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no content only thoughts

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I actually finally finished the last chapter of this? Pretend it was in a timely manner

Personal Projects and the Art of Espionage: What Not to Do Summary:

Wraith is a clone sergeant working for Republic Intelligence. He’s used to running data through computers and making the occasional visit to investigate things in the Coruscant Guard, but he’s not about to admit to anyone that investigating an attempted bombing on an out-of-the-way base in Hutt Space is out of his usual wheelhouse. The clones he finds there are a little unusual, but he assumes it’s just another mission. With the help of squad leader Sergeant Quaver, he should be done with this in no time. He has no idea this mission will change the status quo of his life, but it’s not like he’d believe you if you told him it would anyway. (In other words, sometimes you create way too many ocs and decide you need a story to put them in; this is the beginning of that story.)

It’s here! I was absolutely serious about making entire fics about these dorks. If you like my writing and/or clone ocs come check it out!

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People who aren’t writers just don’t get it. They think that our favorite OCs would be getting the easiest possible rides in life, but nope, all of our favorite OCs get French-dipped in blood and angst and trauma.

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There's a moment when Wraith sees Squall and thinks dismissively about faer makeup, in this first fic where he's meeting everyone, and I think I've mentioned that Wraith will put on a fun lipstick sometimes when he knows he'll be wearing his helmet all day, because it's like a secret treat for himself nobody else knows about

this is important because his former captain definitely had strong opinions about the kind of front clones serving under her had to present to the world, and indulging in makeup was nowhere on her list of acceptable behaviours. Wraith doesn't try to be an ass to Squall about the makeup, but he feels threatened by the fact that fae's so comfortable wearing it where a natborn can see, and it's going to take him soooo long to get past that feeling

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on the subject of Todd’s hypothetical Jedi girlfriend (I say as though this was a topic anyone but me was thinking about in the past, like, month) she’s not very much like Todd at all

He craves a sense of normalcy and routine, and doesn’t really want to question authority because that might upset the balance of his world. The most radical act he ever does is leave the army, and that’s because the army has already upset him so thoroughly by going from the GAR to the Imperial Army, clonetrooper to stormtrooper, that there’s nothing left to cling to that feels “normal”. He might as well chase that dream of settling down and starting a family, right?

the irony is that the girl he meets is out here (who I am tentatively naming Vaia) because she spent her entire life questioning everything. She was suspicious of the war (hence leaving early enough not to know what a clone looks like), and every time someone tried to placate her or explain that there were things a newly-minted knight shouldn’t know, she got more suspicious, because why shouldn’t she know everything? (there���s. actually good reasons for that, in war, but that’s about when she’d come back with the response that Jedi shouldn’t be in war in the first place)

She always took the code very literally, though that doesn’t mean she necessarily cares to follow it, especially once she leaves the Order - the truth is that she just thinks if you’re going to live by something you have to stick to it or change it so you can, and that any amount of apparent hypocrisy deserves scrutiny. When the Empire takes over, she feels almost vindicated, or she would if she couldn’t feel the Force echoing with the sudden and extreme loss of Jedi life

She does like Todd because he seems normal, though. That’s something that connects them; she doesn’t want to wallow in self-delusion, but she does want something stable she can trust, which is part of why she always chased answers and questioned everyone. In an upended world, she’s ok with stopping her quest for hard truths and just living in the moment with somebody else who’s actually uncomplicated.

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Tyrant is meant to have an XO, but she doesn't, certainly not someone she relies on the way Quaver and eventually Wraith rely on Widow. If she did, though, it would be Magenta, given how heavily at times she leans on their grounding presence and ability to keep other clones in line. She appreciates that Magenta can keep his head in most situations, though Ty doesn't ask them to deal with Teal and Turquoise directly after the first few times the situation ended in an argument. She feels a little guilty every time she asks for his help, but that doesn't stop her; she only asks when it's necessary, after all, and what's needed matters more than what would be nice.

Magenta appreciates the trust and likes Tyrant's leadership style, often hoping that he can be like her as a leader someday; some part of themself they try not to acknowledge still does resent her for the fact that it feels like he's her assistant in all things squad-management - he's already got some eldest sibling problems thanks to Teal and Turquoise, and being in a position where he's an expert on things whenever Ty isn't there means that he feels more responsible than he wants to be for the entire squad

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the funniest thing about this is the fact that Tibanna does not have the same youthful energy as the clones who were decanted around the same time, to the point where I often forget that he’s basically the same age as them. He’s got “long-suffering eldest brother” vibes but he’s one of the babies of the family

My timelines are inevitably vague and based entirely on vibes, but here are the various clones of the shag pabol outpost in order of age, oldest to youngest! because I spent a stupid amount of time doing this today so I want to feel like it’s come to fruition somehow. (& between names means they’re from the same squad, a comma is just that they were decanted around the same time)

Wraith, Tyrant

Quaver, Widow & Todd

Linsey & Menagerie

Cori, Witness, Rattler & Fever & Slayer & Festival

Tibanna, Teal & Turquoise & Magenta, Hardy & Inferno & Squall

Starcatcher

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It's easy to forget that Festival and Fever grew up together: Festival is loud and excitable, and often people assume she's younger than she is. Fever likes to sneak around and experiment on things that are best left alone, and has a dark sense of humour. They don't spend much time together on their own, either. Festival might go to Fever for help with a firework or other party trick, but for the most part their interests diverge. Fever doesn't want to go to parties in the town or get drunk at all, and Festival can't imagine not taking advantage of everything the galaxy has to offer.

But at the same time, if Festival and someone else - even Rattler - were hurt, Fever would go to Festival first. She usually tries to come up with some pragmatic-sounding excuse for it, but Festival knows the truth: as far as Fever's concerned, he's her responsibility, and if something happens to him Fever wouldn't forgive herself. Festival is at times a little reluctant to go to Fever if one of their plans goes wrong, since Fever has no qualms about keeping the others from doing things they want to do, but they know that they can count on Fever for anything they ask for, and take a great deal of comfort in that fact.

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Slayer is silly on purpose, a sort of balm to offset the fact that he knows a hundred ways to kill people with just his hands and whatever's around. Rattler is silly mostly on accident, but he loves to seek out joy and fun whenever he can, hence his hobbies. Together, they're possibly the most straight-up joyful of any combination of clones at the outpost, tying with either of them hanging out with Festival. As Rattler says, the three of them have to be fun to be around, to offset Fever's unsettling personality.

Slayer will teach Rattler anything he asks to learn (the hand-to-hand combat didn't always go well, but Slayer was ready and willing for every session until Fever put a stop to it). Rattler, in return, knows he can come to Slayer to vent if looking after his squad ever gets too much, as it often does when people see Rattler's efforts mostly as goofy hobbies or wastes of time. Neither one likes to dwell on sad things, but Slayer gets Rattler to slow down long enough to feel his emotions, and Rattler looks at things differently from Slayer and gets him to recontextualise his own thoughts.

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"Hello"

Wraith: [says the person's name or rank, for instance:] Sergeant. Widow: Look who's here. Tibanna: Hello. Do you need something? Fever: Hey. (distracted) Rattler: Morning, anything interesting? Festival: Hi! Hardy: Hey. (annoyed) Inferno: Hello! How is everything? Linsey: Hi - Hello - Good morning. Uh, how are you? Todd: [in the morning, chances are good he'll sing an in-universe pop song about it] Hello! How's the day looking?

Tyrant: Hello. Menagerie: [to a small creature] Hey there, what's your name? [to another person] Oh! Hi. What's up? Starcatcher: How's it going? Teal: So what's new with you? Turquoise: Hellooooo, everyone! Magenta: Hi. What do you need? Witness: Did you just come in? Have you been there all along? Slayer: Greetings. Cori: [complete silence; if prompted, he speaks] Hi. Squall: Hey, there. Anything I should know?

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Squall doesn't actively try to get angry; it just happens to fae. The fact that Hardy goes out of their way to look for things to get mad about or trouble to get into pisses fae off, though, while Hardy sees Squall's temper as something that should be embraced and can't understand why fae don't want to channel that to any of her causes. They know each other well enough, and each have strong enough tempers, that most of their conversations tend to end in verbal or physical fights. On Kamino, this didn't come up so much, since they were outnumbered by the rest of their batch. Here, where if they're together the only mitigating presence is Inferno who hates upsetting either one of them, it gets bad much more quickly. Ty and Quaver had a system in place to make sure Squall and Hardy weren't left alone on the rare occasions they got to meet up; Wraith, of course, doesn't know this is necessary, but he learns quickly after the first holocall between the batchmates.

And yes - in spite of the many, many arguments, they do still regularly call each other. Part of this is to appease Inferno, who they're both fond of. Part of this is that, for some reason that's inscrutable even to Squall and Hardy, they don't want to stop talking to each other no matter how awful talking to each other gets. They've had each other in their lives so long they don't know how to not be in each other's orbits.

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Squad Meeting

"Any other orders of business?" Tyrant never asked the question because she wanted an answer. Somehow, they still managed to answer her every time, anyway.

"Is it true about Quaver? That clone from Intelligence replaced him?" Turquoise called.

Ty had known this was coming. She groaned internally anyway.

"Yes," she said. "Sergeant Wraith is leading the other squad now."

"I heard him call it the Todd Squad," Turquoise said. "Should we have a name?"

"We already -"

"Why would they name it that?" Teal asked.

"Todd's on the squad," Magenta muttered.

"Yeah, but Todd's the most boring man in the world. Last time I saw him, he wanted to talk about traffic!"

Turquoise cut back in loudly.

"I think if they get a squad name, we should get a squad name."

"You said that already," said Starcatcher.

"Well. I'm inviting a brainstorm!"

"I'm not," Tyrant said firmly. Even Turquoise went quiet.

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Wraith is uncomfortable around Rattler at first because he doesn't really understand what makes Rattler tick - he assumes it's a love for Rattler's various hobbies but is confused by how quickly they change and the fact that Rattler is frequently bad at them. It takes a long time for it to click with Wraith that it's Rattler's way of looking after his squad, but once he realizes it there's a drastic shift in his attitude towards Rattler - after all, that knowledge means Wraith will have a much easier time making Rattler do what he wants.

As far as Rattler is concerned, Wraith barely matters except in as much as he replaced Quaver. Wraith doesn't feel like one of them, holding the distance he does at first from the rest of the squad, and Rattler can tell Wraith is uncertain of him. Wraith's sudden shift throws him off, and Rattler is very hesitant to warm up to him, but he does appreciate the trust Wraith starts to show in him.

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The Mystery of Legward Begins

From chapter 6 of Personal Projects:

At some point, Fever had slipped into the room, no doubt using the argument as cover as she tucked herself into the far corner. She unfolded from her position against the wall and took a few steps forward. The grave nod she gave Wraith was very much like the one Tibanna had offered. “Next person to pitch an unnecessary fit is helping me with my next experiment.”

Everyone went quiet at that, looking around like they were avoiding Fever’s eyes. Wraith realized with a sinking sensation that he would be the one to deal with whatever she was up to.

“You have another experiment? You didn’t tell me. Is it a surgical thing? Is it medicine? Are you working with medical tech again? Last time you tried to build an experimental prosthetic –“

“We don’t talk about Legward,” Fever said, cutting off Todd’s quiet rambling.

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Being in different squads, Linsey and Menagerie don't get to interact often, but they were batchmates on Kamino. Theirs was a close knit group, and they used to be able to read each other really well. After deployment, Linsey tries to cling to Menagerie as much as he can, which is increasingly grating for Menagerie. On Kamino Linsey hadn't been homesick, because he hadn't left home (his batch), so this is new and uncomfortable territory for Menagerie, who feels like he should feel guilty for not being as upset about the separation. He won't say anything to Linsey, of course, because he's afraid to upset his brother, but most of his squad knows the tensions are rising.

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Hardy and Inferno are batchmates, and a lot more affectionate than Hardy and Squall (their other batchmate on Shag Pabol). Hardy, being the kind of young would-be activist who has no actual access to theory and can only get her political causes through popular media, often likes to rage at Inferno about whatever take she has adopted as a cause lately. Sometimes their information is good, sometimes they're missing chunks of context, but it doesn't really matter to Inferno. He has no context or interest for what Hardy's talking about, and is happy to just nod along because he loves her and wants her to feel valued.

On occasion, Inferno does come up with a good point, usually contradicting Hardy's opinions. Hardy will never admit in the moment that he could be right, and neither will they acknowledge later that he said it, but they do listen and internalize his thoughts every time. For all that she's prideful, she takes Inferno more seriously than most of their siblings do, and never writes off the things he says. (They just never ever want anyone to know that.)

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"The weather is bad"

The dialogue game is back! Feel free to send me benign, versatile statements to play around with. This one is fun because it also reveals which clones like rain/consider heat more distasteful than rain

Wraith: It doesn't look good out there.

Widow: Well, the weather's shit.

Tibanna: [under his breath] Great. Just like home.

Fever: It's raining; I refuse.

Rattler: Weather's gross. Who wants a sweater instead of going out?

Festival: I'm staying inside because I love myself.

Hardy: Clearly the sky hates me.

Inferno: Oh, gross. Look at that.

Linsey: [nervous] How about the weather?

Todd: [confident] How about that weather?

Tyrant: Don't go out, the weather's bad.

Menagerie: That storm's gonna drown me.

Starcatcher: Hey, look at the thunder/rain/snow!

Teal: Have I reminded you lately that I hate this heat?

Turquoise: It's shitting out there!

Magenta: The weather looks bad.

Witness: Do we have to go out? In that?

Slayer: Hmm. Look at that weather. Yikes.

Cori: Not going out.

Squall: Oh, hey. It's me outside.