Things shifted after the tender moment shared over Ruu'Eva. It wasn't entirely noticeable, but the Mandalorian was more relaxed around Imogen, he spoke more unprompted. And Imogen was no longer hesitant with her physical affection.
She was a snuggler at heart, and while snuggling with Ruu'Eva was well and good, that night where she fell asleep against the Mandalorian's chest was pure bliss. She was no longer shy about reaching for his hand, or resting her head on his pauldron after a long day spent chasing Ruu'Eva around the Crest or wherever they had landed to pick up a quarry.
"What are you smiling about?" the Mandalorian asked, breaking Imogen out of her thoughts. She startled slightly.
"Why do I have to be smiling about something specific?" she countered with a soft blush. "Can't I just be smiling for the hell of it?"
"Not when you stopped playing 5 minutes ago and have just been staring off into space since," the Mandalorian chuckled a bit, and Imogen looked down at her ukulele that was still in her hands.
"Huh," she muttered, reaching under her cot and putting her treasured instrument away. She looked around after replacing the case under her cot, and her brows furrowed. "Muffin, where's Ruu'Eva?" she asked, and the Mandalorian heaved a heavy sigh.
"You never should have gotten me a cape with a hood," he groaned, turning and showing Ruu'Eva tucked snugly in his hood. Imogen giggled, knowing Ruu'Eva had probably climbed in there when the Mandalorian was sitting and refused to leave.
"Well you never should have lied about having two," she said softly, hand unconsciously going to his cape that he had gifted her, which was currently draped over her cot. The Mandalorian snorted and shook his head, not deigning her comment with a verbal response. Imogen stood from where she had sat cross legged on the floor, still giggling softly, and grabbed Ruu'Eva from the Mandalorian's hood.
"How do you say dad, in Mando'a?" she asked, and the Mandalorian turned back to face her, helmet tilting at a soft angle whose meaning Imogen had yet to decipher.
"Buir," he answered, and Imogen smiled brightly as she lifted Ruu'Eva so he was level with her face.
"You stay out of you buir's hood, okay?" she scolded him, and laughed a bit when his ears drooped in fake guilt. They had found a little bit ago that he understood most of what they said, even if he wasn't capable of words yet. "You'll end up choking him, or something," Ruu'Eva cooed, reaching for Imogen's face, and she sighed, knowing she had lost his attention. She pulled him closer so he rested against her shoulder, and his hands happily grabbed onto a lock of hair each.
"What is it with my hair?" Imogen murmured, brows pinching together adorably. Din shrugged.
"It's nice hair," he answered, and Imogen gaped up at him, the blush that had faded from earlier returning full force. She tried to stutter out something, but Din beat her to it. "Besides, you're wearing it down, of course he's taking advantage of it," he said, and Imogen bit her lip softly. Din heaved a sigh.
"There's a quarry in a nearby market, if you want to join?" he asked, voice hesitant. Imogen beamed up at him and nodded.
"Of course!" she answered, and Din nodded, striding over to her cot and picking up his cape that he had given her. He motioned her over, and Imogen dutifully walked up so she was standing directly in front of him. With a flourish, Din draped the cape over her shoulders, tilting his head in admiration at the adorable way it swamped Imogen's form. He pinned it in place with a mudhorn clip, and Imogen's brows furrowed as she looked at it.
"What's this?" she asked.
"It's my clan's signet," he answered her, hands resting on her shoulders. He angled his helmet towards his pauldron, where his own signet was, and Imogen's attention was drawn to it. "The armorer made it, last time I was on Nevarro," he told her, and Imogen smiled up at him.
"I swear the armorer is more your therapist than a blacksmith," she giggled, and Din shrugged.
"She's a leader," he countered. "An advisor,"
"And she's okay with me being in the clan?" Imogen asked, and Din sighed fondly at the confused sparkle in her eye.
"She doesn't get a say," Imogen's brows flinched together in confusion. "You know about that day on Nevarro," he began to explain. "With Moff Gideon," Imogen nodded. "She told me then that Ruu'Eva is in my charge, not that I needed telling," Imogen giggled softly. "And said we were a clan of two," he waited for Imogen to catch on, admiring the way he could see her thought process reflected on her face.
"Oh," she said softly, pink returning to her cheeks. Din secretly made it his goal to turn them permanently pink, adorably flustered looked good on her. "So I'm a part of your clan," she put the emphasis on your, and Din nodded, stepping back and pressing a button on his vambrace, calling the pram forward.
"We should get going," he said, and Imogen nodded, depositing Ruu'Eva in the pram and following Din off the Razor Crest.
The town was only a couple minutes away from where Din had landed, so soon enough the clan of three found themselves in a sparsely populated marketplace with a thin blanket of snow covering the ground and roofs of stalls and buildings. Din pulled out the tracking fob, turning slightly back and forth until it started beeping faster, and he followed it to a cantina.
"Are they always drinking when you find them?" Imogen asked, having noticed a trend of where the Mandalorian tended to pick up quarries. Her companion chuckled with a shrug.
"They're just always drinking," he answered, and Imogen giggled slightly and followed him into the cantina, figuring the Mandalorian would handle the bounty easily enough and she could get some soup or something for herself and Ruu'Eva.
It was the first time Imogen had been with the Mandalorian when picking up a quarry, and she admitted to herself that it was quite a power trip walking in with him and hearing the cantina immediately go silent, and seeing all heads turn to watch the beskar clad warrior leisurely stride in, knowing that he wasn't-that he couldn't be here for a drink. Imogen had an idea of what was probably going through all of their heads, having had a similar train of thought before the Empire's demise, when an officer had walked in and even though Imogen kept her teeth religiously filed down during their reign, she couldn't stop herself from wondering if someone had turned her in, tipped off the Empire. She was willing to bet that every living soul in that cantina was now asking themselves who they had crossed who would potentially put a bounty on their heads.
The Mandalorian tilted his helmet to her, as if to tell her to go get some food, and Imogen quickly waltzed up to the bar and ordered two bowls of bone broth. She could hear the tense intakes of breath coming from everyone the Mandalorian passed, and Imogen settled herself at a corner table, leaving Ruu'Eva in his pram for the time being.
It was when the Mandalorian went behind a curtain at the back of the cantina that Imogen started to feel a weird pit in her stomach. Everyone else breathed sighs of relief at the knowledge that the Mandalorian wasn't there for them, and though Imogen knew how capable her shipmate-clanmate was, she couldn't shake the sudden feeling of unease.
It was as if Ruu'Eva sensed it as well, and he began to coo up at her nervously, fidgeting. Imogen sighed, tossing a couple of credits on the table and striding to the curtain.
"I'll make sure he's okay," she reassured her little green gremlin of a son before pressing the button to close the lid on his pram. There were no sounds of protest, as if he understood that she didn't want to have to worry about him and the Mandalorian in a dangerous situation.
The sound of a loud crash from behind the curtain urged Imogen to run in, and she found her instinct had been correct, there was trouble.
The Mandalorian was surrounded by a dozen men, a couple holding blasters but a couple held long metal shafts that Imogen could vaguely remember being used to shock uncooperative animals. Her gaze narrowed when one of the men lunged forward, the Mandalorian dodging but he quickly crumpled to his knees when a second man shot a stream of electricity at him.
Imogen pulled her vibroblades out of her boots, switching them on, and once the sounds of the grunting Mandalorian began to subside, the aggressors tilted their heads, wondering where the buzzing was coming from. Imogen rushed them before they could react, her blades going through two men's throats at the same time before side stepping and avoiding the prod swung in her direction. She kept one of her blades in her victim's neck, swinging his body to shield her against blaster fire coming from her left as she threw her other blade into the man attempting to prod her's eye.
The Mandalorian swung into action at this point, engaging with the men to Imogen's left as she finally withdrew her blade from her human shield's neck and lunged for one of the blaster wielders. He fired a shot but Imogen was already upon him, efficiently stabbing up under his chin and turning towards another. In the background she was aware of the Mandalorian taking on 4 men, but seemingly not aware of the fifth, a large man without a weapon sneaking up behind him with arms outstretched as if he were going to grab the Mandalorian.
"Muffin!" she called, seeing his helmet tilt toward her briefly before refocusing on his attackers, indicating he heard her. The corners of Imogen's lips quirked up into an amused smirk when she saw the confused gazes of their attackers, and she slashed the man she had engaged across the chest, not staying to see if it killed him but knowing he was definitely incompacitated for the moment. "Duck!" the Mandalorian didn't think twice before complying, Imogen shoving her way between two of the men he was facing and jumping over the Mandalorian's hunched body to deliver a kick to the man behind him's face.
The man was big, and Imogen's kick had done little more than stun him before he was smirking disgustingly and charging for her. Imogen met his charge by running towards him and then sidestepping before they met, slashing under his outstretched arms as she passed him. The man howled in pain as he came to a stop and whipped back around to face her. Despite blood dripping down his side and from his nose, he rushed for Imogen once more, and she quickly backed away from him, eyes scanning for an opening to exploit before he reached her.
He never got to, however, stopping just short of her with a groan and falling on his face, a blaster wound in the back of his head. Imogen looked up to see the Mandalorian lowering his blaster, and the bodies of the remaining attackers piled next to him.
"Thanks, Muffin," she called, and the Mandalorian sighed in fake frustration.
"Why did I have to be Muffin today?" he grumbled, and Imogen burst out into giggles as she collected her vibroblade that was in one of the body's eye and walked back to Ruu'Eva's pram, opening the lid. "Not very fearsome to hear in the middle of a battle," Imogen continued to sputter with laughter as she turned to look at the bodies and her Mandalorian warrior.
"Which one of them is the quarry?" she asked, and this time the Mandalorian groaned with real frustration.
"None, it was a set up," he said, and Imogen's shoulders drooped.
"Oh," she said dumbly, turning and heading through the curtain with Ruu'Eva's pram following closely behind her. After a moment the Mandalorian emerged as well, and the trio exited the cantina.
"Let's get back," the Mandalorian said, leading the way to the Razor Crest, and Imogen followed dutifully.
"What do you want me to call you?" Imogen's question startled Din, the pair having been sitting on the floor watching Ruu'Eva play with one of the wind up speeders.
"What?" Din asked, turning to fully face her.
"If you-" Imogen heaved a breath. "If you don't like what I call you, do you want me to call you something else?"
"No!" Din exclaimed, realizing his voice was probably louder than necessary when Imogen flinched back. "I... like the names," he muttered, a hand coming to nervously scratch the back of his neck over the collar of his shirt. Imogen pouted slightly.
"But-"
"I was joking, cyar'ika," he soothed, bringing a hand to rest on her cheek. "Don't worry," Imogen sighed before nodding, and leaned down to rest her head on his shoulder. "Sit up for a second," Din commanded, and Imogen did so, looking at him curiously. Her eyes followed his hands as he tore his gloves off and set them to the side, and then he reached to press a release button under his arm, his cuirass breaking into two parts with a hiss. Din grabbed the two metal pieces and put them to the side, tugging off his pauldrons and vambraces as well before settling back against the wall.
"Okay, c'mere," he murmured, and Imogen quickly snuggled into his side.
"You still haven't told me what that means," she whispered, giggling a bit as Ruu'Eva fell on his face chasing after the speeder before jumping up and continuing, completely uncaring that he had fallen.
"It's..." Din trailed off, deciding to forego a direct translation. "A term of endearment," he said instead, and Imogen hummed.
"Cyar'ika," she repeated, eyes closed as she grabbed Din's hand that was resting on his abdomen, the other being on her bicep as his arm was thrown around her shoulder. "So I can call you that?" she asked, and Din tensed.
"It's not-" he cut himself off with a deep intake of air. "It's special, something intimate," he explained, not wanting her to use it without understanding that it wasn't the same as her playful pet names she gave him.
"So I'll only use it when it's just us," Imogen said, shrugging as if it were the most simple thing in the world, and to her it probably was, she had no idea, after all, that it was a term reserved for lovers. Maybe Din was taking advantage of the fact that she didn't know by calling her it, allowing himself to at least pretend in the seconds it took for him to call her by it that she was his in the way he longed for her to be.
Mando'a Translations
Buir - Mom/Dad/Parent
Cyar'ika - Darling; Beloved