#he spends time with the younglings and delights in their perspective on the world

[firefly-fez]

Interesting that you feel this way, OP.

I always thought Plo’s conduct in this arc was exemplary, to be honest.

His compassion for Boba is remarkable. Even though he tried to kill a Jedi, Plo only wants Boba to be rehabilitated and put out of danger. He wants Boba to recognise the danger he is putting himself in. I don’t see “we are justice” as a statement of arrogance, I see it as a statement of “we are the help you are looking for, please accept it”.

Boba’s being misguided by Aurra Sing, he’s just a child, and he doesn’t really understand the consequences of what he’s doing or the danger he’s putting himself in. Plo Koon just sees a lost, scared kid and is trying to help him get on a better path in life. He recognises Hondo as someone who can persuade Boba to do the right thing. He’s always trying to save as many lives as possible, keeping calm while the hostages are in danger and he never treats Boba like he’s expendable or a threat, he very much treats Boba like another person in this dangerous situation that he is trying to save.

He makes a comment about Anakin having a “lack of subtlety” - which is fair, he doesn’t do stealth well - not to disparage Anakin’s character, but to try and mentor Ahsoka and have her improve on casework that requires stealth. He’s tongue-in-cheek and sassy about it, yes, because that’s very much Plo Koon’s character.

There’s also a moment where he meets someone on the lower levels of Coruscang who complains about the Jedi being too preoccupied with the war to care for the people of Coruscant, and he says something to the effect of “We are never too busy to help the people of the Republic”.

I think different characters in the SW universe are supposed to represent different things. In my opinion, the Jedi who most represents the flaws of the Jedi Order is Obi Wan. He’s very much out of his element almost all of the time, perpetually roped into a mess he didn’t create but is no less responsible for resolving, and always, always defending someone who arguably doesn’t deserve it, be it his cleaning up after Anakin or his careful diplomacy in navigating the demands of the Senate or other politicians who are just never going to come around to his side, dealite his valiant efforts. I think Obi Wan serves as the archetype of the Jedi, and his fish-out-of-water character arc represents how completely unsuited the Jedi are to serve as a military force.

The Jedi are flawed. The Order is flawed. Those flaws and their inability to reconcile with them play a part in their fate, in how easy it was for the public eye to come to reject the Jedi and accept Chancellor Palpatine’s propaganda.

However; the Jedi were good people. They were trying. I think Plo represents the effort of the Jedi to do good despite it all.

He faces his men while they say to him that they don’t believe their lives are valuable. “We’re just clones. We’re meant to be expendable.” What does Plo say? “Not to me.” To others, yes. To our world, yes. There are many that see you that way and I am sorry. It is true. But I don’t and I never will. You matter to me, I promise you.

“We are justice”. I can help you. I am the help you are looking for. You are one of the people I am trying to save.

“We’re never too busy to help the people of the republic.” No matter how busy I am with the war effort I will stil help you. I am here. I am always here.

He’s persistently faithful in what he says and does even in the face of evidence directly contradicting what he’s saying. He’s compassionate and kind.

The clone wars is a show that puts contex to Anakin’s fall. Context to the flaws of the Jedi.

But in all that tragedy, it introduces to us a kindly Jedi Master who reminds the audience that despite everything, the Jedi were good.

They weren’t perfect. They made mistakes. Big mistakes. Mistakes that made people justifiably lose their faith in the Order.

But they were good. They were trying. And they certainly didn’t deserve their fate. And throughout everything, their legacy, a legacy they had themselves at times forgotten, will go on.

Is it really so bad that to see that in Plo Koon?

Apart from this line being sick as heck, it stood out to me rewatching this episode - because how is it that I've never, ever seen anybody use it to paint the Jedi as arrogant, or as fanatic vigilantes who only answer to themselves?

Yoda gets a lot of flak for admitting that some Jedi have grown arrogant in AotC and this is the episode that people use to tear Mace apart for supposedly being mean to Boba, but Plo gets nothing? Not an ounce of criticism for saying something as harsh and uncompromising? For calling the Order justice itself?

And he freaking disses Anakin in front of Ahsoka in this very episode! He acts like a cop in the lower levels! The fandom loves to nitpick every single thing Jedi like Mace, Luminara, Yoda or Ki-Adi do - now imagine if one of them had said this line. They'd be called "everything wrong with the Order" and "the embodiment of the arrogance of the Jedi." But Plo is "everything they should have been."

Could it be - and I'm just going out on a limb here - that Plo being a fan favorite - not in small part because of his fatherly relationship with Ahsoka - is the only reason why he's considered 'better' and 'different' even when he says and does things other Jedi are getting skewered for? Love the Jedi (I do) or hate them, but he's the same as all of them.

[benscaligraphyset]

Starward

Summary: You and Ben were childhood friends. You were practically inseparable. That is until you went off to a school in the outer rim when you were teens and had to tearfully leave Ben behind. Now, you're both training to be Jedi together and it’s gonna be a hell of a reunion.

Ben has changed—a lot. He was no longer the scrawny, scruffy haired, big-eared teen you once knew. This Ben towered over you and had a wide build with muscles that you could see from the opening of his robes. His elongated face was more defined; his cheekbones were high on his face and much more prominent than in his teen years. Okay, his hair was still the same scruffy mess, but you had to admit, Ben had really grown into himself. You watched him spot you in the crowd and his face lit up.

“Hey, Starward,” he said after coming up to you. Now that he was up close you could see that he truely towered over you, practically like a tree.

“Still calling me that, huh?” You asked.

“What? You think I'm going to forget the single greatest joke I ever made?”

“Well, when you don't make a lot of good jokes, that's hardly an achievement,” you replied and dodged his attempt shove your shoulder. He was so large now, he probably would've knocked you over with just a tap.

He chuckled and drug a hand through his black mess of curls, pushing it back, only to let it fall back unceremoniously around his face.

You loved this side of Ben. The teasing, funny side that he seemed to only show to a few people and saved the brooding Ben for the rest of the world. His brooding will come back like rolling storm clouds soon enough, once the initial excitement and giddiness wore off, but you were grateful for the sunshine that you were experiencing now. Besides, you didn’t mind his grumpy self all that much. It was cute.

Ben opened his mouth to retort but he was interrupted by Leia rushing over to you two.

“Y/N!” Leia exclaimed and wrapped you in a tight hug. You sighed happily in her arms. “It’s been too long.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I should have flown to see you it’s just-“

“You don’t have to explain,” Leia said, pulling back with an easy smile. Her smiles always had a way of bringing one out of you.

“Where’s Han?” you asked and looked to see if he was around. Leia’s smile faltered and she sighed. 

Uh oh.

“He’s sulking in the Falcon. He doesn’t really approve of...” she trailed off and gestured to the temple.

“...me being a Jedi,” Ben finished for her. You could feel his irritation coming off in waves. You’d already heard from Luke that Han had given him his two cents about training Ben to be a Jedi.

“At least he came to see you off,” Leia offered. Ben just shrugged and turned his gaze down to his feet. You tried to send some comfort through the Force but if Ben felt it, he didn’t show it. Leia rubbed circles on his back.

“Don’t you think on it, Ben. You know how your father is, he’ll get over himself soon enough.” You could feel some of his negative emotions slipping away the more Leia talked.

She wrapped his large frame in a hug and stood on her tip-toes to place a sweet kiss into his hair. He gave a small smile at this and tightened the hug, gripping onto her robes, almost as if he held on hard enough, she wouldn’t be able to leave. You saw Leia whisper something into his ear and, not wanting to eavesdrop, you turned away to look around at the other students. You couldn’t help feeling the mixture of sadness and comfort through the Force, though. His mom always had a way of calming his mind unlike anyone else.

“I love you, Ben,” you heard her say.

“I love you too, mom,” he said, voice giving away his emotions. You risked a glance and saw his eyes were glassy.

“You know how to reach out to me,” she said and placed a small hand over his heart. Ben nodded curtly and sniffed. Leia turned to you with a smile and pulled you into a hug as well.

“You have to visit after you’ve finished training,” she said and you nodded on her shoulder. You felt her pull away slightly and bring her mouth closer to your ear, speaking just low enough for Ben not to hear.

“Help Ben not to slip into that dark place in his mind. I know you could always keep him grounded when you two were younger.”

It was true, besides Leia, you think you were the one who understood him most. You talked him through his panic attacks when the voices in his head just wouldn’t shut up. You never judged him when he spoke of his pull to the dark side, instead helping him to ground himself and reminding him of all that is good to focus on. You never thought of him as a monster. More importantly, you never made him feel like he was a monster. You know most people in his life ever intentionally made him feel like he was evil, but their thoughts tended to always betrayed them. But not you. Remembering this only made you feel worse about leaving.

You knew Han and Leia loved him dearly, but they talked too loud behind closed doors. From Ben’s perspective, they spoke about him as though he wasn’t their son, but a monster. Maybe that’s why Han didn’t want him trained in the force.

You swallowed the lump in your throat before pulling back and nodding. You wouldn’t fail her. Or Ben.

Leia smiled and brought a hand to your cheek.

“May the force be with you, always.”

You covered her hand with your own.

“May the force be with you.”

Once all of the parents had left and it was just you younglings left, you were each shown to your quarters. These stone huts didn't provide much in terms of homey vibes, but you could make it work. Besides, you knew you wouldn't be spending much time in there anyways. You'd much rather be swinging your saber throughout the night than tossing and turning and begging for sleep to come.

Once you all got settled into your new home for a while, you all headed to the temple cantina for dinner.

Every part of the temple was beautiful, even the cantina. The walls were mostly a clean shade of alabaster, as most of the temple was, but these walls had swirls of blues, yellows, and greens painted across them, meant to represent lightsaber colors, you assumed. They were decorated with some old rebellion flags but mostly various flags of the Jedi Order. The shiny black tables stood out sitting atop the ivory durasteel flooring.

While surveying the black tables, you spotted Ben eating alone with a hung head from across the room. You rolled your eyes at the thick curtain of hair blocking his face.

“Hey, grumpy,” you greeted, sitting next to him with your own tray of food.

“Who’s grumpy?” Ben scoffed and took a bite out of his Haroun bread.

“You are,” you said and nudged his shoulder, “but that’s about to change.”

“Is it now?” Ben asked and looked up at you and you could tell he was at least a little bit cheered up as your presence.

“Mhm.” You plopped a Hubba chip in your mouth and savored the flavor that you hadn’t had since a kid.

“Are those—?”

“Yep,” you replied and let another one land on your tongue, making a show of moaning with delight. Ben swallowed harshly in response and you saw the tip of his ears that were peeking out of his hair turn pink.

Oh.

Luckily, an R2 unit whirled over to break the tension and beeped a question at both of you.

“No, thanks, QT,” you responded and it beeped a goodbye, rolling to the next table. By the time you looked back at Ben, his ears had returned to their normal shade.

“Luke gave me a few bags as a gift and I thought we could eat them together but—“ You broke off as Ben snagged the bag from your hand. “Hey!”

You scrambled to get it back from him but he held it above his head and shoved a chip in his mouth with a grin.

“You should have better reflexes,” he teased. You rolled your eyes with a scoff and pulled back from him while he continued to hold them in the air as if it was a trophy. He grinned in victory at your retreat and put a few more chips in his mouth.

“I haven’t had one of these since that time we went to Batuu.” While you feigned interest at his telling of the memory, you secretly reached your hand out under the table and pulled at the bag suddenly with the Force. You brought your hand above the table quickly and caught it before Ben had time to react, the chips crunching loudly under your grasp.

“And you shouldn’t trust so easily,” you gloated and shook the bag in front of you. Ben shook his head at you and rolled his eyes.

“Well, I—“

A loud clearing of the throat ran out through the room and everyone’s conversations instantly died down. It seemed like no one wanted you to have an actual conversation with Ben today. But, thankfully, you have a lot of time to catch up.

“Welcome, young padawans,” Luke greeted with a smile. He sent a wink your and Ben’s way and you giggled softly. You saw Ben’s small smile out of the corner of your eye.

Your parents had brought you to Luke a little after your seventh birthday when you first began to show signs of being Force sensitive. Luke had said no, at first. Not that you could blame him; some random people showing up at your doorstep and saying their daughter led them to you? You’d say no, too. But, Luke felt your power raw and electric around you and described it akin to touching a live wire. He knew if he didn’t train you, no one else would and your power could be dangerous if left unchecked. Or worse, if the Sith rose again, they could get a hold of you and use you to their advantage.

After a few months, when you were training with Luke off-world, someone came for you. Only they didn’t know that you were off-world. So your parent’s house was blown up, with them in it.

Luke either truly doesn’t know who it was or he’s intentionally keeping it from you. Your feelings told you the latter, but every time you’ve asked he’s shut you down.

Luke had taken you in after that. That's where Ben's nickname for you had come from. Skyward. Because you were a ward of Skywalker. It was a terrible joke, but it stuck. Ben and Luke used to laugh at it as if it was the funniest joke in the world. That feels like a lifetime ago now.

“These next few months will consist of all the training you need to become young Jedi.”

Excited mumbling broke out through the crowd until Luke silenced them with a look. It was the same look he would give you if you had done something wrong. In fact, you think it was that exact look that you received when you nearly wrecked his X-wing while taking it for a (non-authorized) joy ride, with Ben cheering you on from the ground.

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking this will be easy. Overconfidence will only slow you down and get you or others killed. You have to work together if you ever expect to become proper Jedi. Remember, controlling your feelings is key.” Luke appeared to be looking at Ben when he said this and you felt a prickle of irritation come off of him.

Without thinking, you reached down to grab his hand under the table in comfort. Ben stiffened at the contact, but you kept your hand there all the same. There didn’t need to be any more intimacy than this, you were just letting him know you were here and hopefully, that would be enough. Ben’s emotions were a rollercoaster throughout Luke’s speech. Irritation. Excitement. Nostalgia. Worry. Fear.

“Attachments can prove dangerous for a Jedi, especially romantic ones, ” Luke took a pause and surveyed the room before saying, “which is why we, as Jedi, are prohibited from having any.”

Now a worried and slightly angry rumble went across the room and you heard groans of frustration ringing out. At their grumbling, you chuckled and turned to Ben.

“Come on, is that really much of a surprise? That’s like Jedi 101,” you joked, but he was keeping his face stoic and looking forward at his uncle. You felt a feeling coming from him that you couldn’t quite place

“Now, now, I know you probably feel that this rule is unfair...”

“It’s rubbish,” you heard someone grumble behind you.

“...but it is necessary in order for us, as Jedi, to keep our emotions stable.”

“My mom told me about this but I didn’t think he’d actually do it,” a girl said from the table behind you.

Silently, Ben pulled his hand away from yours. Blood rushed to your cheeks as hurt and shame flooded your body and you had to take a few deep breaths to control your emotions. The only thing more embarrassing than Ben pulling his hand away, would’ve been him feeling how hurt you were by the gesture. You hadn’t held his hand to make some sort of romantic attempt, it was merely out of comfort. Ben must have seen it differently. You crossed your arms across your chest.

You’d forgotten how much Ben Solo had also frustrated you.

Luke continued to drone on, but you honestly couldn’t care less what he was rambling about. You’d heard this speech a few times from him already at home and you weren’t in the mood the hear it a fourth time.

It was brought to your attention that the speech was over when a round of applause sounded and you quickly joined in as to not show you weren’t listening. But judging by Luke's face, he already knew. You were sure he could feel your churning emotions as well. You shrugged and mouthed an apology but Luke just shook his head with a grin.

On your way to get more food, a purple Twi’lek stopped you in your place.

“Hey, you’re Y/N, right?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah,” you replied with a chuckle, “How’d you know?”

“Everyone knows you here. I mean, you were raised by Luke Skywalker,” she bubbled excitedly.

You sighed. You’d hoped that wouldn’t be public knowledge but you were obviously a fool to think that.

“Yeah, that’s me.” You forced a chuckle that you hoped didn’t reveal how uncomfortable you were and rubbed the back of your neck. It was silent for a second as you stared at the floor and she kept her gaze on you. You looked up and gave a half-smile, chuckling awkwardly. You hadn't meant to make her uncomfortable, after all, she was just being friendly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to call you out like that—this is nothow I wanted to introduce myself...My name is Helixia,” she said and eagerly thrust her hand out. You gave her a reassuring smile and shook her hand.

“I’m Y/N, but you knew that already,” you joked. She giggled and you were happy to feel her nervous energy drain away.

“Anyway, I wanted to let you know that we’re all going to a bonfire tonight and you’re free to join if you’d like.”

She sounded so hopeful. Even if you wanted to say no, you couldn’t.

“Of course, that sounds great,” you replied. Helixia squealed and jumped in excitement. You watched as she started to go in for a hug and then thought better on it. Smart.

“Okay! Well, I guess I’ll see you there!” she said before skipping back off to her table, her purple and white lekku bouncing with every stride. You had to admit, she was adorable, but that conversation had drained you of a bit of energy. You let out a sigh of relief and continued your pursuit to find a sweet-sand cookie. You grinned when you found your treasure and grabbed another one for Ben.

“You’re welcome,” you said after handing the cookie to Ben. He chuckled and took the cookie from you, examining it.

“You couldn’t wait for me to say thank you first?”

“I knew it was coming.”

Ben took a bite of the cookie and nodded in agreement.

“I will admit, this is worth a thanks.”

You smiled and took a second to just watch him enjoying the cookie.

“So...I think everyone’s going to a bonfire tonight...Do you wanna come with me?” You asked while your leg bounced nervously under the table. You’d hoped him pulling away from you in the cantina had been an isolated incident. You didn’t feel any residing hostility coming off him...

“Sure,” he answered and casually took another bite of the cookie. Your eyes flew up to look at him and he gave you an adorable mouth-half-full, close-lipped smile. You returned the smile and let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.

“C-cool, good, uh, I’ll meet you outside your hut at 2000 hours?”

“Sounds like a date.”

Excitement quickly coursed through you and you couldn't help to grin that appeared on your face.

Oh boy.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Feedback is appreciated!

Taglist (ask to be added or removed):

@lover1307  @bepo-is-sorry​  @snakelaufeyson  @supervengerslock  @shockwavee @kilo-wrench  @ohhh-boo-tiful