#battle droids deserved better so I made one that is actually happy :)

[im-yotsu]

It's them...the creachur

Also a turnaround for Rainer's tattoos

[gemmaswriting]

I've had a really shitty day - any chance of some happy family Anidala to look forward to?

Bless you! I'm so sorry you've had a crap day. Here's some happy family Skywalker fluff!

The moon’s soft glow filtered through the soft, gauzy curtains, casting gentle patterns of light and shadow along the bedroom walls. The evening’s cool air carried the scent of meadow flowers and the sounds of water lapping distantly against the shore filled the room with a soothing rhythm. It was a peaceful night, one of those rare moments of stillness that Anakin Skywalker cherished more than anything. Especially lately, when his nights and days were filled with the chaos only children could create.

Unable to help himself, the Jedi Master smiled from the bedroom’s doorway. Hell, if he was being honest, he was grinning. He couldn’t help himself. Padmé lay in their large bed with her back against the headboard, her beautiful dark curls spilling over her shoulders exactly how he liked. Tonight she wore a simple, loose robe over her silky blue nightdress – a favourite of Anakin’s actually…

But it was her expression, so relaxed and serene that made him smile. She was so happy. They were so happy. Luke and Leia, now nearly five – force, when exactly did that happen? – were nestled on either side of her, their small bodies curled up close. Luke clutched his favourite stuffed bantha, his blond curls tousled from play and sleep, while Leia had snuggled up with her precious companion, the little one-eyed animatronic droid he built for her birthday gift last year.

Everyone needed their own droid companion in his opinion. Padmé had Threepio, Leia had Lola and Luke was already making moves to steal Artoo away from him. He felt a little hard done by, actually.

��You look comfortable,” he murmured from the doorway, folding his arms as he leaned his shoulder on the framing.

Padmé glanced up from where she’d been watching the twins sleep on either side of her. He could hear the quiet hum of whatever holo-show she’d been half-paying attention to. “My arms fell asleep about a half-hour ago,” she smiled softly, “but I can’t make myself move them.”

“They’ve had a big day,” he nodded. “I can’t believe they’ll be starting school in a few months.” Luke and Leia were still babies in his eyes, sweet, helpless little infants who needed their parents for everything. But somewhere along the line they’d shot up into two remarkable, incredible children. How did he get so lucky?

“I know… It’s making me feel incredibly old…” Padmé sighed but her smile never dimmed.

“Well you know, you are the oldest person in this house…” He chanced a wink, loving the outrage that poured into her force signature. Anakin couldn’t help but grin as she glared, carefully lifting her arm from Luke’s back to toss a soft pillow at his face. In the spirit of being a good husband, he let it smack his face before tumbling to the floor. He probably did deserve it.

“That is not nice!” Padmé scowled, “You’re making me feel like an old crone!”

“You’re a goddess in my eyes,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

Letting his attention drift back to his sleeping children, Anakin felt like his heart might burst as he watched his son’s chest rise and fall with every breath. How was it possible to love something so much? “They’re perfect. A perfect mix of us… I never thought… I never imagined we’d have this.”

Padmé shifted slightly, careful not to wake the twins and reached out her hand in invitation. Anakin accepted at once, crossing the room to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. “There was a time where my faith wavered,” she admitted. “But we’re here, Ani. We made it and the galaxy is a better place for it.”

Anakin’s thumb brushed over the back of her hand, gentle and reassuring. He didn’t like to think about that time. Those days which tested him to his very limits in the battle against darkness, a battle he’d come painfully close to losing. “So did mine,” he whispered. “It was my love for you that kept me in the light, Angel.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, simply watching their children sleep as they reflected. It was these quiet, intimate moments that Anakin treasured the most – moments where they could just be a family, free from the weight of the galaxy’s troubles. He kicked off his boots and shifted, leaning back against the headboard and beside Padmé, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed so contently, his heart throbbed.

Anakin pressed a soft kiss to her hair, enjoying the soft floral scent of her. “Do you ever wonder what they’ll be like when they’re older?” he asked quietly.

Padmé smiled, her eyes half-closed. “All the time,” she replied. “I wonder what they’ll love, what they’ll dream about… who they’ll become.”

Anakin’s gaze drifted to Luke’s peaceful face and then to Leia’s and he felt a sense of awe. They had come from him… He hadn’t thought something so beautiful could ever come from him and yet here they were. “Whatever and whoever they become,” he murmured, “they’ll be amazing. They’ve got you as their mother, after all.”

Padmé laughed softly. “And you as their father, Ani,” she added. “That’s quite the combination. I only hope the galaxy is ready for them.”

Anakin’s smile was soft and he tightened his hold on her slightly. “I try be the father they deserve,” he confessed, a vulnerability in his voice he wasn’t fully comfortable with.

Padmé turned to face him, her hand reaching up to cup his cheek. “You don’t have to try, Anakin. You already are,” she said firmly, her brown eyes meeting his blue ones. “You’ve given them so much love. So much joy. You’re everything they could ever need. Everything I could ever need.”

He closed his eyes briefly, letting her words wash over him. “And you,” he whispered, “are everything I ever needed.”

She leaned up and kissed him softly, her lips lingering on his for a long moment. When they pulled back, they both turned their gazes to the twins again, content to just watch them sleep for a little longer before the dreaded move to their own rooms.

Luke shifted slightly in his sleep, his little fingers clutching his stuffed toy tighter. Leia, as if sensing her brother’s movement, snuggled closer to Padmé, her small body pressing against her mother’s side.

Anakin chuckled quietly. “I don’t understand how they’re so big. I swear they were just babies yesterday.”

Padmé laughed softly, nodding. “I know… they’re growing up too fast.”

“We’ll just have to cherish every moment,” Anakin whispered. “Even the tantrums and force-throwing of toys, I suppose.”

Padmé nodded. “Every single moment,” she agreed.

As they settled back into the pillows, Padmé’s hand found Anakin’s again, their fingers intertwining. Luke and Leia slept on, their soft breaths filling the room with a gentle, rhythmic sound. The moonlight danced over them all, casting a warm, silver glow across the room.

And in that quiet, peaceful space, Anakin knew that, no matter what the future held, he was always going to have this — their family, their love, and these simple, beautiful moments that made life worth living.

He was a lucky man indeed.

[generallynerdy]

Uncalled they come to me, and told, they still won’t leave me (Din Djarin/Soulmate!Reader)

Spoilers for Chapter 9 (S2E1) of the Mandalorian

Summary: After the ambitious Toro Calican turns on you, his hired mechanic, in hopes of winning favour with the Guild, the mysterious Mandalorian saves your life. Now that you owe him a life debt, he’s stuck with you until you can save him back. It’s not so bad, having a free mechanic and babysitter for the kid, but things take a turn for the worse when both of you realise you might be catching feelings. For someone that might not even be your Soulmate.

Requested by Anon: Hello! How’re you doing? May I please request a Din x reader soulmate au? The one where you don’t see color until you touch your soulmate? It would be very difficult for Din to find his soulmate and I’ve always wanted to see how it played out. If not that’s ok! Thank you and have a wonderful day ❤️

Key: (Y/N) - your name, (h/c) - hair colour, (e/c) - eye colour Translations: vode - siblings, Ret’urcye mhi - goodbye (literally: may we meet again), mirshmure’cya - brain-kiss (Basic term, is Keldabe kiss. This is the soft one as opposed to the literal headbutt term) Asked to be tagged in this disaster: @pearlll09 Word Count: remember when i said this would be 4k? Yeah. It’s 6,478 words. What. The. Fuck.

Author’s Note: this is way longer than I intended it to be but I think u deserve it since u were the only one who saw my post begging for mando requests and actually sent one hksjlfdkj tysm!! I’m so happy I got to write a Soulmate AU for him tbh. Btw, I have it in my head that Yodito would’ve given him the ability to see green, as a familial Soulmate bond, but it wouldn’t work for this if your eyes are green so I just left it out. (Also wtf is up with the Cobb/Din shit, Cobb is clearly in a dedicated relationship with the bartender Weequay. I named them Sala :D) The title is from The Teller of Tales by Gabriela Mistral.

Read On AO3

*

“Do you wear those gloves all the time?”

The Mando gives you a look—one that you can’t read, obviously, but you get the idea that it’s drier than the desert you’re in.

Calican snorts, but you shoot him a glare and he shuts up. You’re only here because he’s paying well for your mechanical skills, enough that his request of an extra hand on his first bounty seemed reasonable. Finding out that he’s hunting Fennec Shand was...less than pleasing, but now that the Mando is onboard, you’re not quite so worried about the outcome. They’re supposed to be fearsome warriors, after all. And he was smart enough to figure out how to wait out Shand, which is what the three of you have been doing for hours.

“I’m just saying,” you continue, “between the armour and the gloves, it must be damn near impossible to find your Soulmate.”

He shrugs. Sort of. It’s kind of hard to tell, to be honest.

“Haven’t you heard the stories?” Calican asks, flopping back onto the sand. “Mandalorians don’t have Soulmates. They start seeing colour after their first battle; war is their only destiny.”

You roll your eyes. They’re folk tales, really, and ridiculous ones at that. Every sentient has at least one Soulmate, romantic, platonic, familial, or otherwise, and there’s no reason for Mandalorians to be any different. Still, the stories make their rounds. There are specific ones, too, like the one about the Mandalorian Jedi who made the Darksaber; he was said to see colour when he lit his weapon for the first time. Fett, too, was said to have seen a new colour with every clone that was decanted—which is mildly ridiculous.

“Maybe the Mandalorians of old,” Mando comments with a scoff. “Not many of us see battle these days.”

“Well, if you’re looking for it, I know a krayt dragon a few hundred klicks away,” you suggest lightly.

He snorts. “No thanks. I’ll take the assassin.”

“Speaking of,” you said, “you guys know I’m just a mechanic, right?”

There’s a pause. Calican nods, but the Mando is still.

“What?” he asks, displeasure in his voice.

“I mean, I’m pretty good with a blaster, but I’m gonna be useless against Fennec Shand.”

Mando whirls on Calican. “You paid a mechanic to be your back-up? Are you insane?”

He shrugs. “(Y/N) has a mean right hook.”

“That’s not reassuring,” Mando huffs. He looks over at you and you can almost feel him glaring through the visor. “Are you crazy?”

“I’m broke,” you scoff. “Same thing. Oh, hey, do you need repairs on that hunk of junk you pilot? I’ll be more thorough than that lady at the hangar.”

He hesitates. “We’ll see.”

You grin. That’s not a no.

*

“You’re a prick, did I mention that?” you hiss over your shoulder.

Calican shoves the blaster into your side. “Shut up and keep walking.”

The Mandalorian stands on the other side of the hangar, waiting for Calican to make his move. Seriously, this day could not be going any worse. After killing Shand, Toro Calican, certified dumbass, decided that kidnapping you and the Mandalorian’s—pet? Child?—passenger was the best way to go. Whatever the little weird thing that’s in your arms is, it’s pretty cute, and you’d rather he shoot you than the baby holding tightly onto your shirt. In fact, he probably will, because the kid is his ticket into the Guild—you’re just dead weight.

“Looks like I’m calling the shots now. Huh, partner?” Calican asks the Mando. “Drop your blaster and raise ‘em.”

The Mandalorian puts his hands behind his head. Next to you, Calican pushes Peli forward and instructs her to cuff him. With a huff, she moves behind the Mandalorian with the intent to follow orders.

“You’re a Guild traitor, Mando,” Calican begins. You consider sighing. This sounds like the start of a villain monologue. “And I’m willing to bet that this here is the target you helped escape. Fennec was right. Bringing you in won’t just make me a member of the Guild, it’ll make me legendary.”

In a burst of light, the Mandalorian sets off a flash grenade.

You yelp and tuck the little thing into your arms before tucking yourself over into a roll down the ramp of the ship. You fall into the sand just in front of the Mandalorian, who’s moved to fire a shot at Calican, sending him flying off the other side, smouldering.

Breathing heavily, you sit up, the child still in your arms.

“Are you okay? Is the child?”

You look up. The Mandalorian has his gloved hand held out, offering to help you up. Hesitantly, you take it and pull yourself off the ground.

“We’re both okay—I think,” you say hesitantly, holding the baby out to him. “Is he—?”

“Dead,” the Mando confirms, taking the child from you.

You frown. “Good riddance. Thank you,” you tell him hesitantly, though your tone is genuine.

“It’s nothing,” he murmurs.

He distracts himself by checking on the child, who coos up at him contentedly. You smile a little at the interaction, but put yourself back into focus.

“It’s not nothing,” you say firmly. “I owe you a life debt.”

He freezes. “What?”

“Where I come from, if someone saves your life, you owe it to them. Until I can save your life, I owe you,” you explain.

“That’s—you don’t need to do that,” he says quickly.

You cross your arms. “It’s like your Way. It’s my culture, my honour on the line. You’re stuck with me, Mando.”

“What? No. Can’t you...pay me, or something?”

“I’m broke, remember?”

“You saved the child’s life, doesn’t that count?”

Your eyebrows shoot up. “I rolled with him. You did the work, so, no, it doesn’t count, even though he’s your…” You hesitate, remembering the word. “...foundling.”

“You know, you’re kind of getting the better end of the deal here,” Peli pipes up, directing the thought at the Mandalorian. “A free mechanic, babysitter, and an extra blaster? That’s a bargain.”

“Uh...pre-warning, I don’t know much about child care,” you warn immediately.

He snorts. “Neither do I.” After a moment, he sighs deeply. “Fine. But we’re going to work on those blaster skills before you become a liability.”

“Fair enough.”

*

Sticking with the Mandalorian is probably the worst decision of your life.

Almost immediately after Tatooine, in need of more funds, he drags you into trouble with another group of bounty hunters and the New Republic, of all groups.

“Who is this?” someone asks, her voice sing-song as she enters the Mandalorian’s ship.

You don’t bother turning around, continuing your repairs on a hull panel. “The mechanic. Don’t touch anything.”

“You have a personal mechanic?”

A few people enter the ship, making you finally turn around. The first speaker is a Twi’lek woman and the second a Human, who squints disdainfully. From behind him, Mando pushes past their little crew—including a protocol droid and a massive Devaronian—to approach you, deciding to stand next to you rather than them, which brings you immense pleasure for some reason.

“No. (Y/N) owes me a life debt and, apparently, credits don’t cut it,” he explains shortly, sounding frustrated and exhausted.

You nudge him companionably—it’s an argument you’ve had a few times, the paying of your debt. He doesn’t want to be free of you, per se, but he doesn’t want you to be in his debt. Having that kind of power or hold over you makes him uncomfortable, you can tell, as every time it comes up he gets twitchy.

“Kinky,” the Twi’lek snickers.

You grimace. That would explain why Mando sounds like he wants to die. “Fun group. What’s the job?”

“One of theirs got caught. We’re getting him out,” he says. “And we’re using our ship.”

Our ship. Maybe it’s a slip of the tongue or maybe he’s making it clear that you’re with him, but either way, it brings a smirk to your face. The Twi’lek looks disgusted.

“Well, at least my hard work won’t be going to waste,” you huff.

“Mando,” the Twi’lek interrupts, “you haven’t introduced us.”

You can feel him rolling his eyes. “(Y/N), meet Mayfeld, Burg, Xi’an. Mayfeld is running point, the droid is flying, and the target is a New Republic transport ship.”

“Ugh. You guys better be good; I’m not getting arrested.”

“Mayfeld’s former Imperial,” Mando says before any of them can answer.

You scoff. “A stormtrooper? My shitty blaster skills would be better than his.”

“I wasn’t a stormtrooper,” Mayfeld spits, annoyed enough that he must’ve said it once already. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

All but the droid stay, scattered around the hull. Mando follows soon after the jump to hyperspace, having hovered over the droid while it set their course. He stops Burg from getting into the weapons cache right after he hops down the ladder and the two look like they want to kill each other.

“Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian,” the Devaronian grunts.

Mayfeld huffs. “Well, apparently, they’re the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say.”

“Then why are they all dead?”

They all laugh at that—Xi’an with a particularly nasal one, which is irritating beyond belief. You frown deeply, but try not to show how pissed their laughter makes you. That sort of shit isn’t to be made fun of; a dying race. It’s all too familiar these days, what with the death of Alderaan and the crater on Scarif.

When you come back into focus, Xi’an is talking in low tones.

“See, I know who you really are,” she says to the Mando.

You roll your eyes. Unlikely.

(Something in your brain goes: I do, which is stupid. You don’t know who he is, under that helmet, sure, but you’ve seen a lot of him through his actions. He’s reckless, terrifying, and a badass, but he’s also patient and...kind, in his own way. The way he treats the child is like nothing you’ve seen in another bounty hunter. It’s gentle, caring. The kid has really grown on him, you think. And the way he treats you is just straight up polite, even though you’re practically his servant in terms of a life debt. Still, he treats you like a person and doesn’t ask you to do unreasonable favours just because he saved your life. He doesn’t hold it over your head.)

And then they start goading him about the helmet.

Burg actually goes for it, which Mando beats him back for. You jump forward, but just as you do, the door to the sleeping cot flies open, revealing the child.

Instead, you rush to the child, pulling him into your arms.

“What is that?” Mayfeld asks, approaching.

“Back off,” you hiss.

He looks between you and Mando. “Wait, did you two make that?” When you scoff, he frowns. “What is it, like a pet or somethin’?”

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

Xi’an frowns. “Didn’t take you for the type. Maybe that code of yours has made you soft.”

You snort. Soft. That isn’t a word you’d use to describe him, ever. You haven’t seen very much action since Tatooine, but you saw enough there.

Mayfeld reaches for the child and, without hesitation, you lift your blaster. The way he’s looking at the little guy makes you uneasy.

“Fuck off,” you warn instantly.

“Aw, c’mon, I just wanna hold him,” he teases.

Over the comms, the droid’s voice echoes. “Dropping out of hyperspace. Now.”

The entire ship shudders and shakes, sending everyone flying off their feet. You happen to ram into beskar, your face slamming into the metal, which makes you yelp. The baby wails in your arms as gravity makes to tug you away again. Before it can, Mando grabs your arms and holds you in place against him until the ship is steady once more.

“You okay?” he asks, helping you to your feet—again, you think miserably.

“Ugh, no,” you groan, putting a hand on the left side of your face. “That’s gonna bruise.”

Mando takes the child from you. “Sorry. We’ll deal with it after.”

You wave him off. “I’ve had worse. You worry about the job, I’ll watch the kid,” you say, taking the child back. You can’t help but smile when he coos happily.

“Right,” Mando mutters. For a moment, he watches you both, considering.

“Mando!” calls Mayfeld. “Let’s go!”

Before he goes, he puts a hand on your shoulder. “Be careful. I have a bad feeling about this.” You nod, which seems to appease him, and watch him leave.

Petting the child’s floppy ears, you wonder if he meant that to be as comforting as it was.

*

I should’ve known, Din thinks when Qin walks out of that cell.

I definitely should’ve known, he decides, returning to the Razor Crest to find a sparking droid corpse and a shaking child in your arms.

He tosses the cuffed Twi’lek to the side and rushes to yours, stepping over Zero’s limp form. You look relatively unfazed, for someone who’s just ripped a droid’s head off with their bare hands, but the child is rather distressed. The kid squeaks at the sight of Din and, much to his surprise, lifts your hand to show him.

It’s bleeding.

“What did you do?” Din questions, crossing the hull for his medical kit.

“I...may have tried to punch the droid,” you admit hesitantly. “It didn’t work.”

He scoffs, returning to kneel in front of you with bacta patches in his hands. “No karking shit.”

Your face falls as he reaches for your hand, pulling it toward him so he can patch it up. “It was gonna hurt the kid.”

“You did good,” he murmurs. “Stupid, but good.”

It never occurred to him that you might save the child again. You’re here out of necessity, after all, because you owe him, because your honour depends on paying that debt. The child is just another being in the vicinity, but you still saved him. Again. You’re either very stupid or very kind and he can’t decide which one is more concerning.

“Maybe you should teach me a bit of hand to hand, too,” you suggest warmly, wincing at the bacta’s sting.

Din makes a noise that’s sort of a laugh. “I’ll add it to the list.”

He moves to put bacta on the bruise his beskar gave you—He feels ridiculously guilty for that; here you are, paying off a life debt to him, and he still manages to hurt you—but with a hand, you stop him.

“Don’t waste it,” you say immediately. “I’ve had worse bruises, seriously.”

He frowns. “It’s not a waste.” Before you can protest, he puts the patch on top of the bruise.

You huff. “You’re a worrier, aren’t you, Mando?”

“Apparently,” he replies dryly. He hadn’t realised it, either.

“Will you stop flirting and get us out of here!?” Qin shouts from the other side of the hull. “The New Republic will be on our asses!”

You roll your eyes. “I hate to say it, but he has a point. Where are the others?”

“Dealt with,” he says simply. “It was a double-cross.”

“Well, I figured,” you shoot back with a knowing look. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The drop is easy enough, especially since Din knows that New Republic signal is beeping steadily from Qin’s pocket. He escapes quickly, dipping back into the Razor Crest, where you wait at the top of the ramp, the child hanging onto your boot.

“Let’s go,” he declares, the ramp shutting behind him as he enters.

“Already?” you question with a raised eyebrow. “There are a few repairs I could make out of hyperspace that might be useful.”

He waves you toward the cockpit. “Later. We need to leave.”

“Oookay.” You frown but do as he says, plucking the child from off your foot. “C’mon, little guy,” you mutter to him.

Din waves away all your questions as he starts the take-off. Finally, when the Razor Crest is a safe distance away from the space station and X-Wings appear out of hyperspace, he glances back at you.

“Holy shit!” you cry as they open fire. You look back at him with a slack jaw, which makes him smile underneath the helmet. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

He shrugs half-heartedly, but it’s enough of an answer.

“You’re a maniac, Mando,” you laugh, watching the scene through the transparisteel.

Din thinks over it, staring at you for a long moment. There’s light in your eyes—maybe it’s the reflection of the explosion, but it’s captivating.

“Din,” he says.

You look over. “Hm?”

He clears his throat, trying to shove aside nerves. “My name. It’s Din.”

“Oh. Oh,” you repeat, eyes wide. Then, you smile, more genuine than he’s ever seen from you, he thinks. “You’re crazy, Din. You know that, right?”

He laughs—and that’s the first time you’ve heard a proper one from him. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

*

When Din drops a pair of gloves in front of you, you laugh.

“You’re telling me the gloves are out of convenience?” you ask him disbelievingly.

“The more skin you cover, the less likely you are to get cut up by a vibroblade,” he replies dryly. “Put them on.”

You raise your hands in surrender and take them, slipping them over your fingers. “Surprisingly comfy.”

It occurs to you that this is...sort of a big deal. You’ve kept your hands bare for as long as you can remember, mostly because you’re a romantic and finding your Soulmate has been at the forefront of your mind for a long time. But now, you think, it’s not such a big deal. You have a debt to pay and, besides that, you’re pretty happy with how things are now.

Life isn’t exactly nice with Din and the kid, so to say, but you’re content. You love the child and he adores you. The Razor Crest feels more like home than any planet ever has. And Din is...well, he’s something. Being around him is mildly addicting and whenever he’s gone, something feels incomplete.

“Better?” you ask, lifting your gloved hands.

“Much,” he says. Then, he holds out his own hand. “C’mon, up.”

You take the hand without thought, but before you know it, he’s swinging you around and shoving you to the ground.

“Ow!” you cry. “What the hell, Din?”

He huffs. “Lesson 1: Never take anything for granted.”

“Rude.” You hit his arm meaningfully, but he just rolls his eyes; just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean you can’t tell it’s happening.

“You’ll thank me someday.”

“But not today.”

“Nope. Today, you’re gonna hate my guts.”

*

He’s dying.

It feels unreal, what with everything you’ve watched him survive so far. A newbie bounty hunter, a group of pissed off bounty hunters, lots of bounty hunters, and the New Republic but a group of stormtroopers is what gets him?

Moff Gideon is what really gets him, though. The bastard that helped destroy his people is going to destroy Din Djarin. Hearing him speak Din’s name makes you nauseous, furious, even. He gave you that name in confidence, trusted it to you, the only one of his handful of friends to even use it, and Gideon decides to declare it to Nevaroo in its entirety. It makes your blood boil, enough that you get out of the initial firefight mostly unscathed.

But Din doesn’t. And now he’s dying in your arms and you feel like you failed.

“Go with them,” he tells you, all croaky and half-assed.

“No. No, I’m not leaving you here,” you declare, carefully leaning him against the rubble.

Flames flicker all around the room and the child is crying. It’s not loud or consistent, but it’s enough to break your heart.

“You have to go,” Din says again. “You’ll die.”

You laugh ruefully. “That’s kind of the point. A life debt means I save your life or I die trying.”

A pause.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he hisses through the pain.

“Afraid not, dumbass. You’re stuck with me, remember?”

He grasps your arm, his hands still gloved. If you’re going to die here, maybe you should ask him to take off the gloves. A part of you has wondered…

“C’mon, tell me it’s transferable—some ‘dying wish’ shit like that.”

You nod, though the action sinks uncomfortably into your chest. Leaving him here...that doesn’t sit well with you. But if he asks, then you’ll do it. “Yeah, you name it, but it’d better be a big one, something equivalent.”

The breath he lets out is one of relief. “Take care of the kid. Go find his people and return him to them. Protect him.”

“With my dying breath,” you swear, the words holding an air of ceremony.

Din grasps your arm tighter and pulls you down, your forehead meeting his helmet. You’re not sure what it means, but it must mean something because he mutters words in his own language, which you’ve never heard him do before.

“Ret’urcye mhi.”

May we meet again.

Din does what little he can in saying goodbye to you, as deeply as that cuts. You’ve grown on him, a little too much maybe, and it kills him to think that you’ll be without him now. You still can’t hit a headshot, he realises, suddenly worried for how you’ll fare.

And so he gives you what he can: a Keldabe kiss and a goodbye, instead of the action he wants to take. He wants to take off his gloves and see if he can figure out the colour of your eyes. On the other hand, though, he doesn’t want to leave you with that, of all things, to leave you seeing the red of his blood and the blue-tinged orange of the flames before any other colours.

You take the child in your arms and, with one last glance at Din, leave the room for the covert’s tunnels underground.

The child whimpers up at you.

You look down, sniffling, and pet his ears gently. “I know, little one. I’m so sorry.” You place a gentle kiss to his forehead.

Cara appears, tugging on your wrist. “C’mon,” she says gently. “We need to get out of here.”

It occurs to you, as the three of you and Greef move on, that Cara might help you with the child. For Din, obviously. She’s a good person and, frankly, she and Din seem pretty friendly. The second she saw you, she’d offered her bare hand and bemoaned the fact that her vision was still black and white, much to your amusement. It was all in good fun, but Din had looked a little uncomfortable, for reasons you didn’t know.

“(Y/N),” Cara says quietly, calling your attention back.

You shake yourself from your thoughts. “Sorry.”

She smiles sadly. “It’s okay. Just keep up.”

The small group turns a few corners before footsteps sound from behind. You immediately place the child in the bag hanging from Cara’s shoulder and draw your blaster, watching her and Greef do the same.

From the distant hall, two figures approach: IG-11 and—

“Din!” you half-cry, half-breathe out. Holstering your blaster, you meet them halfway to take more of Din’s weight from IG. “How—?”

“No living thing can see me without my helmet. IG isn’t alive,” Din says dryly.

You laugh, a partly manic sound. “Thank kark. You’re not getting out of this that easy.”

The noise he makes is both amused and resigned. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Where’s the—?”

“He’s with Cara,” you say, finishing the thought before even he can, in his groggy state.

It’s safe to say that when the Armourer gives him his sigil, Din almost considers correcting the Clan of two to a Clan of three. He doesn’t, reminding himself that you’re here because of a debt and nothing else, but the thought is there.

*

The months after Nevarro are more peaceful than the first week of your time with Din. 

You finally get to pull a proper sleeping space together for yourself. Well, it’s a hammock in the hull, but it’s better than the seats in the cockpit. The child gets his own hammock, too, though it’s in the cot space with Din. He loves it, so much so that he squeals when he sees it. That’s your proudest moment, for sure.

Most days, you tend to forget that you still owe a life debt. To be honest, it just feels like the three of you are normal. Din takes bounties, you take short mechanic jobs on different planets, and the two of you trade off on child-duty. It’s pretty regular, more than what your life used to be, anyway.

Din is still training you in hand-to-hand and blasters, of course. You’re getting better with the latter, but the first is difficult. On the way to Tatooine, where there’s supposedly another Mandalorian, he decides to have another training session.

“Fists higher, do it again.”

Huffing, you wipe your wrist across your sweaty forehead. It’s easy enough to obey the order—the first part, anyway. Getting into his guard is difficult, though.

One hit, two blocks—there. You slip under his guard and make an abrupt drop to the ground, sweeping his legs out under him with a fierce movement. He goes down in a tumble of beskar, joining you on the floor. As soon as he’s down, you flip over and straddle his hips, an arm over his neck in false threat.

He barks out a laugh. “Much better.”

“I’m not entirely hopeless!” you declare joyfully before bursting into snickers.

Leaning down, you thunk your forehead against his helmet. The gesture is fond, you’ve learned, something shared between close companions—or at least you think. Din told you that it’s called a mirshmure’cya in Mando’a, that it doesn’t have an equivalent word in Basic.

(Which is technically true. Literally, it means brain-kiss, but the outsider term for it is Keldabe kiss. It can be used for close companions—vode in arms, family—but it’s also used for romantic partners, so he’s mildly horrified at the idea of explaining its cultural significance to you and having to face his feelings for someone that may or may not be his Soulmate. He hasn’t gotten up the courage to ask if he can check. Or try to do it discreetly.)

A distant beeping starts up, coming from the cockpit. It’s the approach warning, which means the training session is over.

“I’ll get the kid,” you say, climbing off Din and offering a hand.

He takes it without hesitation, dragging himself up and making a beeline for the cockpit.

Tatooine is about what you remember. That is, it’s dry, sandy, and the worst planet you’ve ever been on. Stepping out of the ship and into the hangar makes you smile, though, at the not-so-distant memory of Din saving your life. It hasn’t been that long, but it feels like it’s been years.

“Oh, hey!” says Peli, after greeting the child—which is fair, he’s adorable. “You’re still with him! Haven’t repaid that debt yet, huh?”

Your face falls. “Uh, no, not really.”

On the way to Mos Pelgo, your thoughts linger on the life debt. One of these days, you’re going to save Din’s life—then where will you be? Will he want you to leave? What will you do if you have to leave? Your old life was nowhere near as interesting as this, nor did you have anyone close to what Din and the child are to you.

The dreary grey slopes of sand only make it easier to think of the worst possible outcomes. Now you remember why you hated Tatooine so much.

You don’t even realise the speeder is approaching the small town until Din taps your arm, which is wrapped around his waist. Jumping at the touch, you loosen your grip sheepishly and glance at the child, who looks like he’s enjoying himself immensely.

After the speeder comes to a stop, you take the kid while Din enters the cantina.

When you enter yourself, you find that he’s about to shoot someone, while the Weequay behind the bar looks rather distressed.

“Perfect timing, as always,” Din remarks without a glance.

You raise your free hand. “You’re the bad luck charm, I’m just here for the ride,” you retort teasingly.

“You brought a kid to a gunfight?” his opponent asks, raising an eyebrow.

Finally, you glance over at him and see why Din looks ready to kill him. He’s in Mandalorian armour but his helmet is off—clearly, he’s not Mandalorian. “You’re wearing beskar and you’re not a Mandalorian, buddy. I think you’re in more trouble than the kid is.”

“He is,” Din gets out, a twinge of viciousness in his voice.

Before they can even reach for their blasters, though, the ground starts to shake.

You grab onto the doorway for support, eyes wide as you grip the child. Din and the Mandalorian poser move toward the door, joining you and staring out at the street outside.

The entire planet feels like it rumbles and chaos reigns outside.

Something is moving the sand—coming toward the town.

“Holy fuck,” you whisper as it goes by, shifting the sand like it’s an ocean rather than earth. It flies out of the ground, sharp teeth the only thing you see as it consumes a bantha whole.

When it’s gone, the poser huffs. “Maybe we can work something out.” He turns to you, offering a hand, which is covered by fingerless gloves. “Cobb Vanth. I’m the Marshal here.”

You take it hesitantly, glad that things are still black and white when you make contact. “(Y/N).”

He notices your hesitation and chuckles. “The Weequay in there is Sala, my Soulmate. I’ll see if they can’t whip up something for the kid; I’m sure he’s starving.”

“Very,” you say, just before he goes to leave.

When it’s just you and Din, you look over at your companion. “Krayt dragon, huh?”

“Yep,” he sighs, already sounding tired.

You laugh. “I know I said I could bring you to one when we met, but I was totally kidding.”

He looks over at you and you can feel the low-level glare behind the visor, but it only makes you snicker. “I hate you.”

“You’re so full of shit,” you retort immediately.

*

You finally get to repay your debt.

It’s not what you’re thinking about when you shove Din out of the way of the krayt’s projectile venom, but it’s repaid nonetheless.

Din doesn’t think of it immediately, either, as he’s rather more concerned with the fact that you’re sent flying across the desert into a pile of debris and sharp rocks.

“(Y/N)!”

Before he can run to you, Cobb grabs his arm. “The dragon!”

To be honest, killing the dragon feels like a bonus when he pulls himself together and figures out a plan. When the great beast explodes, the Tuskens and the villagers cheer, but Din races back to the place he saw you last. He pushes aside the remains of one of those massive weapons they built to find you, laying on the ground. For a moment, panic clutches his heart, but then you groan.

“Am I dead?” you ask.

Din lets out a breath, hardly managing it, as he kneels next to you. “Dumbass.”

“Because it feels like I’m dead.”

“Dumbass,” he repeats, ripping your shirt away to find a deep cut in your side, just above your hip. “Of all the ways to pay your debt—”

You sit up, wincing. “Oh,” you say, as if you hadn’t realised it, “I guess I did that, too.”

Din’s heart is still beating a million klicks a second at how close you were to being dead, but for a second, it flips, realising that you hadn’t saved him just to pay the debt. And then, as he’s helping you off the ground and bringing you toward the others, who have bacta patches ready, his heart sinks.

Your debt is paid. You don’t have any reason to stay with him and the kid. As soon as you get back to the city, he’s going to have to watch you leave.

Shit. He didn’t think this through.

Meanwhile, you’re on the same train of thought. Does he really think you saved him for the debt? Does he want you gone that bad? It makes sense. You’re a pain in the ass, with all the training you need. But...well, you thought he might’ve—

“I’ve changed my mind,” you declare.

Din, terrified, attempts to sound neutral. “About?”

“The worst job we’ve ever taken. This is definitely it,” you huff as he helps you down onto a smoother boulder, taking patches from a Tusken.

He goes to use them, but you raise a hand.

“If you even think about getting near my wound with those nasty gloves, I’m going to skin you,” you threaten.

Frankly, Din is too shaken to even laugh. The silence lays there, stilted, as he removes his gloves and sits somewhat behind you, on another close stone. You’ve taken yours off, too, seeing as one is ripped all the way through.

He’s careful with the bacta patch and his bare hands, making sure not to touch your skin.

Now, of all moments, would be the worst time to find out that you really don’t have a reason to stay.

While he works, he thinks, briefly, that he should say something. “(Y/N),” he starts to say. “I—”

But that happens to be the moment he’s putting the bacta patch on. You suck in a sharp breath through your teeth, wincing. Your hand flies out, reaching for something to ground you. Of course, because something out there has it out for you, you grab his hand, forgetting that his gloves are, for once in his life, not there.

You realise, ridiculously, that his hand is warm.

And then the world around you explodes into colour.

The faded yellow of the surrounding desert is overwhelming with how it burns into your eyes alongside the brilliant blue of the sky. The surrounding Tuskens are in browns and greys, simple things, but so, so beautiful to your new sight. You breathe out, a shaky action.

Behind you, Din comes to see the same, but his gaze is stuck on the back of your head—the (h/c) of your hair and how the light catches in it, despite it being a complete mess.

You barely have the breath to gasp, but you do, whirling around to face him.

His beskar is beyond what you’d pictured: a shining, sparkling silver that could stand out on a star. No wonder rooms fall silent at the sight of him.

Din has the same thought about your eyes. On death’s door, all he’d wanted was to know what colour they are and now he knows, but it feels so useless now. He doesn’t even know what to call them. Sure, (e/c) would work, however weakly. You are...something else. You always have been, but now it’s like he can see it, the beauty of who you are so plainly painted into your features.

Din doesn’t even have the time to be afraid of your reaction before the words are slipping out. “I don’t want you to go.”

You just stare at him for a long moment, words processing.

It...kind of freaks him out.

He jumps when you fling yourself at him, arms wrapped around his shoulders in the tightest hug he’s ever gotten. Immediately, he responds, clutching the back of your shirt like it’ll save his life.

“Thank the Force,” you breathe out, just beside where his ear is under the helmet. “I don’t wanna leave.”

Din lets out a breath of relief and tugs you closer so you’re practically sitting on his lap. It can’t be comfortable, but you don’t seem to mind. When you do finally pull away, it’s to press your forehead against his helmet. It sends a swell of affection through him again, your constant Keldabe kisses. He taught you something important to his culture, to him, and here you are, using it without thought.

“Is it too late to tell you that this is the Mandalorian equivalent of a kiss?” he murmurs, more than a little embarrassed.

You laugh softly, arms reaching to rest around his neck. “And I thought you were so cool.”

“I just blew up a krayt dragon,” he argues.

“Oh, you’re plenty badass, Din,” you tease back, “just...not smooth.”

He huffs. “I’m gonna kick your ass next training session.”

A grin comes over your face and, for a second, he can’t comprehend why that would make you smile—until he realises that he just promised a next time. You’d genuinely believed he wanted you gone and Din thought you wanted to leave, but neither of you were right. 

A whine from below catches both your attention.

The child reaches up from the ground, making grabby hands.

You laugh, a noise Din echoes quietly, and pluck him from the ground, holding him in your careful hands. “Hey, buddy. Feeling left out?”

He squeaks a confirmation, his little hands—green hands, you realise, deeply amused—reaching for Din’s helmet. Once he has a comfortable hand, he bashes his head against the helmet.

Din yelps, not out of pain, but concern, grabbing for the kid, who wobbles dizzily.

“Oh, shit—” Din says.

“Woah, woah,” you get out between wheezing laughs. “Don’t do that! His head is much harder than yours.”

The kid makes a weak huff and curls against Din’s chest stubbornly.

“I think that was an attempted kiss,” you suggest to Din.

Underneath his helmet, he grins. Petting the child’s head with a gentle finger, he looks back up at you. “It was cute.”

“Very,” you agree.

Without prompting, Din reaches for your hand again, a little hesitant. You take his gladly, running your thumb across his knuckles, which makes him shiver.

“Clan of three,” he whispers.

You lift your gaze. “Hm?”

“The Armourer, she said, ‘Clan of two’ when she gave me my sigil,” he explains. “I wanted to correct her then.”

The smile on your face is beyond words. “Clan of three has a ring to it. You’re stuck with me for good now, Din Djarin.”

He snorts and raises your hand to his helmet, touching it briefly to the metal in lieu of kissing it.

Tatooine might be the worst place in the universe, Din thinks that it doesn’t matter so much where he is. Sitting here, with you and the kid, he thinks that this might be home.

*

River’s Tags: @hahaboop & @mystoragehatesme

Masterlist

[lightsidetillidie]

Damn Clones

Rating: T (some bad words, because Rafa deserves to cuss)

Word Count: 2257

Pairing: Rafa x Hunter

Summary: "Decommissioned” from Rafa’s perspective. Because you just can’t deny there was definitely some chemistry between her and Hunter.

A/N: This is my first Star Wars fic! I haven’t written in a long time so I wanted to stretch my writing muscles. Please let me know what you think!

Clones. It just had to be clones.

The employer said it was supposed to be an easy in and out mission. Trace went through all that trouble swiping the employee uniforms specifically so it would be an easy in and out. But of course nothing in Rafa’s life could ever be easy.

Everything about this mission was a bust, starting with this shaky kid aiming a damn Zygerrian crossbow at her. Who in their right mind gave a kid a crossbow? Obviously this clone she was now fighting back to back with was the one who thought it would be a great idea.

There was something different about this clone than the ones she had interacted with in the past. Most clones had a rigid stature and a solid, commanding voice. This one did have that solid voice, but the sarcastic “Should I have let the droid shoot you?” threw Rafa off her game. They weren’t supposed to be funny.

After the Republic fell and the Empire rose in its place, all of the clones seemed to have transformed into droids, with no sense for right or wrong, only following the Emperor’s orders. But she was on a mission for the Rebellion and this clone not only didn’t kill her, but saved her life.

And damn if he wasn’t a good shot. For the first time in a long time, Rafa found herself not looking over her shoulder as much, instead focusing on the targets in the peripheral. When she noticed he hit the first few droids perfectly on target, she stopped checking her six. Once he started moving through the platform, she followed right behind him.

Even when talking through the comm with Trace, she was amazed at just how in sync with this clone she was. In the close quarters they were pinned to, an enemy didn’t have the chance to get close to them without getting blasted. They didn’t bump into each other once either, something that always seemed to happen when she was in a shoot out with Trace. They just seemed to flow.

The crossbow kid’s voice rang through his comm, loud enough that Rafa could make out the distress in it. The clone barked an order to her then went to work taking down the support beams. Damn his clone.

“Who put you in charge?” she yelled, refusing to leave her position. She’d be damned if she was about to jump off this post and break her ankles.

But of course she didn’t have much time to think when she heard the support bars under her crack and she had to tuck and roll to the platform below. Damn clone.

Rafa immediately got to her feet, cursing to the clone running from her. Blaster fire cut her curses short, however, and she jumped back. She did take one last look at the clone, who was currently running full speed toward the screaming kid. It was like he had blinders on; he didn’t care at all about the droids or the molten metal, only focusing on getting to the kid and fast. It reminded her of all the times she went chasing after Trace when she was younger .

Damn it, Rafa, pull it together! Tuck and roll to the nearest cover and get to blasting. She finally found a spot, just big enough to hide her and this oversized uniform behind. It wasn’t two steps close to the cover, however, that the ground gave way underneath her and she fell down, hard. Damn clone taking out the support beams probably had something to do with the fall.

The three of them, the clone, the kid, and Trace, all just stood there as she regained herself from her fall. This was all getting to be way more than she signed up for.

After a snarky remark and a shot to an advancing droid, she just wanted to finish this. “Well, this has been a real treat, but as you can see the tactical droid is ours,” she said.  

“We can debate this later,” the clone said. Like hell they would. It wasn’t up for debate. “If we want to get out of here, we need to work together.”

“Fine, but I still don’t like you,” Rafa bit back. Even if he was an impressive shot.  

“I’m used to it,” he replied. Were all clones this sarcastic? Because this one seemed to have a sarcasm that could rival her, even on her best days.  

The clone led them over to, you guessed it, more clones. It couldn’t ever be just one, could it? They needed a diversion to get these damn droids off their back.

Trace set to work on the tactical droid head while she and the clone from earlier provide cover fire. It was taking way too long, and her ears seemed to be ringing with the sound of blaster fire.

Out of nowhere, another clone dropped from above. They were just dropping from the sky at this point, weren’t they? This one didn’t pull out a blaster and instead set to work, wrecking the droids with his hands and making quick work of them.

Rafa smirked back to the clone from earlier. “Now him I like,” she said. She had to resist the urge to give him a wink.

Once Trace’s plan worked and the battle droids joined in, it didn’t take long for the group to escape into Trace’s ship. As soon as the doors closed, R7 had the ship in the air and flying far from the warehouse.

Thank the maker that was all over. Once inside, Rafa and Trace both deposited their helmets onto a nearby counter space. Rafa really didn’t want these clones on their ship, but she couldn’t lie to herself and say they didn’t help her. Especially the lead one, who saved her life and had her back.

The clones seemed a bit nervous to make themselves at home, but once Rafa and Trace seemed to relax they did too. They took off their helmets and found spots to sit, and this was the first time Rafa could see their faces. They looked… different from all the other clones she had seen. Back on Corousant, you could sometimes catch an off-duty clone at a nearby bar, drinking and looking for a quick hook up before their next mission. Rafa herself had flirted a few times, but only enough to swipe from credits from their pockets.

Back then, Underworld residents began to memorize the clones faces. They could change their hair, get tattoos, it didn’t matter. Once they took that helmet off they all had the same face underneath. These clones though, they were different. Similar faces, but their own quirks. They were different from the regular clones, that was easy to see.

When the leader of the bunch, Hunter was what the crossbow kid called him, took off his helmet, Rafa wasn’t going to lie that she did a double take. Clones changed their hair all the time, but this was the first time she saw one with such long hair. He let it loose too, not pulled up in a ponytail or a bun. Half of his face has a skull tattoo on it. That must have hurt like a motherfucker,” Rafa thought in her head.

Still, there was something about him Rafa was uncomfortable with. He was a great shot, a good leader, and damn it he was actually good looking. How could she think a clone was good looking? It had to be the adrenaline talking.

Once everyone was settled and Rafa made sure R7 was going to the right coordinates, she joined in the conversation about the droids head.

“Whoever Cid’s buyer is isn’t going to be happy,” the kid said.

Whoever the buyer was? Rafa and Trace were risking their lives to get this information to the Rebellion, to the people who were going to help end the Empire’s tyranny, and they were just giving it to a buyer? Oh, nuh uh. This was not going to fly.

“Let me get this straight,” she said, turning to Hunter, who obviously concocted this dumbass plan. “You know how dangerous the information on the tactical droid is, but you didn’t know who you were giving it to?”

“We’re being paid to acquire and deliver, not ask questions,” Hunter responded, crossing his arms over his chest. Was it just Rafa or did his voice get huskier when it wasn’t screaming?

After Trace explained how they were trying to get this information to a better cause, a question that was on Rafa’s mind since the second she saw the clones finally came out of her mouth.

“Why aren’t you fighting for the Empire? Isn’t that what you clones do now?”

Trace seemed to cringe at that, remembering for a moment what they faced. Once the Empire rose, clones invaded the underground and forced her and Rafa from their home. Everything they had built up after their parents death seemed to wave them goodbye as they left in Trace’s ship, barely able to get out. As they left the planet they saw full platoons of the white armored clones, stopping and arresting any living being who was just trying to make a living in the galaxy. The sisters were lucky they weren’t sitting in a cell right now.

“Not all of us. We’re different,” Hunter replied.

Rafa could almost believe it, almost believe that the man she found back to back with could be on her side. But he was a clone, and somewhere deep in there was that urge to fight for the Empire and eliminate anything that gets in their way.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” she said, and walked back to the cockpit.

It was a short flight back to the hangar where he clones kept their ship. As soon as Trace’s ship landed, the clones made themselves scarce, happy to get back to their own lives and go past this disappointing mission. Rafa and Trace followed them down the ramp, hoping to say goodbye to these weird clones. Most of them just gave the sisters a nod, but the kid turned back, and so did Hunter.

“You should come visit us sometime!” she said with a huge grin on her face. She had this young naivety that reminded Rafa of Trace before their parents died. Back when the galaxy was a happy place and she couldn’t wait to explore it all.

“Keep working on that bow, kid,” Rafa remarked. She didn’t want to be on the other side of some kid with shaky noodle arms ever again.

“I will. Bye!” the kid said, running off.

As Trace walked back to the ship, Rafa put her hands on her hips and gave a small smile at the kid. She really was just like young Trace, and it reminded Rafa of simpler times.

“Here.” Rafa was struck out of her reminiscing by Hunter, who handed a piece of metal out to her. 

“What’s this?” she asked. As if she needed a souvenir to remind herself of the mission that got ruined by some clones and a kid.

“Tech copied the tactical droid’s intel to this data rod before it got destroyed,” he said.

Ok. Now this was weird. They had exactly what they needed, but instead of keeping it and getting the money, he was just giving it to her? There had to be a catch.

“Why are you giving it to us?” she asked as he began to walk away.

Hunter turned back around with a smile on her face and the thought of ‘Oh no he’s hot’ crept back into Rafa’s mind. “You’ll use it for the right reasons.” ‘Oh no he’s hot and thoughtful.’

“Huh. Maybe you are different,” she remarked, clearing her head of any thoughts.

Hunted turned back to her. “To be honest, things were clearer when we were just soldiers,” he said. Oh maker, was he opening up to her?  What was it about Rafa that made her seem like the person to open up to?

He had a point though. Things were clearer for her too when she was just trying to make some credits, scrounging enough so she and Trace could eat at night. Now, after being forced from her home and planet, things seemed murkier than ever.

“Take it from me,” she said. “In the end, we all choose sides.” She turned and walked back into the ship, feeling Hunter’s eyes continuing to watch her from behind. Of all the times for Trace to get a uniform size too big for her, where Rafa couldn’t show off any of her assets. Any other outfit and she could have this tattooed man eating out of the palm of her hand.

Once she got to the top, she tried her best to resist the urge to turn back. Keep that air of mystery about her. But once she looked at the data stick and remembered his generosity, damn it she turned back. The kid was already waving goodbye to her, and she waved back. That kid was going to turn out alright with a bunch of clones. Her performance today showed as much.

She saw Hunter subtly look over his shoulder, but turn back to the kid quickly. That wasn’t going to be the last time she saw those clones, she just knew it. She hoped that, in the end, they could choose the right side.

But hey, they were just a bunch of clones. 

[nimsajlove]

You know this, when you had a fun idea but it got out of hand and turned kinda sad in your head? That is something like this. But at least the beginning is happy, so eh... Credit for Roger & Roger goes to @letitrainathousandflames. They are lovely, just like her!

*~*

"Roger!" For a split second, Ahsoka froze in the hangar, then she made a U-turn and hurried away, her target being the fighters standing close together. Someone laughed and took up the chase, she was confident that she could outrun him. So far she had always lost, but not today! Everything had gone so smoothly so far that her lucky streak couldn't be interrupted in the first few seconds on board Kenobi's flagship.

She was lucky, the clone's steps slowed as she dived between two hunters and disappeared into the shadows. She quickly slid under one of the ships and clung to the underside to lift her body off the ground. Feet appeared on her left, her pursuer paused for a moment. Then another clone joined in, they exchanged a few words in a whisper and both moved on. Taking a deep breath, she slumped back on the floor and grinned, maybe today was actually HER day.

She was quietly celebrating her triumph, when another pair of feet appeared. A growl sounded low and deep in her chest, that wasn't fair! It was less than two seconds before hands reached under the ship from the other side and pulled her out. "Roger.", the clone grinned broadly and the other one laid an arm around her shoulders, laughing. But her angry look was not on the two men of the 212th, but on Fives. "Traitor!", she complained, showing him her teeth before shaking off Roger and Roger. "That wasn't fair, again!", she then suddenly grinned and grabbed Fives by the arm. "If you can find us both, you are welcome to keep my whole evening ration." The twins smiled before they picked up their weapons and put them on stun. "Okay, deal.", Roger grinned.

 * ~ *

 "Roger...", it sounded softly at her door and she looked up, when did they come to the Jedi Temple? They leaned against the door and had a small smile on their faces. "Traitor. First she just takes our playmates and now she wants to make a quick exit again.", Roger grinned at his brother and Ahsoka's shoulders sagged a little relieved. She had already worried that the other clones would not agree to save Fives. "Sorry guys, I would really like to stay longer but..." The other of the two raised his hand and she closed her mouth again, then he rubbed his face tiredly. His fingers brushed the pair's newest tattoo, a droid hand on their necks. Ahsoka didn't want to hear the story, she could do without the nightmares.

"It's okay, we understand that you want to get him out of here as soon as possible.", he smiled and sighed. She swung the small bag over her shoulder, the stop at the temple had given her at least the opportunity to pack new clothes. "But the next time we see each other, we will show no mercy.", completed the other and both grinned at her. Gratitude flooded the young woman, with what she had deserved all these wonderful people around her? "Take care of yourselves, and leave Cody alone.", she smiled and wrapped her arms around both of them. "Deal."

 * ~ *

 The tent was full of injured and nearly dead clones. Her gaze quickly glided over the rows, with every man in blue or yellow her heart contracted a little and she searched the crowd for familiar faces. At some of them she made a little stop, asked the medics how the men were doing and repeatedly promised to put an end to dying in this place.

In the farthest corner she stumbled over the two of them. Roger was sitting on the floor next to an improvised sleeping place, his brother seemed to be asleep. Or else he was passed out. At least he was still breathing and carefully she crouched down next to the seated brother. "Found you.", she tried to joke and earned a sad smile. She knew this expression too well from so many of her brothers and she gently squeezed his shoulder, the one which was not bandaged, of course. "He's getting up again, I still owe him two pieces of chocolate." That seemed to work better, he relaxed under her hand and sighed. "The Commander already said that.", he muttered and rubbed his eyes, looking tired and exhausted. They were red, had he been crying? “How about you stay here and keep an eye on him for me. Let me know when he wakes up so we can discuss the tattoo for all of this. In the meantime, I'll make sure this ends.”, she muttered, still with a gentle smile. But her look was hard and serious, she had to do something. Because she had already seen how difficult it was to survive. Because whoever survived was at some point alone. "Deal.", sniffed Roger and she patted his neck gently before standing up again. There were battle plans to look over, maybe all the practice with Echo back then would finally be useful!

[eternalthenas]

what bothers me the most about tros and what i’m most unable to accept is how jj managed to destroy and disrespect EVERY single character. even the ones who technically had “happy endings”🤡

ben - i feel like this one doesn’t even need to be said, but i’ll say it anyways. after years of emotional abuse from palpatine, it’s disheartening to see that jj gave no explanation as to why palpatine wanted ben (personal vendetta against the skywalkers i guess??) when it semed like he only needed rey AND that ben never really triumphed over palpatine in any way. it hurts to know that leia straight up had a vision about her son’s death but that she still seemingly gave up on him despite knowing that he was struggling and that she sent him off to train to be jedi with a luke, when apparently she could’ve done that herself. it’s disheartening that luke who believed even vader could be turned back to the light also gave up on his nephew, when he was just a boy no less. it’s disheartening that although he was the last skywalker (a fact only palpatine acknowledged!), none of his family nor his namesake reached out to help him. instead of telling the last skywalker to rise, they ignored him (as they had apparently done his whole life) in favor of a palpatine. ok. even though as the last skywalker, he really should’ve been the one to have the final kill against palpatine since it was HIS family that palpatine destroyed, he doesn’t. he’s motionless in a pit for the whole final battle. ok. that will never not leave a bad taste in my mouth. his whole family (except for han apparently i love him) gave up on him and clearly so did the writers. as a fan of the skywalkers and their story, this isn’t the ending i wanted for them. especially when luke and leia and han had given their lives to see him turn to the light. and for what? so he could be used as a plot device to conveniently bring rey back to life and then promptly die (even though they’re a force dryad and, according to jj’s own fucking canon, supposedly one) without any fanfare, emotional reaction whatsoever, or later mention? wtf? it’s disrespectful not only to ben solo, who is easily the best character in the sequel trilogy and one of the best characters in ALL of star wars, but it’s disrespectful to the entire skywalker line!! (and to adam driver, who deserved so much better than this shit. go get that oscar)

rey - by making her a palpatine, jj completely disregarded her arc. whatever your opinions about rey nobody, once they went with it, they never should’ve retconned it and turned her into a legacy character in the final film. it felt cheap. in my theater, there was no cheering about this reveal. because jj had never properly set it up and he didn’t even bother to reveal it an impactful way. but what’s most annoying about rey suddenly being a legacy character is that it completely disregards the fact that she was powerful on her OWN, without any famous blood making her that way. furthermore, by turning her into the chosen one and giving her the entire skywalker legacy (which felt like a slap in the face to the skywalkers imo), she did turn into a mary sue, one of the biggest complaints about her since day 1. she was overpowered, morally perfect, and never faced any failure. i struggled to root for her as the “hero” because i felt everything was handed to her on a silver platter. so not only did jj turn her into a mary sue and take her power away from her by turning her into a legacy, but he also destroyed the fact that her whole arc had been “seeking belonging” and a family. rather than having her final scenes be with her new found family, she ends the movie with her canon soulmate dead and no one but a droid by her side on a desert planet of all places. to add further insult to injury, she also disregards her family name even though they supposedly loved her and sacrificed themselves for her (despite the fact that they sold her but whatever) in favor of a last name of a guy she had barely known. she had more emotional connection to han or leia, but she didn’t take their last name. she took luke’s, the guy who had refused to teach her and who she had come to view in a more negative light towards the end of tlj. in this house i will not EVER be calling her rey sky- i can’t even say it🤢

finn - in all honestly, they screwed finn’s character arc in episode 1 when jj turned him into a lovesick sidekick who served as comedic relief. as a deserted stormtrooper, he could’ve had the most interesting storylines. and he should have. but apparently the writers forgot about him. although they mention his past BRIEFLY, it’s paid no real weight or attention. instead, he spends the whole movie once again trying to (possibly) confess his feeling for rey. and for what? probably just to bait finnrey fans and prove the character’s heterosexuality bc it goes absolutely nowhere. although we find out he’s force sensitive, that too is glossed over and has no lasting effect. he’s also made co general, which okay cool, but then he does nothing?? so while finn could have and should have been a main character with an interesting storyline, they turn him into your average run of the mill action hero with an occasional quip. john boyega, sweetie, i’m so sorry (but i guess that’s kind of what he wanted since he hated tlj, the only movie where he actually had a main role with any character growth?? idk)

poe - it’s once again evident that they originally intended to kill off poe bc he has no arc whatsoever. he gets a little backstory as a drug smuggler now ig, which really came out of left field considering the already established canon with his past as a pilot. he’s more of the same in this movie, except more unlikable than usual (imo). he’s still stubborn, occasionally funny, but mostly he just bickers with rey, which isn’t funny, at all necessary, and doesn’t add anything to the “trio’s” dynamic. he’s at his best when he’s with finn but then, of course, jj has to remind us of how straight he is every single scene so. another character like finn who could have been great, but with the lazy writing, he has no arc, no backstory, no character growth, so he’s just mediocrity personified and just kind of there.

zorii & jannah - both could’ve been awesome. both are just there for a brief introduction and to help the heroes with maybe one thing and that’s it. both deserved better.

the skywalkers - yeah jj really said a big fuck you to luke, leia, and anakin most of all. the WORST part of tros is the fact that it basically makes the previous six episodes useless. anakin’s redemption arc? what does it matter now? he didn’t successfully bring balance to the force. he didn’t successfully kill palpatine. and now his entire bloodline is dead. ok cool😎 thank you jj!!!! what a hopeful end to the skywalker saga!!!! i love seeing that anakin failed and wasn’t REALLY the chosen one. i love that luke and leia gave their legacy to a descendant of the guy who tried to tear apart and terrorized their family. that’s really nice. i love that anakin NEVER reached out to help his grandson who struggled with the dark just like he did. but that he came in just in time to tell palp’s granddaughter to rise😍 really hopeful, lovely ending. thanks again jj! thanks for making leia seem like a bad mother who sees visions about her son but just throws in the towel and doesn’t really try to help him?? wtf??? not my princess leia. also tros luke? truly the worst luke. i really have no other words, i’m just disappointed. jj let me down in every single way possible and ones i didn’t even realize he could.

palpatine - jj also managed to ruin the best star wars villain, a feat i didn’t even think possible. palpatine had always seemed scary to me because of his inhuman qualities. but in this one, he’s back with no explanation whatsoever. he just is. he somehow managed to survive (ok🙄) and furthermore he had a kid. what in the fuck? jj clearly read harry potter and the cursed child, but he clearly also forgot to read the reviews. NOBODY LIKES IT WHEN THE PREVIOUSLY UNTOUCHABLE/SCARY VILLAIN HAS A KID OUT OF NOWHERE. NOBODY. i seriously spent the entire movie wondering who the heck would sleep with him? that’s it. he didn’t seem menacing or at all like a threat. this movie genuinely had no stakes whatsoever (that’s why ben’s death feels so out of left field bc literally for what?! but i digress) also the final “fight” where rey kills him??? very lame. he supposedly survived all those years to be taken out like that?? no thank you, i’d like a refund.

in conclusion, thank you to jj for ruining my favorite franchise by killing off every last one of my favorite characters, destroying the skywalker legacy (& killing them off), ruining seriously every character, and leaving me with despair!!! while i’ll continue to watch star wars without including episode 9, it sucks that some of my joy is zapped from my favorite series. because this is how future generations will know star wars. with this shitty ending. and any future movies will have this canon. and that really fricking sucks. thanks, i hate it.

anyways feel free to message if you’re also in the depths of despair about how this all ended!! bc the more i think about it, the sadder/angrier i get.

[moonknightly]

Sinking Down Into My Thoughts : Poe Dameron x Reader

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader

Word Count: 1.9k

Excerpt: “He couldn’t take the ghosts in his lungs and the skeletons in his closet. He couldn’t stand the taste of war anymore, so permanent on his tongue. The battles stitched across the skin of his back. All of the times he had failed.”

Warnings: Uhhh this one is sad af. Suicidal thoughts, mentions of death and loss. Sad.

At first it had been easy.

Poe was familiar with loss. He had been so young when he experienced it for the first time — with his parents, when they had so valiantly risked their lives to hopefully better his. Years he would never get back. Time. Time that was cut even shorter when Death had come for his mother. He had been only eight. Just a small boy, a boy too young to understand what had been taken, ripped right out from under him. Too young to understand why daddy was crying, and why mommy wasn’t there to tuck him in at night, to stop his own tears from flowing down red cheeks.

But he supposed he should be thankful, in some twisted sense of the word. Because that experience had numbed him, helped to dull the sting of loss when it struck. Death, loss, mourning — it was unavoidable, especially in a life riddled with war. It was easy because it was unavoidable.

But then suddenly, it was. It was all so completely avoidable. Suddenly Poe realized there was so much he could have done, so much he could have changed. So many lives he could have saved if he had only tried just a little harder. If he hadn’t been so selfish. If he had sacrificed himself.

And he was disgusted with himself, because he often used death, the loss of life to inspire others. Used it as an example. Talked about it like it was some beautiful sacrifice and not a terrible tragedy.

All that blood — it was never once beautiful. It was only ever red. He took it and he turned it into something beautiful, something romanticized so people would take chances, so they wouldn’t be afraid.

He couldn’t do that with you.

He hadn’t been able to say anything about your death at all.

It had been the one that had made him realize that he was so completely fucking selfish, that death wasn’t something to sentimentalize. Because fuck, it had hurt so fucking badly. It had stabbed him through the heart, and now he would have to die twice because you had gone first.

And he hated himself even more because he hadn’t felt a damn thing. It wasn’t like all of the stories, where you get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, when you just know that something so terrible has happened to the person you love. It wasn’t like that at all. He felt nothing. Shouldn’t he have felt something?

And for that reason, part of him wondered if you really were gone. Part of him wondered if BB-8 had simply been wrong. Maybe he missed something. He wondered if maybe the small droid had blown a fuse in the landing, broken a sensor, something, anything. How many times had Poe crashed a ship and still managed to walk away with his life? There had to be a chance. Hope.

But his beloved droid, the only thing he had left, promised that he had been so completely thorough in checking the wreckage. That you weren’t there. There was nowhere else for you to be. It had been a week now, and Poe had spent every single night laying in the grass just outside of the hangar, waiting for you.

You never came.

He couldn’t stay on base.

He was driving himself mad. Everywhere he looked, he saw you, felt you. It was all too much. Poe hadn’t even been able to bring himself to sleep in the bed you once shared, hadn’t been able to bring himself to look towards the spot where your X-Wing should have been parked — the spot right next to his. He hadn’t been able to say your name, though it was still ringing in his ear, your voice was still in his head, and he just wanted it to stop.

It wouldn’t fucking stop.

He had been flying with no particular destination in mind, though still on Ajan Kloss, for over ten hours now, hoping to clear his mind. But his thoughts — they were all you. All he could think about was you and your laugh and the way that you smelled and how you couldn’t get through the mornings without your caf, and how you ran your fingers through his hair on the nights he couldn’t sleep, and how you would sneak up behind him in the command center and wrap your arms around his waist.

How he didn’t believe in a Heaven, but he had been picturing you there, because Maker, he wanted you to be there, waiting for him even though he fucking knew he didn’t have a chance at getting in himself.

How he had lost and lost and lost, but he never imagined that he could lose you, but your life proved to be just as fleeting as everyone else’s.

Just as fleeting as his could be.

Poe wanted to crash his X-Wing. He wanted it to be over. He had even closed his eyes for several minutes at a time, just hoping to crash into something, and he was growing frustrated because every single time he felt himself getting just a little too close to the ground or any other object, he pulled back. He couldn’t fucking do it.

He was so, so weak.

He wanted to do it. He deserved to do it. But he couldn’t fucking bring himself to because your voice grew even louder each time he came close, telling him not to, begging him not to. And stars, he would always listen to you. Always did before.

But he just couldn’t take it. He couldn’t take the ghosts in his lungs and the skeletons in his closet. He couldn’t stand the taste of war anymore, so permanent on his tongue. The battles stitched across the skin of his back. All of the times he had failed. How he had failed you.

Poe was losing his mind.

And he was even more sure that he was losing his mind when he heard BB-8 frantically rush out that he had someone from base trying to come through his comlink, your call sign attached.

“Buddy, that’s Y/N’s. You know that.”

More frantic beeping that translated into two simple words — “I know.”

Poe’s stomach sank. He really did have a loose wire, a missing bolt, he wouldn’t make such a monumental mistake otherwise. BB-8 didn’t make mistakes.

“Beebee, this isn’t funny.”

The droid made a noise that sounded almost like a huff. “Just trust me.”

Poe grit his teeth, wanting to slam his head into the controls if he were being quite honest. But regardless, he flipped on the speaker of his coms, staying quiet, merely listening.

He heard some muffled talking, but he couldn’t really make out any particular voice or what they were saying. It had to have been a mistake, someone resetting something. Someone playing a sick joke, trying to mess with him. He shook his head, letting it hit the back of his seat with a small thump and a heavy sigh. He was just about to flip it off, already angling himself towards the ground again when a voice broke through the static.

“You know, I was kind of hoping that you’d be here waiting for me Dameron.”

He pulled up suddenly, causing the ship to jerk wildly for just a moment, his eyes widening and the air completely leaving his lungs as if he had been kicked in the chest.

“Y/N?”

“Hi flyboy.”

Poe couldn’t speak. Completely lost the ability to. His head was spinning wildly and he felt like he was going to be sick. This couldn’t actually be happening. How could this be happening? BB-8 had been so sure.

“You still with me Poe?”

He swallowed the lump that was threatening to rise in his throat.

“I’m losing my damn mind.”

You laughed. You laughed and Poe’s stomach flipped because he thought he would never get to hear that beautiful, angelic sound ever again.

He swallowed again. He didn’t want to start crying, not then. He would save his tears for later that night, once he had you back in his arms and in the comfort of your shared quarters, once he was positive that this wasn’t his mind playing some cruel trick.

“How?”

His voice was nothing more than a broken whisper, and he hated how it sounded in his ears. It didn’t sound like him at all.

“I got thrown,” you sighed, and Poe felt his heart clench just a little bit. He remembered when he had crashed that TIE back on Jakku, how hurt and scared and dehydrated he had been before finding help.

Hurt and scared and dehydrated was better than dead though.

It was definitely better than dead.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a little banged up, I’m fine. Are you okay?”

Poe thought about her question, but his mind was jumping all over the place, still in shock, still not truly believing that she was really sitting back at base, talking to him. That her voice really was in his ear and not just some hallucination in his head.

“I don’t know.”

His words were truthful. He wasn’t lying. He really didn’t know.

“Come back to me baby. Come home.”

Why did he feel like he couldn’t?

“I’ve failed.”

“You haven’t failed baby.”

“I almost lost you.”

“I’m right here.”

“I can’t do this.”

Shouldn’t he have been happy? Shouldn’t he have felt something? Why was he still numb?

“Let me help you.”

He sobbed, the sound strangled, tearing through his throat so violently it burned his vocal chords.

He didn’t deserve it. Poe didn’t deserve anything from anyone. He didn’t deserve help, he didn’t deserve you, he didn’t deserve to live.

He deserved to lose.

“I need you, Poe Dameron. I need you.”

He stopped, his heart clenching in his chest — there it was, the feeling. Emotion. Something.

“Say it again.”

“I need you.”

Another tug.

You needed him. You needed him and you did deserve everything from everyone. You deserved all of the love and affection and every little thing you could ever possibly dream of. You deserved it all. You deserved better than him.

But he was selfish. He wanted to be selfish.

You needed him.

He needed you.

You didn’t deserve to lose.

He did, he still thought that he deserved to lose everything. But he couldn’t lose you, not again.

And he couldn’t let you lose him.

It had become so apparent that losing each other would only ever be red. It would never be beautiful, he could never make it beautiful.

Loss, death, all of that blood spilled in war — it was only ever red.

And Poe Dameron would do everything in his power to try and avoid it.

He’d come home. He’d see you in just a little while, and he would cry, just like he told himself he would, but he would also let himself get lost in loving you, the most beautiful thing that he could make.

[leaf-greener]

Ok so I was rewatching TCW and I started out with the movie and honestly I’m only really a few minutes in and I am losing it over:

 -That clone who gave R2 a head pat.   -That clone who yelled charge and got immediatelyshot afterwards, that made me sad  -That clone who punched a droid, and then fucking died.   -The fact that DIRECTLY after that we see Cody WACK A DROID with his FULLY FUNCTIONAL BLASTER and then ROUNDHOUSE KICK ANOTHER ONE, AND THEN GO BACK TO SHOOTING MORE DROIDS

-Alright fuck it this is a live post now because I need to scream into the void and my friends don’t like Star Wars Fair warning, this is INSANELY long, and I’m doing this entirely for myself. I just don’t have anywhere else to put all my thoughts down freely and damn it I’m gonna put ALL of them down. 

-Ashoka, I love you but please god. get actual clothes. armor??? maybe??? Just, ANYTHING BUT A TUBE TOP. 

-Ok, so this movie looks pretty bad but I actually think the back grounds are really pretty. 

-Tbh early Ashoka is like, really cute?? (In a “aw look at the kid“ way, which is funny considering I’m her age-)  And if she’d wear some actual fucking clothes she’d have a really good design. 

-I can completely understand why people would find her annoying but lmfao Skyguy is fucking hilarious, if only because it pisses of Anakin. 

-All the Clones looking at her when she says it and Rex laughing helps add to everything. 

-Anakin: Captain Rex will show you a little respect can go a long way.   Rex: *Visible Oh Fuck Shit Don’t Give Me The Baby Jedi*

-Ashoka, I love you, but please Force stfu show Rex some respect.

-Ok but literal seconds later Rex actually seems happy to see she’s like, enthusiastic? (I think?)

-oH SHIT REX DROPPED A “DAMN” I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ASDFGHJKL (Rex there’s a child riGHT THERE)

-Fuck fuck shit this when Teth happens I’m not emotionally prepared

-Why are they in the middle?? Wouldn’t it be easier to go the side??? 

-Obi Wan saved a Clone :)

-Obi Wan ffs that’s a war crime-

-Why are the droids protecting the shield genorator literal fucking soda cans  

-So like, I know to a lot of people that moment between Anakin and Ashoka feels a little unearned, I just. can’t say I feel the same. Mostly because I can, relate a lot to Ashka feels there. You know, when you kinda fuck up but really, it wasn’t that bad, but you still feel like shit and you know other people think you fucked up too? But seeing Anakin being understanding is just, really comforting in a way. 

-Why the FUCK did they send ANAKIN to save JABBA THE HUTTS SON, do they not remember his childhood??????????????

-Actually I think they did a good job on Jabba’s model. When I look at him I don’t want to throw up. 

-God that opening shot of Teth from space is just, so fucking ominous and it fills me with dread. Especially knowing what’s gonna happen. 

-The Clones surrounding Ashoka have hair that’s going to kill me out of just being so BAD. 

-The Clones laughing when Ashoka says she saved Anakin is fucking funny

-ASHOKA IN A HOOD MY BELOVED

-DID THAT B1 DROID JUST FUCKING COMPLIMENT THE SPIDER DROID FOR MAKING A GOOD SHOT LIKE IT WAS A PET??????? THAT’S SO WHOLESOME?????? IT NODDED IN THANKS?????????

-RIDGE ILY

-Ok but actually though I fucking love B1′s. “Just fire right there!” is HILARIOUS. 

-”Oh my God” being said by a droid implies so much shit that I a not unpacking

-Ashoka, honey, you’re blocking the pilots view-

-This OST-

-Rex sounds so fucking Tired let him Rest.

-”No problem, the hard parts over.” Lmao, that’s hilarious.

- Oh God the dread is setting in. 

- R2 jus fucking????? Jumped- no, LEAPED out of Anakins ship???? How id he-

- Oh btw, I’m at the part where they’re under attack at the monastary, aka where shit gets real.

- Haha Willhelm (Idk how tf to spell it ok) Scream, vry funny because someone just died 

-Ashoka’s theme is gonna make me fucking cry 

-So many Clones being fucking dead is gonna make me cry

- Rex: Anakin   Anakin: Tf you aren’t Rex

- Lmao this poor B1 is trying his best. 

- REX FFS NOT YOU TOO! WHAT IS WITH CLONES AND FUCKING PUNCHING BATTLE DROIDS

-AGAIN??? I HAVE NO IDEA WHO IT WAS BUT GUYS STOP PUNCHING BATTLE DROIDS FFS

-The fact that one of the few named Clones actually named in a line is fucking “Odd Ball” is just. Odd Ball. 

-NO THE CLONE WHO TRIED TO HIT A B2 WITH A BLASTER- FUCK HE DESERVED BETTER 

-Ok the “We’ve got you out numbered!” joke was hilarious.

-Ok I really appreciate that Anakin’s first priority was helping his men, and that Ashoka had to remind him that they had to get Stinky to a medic or he would die and the mission would go to shit.

-The hangar getting blown up gives me -5 serotonine.

-I feel like everything happening on Teth should feel darker than they’re making it seem. Like, 

- PADME, QUEEN

- Oh my God girl, “as a reprisentative of the Senate, of course”???? You aren’t subtle-

- Hey look it’s Jabba’s queercoded-to-make-him-look-more-evil uh... relative

- Oh, UNCLE

- Padme is too good for this whole damned galaxy.

-Man the OST can be really good when it wants to

-Wait why am I still watching this I don’t care anymore??? I came here to see Clones-

Uh, kudos to anyone who made it down here. You’re a madlad. 

[captainkurosolaire]

Reverie of Winning

“She has a name, you bastard!”

At no chance would that sufficiently hit Shiro who was calculated always and right now as he began returning to his evil ways, mental tormenting drew satisfaction. All forms had thresholds he felt compelling and screaming other demon’s floating inside him screaming the gap of their power was tremendously in his favor. The indifference's were believed absurdly countless to count. An aetherial icy hand began molding and attempting to seal in his block. More ice surrounded Shiro’s entire frame that often was always around him in a transparent bubble. He had a certain radius that kept him clean and secure from filth and pollution. A protective aura of sorts or defined as his safe-zone. The ice that spawned forth was rapid and not in any sense logically gathered as his corruption defied his normal limits. The Captain predicted a counter only under the many battles they contested his better instincts and judgments kicked in. He followed up in his motion high-kick while allowing them to remain linked to trace behind his spine and unstrap his revolver charged with high dense explosive hollow rounds. Taking a point of aim. Shiro laughed between the true portion of this fight began shaping full-on something associated with likeness of a Voidal presence alarming around the stage of this contest. Horns and demonic runes began burning his flesh and replacing his birthed markings. “Did I hit a nerve?” Before Kuro could hit the trigger Shiro ran his finger into the barrel jamming and stuffing it with a diamond icicle shard perfectly sculpted. Causing a clogged discharge and a catastrophic boom. At the same time releasing Kuro’s leg letting the forced impact entirely boom him ever comically over to the other side of the Ruins from a discharged recoil. He ate it up. Shiro manically became more unstable like a misperformance tune on a violin string. So this is what he sacrificed and sold his every remaining piece of humane for..?                   Good riddance. This power activated only in unmatched hatred and only festered parasitical growth. Captain’s entire frame clashed into a heap of old rubble as many additional falling slid onto his downed canvas in a burial pile. Shiro began a hymn step in casualty coolness while seeking to lecture and berate his cringe of a foe. “I uncovered recently in my travels all your memories of your loved one have stripped from you too, ironic, opposing my rightful claim in trying to get mine returned. However, I’d ask what you were doing coming here for this Treasured Relic was your intentions really any far from my own? Do you really believe yourself better than me, somehow, at all? That you could forgive yourself for letting that part of you freed.  Yes… You threw all the other Stars to fall, those other so-called gems you go on about, everything and cast them aside for her sake, even abandoning the seas pledges in the pursuit of straying to whatever pact once that made you somewhat mildly amusing as a character. Though what makes your bond more important than mine? My sake is just as valued as yours! Losses of glory are always painful no matter so tell me your differences, fiend!” Long absence and pause happened on Captain’s side as he had to work much harder to catch his breathing from a hit like that. Suddenly softer pieces of rubble over-top began rolling down the pile. His hand breaking forth before shoveling himself into the landslide. Scratches, bruises, and blood already began dripping from him in disarray his eyebrow on his skin peeled back. His rigid lungs forced him to cough out the dust and debris.

As he slowly began to reclaim his posture. “Who said anything about mine is more important in comparison? I legitimately and full-hardheartedly messed up. It’s not my first-voyage or time, probably won’t be the last. I’ve been on the verge of being n’ the whole happily ever after sunset many times and I screwed them all up. There’s no blame outside my own. Look at me. I get n’ these types of injuries and situations all the time. This isn’t anything unusual, I’m a handful in every sense, sometimes, there’s more pain in that than the actual intended pleasure. Even to other Voidsents on my crew formerly, or mythical creature’s beyond mind, I can be an exhausting nightmare to even them. Ye think that’s healthy or stable or somehow certified sane? Doesn’t matter even if you’re eternal or everlasting or blessed by some creator that’s bound to taint and soil any waters. She cast me out and extended mercy on me and freed me even as I turned to the epitome of fright, a prediction she foresaw, even when I wanted to fog from reality.”

 “T’ sow these rifts like this one I can’t make my departure soured without learning. No one deserves more happiness than what Ayla gave and should have gotten or any of the recognition I lacked in providing… I’ll always have a part of me that love’s her and owe every fortune I obtain here on and out as her claim too. But In order for that to transpire reassuringly all that I formerly had in the light and was known for my fame and all my signs of openly living must forever be the shadows ownership for now. Nightmares were meant to end when eyes are opened! So... WITH THAT BEING SAID. I’ll show you who I’m fighting for in this!” He took on a charge once again reinvigorated even knowing in every sense this was futile, outclassed and outmatched. Last time he came close to defeating Shiro first-time it took him preparing and actually expecting the battle. Using Grade 2 - Wyvern-Obsidian to carve through the Diamond Ice. He didn’t have that courtesy in this encounter. The pirate wasn’t selfishly throwing these in some self-made vault or intending to use any of the trophies acquired in usage. He wanted to secure and put them into a slumber further away from the worst in his sector corner. To let them be with either their people of origins or to reside with researchers in museums or artistic wonders if they didn’t forebode troublesome damnation. Regardless to Shiro’s belief the Captain had no plans or intentions to encounter his bettered-rival here in this map and next adventure and when he did stumble across and saw with his first sight. It broke a cord inside him with a sign of sympathy and regret. Shiro believes there was no such thing as a pirate of compassion. He was wrong alongside with that whole illusion of wishing-well when someone was in a compromised and fallen mood was a ruse. It was understandable coming from the upper echelon in society, people always swindled and played the same card to merely keep a connection or contact with status closely to them. There wasn’t an entire flaw in Shiro’s jaded thoughts though there was more depth he refused. Realms were led by statistics. It’s why categorization and separation hierarchies had to exist. There was realism and there was idealism. Those that weren’t taught the exact same ways as others those so-called privileged weren’t known by the same eld textbooks or hand-me-down spew from fossilized oaks. Those that had nothing but a scrap of their own knowledge and perception crafted their own past droid teachings. Eventually, there was one part of a group line that coherently believed in all formed free. Fears of free often were doubled-sided, naturally, as one part of the definition of free could simply just mean pure anarchy and chaos an excuse for lawlessness. While another believed that any and all forms of corrupt and foul could exist no matter the origins it was all individual influenced and decided. And shouldn’t be determined until active clarity was known but over time this became a worthless fight. It was easier just to knuckle up for these arguments and drive home their value.    (Previous)  — /References/ —   ♫ ‘Black Holes’ — (Next Page)

[mercurydancer]

Thank you for the rambling, it was an interesting read.

And you’ve now encouraged me and made yourself approachable. My turn to babble.

Again, I love Maul and your depiction of him. He’s formidable. He’s intelligent and dangerous and occasionally unsettling. He’s arrogant and over dramatic. And he’s a broken child who’s been brainwashed and horrifically abused his whole life. And you don’t ignore any of those aspects.

I’m also so charmed by your little Anakin. He’s wise and super insightful and so so sweet. And he still feels like a kid. I am attached to almost everyone else too actually, especially Shmi (thank you for freeing her) and Plo (best dad). I am so amused by the fact that you are basically fixing everything by making everyone actually *communicate*. Maybe not all of it can be quite so simple, but it’s still amazing how much it does solve.

Thank you for writing the fic at all, for giving Maul a chance to be saved, even if you aren’t making it easy. The man is a freaking tragedy. Hopefully less of one in your fic though. How sad is it that his sworn enemies and captors treat him with infinitely more kindness and common decency than the man who raised him? And of course he doesn’t know what to do with that kindness. His confusion throughout is both amusing and heartbreaking.

A couple thoughts that you are not obligated to respond to. I’m curious how the battle on Naboo went down such that it ended with Maul captured and everyone involved alive and (relatively) unscathed. Necessary for the whole “fix-it” perhaps, but I still wonder.

Also curious about Sidious’s attachment to Maul. Like, obviously he’s absolutely horrible to him. Worst father ever. But nonetheless, for better or worse, he made Maul what he is. He raised him. Like you said, their bond is almost filial. But I am hesitant/disinclined (putting it lightly) to call it love in any sense of the word. At least not on Sidious’s part. But what do I know. How much does he care? You show pride, certainly. And possessiveness. At the very least he doesn’t seem eager to throw his apprentice (and all of the work he put into him) away too hastily. Then again, one can care even for a tool.

Another thought. Would force lightening possibly leave lichtenberg figures? I’m not sure if that would be cool or just horrifying...

Anyway, I hope this disjointed ramble finds you well. And is not entirely unwelcome....I look forward to where you take your story. Your writing itself is so fun and immersive and I love how you weave your words together. The bits of lore that you add are also most welcome. I stayed up way too late reading it all, but I really can’t bring myself to regret it.

Ah heck yes, hello~~ I’m glad you liked my ramble, I did my best, and please feel free~ Some things I won’t give out because I have plans for them in the future and for revealings and. I have plans. I have plans within schemes within plots. And it’s going to be so much fun.

But gosh. You are entirely too sweet and I am absolutely going to fucking DIE. So thank you for that LOL. Maul is just. God I’m so happy that people have been loving my Maul! I am, I’m just so glad. I love him so much and it’s so wonderful that people are so on board with him. He really is just all of those things and I work so hard to keep that balance and sometimes it’s hard? So I’m really glad that it’s something that I think is turning out how I want it to.

Anakin though, I’m so GLAD! He’s such a hard balance to pull off!! He is! He’s a little genius boy who was creating droids and building pods at 9, listening to all of these grungy spacers but he’s NINE and I’m glad that he still reads as a kid. Shmi needed to be freed lol so I went and did it, and I’m so glad you love her and Plo! Plo is absolutely best dad and deserves to get a mug saying so or something lol. As for the communication thing oh my god, dude, just. On Ao3 I literally have tagged this story ‘fixing the galaxy one conversation at a time.’ It doesn’t fix everything, it absolutely won’t, but I’m going to do a lot LOL.

I read the book The Wrath of Darth Maul and that was the thing that tipped me into actually needing to save Maul. I have literally never seen a character that I think ‘god, I literally cannot make this person’s life any more tragic than it actually is?’ Like, my main staple of fic is whump, I write a lot of whump (with a lot of comfort to be sure), so I’m pretty creative when it comes to finding ways to hurt a character, but my god. I looked at Maul and went ‘yeah, okay, no. We’re going to save you, shut up, that’s what you’re doing, you are getting lots of kindness and love, and you are not going to understand it, but fuck it, you will enjoy it. eventually. shh. trust me.’ and here we are!

Battle on Naboo is one of those plots within plots situations, and I think that once it’s actually revealed it’s going to be one of those HA moments, but I will point out that Maul does claim Qui-Gon cheats a lot. What could it mean what could it mean lol.

Sidious and Maul is another plot within plot, but... completely canon? Sidious referred to Maul as a loss. Count Dooku was a torpedo, but Maul was a loss, and that’s... Interesting to me.

Force lightning does leave lichtenberg figures, yes, but Maul’s skin makes them pretty difficult to see. Touch him, though, and you can actually feel where they’re raised on his skin.

It has indeed found me well and I hope you are as well, and please feel free~ I have no issue with the rambles, not at all~ I’m so glad you felt comfortable enough to do so, that makes me happy~ I’m hella glad you enjoy my writing lol I’d tell you to get good sleep but I don’t practice what I preach anyway LOL. Stay well~

[kiara-carrera]

EVENS FOR SOLARA

this got super long, so it’s under the cut but pls enjoy my tiny space child

basics

2. what does their name mean? why were they named that? solara means “of the sun.” when i first named her, i actually got it off one of those dtar wars themed name generators, so i didn’t know it was, like, a legit name. but now i think it’s cute because she was born on tatooine which is known for it’s binary suns and her parents fell in love under those suns.

4. how old are they? she’s 17 during a new hope, born roughly two years after the events of the prequel trilogy.

6. what’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? do they believe that holds any significance? okay so since she doesn’t have a birthday (because idk how that shit correlates to sw), i consulted with joey on astrology and she came to the conclusion that solara fits as a gemini for her sun sign. if astrology was a thing in sw, she’d probably believe in it tbh, she gives astrology girl vibes.

8. what “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? if none, what weapon do they favor? she’s technically a jedi. after the events of the original triology, her and luke make it their mission to bring back the jedi order, with the caveat that solara wants to be better and not make the mistakes the original council made. she favors her lightsaber. her first saber was her mother’s that obi-wan gifts her with during anh. somewhere after esb (either when luke gets his green saber or at least somewhere in the timeline before the sequels) she gets a set of two sabers (she uses one regular saber and then a shoto, much like ahsoka tano does). all of her sabers, both her mothers and her own are blue.

appearance

2. do they have a face claim? poppy drayton!

4. how do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression? she gives off a very happy go lucky vibe, especially in the first film. during anh, she’s very naive and ready to throw herself into the action. she hardens a little after anh, so in esb she’s a little bit wiser and more cautious, which increases through the series. either way, her default expression is either a smile or rolling eyes.

personality

2. which one of the 16 personality types do they fit into? i’m not great with these, but i feel like she has qualities of either (i/e)nfp!

4. what are they bad at? she has a problem sometimes with admitting when she’s wrong about something or when she can’t handle things alone. she loves proving herself capable but sometimes it takes a toll on her but she’ll rarely admit when she needs help.

6. do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses? there’s definitely some trauma from watching her dad be killed in front of her, which only gets worse when she finds out that anakin is vader because she knows that obi-wan loved anakin, like that was his best friend and closest ally before he went to the dark side so she is not a fan of the betrayal.

8. what are their manners like? any habits? her manners are a bit all over the place depending on the situation. she knows how to control herself, be patient, polite, and have composure because discipline was involved in her force teachings, but she can tend to become impatient and snarky. for habits, she fiddles with her fingers a lot and can definitely be found meditating at least once a day.

background

2. what’s their family like? growing up, her family was simply her dad. her mother died during childbirth, so obi-wan raised solara himself and was also her pseudo jedi master once he realized her abilities with the force. after his death, her family is a found family of luke, leia, han, chewie, and the droids.

4. how do they fit into their “story”? she’s the force sensitive jedi in training daughter of obi-wan kenobi and a good portion of her story is to parallel the skywalker/kenobi relationship (in the sense of close companions, bes friends, battle partners and how it would be if there was no fall to the sith) and take it a step deeper.

6. how do they eventually die? as of right now, in the sequel trilogy solara is the only one from the original triology human quartet left alive. so for her, death i’m not entirely sure when it happens but it won’t be because of war and bloodshed.

relationships

2. what’s their friend group like? what role do they play in it? her friend group is highkey chaotic. lots of sarcasm and loving insults being thrown around. she definitely fills the role of the baby of the group and han treats her like a chaotic little gremlin child (aka the sister he never asked for).

4. who do they look up to? who do they trust? before he passed, she looked up to her father a lot. for 17 years, he was basically all she had. from the stories she’s been told, she also looks up to her mother and ahsoka tano (who she’s only heard of through spare stories her father’s mentioned - she thinks the girl is a total badass). as for trust, she really goes to trust luke. a core thing about solara’s journey is that it parallels the original skywalker/kenobi bond (with romance added obviously and without the betrayal), so it fun to see how much her and luke come to trust each other. she also puts a lot of trust in han, leia, and chewie.

6. do they have any pets? she does not have any pets. in esb, there’s a droid she sorta befriends but that doesn’t really count as a pet but like,,,a friend that beeps at you.

fun facts

2. do they play any instruments? sports? she doesn’t play any instruments. does lightsaber dueling count as sports haha

4. do they collect anything? i feel like she’d want to keep little souvenirs of all the places she’s been to, considering for 17 years her world was just the barren sands of tatooine because her dad was lowkey a hermit even with her being around (although, i guess that’s a bit subject to change with the obi-wan show but as of rn i probably won’t include that canon if it messes up my canon).

6. which emoji would they use the most? either 🥺 or 😋

8. what’s their favorite expletive? star wars language wise, probably kriffing (which i think is the equivalent of like fuck, idk), but honestly she deserves to say fuck like she’s on the chart of “let these characters say fuck”

10. what songs remind you of them? i see fire by ed sheeran always reminds me of her story. also sun by sleeping at last.

12. what stereotypical high school clique would they fit into? whatever the clique is that has the nice kids, maybe a little bit of a jock thing going on but also not really?

14. do they believe in aliens? ghosts? reincarnation or something else? aliens, yes because she lives in space. ghosts, also yes because of the force. reincarnation probably not but she does believe in becoming one with the force when you die.

16. which deadly sin do they most correspond to? which heavenly virtue? pride and kindness (also, because i know there’s sorta a concept of an “eighth” sin/virtue aka despair and hope, she’d also fit into a hope category if you subscribe to that idea!)

[th3okamid3mon]

Spies in disguise, weirdly wholesome (Spoilers)

This movie was so freaking weird. I thought Blue Sky Studios was so dead, the only movie I´ve seen from them was Ice Age and Robots, and Ice Age went downhill after the 3rd movie. But this??? This could be their revival.

Sinopsis: 

Lance Sterling is one of the best spies in the agency. He loves his job and does it really well but when a bad guy starts harming different people across the world using his face, Sterling has to clear up his name in any way possible with the help of a young scientist called Walter Beckett. Problem is, though, the same scientist tried a very complex experiment on him by accident which result on him turning into something everybody hates: a pigeon. 

Animation: 

I´m sure Blue Sky has made more animated movies than just Ice Age, but being completely honest I literally only knew that one. I loved that movie, I also like Robots, but the rest they´ve made aren´t as striking to me. 

As an animation studio they know what they are doing, it is really good. The details in the water and rocks, all the backgrounds? They all look awesome!

It´s no Klaus though. In comparison to other movies, this is pretty much blends with the rest of the CGI movies there exist. Ice Age and Robots had a very distinctive style, but this one? This looks like something Pixar would do (they kind of went a bit downhill, Toy Story 4 was not needed and The Incredibles 2 felt off and incomplete, animation was fine, writing meh. I hope Onward and Soul are better. Fingers crossed.) I also thought Dreamworks made it. It´s not very... original as in the style of the animation. 

The lighting was cool as hell!! The first scene in Japan WAS SO FREAKING AWESOME. It had amazing highlights and it was perfect blend in the atmosphere. The darks werent so obscure you couldnt see anything and when a certain light hit the character it was a great contrast. 

The design of the characters were really great, the background characters looked kind of the same though. It was like the main characters were anime protagonists in this case, not only because of the design but because they use more striking and hotter colors in them while the background characters had really opaque palettes. 

Story and Characters: 

So.. Disclaimer: Spy movies taken seriously is not my thing. I HATE Mission Imposible. I HATE JAMES BOND 1, 2, 3, INIFINITE WHATEVER. I hate them, they are boring and the main characters are worst than Superman (Who, by the way, I also HATE. not the animated one, just the live action one. LIKE BATMAN I HA-). That´s because they portray them as all mighty, powerful, type of card of all traits. Making them too useful and too able makes it boring and it makes you question Why do they even have a freaking team with them?

In this case you have the all mighty, hella cool and able Lance Sterling. He works alone, he is able to do everything and anything, right? Well, at least he is charismatic and such. Of course you have to add something to him so he isn´t just a cocky super human spy. What do you do? GIVE. HIM. AN. OBSTACLE. AND. MAKE. IT. HILARIOUS. Thank god this is comedy. 

It was a really weird premise for the super spy to become a pigeon. From all animals, a Pigeon? Uh... Yeah, sure? This director and writer do know how to make this shit work. And BOI was this really interesting. 

So it goes like this: Sterling goes against a bad guy who isn´t even the main bad guyTM. He does his cool fighting montage during which POOF, GLITTER! Glitter..? Da fuq? And he rolls with it because if he doesn´t he COULD DIE. (I know there´s the flashback montage for Walter at the beginning but bare with me). He gets the briefcase, which had a very dangerous and powerful machine which in spanish is called LITERALLY ASESINO (MURDERER) , LA-DI-DA-DI-DA he goes back to the agency and... The briefcase is empty and some agent comes all of the sudden and has some recording where it is shown HE stole it and killed some guys in Japan with it.

But he escaped, relax. 

Now, previously he had fired Walter because he got into Sterling´s things and put the glitter bomb, which actually did his purpose: distract and make everyone happy. 

Walter is actually a curious character to me. He has good intentions, he just wants to make a safer world and all his inventions in comparison to the rest are to minimize damage and to protect not only the spies but also the villains. Now days we have characters who are mostly all in favor to not kill, because killing is wrong. It´s not a new thing, its a pretty old concept, but it is mostly seen in TV shows (at least from the movies I´ve seen, even if the hero doesn´t want to kill, the villain still ends up dead somehow). From all the movies I´ve seen, there were several that didn´t killed the villain but... I didn´t like them at all because the villain didnt even made sense (IM LOOKING AT YOU FROZEN 1 AND THE INCREDIBLES 2, FUCKING WASTE OF MONEY AND VILLAINS, SO HELP ME GO-) 

I dont know why Walter stick to me so much more than any other characters in other movies. His motivations were always for the greater good even as a kid. The biggest inspiration in his life was and is his mother, and I think because of her dead that motivation became even stronger. His whole personality and genuine care into his work to help others leaks in everything he does. It´s in your face, ALL THE TIME, but in a good way? It isnt at the point of being annoying, it´s weird how they manage to make such a nice character with certain points that are quirky without making him annoying. 

Ok, back to the story without spoiling much and going to the point, they both start working out how Sterling as a pigeon can do his spy work and Walter works on an antidote while also helping Sterling with the spy work. Question: Is it original? I dont know. Does it matter? No. 

Look, the concept of a character turning into something is not really original and as spy movies we all KNOW in all 9 levels of Mictlan that Spy theme movies are not original at all. Spy Kids? That was slightly more original than any other spy movie I ever seen AND I LOVED IT. The important manner here is and will always be the characters which... Well... Will Smith acted as Will Smith, or well.. I watch in spanish... wait... 

Ok, I already knew Mario Filio was the official Will Smith voice Actor... 

HOLY SHIT, EMILIO TREVIÑO IS MILES MORALES TOO?!?!? 

Where was I...? Ah, yeah. 

As a plot, it had pretty much a lot of dark themes and several heavy spots. For example: The talk between Will- I MEAN Sterling and Walter in the boat, where they talk about how to fight the villain we saw a bit more of them. We already knew the motivation for Walter, but Sterling? The cocky cock has feelings? WHO WOULD´VE KNOWN! He really doesnt want people to get killed and it gets to him, because that form limits him a lot. Walter is so stress too, they both want the best for the people and they argue but in a manner that makes it a bit heavy. Walter is still young and too dreamy, Sterling has worked in the battle field, he tells Walter  you have to fight fire with fire and doing it Walter´s way is not gonna work because bad people doesnt care about the good people. Walter replies that there are no good or bad, only people. (UM... I HAVE A BIT OF A PROBLEM WITH THAT?? But I will discuss it later.) 

There some scenes i did not expect to get emotional and it quickly returns to comedy but not as awkwardly as I would thought. It´s a fun movie, if it wants too it gets a tad heavy and if it wants to it becomes extremely dumb. It´s a weird blend, the concept is super dumb but the plot and the characters teaches you certain things like: People still get hurt even if you acted with the best intentions. Sometimes to solve a problem you need to think in another way. Kindness is a powerful weapon. And most importantly: Weird is good. 

Conclusion: 

So... It was a really fun movie. Weirdly wholesome, weirdly good! Pretty good actually, it didn´t get me much as other movies but it did stick to me. It has good animation, the characters are enjoyable and charismatic, the super good boi is Walter MY GOD, HE DESERVES THAT JOB HE GOT. Sterling is a good pal once he sees the value in Walter. That part with the egg was strange but Walter made it have sense and they both rolled with it and it was pretty cool.

Now, the messages are good. I understand people are people and such. You shouldnt kill because its wrong. I mean, the villain DID kind of had second thoughts after Walter saved him from falling after turning the droid off, which was SO COOL TO HAVE KILLIAN LOOK LIKE THAT. He didn´t had to say shit, just that look of ¨Huh... That kid did save me even after I tried to kill him...¨ Yes, give me more shown not tell. THIS MOVIE HAD A LOT OF SHOW NO TELL, THANK YOU. 

Still, bad people not always want to change. Some bad people stay bad, and sometimes we will have to fight back. We had movies like The Incredibles 2 or Steven Universe: The Movie shown what should we do and what happens to the villains. They had a backstory, they had their motives, as heartbreaking their backstories were what they did was wrong and at least one of them in those examples were punished for their wrongdoing. Steven in the movie fought back instead of getting himself hurt. 

In this movie, the villain was kind of kept a mystery, his backstory wasn´t a flashback or anything, it was told by the character but I think that was a good thing because the pain in his eyes and the anger he felt leaked from his explanation to Sterling. Even when he was explicitly a bad guy from the beginning, before even the movie started, we can see that those bad guys, in fact, are people too, and as the good people they can get hurt too because they have families, friends, pets, interests, hobbies and more. Walter does have a point, they are just people so we shouldn´t kill them. I guess the problem I have with the saying ¨There´s no good or bad, just people¨ is that the people who do bad things, people like Killian, they hurt and murder so many people and I am not fine with those kind of people. I say Eye for an eye, but then again ¨Eye for an Eye and everyone gets blind¨. 

I dont know why or how they manage to get somehow complex in movie where a person LITERALLY TURNS INTO A FEMALE PIGEON. Oh, yeah, by the way. Sterling becomes a female pigeon because Walter uses a feather of his female pet pigeon. 

I had low expectations and came out impressed and howling with laughter even after getting home. I do recommend this movie for his whole ridiculousness and for his weird but wholesome character development, bonding, different characters and final message. 

Weird is good and we need weird to make the world a better, safer place. 

-Sincerely weird, T.O.D 

[therealawkwardstarfish]

Anyone else feeling like this?

So it’s been almost a week since the rise of skywalker and I’ve been a mess. Also, anti’s do not come at me. All of this is just my opinion. I’m allowed to have one.

Like don’t get me wrong, I thought the movie was okay but it didn’t really satisfy me. During half of the movie, I was literally asking myself if I was satisfied that this was going to be the last of the sequel trilogy and the ending for the skywalker saga. I really wasn’t and tbh. I actually felt more satisfied when I watched the last Jedi then when I was watching this movie. I even tried to avoid leaks about this movie, I even bought my tickets in advance to see it in theaters because I thought the theater would be packed, paid more to watch it in a bigger theater with surround sound. I avoided the reviews in case it would be negative. I basically wanted to judge the movie for myself before I hear anyone's opinion on it.

Which I why I saw it the Monday after the came out, so I can be able to fully avoid all social media in case if spoilers and because I was too excited to see it.

Boy I had my hopes up too high XD

Well for one there was barely anyone in the theater there was at least 20-25 people in a big theater, My friend I and were the only ones in our row. I was surprised cause usually for Star Wars, the movies are packed or have more than what I saw.

I came out of the theater kinda dazed. Both my friend and I were talking about the movie and how we were sad about Ben’s death but we were kinda happy that he at least got to save Rey in the end, but we were both confused and sad that we didn’t see him as a Force ghost in the end. We both understood the meaning of why Rey called herself a Skywalker was in honor of the people that cared for her regardless if she was a Palpatine and was in a way honoring Ben a little bit. At the time my only problem with the movie was the fact that Leia’s Cgi weirded me out XD. The rest was either meh, okay or  YESSSSSS. 

I was not expecting a Reylo kiss at all.

I heard about it before the movie came out but, it was confirmed that there wasn’t going to be a kiss. So I accepted it and kinda was okay with it cause I kinda like how subtle their interactions were but in a way it meant more. Also, they’ve been cannon through the novelizations, so I felt like I didn’t need a kissing scene. ( btw anti’s don’t come at me, this is just my opinion from what I know) I was happy for the kiss though, so much to where I didn't notice Ben smiling (i was happy dancing XD). I had a weird feeling though that he did so I asked my friend and she said yeah he did.

Then as the days went I realized I had some problems with this movie  The more I looked into this movie, read some opinions on Twitter, Instagram and on here, the more I realized that I agree with most of the negatives and that wasn’t really as good as I expected

Well for one the scene when Ben dies always felt like something was off about that scene but I couldn’t figure out what it was. After doing some digging I was happy I wasn’t the only one and was surprised by the explanation that people had about the scene was most likely done the last minute. It actually really made sense to me cause the editing to me looked a little off. It’s like one minute you see her with her hand around his face and her other hand somewhere on his upper body and then as he starts to drop to the floor, placement of one of her hands is already holding one of his. There’s even a theory that they reversed the scene to make it look like he died after reviving Rey and wasn’t revived by Leia.

 Leia disappearing right after he dies looked off. And Rey’s reaction to his death didn’t make any sense to me either, it felt as if she didn’t just watch her other half die before her eyes. I kinda understand that she might've been in shock or was trying to hold back tears, but it just felt off.

I didn't even know about them being dyads until I found out on twitter. When I did I ended up with more questions with answers.

Why build Rey and Ben’s bond as if they are stronger together and that their bond can go “through space and time”, basically make it seem like their bond as “powerful like life itself” and then kill off one half of the bond, in the end? 

Where is Ben?  cause he wasn’t a force ghost in the end and he became one with the force so that just somehow makes me wanna believe we're not done seeing him just yet story wise

What was the other ending for the movie? cause I am curious what the other endings were and what made them pick the one that’s in the movie

If Palpatine created Snoke, was he also controlling him? and if it was him this whole time does that mean he basically lied about creating the bond because he didn’t know about Ben and Rey being a dyad?

Anyone got Endgame vibes watching the battle with Palpatine?

I am all of the Jedi XD idk maybe since I grew up with Marvel and started watching star wars when I was 15, made me feel kinda off when I heard that and I didn't feel that the line was epic.

Also the more I think of it, the more I realize that I didn’t really like the fact that they killed Ben off

The dude’s redemption arc was a little too quick. I really think he should’ve lived to make amends, right the wrongs or better yet lived in exile or something. At first, I was okay with him dying like this cause it seemed okay to me. But after finding out that there was more to his backstory and read it, I realized that the whole entire Skywalker bloodline has been through pain and death. In a way, I kinda wished Ben was the one to put an end to that. I understand the counter-argument for Anakin’s death but the difference there from my understanding:

1) He knew was gonna die anyway. I rewatched the original scene and from my understanding, he said that nothing was going to stop him from dying regardless if Luke took his mask off.

2) At least Anakin got to say something. Ben had no lines

Not every redemption arc has to end up with the person dying.

The one agreement,  I can kinda get behind on is that at least he died saving the woman he loves, unlike his grandfather who tried but failed.

From a marketing standpoint though I don't understand why they would kill him off when they would’ve made a lot of money off of him with this movie. The fact alone that people are upset that he died and made a GoFundMe and petitions just for him to come back says something. Even on the Star Wars website for the poll, he’s #1 at 88%. I understand not everything is about money, but it’s like they sacrificed a chance to get a lot of money.

More importantly, I feel like they did Rey dirty

We first see her start her journey in a desert planet alone with a droid and it ends with her in a desert with a droid. Her other half is dead. Her parents are dead, Her grandfather is Palpatine. I honestly feel like she deserved better. The fact that they didn’t even give her a moment to mourn and how she's been through so much and for her to not really get a happy ending kinda sucked. Like I felt like I was mourning for her. That alone made me depressed.       

This whole movie just ended up making me feel like I didn’t really found any closer. Like I can’t So I’m just gonna wait till the novelization so I can understand it better and get answers about Ben’s death. 

Is he really dead?

 Is it true that if one dies the bond will still be there and the person that is living will feel empty like something is missing?

 Is it true that one person can’t fully die without the other in a dyad and they stay in the world between worlds until the other half dies?

 Are we going to have a comic or novel where Rey comes to get him back if that's the case? 

but for the time being, I’m going to just have hope and rely on fanfiction I know this the end for movie Ben and Rey unless Adam and Daisy say otherwise. But I will say this their scenes together and Ben Solo’s were the highlight of this movie for me.  

THIS LOOKS SO SICKKKKKKK AHHH

Overall I still think the movie was okay. I just think some things could've been explained more But that's how I feel.

[virgiltheanxious]

Someone Wrote This Song Before

Title: Someone Wrote This Song Before

Pairing: implied (kinda?) analogical

Warning: angst, war, gun, death, deceit is in this 

Word Count: 1,860

Summary: A Star Wars: The Clone Wars AU. Set at S4 EP 15, where (SPOILERS) Obi-Wan Kenobi/Logan fakes his death. This is set in the view of Cody/Virgil and how he feels about that situation

Masterlist

Tags: Ask to be tagged! General: @my-happy-little-bean @nightmarejasmine 

It wasn’t true. Virgil wouldn’t- couldn’t even allow himself to- believe it. There is now way that his General could be dead. He had always escaped the odds before, so what had been so different about this time? It didn’t make any sense.

“Virgil… I’m sorry,” Thomas said, putting his hand on the other’s shoulder. 

Virgil looked at where Roman was storming off to. He didn’t say a word. Roman was silent for the first time Virgil had ever seen in all of the times he had worked with him. Virgil shrugged Thomas’s hand off of his shoulder, which was only responded with a sad nod from Thomas.

“How?” Virgil croaked out. “How! He wouldn’t let that happen.” 

“Sometimes… Even he doesn’t have that control.” Thomas stated, giving Virgil one last look of apology before walking away. 

Begrudgingly, Virgil yanked his helmet over his head and turned on his heel. He let the tears fall down his face now, not finding it in himself to care. His helmet was disguising his face, and his kriffing General was dead. Who was supposed to tell the rest of his men? He wouldn’t be able to do it without crying in front of everyone. How does this process work? Was he, and everyone else, just supposed to move on like General Logan never existed? He couldn’t do that. 

He had an incoming comm from Patton, who he was sure had learned about General Logan already, too. Virgil ignored the comm and continued moving. There was no way he was going to talk about it right now and even Patton would not be able to convince him otherwise.  

Virgil stopped.

He was outside of General Logan’s quarters. Virgil breathed a deep breath in and punched in the code to access the room. General Logan had given him the code a long time ago. It had proved useful knowing it before, but he’s even more glad he has it now. The doors opened, revealing the empty room that was once General Logan’s. As he walked in and the doors closed, he finally took off his helmet and let himself breathe. All that happened was a shuddering breath and more tears than before. He didn’t even get to say goodbye. Or tell him how he felt. Virgil missed so many important things he always thought he would have the time to say to him when he was ready. And now he will never get to say those things to him. All because of some lousy sniper.

A loud sob let his mouth, to which he immediately covered with a hand. No one could hear him. He couldn’t risk it. 

Virgil should’ve been there to stop it. He was shot by a sniper, for kriffs sake. He should’ve been there to make sure it didn’t happen. He sat in General Logan’s room for an eternity, trying to come to terms that he would never see him again.

He wasn’t sure how he could stay as a commander without General Logan to help him lead. Sure, he was trained to lead in the first place, but… It was always him that kept Virgil going. Ever since he became General Logan’s commander, it was him that kept him from giving up. General Logan made him a good commander. He gave a bitter laugh thinking about what the General would tell him if he heard Virgil’s thoughts.

“Virgil, your strength as a commander comes from yourself; who you are, and all of your experience. Not me. You can continue on, even though I can’t be there anymore.”

His bitter laugh turned into sobbing once again. When Virgil was with his General, he felt at home. And now his home was gone.

-----

It was banthashit. Complete banthashit. The funeral was happening, and he wasn’t even allowed to go. His own kriffing General was dead, gone, never coming back, and he wasn’t allowed to go to the funeral. Because he was a clone. No clones at funerals. It was a written rule. A really kriffing stupid one, at that. He didn’t even get to properly mourn him. The world was not being fair to him anymore, and he didn’t know what he did to deserve it. 

He stalked into the barracks. He could feel nearly everyone watching him as he put his helmet onto his bed more angrily than he had intended. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of blue already. Someone must’ve commed Patton to come over, probably Janus. He sat on his bed and looked above him. A hand was placed on his shoulder and Virgil looked over to see that the barracks had cleared out a decent amount to give him and Patton some more privacy. It was just Virgil and Patton and the last few clones that had not left.

“I know you’re hurting really bad right now. I’m sorry you can’t go to his real funeral but… I planned something to try to make you feel a little bit better. Can you follow me?” Asked Patton softly.

All Virgil could give is a weak nod as he held back his tears, which now were partially made from anger. Patton stood up off of the bed and waited as Virgil took his time trying to force himself up. All he wanted to do was lay in bed and stare at the bunk above him. That made it hard to do anything otherwise, even if it was Patton asking him too. Hell, even if General Logan was asking him to, it would be just as difficult,

When Virgil finally stood up, Patton thanked him for cooperating, and they started walking slowly. Virgil had no idea where they were actually going, he just hoped it would be good for him. Deep down, he knew that Patton would never do anything to hurt him but, right now? Everything was going wrong. It would now be considered the last thing he would ever expect to happen, since General Logan had died.

Patton slowed his steps when they had reached a small clearing, so Virgil did too. It was farther away than Virgil thought Patton was taking him. He noticed a couple of his brothers. Remy and Janus. Janus was his second in command, so of course he was there. Virgil turned to Patton to ask what was going on.

“We all knew how much more General Logan meant to you, and we all kind of knew deep down that they wouldn’t let you go to the funeral. So we made a little ceremony of our own,” Patton said before Virgil could ask.

Janus took a step forward and gave Virgil a small smile, handing him a flower. Virgil looked at the ground in front of him, which was just a painted rock. It seemed like one of them found orange paint. Virgil kneeled down and looked at it. 

“Honoring General Logan” it read. Virgil gently touched the rock, his fingers barely caressing it. It wasn’t a funeral like he had wanted to go to, but it was… something. He placed the flower next to the rock and let himself cry. He knew no one here would judge him, so he finally let it happen. His shoulders shook, and he saw Patton and Remy lean down next to him on either side. 

They sat there for a while. Janus decided he wanted to say a few words, and cleared his throat. 

“Logan was a good general. He treated… and thought of us as more than just meatdroids. His doors were always open for everyonee. No one will replace him. He would want us to continue on without him, even if our new General won’t be able to compare.”

“I miss him,” Virgil choked out. In response, Patton wrapped an arm around Vigil, pulling him in close. 

“I know, Virge. I know,” Remy whispered. 

“I want him back. If I knew I would’ve… I would’ve finally given him that hug or- or… told him how I felt…” Virgil whispered. 

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to.” Janus said, patting him on the back and walking away. He never was one to deal with anyone’s emotions, including his own. Virgil didn’t take it personally

The three remaining stayed there for a while. Virgil cried while Patton held him and Remy tried to do anything that would make him feel better. 

Nothing worked.

-----

Every day dragged on, each longer than the last. Nothing felt real anymore. Soon, they were going to be assigned a new mission. Virgil wasn’t ready for it. But he had to push through anyway.

Not long after, he was commed by his new general - just saying that made him sick to the stomach. General Remus. He had never worked with this general before, and had already told his men to act properly, which is something that they were not used to because General Logan was so much more laid back about every rule put in place for the clones. As he walked to meet his new General, he felt his stomach get more and more uneasy. Without being prepared for the battle that was sure to come, he feared it would go horribly for him and his men. Janus was good at ignoring his feelings in battle but Virgil was frightened that it might be Janus’s downfall if anything were to happen to him and Janus was put in command because of it.

He took a deep breath as he reached his destination..

Doors opened in front of him and soon after they closed,  he was being debriefed.

-----

A strong sting in his shoulder told him he needed to leave as soon as possible. He kept shooting at the clankers, running to the side to get cover from a big rock. He threw his back onto the rock and dropped his blaster, gripping his shoulder. Janus ducked back under the rock and looked at him.

“Commander? How’d that happen?” Janus asked, popping back up and shooting at more droids.

Virgil gritted his teeth. “What do you think happened? I got hit!”

Janus came down once more, mumbling, “Stupid armor, useless piece of osik.”

“Can you shoot?” Remus asked, moving Virgil’s hand away to see how badly it messed up his armor.

“Can I or should I? I probably can but my aim’s gonna be off and-” 

“Then don’t! That’s useless. Kriff, we need to get out of this soon.”

Virgil nodded as Janus went back to shooting. He understood that Janus thought that he shouldn’t shoot but at the same time… anything would help them get up sooner, right? A part of himself didn’t want to continue. He looked over the side of the rock for a second, seeing the overwhelming amount of droids. Janus looked over at him for a brief second before turning back to his targets..

“What are you doing?!”

“My job, Janus,” Virgil said, pulling his gun up and shooting at the clankers again. It wasn’t long until he barely missed one and gained its attention. He kept shooting at it, but it hit him in the chest before he could kill it first.

[achingforthestars]

some things i liked and did not like about the rise of skywalker ***spoilers***

now having seen it and having had the time to sit and talk and collect my thoughts, i have a list of the things i didn’t enjoy and, amongst all this negativity, the things i did. 

contains spoilers of course!

things i did not enjoy:

finding out about palpatine off-screen

so stupid! this was one of the things i disliked the most because of what a cheap, lazy writing choice it was. i wanted to see the characters have to put it together, have to work for it and then when facing palpatine, have it be on their terms instead of his? instead we get him announcing his presence and kylo meeting him in the first 3 minutes. 

treatment of characters

i made a post about this. just so much wrong, so many deserved better, most of all rose, rey and ben. a lot of the characters were treated as afterthoughts. 

implied finn having feelings for rey

dumb. overdone. tired.

knights of ren

felt cheap and underused. learned nothing about them, it was something i was waiting 3 movies for and the final chance to show them was wasted. 

the resistance is back to perfect! 

i understand that this was due to the timeskip, which i guess was necessary, but i felt that it was kind of cheap to not show any sort of struggle. a year has passed and BAM they’re right where they were in TFA. the losses faced in TLJ very much felt erased. 

the pacing

awful. just awful. things felt too rushed or too slow pretty much through the entire movie. 

the visuals

much less well-done than TLJ. the use of colour and light was much weaker in my opinion, the locations more generic, and the imagery lacking. that said, palpatine’s lair was so fittingly creepy, and the reylo moment on kijimi/kylo’s ship with the black and white juxtaposition - those were nice. 

irrelevant or convenient plot elements

zorii bliss was not a necessary character. chewie was conveniently on another transport. d-0, while super cute and funny, was also just a deus ex machina. hux being a spy - could have been entirely removed but oh, finn and poe need to get off the ship somehow. rey’s return to ahch-to was rushed, her interactions with luke could have been on any other planet. she did not need to pilot luke’s x-wing specifically but they forced it. lando - lando was basically a consolation prize for chewie with little relevance. pryde literally could have been replaced with hux and made for a more interesting narrative. 

snoke clones

what the fuck was that?

the fleet

somehow the entirety of the fleet was magically stored, 100% operational and with fully functioning crew, under the crust of some random planet? and every single one of those ships has planet-destroying capabilities? 

the other “fleet”

where the fuck were these allies in TLJ, huh? i get that it’s the last stand and maybe more people showed up because of that but damn. 

leia’s absence was felt

i understand this was not in the control of the creators but truly, i felt like there was a gaping hole where leia should have been. 

the Trio

i enjoyed their banter but it felt inconsistent through the movie. rey and poe didn’t get along one minute, the next they’re fine. if this had been introduced and pushed in previous films, it would have made more sense and felt less hollow. as it stands, it felt like a forced attempt to call back the OT vibes that just fell flat.

rey palpatine

ugh. let’s reduce strength to a bloodline and in the process ignore what was set up in the last movie. yay! also, palpatine fucked someone at some point and that is utterly disgusting. 

rey skywalker

felt forced. she did not need to take the skywalker name.

kylo’s transition to ben.

before anyone jumps on me, i want to clarify that specifically i am referring to the speed of his transition from ruthless supreme leader to full on ben. i loved his redemption, i just wish i could have seen him do it more gradually and with a bit more struggle? he just goes from “i will find you rey and turn you dark like me” to “i am ben solo” so quickly that i found it a bit jarring? 

palpatine’s constantly changing plans. 

kill rey, no wait, take the throne rey, no wait, let me kill you both and take the throne myself. pick one you crusty fuck. 

force dyad

honestly why establish it if you’re going to ignore it in about 2 seconds?

inadequate expression of star wars main themes

the ideas of hope, of redemption, of love and of family - all central to star wars, and none properly delivered on. 

ben’s death. 

heartbreaking. he deserved love and happiness and a life. that’s all i can say about that. however, in a transition to things i liked: if he had to die, i’m really pleased that it was with an act of love. he chose to make a sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, for his soulmate. i don’t like that he had to die, but i can find peace in the way it happened - on his terms, on the light side, in the arms of the woman he loved.

things i did enjoy (a lot actually):

babu frik

was so fucking funny. that is all. 

c-3po.

also surprisingly funny for a droid i’m usually annoyed by?

jannah

i surprisingly really loved her character. i thought she might be an addition like zorii bliss, but i enjoyed naomi ackie’s acting a lot. she felt much more genuine. however i do think there was a missed opportunity in working on her and finn’s shared background as ex-stromtroopers.

force healing abilities

i thought were super cool! i really liked healing the serpent, it was a nice subversion of the expectation to be trapped and outrunning a monster through a labyrinth of corridors. loved how when rey healed kylo, she healed his scar too. just also it’s always nice to see new things being done with the force.

force fighting. 

it was lovely to see force techniques being used in the lightsaber battles (as compared, for instance, to the throne room fight of TLJ); and also to see force-aided physical feats like jumps that don’t look like naruto-style ninja backflips. definitely felt more real.

poe’s moment in the x-wing

taking in the damage and destruction all around him. i felt the weight he was feeling in that moment.

rey picking herself off the ground

after palpatine drains her and kylo’s life force. i loved her moment of peace and centering, gathering the strength to do what comes next. while i didn’t love the voices of the previous jedi, it made for a lovely sequence of “i’m not done with you yet” and showcases her strength.

the moment with ben and han

gorgeous scene echoing han and ben’s last interaction in TFA. just an amazing callback with such different emotion and the final turning of ben back to the light. i really loved this bit.

adam driver’s acting performance in general.

absolutely the best, the most amazing, performance of the film. if nothing else, the switch from kylo to ben, despite having zero dialogue, should speak for itself. he managed to convey a completely different personality through his mannerisms, physicality and visuals alone. oh, and the death/ressurrection scene! the absolute desperation with which he crawls to the woman he loves. the infinite depth of emotion adam manages to transmit through only his eyes and his facial expressiveness. he deserves an oscar nomination for this in my opinion. 

reylo kiss

i don’t even need to explain this. the smile. the pure happiness, the tender touch, the moment of just love and joy and letting themselves be together, finally. i could not have asked for more of a beautiful first kiss. we’re ignoring what comes after. 

overall impression

tros fell flat. i lived for ben’s redemption and reylo, but this was not enough to make up for the mistreatment of most of the characters, the poorly coordinated and frankly rushed structure, and most importantly, the failure to deliver on its themes of family and hope. i felt like it tried to do too much and achieved too little. 

[entering-mymind]

Chapter 3 - The Sin

This is the third episode of the series where I have inserted my OC character (Mando’s daughter) into the Disneyplus television show. With her addition I believe this helps the viewers understand the choices Mando makes in the series. Would love to hear feedback! I do not own these characters and the story and dialogue goes to the respected credit of the screenwriters and creators of the show.

           The cockpit stayed silent while Mando flew, his daughter slept in the lower deck as the child watched on from its pod. Suddenly a transmission beeped when Greef Karga appeared in a hologram.

“Mando. I’ve received your transmission. Wonderful news. Upon your return, deliver the quarry directly to the client. I have no idea if he wants to eat it or hang it on his wall but he’s very antsy. Safe passage. You know where to find me.”

Mando shut off the holo, turned and noticed the child right beside him with the nob to the Razor Crests accelerator, unscrewed and in its mouth. The little creature gnawed on the metal ball as if it was teething, but Mando quickly seized it declaring it wasn’t a toy. Sad the child hung its head low as it was placed back in it pod.

The Razor Crest finally landed on Nevarro making port outside of the city, Mando lowered the platform preparing for departure when he was met by his daughter.

“Thank you. I can’t believe all of my supplies are back,” she said knowing she didn’t deserve them.

“I’m happy that you’re happy,” Mando said.

“Why are we back on Nevarro?” she questioned.

Mando stared at his daughter a bit bewildered but answered vaguely, “You know why we’re here.”

“Wait, we’re actually going to hand over a defenseless child to a client we know nothing about, his intentions, his morals.”

“That is not our concern. We track, we obtain, we deliver…”

“Criminals, scum of the galaxy, not an innocent child. We can’t hand it over its not morally right.”

“Morals is not apart of the job, you must set yourself apart.”

“Why is this so easy for you, is it because the baby is a creature and not human? If this were a human child would you feel different? What if this was me, would you just hand me over to a complete stranger whom you didn’t know their intentions?” she was getting worked up, something Mando couldn’t afford.

“You have to separate yourself form your bounties. From all of our years of missions you have witnessed a plethora of encounters, even ones you didn’t agree upon but we still had to fulfill our task. That is our job, our only job, a bond can not be formed with the asset, you must learn that quickly,” Mando made his way down the ramp and programmed the pod to follow, he waited on his daughter who activated the security system and stood behind her father.

“You have no heart,” she said softly with her head down as the hatch closed behind them.

All Mando could do was look down upon his daughter and say nothing, he knew this wasn’t easy, he didn’t like the situation any better than she, but once a task had been accepted through the Guild the mission had to be completed.

Like some of their past assets, Mando knew in time she would forgive him eventually, somehow this child had really made an impact on her when he noticed it might have made one on him too.

He couldn’t allow his emotions to interfere, it had happened once before, a decision he never regretted, but would he become a repeat offender?

The three made their way through the town, silent, young Mando walked a few paces behind hoping her protest would register with her father but he didn’t seem to be bothered. Before they reached the end of the market, Mando turned to his daughter handing her some credits to purchase a few supplies and an item, he knew, she had her heart set on.

“You gave me to many credits,” she said in a dull tone.

“Use what’s left so you can purchase that bind of paper you were wanting.”

“You’re trying to buy my affection? Divert my attention from what’s clearly wrong. You can’t…”

“Enough!” Mando shouted and grabbed her upper arm pulling his daughter close. He never yelled at her, he always tried to keep calm but she was questioning his judgment, “You will go to the covert and wait for me, do you understand?”

Her whole life she had never feared her father, she had tested him many times but he never lost his temper like this, she clearly crossed a line. All she could do was nod her head in agreement and put her head down in shame.

Mando sighed in disappointment with himself and wanted to apologize, but instead let her go as she made her way directly towards the Mandalorian covert.

                                                 *   *   *

Wanting to forget the whole ordeal, Mando pushed the incident from his mind and continued with his mission. He made his way back to the client’s quarters and knocked on the door. The same droid from before emerged from the wall and scanned his chit card allowing him access. Waiting for him this time were two Stormtroopers who escorted him and the child in. They walked down the corridor when one of the Troopers grabbed hold of the pod violently upsetting the child inside.

“Take it easy,” Mando unintentionally said.

“You take it easy,” the Trooper replied appalled that someone was telling him what to do.

They entered the room when the client approached the pod with a fob beeping wildly.

“Yes,” the client said relieved as the doctor scanned the child with a device.

“Very healthy. Yes,” the doctor informed the client in pleasure.

“Your reputation was not unwarranted,” the client said.

“How many fobs did you give out?” Mando asked.

“This asset was of extreme importance to me. I had to ensure its delivery. But to the winner go the spoils,” the client placed a camtono container on the table pressing a few buttons and revealing stacks of Beskar bars inside. Mando approached pulling a few to inspect when the client continued, “Such a large bounty for such a small package.”

Suddenly Mando’s attention was brought to the child one last time, he watched it softly cry as the pod followed the doctor in another room. Again the repetitive memory crashed through his mind, acting like an instinct, trying to remind him of the previous scenario, but he couldn’t act, not this time. Maybe he could get some information so when he saw his daughter he could give her some ease.

“What are your plans for it?”

“How uncharacteristic of one of your reputation,” the client appeared annoyed, “You have taken both commission and payment. Is it not the Code of the Guild that these events are now forgotten?”

A door opened as several Stormtroopers circled the room, Mando could tell he was pushing limits.

“That Beskar is enough to make a handsome replacement for your armor. Unfortunately, finding a Mandalorian in these trying times is more difficult than finding the steal,” the client reminded Mando of his creeds practical extinction.

                                               *   *   *

Mando collected his reward and left, not wasting time he made his way towards the covert to find his daughter and hand over the Beskar. Meandering his way down Mando knew he would always find his child entertaining the little ones, but not in this case instead she sat alone.

He approached her slowly, unable to read her body language, but her slumped shoulders and bowed head said it all. In a caring attempt Mando out stretched his hand for her to take, symbolizing that their argument was water under the bridge.

She still didn’t know how to feel, especially seeing the camtono in her father’s other hand, she was an accomplice in his crime, she felt ashamed in wanting to know how much was in the camtono, so she took her father’s hand as he lead them to the Armorer.

The two walked side-by-side catching the glimpses of admiring Mandalorians, they continued their journey and sat in front of the Armorer who awaited their spoils. Mando opened the camtono revealing the stacks of Beskar as Mando’s daughter gasped in surprise.

“This amount can be shaped many ways,” the Armorer stated.

“My armor and my daughter’s have lost its integrity. We may need to begin again,” Mando said as his daughter turned to him in silence, surprised he was giving her all new armor as well.

“Indeed. I can form two full cuirasses. This would be in order for both of your stations,” the Armorer continued counting bricks.

“That would be a great honor,” young Mando said to both her father and the Armorer.

“I must warn the both of you. It will draw many eyes,” the Armorer stated as one overly sized Mandalorian picked up a Beskar and scoffed.

“These were cast in an Imperial smelter. These are the spoils of the Great Purge,” the male Mandalorian began drawing a crowd in the Armory, “The reason that we live hidden like sand rats,” he threw the brick on the table, furious.

“Our secrecy is our survival. Our survival is our strength,” the Armorer reminded.

“Our strength was once in our numbers. Now we live in the shadows and only come above ground two at a time. Our world was shattered by the Empire, with whom these cowards shared tables,” when the Mandalorian grabbed Mando by his helmet and the two began to fight, Vibroblade to Vibroblade.

Young Mando quickly sprung to her feet ready to fight and defend her father when she unclasped his pulse rifle from his back, mid-fight, and pointed it over his shoulder directly at his attacker. The fight had come to a draw when Mando and his assailant held their positions with Vibroblades at each other’s throats.

“No fair,” the Mandalorian said when he was looking down the barrel of the rifle.

“The Empire is no longer,” the Armorer began, “And the Beskar has returned. When one chooses to walk the way of the Mandalore, you are both hunter and prey. How can one be a coward if one chooses this way of life?” She turned to Mando, “After your reinstate, have you ever removed your helmet?”

“No,” he replied.

“Has it ever been removed around others, excluding your kin,” she included.

“Never.”

“This is the way,” she ended.

“This is the way,” all the Mandalorians repeated while the three in battle stood down.

“What caused this damage?” she overlooked Mando and his daughter’s armor.

“A Mudhorn,” young Mando informed.

“Then your father has earned the Mudhorn as his signet. Yours will be revealed in time when you reach your age of independence young one. Now I will craft one for your father,” the Armorer said.

“I can’t accept,” Mando stopped her, “It wasn’t a noble kill. I was helped by an enemy,” Mando vaguely explained.

“Why would an enemy help you in battle?” the Armorer was baffled.

“It did not know it was my enemy.”

“Since you forgo a signet, I shall use the excess to forge Whistling Birds.”

“Whistling Birds will do well. Reserve some for the Foundlings,” Mando pointed out.

“As it should always be. Our kin and the Foundlings are the future,” the Armorer glared at young Mando as she felt a chill go down her spine.

Mando could sense his daughter’s unease and placed his hand on hers hoping to bring her comfort.

“This is the way,” the Armorer ended as the group repeated after her.

“This is the way,” they shouted.

“This is the way,” when Mando and his daughter followed suit and repeated the motto, but his daughter had a hard time speaking the words because was this way of life the way?

Was what they did morally right by handing over the child? This Beskar she was about to wear was forged out of a dishonest bounty, what was she to do?

“Whistling Birds are a powerful defense against multiple enemies. Use them sparingly for they are rare,” the Armorer informed when she went to work.

The two sat quietly basking in their own reflections of life, one haunted by the past, where the other haunted by the present. At last their new armor was placed upon them when they made their way out of the Armory and ventured towards the surface, but his daughter lagged behind.

Concerned he closed the gap between them hoping she would confide in him, “What’s wrong?”

“This armor is to heavy,” she said metaphorically.

“You will get use to it.”

“No, I mean this armor is dirty, not a noble reward,” she stated.

“Are you still upset?”

“How is this not riding on your conscious, on any ones? How is this the way, when did our creed lose sight on what’s right instead of what’s owed to us?”

“We must be grateful, they took me in and then they took us in,” Mando reminded.

“No, we were forced back in. Our lives were perfectly fine before they came into the picture.”

“We both knew the day would come where you would get sworn into the creed,” Mando reassured.

“A day I’m starting to regret more and more,” she said in honesty.

“Don’t speak such words. We owe the Mandalorians our lives.”

“Why did they have to rescue you as a child,” she blurted out not realizing the underlining context she was implying.

“What did you say?” Mando couldn’t believe what he just heard, his own daughter wished for his non-survival.

Finally realizing how she spoke her sentence she tried to rectify her words but the damage was done, “No, no, no, Papi,” she reached for his hand when he retracted, for the first time ever, “Please I didn’t mean it in that way.”

“Regrettably I think you did,” Mando said broken.

She knew the damage was done, once again she wasn’t learning from her mistakes, and she was paying the ultimate price.

“I think its best you stay at the covert for awhile,” Mando said a bit heartbroken.

“No, no, please, I’m sorry, Papi, I’m sorry,” she blubbered trying to keep control of herself.

Mando could see her suffering and didn’t want that, no matter how bad her statement hurt him, he couldn’t leave her in turmoil, “I know you are. I’ll come for you after my next job,” he was about to turn away but couldn’t leave her in this state. She would be a danger to others and herself. Showing a sign of his affection he placed his hand on the side of her helmet acting as if he was caressing her cheek.

Young Mando raised her head in hopes because her father always did this as his sign of love, she stood there with a hint of relief but with continued guilt in her belly.

*  *  *

“Look, I told you. I’m not interested in your excuses!” Greef Karga laid into one of his bounty hunters, “You had your shot, dust breather, but you failed. No pucks for you. Now get outta here,” Karga ended when the door to the cantina opened as everyone watched the upgraded Mandalorian approach Karga.

“Ah! Mando!” Karga greeted while laughing, “They all hate you, Mando. Because you’re a legend!”

“How many of them had tracking fobs?” Mando asked annoyed.

“All of them. All of them! But not one of them closed the deal. Only you Mando. Only you and I assume your daughter. Where is the kiddo these days?” Karga peered around Mando wondering if she was close behind.

“Watching the ship,” was all Mando cared to revel.

“Well I’m sure she is as shiny as you because this has to be the richest reward this parsec has ever seen. Please sit, my friend,” Karga waved his hand for Mando to take a seat opposite of him.

Accepting his gesture Mando sat and wanted to get straight to business.

“They’re all weighting the Beskar in their minds, but not me. No, I for one, I celebrate your success. Because it is my success as well. Hell! Even I am rich,” Karga pulled out two bars of Beskar he kept hidden in his chest pocket, “Now how can I show my gratitude to my most valuable partner?” Karga said loud and eager for the other failed hunters to hear.

“First I don’t appreciate secretive gifts given to my daughter,” Mando pointed out.

“Come on, I knew how you would react, think of it as an early Date of Existence present for her,” Karga tried to explain himself but Mando’s head tilted wondering how Karga knew her day was approaching.

“Don’t give me that look Mando, she revealed nothing, the conversation was vague enough for me to guess that’s all. Come on, the kid has to be one sometimes,” but all Mando did was glare at Karga in silence, “Alright you have my word. No presents unless I get your approval first, message received. Anything else?”

“I want my next job.”

“Next job? Take some time off. Enjoy some quality time with your daughter or I can take you to the Twi’lek healing baths,” Karga suggested believing it had been years since Mando had any other type of affection from another.

“I want my next job,” Mando stated not wanting to repeat himself again.

“Sure. Fine. You hunters like to keep busy, right? Well these are all far away.”

“The further, the better but not…” Mando was cut off as Karga knew Mando’s one stipulation.

“Yes, I remembered, no bounties in the Tolarian system,” which always made Karga curious on why Mando wouldn’t step foot on that planet.

It had become desolate where only the scum now made their secret dealings, but Karga wouldn’t push the matter. He laid out three pucks for Mando to inspect.

“Take your pick. You’ve earned it,” as Mando ignited one, “Ah. That’s the best one of the lot. A nobleman’s son skipped bail. Looks like you’re headed to the ocean dunes of Karnac, I’m sure the kiddo will love the scenery there. Inspire her creatively,” Karga envisioned young Mando taking in the view and replicating it in her own interpretation with his paints, but Mando stopped in his tracks as he got up to leave.

His daughter’s words echoed through his mind, What if the child was me, would you hand me over? The answer was simple, he would die protecting her, so why did this feel similar, he had to see if Karga knew anything.

“Any idea what they’re gonna do with it?” Mando asked.

“With what?” Karga played dumb as Mando faced him.

“The kid.”

“I didn’t ask. It’s against the Guild Code. Is that why the kiddo didn’t show, is she upset?”

But Mando diverted the question stating the obvious, “ They work for the Empire. What are they doing here?” he couldn’t have them meddling.

“The Empire is gone, Mando. All that are left are mercenaries and warlords. But if it bothers you, just go back to the Core and report them to the New Republic.”

“That’s a joke,” he knew to well.

“Mando, enjoy your rewards. Buy a camtono of spice. By the time you come out of hyperdrive, you will have forgotten all about it.”

Understanding he would get know where, Mando left the cantina pondering over many issues inside his mind.

                                                    *   *   *

Mando made his way to the Razor Crest, sadden that he was leaving his daughter behind but knew it would be the best. She believed he didn’t have a heart by allowing the child to be obtained, if only she knew.

Mando powered up the ship, igniting the engines to life when he reached for the accelerator noticing the top knob was missing. The child had been intrigued with the shiny object. The child. No, he couldn’t allow it, but his decision was already made. He powered down the ship and ventured his way to the client’s quarters.

                                                    *   *  *

With ease Mando found his way but knew he needed a plan, he went around back when he noticed the child’s pod vacant in a dumpster. Immediately this angered him, he knew what must be done.

Mando climbed a top the opposite building and pointed his pulse rifle at the client’s occupancy. He was able – through comms - to intercept the client and doctor’s brief conversation.

“I don’t care,” the client could be heard, “I order you to extract the necessary material and be done with it.”

“He has explicitly ordered us to bring it back alive, to Tolarian,” the doctor added.

“No, we will finish the business here, but quickly, as I no longer can guarantee your safety,” when Mando shut off his comms, they confirmed it for him, it was happening again.

                                                     *   *   *

Mando knocked on the client’s door forcefully, the door droid popped out but lost its head in the process from Mando’s grip. Walking off, two Stormtroopers emerged declaring to check the perimeter.

Mando made his way around back creating his own entrance by blasting a hole in the wall. He was met by several Stormtroopers, but nothing he couldn’t handle, one by one he took them out as he made his way through the facility and then came across a locked room. With one shot of his blaster to the controls the door opened revealing an armed guard and Dr. Pershing. The Trooper got off one lucky shot but it hit Mando in the Beskar, he quickly reacted blasting the Trooper back when he pointed his weapon at the frantic doctor.

“No, no, no, please, please, no, no, no,” the doctor pleaded while an interrogational droid flew towards the unconscious child.

Instantly Mando became furious shooting the droid happily while buried emotions surfaced, again he turned his weapon at the doctor as he continued pleading.

“Please, no, please, don’t hurt him, he’s just a child,” the doctor shielded the little one with his own body but Mando shoved him aside as he fell to the floor.

Mando overlooked the device the child was strapped into and questioned the doctor, “What did you do to it?”

“I protected him. If it wasn’t for me, he would already be dead. Please,” the doctor painted a picture, but once he looked up the Mandalorian and the child were gone.

                                                              *   *   *

Mando began his journey back but it wasn’t easy, he had to take out several Troopers in the process by either blaster, electric shock, or flame thrower. Silently he found his way back to the very room the negotiations took place but was met by four Troopers who wasted no time and encircled him.

“Freeze. Don’t move!” one of the Stormtroopers commanded.

“Hands up! Drop the blaster,” another shouted.

“Wait,” Mando said with his gun upright to surrender, “What I’m holding is very valuable. Here,” Mando kneeled, placing his blaster and the child on the ground when a Trooper demanded for Mando to face him, but instead the Troopers were met by Whistling Birds.

One by one each Trooper was taken out by a missile and sent to the ground, Mando gathered his blaster and scooped up the child when he stood and exited the premises.

                                                       *   *   *

The Guild cantina was lively, everyone busy with chatter and enjoying their drinks when suddenly one fob began beeping, then another, then another, suddenly everyone’s fobs started blinking red as Karga stared at the one Mando turned in with distain.

                                                        *   *   *

Mando attempted to make his way to the covert so he could obtain his daughter, but yet the heat on him would be too great, should he put her through that exposure? He was conflicted when he began to notice a tail on him, he quickly dodged the covert’s entrance and instead beeped a secret code through his comms. Their range should be close enough for her to hear when he requested her to meet him on the Razor Crest.

With out hesitation she beeped back but could tell by her father’s distress call something went array. Deep down her inner voice commanded her to inform the Mandalorians of her father’s situation and the fact that they needed the Tribes help.

Mando walked cautiously, he had the child in one arm and his blaster in another. One by one, hunter after hunter encased Mando in the street as Greef Karga blocked his way of exit.

“Welcome back, Mando!” Karga greeted sarcastically, “Now put the package down,” his hand went to his gun.

“Step aside. I’m going to my ship,” Mando demanded.

“You put the bounty down and perhaps I’ll let you pass.”

“The kid’s coming with me,” Mando declared.

“What kind of example are you setting for your own child, think of her Mando. Now if you truly care about the kid, then you’ll put it on the speeder and we’ll discuss terms,” Karga hoped he would get through to him if he spoke about Mando’s own flesh and blood.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Because I’m your only hope.”

Truly thinking about the outcome Mando felt torn, he had his own kin to protect, but all his daughter wanted was for the child to be safe as she was. Mando made his way towards the speeder and glared down at the child. It’s tiny frame cradled in his arm reminded him of when he use to hold his own, so trusting she was of him, still with him and she trusted her father to make the right decision.

Without hesitation Mando flipped into the speeder blasting a few hunters, he set the child down and declared for the R2 unit to drive. Fearful the droid beeped “no” when Mando threated to blast it himself, not wanting to be destroyed the R2 unit followed orders and drove off. Along the way Mando continued shooting and taking out anyone in his path.

Finding his window of opportunity, Karga followed the droids path with his blaster and took the shot, the droid ignited in sparks and immediately powered down.

Trapped Mando pulled out his pulse rifle and began disintegrating anyone in his scope. Quickly taking cover, the bounty hunters took refuge behind anything that would shield them from the others fate.

“That’s one impressive weapon!” Karga shouted.

“Here’s what I’m going to do,” Mando started, “I’m gonna walk to my ship with the kid and you’re gonna let it happen.”

“No. How about this? We take the kid, and if you try to stop us, we kill you and we strip your body for parts,” Karga said cynically.

Unable to answer, Mando got ambushed from behind but took them out by electrocution, seeing the hunters circle closer Mando fired his flame thrower sending them back a few feet but the flames didn’t last long. Realizing all hope was lost, Mando glared down at the sleeping child apologizing to it internally, he then apologized to his daughter for the inability to save this one.

The firing of guns continued all around him, seeing no window of opportunity to escape Mando would go down fighting but then, from above, blaster fire rained down. A dozen Mandalorians – on jet packs – maneuvered their way through the sky taking out their targets below.

The bounty hunters realized they were fish in a barrel  when Karga strategized a new plan and left the scene to take matters into his own hands.

“Dad!” a voice called for Mando, “Dad!” she repeated in worry looking anywhere and everywhere on where her father could be.

“Here!” Mando exclaimed while covering her as she made her way towards him.

“Papi you’re alright, you’re alright,” she wanted to hug him but definitely knew this was not the time, “What I said, I meant none of it. Honestly, I am blessed that the Mandalorians found you and no one else, because otherwise I wouldn’t be one. I realize that now. This is the way. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, plus you have the biggest heart of anyone I know.”

“I appreciate this moment we’re having but now is not that time, here,” Mando scooped up the child and handed it for his daughter to safe keep.

“Get out of here! We’ll hold them off,” the male Mandalorian, whom Mando had gotten into a scuffle with in the Armory, said.

“You’re going to have to relocate the covert,” Mando informed.

“This is the way,” the Mandalorian replied.

“This is the way,” Mando said back as him and his daughter ran for the Crest while the battle continued behind them.

Young Mando ran ahead to unlock the ship and open the hatch, quickly she made her way to the cockpit to fire up the engines as her father followed. Going unnoticed another climbed on board and made his presence known.

“Hold it, Mando,” Karga pointed his blaster at Mando ready to fire, “I didn’t want it to come to this, but then you broke the Code.”

“I’ve broken Codes before,” Mando had enough, with the release of his grappling hook it triggered the carbonite device filling the ship with blinding smoke. Taking no chances, Karga shot rapidly hoping to hit his target. Mando waited patiently and took his only shot, hitting Karga in the chest and out of his ship.

The Razor Crest wasted no time and took flight, the impeding battle below started to break apart while a disgruntled Karga awoke to examine his wound, but to his surprise he pulled out the bars of Beskar which took the blow.

The cockpit door opened when young Mando moved so her father could pilot, the Razor Crest was his ship, she wouldn’t be surprised if he loved it more than her, but she knew that wasn’t true. Maybe someday she would get her own form of transportation, but for the mean time she was content co-piloting whenever he needed her assistance.

She took her usual seat as the child was placed in the other, the Razor Crest flew high in the sky when they caught a glimpse of the Mandalorian, who lead the charge, soaring with his jetpack outside their window.

The Mandalorian saluted the two and then flanked out of sight, Mando spoke unknowingly out loud, “I gotta get one of those,” when his daughter heard him and added.

“With a rocket, no jetpack is complete without a rocket.”

He turned towards her able to envision her smile; his smile. Her attention was quickly turned to the little hand that was reaching up for something, knowing exactly what the child wanted Mando unscrewed the tiny metal ball and dropped it into the child’s hand. Not understanding the context, young Mando shrugged off the interaction as she watched her father take them into orbit and then directly into lightspeed.