#Shaak Ti loves him
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bl00000g · 10 months ago
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Ok but it would be hilarious if he met teen Ashoka. Can you imagine? Mr Anakin “self-proclaimed coolest guy in the galaxy” Skywalker’s son is a cringefail jedi.
AlsoI feel like Ashoka would try to teach him memes or some shit but Luke would be so confused so she just. Gives up.
in fics where luke gets plopped into the prequels i want every jedi within ten metres of him to think hes the weirdest jedi theyve ever seen. he has negative lightsaber form. he doesnt know what a kata is. he handstands when he meditates. his solution to sith is to try and have a chat. hes a political radical who keeps suggesting revolution. you ask him what the jedi code is and he says "kindness and compassion and helping those in need :) ". you ask how he used the force like that and he says some shit about how you are a luminous being limited only by your mind. the councils authority is just a suggestion. he is somehow the new favourite of both qui gon and yoda
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weatherbane · 2 years ago
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love is stored in the :3c behavior
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robotsandramblings · 1 year ago
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((sorry but I purposefully left out Plo Koon bc he's a huge favourite and I figured he'd sweep up the votes; plus I think it already goes without saying we'd all love a Plo & Rex episode lol))
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carrinth · 30 days ago
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Hey! I love to see Fox giving riyo one of the bear hugs that puts everything back together ❤️
Everybody Lives (Except Palps) AU ending. Big hugs. The Clone Wars ends. During the Battle for Coruscant, Fox and Master Shaak-Ti succeed in defeating General Grevious and pushing back the Seperatist invasion. However, Supreme Chancellor Palps is tragically killed when Seperatist forces attempt to kidnap him. So tragic. Later a new Chancellor is elected and the Seperatist surrender. Fox retires to be rich house husband.
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Meanwhile...
"Since when does Fox have a girlfriend???"
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skyguygeneraltano · 9 months ago
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Ranting time
So weird how Anakin is always seen as hating women in the fandom when literally the people he respects and love the most are all the women in his life: Shmi, Padmé and Ahsoka. Even with the other female Jedi, Anakin obviously respected them and never tried to cross them like look at his friendship with Aayla in legends, he was friendly with Adi Gallia and Shaak Ti. Even though he didn’t agreed with Luminara’s methods he never tried to put her down. With Yaddle’s death in legends he was heartbroken and guilt ridden. It’s obvious Shmi raised him to respect women.
But you could argue Anakin had his worst issues with the male figures in his life (besides the clones of course). But that is a topic for another post.
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starwarsanthropology · 5 months ago
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Canon genders the clones, both individually and collectively, pretty aggressively. They're men, brothers, boys, sirs. Omega is notable for being the "female" clone, to the point where she's not recognized as a clone in a meaningful way.
But the clones grew up without gendered social groups! Despite how clones are gendered by external factors, gender is functionally a nonentity in their lives until they meet civilians, and civilians do a load of other weird shit anyway.
So why do they still use gendered language?
My argument is that feminine language isn't used as a gendered form of address, but as a form of address that reflects a specific kind of power dynamic and relationship between parties.
Given the structure of the clone army, the only people a vast majority of young clones interact with who could insist on being called ma'am are exclusively kaminoans.
The kaminoans view clones not as autonomous subjects, but as property. They have and expect complete control over their lives and actions. Incidentally, the female kaminoans we see (such as Nala Se) tend to demonstrate an even more proprietary perspectives on the clones.
You can question a sir, like your superiors or trainers, at your discretion, but you can't question a ma'am. A sir is someone who has power over you, but is somewhat responsible for you. The have personal accountability to you in some way. Sirs are responsible for men under them. A ma'am is someone whose power over you is absolute, an authority without accountability, who is not beholden to you but that you must obey. You are tool or a number to a ma'am.
And when you bring clones out into the wider galaxy, I'm not sure anyone would figure it out that quickly.
Say you're a new jedi general. You meet your men, and they address you as "ma'am". Maybe you correct and move on, figuring that they've grown up surrounded by thousands of identical men and aren't great at guessing genders based on social and appearance cues. Scuttlebutt has your forms of address spread through the men by the end of the day, and you don't think about it again.
The clones, on the other hand, take this correction as he/him jedi stating that they want to work with them and suppourt them despite having so much power over them, which fits with both what they know of the jedi and, most often, their leadership style.
She/her jedi (see Shaak Ti especially!), clones maybe treat a little more as absolute authorities. This gendered divide in behavior gets met with, "hm, maybe they're just not used to women." For many jedi, they eventually switch to calling them sir as well, especially as they build rapport.
For Shaak Ti specifically, she is an absolute authority as the representative of the Jedi on Kamino, not just as a figurehead but as a decision maker and educator. Even as the clones grow to trust and love her, she's a relatively distant and all-powered figure. She has near total authority over them, and clones might ask for help or suppourt, but there's no social obligation for those requests to be met, she's just kind. It's compassion, not duty.
Senators, there's a good mix of different factors that make it confusing. "Senator" is always an acceptable form of address if you're not sure how'd they react, even if they should be ma'ams by default, but they're either trying to build rapport for some reason or genuinely want to work with you when they say to call them sir, regardless of the actual power dynamic at play. The she/her senators that respect the clones are in the same boat as Shaak Ti: Padme Amidala may care about clone rights, but I am still just one of hundreds to her and she has no personal accountability to me. Her position is such that she should not and cannot owe me anything. Same with Riyo Chuchi, Mon Mothma, etc. etc.
And a civilian that insists on being called ma'am or sir is going to be an asshole either way, and they technically have power over clones without personal accountability or responsibility for them. It works.
Finally, Palpatine.
He's a slimy rat fuck who pretends to be affable and kind, so of course he's going to laugh and say, "Oh, no, call me Sir!" when you call him ma'am. He is not personally accountable to you, and he does not care about you, but it helps his image and it helps him manipulate people to pretend, so of course he's making you use sir to build false intimacy despite the fact that he's the ma'am of ma'ams, both in power gaps and lack of accountability for his treatment of clones.
So having clones using sir vs ma'am not as a reflection of gender but as a reflection of power? Yeah, I think it works.
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thehollowprince · 6 days ago
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Things I would want in other potential seasons of TALES OF THE JEDI (that we'll never get)...
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Him and Qui-Gon on their Mandalorian mission
Obi-Wan on a mission with his new apprentice, Anakin Skywalker (maybe the referenced Gundark Nest)
Him defending Luke and the Lars family from Jabba's goons
Mace Windu
That mission with his master to confront the false Jedi profiting off of the misfortune of others.
A mission with his apprentice, Depa Billaba
I'd love to see the animated version of his dual with Palpatine
Shaak Ti
Her final stand against Vadar (I refuse to believe she just sat there and let him kill her. She fought to the end to protect the Temple and sadly, failed.)
Kit Fisto & Aayla Secura
Them grappling with their attraction to each other (like in the Legends comic) and choosing the Jedi way of non-attachment
Cere Junda
I'd love to see her and Trilla
Same with her as a padawan to Eno Cordova
Her work with the Hidden Path and fight against Vadar
Cal Kestis
Luke Skywalker
Show us him trying to rebuild the Jedi Order
I'd really just like to see this focus on the Jedi and not people who left the Order. And there are so many Jedi to choose from, so many stories to explore.
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seven-oomen · 1 year ago
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Honestly I really love how the clone wars fanfom just has all these intricate headcanons and fanon lore that has very little to none basis in canon. I love that shit. It's difficult to navigate at first but once you get into it it's so much fun.
What can I say? I'm a clown, I fit right into the circus.
Gimme blyla where bly is head over heels with his general but so bad at hiding it.
Gimme codywan who are the total opposite where obi-wan has the obvious crush but only when you catch his glances.
Gimme silver fox Fox who falls for Bail & Breha Organa. (I know Quinlan is most popular but I personally like the Organas better. My man needs stable people. )
Also Fox gets to shoot Palpatine, as a treat.
Gimme the wolf pack and dad Plo. And mom Shaak Ti with her cadets.
(And a few of my own headcanons)
Gimme the 501st and 212th who just adopt Ahsoka (and Cal) as their little siblings. (Cody adopts Cal as his own kid. He saw 9 year old Cal, impossibly small, and just adopted him on the spot.,)
Gimme a running joke among clones that the best place to look for missing padawan commanders is the vents.
Gimme badass Naboo handmaidens who absolutely kick ass and defend the padawans, Jedi, clones, and Senators Amidala and Organa with absolute ferocity.
Gimme Rex who falls for one of the handmaidens (Dormé) after seeing her decapitate multiple droids to protect Cal and Ahsoka.
Gimme a world where the clones gain freedom and get to live with the people they love.
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smhalltheurlsaretaken · 2 years ago
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I'm thinking about the Jedi and Anakin, like you do, and it just cracks me up so much to see any variation of 'they always looked at him with suspicion, like they were waiting for him to mess up.'
Sure, in TPM they're unsure about him because Qui-Gon is dropping a nine year old with a lot of previous issues onto their laps and telling them they really should give him a laser sword and train him in the ways of the supernatural universe bending empathic powers that let you blow things up with your mind and that go haywire if you're emotionally unbalanced. Nobody's thrilled about the prospect.
But after that, honestly, the only Jedi who can ever be said to look at Anakin somewhat like that is Mace, which can be forgiven because 1) the man is Stressed and the people he doesn't expect to mess up are far and few in between, and 2) he and Anakin still have a rather cordial relationship overall, even if they aren't bffs.
But Luminara? Constantly smiles at Anakin. Jocasta? Same. Aayla? Calls him Master Skywalker (respectful, considering they're the same rank in the Order, if maybe not in the Army), is very caring and nice to him. Shaak Ti? Never changes that soft expression of hers. Adi? Big smirk when he shows off, like "aw, would you look at this kid." Plo? You can't even tell how he looks at people. Kit? Biggest grin. Even Piell? He's a grumpy bastard but he's not judgmental. Ki-Adi? Yeah, I guess it does happen once in a while - but he does it with Yoda as well they think he might be under attack from the Dark Side, so really it's him having a suspicious nature, not him targeting Anakin specifically. Seriously, Obi-Wan is more critical of Anakin than Ki-Adi is, and Obi-Wan has an Anakin-shaped blind spot in his soul.
Speaking of Obi-Wan - when he leaves for Utapau in RotS, he has the sparkly eyes of someone so overflowing with love that the gravitational pull of his affection for Anakin is warping the very light around them both.
Jedi freaking like Anakin is what I'm saying.
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darth-kote · 2 months ago
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Fives headcanons Pt. 1
Makes a point of learning how to say simple phrases in a few different languages native to the places he visits as a soldier. He finds that the native civilizations usually take more kindly to someone who isn't barking at them in a foreign, confusing tongue. "Hello," "thank you," and "we are here to offer help," are a few he tries to memorize as they travel through hyperspace. Fives isn't motivated by anything other than making the civilians more comfortable... But when he's given fruit or flowers as thanks for his friendliness, he makes sure his brothers get a clear view of the gifts. "See, diplomacy does pay off, Hardcase." (He receives a scoff and an envious glares in return.)
Back on Kamino, Shaak Ti had instilled in him that his brothers were there for him, and he had a duty to reciprocate that. As time went, it became less his duty and more his heart's desire. It made him feel nauseous when he heard a raucous laugh fall from Echo's or Kix's lips, mostly because it was his own laughter amplified and externally sourced. He remembers the first time going to 79s with some of the 501st, not long after Rishi Moon; Rex had introduced him to some of his men, and it had been one of the first times since he'd been on Kamino that he'd felt completely safe. Looking around, it was rare to meet eyes with anyone's who weren't his own, and kriff, the laughter. It had filled him with such a sense of belonging that he'd had to go cry in the fresher, just for a moment. When he'd returned to the group, Echo had given him a knowing look – eyes gentle as always, the inkling of a smile on his lips; he'd felt it too. After everything with Domino Squad, Fives was reluctant to build from the rubble of his past, but he found it was more agonizing to cut himself off from their unconditional love.
Fascinated by braids. The first time he saw them, ever, was on a desert planet they had been stationed on for months during the war. This planet couldn't have been further from his water-covered homeworld, the people included. Their complexions ranged from a deep-copper red to a blue that was nearly purple in hue, and their hair was sculpted into intricate braids that he never stopped admiring for as long as they were there. After several weeks of hesitating, he finally asked if he could learn the community's art form. He had been afraid of rejection, and bade his breath as he awaited the Elderwoman's decision whether or not to let this strange man into their traditions. He knew this was something the people of this world held dearly, and he was prepared to take no as his answer. Watching would suffice. However, when the Elderwoman sent for himself and Tup, he allowed himself some hope. Entering her clay fortress had been even more wonderful than he'd imagined; breads and meat were offered to them, and Tup, for once, could admit that Fives was quite the diplomat. Meeting the Elderwoman face-to-face was comparable, he felt, to being in the presence of Shaak Ti – she was a master with plenty to teach to those she deemed worthy of the knowledge. Her hair had been down, rather than up in one of the various styles he'd seen her wearing from afar; the texture of her hair created a halo around her, and Fives had been in utter awe. He and Tup had been instructed to sit and watch as the Elder's handmaidens wove her hair, slowly, carefully, into the desired shapes and patterns. Although they were not allowed to touch, Fives learned through observation how these sculptures that had caught his eye since the beginning were created. As they'd watched, he practically begged Tup to take his hair down so that he might practice a simpler technique they were being shown, and Tup would never admit that he'd dozed off several times under his brother's diligent touch.
As much as he enjoys making his brothers a little jealous, Fives is such a softy for each and every one of them. He will go off and pick flowers for them, and he'll make sure to weave a crown or necklace for Rex to wear. I can imagine them all sweeping through a field of tall grass, and Fives is in the middle of everything.. collecting flowers for his brothers to wear and smell. They'd all have their favorite spot in their armor for their flower to be kept, of course.
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gffa · 2 months ago
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What's funny is that Padawan's Pride is, like, the third(?) time Disney has sent Obi-Wan & Anakin off on their 'first' mission together lol
Narratively, I think the themes it explores work quite well as a sort of prequel to the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic. I'd love it if they gave us a whole series of these short tales of this era of their relationship. And another series of Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan too! I didn't enjoy the Master & Apprentice novel as much as I hoped I would and I want more stuff for them, stuff that's lighthearted and fun like this book.
Hi! I've been struggling with this a bit--because you're not the first one I've seen say Padawan's Pride was their first mission, but I can't recall anything in the book (tbf I'm only an hour and a half in, it's slow going when I'm transcribing the scenes I want to yell about) that says it was their first? The Age of Republic: Obi-Wan Kenobi comic definitely made a point of how "it was time" to let Anakin come along with him on a mission, but we don't have a date for when that's set, it's entirely possible that it was set before Padawan's Pride. And I'm trying to think, was there a line in in the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic that said it was their first mission together? So, I've been thinking of the order as: Age of Republic: Obi-Wan Kenobi --> Padawan's Pride --> Obi-Wan & Anakin, where they're all very early in their time together, but the Age of Republic comic was the actual 'first' mission, am I forgetting something? (In fairness, I'm due for a reread of the Obi-Wan & Anakin comic, I suspect!) I agree, I'd love to see more short stories like this one, along the lines of the Jedi Quest/Jedi Apprentice series, but ones that would fit better with the current Star Wars, I would really love a series not just focused on the main characters, but also other Jedi--tell me about Aayla Secura's first mission! Tell me about Barriss' first mission! Tell me about Mace's first mission! Tell me about Depa's first mission! Tell me about Rig Nema's first mission! Tell me about Shaak Ti's first mission! I mean, I do want more from Obi-Wan's time as a Padawan (and the Obi-Wan comic's first issue was a really good one and the Padawan book was also excellent!), because I didn't care for M&A as a book about Obi-Wan (it was really a book about Qui-Gon, rather than about Obi-Wan or Dooku sharing the spotlight), but I'd love this as a chance to really expand the prequels and make it feel like a living world, rather than like huge chunks are missing.
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imabeautifulbutterfly · 2 months ago
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Heeeeey , how are you ? I hope your alright where you are 💚I had an idea but feel free to pass over tis one if you want. I wanted to ask you a fic about 99 , since there is not a lot of fics about him and that most of them have a bittersweet/sad ending (involving his death) and I wanted something sweet for him, with a Jedi reader , with theses prompts , if you please 😊
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Thanks a lot , and have a good day/night 💕
@griffedeloup Thank you for requesting such a lovely fic idea for our favourite clone, 99.
I hope you enjoy this.
Love oo
Always Something Left To Love
Warnings: person with disabilities, rapid ageing, limited mobility, self-doubt, desire to be like everyone else, Jedi!reader implied, I think that's it, if I miss anything please let me know.
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99 slowly moved down the hallway of Kamino as he cleaned the area close to the training rooms. He stood watching his fellow brothers running their drills. His hand held the broom a little tighter as he watched squad after squad accomplish what he couldn’t. There were times when he’d close his eyes at night, and he’d dream of running the training facility with his brothers, crouching down beside them, shooting the droids shoulder to shoulder, climbing over the barriers, and jumping for joy when they won. 
A silent tear slid down his cheek as he watched group after group graduate and leave to fulfil their duties while he remained. He was nothing like them. He’d never be nothing like them. 
It didn’t take the force to see how much he wanted to be a part of a team, to be included amongst his brothers. 
“99?” You stood by the entrance as you saw him.
He cleared his throat before turning to look at you, “Yes, Commander?”
“99, you don’t have to call me Commander. We’re friends aren’t we?”
“I prefer calling you , Commander.”
You smiled and nodded, “Alright. So what are we watching?” You walked up beside him, looking over the railing.
“Charlie Squad.”
“How are they doing?”
“Not bad. Although it seems CT-5211 keeps trying to take charge.”
“That won’t bode well on the field. What would you do differently?”
“If I had a chance, I’d have him run his own mission, on the side. Rather than have him follow the leader. They’ll just keep budding heads.”
“Hmmmm, interesting. You have a good eye.”
“At least I have that,” he chuckled lightly. 
“You know you’re appreciated and valued.”
He nodded as he limped away, “Thank you, Commander. I have to get back to my duties.”
You watched him walk away, you could feel his sadness through the force; you’ve always admired 99, even though he was different from others with his limited mobility and rapid ageing. The Kaminoans made a mistake when making 99, they claimed it was just a glitch in the system, but you had a sneaking suspicion they were trying to alter his genetic makeup. 
Despite his differences he had more heart than any of the other clones you knew. You couldn’t help your smile as you watched him. 
- - - - - - - - -
“99 please come to the training ground” you called for him.
“On my way, Commander.” 
99 had a soft spot in his heart for you, he was fascinated when he watched you train with the cadets, as General Shaak Ti’s assistant. You were a Jedi Knight, a former padawan of General Ti’s, it was your job to  train the Commanders. 
He made his way to the training ground, slowly carrying his supplies. He froze when he saw you standing outside. 
“Commander?”
You beamed as you looked at him, your smile reaching from one ear to the other, “Welcome 99.”
“Commander, why are you outside?”
“Well, I have a surprise for you.”
“For me?”
You nodded and motioned with your head for him to follow you, “Come on.” You both entered the training room, you stood as you watched Fox, Rex, Wolffe and Cody all standing ready for your orders, “What do you say wanna help us run a simulation?”
“Uh …” 99 looked from his brothers to you, “You… you did this for me?”
“You are part of this family.” Rex spoke moving closer. 
“That’s right we’re all brothers.” Fox added.
“What do you say? Help us take down the Commander.” Cody offered holding out a blaster.
Wolff nodded as he looked at 99. 
“Why did you do all this for me? I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.” 99 tried to reason within himself. No one had done anything this kind or wonderful; he looked into your eyes, wanting to understand why you’d go to such lengths for him.
Your hand gently rested on his shoulder as you looked at him, smiling brightly, “99, you have been my friend, that in itself is a tremendous thing. I don’t have many friends in the Jedi Order. As you know my ideas aren’t viewed with the greatest welcome, but you have always been there for me, listening to my ideas even when they’re nonsense.”
“They’re not nonsense.”
“And that’s why we’re friends. So what do you say, wanna take me down with your brothers?”
99 smiled, loading the blaster with a power clip, “Locked and loaded.”
Three hours later, 99 was waving the winning flag. You smiled watching Rex and Cody lift him up, celebrating their win. It brought a smile to your face seeing him live out one of his dreams. 
You saw him sitting in the locker room, smiling to himself, “Good day?” You sat beside him.
“The best. I … I can’t believe you did this when … when there’s nothing worthy about me.”
“What? Who says?”
“Everyone.”
“Well that’s not true, I don’t say that. Rex, Cody, Fox and Wolffe didn’t say that. In fact, they all appreciated what you did. Master Ti doesn’t say that either. Anyone who doesn’t see you as someone worthy is someone not worth knowing.”
“No. It’s because there isn’t anything to love about me.”
You looked at him, shaking your head, “There is always something left to love, 99. There’s plenty of you to love. You’re sweet, kind, warm, funny …” you bumped his shoulder, “it’s not about what’s on the outside, 99. It’s about what is on the inside. There’s plenty to love on the inside 99, you prove that time and time again. After all, you think there’s plenty of me to love. Right?”
- - - - - - - - - - 
99 remembered that moment as the best day in his life, his only regret was that he wished he could’ve told you how much he did love you, when he heard you didn’t make it back from your mission, it had been his greatest regret. He stood in front of your portrait, one of the cadets had drawn it in honour of your passing.
“Hello cyar’ika,” 99 gently touched the portrait, “Been a while since I stopped by, things are getting out of hand, we’re getting ready for an attack on Kamino…” he let out a sigh, “I have a feeling I might be seeing you soon. You asked me once if I loved you. This is what I wanted to say but I couldn’t, ‘Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.’ When I see you, I’ll be sure to tell you.”
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david-talks-sw · 6 months ago
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I havent watched it yet, but I saw a lot of reports that The Acolyte promotes a lot of Jedi Order "hate" if you will. What did you think about it? As a Jedi fan, I kind of DONT want to watch it because of that.
If you ask me, it's a fine show :) it hasn't quite gripped me, the thick lightsabers that look like toys are a nitpick that keeps triggering me.
But overall it's nice!
Yes, there are some small jabs.
The Jedi in The Acolyte are really reticent towards using their lightsabers, resorting to hand-to-hand or even stun weapons.
From what I've seen on Twitter, people are speculating that this is to show how much more "good" the Jedi were back then, as opposed to the more "square, dogmatic, quick-on-the-draw Prequel Jedi," who lost their compassion and have fully detached themselves to the point of dehumanizing themselves.
Yord is clearly meant to be one of the first "Prequel Jedi" as described above.
It's played for laughs 50% of the time, but yeah. The narrative frames him as being a bit of a dick who's a bit too proud of himself. And I'm seeing reflections of Tales of the Jedi Mace Windu & what Filoni described Episode I Obi-Wan as.
Same goes for Vernestra, dogmatically insisting he return to Coruscant because "protocol" and literally shown playing politics.
I've seen folks draw a parallel between Vernestra's attitude and that scene in Episode II where Yoda and Mace agree that they can't let the Senate know their powers of foresight are waning... and yeah, people interpret that scene as the two of them playing politics.
The director commentary of Episode II states that's not the case. It's more about the fact that if they trying to keep the war from starting.
Parallels between Sol and Qui-Gon
Very evident. But again... if you ask me, Sol is just being a Jedi. Qui-Gon isn't the only one with those character traits. Look at Obi-Wan, Yoda, Mace, Shaak Ti.
Finally, there's some hints that some evil shit went down years prior to the show and the Jedi were at the center of it.
I'm gonna hazard a guess that it's not as black and white as Mae or Sol makes it seem. A "big misunderstanding" type deal.
So yeah. Vernestra and Yord strike me as one-dimensional and a bit cartoonish. But overall:
Love seeing Jedi do some Kung Fu.
Love that they finally fixed how lightsaber blades look on camera.
Love the concept of a Jedi-centered detective story.
Mae and Osha are fun in different ways, but I'm kinda scared that, from their mantra, the show is gonna culminate in a "Gray Jedi is the way" kinda direction, and you know how I feel about that.
Love Qimir. And I get the feeling he's more than what he says he is, if you get my drift.
Love the acting in it, the set pieces, the production value, the way some Force powers are used (Sol with the Force speed, fuck yeah!)
Love that the title of "sith acolyte" is an actual thing now. It kinda helps us figure out what Dooku was between when he left in Dooku: Jedi Lost and his last episode in Tales of the Jedi. If I understand correctly, Sidious had an apprentice while grooming an acolyte... once the apprentice kicked the bucket, he promoted Dooku.
8/10 as far as I'm concerned.
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momojedi · 1 year ago
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Headcanon: Being Shaak Ti’s padawan would include …
Type: Headcanons; GN! Reader Character(s): Shaak Ti, 501st, 212th, Wolfpack, Bad Batch, Omega, Clones in general Notes: I like the concept of a story as Shaak Ti’s padawan, I was thinking about writing a reader-insert about it. Would you be interested?
Despite her reputation as an admirable Jedi Master, Shaak Ti’s views on attachments would probably be anything but respected by the Council.
Shaak Ti gets motherly feelings just by looking at the Cadets or Omega, so you better be ready because once this woman sets her eyes on her new padawan, your fate will pretty much sealed as her newly adopted child.
Whatever you accomplish, whether it may be small such as motivating yourself to get out of bed or teaching a cadet a trick up to striking down a clanker or saving a clone's life, she’ll be the proudest Togruta in the entire universe.
The clones? They adore you. Shaak Ti is the most respected Jedi among Kamino, maybe even the most adored person among the clones there overall. The troopers admire her treatment and kindness, seeing a parental figure in her, a mother they never had the chance to know. Whomever she likes must be just as lovable then!
As Shaak Ti's padawan, all of Tipoca City knows your name by now. Wherever you go, you'll be greeted by the troopers with a bright smile and once they stop at Kamino after a mission, you'll be one of the few things they'll look forward to.
By now, you can pretty much distinguish all legions for their own unique charisma and cooperation among each other.
The 501st is cheerful and humorous; despite their clumsy and chaotic temper, they work together flawlessly. You'll be swarmed with stories, jokes and even some flirtatious attempts on Jesse's & Fives' account, physical love language such as hugs and handshakes, pretty much treated like one of their own. The Domino Squad especially appreciate you, being one of the very first squads you'd had the chance to accompany. Captain Rex will not even dare to leave your side; he says it’s because he doesn’t want his brothers to overwhelm you but really, he just adores you just as much and feels a kind of safety being close to you.
The 212th on the other is a lot calmer and neat, greeting you politely like they would any commander, but with a warm, grateful undertone. Some, like Waxer and Boil, will even bring you something from their missions, little objects and snacks they found. You’ll have Cody sitting with you during lunch and exchange with him about what you’ve experienced while he was away while he tells you all about the silly moments he witnessed with General Kenobi.
The Wolfpack are like a pack of puppies seeing the master again. The second they see you, they will forget everything around them, all attention now on you, whimpering and whining until they’re dismissed by Wolffe and allowed greet you. Speaking of our favourite commander, he will stand quietly and wordlessly beside you like a guard dog, waiting until the coast is clear to let his guard down and warmly greet you himself.
When it comes to the more unique clone forces, such as the Bad Batch, they’ll likely be able to spend more time with you once they’re on Kamino simply because they’re so small in number. The moment the Marauder lands and the four troopers are off the shuttle, you’ll be squeezed in a tight hug by Wrecker as soon as he gets the chance to. Due to their unique nature and different way of life, the connection you’ll have formed to them will be much more personal and likely seen as mostly unorthodox but that doesn’t matter to them, nor to you or Shaak Ti. Surprisingly enough, sometimes you can even see the ghost of a smile flickering on Crosshair’s face when you approach him after their return from another tough mission. And that means something!
The time between helping out Shaak Ti with the clones’ training and supervising the cadets is usually spent with none other than Omega, Nala Se’s apprentice, who, just like you, tends to feel a bit out of place among all the troopers so it’s nice to exchange with someone who feels similarly every now and then. She sees you as a big sibling, someone she can trust her emotions with and you sincerely return those very feelings.
Seeing you interact so well and kindly with all the clones leaves your master’s heart swelling with joy. She really couldn’t ask for a better student.
328 notes · View notes
goosewriting · 2 months ago
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Class is now in session
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summary: reader is in university and starts taking a liking to a certain redhead.
relationship: college AU biker!Cal Kestis x gn!reader
warnings: cameo fest, mentions of alcohol, cal punches a guy, idiots in love 😩💞, gets a lil spicy at the end 🫣 this might border on crack tbh
word count: 11k because i am deranged
A/N: this started out as an innocent college AU with jock!Cal, but my insta feed brought me back to the depths of biker guys x booktok girlies so this idea cemented itself into my brain and i just ran with it. this is 100% self-indulgent, packed with every trope i could think of, and got completely out of hand. i am not sorry. bon appetit :) 
[all masterlists] 🪶 [star wars masterlist] 🪶 [ao3]
(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
A/N2: please excuse the pacing at the start, it's a bit of a mess. but i promise it gets better! also i use college and university interchangeably here because i’ve personally only been to uni, so sorry if it's confusing ;;-;;
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
As you’re leaving your first class at the new college, you think back to orientation week where you met Sabine. She’s the only one you know here now, other than Ahsoka, a friend from your home town who’s come to this university too for her masters. You have no idea how, but Ahsoka somehow managed to have you move in after her roomate left, so that you now share the flat, which you’re super happy about. At least one thing (or person) less to worry about.
In the class that just finished, you sat with Sabine, and she introduced you to Ezra, her friend from high school. So that’s now two people you at least know by name here. 
You hurry to get to your next class which is basically across campus in one of the bigger auditoriums, and it’s the biggest class by far. Sabine and Ezra don’t attend this one, so you don’t know anyone here. You look around as you cross into the room, observing how the students swarm in in waves, quickly taking their seats. Walking down to the middle row, you quickly scan the group, thinking who seems approachable to eventually start chatting. 
The class goes by rather quickly, being the first one and all, it was more about formalities than actual content. Someone had arrived just on time as the professor also walked in, a redhead that caught your eye, but the moment the class was over, he left quickly. In fact everyone leaves quickly, and you can’t help but be dragged along by the mass of people and you find yourself in the hallway, which just as quickly as it filled, is empty once more.
For lunch you meet with Sabine and Ezra, and you all get to know each other a little better. At first you thought they might be dating, judging by how close they seem, but they never mention it during your meal. If Sabine is willing to have boy talk with you, you make a mental note to ask her about it at some point.
In the afternoon, you start your job at the library. A tall and elegant woman, Shaak Ti, shows you the ropes, and soon you’re left to your own devices at the desk, doing some smaller tasks to get you started. Not soon after, Ahsoka comes by for a quick visit to say hi.
Your shift is almost over when someone comes up to the check-out desk where you sit. You hear them approaching, and as you lift your eyes from your work, you recognise it’s the redhead from today’s class. Putting on your best customer support smile and voice, you ask how you can help, and he says that the self check-out machine isn't working. 
How strange, you think, remembering how Shaak Ti showed you earlier how it works, and it did so just fine. But it’s quicker to just ring up his book now, and you could check the machine later. So you take the two books from him as well as his student ID and scan everything, doing your thing. You see his name on the ID: Cal Kestis. So that's what he's called. Maybe if you meet in class again, you could say hi. It would be super awkward if he didn't recognise you, though. 
Shaking away your thoughts for the moment, you repeat to him what Shaak Ti told you earlier about the borrowing of materials, the e-mail notice and that he can check the return date on his university account. Taking his books and card, Cal thanks you with a smile and leaves. Standing up from the desk after a moment, you go to the self check-out machine to see what’s wrong with it, trying to remember if Shaak Ti gave you the number for the technician. You try out the process several times with a random book and your ID and it works perfectly. Strange, you think again. 
By the time you get back to your dorm, which is a short bus ride away from campus, it’s already evening. You enter your room, grimacing a bit at how empty and lifeless it still looks. But you know you’ll be quick to decorate it and fill the space with your things to make it feel a bit more like home, albeit a temporary one.
Arriving at uni the next day, you get off the bus and walk towards the building. A motor bike passes you and parks in the designated area, your eyes unintentionally following the person, and you check them out a bit. The whole outfit, leather jacket and all, do look good, and you stare for perhaps a second too long. When the person takes off the helmet, you realise it’s the redhead from yesterday. He catches you looking at him and gives you an acknowledging nod and smile. Your head immediately turns the other way, cheeks burning at getting caught, and you walk away hastily, knowing this interaction will haunt you for the rest of the day since you could have just smiled or waved back instead of being so obvious. 
Back in the big class, he spots you again and gives a short wave and an unsure smile. This time you make sure to smile and wave back at him.
After lunch with Sabine, you’re at your locker, picking up some things, talking to her and Ezra who joined you as well. They both suddenly look over your shoulder behind you, and you turn around only to be faced with him.
“Seems like I keep seeing you everywhere,” Cal says, leaning sideways onto the lockers. “I think it’s time we finally get properly introduced, don’t you think?”
It doesn’t go unnoticed by you that he exchanges a look with Ezra, which you can’t really decipher, as you don’t know either of them well enough.  
“I’m Cal,” he introduces himself. “But I think you already knew that.”
You tell him your name, and as Ezra joins the conversation, it turns out they’re actually friends. 
“So how do you know him?” Sabine asks, her eyes going from Cal to you.
“ We share a class, and he came by the library yesterday,” you explain, taking a look at the time. “Which I actually should be heading to now. My shift starts soon.” 
Sabine gives you a strange knowing look too, to which you don’t know how to respond. But before you can ask what’s up, she says that Ezra and her have another class, so they leave.
Cal walks you to the library, claiming he has to go to practice and it’s on the way (its not). It’s a short walk but you’re racking your brain for something to fill up the silence. Unable to come up with anything better, you tell him that if he wants to check out another book, you can show him how to use the self check-out machine. 
“You said it was broken,” you say, tilting your head slightly in confusion. “But I checked and it worked just fine.”
“I know,” he responds after a second, and you turn to him with a ‘Huh?’. Smiling, he adds, “See you around.” 
And with that he leaves you by the library entrance, even more question marks circling in your mind. To your surprise and further confusion, you find that he didn’t leave you with just questions, but also a bit of a racing heart.
Finally the weekend rolls around, and Ahsoka is out with her best friend Rex and his buddies, so you invite Sabine over for a movie marathon and lots of snacks. Since it’s just the first week of class, you don’t have that many assignments yet, which you want to take advantage of while you can. 
As you’re both cosied up on the couch, you ask her about Ezra and if there’s anything between the two, and her face makes you laugh out loud. She says he’s more like a brother to her, since they’ve known each other for so long. But then she asks if there’s anyone you’re interested in.
You find yourself stumbling over your own words and end up somehow confessing to both her and your surprise, that you may have a teeny tiny crush on Cal. Sabine’s almost too excited about it and says you should tell Ezra so they can set you up on a date or something. But you make her promise she won’t tell either of them, to which she ends up agreeing. You don’t need the drama or the distraction; you just want to focus on classwork after all and survive one semester at a time. 
On Monday you have the big class again, and you stay after it’s done to ask Professor Kenobi something. Everyone is leaving the room, and he’s packing away his things as you approach his desk, starting to formulate your inquiries, but you see his eyes going past you for a moment, then looking at you again with a soft smile. 
“Why don’t you send your questions to my e-mail,” he offers. “Isn’t it your lunch break now? Wouldn’t want to hold you off, especially when there seems to be someone waiting for you.”
You blink a couple of times, then turn to look to the entrance door where, sure enough, Cal is waiting for you, leaning back onto the wall. He gives a short wave, which you quickly reciprocate, and you excuse yourself from the professor with heat prickling at your cheeks, telling him that you will do just that. 
As you reach the door, Cal pushes himself off the wall to walk beside you. Before you can ask him what he’s up to and why he waited for you, he talks first. 
“Are you eating at the cafeteria today? Wanna grab lunch together?”
You consider his offer for a moment, but then give him a short shrug.
“I’m not really super hungry and the menu today didn't have anything that I particularly crave, so I think I’ll just get something from the vending machine.”
“You sure? You shoudln’t skip meals, you know.”
“It’s fine, really,” you chuckle. “I’ll just get early dinner and I promise to eat something substantial.” “Yeah, you better,” he jokes, lightly pushing you with his shoulder.
Turning your face away to hide how flustered you’re getting at not just his playfulness but the fact that he waited for you, you reprimand yourself for a moment for getting your hopes up. Wanting to grab lunch with a classmate is normal! This is normal! Stop being weird, you tell yourself.
Just as you want to face Cal again to change the subject, you hear some voices from the hallway around the corner where the vending machines are. You think you recognise them, and you don’t know what on Earth compels you to, but you walk the few steps to take a peek. At the end of the hall, you see Professor Kenobi with a man. He’s tan, has broad shoulders and is very handsome. 
“Hello, my love,” Kenobi says in a low voice barely audible to you, and quickly leans in to kiss the stranger.
Your hand shoots up to cover your mouth before any sound of surprise can come out, and you quickly spin around, directly into Cal’s chest with an oomph.
“Wha–” Cal holds onto your shoulders to keep you from falling with how quickly you tried to recoil. “Whoa there, you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I feel like I just saw something I wasn’t supposed to,” you admit, hiding your face in your hands for a moment, then looking at him with big eyes.
This intrigues him, and Cal steps past you to take a look. 
“There’s no one there…?”
You look around the corner again as well, and the hallway is indeed empty.
“Prof Kenobi was just there a second ago, with someone else. Kissing,” you add the last part under your breath. 
“Oh?” Cal raises a brow, sounding strangely interested. “Well, let’s go see where they went.”
You shoot him an alarmed look.
“What? Why?”
But he’s already walking, looking over his shoulder and gesturing for you to follow with a playful smile. So you follow suit. You’ve never been to this part of the building, and compared to the bustle back where there were constant streams of people walking to and out of the cafeteria, here it’s surprisingly quiet. 
“I wonder where they even went,” Cal thinks aloud and stops where the hallway ends in a dead end. There’s several doors to the left, offices from the psychology faculty judging by the signs next to the doorframe. On the right there’s the big door leading to the staircase. There’s a paper sign stuck to it with tape that catches your attention, so you step closer to read it.
“Seems like the floors below are currently closed off because of repairs,” you paraphrase the warning sign. “So they must have gone up.”
You turn to look at him, and see realisation wash over his face, which quickly changes into a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Oh, is that where we are.”
“What do you mean?” you ask, narrowing your eyes at him in suspicion. 
“I heard that there was an off-limits floor in this wing. It’s been like that for years actually, not because they’re reparing something but because strange things happen there.”
You scoff, giving him an incredulous look.
“Didn’t take you for the superstitious type,” you deadpan. 
“I’m not.” He looks at the sign and back at you. “But c’mon, aren’t you a little curious? They say it’s haunted, but if you go there and come back out, then you’ll have good luck in… passing your exams.”
“...Did you just make that up?” you question, crossing your arms over your chest defensively and raising a brow at him. 
“...No?” Cal retorts, and it’s anything but convincing. Taking a step closer to you, he adds, “Come on, don’t you feel the call of adventure?”
“The only call you’ll feel is your emtpy stomach when you’re training,” you say, taking one last glance at the big door, then looking at Cal. “Shouldn’t you be having lunch right now?”
“I can eat later,” he shrugs. 
“I thought skipping meals was a no-no.”
“I can make an exception today. For both of us.”
Before you even have a chance to stop him, he pushes open the door to the staircase, and you see there’s a chain blocking the way to the stairs leading down, but he steps over it, looking back and offering his hand to you. 
You look up, listening for anyone who might be coming downstairs, but it’s still silent. Almost eerily so. You look at Cal’s face for a moment, and sigh in defeat, taking his expecting hand. He grins in victory. 
“You’re being a horrible influence, you know that?” you say with a playful smile.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a little bad every now and then,” he points out with a wink, and you roll your eyes at him to hide the beat your heart just skipped. 
You both walk down the stairs, taking out your phones to use as a flashlight since it’s so dark. Cal pushes open the big door to the main hallway, and you’re hit with the typical smell of a basement; it’s humid and a little musky, but not necessarily unpleasant. You take a look around, and it’s a mirror of the floor above. The doors to the offices are open though, one is even missing the door completely, and Cal walks in without hesitation, so you follow him. 
You’re not normally one to get scared about things like these, especially knowing that the haunted story has probably started as a rumour that got way out of hand throughout the years. This section probably just got closed off because of a water leak or something. 
“One of the guys on the team told me that there used to be meetings of a secret cult down here.”
“Okay, now you’re just messing with me,” you laugh, and you point your light to him to see him. He blocks the light from his eyes with his hand but you can see the goofy smile on his face. 
“I can’t believe I followed you down here,” you say, taking a step towards him, but something behind him catches your attention. You direct your light to the wall, and he turns around to do the same. There’s a pinboard full of old notes and photographs. Looking at the small table underneath it, you can see a lot of the things that once hung on the wall have since fallen down, decaying. Inspecting the remaining notes on the pinboard though, you notice that there are many that seem newer, the papers are clearer, crisp, untouched by the humidity down here. Many of them are simply just letters and numbers, like… initials and dates? You’re about to take a closer look at what’s written on them when a reflection from the table catches your eye.
Directing your light down onto the table, you move away some scattered papers to reveal the object that was partially hidden beneath: a locket in the shape of a heart. You stretch out your hand to pick it up but Cal stops you.
“Maybe- maybe don’t touch that.”
“Why not?” you ask without looking up. You can faintly make out the engraved letters “P&A” on the metallic surface.  
“It could have lead. Or something.”
“That’s… a good point, actually,” you agree, and you retrieve your hand, your nose crinkling slightly in disgust at what could be lying around. “It’s the first time you’ve made sense since we got here. Who knows what else is here. Actually, we should leave–” You turn to where Cal was standing earlier, a couple of steps away, but you find him standing right in front of you now, caging you in between himself and the table behind you. He’s still holding his phone with the light aiming up, so his face is contoured in sharp white, highlighting the scars across his face. You had noticed them before, and thought they added character to his face. But now, with his eyes gazing into yours like that, momentarily flickering down to your lips and back up, you feel the urge to reach out and trace over them.
The air has completely shifted between you two, and your heartbeat quickens at the realisation. His free hand has somehow found its way around your wrist, and he’s leaning in closer ever so slowly.
You open your mouth to say something but you’re cut short by a sudden thud. You both flinch in surprise, aiming your lights to where the sound came from. You see a book, now on the floor, that hadn’t been there before, and a small cloud of dust settling around it. Aiming the light a little to the side and up, you can clearly see the spot where it fell out of the shelf, as there’s no dust on the wooden surface. 
“We should– I think we’ve overstayed our welcome,” you say after clearing your throat.
“Right.”
You quickly step around Cal and head for the staircase, swiftly walking up the steps and, after momentarily listening for any bypassers, climb over the chain. Cal follows closely, and you both pocket away your phones. You’re reaching out your hand to open the heavy door that leads back into the building, when he quickly grabs your wrist, holding your shoulder with his other hand to pull you away from the thin vertical window next to the door.
“Wait, there’s someone out there.”
“So what, we could have come from upstairs,” you say, trying to ignore the way your skin tingles where he’s holding you again.
He peeks through the glass, his eyes going wide for a moment, then stepping away again, a silly smile playing on his lips.
“It’s Kenobi. And he's not alone.”
You dare take a peek through the glass, and catch a quick look at Kenobi and the man from earlier, both coming out of one of the offices with slightly dishevelled hair. 
“If he sees us, we’re so dead,” you say under your breath and lean back away, out of view. On one hand, you’d definitely be in trouble because from the short time you’ve known him, Professor Kenobi seems like the type of person to be really good at reading others, so he’d definitely know you two were up to no good if he confronted you two, especially you; you’re not a good liar. But also he saw Cal waiting for you after class, so surely he’d think something was going on between you two. Then again, would that bother you? Is there something going on between you and Cal? Do you want there to be something? You’re not entirely ready yet to answer that for yourself, especially not right now after what happened earlier, whatever that was. He was totally going to kiss you, right? In a basement of all places?
“The coast is clear,” Cal finally says, and your reeling mind can come to a halt again. He looks down at where his hand is still holding onto you, and quickly lets go, taking a step back, clearing his throat. “Sorry about that. Uh, after you.”
He holds the door open for you, and you walk through, dusting off your clothes of anything that may trace you back to the forbidden underground. Cal makes his way to the office he saw Kenobi come out of and inspects the sign, chuckling to himself.
“Ah, look at that,” he says, and you approach, seeing the name on the sign: ‘Cody Kenobi’. So the man earlier was his husband. 
“Get it prof, I guess,” you mutter more to yourself than to him, but Cal snorts at your comment.
“C’mon, let’s go,” he says, and you two make your way back to where you initially came from. 
Since Cal still has to get food, you part ways and he heads to the cafeteria. And just like that, you’re back at the vending machine, yet again plagued by the decision of what to get, as well as a million questions racing through your mind.
When your shift at the library ends that day, it’s already the late afternoon. It was pretty slow today again, you mainly just spent your time cataloging some new books and putting back returned ones to their respective spots.
As you’re approaching the bus stop, you can see the bus already there, so you fall into a light jog to catch up on time. Except that everyone is standing outside instead of being inside the bus. The driver is standing on the sidewalk as well, talking on the phone in an irritated tone.
“What happened?” you ask one of the people sitting on the bench.
“The bus broke down,” she explains with a tired sigh, pointing to where the engine door has been lifted, and you can see some faint smoke coming out of the vents. “The driver said we have to wait for the next bus.”
You don’t need to look at the timetable to know that at this time of day, the busses get more and more infrequent. You might as well walk home. It won’t necessarily be quicker than waiting for the next one, but you don’t want to just sit still for the next half hour. 
After saying your thanks to the person, you keep walking down the sidewalk to start your trek home. Luckily, there’s a pedestrian path away from the street that is actually quite picturesque to walk, partially going through the woods too, so at least you’ll have a nice view as you ruminate over the day’s events.
To get to the path leading into the forest, you take a shortcut through the parking lot, which to your surprise is not as empty as you would have imagined at this time. You’re not really planning on running into anyone, already lost in thought, so it takes you very much by suprise when you hear your name called out. You turn around to see Cal standing by his bike, waving to you. You wave back with a smile, which is quick to disappear though as you remember your interaction earlier. You just want to get home to crawl into your bed and wallow in self-pity for a bit, but the redhead calls you to him.
“I saw the bus broke down,” he says as you get closer, zipping up his leather jacket and tucking his helmet under his arm. “Need a ride home?”
No, you think, being near you is short circuiting my brain and I need to sort that out.
“I’ve never been on a bike before, though,” comes out of your mouth instead. 
“Well, lucky for you I’d be the one driving,” he says with a smile. “As a backpack you just have to lean into the curves, but there’s not much more than that.”
“Backpack?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s what we call the person sitting behind the driver.” You spot the faintest of blushes creeping onto his face, adorning his freckles. “So, what do you say?”
His face, full of expectation, leaning into childish glee almost, is impossible to resist. Heaving a sigh, you laugh a bit to yourself, throwing your hands up in surrender.
“You know what. Why not. We already went to a haunted room today, might as well get ‘riding on a motorbike’ off my bucket list today, too.”
“Great!” Cal’s face lights up at your positive response, and he seems to notice it and clears his throat to take his excitement down a notch. He moves to the side a bit so you can take a better look at the bike, telling you its name is BD-1, and doing the whole introduction thing where he points to you, then to the bike and back, saying your name, BD, BD, your name. You have to bite back a smile at how endearing you find that. After what happened today, it’s nice to see that he also has this cute side to him. Playing along, you greet the bike with a ‘Hi BD!’ and pat the handlebar as if it was a dog. Cal chuckles, and produces a second helmet seemingly out of thin air, presenting it to you.
“Wha– Where did you–”
“A biker never reveals his secrets,” he says with a wink, and puts on his own helmet. Your grips tightens lightly on the one you’re now holding as you avert your gaze from his visor. This guy will absolutely be the end of you.
Cal helps you put on the helmet, adjusting the buckle strap underneath your chin and making sure it’s comfortable but not too loose. Turning to the bike, he folds down some pegs on either side of the back wheel, indicating that that’s where you’re going to put your feet, then he gets on first.
“Once you’re on, you can either hold onto me or place your hands here–,” he shows you, patting the round, elevated part of the bike in front of him. “– on the tank.” 
Then he instructs you to hop on by placing one foot first to lift yourself off the ground and swing your other leg over. Holding onto his shoulders for balance, you do just that, tightening the straps on your own backpack (pun unintended) so it doesn’t move around once you’ll be on the move. You scoot in your seat a couple of times until you feel your balance settle.
“You good?” he asks, and you realise you’ll surely have a hard time hearing him once you’re driving, over the sound of the engine and the wind.
“Yup!” you reply, taking a shuddering breath that seems to resonate within your helmet, as you snake your arms around his waist, interlocking your fingers.
You feel his torso tense up ever so slightly at the touch, and he kicks up the stand. 
“If I pat your leg it means to hold on tighter, okay?”
“Got it,” you confirm, and he tests it out by patting the outside of your knee twice, and you lean even more into him, if that’s possible, tightening your grip. You just hear him chuckle, then start the engine. 
He makes a round or two on the parking lot so you can get used to the feeling, and once you feel more comfortable, he heads out onto the street.
As you’ve already mentioned at some point that you live at the dorms, he knows where to take you. You can tell he’s riding extra carefully, not zooming through in-between cars and making sure that the stops and starts at the traffic lights are smooth.
Because of the noise and the helmets, having a conversation is unfortunately impossible, so you just enjoy the sensations. The whistle of the wind rushing by you, the humming of the engine, which you can feel in your whole body, both through the bike itself and Cal. The way he taps your leg when you loosen your grip without noticing. At least it was on accident the first time. After some minutes you tried it again, slowly letting go, and his gloved hand was on your leg again, lingering this time until you held on properly. Then he placed his hand over both of yours, giving a light squeeze. Ah, did he catch on? 
Alas, the ride is already over by the time you feel like you really mastered being a proper backpack, and the bike slows down as Cal drives into the street of your apartment complex. 
Once he fully stops and kicks down the stand, he gives your arms a pat, indiciating for you to hop off. Misjudging the height and being slightly sore from the unfamiliar seating position, you don’t properly step onto the ground, your knee giving in and the rest of your body threatening to follow. But Cal is quick to catch you and bring you back to your feet without even having gotten off completely himself.
“You alright?” he asks, sliding off the seat completely, then taking off his helmet and running his hand through his hair. His red fiery hair, now messed up from the helmet… You really want to run your own fingers through it. 
At your lack of response, he leans a bit closer into your visor, repeating the question. You snap out of your trance with a sheepish laugh, trying and failing to undo the buckle on the helmet strap. Cal takes off his gloves and skillfully opens it, helping you remove the thing. You don’t even want to know what your hair looks like right now, so you try your best to smooth it out blindly. 
“I’m good, yes. Guess getting on is easier than getting off the bike.”
“It gets easier with practice,” he responds. “That is, if you ever want to ride again. You can. I mean with me. If you’d like.”
He looks around, the driveway is luckily empty, so no one can see him embarrass himself by stumbling over his own words. You can’t help the giggle that escapes you; he’s too cute.
“I’d love to, if you’ll let me.”
“Of course. You did good today.”
You look in the direction of your dorm, then down at the helmet you’re still holding.
“Guess you need this back, then.”
“I don’t have any way to carry it right now, so why don’t you hold onto that for now,” he starts, scratching the back of his neck as he leans back a bit to half sit on the side of the bike. “Besides, the bus might break down again. Why don’t I give you a ride to class tomorrow morning, too?”
By now your heartrate is absolutely out of control. How does he look so effortlessly cool? And he’s inviting you to ride again? Maybe more than once? 
You involuntarily hug the helmet to your chest, hoping the sound of your erratic hearbeat doesn’t echo through it and make it loud enough for Cal to hear. Taking out his phone, he suggests exchanging numbers so you can text him when to pick you up and he can tell you when he’s on his way. Taking it from his hands, you type in your number and call, hearing your own ringtone coming from your pocket, and give it back. You don’t see what he types in as your contact name as he’s quick about it, putting the device away again.
“See you tomorrow, then,” you say, swaying back and forth lightly on the ball of your feet. “Thank you for taking me home. It was fun.”
“My pleasure,” he says with a genuine smile. “And don’t forget your substantial dinner.”
With that, he puts on his helmet. As he gets onto the bike and kicks back the stand, you consider running up to him one last time to place a kiss on his helmet, but you find yourself paralysed by… what exactly, you don’t know.
“Drive safe!” you call out to him instead with a wave, as he drives onto the street. He gives you a two finger salute, tires screeching on the pavement as he takes off. Yeah, he was definitely being considerate of you when you were on the bike. 
You feel like you’re floating on a cloud and being pulled down by a gravity tenfold as strong, all at the same time. You’re clearly into him. It seems he’s interested as well. What’s holding you back? These and many other questions roam your brain as you try to fall asleep that night.
The next morning, as promised, Cal is waiting for you. This time he brings a proper biker jacket as well, which is padded in the important places. Where he got it from and how he knows your size, you don’t even bother asking, knowing he wouldn’t tell.
Despite the buses working just fine, form that day on it becomes somewhat of a routine. Whenever your schedules will allow it, he’ll take you to class and back home. You offer paying for gas since going by your place is out of his way, even though he insists it isn’t. He never takes you up on your offer.
Weeks go by in the blink of an eye, both of you getting more comfortable around each other, engaging in friendly banter bordering in flirtations, but never really crossing the line or making an actual move. Before you know it, exams are just around the corner, so the library is busy. Still, you manage to study in the slower hours. But you keep catching yourself looking at the entrance, waiting for a certain someone to walk in. 
After exams are over, Sabine and Ezra organise a well deserved party at her place. Her family is away for the weekend, but they were okay with a party as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. Ahsoka also invites a handful of her friends so there’s a decent amount of people of different ages. You have friendly chats with many of them, who also give you good tips on studying,  the best places to get coffee near uni, or tell you funny stories about the teachers. 
The party is where you meet Anakin and Padme, Ahsoka’s best friends aside from Rex, who are more or less the power couple at the university. They’ve been together since the first year and everyone knows about them. Even you have heard a lot about them; there are some wild rumours around. But you’re seeing them for the first time now, and you can’t shake the feeling that they look familiar. 
As you, Sabine, Ahsoka and the two are standing in the kitchen, sipping on your drinks, the conversation somehow flows into urban legend territory. That’s where Padme tells you and Sabine about the lovebird legend, saying that there is an off-limits room in the uni building where it is said that a couple died tragically as the ceiling came down on them. 
“Despite the tragedy, the legends still make people go down there to leave their pictures and love notes,” Padme explains. 
“Alleged tragedy,” Anakin interjects with a playful roll of his eyes. “If something had actually happened down there, they would close it off properly.” He turns to you as he sees your blank expression, which he interprets as being scared, and gives you a reassuring pat on the back. “Nothing happened down there, trust me.”
Except that your face went blank not out of fear, but because you finally connected the dots.
“Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Padme reminisces, linking her arm onto Anakin’s, who looks down at her with an adoring smile. “Even we went down to leave our own note, remember? And it seems it worked.”
“How could I forget,” Anakin laughs. “Initials, picture, locket; we did the whole package.”
The locket you saw that day in the basement comes to your mind. The engraved initials: P & A. 
Padme and Anakin.
And now you can also vaguely recognise their younger selves in one of the pictures you see on the wall.
Snapping back into reality, you look at Anakin.
“Is this… common knowledge?” you ask, fidgeting with the drink in your hands. “Does everyone know that’s what it is? Or are there some people who think it’s haunted?”
“Not really?” Anakin shrugs. “I don’t know of anyone who’s ever thought it was actually haunted. Again, the accident is just a rumour to make it more tragic.”
“Yeah, everyone who hears about the story knows people go there hoping to ensure a good love life,” Padme confirms.
“Huh, is that so…” you trail off, heat quickly rising to your face, visible to everyone no doubt, but you can’t be bothered to hide it right now. So Cal knew? He must have known, right? 
Sabine elbows you into the side, almost making you spill your drink. 
“What’s got you so flustered suddenly?” She narrows her eyes at you, full of mischief. “Don’t tell me, you want to go leave a note for you and you know who?”
That seems to get you out of your trance, and your head snaps back up, frantically looking around to make sure Cal isn’t anywhere near you two. But he’s actually nowhere to be seen, probably outside with his team buddies who are hogging the grill.
“Do you still need to leave a note when you’ve already been there with the person in question?” you ask at no one in particular, and Ahsoka exchanges a knowing look with Anakin and Padme.
“You what?!” Sabine whisper-screams. “How? When?”
“Uuh, a couple of weeks ago,” you say, suddenly remembering the other thing you saw that day. “Also, did you know Kenobi is married? And that his husband is part of the psychology department? They totally made out in the husband’s office.”
Sabine’s face morphs into several different things consecutively, first confusion at why you’re bringing that up now, then questioning why you even know that, then wondering if she even wants to know. 
“You know,” Padme interjects. “Obi-Wan and Cody Kenobi were actually one of the first ever couples to leave their note in the basement. If they’re still together, then it really must work, huh.” She leans in ever so slightly, lowering her voice as she asks you, “Why, is there anyone you’re interested in? Someone who wouldn’t happen to be here right now?”
You pull a bit of a grimace and look to Ahsoka, who had followed the whole thing with amusement but without intervening. Seeing your pleading look, she nods, indicating that Padme is trustworthy with these kind of things. 
“Yes, actually,” you reply in a small voice. “To both.”
Padme clasps her hands together in delight, asking if you’ll show her the person in question. Anakin just laughs, saying he’ll go find something to eat, and Ahsoka joins him. So it’s just you, Padme and Sabine left. You walk around for a while until you find your favourite redhead leaning on the open doorframe that leads to the yard, talking to one of his teammates. They’re all wearing their team jackets, and you can’t help your eyes roaming his body for a moment, enjoying the view. 
As if he could feel your eyes on him, he suddenly turns his head to you, and you get caught yet again staring. But this time you don’t look away in shame, you stand your ground and give him a smile and a small wave, which he returns, then goes back to his conversation as if nothing happened.
You turn back to the girls, both of them giving you a knowing smile and little giggles. 
“Oh, shut up, you.”
“I didn’t even say anything!” Sabine says. 
“Your face said it all.”
“Yeah, as did yours,” she teases. 
You groan, burying your face in your hands. You might as well be on actual fire right now, as hot as you feel. 
“I’m getting another drink,” you say, pinching Sabine in the cheek and looking to Padme. “Please make sure she doesn’t embarrass me any further.”
Padme laughs but agrees, promising to keep an eye on her.
You walk to the kitchen, where a new group of people has claimed the space to have their conversation. You quickly refill your cup, excusing yourself from them with a polite nod, and leave through the other door, looking for a way outside to get some fresh air. But you find yourself in what seems to be the dining room. This house is so big, I think I might actually get lost here, you think, looking around for another exit. 
You turn on your heels when a guy, evidently drunk, approaches you. Givng him a quick once over, you find that you don’t recognise him. While this was a closed invitation party, unfortunately there’s always the few people who think it’s okay to just bring another buddy along who also brings their friend, leading to a handful of people that no one really invited or even knows. This is one of them. 
You intend to walk past him, but he takes a side step to block your path. Taking a quick step back to have some distance between you and him, you try the other side, but again he cuts you off.
“Can you let me through?”
“What are you doing here all alone?” His words are slurred, and he suddenly grabs onto your wrist with a strong grip.
“Wha–? Let me go!” The back and forth until you finally manage to get your arm free makes you spill your drink onto the floor.
He seems unfazed by this, grunting in annoyance and trying to grab you again, but you evade his movements this time, taking several steps back.
“I said back off! Leave me alone!”
Now he has you cornered against the wall, and you consider your options. He stretches out his hand again to take ahold of you, but before he reaches you, Cal has appeared through another archway to your right and grabs the guy by the collar of his shirt, pulling him away from you. Two of his football buddies follow.
“Which part of ‘back off’ do you not understand?” he growls at the guy, letting him go with a shove. “Get lost.”
“And who do you think you are? You’re interrupting–” the guy starts, grabbing Cal by the shoulder and turning him around, but before he can even finish his sentence, Cal clocks him in the jaw, and the guy falls to the ground ungracefully, landing in your puddle from earlier with a grunt. The two other guys that arrived with Cal grab him, one arm each, and carry him away, probably outside to kick him out. 
Cal turns to you, shaking the hand he hit the other guy with. 
“Are you okay?” he asks as he approaches you, wanting to hold your arms, but his hands only hover over you as he looks you over for any injuries. 
“I’m– I’m okay. Thank you,” you croak out, blinking repeatedly to process what just happened. Cal gingerly holds your wrist up, inspecting it. You can already see some dark marks forming where the guy before had grabbed you. Cal’s thumb strokes over the inside of your wrist soothingly, his eyes finding yours, and you’re unable to look away. He’s about to say something when voices call out to you. He turns around to see Sabine, Ahsoka and Ezra approaching.
“Are you okay? What happened?” she asks, seeing the puddle on the ground just in time and walking around it.
“Some guy was really drunk, he grabbed my arm and–”
“And I punched him,” Cal finishes.
Sabine raises a brow at that, giving you a look.
“Ugh, I’m so sorry,” Ezra apologises. “I told everyone to not just show up with random people. This shouldn’t have happened.”
“Ezra, it’s okay. Really guys, I’m fine.” You swallow down whatever is trying to bubble up, be it a nervous breakdown after a scary situation or just the fact that Cal saved your bacon. Shoving it all into the back of your brain to deal with later, you smile at your friends. “The jerk is dealt with, it’s all good, really. Now let’s go back to enjoying the party. I heard you have a karaoke machine?”
“Yeah,” Sabine says and gives you a questioning look. ‘You sure you're okay?’ At the insistence in your own eyes, she nods. “Okay then, let’s go sing our lungs out. C’mon, guys.”
Ezra apologises again before following Sabine. Ahsoka asks you if you’re sure you’re good, you insist that yes everything is fine, so she leaves as well.
You look to Cal with a grateful smile, about to head out as well, but he stops you.
“Uhm, actually, I’ve been meaning to ask,” he says, again scratching his neck in that adorably shy manner, and your breath might or might not have hitched there. “Next week we have a big game against another school team. Do you want to come? And possibly cheer for us?”
“I was wondering if I could ever go to one of your games,” you reply sincerely, smiling up at him. “I’ll cheer for you.”
“For my team or for me specifically?” he remarks with an inquisitive grin, but to your relief, the music from the living room hits your ears before you can even come up with a smooth reply.
“Oh, that’s my jam, c’mon!” You hook your arm around Cal’s and drag him to where everyone’s waiting, both of you laughing. 
— — — — —
The match is intense. You don’t really know all the rules, but you can feel the tension in the air.  
You cheer for Cal from where you sit on the bleachers with Sabine, Ezra and everyone else, all of you shouting and cheering. You haven’t even entirely recovered from the karaoke session, so this surely isn’t helping your vocal chords, but you don’t care. 
Every now and then he looks up from where he is on the field, searching for you in the crowd. He pats the outside of his knee twice when he does, and every time you can feel the rush of heat and giddiness crashing over you. It’s the same gesture he does when you’re on his bike. It’s like a secret signal between the two of you. You don’t care about biting back the giant smile on your face or trying to hide how flustered you look every time he spots you among the audience, and Sabine catches on.
The timer on the giant screen counts down the last seconds of the match, both teams are tied. Cal goes into the offensive, and they make one heck of a play, scoring the last point just before the timer buzzes. Everyone in the audience stands up cheering, clapping, whistling. You as well.
As the announcer wraps up the game and the players leave for the changing rooms, Sabine and you head down to the entrance. Many are already leaving, since the match is over, but friends and family of the players are waiting for them to come out to celebrate.
Sabine and Ezra exchange curious looks with each other, and Sabine elbows you into the side.
“So?” Ezra asks. 
“So what? “ you retort. 
“Are you gonna make a move?” Sabine chimes in. 
“On Cal?”
“Who else!"
“I don’t know…” you respond, unsure. “I don’t want to read too much into it–”
“Ohmygod,” Ezra groans as he shakes you by the shoulders. “You’re both so smitten with each other, it’s starting to be unbearable to watch.
You laugh nervously. Does he really think that? 
“Guys! Here they come,” Sabine interrupts you two as she spots the winning team.
Ezra lets go of you after one last shake, and you all turn to face the players, now showered and changed back into their normal clothes. 
Cal’s eyes roam the space until they find yours, and you think you might go blind by his smile. He’s positively glowing. You’re just expecting to maybe hug him, congratulate him on the win, and then you’ll all go get food together as you’ve planned.
Instead, Cal doesn’t slow down as he approaches you, throwing his arms around your torso and lifting you into the air, spinning you around a couple of times. You hold on to him with a squeak of surprise, and he laughs so heartily, you’re actually glad he’s holding you in the air, because your legs surely would have given out.
Once gently placed back onto the ground, you just kind of look at each other, until Ezra loudly clears his throat, and Cal quickly lets go of you. After you guys say your congratulations to Cal and the rest of his team, you head out to the restaurant. It’s nearby so you decide to walk, the weather is nice even though it's the evening.
The rest of the night, you and Cal seem to tiptoe around each other, like there’s suddenly an invisible line that has been drawn, and you’re both waiting for the other to cross over first. You exchange smiles, glances, accidental touches followed by apologies.
Once the food is gone and the adrenaline starts depleting, it’s time to head home. Cal offers to walk you home, since you’re still relatively close to the dorms. Anakin drove to the game, so he takes the rest back with him in his car.
After you say your goodbyes to the group, not without getting some definitely non-inconspicuous looks from your two besties, it dawns on you that once you’re home, Cal will be stranded there. You bring it up to him, and for a minute you actually consider offering for him to stay the night, but you’re actually not mentally or emotionally prepared for that. So you’re glad when he says he doesn’t mind, he’ll just get a cab or something when he's there, since he got a ride with his coach to the game today and didn’t ride his bike. 
You’re walking down the street in comfortable silence, surrounded by the darkness that's already taken over the sky. You look up expecting to see stars, but you’re disappointed to see clouds. In fact, dark, low hanging clouds, threatening to spill over any moment. 
“Huh, when did it get this stormy,” you wonder aloud, and as if on cue, a gust of wind picks up, sending some leaves and debris flying over the street.
“I’m pretty sure there was no rain announced today–” 
The moment Cal says that, it comes pouring down all at once. 
“What the–! Argh!” you groan in frustration at the sudden downpour, but Cal just laughs, taking your hand as he pulls you away.
“Come on!”
You let yourself be led to take shelter under an awning. You look down at yourself, already soaked even though you were exposed for mere seconds. The sound of rain hitting the ground drowns everything else. You look out with a pout, knowing you’ll have to wait out the weather to get anywhere. 
Suddenly you feel a weight on your shoulders. You look to the side to see Cal placing his varsity jacket on you, and you’d be lying if you weren’t welcoming the warmth. Given that today was supposed to be a clear night, you didn’t really have that many layers, so you gladly slide your arms into the sleeves, hugging yourself. 
Instead of letting go completely of the jacket though, Cal keeps readjusting the collar, tugging on one side so that you turn until you’re fully facing him. A droplet of water falls from his hair onto his cheek. You uncross your arms, slowly bringing your hands up to his forearms, shyly holding onto them. 
“Can i kiss you?” he asks without looking away. And you couldn’t have even if you wanted to, it’s like his ocean eyes held yours in a tight embrace, unable to move. You don’t answer immediately, despite every fiber in your body screaming yes!
“I’m scared,” you finally say in a small voice, almost getting drowned out by the raging rain. Cal’s head backtracks a bit in surprise. 
“What of?” 
“It’s silly,” you pout again, this time looking away, but his hand finds your cheek, bringing your gaze back to him.
“You can tell me,” he assures you. You let out a sharp breath of frustration at yourself. 
“I’ve just… never felt like this before,” you admit. “I'm scared of how much of an effect you have over me, I suppose, and as such making a fool of myself. I want you to like me, so badly.”
Cal tilts his head slightly to the side, offering a warm reassuring smile.
“I can assure you, I feel the same way about you.”
“I don't believe you,” you retort with a scoff. “You always look so collected and confident and just generally cool.”
“On the outside, maybe. But trust me, I'm freaking out on the inside. Check for yourself.”
He takes your hand and places it on his chest, leaving his hand on yours. His heart is beating at a quick pace. The moment you look up again and meet his eyes, the pace picks up. In the faint light you can see a blush spreading on his face, heart pounding against his ribcage, with yours to match.
“Same here,” you say.
“I know,” he replies with a bit of mischief, his other hand on your cheek moving down a bit to your neck, where you now know he can feel your pulse. 
You know he’s still waiting for your answer, but you decide to tease him. Just a bit. Besides, this question has been burning on your tongue for what feels like an eternity now.
“When we went down to the basement, you knew it wasn’t haunted, right?” you ask, and he has to adjust to the sudden change of topic, looking surprised at first, then laughing heartily. You continue, “You knew it was a thing that couples do?” 
“Ah, you got me,” he replies with a light shrug. 
“Did you plan the whole thing out from the start?”
“Actually, no.” He looks away for a moment with a faint smile, thinking back to that day, then meets your eyes again. “I did want to go there with you but didn’t know how to ask. Then I saw you at the vending machine, and the whole thing with Kenobi happened, and it was just too good of an opportunity to pass.”
“I can’t believe I got played like that,” you say with a dramatic sigh. “You know, had you told me back then that you liked me, I would have gone willingly to the basement to leave a note.”
“Guess I was scared, too.”
“That’s fair,” you say, your hands coming up to his face to hold it properly now. You smooth your thumb over his cheekbone, and he leans into your touch. “Well, now that that’s sorted out: yes, yes you can.”
Cal leans in, catching your lips in his, and he holds you so tenderly, you might as well melt down and get swept away by the rain. Your whole body burns, and you grab a fistful of his shirt in an attempt to pull him closer. His hands travel down your arms to snake around your waist between his jacket and your damp shirt, holding you up as you involuntarily put more of your weight on him, the legs under you threatening to give in completely. 
He breaks the kiss and pulls back only enough to pepper your whole face in little kisses, making you giggle.
“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while,” he remarks, trailing kisses down your jaw, then coming back up to place one last kiss on your lips, which you chase after as he pulls back again, and he chuckles.
“We should get going,” he says, taking your hands in his. “The rain stopped, we should get you home before you catch a cold.”
“Right,” you mumble, still trying to come down from the high of that kiss.  
You start walking down the street hand in hand, and you swing them back and forth between the two of you. You’re almost at your place when he gets a call. Taking his phone out, he picks up and puts it on speaker; it’s Anakin. He asks if Cal needs a ride because of the sudden rain.
“You’re asking now?” Cal laughs. “Well, you sure took your time.”
“I assumed you were… occupied.”
Your face burns up yet again, tips of your ears on fire, as Cal shoots you a funny look.
“Well, you’re not wrong,” he says into the phone.
“Oh my god–!” you squeak, hiding your face in your hands as you hear Padme’s cheering in the background. “But yes, please come pick him up. Or he might get sick. We’re both soaking wet.”
Cal holds back a laugh, and you grab onto his wrist to bring the phone closer to you.
“From the rain! Soaked from the rain!” you say firmly into the phone. “Geez...!”
After some more snickers, Anakin and Cal coordinate where he should pick him up. It’s just a street over from your dorm, so you have to part ways there.
“Let’s go somewhere this weekend,” Cal suggests as you’re hugging him goodbye.
“Like where?”
“I’ll show you one of my favourite spots. How about that? Bring your helmet.” 
“Ooh, roadtrip with BD. I’m in,” you agree.
Cal leans in to leave a lingering kiss on your cheek, but before he can pull back completely, you sneak in a peck on the corner of his mouth. Even in the darknes, the streelight the only source of illumination, you can see the furious blush on his face. If it were up to you, you’d kiss him until the sun comes back up, but the both of you really need to take a warm shower and get to bed. 
“It’s a date then,” Cal says with a wink and takes a couple of steps back, waving at you, then turning fully to walk towards the pick-up spot. 
“Yeah, a date…” you whisper to yourself dreamily.
— — — — —
True to his word, Cal takes you to his favourite place. You packed some food and drinks for the road, then headed out. By now you’re far more comfortable on the bike, so you can actually enjoy the view as well. The farther away you get from the city, the more you’re surrounded by forests, farms and you even cross a lake. Starting to gain elevation as he drives up the meandering narrow street, you arrive at a vantage point of sorts. There’s a small parking lot by the road, with a public restroom and some picnic tables. You two get off the bike, walking to the fence which feels to be right at the edge of the cliff, showing a fantastic view into a giant valley.
Your date takes its course; you eat, you chat, you even remembered to pack some cards so you play a couple of rounds on the table. 
When it’s time to head back, you’re packing your things, both of you standing by the bike.
“So, how’d you like it?” he asks.
“It’s beautiful,” you reply, letting your eyes roam over the landscape once more. You arrived here in the early afternoon, and now the sun is just about to set. 
“Anything else you’d like to do before we head back?” 
You think it over. You already ate, took some pictures, enjoyed the view. There’s really not much else to do here. But then a thought occurs to you.
“I, uhm…” For some reason you get shy with your request. “Is there any way we can sit on the bike facing each other? Not to drive, just to chill here a little longer. I’d like to see the full sunset.”
His brows rise in surprise, the slight blush on his cheeks not escaping you, and you wonder what it was about what you’re asking that caused it. 
“Sure. Here–”
He grabs you from underneath your arms, picking you up as you wrap your legs around his waist. He holds you like you weigh nothing, and swings one of his legs over the bike to take a seat like he normally would, placing you onto the tank. You unwrap your legs so that they’re hanging over his things, and that’s when you realise you just asked for you to straddle him. Not that you’re opposed to the result. 
You try finding your seat on the round tank, but you slip down further into his lap, now fully sitting on him. 
“Whoah, sorry,” you try to scoot back up but you’re essentially stuck. “Is this okay? Should I move back?”
“Don’t worry,” he says, looking to the side for a moment as he holds you by your waist, trying to hold you still, and he clears his throat nervously. “This is every biker’s dream, believe me. Are you comfortable?”
You hum in positive response, trying to accommodate to the position in his lap by squirming a little, and his grip on you tightens again. You hear him take a sharp breath though his teeth. 
“Ah, sorry…” you say as you realise what you’re doing. You place your hands on his chest, trying to hold still. For a moment you just sit there, looking at each other in silence, both of you starting to relax into each others’ holds. 
Then a gust of wind picks up, ruffling up his hair. Golden hour hits him just right, the fiery red strands on his head shine gold and copper in the sunlight, his hundreds of freckles seem to glisten on his skin, begging for you to trace over them with your fingers, his ocean eyes now have a hint of green and specks of gold in them, darting up and down as he studies your face as well. Your heart all but bursts at the sight.
“What?” he asks after a while, chuckling. 
“You're breathtaking,” you blurt out in full honesty, holding his face, wondering how it was possible for such a beautiful human being to exist? And he chose to be with you?
Your answer definitely takes him off-guard, as his face blushes violently, from his neck to the tip of his ears. He can’t hold your gaze, looking to the side. It takes a couple of attempts to form a proper sentence.
“You can’t say that with such a straight face, damn,” he laughs nervously. He leans his forehead on your shoulder in an attempt to hide his burning cheeks, but you cup his face and bring him back up to look at you.
“Besides,” he adds after a moment, “You only say that because you haven’t seen yourself. If you think that of me, then you’re nothing short of ethereal.”
So much for watching the sunset. You can’t take your eyes off of him, and his words pierce your very heart, but in a good way. Not really knowing what to reply to that, you kiss him instead, burying your fingers in his hair. 
Cal reciprocates just as intensely, and you can’t help but arch your back into him, thus rolling your hips into his, to which he groans. Your brain is instantly turned to mush, your body now in charge. He tilts his head to the side, his tongue tracing over your lips, and you gasp as you grant him access. Right now, Cal tastes like honey and cool mornings and the pine trees surrounding you. Your senses are on overload, your skin burns as Cal’s hands slip underneath your shirt, slowly travelling up your back, pressing you into him even more.
Finally breaking for air, Cal kisses your jaw, your neck, biting where your pulse is, and if you could still hear yourself, you’d probably be embarrassed about the noises you’re making. 
Then he pulls back rather suddenly, you notice his jaw is tense but you notice his dishevelled hair more, as well as his puffy lips, and the dazed look in his eyes which you’re surely sporting yourself too. You’re both panting, trying to calm your breathing. His hands slide back down and out of your shirt, staying on your thighs instead. 
“Maybe,” Cal says between breaths, “Maybe we should take this somewhere… else.” 
You run your hand through his hair in an attempt to smooth it out. 
“I think Ahsoka is out for the rest of the night,” you say, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. 
He raises a brow at you. You give him an innocent smile. 
“Let’s head back then,” he says, picking you up again like before, this time to get you off the bike. 
You finish packing up everything, hop on and start your way back to the dorms. All the while, his hand is either on yours or on your leg, lovingly stroking the side of your thigh. 
His biker gear really does suit him and you like how he looks in it, but for once, you can’t wait for him to take it off.
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talesfrommedinastation · 11 months ago
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My redneck neighbor Doug on the Jedi in 'The Clone Wars'
Y'all have asked, and Dr. Meat Muffin might be a disgruntled old hag that chugs too much Trader Joe’s bourbon and doodles too much subpar art, but she keeps her promises!
Just so y’all know, if you’re a major character (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, etc) you keep your name, because it was drilled into Doug’s head over 8 seasons of Clone Wars and the movies. Everyone else, though, Doug gave up and created his own catchphrases for them.
CW: This one's not as spicy as Doug's previous rants regarding Star Wars, but y'all know if y'all know. "It'll all come out in the wash."
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Plo Koon: Ah, Shrimp Daddy. He looks like a shrimp that’s been boiled and left in the sun after a potluck. But my wife LOVES him, she says he has the nicest voice and she wishes he’d narrate some books. I loved him too, he was my favorite. That scene where he tells his clone boys in space that they’re important to him? Ah great. They should have him lead HR meetings. 
Aayla Secura: Babe-the-Blue-Jedi. They sent her away from the Temple because Yoda didn’t want that hotness distracting everyone. Is she and Miguel (Bly?!) dating? They are, right? 
Kit Fisto: Reggae Swamp Thing. Tell me that boy don't look like he lives in the Atchafalaya and bangs on the steel drums all day. I wonder if he stole those shorts from Michael Phelps. He’s cool but does he need to have a tank to swim in on his ship? Does he have gills? I need more info on this guy. 
Adi Gallia: Storm’s Cousin. Doesn’t this chick look like her? She does, right? Maybe she's a Jedi cause she can't control the weather. Didn’t Maul’s brother Saul impale her on his horns and that’s how she died?* Why didn’t Maul do that to Obi-Wan? Maul was obsessed with Obi-Wan, do you think it’s because he had a crush on him after he sliced him in half?
(Doug also ships Obi-Wan with Maul now? IS THERE ANYONE WHO DOUG DOESN'T SHIP OBI-WAN WITH?!)
Shaak-Ti: Ahsoka’s Aunt. They’re totally related. (“No, they’re not.” “Says who?” “Um, EVERYONE?!”) She’s cool, nice to the clone boys. I like her horns. 
Saesee Tiin : Angry Bull Boy. He looks like a minotaur whose daddy left him at a Wal-Mart instead of the Labyrinth after drinking too much.
Deepa Billaba: My Coworker Anu. Seriously! She looks JUST LIKE HER. I even texted her a screenshot, and she used that as her Slack Channel picture for the longest time. Nice lady, she's a good master to Lil Kanan. Hm, Lil Kanan sounds like a rap person my niece would listen to.
Ki-Adi-Mundi: Mutant-Mall-Santa. Look me dead ass in the eye and tell me the man don’t look like he was supposed to hand out presents and ask kids what they want for Christmas and ended up hanging out in toxic waste instead. He's a snotty asshole, I don't like him, he thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.
Luminara Undali: Lady-in-Drape. She’s a green lady, and she wears a drape. Meat Muffin, I'm tired and it's about to snow.
Barriss Offee: Little Lady-in-Drape. Man, she was awful, but she had good points, ya know? Kind of like Darth Maul. Do you think Darth Maul and Obi-Wan ever dated? Or would Obi-Wan’s boyfriend get jealous? 
Quinlan Voss: College-Hippie-Boy. Doesn’t he just look like one of those goofs that fart around with hackysacks all day long? I'd buy weed from him if he was selling, he looks like an exporter and consumer, if you know what I mean.
Even Piall: Dobby the House Jedi. Man he looks like he was on his way to help Harry Potter or something and ended up in a bathrobe with a light saber. Ah well. 
*= Savage is ‘Saul’ and Feral is ‘Paul’. So it’s Maul, Saul, and Paul. I strained a muscle laughing when I got this. 
Tagging my Redneck Doug stans here! @amalthiaph @sued134 @eyecandyeoz @thecoffeelorian @merkitty49 @megmca @skellymomam I missing anyone?
Let me know if I missed any Jedi, those were the ones that came up that Doug didn't immediately recognize.
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