ii. a different kind of stimuli

chapter two of the nature of living things

words: 11.5k

series rating: explicit

warnings: slow burn, canon typical violence, that good trope where someone gets hurt and the other tends the wound u know the business!!

a/n: i hope everyone enjoys the beginnings of dear droid girl and mando’s relationship!! also does anyone ever wonder why mando keeps zero’s body on the crest and doesn’t like. dump it somewhere lmao anyway hope you guys enjoy! (ps thank u to @equalstrashflavoredtrash​ for helping me shake this out, and thank u to stevie for being the original ear to hear this story out over a year ago 🥺)

(gif credit: @dindjaring)

You don’t get to look for your droid.

The cold settles in the valley well before the second sun joins its sister beneath a horizon that you can’t quite see from within the vertical walls of sandrock blocking you in — and the darkness follows not long after.

It isn’t the dark that stops your search, not even the cold that was creeping its way into the joints of your fingers — it’s the way the child rattles in your arms at the sudden drop in temperature. His tiny little body, even swaddled up in the wooly jacket that seemed to swallow up most of his form, vibrated with shivers as he hunkered himself deeper into your arms with a disgruntled babble.

So, no. You don’t get to look for your droid. You go looking for blankets instead.