#WHO would they think was the droid huh????? and they would be wrong. crazy.

[loverworm]

the gloves stay ON during sex‼️

[fanfoolishness]

the wheeling stars, amidst the dark (The Mandalorian)

(Peli Motto’s glad to see one of her favorite customers, until she realizes he’s come alone.  Peli + Din friendship, set after The Rescue.  A study on grief, friendship, sorrow and hope.  5368 words.)

***

Winter on Tatooine was Peli’s favorite season, a time when the fierce desert heat gave up a little of its cruelty.  There was less sweating through her jumpsuit; not no sweating, of course, just less.  Water prices were better, and smugglers preferred to visit more often when the suns weren’t baking the sands below.  More people, more ships in need of repair, more work.  It was a good time of year.

She was at a lull today, though.  Nothing to worry about.  Happened now and then.  She passed the time setting the droids on maintenance duties in between games of sabacc, checking up on inventory, and drinking through a pot of caf.  It was actually cool enough this afternoon she could take her caf hot instead of chilled, and not feel like she was boiling alive.  She took a sip.  If nothing else, she was damn good at enjoying the little things.

She heard engines overhead and glanced up to see what was heading her way.  An Intel X4 gunship, by the sound of it.  It soared into view, and she narrowed her eyes in curiosity.  Didn’t see those around often, but she could fix it.  As long as the pilot was good for it, of course.

Her droids rolled up, ready to help, and she strolled out of her office with her cup of hot caf in hand.  She blew on it idly as the ship set down on its landing gear, which had seen better days.  She could already spot six areas that needed repair, always a bad sign.  

The more she looked, the more she saw.   The ship itself bore marked signs of carbon scoring and was missing several panels and outer arrays. One of the gun turrets had been taken out entirely.  Poor flying, it looked like, but it made for good credits.  She could get a solid day or two of work out of it, easy. 

She waited, growing increasingly annoyed at the amount of time it was taking for the pilot to hurry up and step outside.  Her caf was growing cold in her hands in the chilly winter breeze, and she frowned.  “Coming out or what?” she hollered, perfectly aware that the pilot wouldn’t be able to hear her unless they opened the ship up.  Still, though, it made her feel like she was doing something.  One of her droids burbled to her curiously, and she shrugged.

After what seemed an eternity, the ramp dropped to the sand.  She watched the darkness within the ship curiously, peering up into its belly as the pilot descended the ramp.  Those boots -- it couldn’t be --  A grin stretched across her face.

“Mando!” she crowed.  “Moving up in the world!  Finally put that hunk of junk of yours to rest, did you?”

The Mandalorian stepped out of the cargo bay, each footstep on the ramp measured and slow.  He walked down to her level.  “The Crest had a good run,” he said, as humorless as ever.

“Well, what happened to her?  You didn’t blow up running sublight, anyway, or you’d be space dust,” Peli laughed, taking a sip of her caf.  Ah, hell.  She’d forgotten it had gone cold.  She slugged down the rest, her mouth twitching at the bitterness.  She leaned sideways, looking around the back of him for the strap of the bag he wore to carry the kid.  But he wasn’t wearing it.

“An Imperial light cruiser happened,” he said.  “The X4’s serviceable enough.  But it’s going to need some work.”

“A light cruiser?” Peli asked in disbelief.  “That would have blown your rusty tin can to bits.”

He shifted slightly, rested his hands on his hips.  “It did.”

“Hang on, hang on.”  She handed her cup to one of the droids, who trotted off with it for cleaning.  She stared at the Mandalorian, spreading her hands out wide.  “Let’s get one thing straight.  Where’s my little guy?”

Mando stared at her, or maybe he didn’t.  The helmet was impossible to read.  But his shoulders rose and fell.  Rose, and fell.

She knew what an Imperial light cruiser could do.   Knew it could take down a whole town from above, let alone a little ship.  Let alone a little ship holding a defenseless child --

“Mando, come on,” she wheedled, trying to keep her tone light despite a growing sense of dread.  “You’re scaring me here.  Where is he?” 

“He’s safe now,” said Mando at last, and even through the helmet his voice sounded wrong.  Peli felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cool winter breeze.

“What do you mean?” she said sharply.  “I don’t like how that sounds, I don’t like it at all.  Sounds kinda final to me.”

“He’s with his own kind now,” said Mando, and his shoulders sank.  He looked at his hands, flexed them as if he didn’t recognize them.  “I found him a --”  His voice hitched.  He tried again.  “I found him a -- a Jedi --”  

She heard it, then, the strain.  That rough wetness to the voice.  The Mandalorian was crying.

Tears sprang to her eyes.  “Ohhhh, shit shit shit, Mando.”  She hurried over to him, grabbed the great silver lump by his shoulders, and steered him into her office.  He went without protest, his vocoder still relaying breathing that was too ragged and irregular to be normal.  Well, if this wasn’t a womp rat in the water tank.  

She fought back her own disappointment, her face twisting as she shoved him into one of the chairs.  She took the other, resting her face in her hand, and gaped at him.

“When did this happen?”

His helmet stared past her at the wall.  He took a deep breath, and the weepy sounds were gone.  “A few weeks ago,” he said, and his voice was all flatness, all emptiness.  

She shook her head.  “I mean, I know you said you were gonna -- but I thought that was just talk.”

“Why would it just be talk?” he asked, straightening up in his chair, stiff as anything.  “I was quested --”

“For suns’ sake, I thought you were just being religious or something!  A figure of speech!” said Peli.  “I never thought you’d really send him away.  You were crazy about him!”

The helmet tilted toward her in a faint nod.  “Yeah.”

Peli rubbed her face, trying to square what he was telling her now with the way he carried that little kid halfway across the Dune Sea, strapped to his hip, precious as anything.  She let out a long breath through her nose, thinking.

“So wait.  The kid was a Jedi?”

“He had… powers.  He needed training I couldn’t give him.”  This part came out all rote, like he’d said it a hundred times.

“But he had to leave you for that?  Like, you still get to see him now and then, right?  He’s not gone forever -- oh no, I’m sorry, oh, hell.”  He wasn’t crying this time, or if he was, it was harder to tell -- but he’d twisted his helmet hard to the side as if she’d punched him straight through his fancy armor, and he’d tensed in a way that had nothing to do with being battle-ready.  She froze, waiting for him to respond.

“I don’t think I’ll ever see him again,” he mumbled, bowing his head over his chest.  His hands unfurled in his lap, palms facing upward like they’d never hold a weapon again.

Damn it.  Peli scrubbed her burning eyes, hard, with the sleeve of her jacket.  They sat in silence for several minutes, Peli for once at a loss for words.  

There was a small noise by the door.  She glanced at it out of habit, startling when she realized it was one of the boys with her evening meal. She’d forgotten she’d set the droids on dinner duty tonight, not wanting to bother with it herself.  She blinked away the stinging in her eyes and turned to the Mandalorian, slumped in the chair.

“Hey.  You.”

He lifted the helmet slightly, enough so she could tell he heard her.

“When’s the last time you ate anything?”

He tilted his head upward to look at her, pausing as if in thought.  “Yesterday?  …day before yesterday.”

“Well, damn it, here you go.” She grabbed the tray from her droid and shoved the platter of food into the Mandalorian’s lap.  He looked down at bantha cheese, sorghum bread and dewback jerky with apparent bemusement.

“I — shouldn’t—“

Oh, right.  He was one of those that never showed his face, she remembered.  She firmly turned her chair around and closed her eyes, shooing her droid away with one hand.  She heard the droid go and reached, eyes still closed, to shut her office door. 

“I ain’t looking,” she declared.  “But you need to eat, and if you wanna talk while doing it, that’s fine too.  I got more things to worry about than what one Mandalorian looks like under his helmet, you know.”

A few beats passed.  She wasn’t sure what he would say, but the fact he hadn’t outright insisted she take her dewback jerky and screw off was probably a good sign.

“You swear it?” he asked cautiously.

“I do.  Cross my heart and hope to fall in a sarlacc pit.  But honest, if it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll go out to the yard, or you can get back on your ship —“

There was a hissing sound and a faint snick.  “No.  It’s all right.”  The words were followed by the sounds of eating and swallowing.  Something in her relaxed slightly, hearing it.

Peli leaned back in her chair, resolutely keeping her eyes closed.  Customers had a million weird requests and this was an easy one, especially since a well-fed customer always paid better.  

Besides, Mando wasn’t just a typical customer anymore.  Somewhere in there between repeat business and the shared affection they had for the child, he’d become a… a friend.  And Peli knew how to deal with those.

She settled her head in against the chair’s back and crossed her arms.  “So,” she said baldly, “I take it you’re not exactly doing great.”

He snorted.  Huh, he could laugh.  “That’s presumptuous,” he said, and without the ominous filter of the helmet, his voice was just a man’s voice, a little low, a little rough.  There was a pause.  “No.  I guess not.”

“It’s not something people just get over, losing a kid.”  She waved a hand up over the back of her chair in what she assumed was still his general direction.  “And I know, maybe you’ll say he wasn’t really your kid —“

“No,” he said suddenly, the word fierce.  “He was.”  He sounded raw, vulnerable.  Human.

Peli nodded, her heart aching.  She liked that he was admitting it.  He’d always been cagey about that before, when Peli would tease him about his strange-looking kid and he’d mulishly push back, spouting off crap about the kid being a foundling, yadda yadda.  But it had been obvious to her on their visits it was more than that.  The kid wasn’t a foundling, he was his foundling.

“So then, he’s your kid,” she continued.  She waved one hand where he could see it, underscoring her words.  “And losing him… it hurts, right?  Some horrible dark hole you can’t climb out of.  Can’t see the suns from.  It sticks with you, through everything you do.”  She sighed.  “It does get… softer, eventually.  The dark sticks to the corners again.  But it’s still awful.  If you weren’t a mess about it I wouldn’t like you so much.”

She could hear him breathing hard behind her.  She waited.  “You’ve been through it yourself,” he said, realizing.

“Something like that.  Not exactly the same.”  She shrugged, broadly enough that she thought he could probably see it even with the chair back in the way.  With her eyes closed it was easy to see their faces as they had been.  Her younger sister Prida, gleefully loudmouthed and brassy; her beautiful nephew Nedhi with his chubby cheeks and bright eyes. “But let’s just say you don’t get to be my age on a world like this without losing people.”

“No.  I guess not.  I’m sorry.”  

“It’s okay,” said Peli, though it never would be, not really.  But she’d done her work on the dark, hard kriffing work, and she didn’t want him feeling like he had to suddenly stop being a mess and focus on helping her.  This wasn’t about that.  “It was a long time ago.  You don’t move on, really, but you move forward.”

She heard a faint click.  “You can turn around now,” he said.  “Thank you for your kindness.”

“That’s me, Peli Motto, kindness expert,” she said loftily.

A faint sound that might have been something like a laugh shifted into a serious tone.  “I haven’t shared a meal with anyone in -- not since Grogu.”  The last word came out nearly as quiet as a whisper, but she caught it anyway.  It sounded like a name.

She turned back around, opening her eyes and squinting at the sudden brightness.  Mando’s helmet, back in place, gleamed in the fading sunlight streaming through the window.  “What’s a Grogu?” she asked curiously.

“It’s the kid’s real name.  I only found out recently.”  He rested a hand on his belt, fingers tightening over one of the pouches.  “You should have seen the way he smiled, hearing it again --”  His voice had gone warm again, taking that tone he always used when talking to the kid.  

Peli grinned at him, picturing the kid’s strange face all sunny, his long ears tipping upward.  Grogu.  It fit him in a strange way, a weird homely name for a weird homely baby: just like how the bright little baby seemed to fit so well with the grim Mandalorian.  This was good.  This was progress.

But Mando caught himself, the warmth shutting off abruptly.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t talk about this.  You have other things to do, and you’ve already done more than you needed.  And I should —“

“You should what?” Peli asked.  “Go back and mope alone on your new ship?  Something tells me you’ve already done more than enough of that, Mr. I Haven’t Eaten in Two Days.”

“You have no right --” he began, half-rising out of his chair as if to leave.

“No right to what?” she snapped, annoyed now.  “Point out when you’re gonna get yourself killed?  Don’t think I haven’t seen the state of that ship.  I know you’re a better pilot than that, you had to be to survive in the junk you were flying before.  If you’d taken any halfway decent evasive maneuvers it’d be in much better shape.  You’re flying sloppy,” she accused, and he sank back into the chair.

“And if I am?” he said, and the hollowness rolled off of him in waves.

Peli got to her feet, pacing around with one hand anchored to her hip, the other flying around to make her point.  Tough guys!  There was no end to their obnoxiousness.  “Look.  This is grief, Mando, and that’s the kind of shit that hunts you down and takes you out if you don’t face it.  You’re not special.  It’ll get you.  But I think you’re good people, and I like having you as a customer, and I’m selfish.  I’d like to keep you around instead of hearing you got yourself blown up.”

He lowered his head, listening.  

“So here’s Peli’s take on the situation.  I think you wanna talk about him, and about what you’re going through.”  She raised her brows.  “And I think you should.  I really think you should.”

He was silent for a few moments.  She paced.

“And you’re the one to talk to, huh?” he asked.

“Unless you’re hiding somebody else on that ship.”

He chuckled, a dry, raspy sound.  “Only in carbonite.  But they’re not very good listeners.”

“Well, look who’s a funny guy!” Peli cackled.  “Come on.  I’ll get the droids started on repairing your ship.  Let’s go up to the roof and take some time.  Night’s nice, this time of year.”

“Fine,” he said, in utter resignation.

***

They sat on empty shipping containers on the rooftop where the breeze was best, watching the moons rise as the last flare of the setting suns washed across the horizon.  The first star of the evening shone silvery white against the dusk.

Mando sat, shoulders straight and head high, on his crate; Peli slouched comfortably on hers.  A thermos of hot chocolate sat beside her, a treat she liked to save for particularly profitable days.  And for rough ones, too.  It was still a little too hot to drink, and she waited, trying to be patient despite it not being one of her strong suits.

“Well, Mando?” she asked.

“What do you want me to say?” he replied. 

“I dunno.  Tell me something about the kid.  Something that made you happy about him.  Or sad.  Come on, they’re your emotions,” said Peli.  “Ahh, I suppose I should go easy on you.  You don’t strike me as the conversational type.”

Another one of those dry chuckles.  “I’m not.  But I talked to him a lot.”

“Sure.  It’s good for kids.  Gotta mold those growing brains and all.  What’d you talk to him about?  Bounty hunting?”

“Not exactly,” said the Mandalorian.  He angled his head to one side, considering.  “I would always give him some idea of what we were doing, where we were going, who we were going to see.  He seemed to like hearing about it, like it was a story.”

“Did you ever tell him any bedtime stories?” asked Peli.  “He liked those, you know.”

He turned to her, folding his arms across his chest.  “What do you mean?”

“How d’you think I got him to sleep, that first time you two showed up?  You were off in the Dune Sea with that idiot hunter kid, and I had to figure out how to get the little guy to get some sleep, otherwise he would have eaten me out of house and home,” laughed Peli.  “So I told him all the stories I used to tell my nephew Nedhi.  The lost little bantha, the happy Jawa, the baby krayt dragon all alone in the desert.  You know.  The classics.”

“I’m sure he enjoyed them,” said Mando.  “I didn’t really know any stories.”  He shifted awkwardly on his crate.  “I tried to make up a few, but it’s not exactly my forte.”

“Well, he did like the stories, but I think he liked them too well.  Kept trying to act out the dance of the happy Jawa instead of going to sleep.  Nah, he didn’t get tired until I tried singing a lullaby to him.  You do not want to hear me sing, but I guess it worked.  Kids have weird taste,” said Peli, shaking her head.  She checked the display on her thermos and saw the temperature had settled at the perfect warmth for drinking.  “Hey, you want some hot chocolate?  Mixed it special.  I might have added a few nips of Rylothian firewhiskey; really gives it a kick.”

“Maybe later,” said Mando gruffly.  

“Your loss,” said Peli, pouring out a little cup for herself.  She blew on the surface, then took a sip, feeling warmth suffuse her from the top of her head to her toes.  She whistled.  “It’s a good batch.  Lemme know if you change your mind.”

The last daylight vanished, leaving a sky painted in inky blues and purples.  The nascent moons crept shyly above the horizon as the starfield began to populate in earnest, points of flickering gold and white amid the darkness.  

“What was his favorite food?” Peli asked. 

The Mandalorian guffawed, throwing his head back.   “He ate everything.  You know he almost got us all killed on that transport trip with your Frog friend?”

“What?” Peli squawked.  “I heard back from her later.  Sent me a holo of her cute little tadpoles and told me you’d kept your word like a true Mandalorian.  She didn’t mention a word about death-defying experiences.”

“We crashed on a glacial world trying to shake a New Republic patrol,” said Mando.  “I was busy repairing the ship when she wandered off and found a hot spring.  She was trying to keep her eggs warm and I was trying to keep them safe from --  well, Grogu found these spider eggs and started eating them.  Turns out ice spiders come in a lot of different sizes.”  He groaned.  “The biggest one was the size of the Crest.  If I never see another ice spider, it’ll be too soon.”

“Oh, no,” Peli lamented.  “Well, tell me you weren’t too hard on him.  He couldn’t have known what he was doing.  He was just hungry!”

“Don’t worry.  He didn’t get in trouble.  It wasn’t his fault,” said Mando.  He lay back on the crate, lacing his fingers together over his waist and letting his legs hang free.  “I should have kept a better watch on him.”  He turned his helmet to look at her.  “You were right.”

“About what?” asked Peli, taking another sip of chocolate.  It burned sweetly on the way down, and she closed her eyes, savoring it.  The warmth was a delicious contrast to the cool night wind.  “Besides everything.”

“The first time we met.  You told me I had a lot to learn about caring for a young one.”

She cast her mind back to her first meeting, remembering how Grogu had sleepily walked out of the ship, looking around in disappointed confusion for his beskar-clad caretaker.  She’d seen a lot of shoddy childcare in Mos Eisley, but leaving a toddler alone on a gunship definitely ranked up there with questionable parenting practices.  It was a move made either by someone foolish or desperate, and she knew which one Mando wasn’t.

“Yeah, well, you probably didn’t have a lot of options,” said Peli gently.  “Raising a kid, it’s hard work.  I tried to help my sister Prida as much as I could.  My nephew was always getting into things and making a nuisance of himself, so I watched him a lot when she had to work.  He was always messing around with my tools and getting underfoot; used to tell my sister I’d rather adopt a Kowakian monkey-lizard than have to deal with his shenanigans.”  She smiled fondly.  

“Did your nephew grow out of it?” asked Mando.  “I kept hoping Grogu would start listening to me for once, but he was stubborn.”  

Peli shook her head, swallowing.  She looked away from him, staring off into the darkened desert, shivering slightly in the wind.  “Never got to find out.  The Hutts charged a lot for protection.  I didn’t even know Prida was in debt until…”  She sighed.  “I came home with dinner and found them both.  There had been a struggle, but not a very long one.”

“I’m sorry,” said Mando, sitting back up.  His shoulders shifted, the angle between them softening.  

“It’s never the same for anybody,” said Peli.  “Grief, I mean.  I don’t know exactly what you’re going through.  But I think the shape of it’s kind of the same, even if the name is different.  Son.  Nephew.  Sister.  It’s all hard.”  She finished her chocolate and reached for the thermos.  More firewhiskey sounded good, right about now.  “Sure you don’t want some, Mando?”

He hesitated, then reached out an orange-gloved hand.  

“That’s the spirit,” said Peli.  She filled her own cup, then filled the second one for him and passed it over.  She held hers up and clinked it against his.  “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” he said cautiously.  She turned away, keeping her gaze on the distant mountains, just the merest black line on the darkened horizon.  The stars spangled the heavens, little jewels in gold and white.  Behind her, the Mandalorian was apparently investigating his drink.  She heard the click and hiss of his helmet raising and lowering as he drank, then a hacking sputter.

“You all right there?” she asked, resisting the urge to look at him in case she saw under the helmet.  

He gulped audibly.  “It’s been a while since I had firewhiskey,” he said, his voice unmechanized.  She heard him swallow again, this time without the sputter.  “This is good, though.  I haven’t had hot chocolate in years.”

“Even the packaged stuff?” Peli asked.  “Aw, come on.  You gotta treat yourself sometimes, Mando.”

“Treating myself usually means picking up a new weapon,” he said drily.  “Grogu would have liked this, though.  Without the firewhiskey.”

“Of course, of course.”

She sipped her chocolate.  In the distance, a lonely krayt dragon howled, just like in the stories.  It was a faint, pithy sound, but the empty sands carried the cry clearly, and it washed over them like the breeze.  She and Prida used to cower at the sound when they were children.  Now, it simply sounded like home.

“So how are you really?” asked Peli.  She’d never seen much point in subtlety.

“I don’t sleep well,” he said reluctantly.  

“Sounds about right.  It takes a toll,” said Peli.  “Hurt like this messes with you.  I remember I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t do anything.  It took weeks, maybe months, before I could sleep again.”

“Grogu used to wake me up most nights, talking to himself or crying or getting into things.  I… didn’t mind that,” he mused.  “But now he’s gone.  And I still can’t sleep.”

“Dreams?”

She heard the click of his helmet settling back into place.  “Yes.”

“Bad ones?”

A long, tense pause.  When he spoke again, his voice shook.  “Yes.”

She turned back to face him, taking another drink, letting the warmth of the chocolate fill her mouth and chest.  She remembered that time in a blurry, confused way, broken nights marked by imagining how that fight must have gone.  Dreams where she thought they’d died quickly, or dreams where they lasted for a while, suffering, on the floor of their cramped grimy kitchen.  She didn’t know which she hated more.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  She looked down at her hands, calloused and wrinkled, a lifetime of hard work etched into them.  But they hadn’t been enough to undo what had been done.  

“He almost died,” said Mando roughly, glancing away from her.  Moonlight and starlight pooled and rippled over his armor.  “The Imps took him.  They were taking his blood, doing tests on him.  Experiments.  If I hadn’t come for him -- if that Jedi hadn’t been so powerful...”  He sighed.  

“Shit,” whispered Peli.

HIs hands curled into fists.  “He was so pale when I found him.  They’d hurt him.  Badly.”  His legs, dangling over the edge of the crate, were trembling.  All of him was trembling.

A white-hot rage burned within her, a fury that made her slug back the rest of her chocolate and scowl.  “Are they still alive?  You need me to kill them for you?”

He laughed a little, the sound cracking partway through.  The trembling faded.  “They’re all either dead or the New Republic’s problem now.  But… thank you.”

“How could anyone hurt a hair on his head?” growled Peli.  “You’re sure he’ll be safe with this Jedi?”

“The Jedi fought like nothing I’ve ever seen,” said Mando.  “And he promised he would lay down his life for the kid.  I have to believe it’s enough.  I did what I set out to do.  It just….”  He rolled the little cup of hot chocolate around in his hand, then raised his other hand to lift the helmet.  Peli closed her eyes until she could hear the helmet drop back down.

“It must have been so hard,” said Peli.  “Letting him go like that.”

Mando set the cup down beside him and rested his hands on his thighs, the fingers flexing and uncurling.  “I let him see me.”

“Huh?  You’re hard to miss, you know --” Peli began, then realized.  “You mean your face?”

A slight nod, the helmet dipping towards her and lifting back up.  “I… broke the Creed.”  The words hung heavy in the air between them.  “I don’t regret it.  He wanted to see me.  And… I wanted to be seen.”  His voice dropped, low and hoarse.  “I promised him I would see him again.  But I don’t know that I will, and I --  I wanted him to remember my face.”

Peli gaped at him, horrified.  “So let me get this straight.  You lost your boy.  And your ship.  And your creed?  Just since the last time I saw you?”

He was quiet.

“Dank farrik, Mando!” she bellowed.  A flock of lesser nightwings roosting on the roof took flight, scattering in the moonlight at the sound.  “Look.  You can dock here as long as you need, all right?”

He shook his head.  “People are hunting me.  What else is new?”

Peli frowned.  “Fair enough.”  The guy really didn’t seem to be able to catch a break.  “Don’t want to put you at risk, in case you do get to see him again.  And I’ll be pulling for you on that, believe you me.  We’ll get you out of here, quick as we can.”

“I appreciate it.”

“You know, I figured out what it is,” said Peli.  “What got me.  You and Grogu remind me so much of Prida and Nedhi -- the two of you against the world.”  Her mouth quirked up to one side in a half-smile.  “Just don’t forget to visit old Peli if you get him back, you hear?”  

“Sure.  Maybe you can teach me some of those bedtime stories for him,” said Mando.  “For -- for the future.”

“Absolutely.”  She kicked her heels against her crate, rapping an aimless pattern as she did so.  The firewhiskey was starting to kick in a little, and she made a decision.  “Look… just so you know, repairs on your ship are on me this time.”

“No,” he said sternly.  “Full price.  Plus extra for the food and the chocolate.”

“No,” Peli insisted.  He was an obstinate one, that was for sure.  She could see where the kid got it from.  “Fine.  Half price.  You overpaid me the first time, remember?”

He let out an annoyed grunt.  “Three quarters.”

“Deal,” she said, smirking.  “You’re something else, Mandalorian.”

He seemed to be thinking hard about something, though it was difficult to tell with the helmet.  Eventually he said, “Din.”

“Eh?”

“My name is Din Djarin,” he said.  

She blinked.  “It’s a good name,” she said lamely.  Huh.  She hadn’t expected that.  But then again, maybe Mando didn’t sit on him as easily as it used to.  The thought made her sad, the feeling mingled with a sense of something like honor, what with him sharing this with her.  She suspected it was something he had done very few times before.

“All right, Din,” she said, trying it out.  It felt heavy, and strange, but right.  “Don’t worry.  I won’t spread it around.”

“Thanks.”

She glanced at her chrono, realizing how long they’d been up on the roof.  “Well, I guess I’d better check on how the droids are getting on with your ship, since you’ll need to get going.”

“I... have a little time,” Din said slowly, glancing at her.  “Got any more of that chocolate?”

She grinned at him, heartened.  “For a friend?  Yeah.  Of course I do.”  She reached for his cup and refilled them both with the last of the spiked hot chocolate. She passed him his cup and he held it up for a toast.  

Peli hesitated, then smiled softly.  “To those we carry with us.”  Her cup clinked against his, a bright and hopeful sound.

“To those we carry with us,” Din echoed, and the mingled grief and gratitude in his voice cut her to the core.  

The moons above them glowed in soft whites and yellows against the endless sky, and the stars wheeled.  Below them, Mos Eisley lived and hummed and moved on, its citizens striving, searching, seeking.  The mechanic and the man in armor sat on the roof under the stars and moons, enjoying the taste of hot chocolate and firewhiskey in the cool winter air, and for at least a little while, they did not fear the dark.

***********

(Bonus: a doodle I did of their initial meeting.)

[letsunity]

Not Afraid - Chapter 1

Summery -  

The Bad Batch go to Tatooine to resupply and avoid the Empire. As per the usual, Omega gets separated from the group. Fortunately for her, Krayt's Claw just so happens to be nearby. Bossk and Embo guide her to Boba Fett, who takes interest in why the Kaminoans want her. It's a reluctant partnership, with the Bad Batch having to rely on Krayt's Claw to navigate non-military life.

Tatooine is hot, dry and bright, the opposite of Kamino. She stayed by Hunter's side, inquisitively looking at everything around her. Everything was new and interesting; she wanted to learn everything. The heat emanating from the suns above bore down, drying out her mouth and cracking her lips.

The market was bustling with aliens of all kinds, from giants to dwarves, each with their own story. Everybody had their own experiences, which fascinated Omega, as she had none. She hadn't even experienced dirt until recently.

 "I don't think credits are enough here," Echo sighed, irked by the constant rise in temperature. "Not to mention the place is infested with lowlifes."

 "Considering how Pantora went, we fit right in," Tech continued blankly, earning an eye-roll from the cyborg. "It's possible we'll have to do a job in exchange for supplies."

 "As much as I don't want to agree, it looks that way," Hunter said, nodding slightly. "It's not like we can go to Jabba the Hutt for a job, though. There aren't a lot of people who won't turn on us in a second."

Although it was important, she struggled to pay attention.

The crowd became thick like an ocean, slamming against the group. Something was going on, and whatever it was, Omega wanted to see. Wrecker picked her up, sitting her on his shoulder so she could see above the rest. From the looks of it, a man was duelling someone else, the fight brutal and lawless.

Whoever they were, they must be important, given the crowd. Several people bumped into Wrecker, betting on who'd win. One shoved him hard enough to cause Omega to fall off, angering the hulking clone. Unsurprisingly, this led to another fight, which Hunter and Echo tried dragging him away from.

She wasn't sure why, but he'd been a little more aggressive as of late. Maybe it was because they're hungry? That would make sense. Hunger made people act weird.

People from the first fight got involved in Wrecker's, creating a cacophony of chaos and excitement. As people hurried to surround them, they shoved Omega away, pushing her from side to side. Before she could try fighting back, somebody else shoved her down, sand seeping into her clothes and hair.

She pulled her hand, avoiding it being crushed by someone's boots. Anytime she tried to move, someone walked over her or into her. They didn't have a care in the world that she was in their way, so she stayed put, waiting for it to dissipate.

The moment it seemed safe enough to get up, a Rodian sneered in disgust, thinking she was some slave. Revolted by her, the Rodian kicked the humanoid thing, wanting it away from him.

 "Big mistake," hissed someone behind him.

As Omega rubbed her eye, trying to remove the sand, she could make out a hand.

Embo helped the child stand, asking if she was alright. She didn't understand him, so he helped wipe some sand from her eye, looking to Bossk.

The Trandoshan licked blood from his claws, finished with the Rodian pest. With Marrok grunting beside him, Embo requested that he talk to her.

Bossk knelt, looking over the girl. Her condition and clothing meant she wasn't from here and couldn't be more than around ten. The kick would bruise, but he didn't feel any broken bones.

 "Where's your family?" Bossk hissed, looking around for someone like her.

She wouldn't say, closing up. A wise decision, given how hostile Tatooine is to foreigners.

 "Alright. We'll give you a place to stay while we look for your family or friends. You look dehydrated, and you could get sunburnt. I'm Bossk, and that's Embo, plus his mutt Marrok."

Embo protested to the insult of his fuzzy son. Bossk rolled his eyes, not understanding his attachment to the oversized Massiff.

Omega hadn't met a Trandoshan before, although she was aware of them. She didn't know what Embo was, nor his animal companion. She didn't want to follow them, but she didn't know what else to do. Unlike the orange helmet lady, they actually helped her. Her eye hurt, but Embo's assistance made it tolerable.

They waited patiently for her to decide, their presence scaring off some people. The Trandoshan offered a hand, his arm creepily long. Though hesitant, she just wanted to go home, and they were all she had. Hesitantly, Omega took the reptile's hand. Instead of clasping back, his hand was relaxed, giving her control.

Gently, they walked beside her, Marrok walking behind them. They were purposefully slow, doing it for her sake. So far, they were nicer than the mean lady.

Embo spoke to Bossk in a language she didn't know, the Trandoshan making several expressions she didn't understand. She wanted to understand, but that would take a while.

They led her to a house-like location, opening the door for her. Embo mumbled something to Bossk and left, presumably to find her friends.

The reptilian motioned for her to sit, pointing to a large table belonging to a cantina. As Omega sat down, she examined the location, understanding it to be a home base of sorts. There were locker-like contraptions in the walls with symbols etched into each one. Bossk opened one, likely his, and tossed a bottle to her.

As Omega opened it, a funny smell ran through her nose and assaulted her tongue. Instead of waiting for her, he took one himself and drank it, a long tongue licking his scaled lips afterwards.

She took a sip, feeling cold water trickle down her oesophagus. She didn't realise how thirsty she was.

 "What's your name, kid?" Bossk asked, sitting across from her.

 "I'm Omega. Thanks for the water, mister."

 "My nephew and I have a strict code about children. If there's one in need, it'd be wrong to turn them away. Embo's adopted the same code since working with us," he said casually, looking at her clothing. "You aren't from around here. What brings your pals to the sandy rectum of the galaxy?"

 "We needed to get supplies. We were meant to get them on Pantora, but a mean lady with an orange helmet got in the way. She had red strings in her hair, too."

He nodded, aware of the woman Omega described.

"Fennec Shand. She's fairly new to the Bounty Hunting game, more of the assassin type. Someone must want you bad if they hired her. You don't have to worry about me, though; I don't do bounties with kids."

The door opened as two more entered. There was a man with cloth around his head and C-Assassination Droid. They stared at the girl, surprise on the man's face, and they slowly looked at Bossk. Apparently, this wasn't the first time he'd brought a kid back.

Bossk introduced her to Dengar and Highslinger, part of his group. Dengar sat down, shoving the Trandoshan to make more room. The reptile hissed, but Dengar waved it off, seemingly afraid of nothing.

"What is it with you lot and adopting kids, huh?" Dengar joked, getting a growl from the reptile. "Don't give me that, grumpy. Don't urate yourself or whatever you do."

The droid spoke up, essentially calling Dengar a moron. Bossk nodded in agreement, pushing Dengar off his seat. The man casually got up, used to the Trandoshan's friendliness, or lack thereof.

They reminded her of Hunter and the others.

 "Be a good moron and look for her friends. What're their names?"

 "Hunter, Echo, Wrecker and Tech. They've got an Omicron shuttle, Havoc Marauder," she named, eager to reunite with them.

 "Omicron, huh? That'll be an easy find. You don't see a lot of those hovering around these days," Dengar assured, walking back outside. Highslinger provided a robotic wave, following the tanned cyborg.

"It's a big place. In the meantime, have a nap while I make some food. You look like you could do with some."

They weren't anything like the mean 'Fennec'.

Bossk watched over the girl, pausing as she fell into a deeper sleep than either anticipated. Slowly, he lifted her, holding her against his warm body. She was underweight, having near to no muscle on her at all. Poor thing was exhausted.

Her clothes were old and tattered, having seen far better days, and her boot soles were near non-existent from wear. Not just that, but her clothes were Kaminoan, which worried Bossk.

Slowly, the Trandoshan walked out the back, stepping into the Slave-1. The smell of saltwater seared his nostrils, but it helped Bo sleep. Since Jango died, he couldn't sleep without the smell of Kaminoan oceans, even though he hated the planet. He felt her breathing changing like she was more comfortable.

That confirmed that she was from Kamino. It was good that she wasn't there anymore, but still.

Carefully, Bossk pulled out a makeshift bunk, having set it up for Jango many times. The man overworked himself, often falling asleep in the cockpit. It was something that Bo inherited, the little scamp, so much like his dad.

Every day, Bossk missed that asshole more and more. Even the grump of Cad Bane missed Jango's enthusiastic crazy, and weirdly, Jabba took it worse than Bossk, and Jango was his brother. Not even as a close friend, he was raised by Jango's adoptive parents.

He couldn't imagine how mom was doing. She struggled with Jaster died, but with Jango gone as well? He couldn't fathom it.

As Bossk placed the sleeping girl into the makeshift bunk, several questions clouded his mind. What did Fennec want with this kid? She was as normal as Bossk had ever seen, just a plain child. For the likes of Fennec to be sent after her, things were serious. Before leaving her, he made sure to tuck a blanket over her, keeping her secure.

Concerned, Bossk checked her bounty, and unsurprisingly, the Kaminoans issued it. When it came to those lunatics, he loved the idea of getting in their way. Helping her meant upsetting them, which was good.

In the meantime, they'd have to find her friends. They were probably worried sick for her.

When Bossk exited the Slave-1, he found Embo waiting for him.

 "She's asleep. She'll have a black eye, but nothing too severe. What've you found?"

 "Someone saw the kid with four men in altered clone trooper armour, all with skulls painted on. Apparently, similarly-armoured hooligans were sighted on Pantora recently. Think they're clones?"

 "We shouldn't rule it out. Get Derrown or Black Krrsantan to find their ship; I'm sure Dengar's getting pissed somewhere. Do what you do, Em."

Embo nodded, whistling for Marrok. As they set off, Bossk wondered what the Kaminoans could be up to. From Ventress' info, before she died, they were out of fresh Jango Juice. There's no telling what the hell they're thinking.

[supermarvelgirl15]

Home- Chapter 4 (The Prisoner)

Summary: Din and Jesla join a crew of mercenaries on a dangerous mission to spring a convict from a prison ship. Jesla sees someone from her past.

Pairing: Eventual Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) × OC!Jesla Gavdo

Word Count: 3,725

Warnings: Violence, gun TW, Mayfeld being insensitive

A/N: Din Djarin in red lighting. That's all I'm gonna say

Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist

××××××

   Jesla paces behind Din as he lands the Razor Crest in a space station hangar bay, muttering to herself. He told her that he had contacted a man he once knew, and that he would pay them for a job that he needed done. She was reluctant about taking this job, but then again, she almost died on the last one.

   “You don't need to be moving around so much. You're not exactly completely healed,” Mando reminds her as he stands up from his seat. 

   “I gotta bad feeling about this, Mando,” Jesla tells him, tapping the side of her leg. Something didn't feel right to her about this at all.

    Din rolls his eyes from beneath his helmet as he starts down the ladder. “You're being paranoid,” he replies. Jesla scoffs as she follows him down. He had the audacity to tell her she was being paranoid?

   “If I recall- correct me if I'm wrong- the last time I said that, we had to emergency land on Tatooine,” she retorts, placing her hand on her hip. Mando grumbles incoherently, making Jesla smirk slightly. She knew that she had a point. 

   He doesn't say anything as he lowers the ramp and walks out into the hangar, Jesla shaking her head before following him. Lately, she found herself following him a lot. Maybe it was because she always followed somebody her entire life, that she was use to it. You could say she was trained to follow somebody.

   She watches as a bearded man walks up to them. “Mando, is that you under that bucket?” The man questions, offering his hand to the Mandalorian.

   “Ran,” Mando says as he shakes his hand. Jesla could tell that they were just merely acquaintances just by Mando's tone of voice. He seemed to have a different tone when talking to people that he liked more.

   “Didn't really know if I'd ever see you in these parts again. Good to see you. You know, to be honest, I was a little surprised when you reached out to me. You know, ’cause I... I hear things. Like, maybe things between you and the Guild aren't working out,” Ran says, giving Mando a look.

   “I'll be fine,” Din replies shortly. That was Mando for you.

   “Hmm okay. Well, you know the policy. No questions. And you, you're welcome back here anytime,” Ran informs him. He turns to Jesla, giving her a once over. “I don't believe we've met. The name's Ran,” he offers his hand to her.

   Jesla looks at his hand briefly before looking back at him. “Jesla Gavdo,” she offers her name, but doesn't take his hand as she continues to walk across the catwalk.

   Ran drops his hand as he leans over to Din. “Some woman you got there,” he mutters to him. Din hums in response, watching after her.

   “So what's the job?” Din asks as they continue to walk across the catwalk as well.

   “Yeah, one of our associates ran afoul of some competitors and got himself caught. So I'm putting together a crew to spring him. It's a five person job, I got four- the extra help is fine. All I need is the ride, and you brought it,” Ran explains, gesturing to the Razor Crest.

   Mando and Jesla share a quick look with one another. “The ship wasn't part of the deal.”

   “Well, the Crest is the only reason I let you back in here,” Ran admits. Din slowly turns to him. “What's the look? Is that gratitude? Uh-huh, I think it is,” Ran laughs as he walks off. Jesla and Din share another look before following him.

   They all walk into a different area of the hangar. Jesla sees a bald-headed man, her eyes widening as she realizes who he is. This was just her luck.

   “Mayfeld?”

   The man turns around with his brow furrowed, his eyes scanning for who called his name. When his eyes land on Jesla, they widen slightly. Din looks between the two, his confusion hidden behind his helmet.

   “Gavdo? I thought you were dead,” Mayfeld remarks as he walks up to her, crossing his arms.

   “I'm surprised you're not,” Jesla comments, looking him up and down. He still looked the same since the last time she saw him. 

   Back then, Mayfeld and Jesla always seemed to compete with each other. They were the top two sharpshooters in their division. The two always tried to one up each other in the field. So basically, they didn't get along much. 

    “I take it you two already know each other,” Ran says, making Jesla and Mayfeld finally break their eye contact with one another. “This is Mando. The guy I was telling you about. We used to do jobs way back when,” he tells Mayfeld.

   Mayfeld then turns to face Mando. “This is the guy?” He queries, also giving him a once over.

   “Yeah, we were all young, trying to make a name for ourselves. Yeah, but running with a Mandalorian, that was... that brought us some reputation,” Ran reminisces.

   “Oh ya? What did he get out of it?” Mayfeld questions, raising his eyebrows.

   “I asked him that one time. You remember what you said, Mando? Target practice. Man, we did some crazy stuff, didn't we?” Ran laughs, patting Mando on the back.

   “That was a long time ago,” Din replies gruffly. 

   “Well... Well I don't go out anymore. You understand? So uh... Mayfeld, he's gonna run point on this job. If he says it, it's like it's coming from me. You good with that?” Ran asks Mando, quirking up an eyebrow at him.

   Din glances over at Jesla, who scoffs. “You tell me.”

   Ran shakes his head as he laughs. “You haven't changed one bit,” he says amusingly.

   “Ya, well, things have changed around here,” Mayfeld grumbles as he turns and walks away. Jesla rolls her eyes as she goes to stand beside Mando. 

    Mando leans his head closer to Jesla. “So who's he?” He quietly asks her.

   “Migs Mayfeld. He's also a former Imperial sharpshooter. We were in the same division,” Jesla answers as they all walk up to the Razor Crest.

   “Razor Crest? I can't believe that thing can fly. Looks like a Canto Bight slot machine,” Mayfeld comments as he observes it. They walk up to a group of people that's standing near the Crest. “Alright, the good looking fella there with the horns, that's Burg,” Mayfeld introduces the red creature that drops a crate he was carrying. “This may surprise you, but he's our muscle,” he adds.

   Burg walks up to the Mandalorian and inspects him closely, ignoring Jesla's presence. “So this is a Mandalorian. I thought they'd be bigger,” he sneers.

   “Droid's name is Zero,” Mayfeld gestures to a droid that walks up to them. Oh, Mando was going to love that.

   Jesla looks around the group with a furrowed brow. “I thought you said you had four,” she points out.

   “He does.”

   Both the Mandalorian and Jesla turn slowly to find a purple skinned female Twi'lek walking up to them, playing with a knife. “Hello, Mando,” she greets Din.

   “Xi'an,” Din nods in acknowledgement. Jesla could feel Mando tense due to the Twi'lek that seemed to ignore her, much like everyone else did.

   “Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?” Xi'an hisses before she suddenly attacks, placing her knife on Mando's throat, who doesn't flinch at all. Jesla's fingers itch towards her blaster as she watches the Twi'leck closely.

   “Nice to see you too,” Mando responds nonchalantly.

   “I missed you,” she laughs. “This is shiny. You wear it well,” she comments as she clinks her knife against his beskar. She looks over towards Jesla, her eyes narrowing on her.

   “Do we need to leave the room or something?” Mayfeld jokes as he watches the exchange between Xi'an and Din.

    Ran chuckles slightly before answering. “Well, Xi'an's been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group,” he says.

   “Awww... You gonna be okay, sweetheart?” Mayfeld teases, Burg laughing from beside him.

   Xi'an pushes herself away from Mando. “I'm all business now. Learned from the best,” she points her knife at him.

   “All right, lovebirds. Break it up till you get on the ship. Right now, we don't have much time,” Ran tells them.

  They all walk toward the Razor Crest, Xi'an turning back and winking at Mando. Jesla decides that she doesn't like her at all. Then again, she didn't like most people.

                                              ∞∞∞

   Jesla's watches Mayfeld as he explains the job to them from beside Mando, shifting her weight to one foot as she listens. Her wound was starting to feel sore from her walking around so much. Maybe she should've listened to Mando, but she was never going to admit that to him.

   “So, package is being moved on a fortified transport ship. Now, we got a limited window to board, find our friend, get ’em outta there before they make their jump,” Mayfeld informs all of them as he shows them a hologram. 

   “That's a New Republic prison ship. Your man wasn't taken by a rival syndicate, he was arrested,” Jesla points out as she shifts her weight to her other foot. She wasn't about to be on the New Republic's radar.

   Mayfeld looks up at her from the hologram. “So what?”

   “That's a max security transport, and we're not looking for that kind of heat,” Mando cuts in, crossing his arms. 

   “Well, neither are we. So just don't mess up,” Ran tells them. Jesla and Din share a brief look, something they seemed to do quite a lot.

   “The good news for you is the ship is manned by droids. Still hate the machines, Mando?” Xi'an jeers at Din, making Jesla shoot her a glare. Who knows, by the end of this, Jesla may kill her like she did with Toro.

   They all continue to go over the plan. Jesla knew Mando wasn't thrilled with the droid, Zero, flying his ship. However, they both knew that Zero was the best choice to scramble their signal as they boarded the New Republic ship.

   Jesla didn't like nor trust anyone that they were working with. None of them knew the value of loyalty. They only kept each other alive so the job could be done efficiently. She despised people like that.

   “Some friends you got there,” Jesla says sarcastically to the Mandalorian as they walk up the ramp into the Crest. 

   Din chuckles dryly. “I don't think ‘friends’ is what I'd call them,” he mutters. Jesla nods in agreement as they walk up into the cockpit as the ship takes off.

   In the cockpit, both Jesla and Mando linger in the back as Zero sits at the controls. “Calculations complete. Jumping to hyperspace...now. Feel free to join the others. I will handle it from here,” it informs them. 

   Mando walks down the ladder to the hangar first, helping Jesla as she climbs down after him. He knew that she needed to rest before they got to the prison ship. She wouldn't be at her best if she was in pain. Jesla seemed to also know this as well as she sat down on a crate, taking a deep breath as she ignored the glare she was receiving from Xi'an. 

   “That's a pretty thing you got there, Mando. How'd you end up with it?” Xi'an asks him as she plays with her knife. Jesla ignores her as she lays her head against the wall. 

   When Mando doesn't answer her, she continues. “C'mon. There's gotta be a reason why you keep her around,” she says innocently. 

   “She's good at what she does,” Din answers her, handing Jesla a ration bar. She realizes she hadn't eaten anything all day as she takes a bite out of it. 

   Xi'an eyes their interaction as she sits up a bit straighter. “Oh? I'm sure she pleasures you greatly,” she smirks, making Burg laugh. 

   Neither Din nor Jesla reacts to her, Jesla taking the last bite of her ration bar. She knew Xi'an was trying to get under her skin, but she wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. Jesla found it amusing though.

   Mayfeld chuckles as he stands beside Xi'an. “Hey, if you wanna get to her, just mention Burnin Konn.”

   Jesla's head snaps up at that, Din watching her carefully. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. 

    “What's Burnin Konn?” Burg humors him with a sly smile, Xi'an laughing at Jesla's sudden reaction. 

   “It was a great loss for the Empire. Everyone in our division died, about 5-10,000 people,” Mayfeld replies as he watches Jesla closely. 

   Din watches as Jesla's eyes harden, her hand subconsciously grabbing her tatted wrist. “Watch it, Mayfeld,” she warns him.

   “Don't tell me you're still not over that. Is it because of those stupid clones you were attached to?”

    Abruptly, Jesla stands up and pulls out her blaster as she makes her way to Mayfeld, pointing it at his head. Before she could pull the trigger, Mando swiftly grabs the gun out of her hand. They stare at each other for a few seconds before she shoots Mayfeld a glare and walks away from him.

   Everyone, except for Din and Jesla, starts laughing. Oh, how Jesla couldn't wait until this job was finished so she could kill them all. 

   “Hey, Xi'an, you flew with Mando. Is he as good as they say?” Mayfeld questions the Twi'leck.

   “Ask him about the job on Alzoc III,” Xi'an answers him, turning her attention to the Mandalorian.

   It's Jesla's turn to watch Mando carefully as she turns to face him. “I did what I had to,” he simply responds. That was a phrase Jesla found herself living by.

   “Oh, but you liked it. See, unlike some people, I know who you really are,” Xi'an says, looking at Jesla as she says the last part. Jesla rolls her eyes as she takes her blaster back from Mando and puts it back in its holster.

   “He never takes off the helmet?” Mayfeld queries, crossing his arms over his chest. 

   Xi'an shakes her head with a chuckle. “This is the Way,” she mocks. Jesla wonders how Mando was even capable of putting up with the stupid Twi'leck. She can't even last an hour.

   “You ever seen his face?”

   “A lady... never tells.”

   Din tenses slightly at the new subject, Jesla not missing him doing so. He acted the same way back on Sorgan when her and Cara brought it up.

   “Aw, come on, Mando. We all gotta trust each other here. You gotta show us something. Come on, just lift the helmet up. Come on. Let's all see your eyes,” Mayfeld taunts. When Mando doesn't make a move to take it off, Mayfeld nods at Burg who then closes in on Din.

   As Burg's hand reaches to take off Din's helmet, Jesla grabs it and twists his arm back behind him. Burg tries to fight back, but Jesla kicks him back. Burg grapples for something to hold onto, hitting the release button to the cot, the hatch opening and revealing the Child. 

   “Whoa! What is that?” Mayfeld exclaims, examining the Child closely. “Wait a minute,” he gestures between Mando and Xi'an, “did you two make that? Huh? What is it? Like...a pet or something?”

   “Yeah. Something like that,” Mando says calmly.

   “Didn't take you for the type. Maybe that code of yours has made you soft,” Xi'an teases him.

   “Me, I was never really into pets. Yeah, didn't have the temperament. Patience, you know. I mean, I tried but... never worked out. What I'm thinking... maybe,” Mayfeld picks up the Child, “I'll try again with this little fella. Huh?”

   Mayfeld pretends to drop the Child, making both Din and Jesla flinch in response. Xi'an and Mayfeld laugh at them. Then the ship starts shaking, everyone fighting for balance. The ship rolls and everyone is thrown around in the hangar. Mayfeld drops the Child and Din immediately dives after him. Jesla tightly grabs onto the wall, balancing herself. 

   The Razor Crest finally docks to the transport. Mando places the Child back in the cot as Jesla curses the droid under her breath. Burg angrily tosses some crates around. 

   Once everyone settles, they start executing the plan. The Mandalorian hacks the opening mechanism of the prison ship's hatch. Jesla is the first one to quietly drop down into the halls of ship, everyone else following after her. 

   They all start moving down the corridors, looking into the prison cells. Everything was going well until Burg decided to blast a mouse droid, which alerted security droids of their presence. Luckily, Mando sneaks up behind the droids and takes them out in a melee fight by himself. Jesla had to admit, he had some skills.

   Upon reaching the control room, Mayfeld commands Zero to open the door. When it opens, it reveals a human guard inside, brandishing a blaster. There wasn't supposed to be any living things on board.

   “There were only supposed to be droids on this ship,” Mando voices Jesla's concerns.

   Mayfeld walks around the guard to observe the control panel. “Hang on, hang on. See here uh...cell two-two-one. All right, now for our well dressed friend...” He trails off once the guard pulls out a tracking beacon.

   Everyone draws out their blasters and trains it on the guard, except for Jesla who trains hers on Mayfeld. She wasn't about to kill an innocent man; she didn't do that anymore.

   Din tried his best talking everyone down. He calmly addressed the guard, whose name was Davan. When Mayfeld wouldn't lower his blaster on the guard, Mando joins Jesla on training their blasters on him. Mayfeld trains his second blaster on Din and his third blaster that was on a droid arm on Jesla. Burg takes out his weapon and trains it on Mando as well, making Mando aim his vambrace weapon at him. 

   An argument breaks out between all of them; Mayfeld wanting to kill the guard, Din and Jesla wanting to let him live. It suddenly stops when Davan is struck down by Xi'an's throwing knife. 

   “Would you all just shut up,” Xi'an complains. 

   Suddenly, Xi'an starts coughing as she starts to choke. Everyone starts freaking out as Xi'an grabs onto her throat. Din looks at Jesla, whose cold eyes is staring daggers at Xi'an's choking form. He moves over to her, grabbing her forearm. “Jes, don't. You can kill her later,” he whispers to her. 

   Jesla looks at him, not missing the new nickname, as Xi'an finally gets her breath back. “What the hell was that?!” Xi'an shouts as she rubs her throat. Mayfeld and Burg exchange a look of what could only be described as fear. 

   “We have twenty minutes before backup gets here,” Jesla states, gesturing to the now blinking beacon. “I suggest we move now,” she mutters as she steps over Xi'an and heads towards cell 221. Din doesn't say anything as he starts following her, Xi'an looking after them with a glare.

   They reach cell 221 with fifteen minutes remaining. Mayfeld orders Zero to open the cell door. Once it opens, it reveals another Twi'leck. 

   “Qin,” Mando mumbles to himself. 

   “Funny. The man who left me behind is now my savour. Mando,” Qin greets as he walks out his cell, side-eyeing Jesla.

   Then, Burg punches Mando in the gut, catching him off guard, and throws him into the cell. Before Jesla could react, Xi'an roughly pushes her into the cell as well, which is locked before either Din or Jesla can get up. Mando fires his blaster at the door, but the shot just ricochets around the cell, Jesla ducking so it wouldn’t accidentally hit her.

   Jesla bangs the door in frustration, the group outside laughing as they walk away. “You've got to be kriffing kidding me!” She shouts in anger. “I can't catch a kriffing break! You should have just let me kill her. No, you should've listened to me when I said I had a bad feeling about this job!”

   Mando grabs Jesla's biceps roughly, making her look into his helmet's visor. “Hey! If you don't get a level head, we're not going to get out of here,” he tells her, his voice like stone. Jesla stays quiet for a couple moments before taking a deep breath. He was right.

   She looks back out the cell, seeing a security droid pass by. “I have a plan.”

                                              ∞∞∞

   Jesla and Mando end up getting out of the cell, and one by one put the others in it. Jesla got the satisfaction of being the one that locked Xi'an up. She salutes to Mayfeld as her and Mando walk off to find Qin. The two find him trying to climb up the ladder into the ship. They decide to keep him alive at the promise of more money. Jesla thought they definitely deserved it after all this mess. 

   They make their way into the ship, finding Zero pointing its rifle at the Child. Mando immediately shoots it and Zero falls to the ground. The Child coos when he sees the Mandalorian and Jesla.

   Later, Din lands the Razor Crest in Ran's hangar bay. Jesla and Din walk Qin down the ramp, Ran meeting Qin in an embrace. 

   Ran looks around them, noticing no one else exiting the Crest. “Where are the others?” Ran asks, furrowing his brow.

   “No questions asked. That's the policy, right?” Mando nonchalantly replies.

   Ran nods, eyeing both him and Jesla. “Yeah. That is the policy.”

   “We did the job.”

   “Yeah, you did.”

   Ran reluctantly tosses the Mandalorian a coin purse. “Just like the good old days,” Din says before turning to reenter the Razor Crest. Jesla winks at Ran and Qin before she follows Mando inside.

   As they start to fly away from the space station, three X-wings drop out of hyperspace. Jesla watches as they fly pass them, heading towards the station and opening fire on it.

   “You planted the tracking beacon on Qin... I'm impressed,” Jesla comments as she turns to face Mando, gently hitting his shoulder. She watches as he unscrews a knob from the lever and drops it into the Child's hands.

   Din glances over at her, getting ready to jump into hyperspace. “I told you that was a bad idea.”

××××××

@living-that-best-life

Tags are open!

[jabbajambler]

23

Human

The Mandalorian/Din Djarin x f!OC

Word Count: 2,133

*GIF by @hermit-frog​​*

         I hummed and reached across the small space of the cot only to find it warm, yet empty. After opening my eyes, I realized that I was left alone in the bed with Din nowhere in sight. There was a sharp pain in my chest of what almost felt like disappointment.

         Why was I disappointed? I shouldn't be surprised, really.

         But did it mean something?

                   Who cares?

         A small whisper in the back of my head told me to leave before this could go too far. Both for his sake and for mine. Din has a code he has to stick to and I don't want to be the reason he breaks it. And me? I shouldn't be staying in one place for too long.

        I can't leave the kid, though. He's strong with the force and barely trained at that. If that energy got into the wrong hands - well, again - there would be complete chaos once more.

        I spent so much time on the run, maybe I was finally safe. Then again, hunters are still after the kid.

        I have to stay here.

         I sat up and pulled myself to the edge of the thin mattress. It was quite possibly the least comfortable thing I have ever slept on, but with Din, I would happily sleep there every night.

         I doubted it would happen again.

         There wasn't much in the belly of the ship. The cot, a little bathroom, lots of guns and ammunition, but nothing personal. Does he even have anything personal? Has he spent his whole life hunting and on the run?

         I guess my life hasn't been much different lately.

         I found the helmeted man sitting peacefully in his pilot's seat, soaring the Razor Crest through the starry skies. Part of me wanted to wrap my arms around him but a louder voice said to just sit down and pretend it never happened. I went with the latter.

         "Good morning." I mumbled quietly. I wasn't sure if I should say anything at all.

          He spun around in the chair, his head cocking to the side as he faced me. "You're up." He spoke with a soft breath. "I was going to come back."

          "Don't worry about it."

         "Oh." My heart cracked at the subtle pain in his voice. "I found another mission."

         "You what?" I spat, rising from my seat.

         "What? It's a small mission with people I used to work with."

         My face was heating up at his nonchalance. "Don't you think we should have talked about this first?"

         "It isn't a big deal. It's a simple mission." He shrugged.

         I scoffed quietly, trying not to get too riled up. Things were going well with us and I didn't want to be the one to ruin it but this was crossing a line.

         "Din, I'm your partner. We're supposed to discuss things like this before agreeing to them. We're putting the child in danger!" I ran my hand through my hair, trying to detangle it from the mess it had become.

         "You're overreacting again."

         "Excuse me?" My eyes grew wide. "I'm overreacting again? When was the other time?"

         "You're always making things about you." He growled "Guess what, Princess? This is my ship and I don't need a partner. You tagged along because you wanted to."

         The wind had been knocked from my lungs and the burning rage that built up inside me felt like fire. Along with it, there was a pain that brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to explode and shout, but I didn't.

         My hands balled into fists, followed by the soft crunch of the armrests of the chair I once sat in. I didn't dare look back at it. Instead, I turned and climbed back down to the living quarters of the ship.

         It was about to be a very long ride to wherever we were going.

┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉┉          

         We sauntered down the ramp into the base as far away from one another as possible. It was dark and kind of smelled like rotting fish. I had to try to hold my breath just to escape the horrid stench.

         A fairly large man with long, wild gray hair stood in front of us once we reached the floor. His name was Ran, according to Din. He tried to at least brief me on what he knew.

         "This is going to go very badly." I mumbled, only loud enough for Din to hear.

         "Mando!" The man shouted with a wide, gross grin. "Is that you under that bucket?" He held out his grimy hand towards us. "Hey... Who's the lady?" He sent a wink in my direction.

         It took everything I had not to gag.

         "Ran." Din shook his hand briefly. "This is my partner, Myrah."

         I wanted to be mad at him, but I felt my heart thump when he called me his partner.

         "I didn't really know if I'd ever see you in these parts again. Good to see you." Ran threw his arm around Din's shoulders and led him around the ship while I trailed behind.

         "You know, to be honest, I was a little surprised when you reached out to me." He pulled his arm back and began to slow his pace as he spoke. "You know, 'cause I...I hear things." He paused and looked between us with a cocked brow. "Like, maybe things between you and the Guild aren't workin' out."

         "I'll be fine." Din spoke, his tone cold and stern. After our little visit on Tatooine, I'm sure he wanted nothing to do with the Guild.

         "Okay... Well, you know the policy." Ran threw his hands up in mock surrender and stepped towards us. "No questions. And you... You're welcome back here anytime." He patted his shoulder firmly "Especially with the cute one back there." He laughed, booming and annoying.

         "So what exactly is this job?" I asked and walked to the edge of the old balcony, overlooking the Razor Crest. "Some stupid repairs? That's not exactly what we do."

         Ran chuckled and shook his head, walking closer to me. Now I knew where the fish smell came from. It made me want to vomit.

         "One of our associates ran afoul of some competitors and got himself caught. So, I'm putting' together a crew to spring him. It's a five person job. I got four. All I need is the ride and y'all brought it... and extra."

         Din stepped between Ran and I, something I felt like I would have to thank him for later. "The ship wasn't part of the deal."

         "Well, the Crest is the only reason I let you back in here." He let out a breathy chuckle. "What's the look? Is that gratitude?" He joked. "Uh huh. I think it is."

         I looked up at Din once Ran had walked out of earshot. "I change my mind...This is going to go very badly." I hissed.

         I watched his chest rise as he took a deep breath and nodded, both of us following after the creepy man.

         "Hey, Mayfeld." Ran beamed as we approached a bald man who was working on organizing files.

         "Yeah?"

         "This is Mando, the guy I was tellin' you about. We used to do jobs back when...And this is Myrah. His- uh- partner, I guess."

         "This is the guy?" Mayfeld pointed to Din with his eyebrows knitted together.

         "Yeah, we were all young, tryin' to make a name for ourselves..."

           I stepped closer to Din with my eyes wide. "Are you as old as that guy? Because I swear if you look as rotten as him-"

         "Not by a long shot, Princess." He whispered back.

         We were interrupted by Ran's obnoxious laughter. "Yeah, but runnin' with a Mandalorian, that was... That brought us some reputation."

         "Oh, yeah? What did he get out of it?" Mayfeld practically stared daggers at him. For some reason, he already had some vendetta against us.

         "I asked him that one time." Ran chuckled. "You remember what you said, Mando? Target Practice." Mayfeld laughed but his stare returned shortly after. "Man, we did some crazy stuff, didn't we?"

         "That was a long time ago." Din sighed, trying to get the conversation over and done with.

         "Well, I don't go out anymore. You understand?" Ran explained. "So, uh, Mayfeld, he's gonna run point on the job. If he says it, it's like it's comin' from me... You good with that?"

         Din paused, staring Mayfeld down before answering. "You tell me."

         Ran laughed. Again. I suspect he just thought everything was funny, but Kriff, it was annoying.

         "You haven't changed one bit."

         Oh, if you only knew.

         "Yeah, well, things have changed around here." Mayfeld quickly turned to get back to his work.

         "Mayfeld, he's-" Ran nodded in agreement with himself, "he's one of the best triggermen I've ever seen...Former Imperial sharpshooter."

         I snorted and tried to hold back the laugh that threatened to come out. "That's not saying much."

         "I wasn't a stormtrooper, wiseass." Mayfeld quickly snapped.

         He followed us as we began walking back to the Razor Crest. Apparently we were supposed to be meeting the rest of the team. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to meet some of Din's old pals.

         "Razor Crest?" Mayfeld spoke disgustedly. "I can't believe that thing can fly... Looks like a Canto Bight slot machine." He chuckled and led us around. "Alright, the good-lookin' fellow there with the horns, that's Burg."

         The red, horned man dropped a box and grunted as he glared at us. He was tall and ugly, but he must have some use.

         "This may surprise you, but he's our muscle."

         See? Some use.

         Burg stalked towards Din, standing close to him as though he was sizing him up. "So, this is a Mandalorian..." He grunted. "I thought they'd be bigger."

         Mayfeld chuckled and brought us to a bug-looking droid that held a blaster in its robotic hands. "Droid's name is Zero."

         "I thought you said you had four." Din growled with his focus remaining on the droid. He's never liked the robots.

         "He does." A high-pitched feminine voice spoke up behind us. It was sort of squeaky and in my honest opinion, irritating.

         A purple Twi'lek was slowly approaching us while spinning a knife in her hand. She wore a wicked and borderline suggestive grin. "Hello, Mando..."

         Wait.

         "Xi'an." His voice was breathy.

         Wait a second.

         "Tell me why I shouldn't cut you down where you stand?" She swiftly moved towards him, holding the knife to his throat. He, of course, didn't flinch or move in the slightest.

         "Nice to see you, too."

         Oh, Kriff, don't tell me that this is an ex-girlfriend.

         Xi'an burst out into a squeaky laugh and leaned in towards his helmet. I felt my stomach twist into a knot as I felt an overwhelming urge to rip her away. I'm sure it was just a stomach ache.

         "I missed you...This is shiny." She tapped the blade of her knife against his beskar chest plate and clicked her tongue. "You wear it well." She flirted.

         I felt my nails dig into the palms of my hands. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to leave a sharp indentation.

         "Do we need to leave the room or something?" Mayfeld quipped.

         I could feel a familiar heat rise to my face. Not the normal blissful one that I wish I felt, but an agitated one that made my face twitch.

         "I think we just might." I growled.

         "Well, Xi'an's been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group." Ran spoke up with a shrug.

         "Aw. You gonna be okay, sweetheart?" Mayfeld teased.

         "Oh, I'm all business now." She pointed her knife to Din's helmet with a grin. "Learned from the best."

         I could feel the anger bubble in my chest when Xi'an turned and winked at Din. His warm presence neared me, his helmet leaning down to my ear with a soft chuckle.

         "Is that envy, Princess?"

         I shouldn't be angry but I was angry. Still, his voice made me shiver and grow weak against him.

         In a way, that made me even more mad.

         I spun around to say something, but was interrupted by Burg's towering presence. "Tiny." He laughed and followed after the group.

         I looked over at Din one more time, my face feeling hotter than it did on Tatooine under the bright sun. Any words that I could possibly conjure up didn't seem to come out. I kept my glare steady for a few moments more before I took off after the group.

         And here I thought he was sorry for what happened earlier.

[purplerose244]

MY THOUGHTS ON EPISODE 97!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

... wow. Just wow, I'm processing everything that happened and I gotta say, this episode was incredible 🤩

Let's see if I can put everything

First of all, thankfully, the oni talked in a way I managed to understand 😅 Also somehow Garmy saying "It's complicate" makes me think of how much it really is... "You know, I was meant to be an evil lord, but I met this woman who is now weirdly into my brother, had a son that defeated me, saved me, banished me, kinda killed me and defeated me again..."

I remember when "Lloyd" Garmadon was just a pun of Lord, look at us now 😂 Sometimes I need a reminder of how unusual is the Garmadon family

OKAY BUT THE THROWBACKS?? AWESOME?

WE HAVEN'T SEEN THAT ARMOR SINCE THE BEGINNING SEASON 4!!! And the Sword of Santuary, I love that thing, in my group of RP I have something similar, very useful 👌

Can I say that Lloyd being so clumsy kinda weirded me out? But I guess in complete darkness with beings made to kill and your evil dad as the only companion... yeah, now I kinda understand better 💚

... yeah, I'm getting there 😓

The NTV tower, does anyone remember it? Like, I rewatched "The Day Ninjago Stood Still" just the other day, so glad we see buildings that comes from other seasons!!

Gale is being a good journalist I guess 😅 Still can't see why Dareth is so into her...

... I really have to, huh

... THE FEELS

First of all, Ninjago crew, Jay and Michael, you are cruel. You can't use a tone so similar to the soundtrack Cole whistled before, it's like with Zane death's one... I still feel my heart aching every time I hear it and that moment broke me 😭😭

Jay's scream is 😢 The way he holds onto the ladder, that face, that is the expression of someone that just lost his best friend I have so many bruise vibes right now not sorry

To be honest it kinda pissed me off at first that Cole's fall happened because of a simple mistake, but then I got to think that Nya is "perfect". Or at least she tries to be. And it is well shown how much it hurt her, and how she blames herself. They didn't lose Cole because of an epic battle, they did because of something she could've avoided. That thought might torture forever

And finally... THIS

If you know me, you know I love Kai. In all of this flaws and qualities. And this scene, man, it's so amazing for him. Of course he immediately tries to go back, showing his temper and determination. Then comes the realization, hard and painful. And then he just let go, heartbroken, because we all know how much Kai suffers every time his family is hurt... or worse.

Also Zane being the one that console him makes me remember of Skybound, when Nya died and Frosty put a hand on Kai's back (THAT SCENE OMG)

I really, REALLY loved that moment. And choosing not to have voice gave it a nice vibe, like something extremely personal

Well, back in track 😅 It hit me here that we weren't even at half of the episode

I like the darkness thing, but it feels like the battle scenes are clearer in other situations. Also Garmy protecting his son, I'm not hoping, you're hoping 😟

MY QUEEN BEING STRONG NO MATTER WHAT 💙

WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE HER??? 💙

Okay the guys rushing to see if Lloyd and Pix were okay, MY HEART

Happy to see Kai helping Lloyd directly, they are still my BrOTP ❤💚❤💚 Also Pixane being the purest thing as always 😍😍😍

And wow. WOW. Besides Mark Oliver that is a blessing in every single line, Sam Vincent is KILLING his role!! The emotions are so well delivered, and he is able to show how much Lloyd cares, like he is actually the one that went through all those seasons with his friends

Bless our voice actors. Really 👏👏👏

THAT LINE

"There is more to life than survival!!"

During this season I often thought about what exactly prevent Lloyd to become evil, to be like his dad and follow his ways of letting go his emotions and affections. This is the reason.

Garmadon survives. Lloyd lives.

... I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH 😍😍😍

Also Garmy going for Zane as the rational one, I felt how heavy it was, especially after reading @thewingedguardianalanshee 's post it. Coming to realize how much the others suffered when he was gone, and also seeing the golden armor... MAN. Needed a reminder that Zane had a crazy ride as well back in the days. You go Mr. Roboto 👍

Okay, Garmy looking at the photos, trying to smile, hearing voices, I felt my heart aching for real 😭 I love that they actually use pieces from episodes of the old design, it gives so much more continuity

That moment with Vinnie though 😂 I'd say it felt a little clumsy, but at the same time they did good, choosing someone outside the situation to give Garmy a new point of view

Okay unless something incredible happens on episode 98, I stan that this is officially my favorite episode of the season 👊👊

Like, I'll be honest, I half expected a moment between Jay and Nya, him conforting her and getting her to know how much he loves her. Which I would've liked it, don't get me wrong, but it would've been predictable

What we got instead?

SMITH SIBLINGS MOMENT!!! MAN I MISSED THIS SO MUCH!!! ❤💙❤💙❤💙

I'm a huge fan of Nya's silver suits, I love the fact that she has her own color, so I was a little upset when it got back to blue and maroon (just a little, she looks gorgeaus no matter what). But seeing this I'm happy, it's similar to Kai's and for this scene it's a nice choice

So, Kai is a disaster 😂 Like we don't know that

But he always does his best, especially when it involves his lil sis. I loved how supportive he was, telling her how much she's important for this team (100% true) and how Cole would want them to go on

And just when I thought "They gave me so much of my two passions, references of past seasons and KAI. I'm satisfied." They said it. Finally they did.

... THE GOLDEN WEAPONS THE GOLDEN WEAPONS THE GOLDEN WEAPONS THE GOLDEN WEA-

Finally blacksmith Kai is back 😎 It's something I really wanted to see for a long time, always silently wondering "Did Kai make that? Does Kai know how to make that?". And now, NOW IT'S A REALITY!!!!!! 😍😍😍

YOU GO MY FLAME BABE, I BELIEVE IN YOU!!! JUST TRY NOT TO MAKE A SPRING OUT OF A SWORD LIKE IN THE PILOTS AND YOU SHOULD BE FINE!!! 🔥🔥🔥

Me: "Wow, what a ride! I gotta say I'm really intrigued, I wonder how they're gonna end all of this and how the Golden Weapons will..."

The episode:

Me: "NOTHING MATTERS BUT BABY BOY ALONE IN THE COLD DARKNESS, HE'S FREAKING ALIVE!!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

So, I definitely saw this coming, no way they were gonna kill a main character like that 😆 But him being okay like that... Lloyd struggled to breath there, and survived because of his oni side. Well Pix did to but because she's a droid... I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK

What scares me the most is the fact that Cole does the intro this season, just like Wu, Lloyd and Garmy... all of them had such a hard time 😓

Phew, I made it! I did not expect to come out alive from this episode 😁 Really well done, I can see that they are still connected with the seasons before, which is great for me. Us fans recognize everything!!!

Can't wait to see mah flame being all blacksmithy! ❤ Is it too much to ask having Ray and Maya around, since they are professional blacksmiths? Let me dream Lego, sooner or later I'll need to know what happened to them 😚

Wow, feels like I wrote a lot! But I feel a lot better know! Thanks for reading me freaking out, and thanks a lot for all the notes in the previous one! 😁😁

I think this is it, my only question is: since Cole is still alive but far away, and the Golden weapons are coming back, who will yield the Scythe of Earthquake? Are there gonna be new Golden Weapons? Something for Nya and Lloyd too? Considering Kai's blacksmith skills, maybe they won't be that similar to the original ones 😅

Oh boy, I'm done for real!! Let's calm down until the new episode destroys us once and for all 😎

See ya!! Byee!! 😊

[fuzzydemolitionsquad]

The Tractor

                                                   Part   1

A rusty GNK droid plodded across the farmstead’s dirt yard, its pace much slower than its maker had programmed it to be.

It was morning. The sun had just peeked over the humped ridges of evergreen trees in the distance. The air was already beginning to warm and the humidity was high.

The GNK tried to ignore the condensation building on its circuit boards. It made a deep gonking groan and tilted its boxy body toward the sky. How dreary it was to waddle around a farm, looking for something in need of power.

Why couldn’t I have been a spaceship, a sleek X-wing, or a roaring TIE? The sky beckoned. The GNK moaned sadly .

Its dream suddenly ceased to be when a circuit in its electronic brain crackled. Sense of duty restored, the GNK marched toward a shed containing the chooken brooder. There, behind a wall of woven wire, a passel of fuzzy, powder-blue chicks snuggled together. The cord to their heater box had come loose, pulled out by a pesky varmint who chewed it to a fray . The GNK  plugged a pronged service arm into the box and powered down to fifty-percent so that it could rest.

And dream.

Pa Trodd stepped out of the farmhouse’s door and stood on the porch drinking his morning caf. He snapped his suspenders and looked at the large and formidable anooba laying upside down on her back and staring back at him.

“ Whadda yew say ol’ Gracie. . . wanna hep me till that quarter acre fer ma’s garden?”

Gracie’s tail thumped the porch’s wood planking so hard it raised a ferocious cloud of dust. The anooba stood up and stretched and trotted over to where pa was standing.

“Dat’s my girl.” The lasat thumped her side and scratched her ears.”When we done ahl gives ya a nice big soup bone anna plate a kalgow jowls for breakfast. Howzzat sound?”

The anooba's brushy black and tan mane quivered. Pa stepped off the porch, slapped his thigh and whistled. Gracie galloped to his side,  her tongue lolling and her great jaws clacking. She gently took his wrist into her mouth and followed him to the barn where the old tractor sat.

                                                                **

Zeb Orrelios opened his eyes, stared up at the ceiling and smiled. He was back home.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love the barracks at the academy–on the contrary–all of his best mates were there. He chuckled as he thought of serious Geezer who–didn’t look like it– but had connections to the owners of every dive cantina and strip parlor in the Capitol.

Zeb checked his chrono on the nightstand and jumped out of bed. The delicious aroma of   bacon and maize-bread, fried eggs and beans tugged at his nostrils like a farmer leading a hammerhead bull by the nose-ring. Being away on leave meant ma’s home cooking and lots of it. It wasn’t uncommon for Zeb to put on  fifteen or twenty pounds during his stays with his family. Of course, it was all converted to muscle. Zeb  thought of the academy.  If it was one thing he didn’t like there, it was Private Rrazchow’s breakfast special, a plate of jellied meat chunks floating in greasy gravy and served on a couple pieces of stone-dry bread. Zeb and his mates affectionately referred to the entree as ‘dung on a raft.’

Zeb looked into the full length mirror and couldn’t help but smile. His stripes were growing a deeper purple, a nice contrast to the pale lavender of his base coat. His beard was darker too, and  a lot thicker than it was the last time he was home.

“Looking good.” He pointed into the mirror with both index fingers and made a clicking sound with his tongue. Pulling on a pair of skivvies he grabbed his scrub brush and towel and headed to the wash room to pump water into the round wooden tub he had taken baths in when he was a child. It seemed so big back then, a veritable ocean. Now he couldn’t even stretch out his legs.

Ma Trodd served up plates of bacon, beans and bread then padded back to the stove to pick up a huge iron skillet full of sputtering eggs. She went around the table, neatly plopping two eggs on every plate.

Jax rolled his eyes and slammed his elbows down on the table. “Aww ma, yew know I like mah aigs on m’ beans! Now there’s yolk all over the maize-bread!”

“Land-a-muddlin’ Jax!” Ma put her furry hand on her hip. “Yew done act like I kilt yer best friend. They’s a lot worse thangs happ’nin in thee universe then aigs a’leakin’ on bread!”

“I’m sorry ma. Didn’t mean t’ get yew riled.”

“She’s not riled.” Sister Sal said, cutting a dainty slice of egg with the side of her fork. “She’s worried. Mizz Yogg  was telling her about the Coruscant emperor. He’s got six more planets under his belt.”

Brother Muss wrinkled his snubby nose. “Huh? Whadda yew mean, sis?”

“He stole them. Not fair and not square.”

“How do you steal a planet?”

“With a lot of guns.” Puggles grunted through a mouthful of breakfast. Egg yolk glistened in his shaggy beard.

Sally nodded her head. “It’s true. Unfortunately.”

Ma’s yellow eyes flashed with fear. “ Some people is fightin’ back. Mercy. There might be another Clone Wars round thee corner.”

“Ain’t no Jedi left t’ fight um.” Brother Jimbo said, subdued, a sweating beer can held to his forehead. He hadn’t touched his breakfast. The hangover he was fighting demanded some hair-of the bantha first.

Sister Shoog changed the subject. “ I shore wish cuzzin Zeb could stay longer. He’s only got two more days, and he promised to take me to the fair.”

“Cuzzin Zeb never breaks his promises.” Said Muss.

“CuZzIn ZeB NEEEEEVER BreAKs his PrOmiSes. . . Puggles said in a wheedly, exaggerated voice, his face puckered like a dried korbapple.

“Did I hear my name?” Zeb said from the foot of the staircase. He hopped down and entered the kitchen.

Ma beamed. “ Bout’ time yew got up! Sit at the table. I’ll git yer vittles ready. Did you sleep well?”

“I slept like Firuz in his tomb.” Zeb  said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation of his breakfast.  Maybe tomorrow ma would make her special spawffles and needle tree syrup. He was about to tuck his napkin into the front of his shirt when-

“Hey, did you all hear something?”

“ Like what?”

Like bellowing. Sounds like the Lunx’s  bull got out of his pen again.”

There was a stamping of feet out on the porch. Older sister Hallie opened the front door and hurried inside. She set her basket of herbs on the table and started to pour herself a cup of caf.

“ Pa’s out in the field and he’s cussin’ up a dust storm. I mean, worse then usual.”

“ Ma clutched her apron. “Goodness child! D’yuh think he’s a’right?”

“I asked him, but he jus’ kept on a hollerin’ and   carrying on. I think the tractor musta broke down or sumthin’.”

“Great an’ benev-lent Bearded One.” Ma groaned as she served  Zeb his breakfast. “I’m  gonna hear ‘bout this til thee end a’ days…Jimbo, Jax,  go see what’s goin’ on, woudja dears?”

Jimbo looked up. His yellow-orange eyes were rimmed with red. “ Ma! I jus found out mah girl is courtin’ another he-male! I cain’t take pa’s bellyachin’ right now. I’m too e-moshan-lee com-pree-mized!”

Shoog  rolled her eyes.

Ma looked at Jax, who panicked.

“I’m late for mah sparrin’ practice!”  The blotch-coated lasat rose from his chair and threw his napkin on his plate.

“Now where’s mah boxin’ gloves at?” Jax ran from the kitchen.

Zeb forked his food between two pieces of maize-bread, making a giant to-go sandwich. He  scooted his chair back and grabbed Puggles by his scrawny wrist.

“Let’s go help pa!”

“Help Pa? Is yew crazy? He’ll tie me into a Mon Calamari sailor knot fer intrudin’ on his bad mood!”

“ Not if we solve his problem.”

Pa raged. He pounded on the tractor’s hood and stamped the turf beneath his feet, turning it  into a large patch of dark dirt. Gracie sat on her makeshift perch next to the tractor’s seat, grinning and panting, her tongue darting in and out of her mouth. Every time a fist came close she attempted to give it a sloppy kiss.

“ WHAT IN CONSARN-A-SHUN IZ WRONG WID YEW, YEH BLASTED CONTRAPTION!!!???”

“TAR-BUBBLIN’ LAZYBUMP SONNAVA JUGHEADED PLEASURE DROID!!!”

“ POCKMARKED’ PISSENGINE!!

“CHEAP PIECE A’ RUSTED RUIN!!”

“DROIDSON BATTERYDOOKER!!!”

“Do you kiss ma with that mouth?”

Rufus Trodd whirled around. He saw his beloved nephew standing there, smiling, his demeanor as calm as a boodle bug floating on the surface of a still pond.

“She would faint if she heard you cursing like that.”

Pa’s giant mitt batted at the air. “ Aww. Not now Zebidiah. I’m inna awful gaumy stew.”

Puggles stepped out from behind his brave younger cousin.

Looky here pa, I brang yeh a nice cold one! I thanked yew could use it.”

The mammoth  lasat grabbed the offered six pack of beer, cracked each can open with machine-like speed and poured six streams of  golden brew into his cavernous mouth. He wiped  the stray foam from his mane and belched.

“Thanks son. Remind me not t’ call yew an ijit next time yew piss me off.”

Zeb approached the tractor. He ran his hands over three, still-warm engine cowls and sniffed the turbines and jet ports. “What’s going on with her?”

“She were running fine, then all of a sudden, she starts a’shaking and a sputterin’. Den the jets got all quiet-like. How did I blow up three engines? That tiller I’m towin' behind her don’t weigh that much. Hells, I towed a big ol’ howler-barr to thee taxidermist with dis here tractor. ”

Zeb scratched his head. “Was there any smoke?”

Pa thrust out his thick lower lip and tapped one of his fangs. “Now thet I think about it. . . not a hole lot. Jus’ a little puffin’ out from under thee hood.”

“Ah-ha. Pop the hood Puggles.”

The little lasat obeyed and the tractor’s  boxy mouth opened with a ‘TUMP’ Zeb raised the hood, looked inside and saw the problem immediately.

“It’s not the engines, pa. It’s your injector cylinder. Are you running super-lean Kashyyk oil in her?”

“Shore as dust I am!”

“Well, it must be  clogged with dirt. The guy you bought this from should have changed it before he sold it.”

Pa snorted. “Figures.”

Zeb changed the subject. He patted the old Agri-Hover. You know, inside, these tractors are almost identical to the inside of the tanks in the royal army. They really ARE well made. Let’s pull the injector and Puggles and I will go into town and get a new one.”

Pa looked resigned to his fate of plowing the field by himself. Why did he sell that good team of muley-tauns? They weren’t that long in the tooth.

“Payday’s not fer six more days. I don’ wanna ask ma t’ dip into her savings. She ain’t got that much anyway.”

Zeb grabbed Puggles by the ear and tugged him away’t so pa couldn’t hear.

“I have some extra pay this cycle.” He whispered.

“Must be nice.” Puggles' gold eyes flashed orange. “I cain’t even afford a lil’ teeny-eeny far-cracker or a pack a smokes.”

Zeb crossed his striped arms. “First of all, you shouldn’t be smoking. It’s bad for you. Second, you’re a liar. I know for a fact Hallie gave you credits for cleaning her shed. You put them in your. . . ahem, ‘detonite fund account.’”

The little lasat was incensed. He balled his bony fists and put them up, taking a fighting stance.

“I otta whup the green right outtta yer eyes yuh sucklin’-cub!! Of all thee indig-nitities! Called a larr by m’ little cuzzin!!!! Y’ain’t got the manners of that bitch anoobie over there! Come on, git yer dukes up!”

Zeb rolled his eyes and bit his lip. “ Not again.”

The young lasat was turning out to be a rather large and honorable soldier. One befitting of admiration and praise. How much longer was he going to allow his belligerent cousin to talk to him this way? Zeb sighed. A lasat couldn’t choose his family or the members within, but if he could have chosen, he would have picked what he already had,  the hard-working and sometimes crude,  spiritual, salt-of -Lasan Trodds.

“Alright you little a-hole. I’m sorry I called you a liar.  Do you have any creds you can spare? Any at all?”

Puggles put his fists down. He retrieved a toothpick from his pocket and wedged it between his crooked incisors. He made a sucking sound with his teeth.

“Maybe. . .”

[lieutenant-wake-up-blog]

VLD SEASON THREE SPOILERS?? AHEAD!

Okay, one, I’m nutting that shit was sO GOOD. I have a lot to say about this season (so short! But so good! And so… Weird!) But. I’m gonna take this one thing at a time. So let’s start with Shiro:

-TheY MANAGED YO USE HIS DOTU NAME AND I’M JUST B L E S T (HIS OTHER REALITY SELF WORKING WITH OTHER REALITY SLAV- WHO, MIGHT I MENTION WAS BADASS- WAS JUST THE CHERRY ON TOP OF THE CAKE TO BE FRANK. THAT TEAM WORK. THAT BADASSERY. SNEEK SNEEK. AND ALL THAT GOOD SHIT) whoo. Let me take breath. All those caps are very agressive. Got too excited. -That hair … Flowing… Beautiful. Suspicious. Let me elaborate on that. Not that much time has really passed. So how exactly did that happen? Well these are just theories. And maybe huuuuge reaches at that. But listen.

Theory.

1- The experiments they did on him this time around somehow effected his cell growth/aging process? 2- Shiro is a clone.

Now wait wait wait. You’re probably thinking “But Mack that’s preposterous! Why would Shiro be a clone??? He’s Shiro!” 

So let’s start with that one because a friend and I were briefly discussing it. I’m a little skeptical too. In fact, I have more doubts than beliefs in this theory. I’ll explain what I mean later. Just. For now, humour my little crack theory, huh?

So let’s go over that little bit in ep 5 before we hop in:

We see Shiro wake up in a Galra ship on some sort of operating table. That’s… Not unheard of for Shiro, unfortunately for him. But things are slightly off. His hair is really long. Weirdly long for the amount of time he was actually gone. (Even if he was gone months, though I’d bet a week or two at best, hair grows half an inch, 1.25 cm if that’s your thing, a month. It would take roughly two years for it to grow that long and we can probably deduce that there is no way that much time passed, especially given nobody else has aged. Though that may just play into the first theory.) And although it’s a given that he would be shaky on his legs, he suffers from hallucinations the moment he sits up. Flashbacks? Probably. I mean he sees Ulaz, who, obviously couldn’t possibly be there. But the one that bothers me most is the flashback in the hallway. Shiro seeing himself writhing on a table, his eyes tiny little unfocused pinpricks, while presumeably being injected with something or another. Then him being submerged in a strange purple liquid. The important thing to catch here is the voice saying “Operation Kuron stage one successful, begin stage two.”

 Now let’s focus on this for a second. The hair thing is interesting because of this fact. 

       So it’s possible they could have created a clone and sped up it’s natural aging process through some weird alien technology. The thing I learned about hair while in school for cosmetology is this: Hair has three phases. Anagen, catagen and telogen. (Anagen is the growing phase, catagen is a transitional phase and telogen is the resting phase in which the hair ‘dies’ and stops growing). Your hair stops growing naturally at a certain point and then is pushed out by a new hair strand. Which is why hair falls out on its own without being pulled out. I’m telling you this because if the clone was made and aged rapidly, they wouldn’t exactly stop to cut it’s hair during that process. So you must be thinking, “Well then if that were the case wouldn’t this ‘Shiro’s’ hair be longer???”

 Not necessarily. Because of the way the hair growth cycle works, his hair might not be able to get any longer than that (think about how one person can grow their hair for years and barely have it reach their shoulders, meanwhile the person next to them has hair like Rapunzel. The length of the anagen/growth phase differs in each person, so it’s possible Shiro’s hair doesn’t grow past that length at all, and thus, neither would his clone’s) Aaaaaannnnyywaayyy. So the other thing. His flashback in the hallway (possibly not a flashback?) kinda caught my attention. Him being submerged in that weird substance made me recall countless sifi movies and games where the main characters find sketchy creatures floating in pods in some unnatural...Preservatives. Similar to the situation we see here. And a lot of times in these movies and games, the body of the creature is dormant, but what isn't? The mind. So what could be going on here is this. The real Shiro is still in that weird ass pod. We never see phase two of the operation so it is quite possible that that could have been the process of cloning Shiro and connecting his mind/his memories to said clone. Why would they want to clone him? Well that's easy. To get closer to team Voltron. Either by implanting a copy of Shiro's memories, or by directly connecting his mind to the clone. Because how else to get close to the team then their beloved leader, idol and friend whom they miss and rely on dearly? One, the galra have already dealt with Shiro in the past so they already have knowledge about him; two, he is connected to the Black Lion - yknow the one Zarkon went into a coma trying to capture and the head of Voltron? A key component to the Empire's biggest enemy??? - and three, he's Shiro. The team would never doubt him. They have too much faith in him to be suspicious of his return. Plus they would be distracted by their relief to have him back. So it would be the perfect opportunity to exploit their vulnerabilities using a familiar face. How? Well think of this. If the clone just has his memories, it will act the way he would because it would have all the same experiences he did in it's mind. It would fully believe it was the "real" Shiro because nothing has proven otherwise. The same goes with if it is just a weird telepathic link with his clone. It would be an empty vessel that they would fill with Shiro's consciousness. Why would they do this, you ask? What's the point? Here's my guess. By allowing the clone/Shiro to think it is really him/his body, the interactions with the team and the reactions it has not only in the prescence of the others but alone would be entirely genuine. There would be no margin for error in his behaviour such as there’d be if they just programmed an AI to do it, because he isn’t actively trying to fool them. He just thinks he’s back. To get to the point, if they did this, unbeknownst to everyone, even Shiro himself, he would be allowing the Galra Empire insight into the inner workings/dynamic of Voltron and get them closer to... something. What, I have no clue. But by using a clone, they could allow for Shiro to work his way back into the team, regain his position, and then shut “him” off and take full control when they finally get what they want.

There were two other things that supported this theory to me.

                    -Shiro’s escape

                          His escape the first time around was because a spy from the BoM was on the inside and helped free him. But this time? It was quite obviously an act. He had no gaurds, a suspicious lack of droids fought him in the hall, and then obviously the officer saying “Operation Kuron, stage three underway.” Implies that they only shot him down as an act, not because they didn’t want him to escape. No, they want him out. It’s part of their plan.

                   In Episode 6:

                   - [You’re looking better. How are ya feeling?] “Good. Just trying to get rid of this weird headache.” 

                            Y’all probably wanna shout at me “Of course he’d have a headache!!!11!!1!!!” But hm. Even he thought it was kinda strange. He’s definitely been through worse, and he wasn’t even gone a whole year like the first time and this one definitely took more of a toll on him. Perhaps it’s finally catching up to him. Or maybe it’s because of this weird clone thing fucking with his head. I could imagine a clone having complications after rapid aging or because of a sustained, long distance telepathic link with it’s original (alternative theory to him being a clone is that he just has a chip in his head/some kind of implant that gives them access to his body, also very plausible. Perhaps even more plausible. Think of the other reality alteans with the implants that made other creatures compliant. That’s believeable. Still.)

                   - Black wouldn’t let him pilot her.

                         Okay, so maybe the writers did it for the Angst™, y’know; Allura finally gets to pilot a lion and improves extremely rapidly only to be kicked out so soon or so Lance can have his self doubt moment (I love him so much and I am so glad he got some kind of reassurance because it sucks being actually insecure and then have people joke at your expense because they are so used to you being a goof-off that they forget you have real emotions and doubts that are going unaddressed. All how.) But I doubt they would make such a fuss about Shiro’s bond, make it a huge plot point throughout and during the season finales of both previously released seasons, only to have all that effort dashed out because, what? He was gone for two weeks and Keith took over while he was gone? Granted, we see Keith growing a lot. And that is so so so good for him. But Shiro and Black had the strongest of bonds. And as we see from her interaction with Zarkon in season two, Black forms really tight bonds with her paladin. She still had some residual connection to Zarkon that, unresolved, made her vunerable to his advances.

But Black straight up denies Shiro entirely. And as much as I love Keith and how despite his reluctance, this new position is forcing him to mature, I just can’t see how Keith is her “true paladin now” as Shiro claims. No. Black, like Shiro, is traumatized by Zarkon. And so if her second paladin had something wrong with him, she would pick up on that immediately, because she knows the signs from the changes in Zarkon when he started to go kinda uh. Bat shit crazy. So I don’t think it’s necessarily that she is rejecting him as a paladin. Their bond is way too strong for that.

No no no. She’s rejecting him because she can sense something is off with him. That either it isn’t him (just a clone), or he has been modified in some sort of way that seems malicious (some sort of chip that uses quintessence to manipulate his body)

And I don’t think any of this is Lotor’s plan either. Because as we see, he has to figure out that the black paladin is missing, and then realizes through his own deduction that the paladins have had a loss as big as the Empire’s own. So that means either this is a plan of Haggar’s (Honerva!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Or we are finally seeing what Zarkon meant when he said he had plans beyond his officer’s comprehension, now taking place even whilst he is in a coma.

So I might add to this later if other ideas pop up, but this is about it for now. It was quite a lot. Honestly, kudos to you if you have stuck it out and read my lunatic ravings. I’m so proud of you. 

[epilogue-and-prologue]

Challenge

 Imagine being a hybrid issued of an experiment Palpatine led: his own genome and a Hapan women he captured and fell in love with. You have been rescued by the Resistance when you were an infant. Your parents were never to be found again (dead in other words) and you had to live and grow inside a population that looks at you like you are the enemy. That’s when you meet Poe Dameron.

Note: Based on the word prompt I gave myself: "Nobody is here to see me shine" (Not included in the story). Warnings: Language? Disclaimers: Not my characters.

This was the only chance you had at convincing everyone you were not some kind of monster. As you grew up, you thought people were looking at you strangely because you were Leïa’s protégé(e) but you had learned pretty quickly that you were wrong. Starting at school. You had little to no friends at all. Diplomats’ child only there for a short period of time. Most of them never knew your origins, and you thought that it was what kept them from ever being mean or rude to you on purpose.

Some persons even believed that it was you, who had driven Ben Solo to the dark side. You thought so too for a very long time. Although you were an orphan, folks always saw you for your genetics not the parts of you that mattered to Leïa and her family.

Han had taken you in for some sort of internship. It lasted two years and you had learned everything and anything there is to learn about piloting a spaceship. You would not go as far as saying he was proud of you, but at least, he was not regretting his choice. Now, you had to make him proud. You were taking a test to be incorporated into the air force.

You had passed the theoretical ones, now you had to pass those.

Some other ten children of Rebels, and fifteen persons outside of that circle. Only ten would be trained and given a ship.

The first exercise was easy: they were testing your abilities to react quickly and how you were under pressure. As it happens, thirteen were not retained for the next step. Last year, they had driven three students to have a panic attack and ten to cry. Big ones, small smart ones and very annoying ones alike. The second was something else. You were given the order to pair up with someone you did not knew to test your adaptation skills. Anyone trying to cheat would be eliminated. On one hand you were relieved, it meant you would not have to find yourself with someone you knew hated you or feared you. On the other, the new possible recruits had time to talk with people from the base. Some of them were looking at you the way they all did: not meeting the eye. Except one. He was not too tall, but he was taller than you. He had a face that made some people swoon. It did make you weak in the knees though. The whole Prince Charming vibe, hero-thingy made you wince but it was effective. You kept it to yourself though. Too much was at stake for you to let this guy blew it all away.

That was only the beginning of the task: as most of the persons around you were already paired up, they had an announcement:

“Now that you found your partner, time to buckle up. Every team drives a ship, we’ll see how you coordinate up there. We – the pilots – will be playing the roles of your opponents. Two ships per team. If you manage to get us to retreat, you’re in. Good luck!”

You were not that surprised by this. It had been a long time since they had played that card for the acceptance of new recruit. It was always effective though. The pilots were always having a lot of fun trying to get the trainees out of the sky. They would be flying within the atmosphere and in a safe area, so the only thing they risked were just a few bruises. In the worst case a broken hip but the guy had no belt on so it was entirely his doing. He got in anyway because he had managed to get the last remaining ship of his opponents to fell with him.

It was not that wild, but it was a good shot of adrenaline.

Still, you were looking around you and found that almost everyone had a partner. Figuring out you would find yourself with someone who was lucky they were even here in the first place, you walked straight for the ships.

“Hey! Where are you running like that?”

You turned around. Charming was there.

“What?”

He smiled brightly.

“You heard me. Between you and me this one is not fit to fly.”

You turned to look at the ship. You chuckled.

“You’re obviously not from here. This one may look old and crusty, but the mechanism is pure fire.”  as you were about to leave, you could not help from asking “Why is that of any matter to you anyway? Haven’t you got a shiny new toy looking like a ship and a nice-looking co-pilot waiting for you right now?”

He laughed. Out loud. As if it was funny.

“Well. I’d say I’m standing right in front of them?”

You raised an eyebrow, before realising. This guy would get you killed. Cocky AND charming. Nope, not a good equation on a ship.

“No. No way. - Yes. There’s always a way. Oh by the way I introduce you B-B8.

A small droid rolled to where you were both standing. He rang happily.

“Hello…? Well. There is no time to discuss this, right? Don’t answer that. -OK. Let’s go B-B8”

They both settled in the ship waiting for the order to fly. You tested the coms.

“One, two… Charming you can hear me? - Loud and Clear. Charming? - Yeah. Got a problem with that? Your name’s not written on your head. Made a wild guess but I’d say I’m not that far from the truth. -Actually you could not be more wrong, Grumpy. My name’s Poe. Poe Dameron. - It was nice knowing you Dameron. I hope we never see each other again.”

Poe did not answer.

“Hello? Still there? - Yes. I am pretty certain you’re not the only one though.”

That, out of everything, made you laugh. Bitterly, but still.

“Wow. I did not know Grumpy knew how to laugh.”

His comment made you cringe. “My name is (y/n) (y/l/n).”

An angel passed between you two. Before he got time to talk again, the signal was given. You were to follow the purple flagged ships. Coordinating faster than you thought you followed them. “The infamous daughter of Palpatine, huh? I heard only bad things about you. - Well, it’s always better to hear that than to be deaf, right? Understand now why I’m laughing? - Yeah. Sorry for… Well. Sorry for every other specimen of the human race who probably gave you a hard time. - You really chose a bad timing for that Charming.”

Driving in a loop, they were now into “combat zone” and were trying to lose you.

“Grumpy, I was born with bad timing.”

They were now too far for you to find them with your eyes only. You had to scan the area. It could take a while.

“Thanks anyway. You’re the first to apologize for his species as a whole… Just out of curiosity why anyone would want not to see your face again?”

Poe took a time to answer, setting up the commands.

“Well… I may have slept with one or two recruits. - One or two? - What? Alright maybe four, but why does it matter? They still will be glad if I don’t get in. - You remember who you’re talking too. I don’t mean to put the “my situation is way worse than yours” card, but I feel like I have to here. - I have a lot at stake for this, you know. It’s my only chance at ever becoming a pilot. If I fail, I’ll be a farmer. Like my parents.”

You were bewildered by his sentence. That’s when the alarms went off, and you spotted them. They had noticed you too though, and almost lost you slaloming between the trees. They were slipping away.

“I have an idea! - What kind of idea, Dameron? - Crazy kind? -Do it then! They are escaping!”

He took the speed stick and pulled it to its fullest. He was aiming at them.

“Can you… - Neutralize their shields? Already on it!” You were shooting your content on your future teachers. Well, more like the enemies right now. The first ship’s shield gave in faster that the second. They took cover as soon as it was off, but not too far from his ally. The mountains were too sharp and the woods were too low to get to now. “I’m taking the energy for this last blast, Poe! - No! We’ll lose the speed! - Not if it’s really, really close to them.” He understood your manoeuvre. Poe flew your ship right behind the two others, slowed down by the first. You thought they would stop mid-air leaving your ship to blast itself in the mountains, but they never thought about it. Lucky you. When the shot was ready, you got right between the two ships, one right in front of you now and the second under you.

Your shot aimed at the engine and it did not miss. They were so damaged they could not be repaired remotely. They had to retreat. As for your speed, Dameron was right. You were losing it, but faster than both of you had expected. You hit the second ship on one of its tails. It made both of the pilots retreat back to the base, probably fearing for a crash. Before they could turn around, your ship was picking down on the base.

“We are above the base?! - Don’t look at me like that! I didn’t realise it either! -Fuck! We’ve got to take the damages away!”

Closer to the ground than ever you both tried to pull the nose of the ship higher than the horizon was but it was too late. In the air shed the workers were running away. So were the pilots on the ground. The landing strip was being emptied when you finally stopped your course right before going into the potato field. You were shaken, but alive.

Poe on the other hand… He was trying not to mouth his pain, but you could see he had trouble getting out of the cockpit. Taking one of his arms you helped him out of it. “I think I may have a broken rib. Or two. - Huh? With that stunt, you’re sure it’s not four?” He laughed. Before trying not to laugh or even smile, because, you know. A broken rib hurts. So one or two… Before anyone could get to you, a furious commander approached you. Never addressing Poe, he looked right at you.

“The Sith’s offsring huh? You really had to make a mess of things, didn’t you? You’ll pay for that! - You…”

Poe took you by the arm, still clutching his stomach. His eyes turned to the pilot. “Sir. I understand you are a pilot. I also understand that you value the place of your co-pilot. If ever I was to insult them you would defend them, right? - Of course, boy! - Then you’ll understand why I’m doing this.”

And he punched him, knocking the guy out. You gasped, surprised. Before he turned to you, you managed to get very angry.

“That’s all Prince Charming! I did not need you to do that! - Yes. But it did make you feel a little bit better, right?”

You took a deep breath, crossing your arms on your chest. The crowd was getting thicker around both of you. For once they were not looking down on you. It felt good.

“Yeah it kind of did… Well it definitely did. I really wanted to tear his mouth off of his face. But, next time I’ll be the one doing the punching. - Fine, Grumpy. Next time I’m insulted you can defend my honour. - What? So, you assimilate that to defending my honour? - …It’s not what that was? - Of course, not!”

You were interrupted by Leïa herself. “What happened? Are you alright?” You smiled softly at her concern. “You should not worry like that. I am fine. I am always fine.” She smiled brightly at that and hugged you, out of nowhere. “Han would be proud, love. So proud.”

Your eyes were tearing up this time. You nodded softly.

“Thank you. It means a lot.” She let go of you, and stared at Poe intensely. He bowed to her, always a smirk on his face. She kept him because of his skills of course. But also of how you looked at him. Just like she looked at Han once. In another life.

Even after getting back to the other newly integrated pilots, you could not stop yourselves from bickering and laughing.

Working with this specimen by your side was going to be a challenge. The good kind of challenge though.

[charity-angel]

Beware of the Droid

[Read on AO3]

There is a legend on the Alliance base, and Luke isn’t entirely sure what to make of it. He’s 90% convinced that the rest of his squadron are pulling his leg, but there’s that last tenth – the part of him that listens to the voice of Ben Kenobi that still talks to him – that tells him that there might just be a shred of truth to it.

But, seriously? An ancient astromech, old enough to have flown fighters in the Clone Wars, who was so crazy-protective of his crew that he would purposefully injure, shock, or otherwise maim fellow Rebels who slighted them? Who the Rebels as a whole had nicknamed the ‘murder-droid’?

Ridiculous.

Then again, there were days R2 clearly got off the wrong side of the charging platform, and Luke wondered whether it was him. After all, R2s were a line that had been retired from production before he had even been born, so he had to be old enough. And he had been very insistent about Ben being a previous owner (although, of course, Ben denied it. Somehow, Luke trusted R2 on this one).

Older, Hobbie assured him. The murder-droid was older than even R2-D2. So old, he spoke the weirdest form of binary anyone had ever heard, and he had a caster. An actual caster instead of a third strut.

That was kind of what sold it for Luke – even on Tatooine, where they got the absolute dregs of everything, the crappiest, oldest droids imaginable, he had never seen a droid that ancient. It had to be a myth.

  .oOo.

  Luke believed that all through the move to Derra IV, and for a good month or so afterwards. Right up until he stepped back from his X-Wing, wiping the grease from his hands after repairing the engine, and tripped over an astromech. They both fell to the ground, the mech swearing at him. Or, at least, Luke assumed the droid was swearing at him, because it was speaking an odd dialect that he couldn’t quite get his ear around.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said as he got to his feet and reached for the droid. “I didn’t look.”

He righted the mech. It was a very old model – all angles where R2 was sleek and rounded, and… sported a caster in place of a third strut…

“You know, you really shouldn’t run that close to the ships while they’re being worked on…”

The words were out of his mouth before he had truly taken in the droid’s appearance, but his eyes were soon drawn to the electro-prod emerging from its dented bodywork.

Luke glanced around, and took a small step towards the hangar door. The droid advanced, still cursing. He considered his options – he could make a run for it and hope that he was faster than the mech (unlikely); he could hop up onto his X-Wing and see if he could go up (again unlikely, considering the ceiling height and the fact there wasn’t much around for him to jump to); or he could make a stand and hope that the droid simply backed down from his lightsabre.

It didn’t. While it looked taken aback at first, the fact that Luke had a lightsabre seemed to spur the little droid on. It rolled close, dodging his half-hearted swipe and jabbed him in the leg. The current wasn’t very high, but it was enough to sting, and to make his leg jerk a bit.

“Hey!”

It chuckled as he jumped backwards and took a stance again.

He really didn’t want to damage the droid – the Alliance couldn’t afford to replace tech, even something as defective as this astromech appeared to be. And something with as much personality as this one seemed to have had to belong to someone, and they would probably miss it. He knew he would miss R2 if something happened to him: even though he had only known the droid a short time, they had bonded quickly.

“Chopper?”

A woman’s voice sounded out across the hangar as the droid made another lunge. It hesitated, and Luke had to readjust quickly to stop himself from overbalancing and causing a lot of damage.

“Chopper, where did you… Chop…?

The source of the voice was a green Twi’lek with tattooed lekku. Her equally tattooed eyebrows arched dangerously as she took in the stand-off Luke had found himself in.

“What’s going on here?”

“It was an accident!” Luke blurted out, glancing up at the woman before turning his gaze back to the murder-droid. “I didn’t mean to knock him over.”

“Uh huh. Chopper, what do you have to say for yourself?”

The droid made some sounds that, if he was any judge, sounded sullen. If Luke had to guess, he would suspect that this was the astromech’s owner.

“And did you maybe steer yourself somewhere that would have been deliberately in the way?”

There was a hesitation before the droid answered.

“Chopper! You know how to behave: you don’t threaten our allies, and you don’t get under mechanics’ feet. Now, apologise to the nice Jedi.”

There was silence. The Twi’lek crossed her arms and glared at the droid.

“Chopper…”

The next sound was definitely an apology, although it sounded particularly reluctant.

“Now go and make yourself useful before I have you running diagnostics on every single ship the Alliance owns.”

The droid disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said, watching him go. “I swear he’s getting worse with old age. You must be Commander Skywalker?”

Luke extinguished his lightsabre and took the hand she held out. “Luke.”

“I’m Hera Syndulla. Have you met my daughter, Sabine, yet?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. He couldn’t remember meeting any other Twi’lek girls in the Alliance – especially one young enough to be Hera’s daughter. She couldn’t be any more than thirty.

“Oh, you would remember her – she’s twenty-one, about this high, Mandalorian, pink beskar’gam, carries a lightsabre. Come on, let’s find her.”

Utterly bewildered, Luke followed.

[multi-muse-transect]

An Empress and a Princess.

AU: An accident happens leading to an interdimensional mix up of unusual proportions. Mira Wren Bridger, leader of the First Order meets Mira Wren Bridger, Jedi Padawan. The two have a talk in the dinner table. As always, Mira belongs to @meldy-arts. @hotsam1 @eyeloch @angies-team

The house of the supreme leader is a very modest one unlike Snoke’s.  Mira’s home is an almost minimalist house that is located in the snowy woods. It is guarded by Imperial sentry droids and dark troopers alongside some drones patrolling the perimeter around the house. The house has two rooms, one guest and the other obviously belongs to the supreme leader. The living room has a fireplace with a TV hovering over it alongside a rug on the ground. The door windows show the backyard. In front of the TV and fireplace is a a couch. 

Inside the kitchen is supreme leader Bridger aka Mira Wren Bridger making some hot chocolate for her.....Unexpected visitor. It all began when the leader approved for a new transportation test for troopers to come in easily to the battlefield but an unexpected result happened-It ripped space and time and brought someone from a different world, a different universe.....herself. Sitting on a chair in front of a table and looking at her with hateful eyes is her counterpart, (Padawan) Mira or what she dubs, teen Mira. (Supreme leader) Mira is wearing a standard black sweater and pants also has shortened hair while her alternate self has long and somewhat wild looking hair also wearing armor similar to her mother.

It was awkward when they met, she killed like two stormtroopers and also almost killed captain Phasma but she stopped her via force push. (Padawan) Mira hated her other self, being the leader of the First Order and wondered what happened to her family unless they’re dead of course. She would never see herself as a member of the First Order but here she stands as their leader. She hasn’t even spoken since the supreme leader decided to take care of her.  (Supreme leader) Mira finishes up the drinks and walks towards her counterpart then sits in front of her. (Padawan) Mira looks at the hot chocolate suspiciously in front of her as (Supreme leader) Mira drinks some in front of her then pulling out her Nintendo switch to play some Battlefront. (Padawan) Mira pulls at her lightsaber through the force as it flies towards her but her counterpart catches it immediately much to her annoyance. She sighs knowing that this is herself she is dealing with here and she could probably tell her moves.

“.....So what are you doing to do with me? Seduce me to the dark side? Torture me to death through boredom?” (Padawan) Mira asks.

“No, just here to watch you.” (Supreme leader) Mira replied as sounds of blaster fire are heard on her Nintendo switch. She’s simply killing time until someone finds a solution so she can go away and she can spend time with her secret wife, Blare. 

“For a supreme leader, you don’t seem to act like you’re....Supreme.” She suspiciously asks her.

“Uh-huh. I’m not like Snoke or Palpatine. I do what’s best for the First Order evidenced by the news articles you’ve read about me back at the base.” (Supreme leader) Mira replied as she dodges an incoming blaster shot in the game. She is now on a hundred killstreak armed with her favorite in-game weapon, the bo-rifle. The force has its perks in terms of gaming. 

“Anti-corruption speeches, donations to charity, assisting in New Republic operations, corruption busting, etc, etc.....Oh now I get it! You’re trying to bore me to death! That must be your dark side power.” The padawan joked while (Supreme leader) Mira rolls her eyes and drinks some hot chocolate.

“You should try the hot chocolate before it gets cold. Its one of the best.” She advised.

“Its probably laced in cyanide. I know you Imperials.” (Padawan) Mira smirked. She looks around her environment then turns her eyes to the supreme leader.

“You’re free to walk around my house.” (Supreme Leader) Mira replied. (Padawan) Mira gets up from her chair and checks the place out. She lands on the couch and turns on the TV to show that its showing the Immortal and the Restless causing her to roll her eyes to switch it to Five Nights at Teddy’s. (Padawan) Mira turns to the stand the lamp is on to see portraits. Some are medals, pictures with old squad mates, a black haired woman.....Her family. (Padawan) Mira picks up the portrait of the family of her counterpart. Her father looks older alongside her mother, in the center is (Supreme leader) Mira next to Zeb but the thing that catches her eye the most is the same woman in a wedding dress.

She is soon caught off guard by (Supreme Leader) Mira sitting next to her as she switches the show to the Walking Rakghoul though its a rerun. 

“So tell me about yourself.” (Supreme leader) Mira said.

“Myself? Why?” (Padawan) Mira asks.

“I want to explore the possibilities of what my life could have been.” She explained. 

“Well explain yourself then! I mean, I could imagine myself as the leader of a murderous organization turned passive-aggressive.” The padawan countered. (Supreme Leader) Mira stops for a moment then turns to her with a sympathetic look on her face but sighs.

“.....My father and mother left me behind to a friend named Ketsu Onyo since they went off to fight the First Order. The place was a village in Carlac, snowy and very calm. But....That peace came to an end when Deathwatch came in and the First Order came to bring law and order to the planet. The village was Deathwatch’s last stand and the final battle took place there. A soldier found out who I was and chased me as I separated from Ketsu. Captain Phasma saved me though and was under the impression my parents are dead alongside Ketsu. She took me in afterward.” (Supreme Leader) Mira explained.

“And you became a stormtrooper.....” (Padawan) Mira sadly hangs her eyes.

“Yes I did but....I was raised different from the other troopers. I didn’t feel different though. I felt like every other trooper. Just an extension of the First Order and weapon. But unlike them, I had compassion for others and even go as far as to save another friend and spare an enemy if necessary unless he or she tried to kill me. Something was different about me and I didn’t know it....I realized what it was: I was a person. Unlike the other troopers, I had autonomy and even have a sense of identity like them. Heck I even got into a relationship....” (Supreme Leader) Mira sighs and half chuckles.

“It was the woman in the picture from years ago wasn’t it?” 

‘No, no....It was a scavenger named Rey. I met her during my tour at Jakku after captain Phasma assigned me to the planet. We...We interloped as in....You’re a teenager, you would know. But I loved her with all my heart and wanted to protect her from my duties from the First Order, fearing the Resistance would use her against me. So I broke up with her....” She explained as (Padawan) Mira look in pity. From thinking she was another Snoke or Natasi Dala to a woman who sacrificed everything for her duties.

“You still love her don’t you?” (Padawan) Mira asks.

“There wasn’t any moment I thought of her. Even when I was put into the First Order Rescue and Intelligence division. But I knew she would be happy without me too, that she would find another woman that wouldn’t be a danger to her. Soon I found myself as an agent who protected the innocent and served the people....But Snoke....Snoke called me in. He said that I was honorably discharged from the First Order. For the first time in my life I was....I was useless. I wandered the galaxy and became a bounty hunter, it wasn’t my option if I wanted to survive. I thought she was better off without me....It wasn’t until Kyle Katarn found me.” The woman explained.

“And so we found my future wife and we a lot of crazy things to find my parents who were in Lothal at the time. I fought the First Order....I fought the people who saved me and the friends I made. Like always, the bad guys lose and the good guys win. But something caught me off guard though....”

“It was this job wasn’t it?” (Padawan) Mira replied.

“It turns out that Snoke....saw some kind of potential for me. A test given since my induction.....If I reached it then I would become the Supreme Leader. Phasma told me since it was part of a protocol in case Snoke dies and Thrawn takes over but if Thrawn is killed also, then I’m in charge. But this test was a failure....Phasma saw the survival of the Imperial ways through me so I took it. I wanted to save my other family....my brothers, my sisters.....This wasn’t the future I wanted but I didn’t want the First Order falling apart. So I did, I became the leader of the First Order. Seeing how powerful we are, I decided it was best for me to have a seat in the senate as I lead the First Order.”  She ended with a smile.

“.....So is it true that the Imperial march plays every time you walk?” The teen asks causing her to softly chuckle. 

“From what I can gather, you are me from a world where I stayed with my parents. It must be.....A very good experience.” (Supreme Leader) Mira observed. 

“My parents care a lot about me....Sometimes too much but they mean well. Does your parents.....”

“Oh they do care about me big time. Always worrying about my job and my duties, though I accomplish my role as a daughter by calling them.” The Imperial answered. The two hear a knock on the door causing her to get up and open the door to reveal Blare Wren Bridger in her typical Jedi robes.

“Those dark troopers scare the living daylights out of me, you should replace them with Imperial infiltration droids.” Blare suggested.

“At least they won’t shoot you.” (Supreme leader) Mira replied before she enters. Blare hangs up her robes revealing her standard Jedi outfit. She heads to the living room with (Padawan) Mira looking at her.

“So how’s the lovely supreme leader that is my wife doing?~” Blare flirted to (Padawan) Mira mistaking her for her wife.

“Um....I think you’re talking to the wrong Mira.” (Padawan) Mira blushed causing Blare to blink her eyes and turn around to see (Supreme leader) Mira then realizing the age gap between them. 

“Oh sweet Ashla!” Blare cried in panic realizing she was flirting with a teenager much to her horror. 

“I’m so so sorry! You both look the same....Sort of!” She apologized.

“Its okay.” The Padawan replied while rubbing the back of her head. Blare sighs then looks back at (Supreme leader) Mira. 

“So what did the supreme leader of the First Order whip up for dinner today?” Blare asks her before (Supreme Leader) Mira walks to the kitchen. 

“Bantha steak soup with a side of garlic bread.” (Supreme leader) Mira replied in a British accent parodying Orson Krennic before opening the fridge to reveal the now ready meal. All she has to do is boil the soup. The Imperial uses the force to turn on the stove which lights up as she focuses her energy to lift the entire soup from its place then dunks it into the into the pot that is placed on the active stove. It begins to boil as (Supreme Leader) Mira places the garlic bread into the microwave. She checks her watch then the soup right before deactivating the stove then uses a spoon to taste it.

“Hm...It tastes just right!” (Supreme leader) Mira picks the pot up and places it on the table as (Padawan) Mira and Blare sit on their respective seats while (Supreme leader) Mira places a bowel and place on each spot. She then gets the garlic bread before sitting on her table and using the serving spoon to pour some soup into her bowl.  The two do the same as (Padawan) Mira has a sip....The flavor is very inciting 

“Wow, who knew the supreme leader can cook!” (Padawan) Mira complemented.

“Its a skill I learned from my mother.” (Supreme Leader) Mira replied before heading an ahem from Blare.

“And from my wife.” She added. 

“So I heard reports of an accident that caused her to enter our world.” Blare observed (Padawan) Mira. 

“By her age, she looks old enough to look like our daughter.” The Imperial said before sipping some water.

“Oh please.” (Padawan) Mira sassed. 

“And the thought of having kids is last in her list.” Blare smirked.

“Hey! I think about having children.....sometimes.....” (Supreme Leader) Mira replied while looking her eyes away. 

“Uh-huh, you think about it in your office when you get home..” The Jedi replied.

“Blare Wren Bridger, I would make a death star for you my love. So if you want to have kids then we shall have children.” (Supreme Leader) Mira countered. Blare smiles at her wife before having another sip of the soup.

“So what’s it like being supreme leader? Do you over dramatic speeches and all?” (Padawan) Mira asks her.

“It’s.....Lonely but sometimes you remember the things you fight for and also you hang around the higher ups of the First Order and maybe also play the occasional trash can basketball. Also the traditional giant hologram thing, I use it for private sessions.” (Supreme Leader) Mira explained her position. 

“You know, you should train at Luke’s order. There’s always a spot for you there.” Blare told (Padawan) Mira.

“Thanks for the offer but no thanks.....I already got my Jedi training from my dad.”  (Padawan) Mira replied. The group continues to eat their meal while (Padawan) Mira looks at her alternate self and how compassionate she is. (Supreme Leader) Mira notices that something is wrong with her.

“Something the matter? You seem awfully down.” 

“It’s just....I’m surprised and all. I thought you were some Imperial warlord but you act just exactly like me if I was an adult. Now I’m here having dinner with the supreme leader and her wife....It just feels-” (Padawan) Mira said.

“Odd? Yes I know it is...I swore to change the First Order for the better after all. With a new face and a new way of thinking....Mira, I have some advice for you. I don’t know if this will happen but one day you will be a leader and at the same time, you’ll be conflicted. But no matter what in the end, you are still you. Do not let some mindset change who you are.” (Supreme Leader) Mira advised to her younger self. 

“And that’s why I fell in love with you in the first place.” Blare added with a warm smile. (Supreme Leader) Mira looks at Blare and her other self, how they looked like a family to her....The wise supreme leader having children. 

Night falls on the Bridger household. It was an eventful night, how (Padawan) Mira got along with herself and Blare at the same time. (Supreme leader) Mira finishes her list to do tomorrow as she sends the memo to her infiltrator droid who is her assistant. She spots (Padawan) Mira sleeping on the couch and she looks cold....(Supreme Leader) Mira has an idea.

She takes her cape that is hung up on the rack and walks towards her. The Imperial places the cape on the sleeping Jedi-to-be before heading off to her room where Blare is sleeping.

(Supreme Leader) Mira and (Padawan) Mira stand beside each other in front of the gate that is opening. Hux has been informed that the other universe’s Bridger family has contacted them beyond the portal. (Padawan) Mira will miss being around her other self, how wise she was and almost like her father and maybe miss the food she makes. (Supreme Leader) Mira is wearing a white grand admiral uniform and white cape while (Padawan) Mira is wearing her typical armor.

Heading out of the gate is Ezra, Sabine, Kanan, Zeb, Hera, and Dawn. But not the ones she knows. The death troopers guarding (Supreme Leader) Mira aim there blasters at them but she signals them to stand down. (Padawan) Mira runs up to them and hugs Ezra. Ezra smiles then looks back at (Supreme Leader) Mira.

“Mom....Dad.” (Supreme Leader) Mira greeted. Ezra looks sadly at the supreme leader knowing a position like that can mess a person up due to loneliness.

“Mira....” Sabine replied.

“.....You raised a good child.” She spoke.

“Mira.....You can come with us. This isn’t you.....” Kanan pleaded.

“No....In this world, I have two families. The family that helped me survive and my real family. But thank you anyway....” (Supreme leader) Mira smiled. (Padawan) Mira looks back at her for a moment.

“And I also have responsibilities, keeping the galaxy safe and all by cooperating with the New Republic, that sort of thing.” She continued. Ezra sighs knowing that this Mira has good in her.

“Well I hope we meet again.” Ezra nodded. (Padawan) Mira then runs up and shares a hug with the supreme leader catching her off guard. She is surprised as first but realizes that this could have been her, so she hugs her in response. (Padawan) MIra lets go and walks away with her family into the portal as it closes leaving a still smiling (Supreme Leader) Mira.

[blyanten]

THE DUCK AVENGER: #48 THE PARTS AND THE WHOLE

In the Duckburgian night, thievery is afoot. A trailer, transporting something with the nuclear symbol on it is attacked by several masked men, doing surprisingly well at teamwork and effiency.  There even a clear plan in action!

Unfortunately, it’s all a memory. One is reliving old memories of his time with the Avenger, almost two centuries after PKNA takes place.

In other words, everyone is dead.

On the bright side, One has created both police bots and rescue bots through his company Robolab, that, according to himself, are functioning brilliantly.

It’s just not the same.

:(

In Dhasam-Bul, it turns out that Everett is still alive. Somehow. 200 years after PKNA. 

He’s moved up in that little world, having become high priest of  Bhasam-Bul, but as with every other time we see him at the monastery, someone back home in his old life needs him, so he gotta go.

And somewhere towards the end of XX century (which is really the PKNA era, or the 1990s), a pair of maintenance workers find what appears to be a crashed… something suggestions are "it’s alien" and "it’s some experiment from the private sector". Never has two so different ideas been so correct.

As the workers decide to move it, they realize it’s connected to the box of wires they came to fix. Luckily, nothing is damaged, otherwise the network would be down for half the nation.

And we cut to Donald trying to check his bank account. The ATM is not working, but one is happy to appear and pretty shoot Donald’s debit card at him from the ATM slot. He walks off in annoyance, while an incredibly obvious robot spies on him.

Incredibly obvious robot isn’t a problem for long as he hooks up to the ATM and says there’s an anomaly before going from the top picture to… well, recognise those colours? This ought to be fun.

Much discretion, very secret.

Obvious robot is thrown back from the shock, and worried bystanders appears, somehow failing to notice the "robot" part. At first he appears to have lost his memory, when his expression changes and he says that no, he’s recovered it. Dun-dun-duuun.

In the future, there is apparently a discussion about whether Ducklair Tower should be torn down or left standing as a historical monument. The discussion seems rather pointless though, as nobody has been doing proper maintenance, and it might just collapse on its own, which would be bad considering its size. One guy thinks it doesn’t even have an owner, but it does. It’s owned by Robolab.

Just as this is said, a delivery truck with «Robolab» written on it appears. As far as the driver knows, the Tower is used for storage. Driver also picked up a hitchhiker, who is thrilled to be there and vanishes the second no one is looking.

Driver shrugs, and deliver the cargo. He’s told to leave it in the lobby, as the elevator is broken. I think One might be a bit depressed, to allow the Tower to fall into disrepair.

Actually, there are probably limits to what he can manage as long as he wants to stay secret, but even so.

Y-yeah, at 200-something, I have no doubt that stairs are rough.

Everett floated up to the secret floor, and One is glad to see him. After 184 years, he kinda thought Everett was, well… dead. But, no, Everett says, they live such healthy lives at Dhasam-Bul that they can totally double the human life span… and, okay, there’s some things he’s never told One, which is putting it mildly (and also wrong, assuming we’re talking about the same thing, but that’s the fun thing about canons with timetravel, you can retcon anything).

But of course, none of that is important right now! We can talk about the other thing some other time.

You did? Huh. Does this make future events better or worse? Also, now seeing the future has always been part of your skillset? It’s starting to remind me of Vulcans in Star Trek. They’re telepaths! They’re super strong! They’re... whatever we need this week.

Everett is there to help One reach what he desires.

In the past Donald has some friendly banter with Angus before visiting Lyla, who’s noticed some issues with the timeline.

This is when incredibly obvious robot reappears, greeting the pair as «agent» and «Avenger». Lyla seems to recognise him, and he’s about to introduce himself when this happens.

Lyla’s face here is amazing considering what is happening. 

Everyone is confused, but especially Two (you know it’s him, I know it’s him, let’s just stop pretending) who has ended up in the future, just in time to listen to One and Everett talking.

Everett explains that he was always aware that One would one day want to be more than a part of the Tower, that upon reaching full maturity he’d want an actual body.

So reaching maturity for an AI = 200 years, and a great part of those years spent alone in an empty building that falling apart. Dude, depression is not a necessary part of maturity.

I swear, it’s like listening to an alien, nothing makes sense if you stop and think for two seconds and there are more questions. But sure, let’s roll with that.

One admits that he does want a body, he could do so much more if he had options beyond being stuck in a crumbling skyscraper. But he doesn’t want Everett to think he’s ungrateful.

Everett doesn’t, but finally seems to have figured out that letting One think he was the only one until after his brother Two went crazy was a bad idea.

I’m tempted to hand out a «you tried» star, but I feel like that’s not quite right? A «congrats, you figured it out eventually» star, maybe.

Back on topic, One explains that in the absence of anyone like him, he’s learned to appreciate people. Like the Avenger, yes, but also everyone else. He wants to be where the people are, he wants to see them strolling along down a, what do you call it? Street.

Jokes aside, this is genuinly heartbreaking and sweet. Just look at what he actually says.

Depressed, lonely and trapped seems like the best words to describe One now.

So he wants to create a droid capable of containing him, Everett says, and One finally lets a bit of rage show. If Everett knows everything maybe he can figure out why it isn’t working?!

Also, why didn’t you come sooner? No, really, One’s been working for a while here.

One questions if it’s the tech that’s not advanced enough, and Everett says it might not be. Luckily, Everett’s not been idle at the monastery and he’s also learned things that go beyond science.

… At least it seems doubtful that the old High Priest would let him near that position without getting his mad science tendencies under control. The world still being there is proof of that.

In Time Ø, Lyla has called about Two’s droid body, and it turns out that it’s an infiltrator, meant to keep an eye on the Avenger. Lyla is annoyed, because from the sound of it, infiltrator droids sometimes go nuts and tries to kill the person they’re supposed to spy on.

In the future, Everett finally tells One to stop calling him "master", and that together they’ll create a droid body so fine it’ll be the ultimate form of the concept of AIs.

Two, still hiding and listening in, agrees, and decides to steal it. Unfortunately, he timetravels again, this time ending up sometime before Colombus arrived, I guess.

Wow, you’re slow this time around.

In the present, One is annoyed that Two’s droid body is completely hidden from his sensors. This might be because he’s not there at all, but who knows. The Avenger complains about the Time Police creating unecessary messes because they just can’t trust him.

You stop one city from blowing up and you never hear the end of it.

He goes to pick up Lyla in the Duckmobile, and Lyladressed in battle armor, because of course the infiltrator spy droid is also made for battle. However, Lyla implies this is because he was made specifically to deal with the Avenger AND Lyla at the same time.

Which is why Lyla has brought along a weapon she made after the droid revolt.

In the future, Everett and One is building the droid, with Everett cheating a bit by convincing the parts to assemble themselves. At the end of the scene, One is ready to transfer himself into the droid.

In the past, Two has worked out that his droid body has the ability to time travel and a bunch of other stuff. Being the bad guy, he then goes and enslaves some Native Americans for funsies, before moving on.

EVIL. You know, in case you failed to notice.

In the future, Everett is panicking a bit as One has transferred himself to the new body, but is not responding in any way. In the end, he has to reverse the transfer. One reappears in his old hardware, and explains that he was just blocked from doing anything. Which makes no sense, the droid body has plenty of space for him, even to expland further.

You deserve to panic.

But something is missing.

In the past, Lyla and the Avenger has located the infiltrator, but they, not expecting Two, walk right into a trap. This time, he’s red all over and The Avenger recognises him.

Look at that bad boy walk. I’m serious, Two is just doing so many “bad boy” poses in this issue.

Two declares that he’s finally worked out where One is hiding, but the Avenger is unimpressed with his babbling, and has the Duckmobile open fire on him. It doesn’t work at all, but Lyla, having hid behind the Duckmobile, waiting for an opening steps in and shoots him.

Robocop gone bad.

This gives the brief impression of having worked, but then Two breaks out the big guns… before putting them away and punching Lyla in the face.

He then turns down the Avenger’s offer of a fight, because at the end of the day, the Avenger is not the person he’s interested in. As the Avenger is now in a position where he can’t interfere, Two timejumps away to get to One.

Lyla, having picked up on the fact that something is off wants to know how the infitrator droid could resist her weapon.

In the future One is sad and Everett decides that not being the High Priest anymore he’s allowed to lose his temper. Yeah, the droid is still not working. One thinks it’s his fault, but Everett points out that the droid is designed for One.  

In the present, the Avenger has given Lyla an explanation and calls One to tell him to activate all defenses available. Seems like the kind of thing that should come before long explanations, but now that they’re actually doing it, the Avenger is pretty efficient, telling One to not waste time with discussion and just do it.

As usual, very discreet.

In a few seconds, the secret floor becomes the safest place on the planet.

Lyla jumps in to ask One what the total value of his software is, and gets a bit of flirting and whole lot of nonsense in return. It makes enough sense for her to make some adjustments to her gun.

While she does that, the Avenger tries to explain that Two is back, but not even the safest place on the planet is safe from someone who can just travel back in time to before it was the safest place on the planet.

Bad boy leaning on things.

Two having a one-track mind quickly gets to the fighting part, while One tries to get him to stop and talk. Unfortunately, Two isn’t much for talking, but the Avenger and Lyla arrives.

Translation: Neer-neer-neer.

So they fight, trying to destroy each other, and have you worked out the flaw here yet? Two certainly hasn’t.

The sides are fairly evenly matched, between the armed to the teeth droid body and familiarity with Ducklair tech that Two has and the equally heavily armed One, the Avenger and Lyla, plus Lyla’s familiarity with Time Police tech.

Two is still the first one to really take a hit thanks to the Avenger messing with one of the canons. Lyla takes advantage of his distraction and uses her gun.

Critical hit.

This time Two collapses, and Lyla explains it’s a deprogramming gun, one that basically erases the droid that gets hit. It didn’t work the first time because it was designed for a much less complex program than something like Two, bu tafter getting the necessary info from One, she made some adjusments.

The Avenger says that this was god enough, but Two wakes up to prove him wrong. He takes out both the Avenger and Lyla, and goes to attack One again.

One once again tries to convince Two to stop, because One is not a quitter, but Two says no, and brags about how he’ll steal One’s droid body in the future. One, being the sane one, immediately points out that that’s not how it works. If Two is going to steal One’s body in the future, then One needs to have a future.

Two is baffled as to how he could have missed that crucial detail, but as One said, he still has time to let it go, and timejumps to the future.

In the past, One examines Lyla’s weapon.

In the future, One and Everett are discussing the droid. Their only conclusion so far is that is’s like the parts aren’t enough to create a functioning whole.

Two appears, being very cocky, and Everett tries to use the erase code. Unfortunately, Two has done something to auditory receptors so it autmatically excludes the code. Clever. He then brings out a gun, tries to shoot Everett and misses.

The other brilliant expression in this issue.

This triggers the realization that he needs to hurry before he loses control completely. So One hits him with a wrecking ball. An actual wrecking ball. I feel like I should say something about that, but I’m kinda stuck at "Really? A wrecking ball? Why do you even have that?"

Two starts in on a "you can never stop me" dialogue, but suddenly starts reciting some kind of science fact. Everett is confused, but One says he’ll explain later, and that for now they just has to keep Two occupied.

Two tries to shoot Everett again, butt his time Everett uses magic to block, before going on the offensive, trapping Two in a magic bubble.

Two complains that Everett used to be a wizard, and breaks free. But before he can do anything, he has another attack, this time talking about math. Both One and Everett attacks, and this time Two seems to be injured.

He collapses, crawling towards to the droid body, while telling them how it’s his only chance to be real, how he waited and waited to be useful. 

Another “you figured it out eventually” star for Everett.

This is his only chance to be something more than the second choice and they can’t stop him from…

I am constantly torn between “this is dumb” and “this is tragic”. That said, tragedy might work best if it’s more dignified, but it doesn’t have to be.

ETA:  Also most likely a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey

And then it’s too late for Two. One, having had over a century to plan for this, springs into action, and absorbs what little was left of Two into himself. As he explains to Everett, Two was his only equal, he never wanted to lose that, and he didn’t want Two to completely vanish.

Oh, One. How incredibly lonely you must have been. I also think this shows how incredibly kind One can be. He planned for this, and waited and waited. It’s also a very nice and effective way of humanizing Two, by first breaking his defences and using that to show the damage done to him.

Everett says no explanation is necessary, and then glances at the droid body, finally figuring it out. He tells One to transfer to the body right now, and it works.

Easy to say after he’s explained.

As One sits up in his new body, Everett explains that One wanted to be a real person, and that means having a lot of the things Two were as part of himself. Evil, crazy, petty viciousness… all the things that make up a real person and that was never a real part of One until now.

While I take issue with One not being a real person until now (I will fight you), I have to admit I like the idea that adding something so off the wall as Two to him helps to expand his programming beyond… programming, I guess.

One, being reassured that he’s a real person, decides that he needs an external coating. As it happens, he’s been working on one for decades.

While One is talking, Everett is surrounded by a bright light, telling One goodbye.

At least he bothered dealing with his problems before ascending. That more than some does.

He tells  One that he never knew what responsibility he’d assume when he programmed One, but now his part is over and One will have to manage on his own. He then vanishes, leaving his robe behind.

Old monks, always so dramatic.

On one hand, yeah, building an AI like One, especially if you know he’s going to become what One does here is one hell of a responsiblity and probably terrifying. On the other, you walked out and left him all alone for years at a time. And again now. Did you not pay attention to Two? Your grasp on emotional needs are terrible.

This image serves no purpose other than “aww.”

In the past, One gives Lyla back her weapon, having determined how long it will take to reduce an AI to zero. The Avenger thinks Two will find a way to counter the effect, but One thinks it will be different.

The Avenger is doubtful, but agrees that Two usually was more trouble, while Lyla doesn’t understand why Two just quit. One gives a vague answer about Two realizing the consequences of his actions, and the Avenger suggests Two realized he’d be bored without them. He also doesn’t think there’s any point in worrying about it as Two is crazy and his actions might never make sense to any of them.

In the future, Robolab is getting a very important visit. For the first time ever, the owner and founder of Robolab is making an appearance.

Behold, the arrival of the sexiest duck in the world and One finally, finally getting everything he deserves.

[youremyonlyhope]

Attack of the Clones

Ok first of all, why must the poster be so dramatic? It looks like a romance novel but then there’s an explosion under them. Ok I mean I guess that’s a good representation of the movie, but still.

Now, this was the first Star Wars movie I saw in theaters, if I’m remembering correctly. Or at least I think it was... I don’t remember seeing it in theatres but I’m pretty sure I did... I honestly have less memory of this movie than Phantom Menace. And, made clear from my last post, I really only remembered random bits and pieces of Phantom Menace. But my only memory of Attack of the Clones is watching it in my living room like... 13+ years ago and it was some scene where they had a fight in an arena of some sort. Padme was wearing white and had a gun. That’s the only thing I know I definitely remember from this movie.

So I’m almost basically going into this with completely fresh eyes.

Oh no, people want to leave the Republic? I don’t remember this. Also lol Count Dooku. My family has an inside joke about him, and I can’t take him seriously at all. Ok cool, the CGI has gotten better in the last 3 years. That chrome ship is gorgeous. Still hasn’t aged well though. “I guess I was wrong, there was no danger at all” *EXPLOSION* OH MY GOD. NOT EXPECTING THAT. I DON’T REMEMBER THIS. See, I knew that that wasn’t Padme, but I didn’t realize she was supposed to be a Padme decoy (since she’s not an exact clone of Natalie the way Keira is). I just thought she was another high ranking Naboo person or something. So... I’m really glad we had the decoy... I mean... poor girl... but at least Padme’s safe... The Yoda CGI hasn’t aged as well as the ship’s CGI did. “Seeing you alive brings warm feelings to my heart.” That sentence wasn’t... “Yoda” enough... word order wise I mean. We should all listen to Padme more often. Ok. Why is Padme’s wig kinky textured with tiny braids? Is this the one time I have to complain about Padme’s wardrobe? Why must the Twi’lek senator have a robe with a low neckline and a cutout on her stomach? Obi-Wan has new hair. Well... anything’s better than the ponytail and the rattail. On that note: now Ani has the ponytail and the rattail. Why? Seriously costume designer: WHY!? Why did you do that to them? On THAT note: flustered nervous Ani is adorable. How did he go so wrong? Oh but Padme’s dress is so beautiful now that we get longer full body shots of her. “So have you. Grown more beautiful I mean.” Awww. Sweet kid. “She barely even recognized me, Jar Jar.” Dude, it’s been 10 years, and you hit puberty. She’s not supposed to recognize you right away. And she recognized you pretty quickly. And you really thought of her every day? That’s creepy. Was that Boba Fett? Also I remember the veil attached to the helmet vividly for some reason... why? I like that Ani’s already dressed in darker colors just because he’s dramatic. “I don’t think she liked me watching her.” Hey. Ani. Maybe it’s because she doesn’t want the guy who’s been thinking about her everyday for 10 years to be watching her all the time on a camera when she can’t see him too. Maybe it’s because you’re a little creepy. Just maybe. ...I think I might remember these worm things... but also I might not... I feel scared so I guess that’s some feelings leftover from 6-year-old-me. You had one job, R2-D2. One job! “The Chancellor doesn’t appear to be corrupt.” Wow, you could not be more wrong with that statement. BOY. YOU JUST SWIPED YOUR LIGHTSABER AT THE WORMS ON PADME. IF SHE HAD WOKEN UP A HALF SECOND EARLIER WHEN YOU LANDED ON THE BED SHE MIGHT HAVE FLINCHED AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEHEADED HER. COME ON. This boy has a death wish diving down in the speeder like that. OH SO THIS IS THE SCENE WHERE HE JUST RANDOMLY JUMPS OUT OF THE SPEEDER. “If you’ll excuse me” THIS BOY LITERALLY WANTS TO DIE. Did... did her face just change to like... green-ish...? I rewinded and yeah her lips turned dark blue and her skin was green with... scales? Or was it just the lighting? Because... that was kind of terrifying... So she’s wearing a veil AND can change her face? That’s fun. “Use the force, think.” Ok, Ani can only do one of those things.  “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be the death of me?” Ha. Ha ha ha. HA HA HA HA HA. *Sobs* Changeling? Cool. So I’m not going crazy, her face did change.

Dealer: You want to buy any death sticks? Obi-Wan: You don’t want to sell me any death sticks. Dealer: I don’t want to sell you any death sticks. Obi-Wan: You want to go home and rethink your life. Dealer: I want to go home and rethink my life.

That’s hilarious. I was just thinking “Does anyone lose any arms in this one? Someone has to eventually.” And sure enough, there goes her arm. Arm #7 I like that Yoda just floats in a chair next to them as they walk. I actually like that Jar Jar gets to be Naboo’s representative in the Senate though. Having a Gungar senator of Naboo just seems right if they live there too. AWWWWW. She has Leia-esque buns. “I’m ready for the trials, but he feels that I’m too unpredictable.” Gee. I wonder why he would think that Anakin “If-You’ll-Excuse-Me-While-I-Jump-Out-of-a-Speeder” Skywalker is unpredictable? Ok, the music that is playing. I gotta figure out which song it is later because this music is like... definitive Star Wars music for me. “Sorry m’lady.” OH GOD EW ANI I JUST CRINGED.

Padme: *Needs to travel with refugees and blend in* Padme: *Wears an intricate cloak and a giant headdress*

Perfect logic. Droid with a stereotypical waitress accent. I kinda love it. Ok seriously, the alien CGI has not aged well. The alien chef guy (Dex?) has a mustache. That is too much. “If an object does not appear in our records, it does not exist.” Ok. So does it actually not exist, or does it not exist in the records (but does in real life), or do you guys just deny its existence in general just because? Awwww... so you’re telling me that Obi-Wan kept one of those orbs all those years and trained Luke with one? And it’s just like how they used to train the children? Why do I have feels over this? “Lost a planet, Master Obi-Wan has. How embarrassing.” I LOVE YODA. Only a Jedi can erase files? Really? OK. OK WHO PLAYS THE NEW QUEEN. BRB GONNA GO CHECK. She was in one episode of Doctor Who, Planet of the Ood. Ok cool. Anakin. Don’t interrupt Senator Amidala. Listen to her. Come on. What happened to the sweet boy from 10 years ago? THE SUPER TALL WHITE ALIEN WITH THE LONG NECK AND BIG EYES. I REMEMBER YOU. I REMEMBER YOU SO VIVIDLY. I JUST GASPED. “After all these years we were beginning to think you weren’t coming.” That’s not suspicious at all. Well. At least they’re not evil. They’re just taking orders from a mysterious evil dead Jedi. AHHHH ONE OF MY FAVE PADME OUTFITS!  Ok the sand line isn’t as stupid out of context, I’ll give them that. Still gonna make fun of it though. Creepily touching her back. The dress may expose her back skin, but that’s not an invitation to touch it, Ani. So many clone babies. I think I remember this. “Oh... we... keep him here.” YEAH. TOTALLY NOT SUSPICIOUS AT ALL. Clone trooper reveal! This is a not a drill people! We just saw the clones in clone trooper armor! Oh, how I wish I could go back and be able to witness audience reactions to that shot. Ok. Ok. Yeah. That shot of all of them. In lines. In formation. I whispered “Oh my god” and covered my mouth just then. So did he want a clone of himself so he could be a father? Or was there some other reason... Another one of my fave Padme outfits! With Leia buns! “I like 2 or 3.” So, just Padme and Palpatine you mean.  “Sounds to me like a dictatorship.” “Well... if it works.” And here’s where Padme should have just run away screaming and never looked back. I thought those aliens were boulders until Ani rode one. Ok, it was so he could be a father to the clone. Cool. Kinda cute. Hmm... suspicious. I kinda hate that you can see the pear is clearly CGI for this entire scene. “I’m haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me.” Ok. That’s a name of a song in Ani: the Musical isn’t it? I need to rewatch Ani: the Musical once I finish rewatching all the Star Wars movies. Because even though I understood Ani: the Musical enough to find it hilarious and genius, apparently it was even more genius than I thought and a lot of stuff went over my head. But of course, it’s StarKid, they’re always geniuses, so I shouldn’t be surprised. “You are asking me to be rational. That is something I know I cannot do” Yeah. That’s for sure, Mr. Jump-Out-of-A-Moving-Speeder. BINARY SUNSET IS PLAYING AGAIN. GOD WHY DOES THAT SONG GIVE ME ALL THE FEELS. Also I took a moment to listen to Leia’s theme on YouTube, just to refresh my memory to keep an eye out for it, and through suggested videos I figured out that the music I keep hearing and saying defines Star Wars for me is Anakin and Padme’s Theme/Across the Stars. Obvious name. I should have guessed it. Anyway, yeah, that music is Star Wars to me. So even though I remember very little of this movie, this music definitely made an impact. DID... DID... HE JUST SAY “BOBA GET ON BOARD”???????? DID THEY SAY THE KID’S NAME WAS BOBA EARLIER? DID I MISS THAT? IT TOOK A SECOND IT WAS LIKE JANGO: “BOBA GET ON BOARD” ME: *3...2...1...* *GASP!!!!!* OH MY GOD. I REMEMBER LITERALLY NONE OF THIS. See, I had wondered about the Fett last name when it was mentioned earlier, but I literally was like “Jango Fett? Huh, I guess all bounty hunters just choose Fett as their last name lol what a funny coincidence” BUT NO. IT’S A FAMILY NAME. WOW. I AM STUPID. “Oh, not good.” There always needs to be an understatement of the movie. Last time it was Ani saying “This is tense!” and so far this time it’s this Obi-Wan line. I mean, yeah, it’s totally possible for Jango Fett to climb up a smooth curved metal surface with metal gloves in the rain. Totally possible. I mean yeah, a gold chariot while wearing a giant silver leopard (or snake?) print cloak isn’t gonna draw attention at all. FINALLY C-3PO. OWEN LARS. OWEN. AS IN UNCLE OWEN. FINALLY. You know, I always wondered just how Owen was Luke’s uncle if Ani didn’t have any siblings. But because it’d been so long since I saw this movie, I couldn’t remember. Ok but honestly, I should have realized we were gonna see Uncle Owen the moment what’s-his-face-Ani’s-old-owner (I refuse to learn his name) said “A moisture farmer”. Literally I thought to myself “Moisture farmer? Wow! That’s just like Luke’s uncle!” like wow I am slow today at catching on to this stuff. I might pause soon and go to bed since it’s almost 3am and obviously, my brain cannot function properly right now since usually I catch on to more of these little hints and stuff. On that note, the actor playing young Owen is kind of spot-on. “After I lost my leg” Have I been counting legs? Well, now I will. Leg #1. More Leia buns. More Binary Sunset! OK wait. If there are 2 suns, should they all have 2 shadows? I googled it, but it’s officially way too late at night for me to try to understand astronomy so I’ll try again in the morning to understand the explanations. Apparently the answer might be no. Oh fun, all the evil people coming together to build a huge army. Ok wait. Does Ani like... slaughter all the people who tortured his mom? Do I remember that correctly? Yeah that’s a yes. Beheading everyone. Great. I don’t blame him, but boy, this is how you end up succumbing to the dark side. A LITTLE HINT OF THE IMPERIAL MARCH. YES. BUT ALSO NO. “I told him to stay on Naboo” When has Ani ever listened to you though? Oh wow full on Imperial March now. Ok I’m gonna stop it here at the 1:28:10 mark for tonight because I’m sleepy. There’s a little under an hour left.

Annnnnnd it’s 11:00pm at night the next day, I gotta be up at 7:30, so this is a perfect time to finish the movie! Logic!

Ok but Padme’s in the white outfit that I know she’s wearing as she wields a gun and gets her shirt all ripped up so, obviously, Anakin’s not gonna keep them out of trouble for much longer. So... Obi-Wan is too far from the Jedi council to send the message... but Anakin is close enough.... but they’re less than a parsec away from each other. Either Lucas got lazy, or Obi-Wan was literally just barely out of range. Oh wow, Padme being reckless and unpredictable for once? And here I was thinking it was going to be Anakin’s idea to go to Obi-Wan. No wonder he loves her. And I love her loopy bun. Oh wait, so Dooku isn’t bad? I was remembering him as bad, but he’s warning Obi-Wan about there being a Sith Lord leading the Republic. (Update: He’s bad, I’m stupid and too trusting and reverting back to being 6-years-old.) “Meesa suppose that the senate give powers to the supreme chancellor.” SITH LORD JAR JAR BINKS CONFIRMED. “I love democracy. I love the Republic.” Never heard anything less sincere in my life. That looked physically painful for him to say. God I love R2 and 3PO’s relationship. Even this early on. Ahhhhhhh Binary Sunset again. Can you tell it’s my favorite piece of Star Wars music? Seriously every time I hear it I squeal. Ok this whole sequence is so CGI happy. You didn’t need to use CGI for C-3PO, you didn’t need half of this to be CGI. Practical effects would have been better. But fine, the head switching thing was funny. HIS ARM IS ENCASED IN METAL. FORESHADOWING!!!!! Oh no, not his lightsaber. Now starts the only part of the movie I actually remember. And Obi-Wan’s just like “Of course.” as they are rolled by him. “Then we decided to come and rescue you.” “...Good job.” I ADORE OBI-WAN. All of these monsters are making me NOPE on so many levels, and I know most of that fear comes from 6-year-old-Hope.

Ani: What about Padme. Obi-Wan: She seems to be on top of things. Padme: *Freeing herself and climbing up a pole*

This is why Padme was my everything when I was little. Not gonna lie, up until this part I kinda forgot that they wanted Padme dead. I had a day long break from the movie, so give me a break. So yeah... Jango Fett has a flamethrower in his wrist? That’s not fair. Is this when we see Mace’s purple lightsaber for the first time? I don’t remember seeing it before this. But obviously, I have really bad memory so who knows. And Padme in that outfit shooting a gun is something I remember vividly from childhood. I JUST GASPED SO LOUDLY JUST NOW. MACE JUST STRAIGHT UP BEHEADED JANGO. OH MY GOD. AND LITTLE BOBA WATCHED. WELL. THAT’S HIS BACKSTORY EXPLAINED. OH MY GOD. I DON’T REMEMBER THIS AT ALL. MY JAW IS STILL DROPPED AS I TYPE THIS. *R2D2 just randomly rolls into the battle and straight to C-3PO* ok sure. *Yoda comes flying in with an army of Stormtroopers* YES. EPIC. AMAZING. I LOVE YODA SO MUCH. Um.... but you left R2D2 and C-3PO behind! THIS. KID. IS. HOLDING. HIS. DAD’S. SEVERED. HEAD. NO WONDER HE’S SO MESSED UP. Dooku’s master? I don’t remember him having a master. 6-year-old-Hope literally must not have paid attention to any scenes in this movie that didn’t involve Padme. “I will take the designs with me” *Puts up hologram of the Death Star* I love love love love LOVE all the reveals though. Like, say what you will about the prequels, but the reveals of and references to stuff the original trilogy are amazing. Main Star Wars theme coming in, I hear you. Ani, you gotta learn to control your emotions dude. “We’ll take him slowly. You take him from the left–” “NO I’M TAKING HIM NOW” “NO ANAKIN NO!” I mean, is there an exchange that describes Anakin better than that? How has Obi-Wan dealt with him for 10 years? And Count Dooku can lightningbend. I don’t remember this at all. Ok ok ok. Pausing for a second to see how old Christopher Lee was in this because I know he was like super old and yet here he is having a lightsaber duel. ...DUDE WAS 80 WHEN THE MOVIE CAME OUT. THIS. DUDE. WAS. 80. AND JUMPING AND DOING ALL THESE TRICKS AND STUFF. DUDE. DUDE. AMAZING. (If it was a stunt double I’m gonna feel real stupid) Aww for a second I thought he cut off Obi-Wan’s arm. I’m almost disappointed. I wanted to count another severed arm. Anakin’s weilding 2 lightsabers. I don’t remember this. But that is epic. NOW there goes another arm! Oh poor Ani. Arm #8. I’m gonna admit it. I’m not ashamed. Once I heard Yoda’s signature grumbling I gasped and went “Ah! Yoda!” out loud because I had completely forgotten about him dueling Count Dooku until just now. I DIDN’T KNOW YODA COULD LIGHTNINGBEND TOO! OR I GUESS IN THIS CASE REDIRECT LIGHTNING! YODA IS AMAZING. OH. HE JUST ABSORBED IT ALL. ZUKO COULDN’T DO THAT. WOW. PRINCE ZUKO, TAKE NOTES. I feel like the animator had the best day of his life animating Yoda in this duel since Yoda is being so extra. “Fought well, you have, my old padawan.” DOOKU WAS HIS PADAWAN? AND QUI-GON WAS DOOKU’S. AND OBI-WAN WAS QUI-GON’S. AND ANAKIN WAS OBI-WAN’S. SO ANAKIN IS YODA’S GREAT-GREAT-GRAND-PADAWAN. WOW. AND I GUESS LUKE IS ALSO? Dooku, that’s cheating. Ok what is this, some type of sail boat space ship? There’s no wind in space, what is the point of these molten metal sail things on Dooku’s ship then? Ooooh... first reveal that this Darth Sidious is the Emperor from the original series. And it kinda partially reveals that it’s Palpatine. And yeah up until this point I forgot that Dooku’s master was Sidious. Dooku telling Obi-Wan about Sidious really threw me off. Because as you can see earlier in the post, I was like “Ok but he’s telling them about the Sith Lord so is he really that bad?” and nope it was just reverse psychology or something and I really fell for it. The Imperial March playing as we see all the clones, I just went “ahhhhhhh” out loud, dropped my crocheting (because of course I’m crocheting while watching this, I’m always crocheting), and raised my arms up. Oh my god. And the music getting more intense as we look at Palpatine and the Senators! Yes! YES YES YES! Guys. I am not gonna lie. That whole sequence of “The Clone Wars have begun” and showing them with the Imperial March just made me get really really excited. Oh my god. Chills. I am jumping in my seat. I am flailing my arms. Oh my god. Aaaaaand Anakin and Padme are getting married. I literally just said “Uh oh” out loud. Ok also, how did R2D2 and C3PO get back? OK but her wedding dress is gorgeous. I just went “Ahhh” and cringed at Anakin’s metal hand. It’s so creepy. I do love Anakin and Padme’s Theme so much though.

Well. I enjoyed that. Yeah, I got sleepy about an hour and a half in, but it was 3am and I knew that since I tend to pause every 2 seconds to put something into this post, I wouldn’t finish the last hour of the movie until at least 5am (it’s 1am right now, I started watching the last hour at about 11pm, so yeah about 2 hours to watch the hour). So yeah. But I enjoyed it.

Why do people hate the prequels so much? Am I biased because they’re what I saw when I was little? Because obviously, I remembered NONE of this movie except for the big fight scene and Padme’s outfits. Literally nothing else. But I still enjoyed it. I wish the dialogue was better, if they could redo the prequels with better dialogue and better directing, they’d be amazing. But even with the bad dialogue and directing you still just feel happiness, like you’re at home, because this is still Star Wars. And you still love the universe and the story. So yeah. I liked it.