#Doctor Jedi AU

[musewrangler]

“Thank you,” he murmured, content to be so near to her. “Sola—-I wish so badly things could be different.”

She sighed deeply.

“Agreed. How about this? Let’s make a deal. If we both survive this war, let’s meet up. How about Naboo—-you know that one cafe where I spilled caf on your trousers?”

Laughing hurt, but he couldn’t help it.

“That’s…the memory you chose?” he managed after she gave him some water.

“Yes,” she replied calmly, generous mouth curved gently. “Because we laughed and I thought you must think me a clumsy nerf, but you were so gracious and I—-”

She paused and he saw that tears had gathered in her eyes.

“Sola—” he murmured, reaching for her with a hand that was clumsy and swollen. She took it tenderly in both of hers and sat for a moment. He felt hot moisture drop onto his skin and then she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

“I knew then I wanted to be with you always,” she managed. “And this damn war…!”

They were quiet for long minutes and at last he spoke.

“I promise,” he told her. “I promise to be there if we both make it.”

[consultinghuntertimelord]

"All beings begin their lives with hopes and aspirations. Among these aspirations is the desire that there will be a straight path to those goals. It is seldom so. Perhaps never. Sometimes the turns are of one’s own volition, as one’s thoughts and goals change over time. But more often the turns are mandated by outside forces. It was so with me."

Thrawn did not understand the Force. He knew it existed, and in the past year he'd had more opportunities than ever before to learn about it, but he still didn't understand it. Perhaps he never would. But one thing he did understand, as he wandered the halls of the Jedi Temple, studied in its archives, and begrudgingly spoke with its people, was that the Force clearly had a sense of irony.

Or, Thrawn is trapped among the Jedi and becomes an unwilling member of the Jedi Order.

[roxannepolice]

I'm having way too much fun with this... Let's call this snippet "How the Master reconciled with Martha's bloodline"

All things considered, the Doctor's relationship to the Jones-Smith household was pretty good. - Hey, kids! - he greeted them cheerfully. - Getting ready for New Year's Eve, I see? - Hi, uncle Smith, no relation to our dad - Leia sent the Doctor a short smile. - Kids? - the cashier raised their head. - Uhm... can I see your documents, please? - Our documents? Yes, of course, doing your job so responsbily! - Luke said and started patting herself across all pockets. The Doctor winced. The twins were mere weeks away from turning 18, and it seemed he made their New Year's Eve plans complicated at best. - Ah, damn, I must have left it at home! - Luke exclaimed, a bit too loudly for an honest legal adult. - Surely you can let it slip once, my dude, seeing as it's Chistmas time and all? - Uhm, sorry... - the cashier, who themself couldn't be much older than the Jones-Smith twins, said - I know the pain, believe me, but now you explicitly didn't show the documents when asked and I don't wanna get in trouble... Leia sent the Doctor a glare which, on his mother's face, once turned Sontarans' blood colder than it usually was. - Wait a sec, maybe I took mine - he tried, miserably. - Well, I will be needing to see it if I am to sell you th- - You don't need to see their documents - a levelled voice from over the Doctor's shoulder stated. - Excuse m?- - I said, you don't need to see their documents - the Master repeated in the same tone. The Doctor was staring at him wide-eyed. - I... don't... need to see your... documents... the cashier repeated, seemingly confused at their own words. - And you will charge them 30% off. - And I will charge you 30% off... - And add some party blowers as a bonus. - And add some party blowers as a bonus... - the cashier repeated, still confused, but obediently packing the celofane package. Jones-Smith twins paid for their (discounted) beers and slipped away in uncharacterstic silence. The cashier blinked a few times and smiled politely at the next customer. - Wh- - Would hate to see you make another generation of Joneses unbearably boring - the Master murmured and returned to his own queue. From that day on, at least two members of the se- Jones-Smith household maintained perhaps not friendly but utilitarianly cordial relationship with the Master.

[edge-lorde]

@manateemoon

A strange alien doctor stands near the unconscious body of Padme Amidala. “It appears she has lost the will to live.” A older man with a limp hobbles closer with the aid of a cane. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Dr. Gregory House.

[teler-of-gallifrey]

I have blorbo from my head brainrot (and I'm going to start writing a fic surrounding said blorbi soon), so here's a list of significant force abilities my OC's possess

Jedi Master Randir Species: Timelord/Gallifreyan

Notable abilities: Chronokenisis: The ability to manipulate time, and by extension, space. This can manifest as a few seconds rewinding, which no observer without a backwards consciousness (A timelord trait that is mentioned in like, a single comic. Basically, the ability to perceive time fuckery) would notice, to slowing down or speeding up time, to even, on the higher end, phasing through time, or in other words, vehicle-less time travel, however, this last ability is enormously taxing and not sustainable, with prolonged use of this ability burning up the users body, due to the stresses of running the time vortex through it. Indeed, part of Randirs mastery of this technique is due to being a timelord, as they evolved under similar stresses due to frequent time travel. Still, extensive use of this ability, or use at high levels, is a threat to her... Just more of a threat like running a marathon in summer heat without enough water, and less of a threat like swallowing an incendiary grenade. It becomes dramatically easier to preform when in or near time rifts, and extremely easy when the user is in the time vortex itself; which makes attacking Master Randir while in her TARDIS in flight an incredibly stupid thing to do, as she becomes a nigh on omnipotent time goddess.

Energy Kenisis: Mental control over energy. This is a finicky power, as it interacts with thing on a sub-molecular level. It can allow for imitations of abilities like pyrokenesis or force lightning, however, it is more taxing and less powerful; in a fight between an energy kenisis wielder and pyrokenetic, the pyrokenetic will almost always win unless their is a massive discrepancy between the skill of the two. It is better used at misdirection (as Dooku will tell you, it is absolutely infuriating when you keep trying to blast a retreating opponent with sith lightning, only for it to just curve midair and strike a point 10 feet to their left, because they've made a massive energy deficit there) or nip problems in the bud, as it can impair or completely inhibit the ability of someone to manipulate the force or use similar abilities.

Psychometry: technically this isn't true force psychometry, rather, it is a force heightened sense, as timelords already possess limited psychometric abilites. This ability is far weaker then that of psychometric masters like Quinlan Vos, but less volatile, and still a handy party trick.

Jedi Knight Eerna Mailee Species: Twi'lek

Notable abilities: Force Symphony: The ability to detect shatterpoints, processed as auditory input. Can be very overwhelming at times (that Skywalker is very loud).

Pyrokenisis: Mental control of fire. Xe never wanted to use it as a weapon; fire as a weapon is horrifying and cruel; However, as the war wore on, it proved to be a very effective weapon against an enemy made of metal.

Light Kenisis: The ability to control light and dark. Can be used to light up a cave or abandoned star cruiser; or to create a dark that blocks out even infrared sensors on midday, but that your allies can still see through (mostly) unimpaired.

Force empathy: A not to uncommon power, however, Eerna makes especial use of it in combat as an intimidation tactic, projecting feelings of dread, fear, and panic into the minds of Xir enemies. This has won battles before they've even started on at least two occasions, though it requires organic leaders to be present, as the droids are incapable of surrender (the feelings Xe projects are often Xir own). Before the war, during Xir padawanship, Xe often used it in a different way, helping settle disputes by bridging the emotions of the different parties (it didn't solve everything, but it's a lot easier to work together when you realize the people you've been thinking of as your opponents are really more like you then they are different)

Xe also have a technique Xe refer to as "Balrog", combining Pyrokenisis, Light Kenisis, and emotional projection.

Jedi Knight Ringnaven Species: Human Notable Abilites: Lycanthropy: They're a werewolf. This isn't a force thing, their home planet is just a setting I use for one of my D&D campaigns and they're a werewolf. Big. Tough. Pointy ears. Dislike of wolfsbane. The Works.

Spellcasting: They're a wizard, took it as supplementary education to their Jedi schooling. Cross discipline skills are very handy, and force enhanced spellcasting is a sight to behold. They're an abjuration wizard. They also have a familiar that usually takes the form of a turkey vulture and Palpatine hates that bird. He knows it's irrational, but he is absolutely convinced that it is onto him. He even tried strangling the bird once and pretending it was an accident but Ri was just like "Oh, don't worry. He's actually an elemental spirit from the Ethereal plane, he didn't die, he was just banished to his home plane. Look, I can conjure him back up, see!" and then re-summoned the bird. (it should be noted that this exchange is after the time travel. Both the bird and the Jedi in question are onto Palpatine [sort of])

Not an ability, but their lightsaber is actually enchanted, it's a +1/+1 item and the kyber in it serves as their spellcasting focus.

Jedi Padawan/Youngling/Initiate Tân (I'm not sure what rank he'll have, for reasons) Species: Timelord (clone of Randir) Notable abilities: Chronokenisis: Like Randir's, though they are younger and less skilled in it, and thus prolonged or advanced usage of it poses more of a threat, especially as he tends to push his limits more and with less regard for their own safety, for traumatic backstory reasons. Can be used in conjunction with force empowerment, but they will get yelled at by Randir after due to the aformentioned lack of regard for their own safety.

Force empowerment: The ability to lend your strength and vitality to your allies. Tân is a pacifist, once again due to traumatic backstory reasons, however, due to living in a post Order 66 world, not participating in the fight isn't exactly an option, nor is it one she would want to take if it was. Her way of helping to protect her loved ones is to lend them her own power, and they have gotten very good at it, to the point where their mastery of this ability rivals that of even some masters. It's most effective when used with someone he's familiar with, especially Lírë, or the other DT series prototype clones (what's this?! More allusion to the traumatic backstory?!).

Force Healing: another substantial way to help fight the empire without actually taking up arms.

Blacksmithing: It's a fun hobby

Jedi Padwan/Youngling/Initiate Lírë Species: Timelord (Randir Clone) Notable Abilites: Chronokenisis: Yet again. As with Tân, she's not quite a master of the technique yet, but she more then makes up for it with her lack of self preservation skills. When combined with Tân's skill in the technique, she was even able to hold of Dooku for several minutes until help arrived, though the feat nearly burnt up their bodies and almost caused them both to regenerate.

[stealthetrees]

So this is more of an AU of the fandom AU where the Coruscant Guard live in a shitty run down building that’s falling apart. But Commander Fox finds this unacceptable so he clears out a warehouse used for storage and builds a shiny new headquarters. The original building they fix up, but only the lobby, a couple offices, and the med bay so troopers on senate duty can stay there due to its proximity to the senate building. Their new building they can go nuts with, adding all sorts of stuff that they arnt allowed to have.

An entire room is filled with tv monitors so they can slice into security cameras around the planet and see everything. They get a nice rec room, an area for the engineers to play around with ideas, even an office for the medics to make you talk about your feelings. A server room is dedicated solely to storing and orgonizing blackmail collected on pretty much everyone worth mentioning on Coruscant.

But after one secret building, what’s another? Areas of strategic importance are carefully chosen and a new headquarters is established nearby. They are each given code names. The original building is still Headquarters, the new main building is the Barracks. The Office is where they run intelligence and investigations from. IT Department is next to the industrial district. The Kennals are much lower than some of their other buildings, a small station set up to monitor the rancor infestation (Thorn moves down there to become a cowboy after he “dies” on Scipio). The Lobby is set in the lower civilian levels as a way to help the people who arnt rich enough to bribe politicians into getting what they want. The Med Bay started as just somewhere for big surgeries, physical therapy and prosthetics, but which the “generous donations” they acquire it grows into a hospital for civilians as well, completely free, and they start hiring nat born doctors, surgeons and nurses while paying them well and proving a great work environment. Adding a therapist office helped a lot of troopers as well.

The system takes a long time to build and works perfectly. Until Fox figures out Palpatine is a Sith. It’s not actually world shattering news, but it does give him a panic attack after realizing Palpatine though Fox already knew, because he had threatened the chancellor with a slug thrower instead of a blaster. Through questions to his batch mates with Jedi generals he learns that Sith can influence people’s minds and decides that in order for the clone rights bill to pass Palpatine needs to die.

And die he does. The rest of the conservative senators are swayed by a mix of blackmail, bribes, and bomb threats. The bill does pass, and most of them are instantly arrested for sentient rights violations, assault, and various other crimes because government property can’t serve as a witness in a civilian court of law.

The timing of all this could not be worse, as two of Fox’s batch mates where on planet, Cody and Wolffe, and they loved to stick their noses in his business. Which means when a lot of Corries are injured in the fight with the senate guards and private security while trying to make arrests, Cody and Wolffe help get them back to Headquarters, because it’s much closer than the Barracks. But Headquarters has a very small med bay because so few troopers use it. So they are over crowded and run out of bacta.

Also Cody gets turned around in the hallway and discovers how bad the rest of the building is. So Fox has a choice to make. He grabs Cody and Wolffe and drags them outside and back to the GAR barracks while texting Thire and telling him he has an hour and a half to make Headquarters look lived in. Then Fox opens a one way comm line with every Corrie so they can keep the story straight as he answers his brothers questions.

Fox commits to the bit so hard they believe the Guard is suffering horribly from abuse and budget cuts while in reality they just steal money from what ever rich person they have the freshest blackmail from. He could just tell them all the illegal things he’s been up to, but Fox would rather die than tell someone more than they needed to know.

[gallusrostromegalus]

The Rubicon, Part 3: Allegory Of The Cave

AKA, the Force-Sensitive-teenager-that-didn't-go-to-the-Jedi-I wrote-flash-fic-of-on-someone-else's-post-and-kept-going-Whoops-AU

Part 1

Part 2

---

The galaxy has had many brilliant philosophers, among them is Platocca, the Wookiee scholar wrote an allegory of prisoners trapped in a cave, shown shadows of objects, people and animals are projected onto the wall by their captors, as a metaphor for the limits of the senses, and how the shadow of a Rancor is not the same thing as a Rancor itself.

-

Her disappearance does not go unnoticed- it’s hard to miss when the chateau of a locally prominent political family explodes hard enough to cause a major power outage and the body of their ‘reclusive’ daughter is nowhere to be found.  A search is organized, and the scent-akks trace her footsteps out of the house and into the desert but lose the trail at the river, like how a vulpire evades the hunt.

The search expands- her holo is circulated on the local planetary networks, The family is interviewed and they, tearful, plead for her safe return. Her little sister’s tears and begging that it won’t Lifeday without her play particularly well. It gets picked up by the regional channels and soon there is a galaxy wide search for the Missing Girl.  

Everyone loves to be a Hero. 

The desert is searched by police flyover and volunteer foot teams.  Hundreds scour the bare rocks for clues. Someone treks a full hundred miles into the labyrinthine canyons in search of her.

Everyone loves a Mystery.

Interviews are conducted with the family, with her mentors, with her caretakers and doctors. People try to reconstruct the final day before she vanished, someone publishes her school essays and more photos are found- of a shy child, cringing in the back of the Science Bowl team, or trying to hide behind a tree in a family reunion photo.

Everyone loves a scandal.

Ten is not that young an age to enter politics in the Galaxy far, far away, especially not for the now-heir to a prominent local political family and the little sister’s announcement that she’s running for the local civic council wouldn’t be terribly noteworthy, save that it’s done at a rally to raise funds for missing children all over the planet in her missing sister’s memory. By that afternoon, medical records are leaked- seven major psychiatric institutions in under five years, involuntary commitments, ‘experimental’ treatments for an ‘undiagnosed’ disorder- she hurt her siblings, it’s said, she was mentally deficient and home alone- abandoned, when the home “mysteriously” exploded and she vanished without a trace. 

Tongues wag, and eventually agree that, best case scenario,  it’s a family capitalizing on the tragedy to further their political ambitions But best case scenarios are rare in the Galaxy Far, Far away, and the idea that a family might try to get rid of a troublesome daughter before launching the career of another isn’t even a terribly implausible scenario. 

Regardless of the situation, the Sister continues to poll well. Or, perhaps, because of it. Everyone loves to think they’re in on a conspiracy, and if this family is ruthless enough to kill a daughter, well, imagine what they’ll do to the opposition?

-

She first becomes aware of all this at a funeral.

She had gone back to the oxbow to bathe- having worked out podes that are durable enough for the desert and dexterous enough for her needs, and a steady, efficient gait to traverse the vastness of her new home, she was now experimenting with skin, and while the latest thick midnight-violet mammalian hide performed admirably in terms of thermal regulation and protection against the spines every plant and half the animals here had, it had a tendency to get oily and she thought a nice roll in the sand and soak might be in order. 

Instead, the far side of the oxbow was crowded with people, all dressed in mourning white and carrying candles.  A pyre was set up on the far bank, and a small, closed coffin sat atop it. 

Oh hell. A child’s funeral.  Who died?  Not one of my classmates? or- no, no there are Sis and The Baby, thank fuck. Mom and Dad too. Front row.  Hell of a crowd too. And reporters? Yeah, those are definitely holocorders, for the news. She squinted at the logos on the vans parked just up from the riverbank, having to switch spectra and focal distance a few times before the characters became clear. Big networks!  We don’t have anyone that famous, do we? Which unfortunate bastard are you all the way out here for?

She stalked closer, using the harsh angle of the setting sun as cover, long ears cocked to listen.  Voices sang monotonously through the traditional funeral dirge, her mother blotting at her cheek with a handkerchief. As the assembled tried and largely failed to reach the final note, The local temple priest lowered the funeral torch, lit the pyre, arthritically climbed both stairs to the podium, and tapped the mic. 

“Blessings upon us all, on this sad occasion.” He bowed his head. “We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of one who was taken from us too soon.”  he gestured to the holo broadcast in front of the pyre.  She had to shuffle through the underbrush, until she could make out the flickering image against the flame. A girl, about her age, in fancy dress, grimacing as politely as she could.

Poor thing. Looks wretched even in the best holo her family could find. Would we have been friends, this girl and I? Maybe I knew her-

 She squinted at the holo, something about it familiar- Gods, they’d even had the same awful bob haircut and itchy, itchy tule dress she’d been subjected to-

Wait.Is. Is that ME?

“She struggled in life, but was beloved by all who knew her-”

What.

“-She was a champion member of the Science Bowl Team-”

They kicked me off the team for ‘cheating’! It wasn’t my fault I knew the questions before they were asked!

“-and her artworks still adorn the walls of our school.”

WHERE? I got told that they were ‘Too Scary’ and ‘Not School Appropriate’!  

“She was always unparalleled in character- you could not find a more, sometimes brutally, honest person, and she clung unfailingly to her personal ethics.”

Oh? Oh, that’s what we’re calling it? Because last month in front of the shrinks you called me ‘tactless and prone to blurting things out’ and said I ‘rigidly conformed to arbitrary standards to the point of insanity’!  She seethed, a low rumble of disgust.

“We are all aware of her unfortunate medical history-”

Oh. Oh no.

“-but we can take some solace in the fact that she does not suffer anymore.”

Her mother took this chance to bawl theatrically. 

There are no words in all the tongues of the galaxy-

“While ultimately unsuccessful, the efforts to find her- hundreds, if not thousands of volunteer search parties, all across the galaxy as this tragedy has brought us all together in ways I no longer thought possible.  She is now one with the Nature she loved so much, and at peace.  May this pyre symbolize the light she briefly brought into our lives, and let us reflect on our memories of her.”  

The Priest stepped back and the line of mourners stepped forward- classmates, muttering about brief conversations in the hall, except a Longtime Bully, who gushed enthusiastically about how funny she was, with her weird turns of phrase and the way she-

She almost retched at the way her Bully imitated the way her hands would twitch when she was frightened, giggling. 

Then her mother stepped up.

“We.  We knew She was special, from the very day she was born-”

YEAH YOU SURE FUCKIN’ DID, DIDN’T YOU? She seethed, claws digging into the sand and tail thrashing. WAITING AT THE DOOR FOR ME, YOU SAID.  BUT NO-  NOT, YOU KNEW HOW TO RAISE ME BEST, YOU LOVED ME TOO MUCH TO GIVE ME AWAY, YOU SAID-

She crumpled, flattening against the ground and sobbing, strained hisses as her mother carried on, trying to hold back the tide of emotion before the Pyre exploded or something.  She stared at the hologram instead. The girl depicted  is a stranger- no really when the hell did Mom even TAKE that??  Fucking. Dress. When was the last time I even wore that thing? Gods, last Lifeday? No, I was back inside for that. It was…  Really? Really? You chose a picture two years out of date? 

She remembered the dress well. An awful thing made of tulle that didn’t itch so much as actually shred her skin where it wasn’t dangerously compressing her lungs and intestines.  She’d been ‘allowed��� home for the holiday, a probation for Good Behavior and the muscles around her mouths ached at the memory of the practiced smile she held for weeks, lest her Mother change her mind about letting her attend the party. She’d made it a full three months before her hand slipped doing the dishes and even though the cut on her hand was small it was just one thing too many and the smile cracked and she ended up throwing the offending knife across the kitchen in a panic.

She looked down at her ‘hand’ now, the scar still there despite the changes. Some landmarks were stubborn like that- she still had the freckles and that one mole, and the scar from attempting to ride a swoop and crashing into the shrubbery instead. Others vanished from her body and her memory without a trace with the shape-change. 

…Not that a more current image would really be more accurate but fucking really? That’s the one you picked?  I guess I should be glad you miss me at all, but-

Her tail thrashes, chewing on this emotion and the air around her. Her mother is bent over the podium, sobbing. Her grief seems genuine, really.  These are ugly, snotty sobs and the air around her cracks and splinters like bone in the Force. 

And yet.

…DID she have more current holos of me? I was usually the one holding the camera, but. No, not from last Lifeday, I was inside.  Not from Sis’ birthday, I was in the kitchen all day. Not on the Baby’s nameday either, all the holos are from inside that packed fire hazard of a temple and i refused to go in. Unless she took something between when my last camp ended and before they left for the mountains on the ‘normal vacation, for once’...

That really is the last Holo you have of me isn’t it?

And it’s not even me, just your favorite role I played.

Her father pulls her mother away from the podium, and she latches onto The Baby, cradling him close. The Priest shambles up to the podium again, and starts the final prayers. For peace, for a happy afterlife. The mourners got up and filed by the pyre, setting their candles around it before shuffling past the family, offering their condolences. 

They lay hands upon her parents, and shake the hand of her sister, wishing her luck with her campaign. 

She watched them file by, shrinking and retreating back, cowering in- in what? Fear? Anger? Grief? Disgust? She clawed at her face, unable to run, unable to stay.

Eventually, the neighbors collect Sis and The Baby, and her parents stay, waiting with the priest for the pyre to blow out, as per tradition. Her father stares off into the distance, mother clutched to his side. 

“You. You’ve done this before, right?”  he eventually stammers, turning to the priest.

“Fifty years of funerals.” the priest nods. 

“And. And children?”  He asks.

“Some of them, yes.” the priest sighed. “Children are always the hardest.”

Her father stared into the flames.

“Is. Is it wrong to feel… Relieved?” 

Her mother wails again. 

“I, I just… I keep thinking I hear her, around the house or out in the yard and I keep thinking she’s not really dead but- but it’s dread. I dread having to be on guard all the time or take her to another doctor or suffer another tantrum. I- I loved her, like any parent would but- but-”

“- We couldn’t live with her.”  Her mother sighed. “Not really.“

The priest nodded slowly. “It’s not uncommon to feel relieved that our loved ones are no longer suffering. Or to feel some relief from being free of burden of care, even as we mourn.” he tried, over-optimistically.

“It’s not something you say to a child but. Oh gods. Oh gods what a nightmare.” Her mother sobbed.

“Her spirit may yet be with us!” the Priest pleaded. 

“Body and Spirit, Holy Father.”

They all looked up.

She stood on the sandy bank of the river, the thin nervous girl from earlier this summer. She held her arms out, silently asking for a hug.

Her father shrieked, and stepped back, her mother cowering behind him. The priest held his own arms up defensively.

Ah. So that’s how it is. 

“Relieved? That’s how you feel? The nightmare is over?”  Voice high and tight as she grimaced at them, smiling like a primate baring its teeth before an eye-gouging, face-eating assault. “You know what? I can’t blame you. I have to say, this last month? I’ve been pretty relieved too.  No white-knucke social events.  No more being abandoned so Sis and The Baby can grow up ‘normal’.  No more ‘treatments’- you know the last one involved electrodes, right? Of course you did. You signed the wavier!”

Her mother opened her mouth, but choked on whatever it was she was going to say.

“But the biggest thing?  No more pretending.  No more playing the sweet, stupid girl for you to pity and be pitied for. No more pretending I’m the crazy one here.  No more being something I’m not.”  She grinned, and began to change again, skin darkening to midnight again, stretching her spine out until she tipped forward, forelegs splashing in the water and making them jump. She stretched to the height and shape that felt comfortable, A deeper shadow of limbs and muscle and teeth and too many eyes, tapetum lucidum glittering above them in the last of the Pyre-light. 

Her mother gagged, her father stared, frozen except for the tears, and the priest crumpled back in revulsion.

“I really can’t blame you.” She rumbled, stereophonic now. “-But I won’t let you delude yourselves. I might be free of you, but you’ll never be free of what you did to me.”  She grinned mouths full of teeth at them, before turning and walking into he river, vanishing below the surface with a flick of her tail.

Her mother’s screams echoed in faintly through the water as she made her way downriver. There was a spaceport there, and nothing for her here.

---

Now, Platocca rather famously got in a brawl with another Philosopher named Ogg who posited that while the shadow of the thing is not the thing itself, if there's a moving shadow shaped like a Rancor, it's being cast by SOMETHING, and there are better things to do than standing around philosophizing about it.  Like finding out what's casting the shadow from a safe distance, on account of the downright-likely chance that the thing casting the Rancor-shaped shadow is, in fact, a Rancor.  You Pedantic Twit.

-

It doesn’t take long for the carrion beasts to come around.

The scandal embroils the galaxy, and the gruesome details of the child’s history are the gossip of the day.  

Some can sniff between the lines, and take notice- if it was any of the more common ailments, something would have worked by now. The details of the ‘explosion’ hit the insurance market- no point of ignition- indeed, no fire at all, like someone had swung a wrecking ball out from inside the home in all directions at once. And they dig a little bit and compare her birth date to the public logs of Jedi deployments and make an educated guess or five. 

The only vehicle available for rent was an ugly yellow cargo vehicle, but a make and model with an extremely reliable engine and good mileage, which he decided was a decent tradeoff for its abhorrent color. Alas, to rent! He's already in hot water with the Bounty Hunter’s Guild for ‘retroactively purchasing’ a vehicle the last time he was chasing a mark and while the work was undignified, being a Sith didn’t pay like it used to.

He can hear her miles before he sees her.  A low, rumbling thrum in the force, sort of crunchy and guttural, but not unpleasant. He stops the speeder in the blazing white light of late afternoon and cocks his montrals, the physical sensation helping him mentally triangulate the noise. It’s constant, steady drone, like she’s meditating.  Or asleep.  Either way, a sensible thing to be doing in this disgusting heat.  Maybe she does have promise.

The bounty hunter’s guild membership is a convenient source of income, but more than that, it’s an excuse to stick his nose into whatever business the Force demands.  Need to get into a secure building? It’s fine to put his boot through a window, he’s after a mark!  Need to make some dubious contacts to keep himself appraised of the movements of his fellow force-users?  People are much more willing to wag tongues about criminal gossip for some coin than snoop on the Sith, but the relevant details are the same.

And now, when he was trekking into the desert after a teenager- he’s just doing some public service, and certainly not looking for an enraged force-user to take as an apprentice!  Besides, if she wasn’t up to snuff, he could always turn her in for the money. 

He drives on deeper into the thrum, and eventually spots her location- a grove of massive cacti in a small, depressed ditch.  If there is water anywhere out here, its in there.  Honestly, did nobody know how to conduct a search these days?

About 100 feet front he grove, he stops, and listens.  The thrum is much louder now, but he can’t pick out a specific point of origin inside the grove, which is… peculiar. He hopped down and instantly, the thrum ceased.

“Oh, so you do have some wits about you!”  he laughed, strolling closer, hands up and saber tucked behind him, hidden by his coat. “Hey, hey- no reason to panic, I’m just a… well, you and I- we’d be kin, after a fashion.”

No response.  No scuttling through the underbrush, no tension from nerves. Cool as a cumcuber fruit, watching him.

“Well, maybe not Kin. I’ve heard all about the bastards that you got stuck with for a family. Most of the galaxy has now!” He shrugged, stepping into the shade of the outermost cacti and squinting into the grove. “They didn’t understand, did they?  The connection, the POWER that flows through you- it scared them!  And honestly, I can’t blame them, if half of what I’ve read about how you blew up a house is true, why, you’d give some of the elders of my sect a run for their money.”

He can feel her gaze on him, taking in every minute movement. No particular direction, almost as though she were circling him. Good, good!  She wouldn’t have lasted long if she was completely without talent, of course.  Still, let her circle.  Let her come to me. 

“My parents never understood either.” He sighed, strolling deeper into the grove. “Always insisting that I was breaking things on purpose, that I was being cruel by telling the truth-  but why shouldn’t I?  They always said ‘Honesty Is The Best Policy’!”  He laughed.

“But my Master?  He understood. He understood how big and cruel the galaxy can be, especially for people like us. And it’s not wrong for us to defend ourselves!  I’ve got just as much right to exist as a vrelt or a tooka!  They can’t make people understand growling, so it’s not wrong for them to bite! So what if I had to resort to force when they couldn’t be made to understand?”  He laughed, stopping near the center of the grove.  It wasn’t that easy to hide in- the cacti didn’t branch much, and the scub wasn’t that dense. She has to be using the shadows, or keeping her nerve to stay perfectly still and pass herself off as a rock.

“..I suppose it’s fair for you to be cautious.”  he nodded, reaching into the pockets of his coat. “I mean, the galaxy is full of hucksters and con-artists that think they know what’s best.  I won’t pretend that I do, but I know what it’s like to suffer for having a connection like we do.  And well, like how I was taken in, I should return the favor to those in need.”  He pulled out a bottle of clean water- still cold even!- and a protein bar. 

“Here, a token of my goodwill!” he said, tossing them into the scrub. “I’ll be in the speeder when you’re ready to talk.”  he waved, strolling back towards the rental.

“...You have The Force too?”  She asked. 

He stopped, and couldn’t help grinning a bit. He squinted at where he thought the sound had come from, but only found a plain cactus, and no sign of the frail little girl from the posters.

“That’s right!” He nodded. “That’s how I knew where to find you- belongs like us, we’re all connected.”  He explained, tapping his forehead and sitting down on the ground, lekku dragging a bit on the dirt.  The circling sensation was back, but he definitely had her interest now. He expanded his perceptions- ah, there it was- she wouldn’t know how to shield yet, of course and he could feel the head-tilting sensation of confusion.

“...Do some people have more Force than others?”  she asked, on his other side now. 

“Yep!”  He laughed. “Good trick, throwing your voice like that!  But yes, there’s a huge variation in the capacity people like us have in the force.  Don’t worry-  it took me years of training to get like this, but with practice-”

A sharp chortle of amusement rang through the grove. 

“...What’s so funny?”  He asked. 

“Years Of Training, you say?”  She snickered, and he felt the scales on the back of his neck prickle. He could feel her, close, and moving now, stalking and coiling like a carnivore, but he still didn’t know WHERE-

He was suddenly struck with a vision of himself- sitting, lanky and small, laughably small from her perspective. All the weapons on his person were highlighted, including a dark red throb of the Kyber Crystal in his saber, along with the ache in his back and knees, and the tinnitus in his left montral and his name and his master’s name and- and-

“SHIT!”  he snarled, instantly on his feet and glaring up at the tops of the Cacti, lightsaber thrumming in his hand. “Rude little bitch, aren’t you?  Sneaking into people’s heads without their permission!” he scolded.

Another amused chuckle. “Better a bitch than a braggart.”  she gave the impression of a shrug. “Because I know exactly where and what you are, but you-”

He felt something around his ankles. Midnight violet tendrils, like stalks of mycelium sprouted from the ground and wrapped around his legs. He flipped the saber around in his hand, plunging it into the ground-

“-Don’t even know where to look.”  She finished and suddenly the cacti all fell inwards on top of him, as the tendrils yanked down, and he was pulled under the sand, choking and flailing.

He could see her now and-

Oh.

Oh FORCE.

She felt like she’d been all around him because she HAD. She was the cacti and the root system that spanned the grove and dug deep into the underground river system, and hell, even the river itself. Any resemblance to a humanoid form was gone, she was now a companion shadow to the environment around her, a branching form more like a plant or subterranean fungus than anything else.

You were right of course, to head to the only source of water.  She conceded, and he felt his skull figuratively pop open like a pocket filing wallet, and the midnight tendrils rifle through his memories with a vague disinterest. But you didn’t know that most of a river is underground, did you?  I don’t think any rational search party would have guessed how I’ve been traveling, really-

So, a Sith with a day job? That’s… He felt the mycelium of her body wince in the soil around him as he began to choke on the sand. Pretty embarrassing, actually.  But, you’re right, money makes the galaxy go ‘round…  memories of The Guild application process, how he’d modified his ID card, His Master back on Korriban, the disciplines of the order, assembling his lightsaber-

His lightsaber!  

He swung through the dirt and she flinched away from the blade.

“Well, if you’re going to be like that, I’m going to leave.”  she laughed, a mouth forming and unforming from the mycelium ad hoc, and she withdrew from around him.  He clawed furiously, reaching up with the force, pulling himself awkwardly up out of the soil, spitting and howling curses as he tried to untangle himself from the roots and the pile of toppled cacti over him-

“So long, and thanks for all the snacks!”  She called and he turned-

…to see the yellow rental speeder flooring it into the distance.

He patted his coat and realized that the speeder keys, his wallet, and lightsaber were all missing. 

Oh.

Oh fuck. 

She was too far to reach now, but he could still feel the crystal in his lightsaber, calling out to them.  It’s fine, all I have to do was trust in the force and follow the crystal-  She doesn’t know what its capable of-

-

She set cruise control at just under the speed that made the cheap speeder shudder like it was about to fall apart, and leaned back in the driver’s seat, taking a swig from the water bottle and unscrewed the bottom of the lightsaber.

It was a simple enough device really- a small rechargeable battery that fed energy into the crystal, which was focused through a series of lenses and a magnetic field to create a looping blade of plasma.  Basically a more refined version of a Plasma Chainsaw, with a magic rock for a laser. 

The magic rock pulsed.

She blinked at it. 

It was a pretty thing, the color of really expensive rubies or fresh blood, and sparkled more than either. Not with sunlight. With… Potential.

There was a lot of power in her, and this would let her focus it, to carve the world around her as she saw fit, to conquer all that tormented her-  Visions danced, of her on a throne, the dismembered bodies of the doctors and orderlies and her mother at her feet-

“Nah.” She laughed, tossing it over her shoulder and out of the speeder. “I don’t want conquest or to cut throats or whatever.”

“I mean, I do.” She admitted. “I absolutely did fantasize about killing her, more than a few times, just to shut her up.  But that’d just leave Sis and The Baby without a parent that genuinely cares for them, and they never did a thing to me.” She shrugged. “It’s a nice fantasy, but it’s not what I want.”

Then what? The natural question followed. I really do have unlimited potential. What Do I Want?

She stared at the shimmering horizon in silence for a while, not so much thinking as listening.

“I want.” She started and paused. “I want to be happy.”

“It’s been a relief, to be away from all the doctors and eggshells, and to be the shapes I want.” She nodded. “But that’s not quite the same as happy.”

“It’s boring too.” She added. “Cacti are all fine and good, but hardly good conversationalists. I want-”  

“I’m lonely.  And sad, and scared about a lot of stuff.” She admitted, and the truth sat uncomfortably on her breast, but it was better than where it had been sitting inside her, aching, before. 

“I want a friend.”

She paused, having picked up a thread in the force.  A thin one, feeling like only the finest spun fiber, barely tying her to-

She saw the Apprentice from the documentary again, babbling excitedly about learning about how to conduct diplomacy and the the ins and outs of negotiation, and all the people she was going to meet, and the places she’d see and-

“She looks like she’d be fun to talk with.”  She mused.

----

Philosopher Ogg got thrown through a window for arguing with Platocca, but was really the ultimate winner because centuries later, when an excitable and somewhat high-strung Jedi Apprentice got up from her afternoon meditations and saw her shadow finish stretching a full two seconds after she did, she did not write it off as a trick of the light or still being groggy from a meditation session that had accidentally turned into an unplanned nap. 

She also, in a demonstration of what an early start learning  self-control in an emotionally supportive environment could do for someone, did not immediately panic.

“Alright.” She said, watching her shadow where it stood obediently against the wall in the reflection of the window. “Next we have Saber Practice, and then Rhetoric and then it’s dinner,” She listed off to nobody in particular. The ‘Royal’ We’ they used to call it. Very handy when you couldn’t specify exactly who or what you were talking to. 

She walked down the hall, watching her shadow in reflections and when it skipped ahead of her as she turned down the halls, keeping a close eye on when it actually met up with her feet as she walked. It was close, within the margin of error between the complex shadows cast by the architecture of the temple and the shadows of other Jedi but…

When she finally stopped at her place in the lineup to do katas, she could swear she heard herself take another step.

“You seem distracted today, young one.” The saber master frowned as she missed her thrust for the third time that day.

“I-  yes, sorry master.” she bowed her head. “It’s going to sound bizarre, but- I don’t know.  Does my shadow look weird?”

The master stared at her blankly for a second, then turned his attention to her shadow, which lay on the floor beside her in the expected fashion.

“...No.”  He spoke slowly, running his chin with concern. “But that’s my perspective.  How does it look to you?”

“Like it’s- lagging? Not quite doing what I am-  I stretch, but it stretches for longer. I walk, and it does too, but with a different gait. It’s not much but- I suppose it could be a problem with my peripheral vision? I have been having a lot of migraines lately.”

“Hm.” He nodded. “Well. I do not see any evidence of your shadow behaving in any abnormal way, but you should tell your master and perhaps make an appointment with the ophthalmologist.  I promise to tell you if I do see anything out of the ordinary, though.”  He smiled gently.

“Thank you master.” She nodded, shoulders drooping a bit. It was, most likely, a trick of the light or her eyes, but it was nice to have an additional perspective. 

Her next thrust landed perfectly. 

-

Her shadow was largely out of her line of sight during rhetoric, mostly cast under the desk behind her, and it was easier to focus, but there was the nagging sensation that the usually-empty seat beside her was occupied with someone who kept fidgeting and straining to hear the lecture. 

“You okay?”  her friend asked, taking her hand as they left class together. “You seem really tense.”

“I don’t know.” the apprentice sighed. “I think I might have a problem with my peripheral vision.  I keep seeing my shadow flicker or think there’s someone standing-”  She stuck out her free arm  and waved it in the air beside her.

“Ick.” Nodded her friend. “Yeah, that’d drive me right up the wall. Hopefully you only need glasses or something?”

“Ugh, glasses.” the Apprentice rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure which would drive me crazier- having to clean the lenses constantly just to be able to see or actually being haunted!”

They laughed, and walked together toward the cafeteria.

“So your master’s away?”  her friend asked grabbing trays for both of them.

“Yeah, Mirial, so you understand why the council sent an all-male contingent to the negotiations there.”  She nodded, grabbing a pair of allpes fruits. “He’s actually probably back by now but messaged me earlier that he’d been up for three days straight so to finish classes as normal and go see friends if I wanted because he’s going to have the mental faculties of a sofa for a few hours once he lands.”

“Oh nooooo-” her friend giggled. “You don’t worry about him?”

The Apprentice shrugged. “I mean, a bit? But this is pretty normal for him- he’s like a loth-cat, slinks away and hides when he’s not well, but he’ll call if he’s in real trouble. Still, I think I’ll finish dinner here and go back to our rooms, I’ve got so much reading to catch up on-”

It was good to talk and catch up on all the gossip for an hour- She’d been one of the first of her class to be picked for an apprenticeship and as much fun as her new freedoms and responsibilities really were, she sometimes missed the camaraderie of the creche. There were the expected interrogations about off-planet missions and OH FORCE THE PADDWORK and learning one-on-one and the splitting of responsibilities between master and apprentice. 

“It’s pretty normal that you don’t go on all the missions early on, I know.” She sighed. “But I did miss him this week.  The rooms are too quiet without him taking random calls or doing the dishes at weird hours, you know?”

“Yeah, it’s weird not having you snoring at night.” her crechmate  nodded, grinning.

“I DO NOT SNORE”!” she yelped, mock-threatening to throw the spare piece of fruit at him. 

“We’re kidding!  You whistle a bit, at most.” he friend patted her shoulder affectionately. “Besides, if you get really lonely, you’ve got your little peripheral vision fairy for company!”

The Apprentice rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help a surreptitious glance at her shadow.

“Your WHAT?”  her crechemate asked.

“I think I’ve got something wrong with my peripheral vision, and it’s faking me out into thinking my shadow is misbehaving or I’m being followed by some sort of sprite that hates rhetoric class.” She shrugged, waving at her shadow, and it waved along with her. “It only gets more boring- tomorrow is Economics, so you should go haunt someone more exciting.” She told it.

“UUUUGH that sounds so annoying!”  her crechmate groaned.

“I don’t know- I suppose it’s not so annoying if I think of it as an invisible friend or something.” The apprentice laughed, and her comm beeped.

>I have returned safely to the bosom of the temple once more.  Wretched migraine, grab me a snack? XD

She snorted and showed her friends the message.

“He texts like such an old fart!”  her friend giggled. “I thought he was like, really young?”

“He’s only a decade older than me, so practically a kid for a Knight, but damn good at it.” She nodded. “He’s Accumulated Great Wisdom For His Years!”  she said in her best esoteric philosopher voice. “So he’s the galaxy’s youngest old fart.”

Her friends cackled as she got up, pocketing the fruit and a few snack bars for him, before waving her goodbyes.

He was curled in bed with a pillow over his head to block the light and noise when she came in, but rolled over and reached out towards her anyway.  Her shadow stretched all the way across the room and onto the wall his bed was pushed against in the slice of yellow-orange light cast through the doorway, like the spectre had already joined her master. 

“Hello Master.”  She smiled, sitting on the bed beside him and pressing a juice pouch into his hand. “I missed you.”

“-and I you.” he replied, slowly sitting up and squinting at the pouch an inch from his face. “Melloon!  You remembered my favorite flavor!” he beamed. 

“You’ll read with less headache with your glasses.” She sighed, handing the small device to him and watching as he unfolded them and blinked, large dark eyes now appearing twice as large through the prescription lenses.  “...How did you know you needed glasses?”  She asked as he fiddled with the straw, trying to puncture the pouch.

“Couldn’t see shit.” He grunted. “Well, actually, it was when I couldn’t distinguish the letters on the board back in my very first formal classes. I’ve had them longer than I’ve been able to read.”  he said, taking a long sip. “...Why?”

“I’ve- all day my shadow’s looked weird.”

He paused, face still scrunched in discomfort. “...shadows in general, or your shadow specifically?”

“-” She opened her mouth to reply, but stopped. “-just mine, actually.  And I thought I could hear someone walking behind me, and all rhetoric class I had the impression someone was sitting next to me-”

Her master was suddenly sitting all the way upright, staring at her with rapt attention.  She winced.

“It’s alright.” he soothed, hand on her shoulder. “But please, tell me everything.”

She sighed, slowly recounting- the way her shadow seemed to lag or not quite match her, the ongoing headaches, the sensation that “-I don’t know, like someone’s standing beside me? I mean, I absolutely could be working myself up over nothing-”

“If it’s bothering you this much, it’s not nothing.” her master nodded, still watching her face. “Even if it’s just a flicker brought on by growing pains, it’s not nothing. What was the first lesson you were ever taught?”

“...Trust your instincts?” She tried,

“Trust your instincts.” He nodded, smiling gently. “...Without looking at your shadow-  do you have an impression of what this… companion looks like? Are they tall, short? A sapient being? Or maybe an animal?”

“They’re uh…” She unfocused her eyes, concentrating on the sensation of the person that had been beside her all day. “-They’re… A girl, like me, my age- not me though, she’s… thinner. A little frail maybe? Skittish- no, that’s not right.  Like she’s hanging back.  Not sure when to come into the conversation kind of awkwardness?  And thirsty. Like, dehydrated.”

“Alright.” Her master nodded. His voice had shifted, like he’d sat up more and closer to her. “Anything else?  Do you know what she looks like?  Has she said anything?”

“No.” The Apprentice shook her head. “Quiet. Listening, but not having an easy time of it.  Keeps fidgeting. She-  she has a shape, but it keeps changing. Like- sometimes people don’t know who they are, like they have blurry edges around their sense of self?  She’s got really sharp edges of what is and is not her, but those edges are always moving.  The eyes are the same though. Intense focus, and an eyeshine, like an animal.”  She started to tremble at the feeling of that terrible gaze fixed on her.

Her master shifted his weight, gently wrapping his arm around her and pulling her to lean into his shoulder. 

“...I’ve seen her before.”  the Apprentice realized. “I don’t know where but. I remember those eyes, staring right through me.  Something-  something terrible happened…”

“I’m sorry.” a voice whispered. 

Her head snapped up, staring at the shadow on the wall on the other side of the bed- it had changed- still the same size as her, but they sure as hell weren’t the same species and a pair of holes in the shadow, in the shape and location of her eyes, still staring.  The shadow flinched and the Apprentice’s heart race, but, gazes locked, neither could move.

Visions- the brilliant night sky of the desert, electrodes on her temples, a map tracing the route of a subterranean river, a wound (and the knowledge she’d caused it), the furious screaming of a bounty hunter who had meant her some malice- arced across their connection like lighting.  And visions from her mind- The flowers carved and painted into the bunk bed posts at her creche, the buzz of a training saber, the warp of her Master’s prescription glasses, the weight of his arm across her back- arced back.

“You!” She gasped.  “You’re the girl who- who-” She gasped, tears flowing but she refused to blink, if she blinked she’d be gone-

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry!!!”  She yelped and whimpered, unable to pull back from their connection, fear and despair and-

“It’s alright.” her Master’s voice settled over them like a thick blanket, and he reached out, touching the shadow’s shoulder, fingers curling around it as she seemed to peel off the wall, in three dimensions now, and became her own being, still a shadowy echo, but herself and not the Apprentice’s shadow. “It’s all alright.”

He pulled her closer, translucent form still trembling, until the Apprentice couldn’t hold it back and blinked, throwing herself at the other girl, wrapping her arms around her strange not-doppelganger, and sobbing- “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have-  that wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair-”

The shadow screamed, hugging her back and clinging to both of them, smoke-like fingers digging into her robes and hair. 

“By The Force.”  her master whispered. “Oh no, oh dear-” He stroked their backs as the girls cried in his lap.  The shadow girl began to flicker, and his apprentice grabbed at her, trying to keep her with them.

“I- I can’t stay- please- please!”  She wailed.

“We will find you.”  The Master promised, voice heavy with the seriousness of his pledge. “I don’t care how far we have to go or how long it takes, we will find you.” he promised, clutching the girls close in an embrace, the shadow-girl trying to cling to him hard enough that her fingers drew blood on the side of his face and across the back of his apprentice’s neck, before she succumbed to whatever was pulling her away from them.

The apprentice continued to sob as their connection faded, her Master still holding her.

“...I need to speak to the council about this, and fast.” he spoke, voice still grave. “That- If she was doing what I think she was, he is an immensely powerful force-user.”  He swallowed hard, hands trembling. “-A very dangerous thing to be in this galaxy, especially alone.  She could fall prey to all sorts with ill intentions…”

-

She woke up, screaming and clawing at the cheap third-class cabin mattress pad, sobbing, and could only lay there for a second, whimpering and pawing at the blanket that a moment ago had been a robe-

“So uh.” a voice spoke up from the other side of the cabin, pausing to clear his throat. 

She looked up realizing she’d gone from a plausibly-normal-but-uncommon humanoid to something three times her regular size with horns, long thrashing tail and covered in spines in her sleep. Pressed firmly to the far wall was the tiny cabin’s other occupant, a man that was actually probably not that old, but looked like he had gone through the garburator of life without the sink running, judging by scars covering his torso and his cautious but strangely calm demeanor as he slowly stood up from where he’d been taking cover behind his mattress, which was now covered with spines.

“-Do you usually sleep-shapeshift?”  he asked. “Because if that’s the case we’re gonna need to ask the steward for a lot more bedding.”

“...I was having a nightmare.” She croaked awkwardly, slowly collapsing back to her previous humanoid shape.

He nodded slowly, shaking the spines out of his mattress as they shrank along with her and setting it back on his bunk, opposite hers.

“Not to be entirely self-interested, but that’s an unusual talent you have there, and something I would find immensely helpful in my line of work.” he said, studying her with interest. “Ever considered getting into crime?”

[itstimeforstarwars]

Oh ok I figured out what happened here that got edited out because I changed the "my sister is a medic and she's an awful lot like you" conversation to a conversation about cody because i had to get rid of THAT conversation from an earlier chapter and it was plot relevant. Got it.

Feeling very ????? rn because I could have sworn I've introduced the concept of Ben calling Tahl and Qui-Gon Tah'buir and buir already or Tah'buir and Master to refer to them without giving the game away but??? Apparently not??? That must have gotten lost in the drafts???

[literallyjustanerd]

Clone Wars Hospital AU Headcanons

Forgive me my shameless indulgence, but years of working in a hospital has given me Thoughts™ so just for some stupid fun: Welcome to the GHR: the Grand Hospital of the Republic! Where the Jedi are doctors, the clones are nurses, and the padawans are interns

501st battalion: Paediatrics

212th battalion: Maternity

104th battalion: Gen-Med

327th battalion: Orthopedics

Corrie Guard: Emergency Department

Headcanons below:

Paediatrics: Ward 501, Paediatrician Dr Anakin Skywalker

The ward is split on loving or hating Anakin, there's no in between

He's great with the kids though, the patients love him

Rex is the unit manager who has more experience than Anakin despite Anakin “outranking” him

Has to gently steer Anakin back on track and wearily remind him not to make orders just to spite other doctors

Constant happy music playing in the ward, everyone has fun accessories and brightly coloured scrubs

Fives and Echo are the most senior nurses and also the worst influences

Together they can cannulate a kid without them even noticing but also they're the ones shit-talking the annoying/unhelpful parents in the nurses' station five minutes later

If the kids are extra good, Jesse lets them colour in his tattoo

Dogma and Tup are the new grads - Tup is great with the kids, gentle and always gets them smiling, Dogma makes them cry no matter how hard he tries

Kix is NICU-trained and somehow still remembers every single piece of anatomy and physiology from training. Unparallelled medication knowledge. He’s the one all the student nurses want to be paired with

Ahsoka is on her paediatric rotation under Anakin's instruction

She's the intern the nurses give their feedback and requests to when they don't want to talk to Anakin, because they know Anakin will listen to Ahsoka over them

Maternity: Ward 212, Obstetrician Dr Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan works closely with Anakin, refers most of his clients there for their child’s care

Anakin did rotations with him in training, Obi-Wan sometimes forgets that he's now a fully registered doctor and will still try to instruct/encourage him

Obi-Wan has borrowed Ahsoka for days in clinic or in the birthing unit, during which time the nurses will spend their entire shift trying to convince her to come to their unit instead

Obi-Wan is beloved by the nurses because he actually asks them for their input, unlike SOME doctors who just give orders (Anakin)

Did you catch him talking to the unit manager after handover this morning?? Hardcore flirting at 7:05am?? Cody was definitely into it

Cody is one of the most involved unit managers - he’s on the floor with the other nurses most days, always staying overtime and pulling double shifts to help keep things running smoothly

Waxer and Boil are considered bad luck charms - whenever they’re rostered on the same shift, things will always go to shit

God forbid either of them mentions it being “nice” or “quiet” on any given day - that just guarantees that three minutes later they’ll have five labouring people come in actively pushing 

The two of them once delivered a baby in the parking lot outside because the mother didn’t make it in time - the parents still bring Numa in to visit sometimes

Their nurses have the best stories, sometimes even more gory than ED

General Medical: Ward 104, Physician Dr Plo Koon

Has Dr Plo been here forever?? Nobody at the hospital can remember a time he didn't work here

The best doctor, agreed by all nurses and patients

Keeps offering free check-ups to the nurses on the ward

Brings snacks for the nurses' station

Wolffe is the scariest unit manager there is - grads and students are terrified of him

The unit is the most efficient in the hospital because of it

God help the pathologist who loses a sample from them. He will not hesitate to riskman you

*Over the PA* “Visiting hours finish at 1900. It is now 1902. Get the fuck out.”

Emergency Department: Corrie Guard, lawless wasteland

Boost, Comet and Sinker knew him in training and are immune to his glare, they use this power to constantly fuck with him

Caffeinated to the point of medical concern

Lectures drunk uni students about the dangers of alcohol before finishing night shift at 0730 and going home to drink wine straight from the bottle

If Fox has to triage one more belligerent idiot demanding immediate attention for a stubbed toe he's going to come through the plastic window and throw hands

Take the turkey sandwich and shut the fuck up

Constant arguments with the ward over whether or not the patients are stable enough for ward transfer

Just take the fucking patient Wolffe, they've got enough to deal with down here, they're bed blocked and there's a line out the door

Orthopedics: Ward 327, Orthopedic surgeon Dr Aayla Secura

They all started in sports science

The most jacked nurses

Group gym sessions before or after shifts

I don't care if you're tired. You're getting out of that bed whether you want to or not. Use it or lose it. Mobilise, bitch.

They’re the ones who keep stealing the bladder scanner from gen med but won’t admit to it

If you witnessed the incident between Dr Secura and the unit manager Bly at the last Christmas party, no you didn't

Bonus:

The Bad Batch are agency nurses, they go where they're needed and everyone hates them because they make more on the hour for it

Weird mish-mash of different skills and background knowledge

Will go eat dinner in their car instead of in the break room with the other nurses

Tech will not stop correcting people on the wards he’s put on, he is not popular for this despite mostly being right

“You can’t nurse-initiate that drug.”

“That phone order is invalid. We need to call the doctor for another.”

“The patient’s blood pressure is 135/82. This is technically outside normal parameters.”

Crosshair openly shit talks the other nurses with his patients because he knows he won’t be there tomorrow to catch the fallout

[hetalianskywalker]

Mermay 2024 Masterlist

Hello! Welcome to my Star Wars Clones (and their Prime) x Reader Mermaid AU!

So over the past few years, the clone troopers, in all shapes and forms, have meant a lot to me. I started writing on tumblr about half a year ago now and I just got into a graduate program. So I’m probably gonna drop off the face of the earth in a few months.

I wanted to take part in one of these month long fandom events before I left so Mermay seemed like a good fit to me. I went around tumblr and found prompts that inspired me and I thought went with each character.

Thank you for reading!

Day 1: The Courtyard - Mer Rex x Harpy Reader

Day 2: The Bakery - Mer Jesse x Reader

Day 3: Black Pearls - Siren Kix x Reader

Day 4: The Lobster- Mer Hardcase x Reader

Day 5: Two Siren Songs - Siren Fives x Siren Reader

Day 6: Sown Together - Selkie Echo x Mer Reader

Day 7: Scavenged - Mer Denal x Reader

Day 8: Choosing to Help- Mer Vaughn x Jedi Reader

Day 9: A Heart Fish- Mer Cody x Reader

Day 10: My Dream- Mer Gregor x Pirate Reader

Day 11: To Swim With A Siren- Siren Waxer x Pirate Reader

Day 12: Hold On- Mer Boil x Reader

Day 13: Hasn’t Changed - Mer Wolffe x Reader

Day 14: Trapped in the Lake - Mer Boost x Reader

Day 15: Stuck - Mer Sinker x Reader

Day 16: The Forgetful Selkie- Selkie Fox x Fae Queen Reader

Day 17: Here - Siren Thorn x Pirate Reader

Day 18: Just the Beginning - Selkie Thire x Reader

Day 19: Excitement - Mer Stone x Thief Reader

Day 20: Stargazing - Mer Hound x Nightsister Reader

Day 21: Get On With It - Siren Hunter x Doctor Reader

Day 22: Fishing for a Merman - Mer Howzer x Twi’lek Reader

Day 23: Understatement - Mer Mayday x Ice Dragon Reader

Day 24: Stories- Mer Slip x Mer Reader

Day 25: Sea Caves - Siren Fireball x Reader

Day 26: Sea Glass - Mer Nemec x Reader

Day 27: Actions- Selkie Samson x Jedi Reader

Day 28: The Sea Alor - Sea Alor Mer Jango x Harpy Reader

Day 29: The Heir - Mer Boba Fett x Kiffar Reader

Day 30: The Wait - Mer Fordo x Goddess Reader

Day 31: The Bet - Mer Alpha 17 x Sea Dragon Reader- NSFW

[squad-724]

ALL THAT'S STAR WARS MASTERLIST

Hi hello on my Star Wars blog. You can call me Moss or Kosh, and I'm here to deliver all the weird aus I make for this fandom

'*' means I am not proud of the drawing and it's old :>

(+snippet) means there's an additional piece of fanfic to match the artwork

THE BAD BATCH

Hybrid Bad Batch: Clone Force 99 are hybrids of Jango DNA and another sentient species. Trandoshan Hunter, Chiss Tech, Zygerrian Crosshair, Lasat Wrecker, and Diathim Omega -all that's chibi <3 | a peaceful nap | and a Bookmark -original (old) designs* -baby batch sleeping pile* -Baby batch squad photo -Baby Wrecker in Lula onesie -Wrecker's a show off (cadets)* -The Batch all grown up -nap in the sunlight -Crosshair got put in the air jail for scratching pilot seats -S1ep1 screenshot redraw -mission going wrong page 1 -Zygerrian mission going awful -Wrecker's bo-rifle -A nap after Wrecker got blown up -Hunter's chest scars -Crosshair vs the red dot -Tech and his pillow Wrecker -Tech helps Hunter with his molt -Snowy day with Omega and Hunter -Hunter protective over Omega -Crosshair's murder mittens and Wrecker's murder mittens

Mermaid AU: Four mers raised by a fisherman called 99, Lionfish Hunter, octopus Tech, Whale shark Wrecker, eel Crosshair. There are also the betta twins Fives and Echo, and manta ray Omega, but these three the batch meets after being captured by Admiral Rampart Ref Sheets: Tech | Omega | Hunter | Crosshair | Wrecker | Domino Twins and CHIBI BOOKMARK -How does Tech's underside look? -Baby Wrecker and 99 and part 2 (+snippet) -Doctor Nala Se and Omega -Kiddos Tech, Hunter and Crosshair -Wrecker meets Tech -Teens resting and 99 fishing on a warm afternoon -Hunter teaching Omega to swim in open waters -Crosshair in trouble + Mayday finding him -Hemlock and subject 9902 -An unrelated food pic and Hemlock eating it

Centaur Wild West AU: (i'll add explanation later) -Ref sheet for the Batchers -Wrecker vs Zygerrian hunters -Wrecker nad Lula napping

The Bad Batch x Detroit: Become Human: Android Force 99 is a team of four specialized androids that hunt down deviants -Ref photo -Wrecker saves Echo from humans -WR-993 protects TH-992 from bullets -Crosshair CS-994 kills his brother Tech the deviant TH-992 -Crosshair and Tech getting out of the Cyberlife building

Tantiss Batch: Hemlock once visited Kamino before the war, finding himself curious about four defective clones slated for decommissioning, all young and easy to mold. He took them as his side project, transporting the batch to his lab on Tantiss, where he raised them -Kiddos Wrecker and Tech -Wrecker and Tech, their brothers the night after rescue (+ snippet)

Fairy Batch: Fairies are born from normal insect eggs infused with a special elixir, their wings match whatever egg they hatched from Fairies that are born on the same day treat each other like brothers Each fairy picks a job in their community, hunters gathering food, defenders fighting birds and other dangers, and engineers creating new tools and other stuff -Ref sheet for the Batchers -Eepy batchers -Phee finds a surprise in a lab

Coraline AU: Omega and her family arrive at their new house, where she meets her other Brothers with buttons for eyes -Omega and other Tech (+ snippet)

LULA in all the AUs

CLONE WARS

Dragon Jedi AU (Fantasy medieval setting) The United Kingdoms of the Republic own all the dragons on their territory. When the Confederacy of independent Kingdoms began a war against the Republic, the Kingdom of Mandalore provided their soldiers; the princes of the house of Mereel being the leaders. Every battalion was given a dragon to fight alongside them, and during the time spent together the soldiers realised that the creatures were as smart as humans and kept against their will Which one can you pet? ANAKIN Ref sheet | and Fox | in harness | OBI-WAN Ref sheet+ Ahsoka | and Cody | PLO Ref sheet | and Wolfee | AAYLA Ref sheet | and Bly | KIT Ref sheet | and Monnk | MACE Ref sheet | and Ponds | QUINLAN Ref sheet | and Fox | QUI GON Ref sheet | MAUL, ASAJJ, and MOTHER TALZIN Ref sheet other dragons

Mecha AU: Kaminoas created an army of droids for the Republic. 10-15 meters tall, perfect in combat, and have suspiciously advanced AI. It is located in tubes filled with thick, red liquid, which, if not cracked or destroyed, can be transported into a new metal body. Some of the mechas are modified so that the Jedi can pilot them from the inside, with the commander and the general working together. -Rex and Cody* -Anakin and Rex -Blank trooper design

Non-connected Rexwalker drawings

Medically mandated comforting pressure Rexwalker week 2023 Vampire AU Vaderkin exchange: Massive Mer Ani and Rex

[musewrangler]

“I wish I could properly express how much I desire things to be different,” he told her. “If I could stay with you and Padme’ without compromising my duty, I would.”

“She understands you,” Sola replied, turning back to the control panel. “And I have gained more understanding. This may be risky, but I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think getting you back to your Lady wasn’t the right call.”

He would see the Lady again. He would set foot on her familiar decks. See the stars from her viewports…

He smiled.

“Coming into the Savareen sector,” Sola said. “I’m going to drop out of light speed in 5 seconds.”

He counted silently and the small craft snapped into normal space above a green planet.

And it took both of them half a second to believe what they were seeing right in front of them.

But there was no mistaking the dagger shape of the SSD Executor.

“What’s she doing here?” he asked numbly as Sola took the shuttle into a sharp dive. “I thought you said she was a sector over!”

“She was !” Sola snapped. “If I can get to the surface, I have a chance. You can claim escape and I can—”

The tractor beam snagged them.

“Kriffing hells,” he breathed. What should have been a joyous homecoming for him, was now filled with dread for the woman beside him.

[jessicas-pi]

ok look i need to elaborate on the Satine Accidentally Creates A Mandalorian Empire (also adopts people) AU because once i start talking i can't stop.

This all starts because Satine isn't searched thoroughly enough when she's captured by Death Watch. Because a pacifist Duchess wouldn't carry any weapons, right?

Wrong! Just because she's a pacifist doesn't mean she won't defend herself, remember? It just so happens that she carries a deactivator pistol, which shoots energy blasts capable of taking out droids, and it also just so happens that Death Watch's new leader is part droid.

Satine disables Maul's legs moments before she would have been impaled.

Bo-Katan tries not to cackle as she informs Satine that she is technically the new owner of the Darksaber. In any other situation, Bo would be furious, but the irony of it is just too much.

Anyway, time skip ahead. Satine is trying to maintain Mandalore's neutrality in the war while also keeping the Nite Owls on a metaphorical backpack leash and negotiating with the remaining Mauldalorians. She refuses to carry the Darksaber, so Bo puts it in storage with Satine's old armor. (The Ahsoka-on-Mandalore arc doesn't happen, FYI.) Then, they get news of the whole Empire deal. The Death Watch Mandalorians try to throw a party at the news of Order 66.

Then Obi-Wan shows up on their doorstep with a heavily pregnant senator and a little girl.

Padme is brought to a medcenter for treatment, and with better care, she survives the birth of her children.

But more important than that is Reva Sevander.

Because in this universe, Obi-Wan sensed one single light in the darkness of the temple, and lifted the trembling girl from the pile of bodies she'd hidden herself in. Obi-Wan takes her to Mandalore along with Padme. A Mandalorian doctor treats her wounds as she breaks down, sobbing out the truth of what happened.

Soon enough, rumors are flying from Mandalorian to Mandalorian, murmuring that the Jedi children were slaughtered too.

Some warrior Mandalorians hate Jedi more than they love children. Most of them love children more than they hate Jedi.

They nearly start another civil war over which one of the clans should be allowed to adopt the jet'ika girl. Finally, Satine steps in, proclaiming that this fighting is only hurting Initiate Sevander, and that the child will be Satine's personal ward.

Word gets out.

Vader sends his first Inquisitor on a mission to kill the Initiate and any Mandalorians who dare to defy the Empire's orders.

Bo-Katan sends the Inquisitor back in several pieces.

(The Empire decides to hold off on attacking Mandalore just yet.)

Anyway, Vader isn't the only one to hear about Satine adopting a Jedi girl. Word spreads to others.

Ahsoka comes first, dragging a tied-up clone Captain and demanding the use of a medcenter immediately. A few weeks later, Kelleran Beq and Grogu arrive. Caleb Dume follows, too weary to be afraid of what could happen to him.

Mandalore--which is nearly next door to Dathomir--picks up a distress signal that nobody else could have. Bo-Katan and squad of Nite Owls (including their newest recruit, Ahsoka) investigate, and they bring home a ragged Jedi and a little girl. Satine, who will never regret helping the Jedi but has been getting severe stress headaches at the number of floating objects in her life, nearly breaks down in tears when she hears the Dathomirian child excitedly discussing the undead with their newest Jedi rescue, a redhead boy who won't explain why he refuses to take off his gloves. She didn't sign up for this she didn't sign up for this she didn't sign up for this--

It doesn't stop her from taking in each new Jet'ika they find. The Sundari palace is full of younglings, and while Bo-Katan complains about it frequently, she's having so much fun as the wine aunt to two dozen miniature Jedi (and she even encourages her Nite Owls to listen for rumors of surviving Jedi and rescue them).

(Ahsoka becomes the unofficial go-to babysitter for Sabine and Tristan, and while I'm not a fan of Force-sensitive Sabine in canon, the hilarity of it in this AU is too much to pass up because imagine Ursa's face when Ahsoka breaks it to her that so um just FYI your daughter has space magic.)

Okay, enough about the Jedi (for now.) On to the war against the Empire!

So, Satine has been facing a lot of moral dilemmas, including what do you do when your enemies are evil and they're attacking your borders and they really can't be reasoned with? and she's solved most of them by giving Bo-Katan begrudging permission to "handle it." She's made it very clear that civilian casualties are absolutely unacceptable, and Bo-Katan huffs and says fiiiiine.

But then a nearby planet besieged by the Empire sends a plea for help. What can Satine do? Refusing goes against everything she stands for, but this would be a counterattack by Mandalore, not just self-defense!

In the end, there's no other answer. She sends the Nite Owls (and a Jedi who volunteered) to help the people and hopes that will be the end of it. She has her hands full already just trying to protect Mandalore!

But it happens again. And again. Satine still refuses to start a war against the Empire.

That changes when Sundari itself is full-on attacked.

Now, here's the thing about Satine.

She wasn't always peaceful.

It was the aftermath of the civil war--the destruction, the death, the needless suffering without a purpose, the fighting that she had been a part of--that made her a pacifist.

But when she runs to the palace window to look out at the city, listens to the bombs falling and the frantic comms from Bo-Katan's forces about the losing battle and the dying civilians, sees the Jedi rushing to shelter their children because one reason the Empire is here is to kill them, Satine remembers why she fought.

She spent fifteen years rebuilding Mandalore to be a peaceful, thriving society that no longer destroyed itself, and now someone else has come to burn it to the ground.

"Bring me my armor," she commands in a low, cold voice. "And the Darksaber."

The Empire is about to find out what happens when a pacifist goes to war.

[twig-tea]

10[ish] BL Boys People I Want Carnally

Tagged by @bengiyo who knows I am bad at short lists but also went over 10 on his own list, so everyone should just...not count as you scroll lol. Also warning that in the spirit of this tag game I am probably thirstier here than I've ever been on this site so if that isn't your jam, just scroll along!

BL characters who I absolutely Would, if given a chance (no homewrecking, we're playing by the rules of no-strings-no-relationship-just-getting-wrecked).

Mawin (Ingredients the Series)

Is it cheating to choose a character who basically is Jeff Satur? Maybe. But he's a musician with strong hands and emo hair and I am weak.

Dr. Jedi (Oxygen the Series)

I know we all blocked the doctor subplot from our minds. But this man was quiet, caring, and thirsting for years, he's got some pent-up aggression to get out and I volunteer as tribute. Also he's both extremely competent and a sad boi, two qualities I find very attractive. And that spiky hair is begging to be pulled.

Choi Yu Na (Semantic Error)

While the boys were running around being their messy selves, Yu Na was being a calm, competent, bisexual queen. The embodiment of "do I want to do her or be her", but in this case the answer is definitely both. Guh. I legitimately can't sentence when she's on the screen.

Gumpa (Not Me the series)

This show is of course filled with attractive men. But only one of them has built a found family and resistance group in his garage and was the only one who knew White wasn't Black, and look we've already established that competence is a kink of mine.

Namo (Not Me the series)

Ok but also Namo was smart enough to Not Get Involved, and she was artistic, and also gave off a kind of sad boi energy, and goddd her style in this. She wouldn't even need to do anything except let me worship her, I would do all the work.

Naruse Ryu (Ossan's Love: In the Sky)

Controversial but NGL one of the troubles I had with this AU S2 was that Naruse was so attractive I just wanted him to get laid and be happy. He's a competent, beautiful, confident, slightly bratty sad boi who isn't afraid to put you where he wants you; we could have fun.

YoonWon (The Eighth Sense)

This woman holds together the whole swim club, casually drinks everyone under the table, and gets her man, all while taking absolutely nothing seriously for most of the show. She can get me first.

Tua Phee (Dear Doctor, I'm Coming For Soul)

Tall, brooding, competent, caring, sad boi....clearly I have a type. Plus, he literally disappears, guaranteeing no complications.

In (180 Degrees Longitude)

OK YES I SEE A THEME [Note: Wang could also get it but I don't know if I could match his energy. In, on the other hand, this man looks like he jackhammers until you're done and then stares at a wall].

Yamato Kumai (Restart Tadaima no Ato De)

Please, no wonder Mitsuomi saw him and immediately latched on like a limpet. He's just the right amount of listless that he'd be down for whatever, but not enough that he wouldn't get into it.

Maya (Laws of Attraction)

The choice between Rose and Maya was EXCRUCIATING but while both could step on me, Maya would also let me step on them and I am nothing if not verse. Also the tattoos! And again do I need to repeat: Musicians have strong fingers.

Sunny (Our Dating Sim)

Extremely queer-coded, quiet, competent, tall, sad boi energy, would definitely tell me what she wants and expect that I meet her standards.

Kim (Diary of Tootsies)

NGL I love Natty in this show but she got elbowed out of the way by this man. We know from the show he has game, and we've already established I'm here for verse behaviour. Let's all ignore that he also has floppy hair.

Jay (Discipline Z: Vampire)

This was a close call with Ji Han (tall, floppy dark hair, sad boi, competent, we all know the drill by now) but in my heart of hearts honesty, when I think of Jay in her giant boots and her hacking skills I drool a little.

Daisy (Secret Crush on You)

I admit I don't usually prefer the 'innocence ready to be moulded' as a thing, but Daisy walks that confident/lack of confidence line so well that I think once they were comfortable we'd have fun and they could use me for practice all they want. [This is one in particular where I would 100% be down for a threesome. These two would not let you feel like a third wheel!]

Nawin (Laws of Attraction)

This is the man who defies all my rules and in breaking them is extremely hot. He's unhinged. He's massively entitled. He's baby. He's exactly the type to get obsessed after a one night stand. He's not particularly effective. AND YET. When he runs on screen covered in blood, wearing bloody knuckles, with a massive dorky grin on his face? Everything in me said IN ME (at least he has floppy hair, I am still predictable in one way).

ALRIGHT I'M STOPPING THERE.

tagging @wen-kexing-apologist @sorry-bonebag; @sparklyeyedhimbo; @respectthepetty; @isaksbestpillow; @slayerkitty; @wanderlust-in-my-soul

[d1ckfarmdunn]

ok but like would y’all read a wild ass doctor who ff??? like i have this harry potter/ percy jackson (+ other fandoms) oc that i’ve been wanting to put into doctor who… but idk if it’s too many fandoms in one bc i have crossover addictions… idk why. the main focus would be doctor who with like possible references and mentions of the other universes. i do also wanna make a “main” series, this doctor who ff would prolly be like an “AU” book of the main series (that i haven’t even written yet but i’m currently hyper fixated on dr who so this one would be written first). it would also lowkey be loosely based off my doctor who dr (desired reality) :)

possible summary ⬇️

Persephone Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, witch, Jedi, and former protector to the Slayer, has spent the past few years longing for peace. After the chaos of gods and monsters, she moves to Leadworth, hoping to start fresh. Reuniting with Amelia Pond, a girl she saved as a child, Seph believes she might finally find some normalcy. But a calm life is not in the cards for an immortal demigod. 

Only a few months into her stay with Amy, the Doctor arrives, shaking up her newfound life. Seph quickly realizes that she's not just dealing with aliens and time travel, but with a Doctor who seems to know more about her than he's letting on.

As they face Daleks, Weeping Angels, and ancient gods, Seph must come to terms with her past and her immortality. Will the universe allow her the one thing she's always wanted—peace—or will destiny pull her back into the fight?

⬆️

but anyways. would y’all read something like that?

[phoenixyfriend]

Thought- in the terracotta warriors thing, you mentioned that the Jedi archeologists brought in a specialist in mando iconography to try and work out what’s going on with the 501sts symbols- what if that outside specialist is jaster mereel? Could be pre becoming the mand’alor, could be just his side job, but either way he spends a few years studying it all and getting used to being the only mando in a base camp full of Jedi, makes friends, has academic discussions and disagreements, steals someone’s holopad to try and use the link to the Jedi archives to read all the things on tarre visla, gets into an actual argument, reconciles with agreeing to help with a historical reenactment of a Jedi mandolorian war, gets Madame nu’s comm number, introduces his new son to his comm bff who argues historical nitpicks with him, brings jango to the next summer at the site, clones react to jango somehow and/or there’s a few tubies in there who look distractingly like jango and/or someone has their helmet off and jango has a breakdown over it looking like a family member? And so on and so on

Context: Sleeping Soldiers AU

See, I don't really subscribe to the "halfway to archaeologist!Jaster" fanon. I'm especially reticent to engage with the Jocasta ship, honestly.

But... okay, here's the thing. It does feel pretty incongruous with how I've written Jaster thus far. I can believe him having like. A 'classical' education. Not actually tutored like a noble, but that he sought out the same subjects as an adult to make sure he understood how to rule once he started having a proper political angle. He's a history nerd in the way that a particularly political/philosophical aristocrat of the 18th century would have been.

Military history, philosophical history, political and even some arts... but not actually in an archaeological sense.

(Also, it raises my hackles because it's one of those things that feels like it's heavily associated with the whole "True Mandos Were Best Mandos" crowd.)

It also really depends on the era! Tarre makes more sense than Jaster, just because of the timescale! The soldiers are millennia buried by the time Jaster is born! That said, even Tarre is a few millennia late but... makes more sense than Jaster.

Most likely, there are historians and archaeologists coming by every few centuries, as new generations encounter the issue, and older analyses are lost in the depths of the archives. Frequency tapers off after a few millennia, but... by the time Jaster is around?

It's 100% a New Mandalorian with an art history doctorate. (With a military symbolism specialty, in this case.)

It's probably not a New Mando if it's an Early On moment, but it probably is a New Mando if the Jedi start getting Weird Vibes and investigating the soldiers in the decades leading up to the Prequels.

Would the New Mandalorians know more than the traditionalists? Not necessarily. Would they know less? Actually, no.

I firmly believe that the New Mandalorians are taught about their histories in a "German kids learn about WWII atrocities, going on field trips to historic sites of said horrors, so their teachers can stress that they don't repeat the mistakes of the past" kind of way. I imagine the New Mandos would have plenty of research and records in regards to actual history, with plenty of museums and such. Part of maintaining pacifism is ensuring that the coming generations understand what led them to pacifism in the first place.

Is this thousands of years in the past, and thus difficult to research? Yes, but the traditionalists would have that same problem.

More of them, even. If the New Mandos have been around for seven hundred years, like Legends claims, then the traditionalists have probably have lost a lot of history through various battles and bombings, while the New Mandalorians, while not entirely escaping large scale destruction and such attacks, are much more likely to have protected and maintained their sites, simply by not courting war as a matter of culture. The traditionalists, meanwhile, would have had a much stronger emotional and cultural attachment to legends and themes, though I'll admit those are probably prone to revisionism, much like real-world folklore and mythology.

As @atagotiak put it:

Ehhhh. The traditionalists do care about legends and history and stuff. Often in an idealized way, sure. But you could argue that they’d have more reason than new mandos to be into these stories. Which, to be clear, isn’t like, saying that Jaster is definitely a part-time historian or anything like that. It’s just I don’t think one side would have an advantage over another. (edited)

So the New Mandos and Trad Mandos are probably on an even playing ground, insofar as skill and resources and knowledge go.

But by Jaster's time, the Jedi would have more reason to think the New Mandos would cooperate. No real downside to asking them when it comes to knowledge/skill, and an upside in terms of 'not getting shot when asking.'

As Tia said:

And even if we assume Jaster is a big history nerd and would be receptive to the Jedi (and tbh there’s even less indication of the latter) there’s no reason to think the Jedi would know that.

So yeah, when the soldiers start having Vibes And The Force Becomes Suspiciously Active on that level... New Mando archaeologist, definitely.