Etain and Mereel for the domesticity meme, if you want to?
send me ships for the Domesticity Memes
CW: LONG POST
big spoon/little spoon:
This is entirely at random tbh- they both like to hold and to be held, even if Etain makes more of a jetpack than a big spoon
favorite non-sexual activity:
cuddling & co-napping! And they also just… find random trouble to get into sometimes…
But the thing they probably both most appreciate is the way things like research or pazaak games or anything really somehow lead to very open and frank conversations- a definite rarity for Mereel and somewhat so for Etain depending on timeline and verse- that are only possible because of the deep level of trust between them
who uses all the hot water:
Normally this is Etain, bc she uses hot showers as one of her few self-care/privacy moments, especially during the different war times, but occasionally Mereel just shows up covered in glitter or blood with no real explanation and then also has to clean it out of the shower
most trivial thing they fight over:
So normally Etain finds Mereel’s linguistic jumps/manipulations at the very least interesting, even though she can only follow him really through Basic, Mando’a, Huttese and to a lesser extent through a few trade languages (and sometimes even those are muddled as he breaks rules and borrows things) but occasionally she just gets to the point of “Mereel, I swear to the FORCE and on the soul of whatever dead Mandalore you choose that if you don’t start talking like a normal person-”
who does most of the cleaning:
whoever made the most mess
they’re fairly egalitarian about it when they’re sharing a space for however long, but that’s not to say there have never been squabbles about who was the most responsible that are settled over pazaak
what has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflix queue:
Etain is the one with the grav-ball season pass and they each paid for the limmie games (although Etain is equally as likely to go bum those feeds at Ordo’s so she and he can argue over sports teams) but Mereel seems to have access to an endless stream of the other feeds which Etain is 99% sure is illegal despite it being scary high quality and relatively recent no matter where in the galaxy they’re meeting
who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working:
Etain, after about 5 billion joking alternative solutions to the cold from Mereel
who steals the blankets:
Etain, always and forever, and the only way around this is again to cuddle, which Mereel doesn’t necessarily have a problem with. However, that is not to say he has not woken up cold before, and Etain may have accidentally Force-kicked him out of the bed one or two times while hogging the comforter in her sleep
who leaves their stuff around:
Etain by accident or out of forgetfulness or meaning to come back to tidy something and failing to. Mereel will occasionally do this if he’s in research mode and taken over a particular space, but a lot of the time his “accidental” leaving something somewhere is actually purposeful
who remembers to buy the milk
Tbh, I think this is just “whoever notices that it’s needed”
who remembers anniversaries:
I don’t think they have the most conventional/traditional relationship, so I’m not sure anniversaries would be a thing?
Who cooks normally?
Etain and Mereel both take shots at this- Etain’s the more reliable one, Mereel when he feels like experimenting- but Etain’s gotten a taste for all of Mereel’s odd food trucks and hole in the wall diners. so they eat out a lot. Mereel tends to make breakfast as Etain is low-functioning until after her first cup of caf.
How often do they fight?
Sometimes disagreements- especially over methedology- do come up, which is inevitable given the very different environments the grew up in, but it’s not, like, a defining experience or one you could set a clock by
What do they do when they’re away from each other?
So whether we’re talking a verse where Dar/Etain still happens and Etain/Mereel is a consenting poly thing or if Dar’s not in the picture (I can think of scenarios for either) I think they both do see other people. But they do stay in communication with each other, for the most part, excepting those times one of them needs to go dark for a while.
There’s not pressure to it- Etain is extra careful to make it that way- but they exchange holos and messages and bad jokes -Mereel always finds the memes and posts that make her uncomfortable in a funny way- because they’re significant in each other’s lives. Etain occasionally reaches out in the Force to make sure he’s okay, though she does it less than she does with Darman, bc Mereel has a different set of boundaries.
Nicknames for each other?
Etain sticks to “Mer’ika”, “cyar’ika”, and “ner kar’ta” when she’s being serious, but if she’s annoyed with him - or wants to annoy him- she slips into Huttese, starting with the innocuous “muni” (lover) and then slipping into the ridiculous.
Mereel uses Et’ika and (depending on verse/context and not in a gross way) Et’buir, though I’m not sure if he uses other names
Who is more likely to pay for dinner?
Depends heavily on timelines and verses and context.
What would they get each other for gifts?
I feel like Mereel’s into joke gifts and also the little casual pick-me-ups that he “just happens” to have on him; he’s also the one who starts Etain’s mug collection. He looks out for Etain in ways he doesn’t talk about until she truly needs it- medical research or contacts, safe houses and identities, introductions to the kara and her first kara icons
Etain is the worrier who consistently hides two extra medkits, sweets, and warmer blankets somewhere in his ship or pack while he pretends not to notice, who writes long letters regardless of whether or not he’s gone dark for a mission or just to get a little space to himself. Occasionally the gift is just going out to buy icecream and a b-rated holo when he shows up with no explanation at 3am.
But they’re also both really big on experiences.
Who kissed who first?
I feel like this was Etain, and that it was kind of sudden, bc otherwise she wouldn’t have worked up the nerve, even though there had been cheek kisses and hugs and other more platonic affections (and plenty of UST) before that
Who made the first move?
I feel like there were plenty of little touches and maybe some innocent flirtatious remarks and plenty of UST for a long time from both ends, which they both recognize but ignore in order to keep from confronting things, but even if Mereel knew he was interested was very very careful of Etain’s boundaries (and she had plenty of grappling with her own boundaries no matter the verse/context), so ultimately she had to be the one to kiss him and push the situation into the open. (again, the exact scenario would be dependent on the rest of the verse)
Who remembers things?
Mereel has the eidetic memory, of course, but Etain remembers the significant things and a lot of the specific language she hears/reads and the research she catches up on, if not always things like dates
Who started the relationship?
I feel like it’s more something complicated that they accidentally fell into without meaning it, though nothing actually happens until Etain makes the decision to act on it and consent for all the things they’d been ignoring is generally given
Who cusses more?
I feel like Mereel knows more profane language and says more rude things over a long period of time, but Etain’s the mostly likely to go off in Huttese when she’s frustrated/angry and say the most curses within a short period of time
What would they do if the other was hurt?
So I have this whole terrible head canon of Etain starting to approach Ranah te Naast waay more beyond her initial “hey, I respect you as a fellow survivor can you help me figure out how to stay strong”, moving into asking for actual intercession when Mereel “dies” and then grieving when nothing comes of it but continuing to ask Ranah to keep Mereel’s memory, however that works
I generally think that as messed up as they both are in either of their post-Death recoveries, they use the other as a sounding board/ support when they can bare to
Generally, Etain is super protective, and they’ve both taken turns fretting or patching the other up, but they also trust one another to be competent, even if Etain sometimes worries about Mereel pushing his own limits
