#and geonosis which i did start writing

[jewishcissiekj]

spinning the co-parents AU (Anakin and Jedi!Asajj are both Ahsoka's Masters because of a misunderstanding) in my mind like all the time. the potential is endless.

[tragedy-for-sale]

Bedrock Headcannons: Commander Cody

Bedrock headcannons are headcannons that I regard as a fact in the personality of a character I write about. They range from small details to a huge part of a character's backstory. These headcannons are a constant underlayer in all of my fics that involve these characters.

﹄『❝ Cody ❞』﹃

Cody didn't fight in the first Battle of Geonosis because his gunship was shot down before it reached the arena. He was the only surviver.

This is also how Cody got his scar.

Cody and Obi-Wan met briefly at a clone medical center. Cody had been there because of his scar and he kept getting out of bed because he had to go check on his brothers. Obi-Wan was there for a similar reason, he was checking in and meeting all the soldiers. Cody was stumbling in the hall, his wound had opened again, and was trying to make it back to his room before he fell, but he did fall, he fell right into Obi-Wan's arms. Now Cody was too delirious to remember his name, but he's had a crush on Obi-Wan since day fucking one.

Cody's heart almost stopped when, weeks later, he was called to the Chancellor's office for assignment and the man who he thought was a dream- no, who he thought had been an angel of his delirium, came walking in, with his golden smile and his kyanite eyes. Cody couldn't believe he was real, and that he was Cody's general.

Cody got in touch with Rex immediately following the battle and Rex was blabbing on about this senator he rescued who came to visit him and brought him the prettiest flowers ever (Rex's words). Cody was with Obi-Wan when Anakin was saying he'd have a battalion soon, he was jealous Obi-Wan already had his, and he got onto talking about Rex. Now, Anakin didn't say Rex, but he did say Padme, and Cody, Cody had never once inturrupted a superior, but he couldn't stand there and let the opportunity to be in twin battalions with his brother pass him by; It was Cody who told Anakin who Rex was and that he was the clone that had been with Padme.

Cody does not take any shit from Anakin. He spends so much with Obi-Wan he feels like he raised Anakin too. So if they're ever together, Cody tends to mimic Obi-Wan's composure but in the way that Anakin feels like he's 15 again getting scolded for some stupid prank when in reality he's just explaining a battle plan. Cody makes Anakin nervous and he can't figure it out.

Cody's love language is quality time

He doesn't like to be around people when he's mourning, usually his brothers stay close after a tough battle and remember their fallen brothers. But Cody can't, he sees the faces of his brothers and he feels like such a failure. He's a Marshal Commander but that doesn't mean shit. He's the most qualified person out on the battlefield, but he still can't keep his brothers alive and he can't save them from this war.

As a cadet, CC-2224 was very problematic and increasingly troubled. He started fights with whoever over anything and if he wasn't yelling, he was crying. He would cry for hours and there wasn't anyone who could calm down the young cadet. Anyone except Alpha-17. Which is why CC-2224 trusted Alpha, who woke him up in the night and took him down to the medbay, who picked up the young boy and placed him in the doctor chair and put on a soldier helmet. It was only Alpha-17 CC-2224 trusted enough to be betrayed. When he woke up, his name was Cody and he never cried or yelled, he didn't scream or start a fight, Cody was the perfect cadet after that night.

﹄『❝ Cody ❞』﹃

[rexscanonwife]

First Impressions

The galaxy was in pure chaos. She wasn't one to shy away from a bit of chaos now and then. In fact, some would say she was something of an expert back in her padawan days! This was different, however. Ever since The Battle of Geonosis, everyone from the outer rim to the heart of Coruscant was in a tizzy to say the least. Drawing lines, choosing sides, making plans, and in the middle of it were the Jedi. Once they were the galaxy's humble peacekeepers, now they were expected to fight this war for the citizens they had sworn to protect.

A/N: I suddenly got in the mood to write a little something about the day Kepler was assigned as Brea's padawan because I don't think I've talked very much about how everything started! No warnings for this one, just a short drabble and some dialogue to sort of establish their relationship dynamic at the beginning to set the stage. Maybe I'll add onto it and include their first mission, maybe not, but for now here it is! (Divider cred. @/cafekitsune)

Brea’s foot tapped anxiously against the spotless floor of the temple as she wrote out the report on her last mission, her boots leaving slight scuffs on the pristine marble in the process. She'd developed the nervous habit over time after suddenly finding herself in the position of Commander, less than a week after becoming a Jedi Knight to begin with.

She had no battalion to command. When she was deployed on missions, it was usually either as backup for a Jedi General who'd gotten in a bit over their heads as they attempted to push back Separatist droids with their clones, or she went out solo. Using her skills to scout out potential threats, in which case she was solely responsible for the outcome of such missions…and for all the paperwork. Her least favorite part of the job.

Getting shot at by droves of nasally-voiced droids was somehow preferable to this. Her eyes strained against the walls of text on the datapad before her, a headache beginning to form from blue light exposure. Her focus started to wane as she wondered how a droid could have a nasally voice anyhow? What kind of person would program them with that particular kind of voice box? Was their intention to annoy the Grand Army of the Republic to death?

“Speak with you, may I, Young Callisto?” An unmistakable voice and speech pattern shook her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, Master Yoda! How can I help you?” She said, lowering her datapad to reveal the short, green Jedi before her.

He was not alone, however. A young boy stood awkwardly just a few inches behind him. His small frame was emphasized by his posture, shoulders slightly hunched as he looked nervously between her and the back of Yoda's head. Though his robes were disheveled and seemed to be just a bit too big for him and his signature braid was done rather sloppily, he was obviously a padawan. Seemed the right age, probably between 12 and 13 years old. He wore thick goggles that obscured most of his face, but behind them his brow was furrowed, and he had slight wrinkles under his eyes that he was definitely too young for.

She didn't have to use the Force to know that this was a kid who didn't want to be here. That begged the question, why was he? She looked back towards Yoda for answers.

His large ears twitched as he leaned against his cane, always taking such a long time to say what he was going to say. She tried to remind herself that she was in the presence of someone much older and wiser than her and to not get impatient.

“Young Callisto, a very important task for you, I have. As you know, spread thin across the galaxy are the Jedi. Yes. Very thin.” He started pacing slowly, his cane tapping against the floor as he did so. “As many hands as possible, we will need to win this war.”

Finally, he gestured to the boy. “Introduce yourself, young one.”

He seemed unprepared, as he suddenly snapped upright and his hands fumbled to clumsily grip at his robes. “O-oh, me do it? Ok, uhm…my name is Kepler Quinn, Master Jedi!” He punctuated this with a quick and shallow bow, more akin to a nod than anything else. His small voice had an extremely distinct squeak to it, as though it couldn't decide whether the pitch wanted to settle up or down.

“Well, it's uh, nice to meet you, Kepler!” She smiled invitingly to try and set him more at ease, “Heh, so polite. Thank you, but I'm not a Master.” wait…

Brea began to piece together just what Yoda was suggesting and was stunned into silence for the briefest of moments. Not long ago, Anakin had told her about how a padawan was suddenly sprung onto him without so much as a warning, and in the middle of a battle no less. Sure, she had thought about perhaps someday in the future taking on a padawan learner herself, but she always thought it would be a long time from now and that it would be her own choice. And with the war going on, she just didn't have the time.

“Master Yoda, I- I- don't know…how good of an idea this is. I mean, I've only been a Knight for how long?” She stammered, not wanting to sound like she was just outright rejecting the kid when he was standing within earshot. “Do you really want me to be a master?”

Yoda hummed thoughtfully, stroking his chin “a strange and unusual time this is for us all, Young Callisto. Do things the way we have in the past, we cannot. Learn to adapt, we must. And learn from you this youngling will!” He pointed at her with his cane for emphasis.

“In need of help, General Skywalker and his men are. You and Young Quinn will go to the front lines and assist them. Yes, that is your task.”

Brea perked up just a bit upon hearing this. Ever since seeing Anakin on Geonosis what seemed like only yesterday, the two were as thick as they had been as younglings, but with how the war was going they hardly had any time to spend together. They usually ended up posted in totally separate star systems and always seemed to be running off to a new mission. This would be a good opportunity to catch up with him, once she was done saving his butt, of course.

She breathed in deeply through her nose, and out through her mouth, resting her free hand on her hip. This was classic Yoda. He wasn't allowing her a lot of time to consider it, if Anakin needed her help, then she would never be the one to keep him waiting. “Well, Kep. What do you say?”

“I guess I don't really have a choice, so…” He replied with a hint of bitterness, his eyes not meeting her gaze. This gave her a bit of pause.

“Hmm, decided then, it is.” Yoda glanced up at her knowingly. She hated when he did that, like he had some sort of trick up his sleeve in order to teach her a lesson. “If unsure you still are when you return, another master we will find for the youngling. There is no time to waste. Leave immediately, you must!”

“Yes, Master Yoda.” Brea said in unison with the boy, as they watched the ancient one shuffle down the temple hall and out of sight. There really was no arguing with him in the end, and at least for now, it seemed Brea had a padawan of her own.

—--------------------------

That was how she found herself where she was now. Her ship was roomy enough to comfortably house two people, but she had been so used to riding alone that she couldn't help but feel a sort of…weight in the Force around them. She sat arms crossed in the pilot's seat and watched the lines of blue and white light streak past through the cockpit window. There were few places as good to strike up conversation in than hyperspace.

She looked over at Kepler, who sat stiffly and silently in the co-pilot's seat, as though he was afraid to move even a muscle for some reason.

“So, this is your first time off-world, isn't it? it's exciting, huh?”

“I dunno. I feel more nauseous than anything.”

“Eh, that's normal! It'll go away after a while.” She said with a wave of her hand, a deceptively blasé gesture to hide the fact that she was actually floundering just a bit. She'd been trying to break the ice between them for a little while now, but had only managed to get similarly dry responses from him thus far. She was normally so good with younglings. When she visited the initiates when they had a break from their studies to play in the courtyards, they had lots of fun. But this one was so different. Most children raised in the Jedi Temple never see anything else until they reach padawanship, the little guy should be ecstatic right now!

But she wasn't sensing any sort of joy from him right now. Not a hint of excitement. He sat disgruntled and the slightest bit on edge like he was waiting for something terrible to happen at any moment.

“I hope you're not worried about it being your first mission, too. I promise, it won't be that ba-”

“You don't have to keep trying to talk to me, you know.” He said suddenly, cutting off her train of thought.

She quirked an eyebrow, eyeing him from the side as she idly flipped a switch here and there on the control panel to keep the hyperspace jump running smoothly. “I want to talk to you. It seems like we're gonna be spending quite some time with each other from now on, right?”

“Sure. If you say so…” He said under his breath, but just loud enough that Brea heard it over the hum of the ship's engines.

If she says so? That was more than a little concerning to say the least.

“Well, did anyone say otherwise? Come on, we're in this together now.”

He stayed quiet, retreating into himself both physically and emotionally. That wasn't good, she needed to get him to elaborate more so she could finally figure this kid out. What would her Master have done if she needed her to open up to her…?

“Well, this reminds me of my first mission as a Padawan. My Master Yora Tos was a very powerful Jedi, and she had such a kind soul. But she was also such a chatterbox. There we were, it's my first time entering hyperspace, I'm trying to focus be amazed by it and she just would not stop yammering on and on and on and on and on-”

She heard him heave a rather large sigh. Bingo.

“Alright, I'm sorry, it's just…I don't have. A very good track record with this sort of thing.”

“What, with hyperspace?”

“No, with my Masters.”

Masters…plural? It wasn't necessarily unheard of for a padawan to be reassigned once in a while. Sometimes the matchup just didn't work out for one reason or another. It seemed like what was bothering him ran a little deeper than that, though.

“How many…Masters have you had?” She pried carefully, not wanting him to clam up again. She was worried she'd made a mistake by asking when he didn't reply right away, but after a few moments and another large sigh, he did.

“Three.”

She blinked. Three previous Masters? Ok, now that actually was a little bit unheard of. Now she was starting to understand him a little bit. She only ever had one, so maybe this wasn't a matter she could relate to personally, but she felt that she could at least try to sympathize with him.

“Jeez, that's rough, buddy. Why did you drop them? You didn't like em?”

He turned away from her, leaning against the arm of the seat and resting his chin on his hand. “I didn't. They dropped me. Because I'm, well… I'm not really cut out to be a Jedi.”

Her head swiveled towards him, “Hey, don't say that! I'm sure it's not true.”

“Well, I mean? I kinda tend to fall behind, someone is always having to wait for me to catch up. My saber technique needs work. I can barely move a pebble with the Force. And on top of that I'm always getting sick.” He emphasized this with a wet-sounding sniffle and wiped his nose with the sleeve of his robe. “I'm not exactly a star pupil.”

Brea exhaled through her nose as she pondered this. All of that stuff had always come so easily to her, she couldn't imagine how frustrating it must be to struggle so much with it.

“Well, everybody has stuff they're not so good with. It just takes time. And the right guidance! Who were your previous Masters anyway?”

“Well, there was Master Tiin, and Master Koth, and I guess most recently Master Windu.”

“Whew! Well I can hardly blame you, kid.” She said raucously, “That one definitely wasn't your fault.”

He tilted his head to the side as he turned towards her, suddenly seemingly interested for the first time since they met. “What do you mean?”

“Listen, Master Windu has always been bit of a hardass.” She began, leaning back in her chair. Surprisingly enough, this got what she thought was actually a snort out of him. It was almost laughter. Not quite, but close enough. “Ha, that's probably why he's on the Council now, so I doubt much has changed since I was a youngling. His standards are so high you couldn't reach them if you were at the highest point of Cloud City.”

“Yeah…” He turned away, his expression starting to fall again.

Shoot. She dared to reach over and tried to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch ever so slightly. She retreated a bit, but suddenly it seemed like a new resolve had settled in her mind. Somehow she wasn't convinced that this kid was the problem here.

“Listen…if becoming a Jedi was easy, then everyone would do it, right? If you're here then it means you have every right to be.”

He said nothing, merely humming a noncommittal reply in return before looking ahead through the cockpit window. Her eyes turned in the same direction. The star streaks that had been shooting past them at impossible speeds suddenly slowing until they stopped entirely and returned to their natural shape as points of light in the far distance. The whole ship shook slightly as they were finally dropped out of hyperspace.

Brea sighed and rolled her neck to pop her upper vertebrae before turning her attention to the control panel, switching the ship from autopilot to manual controls again.

“Alright. Let's get down there and save Skywalker's skin!” they began their descent and soon they would be breaking the atmosphere. “In my experience, hands-on learning is way more useful than anything you can learn from silly old books anyway!”

She glanced over at him and saw how his eyes widened as he watched the planet's surface slowly approach them. His lips pulled tightly in a sort of grimace as he was no doubt imagining what sort of scene awaited the both of them there. So, he was a bit nervous about his first mission. In an ideal world, it wouldn't have been under these circumstances, but at least one thing was clear to her. She wasn't gonna let anything happen to him.

“Remember, I got your back out there, kiddo.”

He swallowed harshly and turned, throwing her a thumbs up and some semblance of an awkward smile, revealing that he had a gap between his two front teeth. Something she hadn't noticed before now.

Fear response or not, this was the first smile she'd seen from him this entire time, and as she returned her focus to the ship's steering apparatus and prepared for landing, she smiled back.

[wantonlywindswept]

fox & rex ficbit

finally wrote some tcw! whoo.

tbh not entirely sure where this is headed (a lie: i know exactly where i want this to end up, and it is with alpha-17 storming coruscant in a fit of protective rage and also murder) and atm it’s just a lot of exposition ideas because...i still have no real solid feel for the characters?? so i’m kind of working through that.

it is exhausting. star wars fanon you are exhausting. why can my brain not just write with the tropes and be done with it

anyway basically rex and fox are alpha-17′s feral children/brothers/students/?? because all three of them are competent chaos gremlins. set vaguely after geonosis but before the GAR is actually properly structured, bc if star wars doesn’t know what its timeline is then why the hell should i

---

Growing up on Kamino, Rex and Fox had three things in common: a taste for the popularly-loathed blue carbohydrate cubes, an unstoppable compulsion to always be the best at anything they did, and the extremely dubious honor of being Alpha-17's favorites.

Fox was one of the earlier Command Class clones decanted, the eldest of a batch that boasted Wolffe, Gree, Bly, and Cody: possibly the strongest CC batch that Kamino would ever produce. He came out with a massive chip on his shoulder and left his tact in his tube, and made a sport of talking back to every single trainer in the Cuy'val Dar--which was why he once spent two weeks in Medical with broken ribs, a punctured lung, and Dred Priest's bootprints on his chest.

On the other hand, Rex came from a CT batch that was nearly flushed for genetic deviation, and of the original five, only he and Crys made it past cadet training. He clawed to the top of all his training modules fueled by fear and spite, and did everything by the book to avoid any kind of attention that might further mark him as defective: he kept his head down and his mouth shut, no matter what he actually thought about things.

Alpha's ARC training was good for the both of them, in the end: it taught Rex how to speak his mind, and it taught Fox how to shut the fuck up.

"15 - 5," Alpha announced cheerfully, leaning on his training staff without even the slightest indication of being tired. Fox, flat on his back at Alpha's feet, wheezed something that might have been a curse.

"I'm starting to think that those 5 were a fluke," Rex said blandly. 

Fox's next growl was definitely a curse, and he lifted trembling hands to sign something insulting and anatomically improbable in Rex's direction.

"Go on, stop whining into my mats," Alpha said, nudging Fox in the side with his foot. "It's time for me to beat the other little brat into the ground."

Rex watched, snickering, as Fox very clearly struggled to keep from offering Alpha a similar insult. 

It was good that he was finally developing a sense of self-preservation.

It was just the three of them left in the gym, long after most sane troopers retreated to lick their wounds and get some kind of rest before they did the same thing all over again tomorrow. Even Fox's certifiably unhinged batch had abandoned them after a couple hours of extra training; most of the CCs had been tagged for the ARC classes, but some were taking to it with a little more enthusiasm than others.

Fox peeled himself off the floor, using his staff as a crutch as he staggered to the deceptive safety outside of the training ring. He passed Rex along the way; his encouraging pat on the shoulder turned into more of an uncoordinated smack to the side of the head, which Rex magnanimously decided to forgive on account of knowing he'd probably need Fox's help standing up later. 

Alpha was brutal, and relentless, and more than a little bit of a dick, but he wasn't cruel. He pushed them hard, taught them everything he knew, and if sometimes Rex caught him looking at them like he was worried they'd vanish the moment they left his sight, well. 

The campaign on Geonosis had been a hell of a debut. They'd lost thousands of brothers, and now they were all on edge waiting for their official postings. There was no telling where they'd end up next. 

Fox would undoubtedly be deployed where the fighting was the heaviest; he came off Geonosis with a dossier of accolades and a near-spotless string of victories. The rest of his batch had done equally well--all save Cody, who'd been unwillingly left behind on Kamino with a grade three concussion and a broken orbital bone, courtesy of one of Isabet Reau's battle circles.

Rex was probably destined for something similar. He'd performed well enough that he was guaranteed an officer commission, and he'd been all but adopted into the Command class after taking control of a battalion that had lost their commanding officer. It would be an absolute waste to not send him to the front lines.

Once ARC training was over, once they got their assignments and shipped out, it was entirely possible this would be the last time that Alpha saw them both alive.

With that cheery thought in mind, Rex spun the staff in his hands, met Alpha's grim expression with a sharp nod, and launched himself into the ring.

(Later, after Alpha dumped them both in the showers and ordered them not to drown, Fox gave him so much shit for only managing to win three matches out of twenty. But he also hauled Rex into the closer barracks that he shared with his batch, shoved him into the empty bed, and immediately passed out on him, which was enough of a comfort that Rex figured he could put off his vengeance for later. 

Maybe in the morning.

Maybe after they came back from the war, and they could prove to Alpha that he hadn't just sent them off to die.)

[spell-cleaver]

Feel free to not answer this, but I know that you typically only post fics you’ve already finished so I was curious how many WIPs you currently have? You’re an amazing writer and I’m really excited to binge The Protégé when the final chapter comes out!

Thank you!!

I used to be able to work on multiple fics at once, but I've thoroughly moved out of that phase now, so usually I focus on writing one longfic at a time and try to work on that fic a little every day during the writing period. Now that I'm on summer break from uni, I'm back to working on one fic (in 2021 it was Sparks, last year it was The Protégé) and this year it's Gravediggers, which is a horror fic focusing on Luke and Aphra going on an adventure to Geonosis. I just finished Act I on Friday, so I'm about a third of the way through, and I'm hoping to have the first draft finished and ready to edit in about a month :D

That said, strictly speaking I do have more WIPs, they're just not active WIPs 😂 The Night Ferry will get finished... at some point... but it fell into the trap that Sparks did when I was first writing it, which was that I thought I could maintain this single-minded focus on one fic while still breaking it up with another chapter-by-chapter fic occasionally. I can't do that anymore, it seems! I can't break the focus. Likewise, there are stories in my files that are either a) brainstormed in immense detail, b) planned out in such detail that I could just start writing the story now if I wanted, or c) started writing, but lost passion and left by the wayside. Some of them go back to when I started in SW in 2017 (any works for previous fandoms will be in eternal limbo, I think). One story I'm still very interested in. It was inspired by a prompt I still have sitting in my inbox (the longer the prompt sits unanswered the more likely I am to answer, I promise! Eventually), but I realised it would be at least 50% space battle, so I'm putting it aside until I can take on a project to Get Better At Writing Interesting Space Battles. There's also a bunch of collabfics I've worked on that never got off the ground/finished.

Long story short, I usually only have one fic actively on the go at any time! Atm it's Gravediggers, which I'm insanely excited about and Im' having a blast writing :D Everyone sprinting with me on Discord gets to hear me cackle about whatever latest horrible thing I'm inflicting on Luke. But at the back of the folder are also a lot of fics that teeechnically fit the label "WIP" without being actively prioritised rn.

[cienie-isengardu]

Hi! I noticed that some unfounded criticism was being sent to you... I just want to write to you that your posts are very interesting. Special thanks for the fact that they are traditional. Don't pay attention to the negative! Keep writing in the same style, and write more and more. I wish you tons of inspiration! :) May I ask why you love the topic of clones and Mandalorians so much? It would seem that there was little about both of them in the history of Star Wars. Anyway, I wonder why...

Thank you very much for the kind words! 💜

In general I like cool armors and the military feeling (settling) so the warrior/soldier/assassin type of characters draws my attention immediately but as for my Star Wars interests, the funny thing is that everything always starts and ends with Anakin/Vader and both Mandalorians and clone troopers fall into that monothematic obsession of mine. 

For Mandalorians the passion of course started with Boba Fett, partially due to the cool armor and no-nonsense attitude and partially because he was Vader’s favorite bounty hunter - although I won’t lie, it took some time for my uncle to actually convince the kid!me in that matter because Boba’s performance in RotJ kinda left much to be desired. My uncle literally brought me the first novel (The Mandalorian Armor) from The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy to change my mind and to this day I’m truly grateful for his dedication because it did the job. Of course, twenty years ago there wasn’t that much star wars tie-in materials in my country, even less about Mandalorians so everyone latched at anything that was available and the great work of fans who shared for free all the translated scanlations of comics or articles and so on still warms my heart at the mere thought how awesome fandom can be. Again, thanks to the courtesy of my uncle, I got my hands on Jango Fett: Open Seasons and I absolutely fell in love with Mandalorians, especially with Tor Vizsla - and by extension, with Death Watch even though I know most fans despite this character. It is the black armor (my weakness!) and ruthless cleverness, battle skills but also underrated (or outright ignored?) little aspects of his personality that makes Tor Vizsla a very compelling character for me. That and also the fan translation that presented Death Watch as “Wataha Śmierci” in which Wataha in Polish may means a dangerous group but is also a Polish term for wolf-pack (while Death translated accurately) that I will admit, shaped my image of Mandalorians way more strongly than anything else. Ya’ know, the wild, dangerous predators tightly knit together as the clan and all the wolf symbolic for freedom, hard life, honor, majesty, nightmares and so on. Oops, sorry for the digression. Anyway, I like Mandalorians because they aren’t the holier-than-thou group and they can be - and are - ruthless bastards but also the loyalty to clan, the brotherhood in arms and honor sense is what I’m here for.

(I like Jango and think he was one of the best aspect of AotC and in general True Mandalorians vs Death Watch and the Fenn Shysa’s Protectors fight against Imperial occupation are great stories but thanks to The Sith Wars, I will always favor the original Mandalorians (Taungs) and KotOR era Mandalorians. Mainly because the Mandalore Indomitable is both awesome and hilarious when interacting with Exar Kun and Ulic Qel Droma.)

As for clones, well, I watched AotC in hope to see young Anakin the great battle (sadly battle of Geonosis didn’t take that much movie time overall) and I was truly touched and impressed with the little scenes they got then. In general I like to watch competent soldiers/specialists at their job - and Revenge of the Sith for sure provided more joy in that regard -  but also I love the complexity of Star Wars that has this whole subplot of exploiting humans literally “breed for war” while Republic (the symbol of democracy) and Jedi Order (the legendary good guys from Original Trilogy) doesn’t blink an eye on slavery that is technically forbidden by their own laws. Of course, the potential was never truly used, even more so with Anakin’s backstory of being born in slavery. Anyway, Clone Wars is one of my absolute favorite star wars eras, exactly for heroic Anakin and his slow, tragic path to Dark Side but also for his relationship with clone troopers (an interesting mirror to Vader’s specific relationship with common troopers in contrast to the “military elites” and oh boy, even with so little focus on clones, there is so many moments to see how Skywalker cares for his men). So the more I explored source material in that regard, the more I came to love Legends!clones, like Alpha-17 and his sarcasm or Nate who took the name of Jangotat for himself or the most awesome Delta Squad or commander Faie who definitely wanted to kill his Jedi General during Order 66 or those few commandos who refused to kill their Jedi comrades. The spectrum of experiences that shaped the supposedly same people is thrilling to watch how those men develop into their own persona, how they break from dehumanization or not, while all are so competent and no-nonsense humans always ready to die for a system that doesn’t care about them in the first place. Clones and their place in the story is really heartbreaking and I do think all the time about this complexity. However I wholeheartedly hate the chip-in-brain nonsense and I’m tired of the weird (TCW?) fandom tendencies to present clones as some kind of dumb idiots who either love their Jedi generals *so much* they can't function like normal human beings or can’t be left without supervision because again, dumb idiots… Uh. Sorry, ranting again. 

In summary, I love Mandalorian and clone troopers because they lack special powers in a universe that is all about special powers (Force) while being still pretty good at their job and generally neutral on the scale of good and evil. They are all a bit of both which gives a great possibilities to explore star wars universe, both from in-universe perspective and our real life. I love them because both groups provide me a lot of interesting stuff in regard to Anakin/Vader. Because yes, I’m that monotonic when it comes to star wars. And well, again, brotherhood in arms and cool armors are my thing.

[loriane-elmuerto]

lori omg please can i know some facts about miss aminata 🥺🥺 i'm deep in sw hell and would love to know more about her (if you're comfortable sharing) 👀👀

SOPHIE HELLO!!! 👋👋👋

god I can write an entire book about miss Mina omg

this is gonna be a lot of disjointed thoughts, strap in and I apologize in advance

First off Aminata was born on 46 BBY on Arreyel, an Inner Rim planet that is a source of multiple ancient Force pools (which is where both Clarmonte children got their powers from). Arreyel itself is a planet that favors science over the arts, hence, they are focused on the technological advancement of their society.

Aminata's parents were Dalen and Mirana, a very well known diplomat pair of high status who were more concerned with creating a legacy than being actual loving parents, rip <3333 She was taken to the Jedi temple when she was 4, and this devastated the pair, which made them not wanting to give up little Sarai years later

Anyway, lil Mina was a very shy and polite kid who wouldn't step out of her place and would choose resolving the situation with her words rather than her actions. This is one of the many reasons Mace chose her as his next Padawan once her trials were done. Because of that, Mina became very close to Depa (and later on, Kanan) who was like the older sister she never had (and taught her how to fight with her fists when needed)

Aminata's first mission as a Padawan was Qui-Gon's funeral, which is where she first met Anakin (and Obi-Wan, in a sense). They became quick friends because both of them were with similar personalities at the time (thrown into the grownup world a little too soon).

Aminata was also friends with Seline F'arah (padawan of Shaak-Ti <333) and Aayla, they had this little friend circle into which Anakin was brought in as well. If anyone tried to mess with him within their earshot, they'd give them a yelling of the lifetime

Her loss of innocence as a person was when she was 16. Some bounty hunters kidnapped her off-world and threw her into a fighting arena. It ended up being a bloodbath, Mace found her sitting in one of the ship's hallways, lightsaber trembling in her hands. This also fueled her...... Dislike of men which made her notorious as she became a Jedi Knight

Anyway, when she turned 18, she got into a relationship with a Twi'lek archeologist from the Order, Rachi Sitra, who also introduced her to her current iconic look, red lips and white hair <3333 their time together as a couple was very sweet and passionate, but they broke it off as their duties kept them separated most of the time

Mina became a Knight at 20, which was a big boost in self-confidence. She knew she was good at her job, so she wouldn't be shy about it. But being in Mace's vicinity also kept her self-aware, so she wouldn't overstep her boundaries. Also fun fact, she trained extensively in diplomacy so she could be sent to the Senate to deal with the problems there

Because she was close friends with Anakin, Obi-Wan did not like her at the start. At all. He thought she was too much of a bad influence with her critical opinions and loud voice, she thought he was too rigid and a big know-it-all.

They started to hate each other less in the aftermath of Geonosis. Obi-Wan heard that she stayed behind with Mace to help account for all of the bodies of the dead Jedi and clones, and decided to give her a second chance. Mina was too tired to be mean to him

The relationship dynamics shifted during the war. Aminata, Seline, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan became a very famous unit because of how well they worked together. Furthermore, she helped Anakin raise and train Ahsoka when the other two weren't around.

Also, when the war started, with Mace's blessing, she moved her family (with little 4-year-old Sarai) out of Arreyel to a safe undisclosed location. Because of her home planet becoming a Separatist ally, she heard a lot of accusations in the Senate.

Because of her achievements in the war with the 307th battalion (aka Shield), she became a Jedi Master at 25, with Aayla. This was a big achievement for them both (even though some said they didn't deserve it because they didn't have any padawans)

At some point after Mortis and the Zygerria incident, Seline became interested in Nightsister magic, which led her to Maul and the Dark Side. She joined him due to the fact that she became disillusioned with the Order as the war dragged on. Her fall was very painful bc Mina felt everything that she experienced due to their link (on a smaller scale tho). The first meeting with Maul was deadly bc he ambushed Mina in an abandoned ship. They both wounded each other rather badly, but Mina was left to bleed out. She managed to send out a signal to Zuru, but she ended up in a week-long coma in a bacta tank

Also, speaking of the 307th, it gained notoriety for undertaking the riskiest missions that demanded a protection detail. Because of this, and the fact that they received prototypical, state-of-the-art shields that helped them develop their famous shield tactics, they were all named the Shield team. Mina was known as the Shield of the Jedi Order. The 307th was lead by Captain Zuru (a serious man with a soft heart and a killer mohawk) and Lieutenant Mar'o (who would not hesitate to throw hands verbally and physically if someone dared to speak shit about his brothers or his Generals). Other members include Data (tech), Nomad (sniper), Locket (heavy gunner), Drummer (pilot), Tuxx (medic). Zuru at one point had feelings towards Mina, Mar'o had the confidence to be a lil more physical with her (with her consent. it was all fun and laughs for them both)

She doesn't know when she started catching feelings for Obi-Wan, but she does realize she's in deep hell when he tells her he knows right after the meeting with Satine. He also says he feels the same for her.

They both retained a professional relationship and a close friendship on the surface, only becoming a couple when they were fully sure nobody was looking (Zuru and Cody knew for their own sanity).

They also almost broke up after the entire incident with Rako Hardeen because boy was she enraged. She was mad. They worked through it, though.

I'm gonna quickly skip past the war and the imperial era bc there's too much lore for one post but I do wanna say that Seline killed her as part of Maul's plan to ruin Obi-Wan's life. So basically, Obi-Wan is the reason she ended up dead <3333

Final fun fact! She's trained in Form VII, Vaapad. This is bc she carried a lot of negative feelings inside, which needed to be worked with. Her field of expertise is creating Force barriers, which is what she became famous for during the war.

[archduke42]

Old Barriss fanfiction

For those bored on a Friday nite, I thought I would post more segments of an older story I wrote before TCW came to TV. When Barriss became my Muse, I just started giving her more adventures and liberties to be involved more in the Prequel Trilogy timeline

In this scene, Darth Tyrranus has lured Barriss into a trap when she arrives on Geonosis to attempt to rescue captured Obi-Wan Kenobi. Keep in mind, when I wrote this, Dooku and Tyrannus are two different characters, and Tyrannus has abilities where he can only be seen by Barriss as he poisons the minds of Dooku and the Separatists.  Barriss is put on trial,and sentenced to Death.  Dooku, who is slowly becoming a Dark Jedi obsessed with hunting down Darth Sidious, also reveals the big secret that has been hidden from Barriss her entire life, which will devastate her in that moment.

I know some of this reading may be a bit over the top, but I was excited to write a cliffhanger moment for her.

It may look as if I Mar Sue’d Barriss the way Filoni writes Ahsoka, but at the time I preferred to think of stories like this as “Barriss being a normal Jedi trying to do her best, gets into epic situations and faces imminent death.....but then a miracle happens and she just becomes naturally more awesome” kind of thing.  At the very least, I tried to make all her epic moments plausible when I wrote it.  Enjoy

(Barriss is brought into a large chamber blindfolded and tied up. The blindfold is removed. She finds herself facing Separatists Shu Mai, Nute Gunray, Po Nudo, Sun Fac and the shadowy Darth Tyrannus)

Tyrannus: A surprise for the Council......a Jedi spy.

Barriss: TRAITORS! Where's Dooku? Where is Senator Hadranus?

Shu: *SILENCE! You are in no position to demand anything!*

Nute: It is an unfortunate turn of events for you, my dear.

Barriss: When the Chancellor discovers your deeds here, Viceroy, you-

Nute: -Oh, be quiet. I hear that one every morning.

Sun: *Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee, it is with great regret that you are charged and found guilty of trespassing into a sacred catacomb of our honored dead. Great though your heart and deeds may be, you are unworthy to be in such a place. The penalty is Death!*

(Barriss turns to Tyrannus)

Barriss: Clever little trap for a clever little joke trial.

Tyrannus: An easy one, too. Master Unduli would never have fallen for such an obvious ruse.

(Barriss looks at him with irritation at the taunt)

Barriss: I’ll have you eating those words when Master Dooku gets here!

Nute: You can't talk to us like this! This is outrageous. You're on trial, you green skinned pest! This is for what you did on Naboo years ago!

(Barriss turns to the neutral Sun Fac with urgency)

Barriss: Sun Fac, you obviously remember that we Jedi have always been your allies. We helped end Hadiss' reign of terror. How can you let them pull off this "kangaroo court"??

Sun: *Politics......make strange bedfellows, Padawan Offee. Archduke Poggle is now a member of the Confederacy-*

Barriss: -No!-

Sun: *-of Independant Systems. Even if it were not so, you were caught in the sacred catacombs. Wether intentional or not......we must follow with Geonosian Law!*

Barriss: Joining the Sepratists makes you a traitor, Sun Fac!! Don't give in to their lies! Go get Senator Hadranus!

Tyranus: Barriss, Barriss. General Hadranus is not on this world. He is on Rhen Var, and he is about to discover his true destiny.

Barriss: Even if you kill me, the Republic will not stand for this horrible act! Palpatine will have you all on trial!

Nute: (sigh) Booring!

(Tyranus swiftly moves next to her with silent grace)

Tyranus: There is no victory you can have that I cannot take away.....

(The doors behind them burst open. Count Dooku storms into the proceedings, startling everybody. Barriss turns to him with a small feeling of relief. She turns back to Tyranus to give a witty reply, but Tyranus has vanished again)

Dooku: This is outrageous! Of all the audacious things!! I cannot allow this to turn into a circus!

Barriss: Master Dooku, I am grateful you are here! Finally you can tell these lunatics to let me go!

(A sudden uncomfortable chill sweeps over her as Dooku marches to her sternly. He looms over her like a dreaded prophet of Doom)

Dooku: On the contrary, young padawan.......I am here to stop you from ruining everything!!

Barriss: (In shock) WHAT??

Tyrannus: (whispering) She is a traitor....she must die.....she will destroy all your dreams....

(Barriss can actually HEAR Tyrannus as he sends horrible thoughts to Dooku's mind. Dooku's face is red with a held back indignant rage)

Dooku: You, of all people, Barriss......I never thought I'd see you try to stab Qui-Gon in the back as well with this treachery!

Barriss: MASTER DOOKU!! He was LIKE A FATHER TO ME!

(Dooku frowns even more)

Dooku: More's the pity!

(He walks past her)

Dooku: Barriss, the punishment for spying is death in the arena, the punishment for desecration of the sacred Nekropolis....death by immolation. The Geonosians believe it is to purify the stench of your unholy trespass. If I will it, you would die in a most horrible fashion.......but it would be an even worse fate that you should die without ever knowing what it was that has kept you alive.....

Barriss: Don't give in to the madness......this Confederacy of yours is an act of TREASON!!!

Dooku: I have cared for you like a granddaughter, and I have held secrets to protect you.....

Barriss: What are you talking about??

(At that moment, the dread Cyborg, General Grievous, enters the trial room. Barriss becomes frightfully aware of the malicious aura. She recognizes him, and he almost seems to smile under his cold metallic mask)

Grievous: Barriss.......how lovely......

(Dooku and Grievous escort Barriss Offee down to the dungeon)

Barriss: This is NOT the answer, Master Dooku! War with the Republic-

Dooku: -I did not ask for this war! I did not ask for my friends to die needlessly on Naboo.....or here....

(Dooku gets paternal as he opens a secret door among the dank dark cells)

Dooku: I have always admired your drive and initiative, your strong will. You would have made a great Jedi....

Barriss: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY!!!! BILLIONS WILL DIE IF YOU GO DOWN THIS PATH!!! You will be lost to us....please....don't do this! Please....

(Grievous stands coldly as Dooku leads her into a small chamber with several tunnels)

Dooku: Barris, I am carrying out the best kind of death sentence for you I can. I pulled strings to get you here.

Barriss: (sarcastic) Oh, thank you. I'm soooo grateful! You put me in the dungeon! You are not a Geonosian, you don't have-

(He leans down, for a moment, caressing her head in a grandfatherly way. He is ready to sacrifice even those he would call family to fulfill his obsession in destroying the Sith)

Dooku: -You don't understand. The legal alternatives like the arena.....it would be unbearable to see you suffer that fate. I do this for you as the friend you once were. Trust me, I helped design things so Poggle would never have to worry about the same stunts that were pulled when you and Master Unduli interfered years ago....Master Kenobi is also under sentence of Death.

(Barriss looks at him, shocked and horrified. He is not the graceful, witty Jedi she had known for so long. Dooku wearily stops and slowly turns to almost glance back out the door at Grievous. He looks uncertain about everything)

Dooku: It is not your fault, Barriss. You were a tool of the Jedi and the Senate. They have killed you, We must stop the Sith. We must make it all right. THAT is why this must happen.

(Barriss gets angry)

Barriss: What would Qui-gon say? You would kill your own friends and family??

Dooku: So much you do not know....about family...

(Barriss gets more agitated, but Dooku suddenly gets very quiet)

Barriss: WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT!!!??? You're Master Dooku!! Lord of all you survey!! You can kill with a word and these tin pot drones will do it!

(He looks away. Grievous gets huffy outside the room, but Barriss is no longer scared of the Cyborg)

Barriss: And you shut up, Grievous!! Nobody cares to hear your opinions!!

(She almost snarls at Dooku)

Barriss: I've grown up my whole life obeying the rules, smiling and eating and breathing according to the rules of the Order without ever knowing my family, my parents....How dare you!!?? Telling me I know nothing about it....you keep rattling on about secrets you held!!! You talk about family and yet you have calmly given me the DEATH SENTENCE???? WHAT IS GOING ON???!!!!

Dooku: IT is about your mother and father!

Barriss: What about them? I never got to meet them!

Dooku: YES, YOU DID!!!

(Barriss is stunned. Dooku composes himself)

Dooku: Qui-gon never told you about your father.....

(POV Does a CU of Barriss)

Barriss: What did Qui-gon know about my father?

(CU of Dooku as he drops the bomb on Barriss)

Dooku: Qui-gon....he WAS your father!!

(Barriss looks at Dooku in complete disbelief)

Barriss: -That can't be! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

Dooku: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!

Barriss: But who wo-

(Barriss stops and gets wide eyed as she suddenly realizes, as if putting two and two together on who "Mother" really is!! She holds back the shock as best she can, fully aware of everything around her)

Barriss: (sobbing) It can't be....IT CAN'T BE!!!

Dooku: It was time now to tell you, because time is so short! So much for you to know, but....

(Dooku looks away. He suddenly can't look her in the face)

Barriss: (tears up) All this time....

Dooku: You deserved to know before I sealed you in. You will wander these tunnels until you succumb to death. There is no way out. But at least you have a chance to die in peace, with the truth....I am truly sorry.

(Dooku, oblivious to Barriss' state of mind, turns and exits)

Barriss: (whispering) You son of a bitch.....You've condemned me to a fate worse than death.....

Dooku: You will die with dignity, and no one will ever know of what I have told you. When I establish a new galactic order.....you will be remembered as a great hero to the next generation of Jedi....A NEW Generation of Jedi under MY leadership!

(POV watches Dooku seal the door shut, Barriss' silhouette dimmed by the growing darkness)

(POV follows Dooku and Grievous back into the palace)

Dooku: Prepare the staff for our next briefing, especially concerning Poggle's latest weapons' project. Prepare the trial for Senator Amidala and her puppydog Skywalker!! They will join Master Kenobi for the arena.

Grievous: Yes, my lord.

(Dooku steps into another room quickly out of sight. He leans against a wall and closes his eyes. His world feels like it is crumbling around him for a few seconds. Tears fill his eyes for a second, but he grips himself)

Tyrannus: (VO whisper) Friends must die so that you can win against the Sith Lord. It is a necessary sacrifice....

(Dooku wants to say something, but the Darkness clouds his judgement and he steels his resolve to destroy the Sith even though he has committed one of his first terrible acts to accomplish it)

(Barriss sits in the dark, facing the tunnels, pondering what to do as she recovers from crying. The door opens behind her. CU of Grievous as he slowly enters and lights up two sabres with glee)

Barriss: YOU!!

Grievous: My child, I have waited a long stretch of time for this rematch!!

(Barriss jumps up and prepares for battle! Sabre lit, she stands in readiness as Grievous closes the door behind him)

Grievous: You are dead, one way or another. Dooku does not need to know the details!  I think about our encounters on Naboo all those years ago, and I think I owe it to you to make this as painful and prolonged as possible!!

(He lights up a total of four sabers! Barriss suddenly realizes she is out of her depth fighting him. Smartly, she leaps into the nearest tunnel. Grievous laughs)

Grievous: You cannot run far!! Every tunnel in this labyrinth is a dead end!!

How does Barriss escape??  That is a story for another time....

[gffa]

Did the Senate ever address the fact that the use of clones to fight in a war that they were bred for against their will, was in violation of the Republic's anti slavery laws or is that what Bail was referring to, that the Senate wouldn't approve the use clones?

No, the Senate never addresses the clones as slaves, which I think is because they can't view them that way, because the narrative doesn't view them that way. The narrative of Star Wars views the clones as having been drafted into the war more than as slaves, that's why no narratively reliable character really ever frames them as such, that it's always about how they were drafted for the war. Take the episode "Shattered" for example, when Ahsoka and Rex are talking about the war 

REX: “Well, I've known no other way. Gives us clones all a mixed feeling about the war.  Many people wish it never happened. But without it, we clones wouldn't exist.” Their reactions are about the war being the reason for their existence, so they’re kind of glad for it, there’s nothing about them being slaves here, despite that it would have been easy to put it in there, given they were addressing their conflicted feelings. Or the episode with Cut Lawquane, where Rex explicitly frames him as a deserter: CUT: “My name is Lawquane. Cut Lawquane. And I'm just a simple farmer." REX: “You're a deserter.” Or their conversation about their choices: CUT: “I like to think I'm merely exercising my freedom to choose. To choose not to kill for a living.” REX: “That is not your choice to make. You swore an oath to the Republic. You have a duty." CUT: “I have a duty. You're right. But it's to my family. Does that count, or do you still plan to turn me in?”

REX: “So what was it?” CUT: “What made me decide to leave the corps?  Shortly after the Battle of Geonosis, our troop transport got caught between two Separatist gunships. They fired on us with everything they had. We crashed. Most of us were either dead or severely injured. So when they started working their way through the wounded, killing us off, I knew there was no hope. I ran. It still haunts me.” REX: “I'm sorry.” CUT: “It's the day I felt my life didn't have any meaning. Everyone I cared about, my team, was gone. I was just another expendable clone waiting for my turn to be slaughtered in a war that made no sense to me. Can you understand that, Rex?” Or this conversation: CUT: “Come on, Rex, admit it. You've thought about what your life could look like if you were to also leave the army, choose the life you want.” REX: “What if I am choosing the life I want? What if I'm staying in the army because it's meaningful to me?” Later, at the end of the episode: REX: “You're still a deserter, Cut, but you're certainly not a coward.” Or look at Padme’s speech to the Senate about how “buying more clones is making us poor ):” doesn’t address that they’re slaves and you can’t tell me that Padme Amidala wouldn’t bring it  up, if the narrative meant for that to be the takeaway. These instances would have been perfect places to insert mentions of the clones as slaves, but the narrative never does with any character that is acting in good faith, because the narrative sees them as drafted into military service, so none of the characters around them or the characters themselves can react to the idea that they’re slaves.  The Jedi can’t react to them as slaves. Bail and Padme can’t react to them as slaves, the clones themselves can’t react to them as slaves, because the story didn’t see it that way.  And it’s not a fair criticism to inject it into the story when the characters are barred from reacting to it. Now, let’s be clear, that’s not to say the clones’ situation is totally okay then, because it’s not and we can criticize the writing on a Doylist level and I’m absolutely on the hill that the clones should not have been written this way, I’ve planted my flag firmly on it, because it is slavery when we the audience look at it and it’s horrific, which I think was meant to be at least sad, but given that even characters like Bail and Padme and the Jedi don’t ever bring it up, characters who are the good people and heroes of the story, means that it’s just not part of what the story was trying to tell.  It’s a failure of the writing, not a failure of the characters.

[kckenobi]

Bloodlines

Summary: When an explosion traps them in the same doomed escape pod, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Dooku are stranded together on Tatooine. The goal is simple: cooperate long enough to survive, and not a second longer. But a shared past has a way of connecting the people we think we know—and bloodlines run deep.

[or: your classic family road trip across a desert planet, except your grandpa is, you know, a Sith Lord. And now he's sort of starting to bond with your dad. And that might be an issue.]; 9 chapters, updated Sundays

“It bothers you, doesn’t it?” Anakin said. “You’re distracted. On Geonosis. On Florrum. Even now.”

“What bothers me?”

“Him.” The ship lifted off the ground, and Anakin used the moment of turbulence to decide how to phrase his next words. “He’s bound to you, in some weird way. Like you said—even if you never learned from Dooku directly, he’s played some role in the person you are now,” he said. “I mean, he’s your grandmaster.”

“He was my grandmaster,” Obi-Wan correctly, with a bit more sharpness than Anakin expected to hear. “And, in any case, I never met him before he left the Order. He’s a Sith Lord—and as long as I’ve known him, he’s always been a Sith Lord. There’s nothing lost. Nothing to mourn.”

“So then why do you get so unbalanced?”

There was a long moment of nothing—nothing but the hum of the ship and the swirl of clouds as they lifted from the atmosphere—during which Anakin wondered if Obi-Wan would answer at all. Wondered if he’d pushed just a little too hard.

But then he exhaled, rubbing a hand down his face.

“Imagine…imagine you fighting Qui-Gon.”

“That’s not the same,” Anakin said. Then, stating the obvious, added, “Qui-Gon wasn’t a literal Sith Lord. And besides. I knew him.”

“Did you?”

Anakin opened his mouth to insist that of course he did. Qui-Gon was a good man—a leader, wise and bold, who freed slaves and fought evil and protected the weak and weary. But then he found his mind trailing to back to when he was young—to the few times Obi-Wan had actually managed to speak of his old Master. The memories he’d alluded to, ones that didn’t seem at all like the Qui-Gon he remembered. There had been something about children on a war-torn planet—the name of which Anakin couldn’t remember now—whom Qui-Gon had argued weren’t theirs to save. Something about another Padawan, before Obi-Wan. Something about loss. As the fragments came back to him, Anakin suddenly wondered how much he didn’t know.

Still, he shook his head. “I knew enough.”

“Yes, that is usually the way of things. With those who’ve raised us, we know enough. But we will never know everything,” he said. “Twelve years with Qui-Gon taught me a great many things. But I never did learn who he really was—at his core.”

His fingers drummed against his knee, and Anakin could practically hear the rhythm. Anakin didn’t speak, hoping his silence would keep Obi-Wan talking—an old negotiation trick his Master had taught him long ago—and, as expected, it worked.

“Once, after he died, I found his old journals. I was cleaning out his room,” he said. “Most of the writing was illegible anyhow. But I suppose…reading tidbits of his life before me was a reminder that, well…there was a before. And there would be an after. Well, there would have been.” He cleared his throat, eyes cast down. “That’s the thing about those who’ve raised us—they live so much life without you, while you’ve never lived a day without them.”

“Until you have to.”

“Yes,” Obi-Wan replied, his voice much softer now. “Until you have to.”

Silence engulfed them as the ship broke atmosphere. Anakin leaned forward and oriented the ship, dragging them against the pull of gravity, until he could send them into hyperspace. As the stars turned to streaks, Obi-Wan leaned back and closed his eyes. And in the passing moments, they both tried to forget about it—about Dooku and lineages and people who leave.

And they did.

Until the next time.

Keep reading

[kaminobiwan]

cannonball

pairing: obi-wan kenobi x jedi!reader

summary: Throwing all caution out the window, Obi-Wan dives headfirst into a long awaited confession. At least, he tries to. The universe seems to leave an obstacle for him at every turn, but Obi-Wan is nothing if not persistent.

a/n: Oh my goodness, this has got to be my proudest piece. It was one of the victims of the incident™ and I had to rewrite the whole thing from scratch, but I actually think the final version came out better than the original! The title is inspired from the summary of my previous fic Indulgence, but this one is actually the cornerstone of all of my jedi!reader x Obi-Wan fics: every one of those has stemmed from this storyline idea that has been living in my head for so long. Suffice it to say this is THE fic that I have wanted to write from the beginning — my pièce de résistance, if you will.

I hope you enjoy :-) p.s. here's my taglist form

In all the years he’s known you, Obi-Wan swears he only ever started to lie to you during the Clone Wars.

In his defense, he’d been lying to himself, too. Forcibly crushing down his much-deeper-than-platonic favor for you in the hopes that it’d disappear, forgotten in his darkest recesses, was exhausting in more ways than one. One’s mind can only be dishonest with the heart for so long.

But after more than a year and a half into the fighting, he’d felt too many times the choking fear that he’d never see you again — be it because of his death or yours.

So he’d given up in repressing his emotions, and let himself feel. In the precious minutes of reprieve amidst the horrors of combat, sometimes the only thing that could console his jaded and war-torn soul was the memory of you.

He wonders how he managed to continue for as long as he did before allowing himself to consciously love — it was well into the conflict when he came to terms with it. If he closes his eyes, he can easily remember the exact moment.

Geonosis. His return to the forsaken planet.

The chaos of it all had been staggering. He’d barely been able to hear Cody’s warning before he was shot out of the sky, and the crash that claimed the lives of nearly everyone in the transport had been just the beginning of the hellscape he’d endured.

There was an instant where he’d been sure he was going to die on the field, seconds before the remainder of his battalion was about to be overrun.

He remembers the gunfire surrounding him, piercing the falling bodies of his men as he laid helpless and injured. Cody’s shouting amidst the mayhem. The stabbing pain of his ribs that had blackened the edges of his vision. The dirt that had caked his face and armor. The sheer amount of it had been maddening.

And yet, as the bugs had closed in around him and he’d forced himself to his feet to meet his imminent end, the only thing that had run through his mind was...you.

Your name, your face. The dissatisfaction at the fact that the last time he’d seen it, it’d been distorted, static and blue from the holo you’d shared with Master Unduli. The way you’d hidden a smile as she interrupted his competitive jeering with Anakin ahead of the battle.

At least he’d made you laugh, he’d thought, and with that, he’d ignited his lightsaber.

And then the reinforcements had come. And he’d been left to sink back down on shaking knees with the image of you burning in his brain until the concerned presence of Ahsoka materialized at his side.

He hadn’t had any time to process the stunning realization that he was in love with you. He’d scarcely had a second to gather himself before he was already spouting a revised attack plan to take the droid factory, reverting to autopilot the way he always did when he assumed his identity as a war general.

But the universe had seemed intent on not letting him escape it, regardless. Just days later, he’d saved your life — you’d arrived at Point Rain with Luminara only to be taken by the Geonosian queen to be turned into a mindless, shivering zombie.

“I still haven’t forgiven you for that, you know.” You’d chirped, while tapping his nose teasingly.

“What? The stunt with the worms? You know I wouldn’t have actually let it go up your nose.”

“No, for disobeying an order to fall back and leave us behind.”

His heart had clenched at your words. Never in a million years would he abandon you if he thought there was the smallest chance of saving you. He knew that, finally.

But the fear of losing the only life he’d ever known outweighed the fear of losing you, and he’d settled with yearning for you from afar. It would be enough, he’d convinced himself. He refused to burden you with the knowledge that he’d been pining helplessly for you for Force knows how long, and ruin the careers in the Order you’d both worked so hard to construct.

That was, until now.

Until he’d seen Satine Kryze again, after decades apart, and she’d declared her surviving affection for him from all those years ago, Anakin witnessing the whole thing. After he’d seen the weight of her unspoken truth upon her shoulders. And although he regretted that he couldn’t grant her the relief from her wanting, he’d resolved that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his days the same way — slowly being crushed by his own supression. Even if his feelings were unrequited.

So he’d decided that he’d tell you, Jedi Code be damned. He wouldn’t hold it in any longer.

As the Coronet docked on the landing pad where the Chancellor was waiting, he’d been jittery with anticipation. That, and disoriented from the events that had transpired on the way there. He’d blubbered uncharacteristically when Satine had caressed his face in farewell, Anakin watching delightedly at his back. Then, as he’d turned to find a speeder to make his way to you in the Temple, the universe had yet again toyed with him — you were there, appearing on the platform out of nowhere like a summoned spirit, but not making your way towards him.

No, you were walking straight towards Satine.

You didn’t seem to notice him or Anakin behind you, welcoming the Duchess with practiced cordiality and leading her to the airbus where the other Senators were boarding, glaringly obvious that you’d been assigned on escort duty. Obi-Wan held back a groan. Of all the Jedi.

Anakin had practically collapsed in hilarity, a hand heavy on Obi-Wan’s shoulder. “The Force works in mysterious ways, Master,” he crowed. “I finally get that one.”

———

You’re perched high up on a viewing balcony of the Senate Chamber when he finds you, a little before Satine is set to address the Republic.

“You’re certainly off your game today,” you exhale an amused laugh as he skids to a stop, attempting to compose his appearance as he approaches you. “Anakin told me all about what happened on the Coronet en route to Coruscant.”

His blasted Padawan. Obi-Wan could strangle him.

“I didn’t teach him to gossip,” he grumbles, coming to stand beside you. He'd run the whole way here to catch you, but his rapid heartbeat isn’t from physical exertion. You’re as tranquil as ever, though, and your presence relaxes him despite.

You give a snort. “Maybe not intentionally. He definitely learned how to operate outside the lines of the Code by watching you.” He knows you’re poking fun at him, but his breath catches at the mention of the doctrine that dictates you both.

But he’s set on telling you. Today.

“Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about something similar.”

You turn to the Chancellor’s podium as his voice reverberates through the hall, but Obi-Wan’s hearing is fixed on you. “Of course, Obi, but it’ll have to wait until later. I think your friend is about to speak.”

He opens his mouth to reply, to bring your attention back to him, but you’re focused on the proceedings. He doesn’t like the jovial way you say friend, as if you’re almost happy about it, but he forces his gaze to follow yours as Satine begins her address.

Which, of course, goes terribly wrong. Because nothing seems to want to work out today.

Even your usually optimistic features are set with a grim expression as a testimonial from Satine’s own Deputy Minister slights her leadership, and the Senate turns against her. As her repulsorpod retreats from the center of the chamber, you cast concerned eyes towards him.

“Go,” you urge him, and he’s frozen between staying or leaving. “She needs you. I’ll buy you some time with the security detail.”

Obi-Wan doesn’t want to depart from your side, words hanging on the tip of his tongue, but he knows you’re right. He nods at you gratefully before chasing after Satine.

———

He tries again in the evening, while you’re between shifts of guarding the Duchess’ guest quarters.

“She seems...interesting,” you nod to the Mandalorian guard that passes by to take your post, speaking low enough that your conversation is relatively private. “She certainly had much to say about you.”

Obi-Wan wanted to scream. It seems everyone had been able to get you alone except for him. “I told you about that year on Mandalore after I came back,” he protests, and you shoot him a pitiful wink.

“Not the way she described it.”

Before he can demand just what Satine had let on, the sound of rapid footfalls draws both of your attention to the guard you’d greeted earlier. “Master Jedi! The Duchess is gone. We don’t know for how long.”

You curse lightly and rush down the hall to follow the Mandalorian, and Obi-Wan is about to do the same when his comm buzzes on his wrist.

He sighs in frustration. He knows exactly who it is.

———

After he’d relayed the untampered evidence to Padmé in time for the Senate convocation and Satine had been released from custody, Obi-Wan makes his way to your quarters in a determined stride. The past couple days were nothing short of a wild Bantha ride from start to finish, and he was tired of tiptoeing around you.

As he raises a shaking hand to knock outside your room, he stalls in a moment of fleeting hesitation. The impending metamorphose of your relationship nags at his brain, and he pauses. What he’s about to do will indelibly transform the dynamic between you, for better or for worse. It dawns on him that there won’t be any going back from this.

He hears your voice from a distant memory of late nights in the Temple gardens, basking in the light of the stars. Of course everything will change. Nothing can stop that.

So be it.

He stands as tall as he can manage, and knocks resolutely.

You open the door looking ready for bed, clad in a billowing camisole, face dewy from the refresher and hair still damp. He smiles at you as you open it wider. “Hello, Obi.”

He shuffles inside, meekly nodding in apology of his interruption. “I thought I’d come see you.”

Like routine, you’re already heating up a pot of water for him as you search for his favorite tea in your cupboard. Ever so thoughtful. His heart flutters beneath his robes. “I’m glad to see you found the Duchess,” you chime lightheartedly, “I had a hunch when you disappeared earlier.”

His hand finds the back of his neck. “I hope I didn’t make you look too bad, being on protection and all.”

You shake your head dismissively. “I was just glad to hear she was safe. You helped save her people from Republic occupation.”

Altruistic honesty radiates off of you, and his chest drops, in a good way. You care, and it’s written all over your actions.

You’re the best person he knows. Without question.

For a split second, Obi-Wan wonders if he even deserves you. But he pushes the thought in the back of his mind for later, hell-bent on not letting anything get in the way of what he wants to say.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

You face him fully, abandoning the tea as you take in the seriousness of his posture. He sucks in a stunted breath.

“It’s about —”

“I know.”

He startles, momentum lost as you interrupt him suddenly. Your gaze is penetrating. “What?” He asks dumbly.

“It’s about Satine, isn’t it?” Your bare arm comes up across your body to hold the other, and Obi-Wan finds himself staring at the way your too-long pants brush the floor as you sway to one side. Your sleeping shirt brushes the middle of your thighs, and he realizes how utterly small you seem in the moment. “You feel the same way about her that you used to.”

His eyes snap up to yours at your words, mind reeling. It takes him an eternity to force out a single word.

“...No.”

You tilt your head confusedly, and Obi-Wan wants to pinch himself to test if this is some sort of stress-induced hallucination. “No? You do know she’s positively infatuated with you, don’t you?”

“No, I —” he shuts his eyes desperately. “I mean, yes, I know, but I don’t —” he breaks off abruptly, opening his eyes at you with newfound willpower. Blast it.

Obi-Wan crosses the room in three steps, reaching his hands out to cradle you delicately as he pulls you in for a bruising kiss.

He hears your breath stutter, shock just about vibrating off of you, but in the next second your eyelashes graze his cheeks as you close your eyes and lean into him. His heart pounds in crazed gratification, and Obi-Wan feels downright dizzy from the sensation. He’s going to faint, he’s going to die right here in your arms —

Your hands find the top of his chestplate, fingers curling against it, but after a beat of his body singing with joy, he feels you apply the smallest pressure on his armor. You detach your lips from his slowly, and he blinks dazedly at you when you pull away. Disbelief paints your frame.

“Obi, what —”

“I love you,” he says quickly, hands still on either side of your face. “I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you. For so long.” One of your hands reaches up to clasp his own against your cheek. “I know that this goes against everything we’ve ever been taught, and you must be confused. I’m sorry.” He breaks off for a second, eyebrows creasing, because he’s not sorry. He could never be sorry for what he’s just done, not with the feeling of your lips still rippling in tingles through his brain. “But I had to tell you. I just...couldn’t go on without you knowing.”

Your mouth opens and closes as you flounder in his confession, and he studies you with more intensity than he’s felt in ages. He’s suddenly hyper-aware of everything about you, offhandedly concentrating to memorize every tiny detail. He’ll relive that kiss a thousand times over for the rest of his life if it’s the last one he’ll get.

“I — I don’t know what to say,” you manage to let out, and he presses his forehead to yours before releasing you. Say you love me, his heart cries. But Obi-Wan pushes the sentiment away.

“It’s alright,” he promises gently. You stare at him as he squeezes the hand that’s still holding his. “You don’t have to say anything.”

“Obi-Wan, I —”

Whatever you’re about to say is cut off by a loud knock from outside, and the way you jerk back from him pricks at his emotions. You quickly pad to the door, opening it a crack as he attempts to conceal himself from your unexpected visitor.

“Sorry to bother you so late, Master,” Anakin’s voice fills the air, and Obi-Wan shrinks further into the shadows. “I’m just checking in before I leave for Vanquor. I wanted to make sure you’re still available to train Ahsoka while I’m gone?”

It takes you a little to formulate a response, your eyes still wide. “Yes — of course, Anakin, always.” You attempt to shut the door, but Anakin speaks up before you can.

“Actually, I was hoping to ask you for some advice as well, if you don’t mind.”

You can’t look at Obi-Wan without giving him away, so he sends a subtle wave of reassurance your way, hoping you pick up on it.

The tension releases from your shoulders, and you nod at his old student. “I’d be happy to. Give me a bit to get ready,” you gesture behind you, “and I’ll walk you to your quarters.”

Anakin must nod in return, because you close the door without another word. You reach up to grab your outer robes from where they’re hung on the wall, and turn to him with a tormented expression.

Go, it’s his turn to coax you as he mouths the word silently. It’s alright.

Your eyes are shining with emotion that he can’t quite read in the dim light, but eventually you slip on your cloak and shoes and open the door once more. With one last lingering glimpse at him in the corner, you disappear into the hall where Anakin is waiting.

As he feels your presence dwindling away, he sends a final thought into the vacant room, more to himself and the aching emptiness of the Force than to you.

I love you.

[dk-wren]

Happy Rebels Remembered Day!

Since I only started this blog last summer, this is the first Rebels Remembered Day I am able to participate in. Star Wars Rebels means the world to me probably because it is my favorite television series due to its stories and characters and for serving as my introduction into the greater Star Wars Galaxy.

I remember when this show was airing, I was so obsessed with it I used to watch the new episode on Watch Disney XD before it premiered on television. For Season 1 that meant I watched each new episode the week before it premiered, for season 2 I often times watched the episode in the few hours before it premiered on television after it was uploaded, and for Seasons 3 and 4, typically staying up until midnight to catch the newest episode. I also remember being so excited when I bought my first lightsaber, which just so happened to be Ezra’s S1 and S2 blaster/lightsaber combo.

I have so many memories that I hold dear to my heart, but I thought for this post I would share the sort of journal entry I wrote soon after the final episode of this series premiered. It was written as a train of thought and I never had any intentions of sharing it, so apologies for some of the writing since I wanted to try my best to maintain its original form.

“OMG the series finale of Star Wars Rebels left me speechless and completely in a state of shock. I remember I worked so hard the weekend before and the day of the series finale to make sure I would have very minimal homework for that day, so there would be no doubt that I would miss it. The weekend before they were showing the entire series from season 1 all the way up to most recent episodes of season 4, repeating the series/season a few times to make it last from Saturday evening to Monday at 8:30. That Monday, March 5, I watched Star Wars Rebels on my phone before school started and during the passing periods. Before school, I watched Through Imperial Eyes and when I got to my second period class, there was a bit of a break so I was able to watch more Star Wars Rebels, and it happened to be Zero Hour (pt. 2). After Geometry, I had to walk out to the foreign language buildings which meant, and I'm sure you can guess what came next, more time to watch Star Wars Rebels, so I listened to the end of Heroes of Mandalore part 1 and the beginning of part 2. I listened instead of watched because a) I should be paying attention to where I'm walking, and b) since it was outside I had to deal with the annoying glare of the sun on my phone screen. On the way to lunch, In the Name of the Republic (pt. 1) was being played (and for some reason I keep wanting to call these 2 episodes Ghost of Geonosis, which were the season 3 episodes with Saw Gerrara in them). Unfortunately, I was unable to watch any more live Star Wars Rebels episodes, but it was still not far from my mind (I kinda blame that for why I couldn't get the Hardy Weinberg Equations for so long). Nonetheless, the Force was definitely on my side because I was given no homework due the next day. So after school I went home, showered, did what little homework I had, ate dinner, etc. Before I took a shower, I debated whether or not to watch the beginning of A Fool’s Hope because I didn't want to miss it, but I kinda have what you would call a tradition. This “tradition” was that I would watch every episode of Star Wars Rebels before they premiered on TV, I never missed an episode, the only exception to this was that I wouldn't watch the season finale, so I could be surprised and never truly know what would happen to my dearly loved heroes, and villains. In the end, I watched about the first ten minutes of A Fool’s Hope, or until the first ad break. By the time I came out of the shower and did everything I needed to do, I went downstairs to watch the series finale. It was finally time to watch what I've been anxiously waiting for and dreading since the start of the series. It was a glorious hour and a half or Star Wars Rebels goodness, and so much more than I could have anticipated. At least 3 or 4 times throughout the series finale, especially the last 30 minutes, I would just gasp and hold my breath, literally resulting in me yelling to myself in my mind to breath! The worst came when Emperor Palpatine offered Ezra back his family and the life he could've had, if only he opened the portal. Boy was I going light-headed at that moment. Not to mention the other countless times I would start squealing crazily because of whatever happened. The epilogue, totally blew my mind, I could not think straight for at least 2 days. During CCP the next day, for the whole 2 hours I thought about nothing else except Ahsoka and Sabine and how long it will be until we finally get to see them go in their search for Ezra and Thrawn. Now I hope you enjoy a random list of thoughts I had during the series finale in no specific order: THEY HAVE A SON?!, OMG, Hera’s an actual mother, Where the heck is Ezra?, he’s not dead is he?, no that can't be, and what about Thrawn?!, Sabine looks AMAZING, look at the detailing on Sabine’s armor, OH GOD! Ahsoka’s back, AH!!! Zeb brought Kallus to Lira San, Zeb and Kallus FOREVER!, her mural looks so beautiful, NO, not Gregor, THE PURGILL?, that was Ezra’s plan, uh, the message was so touching, Ketsu’s back! YES!!!, Rukh just needs to leave them alone, That’s who voiced Chopper? The series finale of Star Wars Rebels was incredible and I will always remember it and it will never be too far from my mind.”

I am so grateful for the memories and everything that has come out of my love for Star Wars Rebels. This show really changed my life and the person who I am now. Even though I doubt this will ever be seen, from the bottom of my heart thank you to the cast and crew of Star Wars Rebels for making such a special show. And thank you for reading this long post about my love for this series.

Happy Rebels Remembered Day everyone! - Dakota Wren

[nibeul]

Please I want to know more about your clones 🤔🤔

I am so late to responding to this but GLADLY!! I love gushing about them though I have so many (like 50 I think) so I will try to stick to my main group ahh :)

Cross (he/him): Cross was my first clone OC ever, so he holds a very special place in my heart even if I do not draw him often enough. He’s a commander (CC-0044) and was present on Geonosis, though later returned to Kamino to help Alpha with the CC training program.

He got his scar in 21BBY and it’s actually not from the battlefield (none of his scars are actually from the battlefield). The scar comes from being whipped by a lightsaber hilt, which sounds funny out of context, but it wasn’t an accident.

He’s batchmates with @katanrocksketches ‘s OC Asch! The two were pretty close when they were in training, and Cross got his name before leaving Kamino. It was given to him because of his kind of uhhh, “cross nature” or disposition pfft. He softens up a bit between 22BBY-20BBY though the walls go up again after that :’)

Coming off Kamino, he was a stickler for rules and was not a big fan of clones tattooing themselves/dying their hair and whatnot (he didn’t even like having a name at first though his batchmates used it enough that it begrudgingly stuck). After meeting Sunny though, he lets him do one tattoo and ends up getting his number underneath his left eye. It is like, staying to how he believes they should be while also accepting that it’s ok to be individual.

Cross’s favorite color is red because for him, red represents Ando (my Padawan OC) and they are very close (NOT IN A ROMANTIC WAY. He sees Ando as his little brother or kih’vod to protect).

Cross actually does not know a lot of Mando’a because of his belief that they should not try to be seen as individuals. He distanced himself from anything that he considered “individualization”, and Mando’a was included in that. Sunny teaches him a little bit later down the line, and Ando also teaches him and Ten (another clone OC of mine) some Togruti, too

Part of Cross’s strict disposition comes from being subject to Priest’s death circles on more than one occasion (I might retcon that to Adral—a mando OC of mine—because I hate KT Ugh).

By the end of the war, he carries a lot of guilt. He loses a lot of the people he’s closest to because of his actions/orders, and he uh. Doesn’t live past O66 :’) he does get a very quick.. redemption.. arc.. kinda..

Sunny (he/him): Sunny was my second clone OC made around the same time as Cross, and he also holds a very special place in my heart :) I really love clone medics, there is just something about them that makes my brain go brrrr. I also think the irony of his name is great

Sunny’s name was originally Sers, but after writing him for a few weeks, I changed it because I thought Sunny fit better. His name was given to him by his batchmate, Aran, and while he vehemently protested against it, the name ended up sticking. He won’t admit that he actually likes it (though the tattoo and painting of his armor say otherwise anyway)

Sunny is the CMO of the 409th Corps (my OC military group basically). He’s a Lieutenant (or at a rank around there, definitely a CO at the least) and he does not back down. Ever. Even the people who outrank him will fall into line if he tells them to, Jedi included. He is not afraid to pull rank as a Medic, and his resting bitch face can be very scary

On the same line of thought as the rbf, he is basically perpetually scowling. He does not look approachable at all

Sunny loses the entirety of his batch on Geonosis, including Aran who he holds onto while he is dying. The Jedi leading Sunny’s company was.. not accustomed to war and failed to adapt when it was needed. Because of this, Sunny doesn’t necessarily harbor a dislike of Jedi, though he does not really trust many of them in leading positions. He also does not like that there are kids being put in the role of commander, he does see many Padawan deaths (he later comforts a dying Padawan that he was close to, I think I wrote part of that scene for myself and it was kinda upsetting oof) —> he gets his tattoo/paints his armor in order to honor his dead batchmates

Throughout the war, Sunny gets seriously injured only once after going down in an LAAT (where he nearly ends up dying too). Boost finds him, though he’s kinda accepted that he’s not gonna make it (I mean he does but it doesn’t look like he will for a bit). After Flip (younger clone OC) dies, he doesn’t really care if he kicks the bucket either :’)

Sunny is the only one out of my main gang to make it past O66. His chip doesn’t work at all, though he has to fight through his brothers (aha, the only ones who are still alive that he is close with) in order to save a Jedi youngling that was in the medbay at the time. After that, he goes on the run with the kid (clone dad clone dad) and offers his services as a doctor in the outer rim in order to keep them afloat

Boost (he/him) (she/her) [either or, there is no real preference]: Boost has gone through a lot of changes design wise. He started out as Dax, but then Dax became another OC, then she was Boost, though she had kinda short hair that was pushed back by a headband, then his hair was buzzed, and now we are finally at long hair Boost. Idk how to describe, but she is very shaped I think

Boost for his nickname from bear hugging his batchmates and lifting them off the ground when doing so. Also from fucking around in training where he threw another one of his batchmates in order to get from one ledge to another. All around just a name with silly origins that she liked and decided to keep

Boost and Sol are batchmates!

Boost is very tactically intelligent. She’s good at thinking on her feet, sees the bigger picture before focusing on details, good problem solver, etc. He is an ARC after all, there is good reason for his status and rank as a Lieutenant. That being said, he can also be very very stupid in the sense that off the battlefield, he’s oblivious. He does enjoy being the jokester of the group, and he sometimes plays up his dumbassery for jest, though yeah, a lot of people assume that he is not smart because of his demeanor which is very wrong

Boost is terrible. Terrible at braiding her hair. Sol is the best at braiding it, though she would never admit that even if everyone knows it. He started growing his hair out once they were off Kamino and hasn’t stopped since despite the fact that is technically not within regulations. Cross turns a blind eye and Ko (Jedi General) could not care less for inconsequential regulations like that

Boost is really good with kids, but good in the way a uhh.. chaotic uncle/auntie is. He’s a lot of fun to be around with, and being around kids makes him even more rambunctious than usual. He can be what is considered “childish”, pulling pranks and everything but like, he is very emotionally mature and knows when to be serious. Again, a lot of people kinda just boil her down to “dumb” which is really wrong, though it doesn’t bug him a lot.

Boost has a big sweet tooth!! He loves getting sweets when they’re on Coruscant, which they actually tend to visit frequently enough because of Ko’s status as a Sentinel (and also because Ko benefits what the Republic sees as the “propaganda machine” as a prominent General with a good track record).

Boost is romantically involved with @buttsalsa ‘s civilian OC Esta. I reblogged some art of them the other day, they are very cute :D

Boost doesn’t make it to Order 66 :’) I actually wrote out his death and cried after going back to read it LMAO It was rough

Sol (he/him): Sol was made as a package deal with Boost, and I feel bad because I think he gets overshadowed a lot but he is kinda like the rock for the group. When he dies, things really start to crumble but uh!! That is a sad thought for another time. Anyways, like I said, he is basically the rock and also a voice of reason for Boost’s shenanigans

Sol got his nickname after reading through some flimsi that their trainer had given him. He didn’t know if it had any meaning, but he liked the way it sounded and immediately began using it. Boost quickly picked up on it and the rest of their batch was very supportive

Sol loves reading. He specifically likes reading history, and Ando slips him what he can (fun fact, when Sol dies, Boost returns to their bunk to find a couple of holobooks that Ando had left and breaks down aha.. pain). Whenever he doesn’t feel like keeping Boost from causing trouble, he just sits in a quiet corner and reads his books while everything erupts in chaos around him

Sol’s favorite beverage is tea which Ko introduced him to. He has a few boxes he keeps with him when he can, and he shares them with Boost sometimes though he has to add a lot of sugar/honey in order to do that. If he could drink tea all the time, he could. On the flipside, he absolutely loathes coffee and doesn’t understand how Sunny can drink multiple cups on a day

Sol is kinda like the person that everyone is friends with even if they don’t realize it. He’s like.. the perfect emotional pillar, kinda the therapist friend in a group that desperately needs therapy. He’s more of a listener than a talker which is why it’s easy to overlook him, but he insists that he doesn’t mind much. That being said, it’s only once he’s gone that people start to realize just how much he did (aside from Boost who already thought the world of him)

Sol is also an ARC trooper, having gone through the training program together with Boost. He doesn’t have the same tactical knowledge that Boost does, but he’s good at mediating, long range combat, and also working through plans (he’s pretty meticulous). He and Boost balance each other out well, since he is like the “slow and steady” one out of them.

Sol is the first to go out of the main four (second out of my bigger group of six). He and his entire platoon are wiped out in a massacre as a result of false intel.. man :’)

Anyways, thank you for enabling to ramble about my ocs ToT I honestly just needed to infodump shdjf

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Hey! I literally love your last post so much but I'm confused about the rebels bit (never watched it). How does Rebels criticize the jedi? Thanks!

Aw, thank you! (Lol, this is such an old ask I don’t remember what that post was, but here goes).

Well in s2 Ahsoka, Kanan (a survivor from Order 66) and Ezra (his Padawan) all go to an old Jedi Temple to talk to Yoda about Vader and his Inquisitors (Darksiders who hunt the few remaining Jedi and kidnap Force sensitive kids). Yoda is only there spiritually and the three of them get different visions. Ahsoka sees Anakin as Vader, and Kanan has to fight several enemies and eventually admit he can't protect his Padawan from the world, only guide him (which prompts the vision to finally make him a Jedi Knight, as he survived Order 66 as a Padawan.)

And Ezra... Ugh. Ezra had a previous encounter with Yoda, in which he got his lightsaber crystal. Basically Yoda asked him why he wanted to be a Jedi, and Ezra had to do some self-examination and eventually realized that helping and protecting people made him feel alive, which greatly pleased Yoda who told him he might become a Jedi after all. That's a really great exchange and I love the character development Ezra gets, as he starts by saying he wants never to feel powerless and eventually realizes that's not the right answer.

But in this second encounter, as Ezra asks how they can defeat the Inquisitors, Yoda basically says that fighting is rarely the right path. And to illustrate that, he says that line about the Jedi being arrogant and joining the war swiftly "in their arrogance," which really bothers me. He also says they were "consumed by the Dark Side", which is why they're now gone. In all fairness, he also mentions that they were motivated by fear, which is partially true. 

Now, I write analyses and I try to be intellectually honest about them, because ignoring contradicting stuff weakens your argument instead of helping you. Except this time, I really can't accept this quote. I have an excuse, Lucas wasn't involved in Rebels so it's not the highest canon in my opinion (the 6 movies + TCW are, here are the quotes justifying my position), and I feel like that assertion is out of character for Yoda, ignoring his ST ghost appearances, and also plainly factually incorrect.

I understand that Ezra really needed to be taught not to always seek to fight. At this point, he's still an emotional kid who occasionally struggles with the Dark Side. Not fighting is important to a Jedi's path, so I can understand Yoda's intention. But the example he uses? According to Lucas, the Jedi were drafted in the war. That's not jumping into a conflict out of arrogance, that's literally being dragged there against your will. And sure, there’s Geonosis, but how exactly is rescuing a bunch of your people that’s getting slaughtered by a Sith Lord the same thing as arrogantly jumping into a fight? Like, what’s the option here? Not go, and let an innocent Senator and a bunch of Jedi be murdered?

It's like Rebels!Yoda isn't acknowledging that the war was fake and that a Sith Lord engineered it as the perfect trap (which is recurring problem in Rebels; at one point Ezra, Kanan and Rex have to fight an old Separatist tactical droid and Ezra "solves" the Clone Wars by pointing out that nobody won except the Empire, so really they were on the same side all along, and he gets praised for doing what "a bunch of Jedi, senators and Clones couldn't do," ie getting both sides to talk to each other – except wtf??? setting aside that the Jedi and Rex were aware of the war being fake by the end of it, and that the Separatists were openly led by a Sith Lord and attempted to commit genocide several times in TCW and did commit mass murder, and reduced like several worlds to slavery or starvation and were backed by the worst big corporations you could imagine, the war would NOT have ended if the two sides had tried talking it out. 1) The Senate made it illegal 2) the big corporations arranged for terrorist attacks on both sides the one time they tried to negotiate so the war would drag on and they'd get more money out of it 3) Sidious. Was. Controlling. Everything. What. The. Heck. Would. Have. Been. Accomplished. By. Negotiating.)  Plus the question of whether or not the Jedi should even fight is like... constantly raised by the Jedi during TCW, so I really can’t see it as “oh wow we didn’t even take the time to think and we got killed because of it, we really sucked.” 

Seriously, there’s this S6 quote: 

MACE: Are you sure we are taking the right path? YODA: The right path, no. The only path, yes. Designed by the Dark Lord of the Sith, this web is. For now, play his game, we must.

Like yeah, totally rushing in and being eager to fight lol. Nothing to do with being boxed in and having no alternatives. 

So yeah that's bothers me and I don't think it jibes with the rest of canon. I don't remember Yoda telling Luke (who, in the beginning, is as eager to fight as Ezra is) that the Jedi "disappeared" because of some fault of their own, or because of an eagerness to fight. (Seriously, pussyfooting around the fact that the Jedi were slaughtered grates me.) The OT never, ever, ever implies that the destruction of the Jedi Order was their fault - and unless you assume that the OT is “pro-Jedi propaganda” (*laughs in dumb youtube comments*) then I don’t see Rebels weaving it into its narrative as legitimate.

Again, choosing alternatives to fighting is a great lesson on a personal level, but it doesn't work on the scale of the Rebels/Empire conflict - or the Jedi/Sith one. Ezra should often choose not to fight because of what it'll do to his soul. The Rebels should not stop fighting because there is no cohabitation with something as evil as the Empire. Imo Yoda is always presented as wise enough to know the difference. 

The last thing that makes me think it's out of character is Yoda's spiritual journey in TCW s6. He gets all of his flaws thrown into his face and has to conquer them – he has to face his literal Dark Side and he wins. And yet at no point during that arc is he ever made to conquer his ‘Jedi arrogance’ or whatever. He has to face his worst fear (first vision, all the Jedi dying), let go of his attachments (second vision, him having to accept that he can’t live in a perfect world where everything is beautiful and no one is dead), and reaffirm who he is as a Jedi (third vision, refusing to give up on Anakin and trying to save him rather than to kill Sidious) but at no point is he ever made to recognize that wow, the Jedi are the worst for fighting. 

I’d argue that the very purpose of the visions showing him Order 66 and Anakin falling are to make him accept that these things are completely beyond his control - and as such, not his fault. He doesn’t get to fix things, because the fate of the Order is not in their own hands. It is, in fact, in Anakin’s (from a thematical/narrative standpoint). Yoda has a hard time with it (actually he almost shuts down when he first sees everybody dead and his first reaction is to say that he failed them, so I can’t accept Yoda blaming his grandkids for dying) but he accepts it in the end, when he tells Mace and Obi-Wan he’s not certain one ever wins a war, but they might still find ‘victory for all time’ (referring to balance aka Sidious’ death in RotJ). 

So anyway that’s my beef with Rebels!Yoda. Not hate on Rebels though, there are many parts of it that I really, really love - but some of them kinda infuriate me, and this is one of them. 

[sirikenobi12]

Wild Space Review - a bad character study

So, I’ve been re-reading “Wild Space” by Karen Miller to use as source material for a new fic that I’m writing and I’m being reminded how much this book really just pisses me off. 

Like, it’s so close to being a really amazing Star Wars book that it’s super frustrating. 

***Spoilers Below***

I enjoy the plot overall, the way she uses the Darkside is super unique and I just love it. The idea that a Sith planet is basically used as a weapon against the Jedi and destroys them not just physically but also mentally (and in the Force), but that non Force users are fine - that is so incredibly interesting!! Not to mention the way she weaves the canon timeline into her story is also masterfully done. And the tension and drama is very well written. 

But, her take on the characters leaves MUCH to be desired in my opinion. I just can hardly get through reading it a second time because of it. Her Padme and frankly her Obi-Wan are honestly the worst. Don’t get me wrong they have moments where the characters we know and love do show up, but overall she just seems to completely misunderstand both of them (especially Padme) and REALLY misses the mark when it comes to their relationship/friendship. 

Padme: Through much of this story she is nothing but a love sick puppy who is whiney and obstinate in the most annoying fashion. She doesn’t seem to have the level head on her shoulders that we normally see with this character. Yes, we see that obviously she has a blind spot and makes poor decisions when it comes to being with Anakin in both the movies and TCW (I mean she kissed him after the sand line...come on girl), but in this book she is just insufferable!! 

She has immature and snide thoughts that rival Anakin’s about Obi-Wan and the Jedi Order throughout the entire thing and I just don’t see her character being this way. 

Obi-Wan comes to her at the beginning of the book to discuss her and Anakin’s behavior on Geonosis and to hopefully talk some sense into her regarding their doomed relationship - makes sense, she is the more mature and reasonable one between her and Anakin, but that is just not what happens in this scene. She is cold, she is like a child who resents her father telling her what to do. She is just obnoxious in this scene and incredibly unreasonable (very out of character). She then decides instead of talking to Anakin about it or coming to the realization that maybe this relationship isn’t a good idea she basically yells at Obi-Wan and then decides to lie to him. The lack of respect she holds for him in this scene is very contrary to the woman who maybe a day prior said “Well, I’m going to go help Obi-Wan...” 

Not to mention she basically uses the fact that Anakin’s mother died and Obi-Wan had no idea as a weapon against him...low blow Padme.

I feel like once the dust settled on Geonosis she would’ve struggled with their rushed marriage. She also so obviously cares for the Jedi Order, and specifically Obi-Wan (and Yoda for that matter) as a friend and we don’t see that reflected in this book much at all.

It isn’t until later in the book that we finally get a glimpse of the strong Senator who loved the Republic and the people more than just about anything (including Anakin) - I guess if you actually believe she died of a broken heart then the version of her character in this book makes sense...I guess.

Obi-Wan: While not as insufferable in my opinion in this book as Padme, he’s still through a good chunk of it out of character. Though Karen Miller does nail his tendency to injure himself only to claim he’s “fine” and his self-sacrificing ways, as well as his concern/love for Anakin, she does beat a dead horse when it comes to his view on politicians. What was just a simple line in ATOC “She’s a politician and they’re not to be trusted” became the main source of conflict for him throughout so much of this book when it came to his interactions with Bail Organa, so much so that it got pretty cartoonish and circular. 

A lot of my issues with Obi-Wan in this book stem from the usual misunderstanding that the Jedi are not allowed to have feelings/emotions and coupled with Obi-Wan’s need to prove himself (which that is very much in character, I’ll give her that) he comes across as basically what Anakin accuses him of being in ATOC - he’s overly critical, he’s emotionless, he’s intimidating and aloof. And Anakin’s bitching about his mentor aside I really have not seen any evidence throughout canon to make me believe that Obi-Wan would be like this. 

His first scene with Bail in this book is just baffling to me, the way he reacts is not at all the polished Negotiator nor the charismatic man everyone seems to have a soft spot for (even the villains). 

And then once he has been working with Bail for awhile they keep coming back to this conflict - he goes back to mistrusting him simply because Bail’s a politician and so then Bail feels attacked so he thinks the Jedi are these unfeeling monsters and starts questioning if they really do “steal babies”. Now, I can somewhat forgive this getting heated when they are on Zigoola because the planet is basically using the darkside to destroy Obi-Wan, but as a reader it just feels played out before they even make it to Zigoola and that makes it seem rather lazy. Obi-Wan has faced so much trauma all throughout his life, the author couldn’t come up with something else to cause him to fight Bail on getting out of there?  

The fact that he kept digging in his heels, not trusting Bail (for no real reason), not telling him what was happening even though two pages prior they had come to a mutual understanding feels like Karen Miller just needed more pages to fill and just didn’t know what else to do with them so she went back to the ‘Obi-Wan doesn’t trust politicians’ well. 

It took me out of the moment because it felt so out of place and out of character. 

I really, really want to love this book, it has a lot going for it. But I find it so difficult for me to get behind her take on these characters that I already know and love.  

Did anyone else feel this way reading this book?? I haven’t read any of her other Clone Wars books yet and now I’m debating if I should actually read them or if they’ll make me equally annoyed.

[bedlamsbard]

Part 12 of the other side AU concept, the second epilogue sequence!  At least one more sequence after this before I either start revising or just keep on going as concept writing.

Previous: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

About 4.6K below the break.

***

Humidity made the rock of the cliff face slick against his fingers, forcing him to pay extra attention as he made his way up it.  He clung to the seemingly sheer rock with his fingers and boot-toes stuck into grips too small for most humans to manage for more than a few meters, relying on the Force to keep him from falling.  Heights had never bothered him, but he still didn’t look over his shoulder at the vast spread of jungle beneath him; he needed all his focus for the climb itself.

“Sure,” Ezra Bridger muttered, the words so soft that they were closer to being a thought than voiced, “ninety-nine percent of the time it’s ‘sit in this cell until we can think of something better to do with you,’ but it’s that one percent of ‘you’re a Jedi, please do this incredibly dangerous thing that no stormtrooper can pull off’ that gets you.”

The unfamiliar weight of both the sniper rifle and the pack slung across his back made the climb a little more awkward than he would have preferred, but he didn’t mind it.  Going anywhere without a weapon right now would be a bad idea, not to mention the fact that he was still a little impressed that Captain Pellaeon had given him one at all.  More than one, as it happened; he had a blaster pistol holstered at his hip and a couple of vibroknives secreted elsewhere around his person.  Pellaeon didn’t know about the blades.

Despite the fact that the humidity was so thick that the growing fog was just short of being rain, Ezra couldn’t resent his current position.  If he fell – and it wouldn’t take much – then not only would it be an ignominious end, but it was likely that no one back at Chimaera Camp would even notice his absence for a few days.  If they did, Pellaeon would probably assume that he had made a break for it.  It was an option that Ezra had considered and discarded given their current circumstance, but he was keeping it open if those circumstances happened to change.  He knew roughly where they were in relation to the Chimaera’s crash site, but he was also aware that there was nothing space-worthy left on the star destroyer. Aside from the ships back at Chimaera Camp, there was only one other option to get offworld, and Ezra wasn’t quite that desperate yet.

It felt good to have his hands on the living stone of the planet, to feel fresh air – and yes, the fog – on his bare skin, to lick his lips and taste the slight tang of the moisture of a new world.  He had spent nearly all of the previous six years on the Chimaera; the Force was everywhere, but it was different in space than it was planetside.  After spending his entire life on Lothal, the months the Ghost had spent with Phoenix Squadron in deep space had been a shock to him.  It had been at least a little preparation for all those years on the Chimaera.

This wasn’t Lothal, but he was still attuned to the Living Force and he could still feel the thread of wrongness that ran through it here.  As far as they knew, this planet didn’t have a name, just the designation it had been given when they entered the star system; if it had an indigenous sentient species, they hadn’t run into them yet.  Ezra had no way of knowing what the planet should have felt like in the Force, but he could tell that there was something badly wrong here and getting worse by the day.

A few minutes later, he pulled himself up over the top of the cliff with a grunt and crouched there, breathing hard, then took out his water flask and drank sparingly.  The Chimaera’s scientists were monitoring the water in the stream that ran past Chimaera Camp and had found that its chemical content was changing by the day; Ezra had water purification tablets with him, but there was always the chance that whatever was leaching into the water table was wouldn’t be affected by the Imperial-issue tablets.

He put the flask back onto his pack and took the sniper rifle off his back, using the scope the same way he would have done a pair of macrobinoculars.  The scope was the reason he hadn’t brought a pair of macrobinoculars; if he had to he could remove it from the rifle to use on its own, and he might need the weapon.  While he had never been formally trained as a sniper the way that some of the stormtroopers and death troopers aboard the Chimaera had been, given the time needed to set up a sniper’s shot he could use the Force for nearly the same level of accuracy.  If not, well, a sniper rifle was still a rifle – this one was reconfigurable, so Ezra could always break it down into an assault rifle or a heavy blaster pistol.  While most death troopers used the BlasTech E11-D and DLT-19D that were standard issue, they often had the liberty to carry other weapons if desired, which was how Ezra had gotten his hands on the A280-CFE that was commonly used in the Rebel Alliance.  

The view from the scope showed him only the seemingly impenetrable tree cover of the jungle he had come through.  Ezra knew that there were a number of clearings in it, some large enough for a light cruiser like the Scylla or the Charybdis to put down in – and in fact the Seventh Fleet’s remaining cruisers were parked in two such – but even with the scope they were impossible to see.  It had a range of five kilometers on a clear day, which this wasn’t; a heavy blanket of fog mixed with the tall native trees of the planet, turning the view beneath him into a grayish-green sea.  With a sigh, he straightened up again.  He kept the rifle in the curve of his arm rather than returning it to his back, wanting to have it quickly to hand if he needed it; the few seconds it would take to swing it around could cost him his life.

The jungle began again a few meters from the edge of the cliff.  Ezra eyed it dubiously; having spent his entire life to the age of fifteen in grasslands he still found forests both disconcerting and distasteful. When he stretched out with the Force, though, he could feel the life within it – confused by the changes being wrought upon the planet, but still present.  The wildlife, he knew, would be his first hint of real trouble.

Right now it told him that there was nothing to be concerned with except for the planet’s native dangers. Still, Ezra hesitated, looking at the edge of the jungle and fighting down his nerves.  Annoyed by his own reluctance, he sank down into a tailor’s seat, resting the rifle across his knees.  He fell quickly and easily into a light meditative trance; he had years of practice, after all.  He didn’t let his attention roll out the way he had done when he had meditated the previous night at Chimaera Camp, but turned it inwards instead.  He just wanted a few minutes to clear his head.

He was, he realized, afraid.

The fight on the Chimaera had been one thing, as had the handful of other skirmishes he had been involved in over the years, but this was the first time in more than six years that Ezra had been completely on his own, whether on an alien worlds or back on the Chimaera.  If he had died then, at least Grand Admiral Thrawn and the other Imperials would have known, assuming the whole Chimaera hadn’t been destroyed at the same time.  There was no real difference in being out here than there was being back with the Imperials, who had more reason to want him dead than anything else on this world and had come close a few times; Thrawn had twice had his own men shot over two such incidents.  Ezra had scars from the attempt that had come closest to succeeding.  On this world only Captain Pellaeon and a handful of other acquaintances – not quite friends – amongst the Chimaera’s complement really cared if he lived or died.  Some days Ezra wasn’t entirely sure that he himself did.

Kanan had lived like this for years, Ezra reminded himself, and often in worse situations than this one after his entire world had died.  So had Zeb.  Ezra could do no less than either of them, and refused to fail them.

It hadn’t been left to him to make any decisions one way or another for a long time now – not the kind of decisions that actually mattered.  He had been volunteered for this particular mission rather than volunteered himself, but hadn’t bothered to argue it even though others had.  It was something to do, at least.

Years ago he had asked Captain Rex about the Clone Wars, which Kanan only ever talked about when forced or when he had been drinking, which wasn’t very often.  The old clone had gone quiet, thinking about the question, and then said slowly, “When you go into battle – whether it’s a major push like Geonosis or a five man black ops mission – you go in understanding you’re already dead.  You can’t be afraid of dying.  You accept it – you take it inside of you.”

Rex hadn’t said whether or not he had learned that from the Jedi he had served with, but Ezra wouldn’t have been surprised if he had.  He let that knowledge fill him now, the reminder that in the Force he was both living and dead at once, and even if he was still drawing breath now, it was a state that could change at any point.  There was no point in being afraid of the unknown: what would happen would happen as the Force willed it.  All he could do was the best that he knew how.

He opened his eyes and got to his feet, tucking the rifle against his shoulder as he went into the jungle.

It was slow going. The undergrowth seemed to be thicker up here than it was in the lowlands around Chimaera Camp.  The tree cover was so thick that it blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving Ezra to pick his way through the jungle in greenish gloom, trying not to trip over creepers on the forest floor, which had leaf litter so thick that in places he sank into it up to his ankles, or hang himself on the vines that passed from tree to tree.  Many of the tree trunks were so wide around that it would have taken a dozen men holding hands to encircle them.  Nor was it silent.  Animals – he saw avians and snakes, along with some kind of small red-scaled reptile and the quick flash of a furry mammalian tail vanishing up a tree – called out constantly.  They weren’t much bothered by his passage, as animals usually weren’t, though more than once he heard them go quiet in response to some native predator passing through.  He sensed disquiet among them even as they went about their normal routines; they were as aware of the changes happening on the planet’s surface as he was.  More so; this was their home.

Mid-afternoon brought the downpour that Ezra had learned to expect after the past three days onworld. Rather than press on, he spent the time crouched on the upturned root of one massive tree, sheltering as best he could beneath leaves the size of his cell door back on the Chimaera.  The rain seemed to come down in sheets, like a solid wall of water despite the fact that by the time it reached him it should have been disrupted by the tree canopy. Ezra managed not to get drenched this time – the first day he had gone out to stand in it, to the horror and disgust of the sailors assigned to guard him.  Most members of the Imperial Navy hated and distrusted uncontrolled weather at best and planets entirely at worst.  This time getting soaked would be a hindrance – and besides, it wouldn’t particularly aid his already slow passage.  Ezra watched the rain fall from the dubious shelter of the tree and let his mind drift out in something that wasn’t quite a meditative trance – while most of the native wildlife had gone to shelter at the same time he had, it wasn’t a guarantee that the enemy would do so as well.

When the rain had passed and the sun had reappeared, Ezra recommenced his slow trek through the jungle. He hadn’t stayed completely dry in the downpour, but the scout trooper’s undersuit he wore was more or less waterproof; it still left him feeling uncomfortably like he had gone through a sanisteam in his clothes.  He paused twice to eat, the tasteless emergency rations that stormtroopers carried as a matter of course, and once to refill his water flask at a stream after he had tested the water with the Force and decided he didn’t need to use one of the water purification tablets.  By the time that dusk fell, casting the jungle into even further gloom, Ezra had, he guessed, advanced within a kilometer or two of his goal.

The advent of darkness slowed his progress even further.  He took out the night vision goggles he had gotten from the Chimaera’s death trooper captain – promoted from the ranks two years ago after the remaining death trooper officers had died – and put them on, blinking as the shadows of the jungle resolved into only moderately more penetrable shades of green.  While he had a glowrod, using it would be just as good as sending up a beacon, not something he wanted.  He could have passed through the jungle without needing to see at all, except that would leave him vulnerable to something he wouldn’t have thought possible six years earlier.

By the time he sensed the final setting of the sun sometime later, the jungle had been the next thing to pitch-black for more than an hour.  Ezra was silently arguing himself out of trying to find somewhere to sleep for a few hours when he felt the nearby animal life go silent, then recommence its noisy outcry.  The negation and recommencement of sound shifted in his awareness of the Living Force, and he swore wearily to himself.

Something was coming towards him.

He settled the rifle more closely against his shoulder and touched a finger to the night vision goggles, making certain that they were as firmly affixed to his face as possible. He had learned the hard way that what was coming left no trace in the Force – not of itself, at least.

Ezra could have gone up a tree, but he was city born and bred and could count on one hand the number of times in his life he had actually tried to climb a tree.  Even in this unfamiliar environment he felt far more comfortable on the ground that he would have perched on a branch – he was sure he could get up to one, but not positive that he could stay there, a hesitation he would never have had on a cliff edge or a high-rise.  He was absolutely certain that trying to fight on one would end with him flat on his back on the ground, and that was a best case scenario.

Instead he settled himself in the soldier’s stance he had learned from Rex, letting the rifle rest loosely against his shoulder as he let his awareness spread out.  Animals, frightened by the alien sight and scent of the intruders, fled their approach; plants flinched away from the heavy tread of feet.  Ezra felt them come closer and closer – a near-silent passage to anyone but a Jedi. The air felt close and heavy around him, the night sounds of the wildlife vanished into stillness or flight. Ezra let his mind fill with the blazing clarity of the Force, until in every way that mattered Ezra was the Force itself.  The Jedi were the sword hand of the Force, Kanan had said more than once; with or without a lightsaber Ezra was still a Jedi.

He fired even before he saw the flicker of movement in his night vision goggles.

The crack of the blaster shot broke the stillness of the night air, sparks flaring at the laser bolt struck armor it couldn’t penetrate. Ezra threw himself sideways, feeling the rush of air as the thrown thudbug just missed his previous position. He rolled and came up on one knee as he fired again, twice in quick unison, relying on instinct rather than the little his vision showed him.  He got one more shot off and then had to reverse his grip on the rifle, slamming it upwards two-handed to block the amphistaff blow aimed at his head.  Quick as the serpent it resembled, the amphistaff lost its staff form and lashed out, its jaws gaping wide.  Hissing, it spat poison at his eyes.

The night vision goggles cracked as the poison struck.  His vision blurring – knowing he had only seconds before they broke entirely or the poison dripped down onto his skin – Ezra thrust out with the Force.  The amphistaff’s bearer didn’t release the living weapon, but his arm and the amphistaff both swung wide, away from Ezra as he threw himself into a backflip, ripping the night vision goggles off as he did and letting them fall.

Darkness closed over him.

He pulled the rifle back to his shoulder and fired again; once more, sparks briefly illuminated his enemy as his shot struck uselessly off armor.  Then the warrior was on him; Ezra swung the rifle like a club, feeling it connect with his enemy’s skull.  Undaunted, the warrior lashed the amphistaff like a whip; the serpent slashed down across the barrel of the rifle, cutting the weapon  in two.

Ezra didn’t hesitate, just flung the remaining half of the rifle at his opponent even as he flung himself sideways again, avoiding the amphistaff’s attempt to get its teeth into his throat.  He twisted and came up with his blaster pistol, firing as fast as he could pull the trigger – a steady stream of blaster bolts, nearly all of which sparked uselessly off vonduun crab armor.  Only one penetrated between the joints of the armor, making his opponent grunt in pain.  His ears ringing from the blasterfire, Ezra thought he heard it echo oddly in the jungle, but he was already moving, grabbing one of his vibroknives with his left hand and slashing backhanded in the same motion.  With the Force behind it, the vibroknife cut through the amphistaff in the vulnerable place just below the head.  Halfway through the blade stopped, jammed against the creature’s seemingly indestructible internal structure.  It thrashed in the warrior’s hand.

It couldn’t cry out, but he could.  Ezra could neither understand the words nor sense the emotions that underlay them, but he released the vibroknife and got both hands on the grip of his blaster again, firing at the place he thought he had seen a vulnerable point between helmet and breast plate.

The blaster jammed.

Oh, karabast, Ezra thought – he didn’t have time to voice the words before his opponent’s free hand shot out and closed around his throat. He was lifted off the ground, armored fingers like durasteel cutting off his breath.  The blaster fell to the ground as he clawed at that implacable arm, fingers scrabbling over the plates of living armor that covered his opponent’s forearm.  He felt it twitch beneath his fingers, lending its strength to the enemy.

His opponent snarled something in his native language, his fingers tightening.  Ezra reached for the Force as his vision started to gray out, knowing that if he wasn’t dead yet then it was because the enemy intended to take him alive.  After enough suffering to make up for the death of his amphistaff.

Light flicked out like a whip, coiling around the warrior’s body.

Ezra had just enough time to feel astonishment before the brief flash of a jetpack’s repulsors heralded the being who slammed feet-first into the warrior, knocking him sideways. He dropped Ezra, turning to grapple with this new adversary as the glowing line of energized whipcord vanished. Ezra hit the ground, gasping for air but already reaching for another of his sheathed vibroblades.

Even now his enemy was absent from the Force, but the new arrival wasn’t.  Ezra didn’t bother to think, just drew his vibroknife, thumbed the switch on, and waited – with his amphistaff dead, or at least out of commission, the warrior was left with only whatever razorbugs or thudbugs he was carrying and his dagger-like coufee.  He heard the living weapon scrape against – or possibly through – what could only be beskar, and a grunt of surprise.  The brief burst of a short-distance repulsor sent the warrior stumbling back a step and Ezra struck in his moment of confusion, slamming his vibroknife up beneath the skirt plates of his armor to the vulnerable place on the inside of his thigh where most humanoids had a major vein.  He felt the weapon dig in and dragged it down as far as he could before the warrior cuffed him aside, sending Ezra flying to strike a tree.

He hit hard enough to black out for an instant, but was dragging himself upright as soon as he could, reaching for his fallen blaster through the Force.  The grip smacked into his palm hard enough to hopefully displace the jam and he raised it, aiming at the spot he thought the enemy was.

There was a blaster shot, not his, and in its flash he saw the warrior on his back in the undergrowth. It also illuminated the injured amphistaff making its way like a sidewinder through the leaf cover, with Ezra’s vibroknife still stuck into its neck.

Even as the flash faded Ezra fired.  His own shot wasn’t aimed at the creature, but at the hilt of the vibroknife, slamming the weapon those last few precious centimeters forward to sever head from body. Ezra heard it thrash briefly, dying, and then there was silence.

He would have liked nothing more than to collapse and sleep for a week, but he braced himself against the tree with his free hand and kept the blaster in his other hand.  His head was pounding; he knew he’d have bruises the next time he looked, to go with the bruises he still had from the Chimaera’s final battle and crash.

“Who –”  He coughed as his abraded throat protested. “Who’s that?”

Light sprang into being, the thin artificial life of a glowrod illuminating the Mandalorian woman standing by the warrior’s corpse.  After four years living with one, Ezra was hardly going to forget that particular silhouette.  His gaze traversed the slopes of painted beskar armor, noting the fresh scars on it from the coufee blade before settling on the helmet before the woman reached up to remove it.

“Ezra?”

He stared.  Then he tried to take a step backwards and couldn’t, his shoulders already braced against the tree trunk.  His mind didn’t seem to want to come to terms with what was in front of him, even as he lowered the hand with the blaster in it.  He slumped back against the tree, letting it take more of his weight.

“Hey!”  She crossed the space between them with a few quick steps and grabbed his shoulder, her grip solidly human and real. “Don’t you dare pass out on me now!”

Ezra reached up and closed his free hand around her forearm, staring into her face. “I’m not going to pass out,” he said. “They usually patrol in threes –”

“Yeah, we met the other two. They’re dead.  You want to sit down?”

“I’m fine,” Ezra said, or tried to say, but was already folding up.  He sat heavily, belatedly holstering the pistol he was still holding. “You changed your hair,” he said inanely.

“Yeah, I do that,” Sabine Wren said. “So did you.”

Ezra touched a hand self-consciously to what remained of his hair – long on top and pulled into a tail wrapped with strips of thin leather, close cut at the sides, because he had spent the past six years with sailors and stormtroopers who thought a buzzcut was the height of fashion.  He stopped with his fingers hooked through a strip of leather, stared at Sabine, and felt himself start to shake. “You’re real,” he croaked, even though the Force had already told him the answer. “You’re really here.”

“Yeah,” she said, her hand still on his shoulder. “I’m really here.  We’re all really here.”

When he looked up again, he felt as much as saw them ghosting out of the shadows at the edge of the glowrod’s illumination like the spectres they had been named for.  Ezra was too tired and overwhelmed for further disbelief; he pushed himself to his feet with Sabine’s help and stumbled into Kanan’s arms.

“I felt –” he said shakily, his voice muffled by the fact that he had buried his face in the other man’s shoulder.  He fisted his hands hard against Kanan’s back, aware of how gloriously alive he felt. “– in the Force, I felt something change, six months ago.  I felt you come back.”

“It’s me,” Kanan said, his voice gentle. “Yeah, Ezra, it’s me.”

Hera put a hand on his shoulder, smiling, and Ezra turned into her embrace, then Zeb’s.  He was shaking so badly that Zeb had to help him to a seat on an upraised tree root, one hand folded over his shoulder as though he couldn’t bear to let Ezra out of his grasp.  He wasn’t entirely certain that he wasn’t hallucinating – that he hadn’t been taken captive after all and this was some new torture.  Then he looked at Kanan’s calm white eyes and touched the Force again, gingerly, like prodding a sore tooth, and knew it wasn’t a trick.

“You’re going to explain that,” he said, a little wildly. “You were – I thought – I saw – I felt –”

“Yeah,” Kanan said again. “It’s a long story.”

Meaning not now.  Ezra took a shaky breath and leaned back into Zeb’s reassuring grip, watching Sabine crouch to inspect the fallen warrior.  She touched the scratches on her breast plate gingerly, then her eyes widened as a hand-size piece of beskar broke off in her hand – the coufee had cut nearly through it and the slight pressure of her touch had freed it. “What are these things?” she demanded.

Ezra sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Long story.”

“We saw the Chimaera,” Hera said, sitting down on his other side. She kept her blaster in her hand, resting across her knee, which under the circumstances Ezra thought was the wisest thing she could have done. “We were on our way to the rendezvous coordinates when Kanan sensed you, but we had to find somewhere safe to put down. Chopper’s with the Ghost about two kilometers away.”

Ezra rubbed his hand across his face.  “They’re from beyond the Unknown Regions – beyond our galaxy, maybe – and they’ve been making a push towards the Empire since it was still the Republic,” he said. “They’ve been tracking the Chimaera and the rest of the Seventh for months – years – and finally cornered her here. They’re warriors – shapers, they call themselves; everything they use is organic, alive – their armor, their weapons, their ships.”  He nodded at the warrior’s corpse and the dead amphistaff beside him.  “They’re called the Yuuzhan Vong.”