and you tilted your head, raising your eyebrow in a questioning manner.
“Did you rob some poor Piltie lady in the street?”
Silco’s smile faltered slightly before he shook his head.
“First of all, I don’t think you can use ‘poor’ and ‘Piltie’ together in a sentence like that,” he said with a sniff. “And secondly, I acquired this for you as a gift. Worked hard to get it.”
“And by worked hard, you mean…” you started, leaving the rest of your question unspoken.
“I mean…I had Vander distract the shopkeeper while I took it off the rack and threw it out the delivery window while they weren’t looking.”
“Uh, huh,” you said, narrowing your eyes at him. “That’s what I thought.”
“If you don’t want it, I can give it to Felicia or Sevika. I’m sure they’d both appreciate a new coat.”
“I didn’t say that. Just wanted to know where it came from, that’s all,” you said, stepping forward. “I appreciate your ‘work’.”
You leaned in and placed a kiss on Silco’s cheek before taking the coat from him. You pulled it on and wrapped it around yourself, instantly feeling warmer as it closed around your body. Silco seemed pleased to see you wearing it, as his grin had returned in full force.
“Thank you, Silco. Not only for the coat, but for the thought that went into acquiring it for me. I really needed something like this.”
“I know,” Silco said, stepping forward to wrap his arms around your midsection beneath the coat. “I can hear your teeth chattering everytime we go scouting together. It’s not very covert if the people we’re spying on hear that.”
You laughed softly and returned his embrace, resting your head against his shoulder.
“I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m trying not to freeze to death,” you said. “Now, could you please tell me why we needed to meet up here for you to give me this coat? Couldn’t we have met somewhere warmer?”
Silco stepped back from you a small amount and smiled, pulling on the lapels of the coat and closing it in front of you. He reached for your hand and started to pull you down the alley in the direction he had come from.
“It’s time to test out your new coat. We’re going to the Winter Solstice festival. I know you’ve always wanted to go and I was able to get us some tickets.”
“Did you work hard to get those too?” you asked.
“No comment.”
You laughed again as he pulled you along. Though you teased him about his methods, the thought behind the actions meant a great deal to you. He was always surprising you with gestures, both grand and small. This was just another thing on the list of surprises he had concocted for you in your time together.
When the pair of you reached the edge of the festival, you stopped short, bringing Silco to a halt as well. He turned to look at you with a questioning glance, his brows furrowed in slight concern. You stared at the sight before you in amazement, mouth hanging open slightly.
“Darling? Is everything alright?” Silco asked.
“Yes,” you said, your gaze switching from the festival to Silco, “everything is perfect.”
His concerned expression evaporated and a cheerful one took its place as you started moving again in the direction of the ticket gate. Silco gave the man at the entrance the tickets he had procured, and once you got the approval, pulled you through the gate.
The sights inside the festival were even better than the glimpse you had gotten from the outside. Little twinkling lights on chains hung over the streets, swinging between poles covered in strands of gold and red tinsel. A mixture of savory and sweet smells drifted through the air, carried to your nostrils on the breeze that had previously sent a chill down your spine. You could even hear soft music playing from various places around you, its source unseen by you, which only seemed to add to the magic of the place.
“So, does it live up to your expectations?” Silco asked, diverting your attention away from the environment surrounding you.
“It’s even better than I thought it would be,” you said. “Thank you for bringing me here, Silco.”
“You’re welcome, darling.”
Silco leaned in and placed a soft kiss on your temple before the pair of you continued down the path to take in all the sights the festival had to offer.
The air felt just as cold as you remembered, possibly colder if you were truly being honest with yourself. You pulled the edges of your coat together to seal in the warmth and block out the cold wind. Over the years, your nice, warm coat had worn down and didn’t quite do the job it used to when it came to keeping you warm. You could never bear to part with it and acquire a new one though. Your heart wouldn’t let you.
The festival around you didn’t seem as magical as you thought it was in the past. Things didn’t sparkle like before, the music seemed out of sync, and even the smells were a bit off. It was almost as if something was missing. The key element that solidified the magic.
You hadn’t been to the festival since the day with Silco, and that had been many years ago. After he disappeared; or died as you had heard but didn’t believe; you didn’t feel it was right to experience any kind of happiness that you had attached to him without him there beside you. You felt it would taint the memories.
You couldn’t say what had brought you to the festival on this day. Something in your gut told you that you needed to go when you saw the poster on the bridge. Maybe it was a voice inside you telling you that you needed some closure. You needed to do something to end that chapter of your life and finally move on. Perhaps this was the way to do it.
As you walked between the various stalls, you thought over your memories of the last time you had been here. Of course, you hadn’t really had the money to buy anything, but it had still been fun to look at things. You had a little money this time, but no desire to make any purchases. You didn’t even truly look at the items on the tables you passed, your gaze just glancing over vague shapes and colors as you walked along.
With such an unfocused air about you, you weren’t watching where you were walking and ran into someone. You nearly lost your balance and reached out to grab the arm of the man you had collided with to steady yourself.
“My apologies, sir. I wasn’t watching where I was walking.”
Without looking at the man, face down to hide your embarrassment, you moved to walk past him when you heard a familiar voice speak your name. You halted in your tracks, your heart skipping a beat at the sound of the voice.
“When I said I worked hard to get you that coat, I didn’t mean you had to wear it forever.”
You slowly turned in place to look at the man you assumed was talking to you. What you saw made you believe that you had hit your head when you ran into him before. The man standing before you was none other than Silco. Alive and present, wrapped in a coat with a large collar. He was older and looked different, most noticeable things being a large scar across one side of his face and an eye that was black and orange.
But it was still Silco.
You were at a loss for words. You probably looked like a fish, standing there staring at him with your mouth wide open. He seemed to understand that you were unable to speak and stepped towards you, holding out a hand.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, we can just relive the memories.”
You took his offered hand and let him pull you closer. The sensation of his touch seemed to right all the things that had seemed off before about the festival. The music regained its melody, the food smelled delicious again, and the lights seemed to shine even brighter than they had the first time.
The magic had returned.
A/N: Give this a like, comment, and reblog and let me know what you think!
After giving it some thought, I have decided to keep the names Adele and Matthias for the girls’ parents in “Who We Were”. I will be ignoring season 2 for everything else, so it makes sense that I ignore the name change as well.
Now that we have official canon names for Vi and Powder/Jinx's parents, I am conflicted. I had named them Adele and Matthias in my story "Who We Were", but am thinking if I should go in and change things to represent canon. The rest of the story will be staying as I planned it, so it will not be Season 2 compatible, but this is a simple thing to change.
