Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger are invited to a lavish party as representetives of the thriving New Republic. Din Djarin and Bo Katan Kryze are also invited to the party as undercover security. Misunderstandings, chaos, and fluff ensues. Preview under the cut ~ written for day 1 of sabezra dinbo week!
Sabine stepped into the room, her slender figure wrapped in a sparkling black dress. A rainbow of pastel colors dripped from the fringes of dark fabric onto the ground and spread outwards behind her like a shimmering trail of paint. She wrapped an arm around Ezra’s shoulder and pulled him in for a kiss. Jacen cringed back and shielded his eyes as their lips met.
Ezra pulled away, eyes widened slightly and a light blush dusted his cheeks. He leaned down to kiss her again but Sabine ducked away and wrapped a hand around his tie. She pulled him forward. “Come on, Jedi,” she said with a small smile. “We’re going to be late for the party.”
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“Din,” Bo Katan Kryze frowned, “what the hell are you wearing?”
Din Djarin looked up with a hint of surprise hidden by the shining beskar helmet. He looked down at the rest of the armor sparkling under the starry night sky. “My armor?” he responded, confused.
Bo grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side as a group of well dressed party guests walked past them. “I left the suit out for a reason!” she hissed, her voice barely audible above the live music drifting through the night. “You were supposed to wear it!”
Din’s head snapped up to meet her angry gaze and his shoulders sagged slightly. He turned away from the red haired mandalorian. “You look nice,” he said after a moment of silence. His voice dripped with guilt.
Bo’s frown melted into a smile and she shook her head. She reached up a hand to gently remove Din’s helmet and her sharp hazel eyes studied his face. “What am I going to do with you?” she asked, her fingers running through the fine hair peppering his chin.
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what is love in the face of eternity?
wip: Heiress of the Night
Bonus snippet between Anthony and Zhang.
Note: this probably will not be included in the novel, but this would not leave me the fuck alone. so, published to the void of the internet it will be. (this is also like 90% dialogue)(long post, more under the cut)
“How do you do it?” Anthony asks, watching as Huan disappears around the corner, smooth voice echoing down the hallway.
Zhang raises an eyebrow at him, settling back into his chair. “Do what?” The New York skyline paints his office in a deep orange, casting shadows over his face.
“Love him,” Anthony replies. He swallows tightly. “How do you love him, but not turn him?”
Zhang hums, picking up the steaming cup of tea, and takes a delicate sip. He stares down into the swirling pale liquid, collecting his thoughts, before he sets the cup down with a sigh. “When I was first turned, I was afraid of what I was going to become. I had seen the jiangshi that had bitten me, a horrifying rotting corpse, with any semblance of its humanity gone. And I had feared that I would share its fate. But in those agonizing hours of my transformation, I saw something —“ He pauses, searching for the right words “— miraculous. There was silk wrapped around my finger, glowing a deep warm red, extending far beyond my vision, pulsating with each beat of my own dying heart. I watched it, fearing the moment the string would finally snap, until I finally succumbed to the venom.”
He stands, walking away from his desk to the towering bookshelves against the far wall, where a collection of photos cluster on one of the shelves. “When I woke up, no longer human, I couldn’t see the string, but I knew it was still there. That my destiny, despite my death, persisted.” Zhang looks back with bemused smile, in on some joke Anthony didn’t know, “Seventy-five years passed before I met Huan — Qiang in his first life — and when I saw him, I knew. I had finally met my destiny.”
His lips quirk into a wry grin. “He was the first true test of my discipline. It is easy to believe you have mastered control when you have not been confronted with your inner-most desire.”
A knowing look his way. “As I’m sure you are aware, Anthony.”
He feels like he’ll tell on himself regardless, so he chooses to remain quiet.
“I had ten years with him the first time around. A decade of companionship, a friendship that weathered the tides of war, that survived the heartache of lies and betrayal. I was sure that when the time came I would turn him and we would have eternity together, but —“
Zhang breathes in deeply, turning again to face the shelves, letting his hands wring together behind his back. “I had to leave for a hunt, to another settlement where I could feed without worry, and when I returned a sickness had come to the village, burning through them like fire through dry tinder, and he fell to the illness.”
“His mother and sister had already died a week before my return. His father and some other men had left to go find whatever help they could further south. And Huan was dying in his bed, alone and suffering.”
Zhang returns to his desk, sitting heavily in his chair, and his eye are red rimmed. “I wanted to turn him. I knew that we had time, if not much, to save him from death. But he refused. The death of his family, the destruction of his community, it was too much. He would not have been able to live — as it were — with the guilt of survival. How could I force him into an eternal life he did not want? How could I let the man I love die? How could I not?" Zhang breathes out heavily and lets his hands fall to his sides. His fingers twitch in some vague gesture. "He begged me to stay with him until he passed and promised that we would meet again. I did and it took him three more days to die.”
Anthony thinks of Evangeline. Of a dark alleyway and pooling blood on damp concrete. Of his own desperation to save her. Thinks of Lucia and Daniel, beautiful and doomed, setting the city ablaze.
“I was aimless, grief stricken, roaming the continent little more than a wounded animal plagued by its own existence. The string that was once a promise of unity became a mockery, an ever present reminder of my own failure, taunting me to join him the dark earth. I thought any chance of happiness was buried with him.” Zhang clears his throat, rolling his shoulders, and forces himself to relax in his chair.
“But the world and its magic works in mysterious ways.”
“How so?” Anthony asks, leaning forward on his elbows.
“You know, I spent eighty-six years wandering the continent when I finally decided to go back. For what, I had no idea, but I felt that it was time. I traveled to what is now the Gansu province, towards Tianshui, when I felt an intense urge to enter a small establishment. But it had been so long since I had been around humans, much less felt human myself, that I resisted that urge, but I allowed myself to look in through one of the windows. And that’s where I saw him.”
“Really?” Disbelief.
Zhang laughs. “Yes, really. He looked different, of course, a new name, a new face. But I knew, just as I did the first time, that it was him. And thus began the cycle. I find him. I love him. I lose him. Again and again and again. Sometimes I don’t even get to know him. By the time I find him, he’s in a relationship with someone else or he’s dying or perhaps has already died. But even then, I love him all the same.”
“Have you asked him? About turning?” Anthony asks.
“I’ve asked in every life I have been able to be a part of and it has always been a no.” Zhang gives a self-deprecating smile. “I’ve learned to enjoy the time that I have with him for however long that may be. Perhaps one day, in this life or the next, he will say yes. Until then, I will love him and ,when the time come, I will search for him again.”
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2 for both pre relationship and general :3
:3
2. What was their first impression of each other?
They met when Sage (Ash’s boyfriend) treated her to a prepaid spa day thing for her birthday. Ash was skeptical about enjoying it, but she was surprised to discover she adores massages, and talking to Willow is easy.
Willow thought, "Damn, this girl has a whole lot of tension." And then accidentally made it her life's mission to (literally and emotionally) ease that tension.
2. Did they have an official first date? If so, what was it like?
The good news: they probably do have an official first date, and I will get to write it!
The bad news: i have no idea what it will be!
Romance Asks <3
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