Deadcember Day 17: Dark Night

“ c'mere. let me give you a hug. “ with Kix and Rex maybe, please?

Thanks for asking, anon! The ending references my fic Golden Heart because I can’t resist an opportunity to reference it :)

——————

Kix stood outside Rex’s quarters, staring at the door as though it had done something to offend him. He was hesitant to knock on the door, and he’d never been hesitant before, but…

But, after Umbara, Kix was hesitant to approach anyone, especially Rex.

Umbara took a toll on everyone. Kix could see it in the way everyone held themselves. Their energies were slightly subdued. Tup seemed lost with Dogma gone, and Fives had taken to the young trooper pretty quickly. Fives liked to help people in order to distract himself from his own problems and, well, there were worse coping mechanisms out there. Kix would have to talk to him at some point to make sure he was actually addressing his own issues.

Jesse had taken things hard, too. Losing Hardcase was rough on both Jesse and Kix because he was their batchmate. They were working through their grief together, and it would be a long process, but at least they weren’t alone.

Shaking himself out of his musings, Kix thought back to the matter at hand. He was standing outside of Rex’s door, fist hovering just a few inches away from knocking. He knew that Rex was also struggling with his own guilt for everything that happened in Umbara. Kix thought he could help.

Kix remembered with great clarity the moment that he snapped at Rex and accused him of acting like General Krell when Rex ordered him to leave the injured behind.

The guilt of that interaction was hanging like an albatross around Kix’s neck. Looking back on it, he realized that Rex had been put in an impossible situation where he had to mediate between his men, his brothers, and a leader whose entire goal was to get them killed. Rex was right, too— Kix had to survive and carry on because if he wasn’t alright, then there would‘ve been no one else to take care of other injured brothers.

Kix knew he had to apologize for his outburst, both for his own ease of mind and for Rex’s. Still, he hesitated, and was about to turn on his heel and come back another time when the door to Rex’s quarters slid open, and the captain himself stood in the doorway. He jumped a bit upon seeing Kix there, obviously not having been aware of his presence just beyond his walls.

“Sir,” Kix said, slowly lowering his fist from where it was poised to knock on the door, “may I have a word with you?”

Rex furrowed his brows together but nodded and gestured to have Kix enter his quarters.

The room was in disarray. Rex’s armor was skewed about the room in a disorderly fashion, which was uncharacteristic for his usual organized room. There were datapads strewn about the floor as well, all incomplete paperwork that had to be filled out in the aftermath of a battle.

Kix didn’t comment on any of this, and instead stood in the corner of the room, looking at his feet and fiddling with the sleeve of his body glove.

There was silence between the pair for a few moments. Rex sat himself on his unmade bed and regarded Kix with a blank expression, not that Kix noticed his gaze, as focused on the ground as he was.

Finally, Kix took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry.” He was startled, then, upon realizing that Rex had said the same thing in sync with him.

“Sir? What do you have to apologize for?” Kix asked.

“The… the campaign as a whole. I let you all down, and you had to bear the brunt of so many unfair situations. I never should ordered you to leave those men behind. That’s not what we’re trained to do, and I asked you to do it anyway. So, I’m sorry.” Rex explained, now looking at the ground instead of at Kix.

Kix scoffed, “Sir, Rex, I don’t blame you for that. I’m sorry for comparing you to General Krell in that moment. You are nothing like him, and I just said that because I was tired and frustrated. I know you were put in a ridiculously tough scenario and… it’s been weighing on you as much as it’s been weighing on me, maybe even more.”

Rex just sniffed and nodded slowly. He glanced at Kix and let a slight smile grace his face, “C’mere. Let me give you a hug.” He said, holding out his arm as an invitation.

Kix sighed dramatically and sat down on the bed next to Rex, leaning into and returning his older brother’s embrace.

“You’re never going to let me forget that I gave you a hug when I was still in medic training, are you?” Kix said with a sigh.

Rex laughed, “Oh, definitely not. But, hey, I think this hug is helping, so maybe the research you did back then wasn’t all for nothing.”

“Damn straight.” Kix said with a huff. Rex let out a laugh at that, and Kix allowed himself a chuckle, too.

Umbara left wounds on them all, but… they would heal with time (and maybe a few hugs, too).

rex and constantly bashing his head on poles :)

Ah yes, a classic. Thank you for this, it was really fun to write!

Bonk

Bang!

“Ow!” A chorus of laughter rises up from the brothers around him as Rex rubs the top of his head. He gets up much more carefully this time, ducking under the low overhang before being swept into Cody’s side.

“You good there? Hit your head pretty hard. You should probably get it checked out.”

“S’fine.” Cody levels him the look™, the one that says ‘I know you’re lying’, but Rex just looks away. “Really, it’s all good.”

“Mhm. Do I get to say I told you so when you go to the infirmary for a concussion?”

“Won’t happen, but sure.”

***

“Looks like a mild concussion, he’ll have to skip the next few training sessions.” Rex nods, and the medic leaves. He can practically feel the smugness radiating off of Cody now.

“I told you so.”

“Shut.”

“Hey, you said I could say that!”

“Mmmmmm.”

“You did.” Cody sits down on the bed next to him and pulls him into a hug. “I gotta look out for my little brother, you know?”

“I know.”

“Good. Now rest, I don’t want to see you even inch out of that bed until the medics clear you.”

“Sir yes sir,” Rex says, mocking a salute as Cody walks away, earning a fond eye-roll.

*****

“Hey Rex!”

“Wha-” Rex doesn’t even get a chance to see what Cody had tried to point out. Instead, he smacks his head against the top of the opening to the cave, sending himself roughly to his back. He has a lovely view of the cave ceiling, and he can just barely make out the sky at the edge. He groans as he sits up, Cody bounding over and nearly knocking him back down.

“Rex are you okay oh my god oh my god oh my god.”

“I’m fine. Just… had a disagreement with the roof.” He knows Cody is hiding a laugh at that, his lips are pressed thin but he can’t hide the smirk. “Aw come on, that was funny.”

“Okay a little. But seriously, that looked pretty bad. Can you stand up at all?”

“Yeah yeah, look.” Rex tries to stand up and immediately regrets it. His head starts pounding and he leans over. Cody catches him and sits him down against the cave wall, right at the entrance.

“Okay no, you stay here. I’ll bring you some food and water and get the medkit.”

“Yep, that sounds great,” he says, his voice tight with the pain. He closes his eyes and waits as Cody runs around to get the various supplies he needs. It’s not long before he hears a cantine and medkit clattering to the ground, and he opens his eyes again.

“Just lemme check, alright?” He nods. Cody gently pushes back his hair, pressing lightly where Rex hit his head. “Mmm, I’ll just put a little bit of disinfectant cream on it for now, it should heal quickly on its own.” There’s the sting of the cream, and Rex scrunches his face a little, but a hand on his cheek reminds him to relax.

“Done?”

“Done. Here, drink.” Rex takes the offered cantine and has a few sips before putting it down. Cody sits down next to him, and Rex lays his head on his shoulder.

“Any better?”

“A bit. Thank you.”

“Of course. Anything for you.”

*****

Rex knows he should probably turn on night vision to be on the safe side. He shouldn’t rely on the glow of his general and commander’s lightsabers; they’re not bright enough to be reliable. However, they are bright enough to be blinding if he looks at them with night vision, which is hard to avoid here.

Bang!

Well, now he knows. He shakes his head a little, ducking under the pipe and hoping he can retain some sense of dignity before turning around to address his men.

“Night vision on.” He can feel Cody’s smirk even though he’s not there, and hear him fussing over him. He feels lucky Cody hasn’t seen this. Now he just has to make sure he doesn’t find out.

Just one more for Sans rest day, @undertalethingems made a great list of drawing ideas and I really loved the one of him and Alphys going to a museum to nerd out so I drew them into my local museum

i love these two characters. i need to trap them in a collapsed building so they can talk about their feelings as one of them slowly bleeds out.

Based off a little line in time travel fic where Elphie introduces Glinda to pecan pie! (and bc @c-rose2081 said Oz could possibly have invented epinephrine🤷🏻‍♀️)

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“Do you like it?” Elphaba asks, watching carefully to make sure Galinda is actually eating. She figured appealing to the girl’s sweet tooth would do the trick- Galinda nods happily and digs in for another bite. 

“It’s great!” she mumbles around a mouthful. Galinda blushes at her own excitement, and Elphaba can’t stop the fond grin from spreading across her face. Cute.

Galinda only eats about half her actual slice, but she keeps pulling the pecans out from the center to nibble on, so Elphaba will take it as a win. Nuts are relatively healthy, right? Even coated in sugar? 

“I’ve never tasted anything like this before,” Galinda says, licking her lips happily. She coughs lightly and clears her throat. “It’s tingly.”

Elphaba’s brow scrunches in confusion. “Tingly?” She’s eaten pecan pie for years and never once would she describe it as ‘tingly.’

Galinda coughs again, turning her head away to tuck her mouth in her elbow. She nods, waving her fork in the air as if trying to find the right words. “Yeah. It’s sorta…fizzy.”

What? 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Elphaba says, laughing lightly. Leave it to Galinda to totally stump her like that. The blonde had a habit of thinking so far outside the box that Elphaba could barely keep up with the logic. 

Galinda rolls her eyes, clearing her throat again and setting her fork down. She slides the plate toward Elphaba. “You try and describe it then. Tingly is the best I’ve got.”

Elphaba dutifully picks up the fork and takes a bite. She’s had pecan pie several times before, of course, but maybe the cooks at Shiz made it differently or added a special ingredient. Some spices like cinnamon or such could…almost be described as ‘tingly’ if you weren’t used to them. 

Galinda has to turn her head away to cough again, this time nearly doubling over from the effort. Elphaba frowns at her as she chews and swallows quickly. The pie tastes totally normal, but Galinda is starting to worry her. 

“Wrong pipe?” Elphaba asks cautiously. Galinda opens her mouth to say something but gets caught in another round of coughs that turns her face red with effort. She groans lightly, rubbing at her throat. 

“Sorry,” she croaks. “Yeah, probably just went down wrong.” She nods toward the pie on the plate in an effort to distract from the way she’s got tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. 

“What did it taste like to you?”

Elphaba shrugs, not really interested in the pie anymore. Galinda’s face is growing paler by the second and there’s sweat starting to bead on her temple. She clears her throat again and her next few breaths are slightly wheezy. 

“It just tasted like nuts to me,” Elphaba says dismissively. “Are you okay?”

Galinda freezes, staring at her with wide eyes. “Nuts?” she asks. 

“Um, yeah, the pecans. Seriously, Galinda, are you alright?”

Galinda takes in a few shaky gasps, hands starting to tremble as she rubs her throat again. She blinks several times in quick succession as her gaze falls to the pie. “Oh,” she whispers, swallowing hard. 

“I think I’m allergic to nuts.”

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: CC-5052 | Bly & CT-7567 | Rex Characters: CT-7567 | Rex, CC-5052 | Bly Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Kamino Is Terrible, bly is a good brother, rex is hurting, he misses his batchmates :( Summary:

Rex remembers one night back on Kamino when Bly was there.

Inspired by let the river in by saltsanford.

so i've given glinda anxiety. i've given her adhd. i've given her autism. all of those kinda make sense. next thing I've got in my personal arsenal to project onto her is pots tho. so. um.

a glinda that faints into elphies arms all the time?? idek

Curses, Cocoons and Clones part 4

Fives stared blankly at the wall

Half an hour ago he had awoken to a horrible sensation in his body and a massive headache. He remembered the events of the previous time of his nap (he refused to say he fainted) his nausea increased when he stared at his new body and promptly emptied his stomach.

Rex wasn’t doing much better, after crawling out of his cocoon and being fussed over by whole group wasn’t pleasant. It wasn’t helpful that they both were naked and could see the major changes. The poor Captain had unfortunately came out with another change with two sets of arms rather then two.

Oddly after a close examination by Kix noted that Rex’s and Fives’s parts that changed where noticeably different. To their Wing pattern’s and to the leg joints hells, their antenna where different.

Thankfully Skywalker ripped some of his tunic to make a makeshift poncho for the both of them and and Kenobi surprised the rest of them by stitching some pants for the both of them. When asked how he knew to sew, he said and Fives quotes “Between having Qui Gon as a Master and having to watch Anakin, one needed to learn a such a skill.” Whatever that meant. Anakin sulked slightly after that.

Now, Fives and the Captain was sitting on the makeshift table half-heartily nibbling on some rations that Kix and sternly ordered them to eat.

Fives could tell that Rex was barely keeping together and honestly he felt the same, so he called over Echo and Ahsoka to distract them both while Skywalker, Kenobi and Kix quietly debated on if this was a permanent.

Fives pulled his poncho over himself and curled his wings closer to his back, praying if this was some shitty nightmare or prank.

“Fives? You look like you need some rest, why not you lay down for a bit?” Ahsoka eventually offered after she sensed the mood dropping.

Fives only nodded, Ahsoka took a spare cloth and folded it a couple of time to resemble some sort of bed mat. Fives ignored the worried stare of his batchmate and shut his eyes to pretend that he was going to sleep.

Rex was panicked when he woke up to say the least.

After struggling to open some sort of thick slimy film over himself he discovered himself with wings, antenna and inhuman legs. What was even more humiliating was he was small, small enough to fit in Cody’s hand who had nearly picked him up in a distressed attempt to see if he was ok.

Rex bit his hand though when he came to close, though he might had hung out with the Wolfpack too much. After some much needed calming down (Rex thanked the stars that Obi Wan Kenobi was there) they settled on focusing on maintaining on Fives and Rex’s dignity and made them both ponchos and pants. It helped a little, thankfully due to Skywalker’s lest then impressing handwork on the ponchos it covered most of their wings. Thankfully Obi Wan’s work ended up fitting more nicely.

Rex twitched when Fives quieted down and went to bed, Rex knew Fives was only quiet when he was really distressed or dissociating after a bad battle. Rex would of course comfort his Vode, however Rex wasn’t feeling the best himself and quietly excused himself to bed. As he laid down he wondered what this meant for him and Fives.

As everyone was asleep, with only the soft snore being the only noise, nobody noticed the growing rash on Kix’s and Cody’s legs and back

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CC-1010 | Fox, CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex Characters: CC-2224 | Cody, CC-1010 | Fox, CT-7567 | Rex, Blitz (Star Wars), Colt (Star Wars) Additional Tags: 212th Appreciation Week, Prompt | Magic/Mythology/Fantasy, Sirens, Sirens AU, CCs as Sirens, beginning of the war, Kaminoans Being Assholes (Star Wars), but they’re not actually given a chance to be assholes this time, 212th CT-7567 | Rex Series: Part 3 of Shon'laar, Part 9 of 212th Appreciation Week Summary:

The war has begun, and with the war comes new responsibilities. Not everyone is happy with their assignments, but the vode make do. And some force changes.

@212thappreciation for the Fantasy/Mythology prompt

I've been thinking anout your winged!glinda HC's a lot,, can we get a hurt comfort one shot/drabble of elphaba preening glinda's feathers? 😔🙏

damn u really took me down a rabbit hole lmao. i ended up writing like 3k words of just sad, winged!glinda. but here's a snippet of her finally getting some elphie comfort!

(headcanon list found here)

///

‘Ready’ apparently comes two weeks later when an exhausted Glinda opens the balcony doors to let Elphaba in. Her wings are a tattered mess behind her, the result of a day spent flying against harsh, autumn winds. When Elphaba leads her to the bed, Glinda all but falls onto it, groaning into her pillows. 

She doesn’t realize she’s left her back open to Elphaba until the woman gasps loudly, hand flying up to cover her mouth. Glinda turns her head, curious, and her blood goes cold when she realizes what Elphaba is staring at. 

Usually, when Glinda is around people, she keeps her wings folded and tucked up, shielding her back from view and keeping her feathers away from wandering or curious hands.

But now, wearing nothing but a halter top and with her wings splayed to either side of her, the bare skin of her back is in full view, exposing the mess of scars and pink-stained feathers to Elphaba’s gaze. 

Glinda immediately tries to get her hands underneath her to push herself up, wings shifting to cover herself. She’s mumbling apologies under her breath, frantic and stuttering. She never wanted Elphaba to see what she had done. What her spell had caused Glinda to endure. 

“Stop, s-stop, Glinda, stop!” Elphaba cries. She’s trembling slightly, horrified by what she’s seen. “Just- please. Stop apologizing.”

Glinda glances over her shoulder with teary eyes. “I'm sorry. I never wanted you to see,” she whispers. 

Elphaba takes a deep breath, blowing it out carefully. “Can you show me again? Please?”

Glinda's first instinct is to vehemently reject the idea, but Elphaba is staring at her with wide, wet eyes, pleading and sorrowful. Slowly, Glinda lets herself fall back to her stomach, splaying her wings out and fighting against her instincts. 

It’s an easier fight than she would’ve imagined. A part of her…trusts Elphaba. More than she’s ever trusted anyone else. Her wings fall open willingly, even as her thoughts tumble over memories of sharp nails and harsh yanks, of cruel fists that pulled and twisted.

The first brush of fingers against her scars makes Glinda's skin twitch and her mind flash with a brief panic, but she manages to keep it subtle, breathing evenly, and after a brief hesitation, Elphaba continues her exploration. 

She doesn’t ask if it had hurt. She doesn’t ask why the feathers are pink. She doesn’t try and get Glinda to talk about the worst day of her life.

She just…runs her fingers over them, soft and gentle. She cards through the small feathers by the base of Glinda’s shoulders, and it’s such an overwhelming sensation that it practically makes Glinda want to scream. 

The human side of Glinda’s brain all but shuts down, and she collapses into the pillows, biting down on her tongue hard enough to bleed. Elphaba’s fingers are soft and sure, calmly raking through the ruffled feathers and gently starting to realign them. 

It feels heavenly. 

There’s a rumble building in Glinda’s chest as the pleasure washes over her. It’s not even sexual- it just feels good. Her mind is foggy and numb, her muscles relaxing and making her sink deeper and deeper into the sheets. 

“Glinda? This still okay?” Elphaba checks in. 

Glinda can barely remember what words are. “Mmhm,” she hums, snapping her mouth shut around what could almost be called a coo. Something warbly and soft, something happy. 

It’s like the world’s best massage, especially when Elphaba gains enough confidence to start working into the downy under feathers, rubbing through the softness right near her shoulder blades, coaxing Glinda’s wings to secrete the oil that will make them shiny and waterproof. 

Glinda wiggles in place, shivers running down her spine as Elphaba’s fingers glide through feathers that can’t help puffing up and settling down in waves as Glinda falls into the pattern Elphaba established. It feels so. Good. 

“Glinda?”

There are no words. Glinda can’t even think properly, swimming in a haze of pleasure. She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out except a pretty little trill. Elphaba laughs, startled but pleased. “You good, little dove?” 

The nickname makes Glinda melt, and she lets out another embarrassing trill. “Wow. You are really out of it,” Elphaba breathes, something awed in her tone. She keeps going, shifting the crooked feathers, smoothing the ruffled ones. 

Time starts to blur, and Glinda has no idea if it’s been minutes or hours. She feels so blissed out that Morrible herself could walk into the room right now and she still likely wouldn’t move. She’s an absolute puddle of limbs and feathers, her wings splayed over the bed. 

For the first time since Glinda got her wings, nothing hurts. Every feather feels right, nothing is misaligned, there’s no itch or sting or prickling awareness of something being wrong. No pain. 

Galinda feels completely, utterly, wonderfully content. 

“Stay,” she whispers to Elphaba, sliding further and further toward sleep, drunk on pleasure and finally feeling safe. She doesn't want Elphaba to leave, even as the woman shifts from preening her to just running soft fingers over the tops.

Elphaba's smile can be heard in her voice. “I’m not going anywhere.”