#he's convinced the Jedi have secret knowledge they are keeping from him

[the-far-bright-center]

"Everywhere he looked, he saw only the face of the woman he loved beyond love: the woman for whom he channeled through his body all the love that had ever existed in the galaxy. In the universe."

The fact that his dreams are telling him specifically that Padme will die in childbirth makes this all the more cruel and unbearable from Anakin's perspective. He was genuinely happy to hear the news that she was expecting a child...their child. He already loves the baby and wants it, welcomes it. This beautiful, miraculous result of their Love. But now the Force is telling him that THIS is what is going to kill her? Anakin is the father, after all...so that means it's his doing. Padme is pregnant because of him. So, in his mind, if he cannot prevent his visions from coming true, then it's his fault. Simply by loving her, he'll have been her death.

“And now felt her, really felt her in the Force, as though she could have been some kind of Jedi, too, but more than that: he felt a bond, a connection, deeper and more intimate than he’d ever had before with anyone, even Obi-Wan; for a precious eternal instant he was her … he was the beat of her heart and he was the motion of her lips and he was her soft words as though she spoke a prayer to the stars— I love you, Anakin. I am yours, in life, and in death, wherever you go, whatever you do, we will always be one. Never doubt me, my love. I am yours. —and her purity and her passion and the truth of her love flowed into him and through him and every atom of him screamed to the Force how can I let her die? - Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith

[jessicas-pi]

Ok so continuing on from this slightly bonkers ramble, I give you: More Spur-Of-The-Moment Thoughts About The Bo And The Blueberry AU.

(for clarity, i'm splitting this up into rebels-era and mandoverse-era..)

rebels-era:

Due to the bad experiences he'd been through on the streets, Ezra was nonverbal for a long time. During his stay on Krownest, he would spend hours painting with Alrich and Sabine, because it made him feel heard even if he couldn't find the words to speak.

Bo-Katan said the adoption vows to Ezra on an impulse. She had just told him that she hadn't been able to save his parents, and he had started to cry. She had never thought of adopting him as her own son, but she changed her mind in that moment and never looked back.

Korkie and Ezra are cousins, but Korkie is honestly closer to an older-brother figure to him. Korkie was very interested in the Jedi when he was young, so he has the knowledge to help teach Ezra about the Force, and how to control and hide his powers. (When Ezra eventually gets the Darksaber, Korkie is his second-most vocal supporter. Bo-Katan is the only one who has him beat.)

When Ezra is about eight, Bo-Katan decides he does need some Jedi training, more than she and Korkie can provide, and sets out to find herself a Jedi who can teach this kid. She ends up on Gorse just in time to plummet headfirst into the plot of A New Dawn. Kanan, upon finding out what she wants, refuses to train Ezra. Bo-Katan is not so easily deterred. She makes a game out of finding Kanan and Hera, helping out on a mission, and then delicately pointing out just how many times she's saved their butts and they really owe her one and yknow Ezra could really use some Jedi lessons...

When Ezra is ten, Maul kidnaps him. Bo-Katan seeks out Kanan again--she knows she can't stop Maul on her own.

In this AU, Kanan defeats Maul, but Bo-Katan is the one to strike the killing blow. She may not be a Jedi, she may not have the Force, but she's a Mandalorian mom. Nobody hurts her boy and lives to tell the tale.

After his kidnapping, Ezra struggles with the Dark side, which gives Kanan the final push he needs to train Ezra. Ezra's recovery is difficult, but he pulls through and is brighter than ever.

Due to Kanan and Ezra training together, connections begin to form between the Mandalorian Resistance and the outside rebellion. By the time Ezra is a teenager, the two groups are cooperating fully.

Bo-Katan knows who Fulcrum is--she recognized the symbol as Ahsoka's face-marking.

Ezra built his first lightsaber with a kyber crystal he found in the Living Waters.

Ezra is much healthier, due to not having to scavenge for his food for most of his childhood. He hit a growth spurt when he was thirteen, shortly before he went to the Imperial Academy and reunited with Sabine. She says she's taller. He says they're the same height. They refuse to measure themselves together and settle it because they're both secretly afraid they're wrong. This is an ongoing argument for the next ten years.

Ezra and Sabine were both really surprised to meet each other at the Academy. I have a funny mental image in my head of them both taking off their helmets at the same time, doing a double take, and then just *spider-man pointing meme* "YOU!"

He was worried for a while that she would turn him in, either as a Force-sensitive or as a spy, but she eventually gave him a vaguely-worded hint that she was keeping his secrets for him.

Sabine still has a big falling-out with her family, but this time, since the Duchess was never used, it's more about the machine's creation itself (and Sabine's decision to run away to the Imperial Academy.) She ends up joining the Spectres for a little while before Hera convinces her to reconcile with her mother. Afterwards, Sabine (and her family) end up joining in with the Mandalorian Resisance.

Korkie, Ezra, Sabine, and Tristan earn the title of Gremlin Squad. Leia is an honorary member as well. Korkie is a lot older than them, but he has enough chaos energy to fit right in.

Ezra and Sabine spend about a year apart during their late teens. By the time they meet again, Ezra has started pulling his hair back. Sabine thanks the Force that she managed to handle the reunion normally because for the first minute and a half there was nothing in her brain except oh no ponytail hot

Thrawn is still purgilled, but since Ezra is a Mandalorian and has a jetpack, he's able to fly out of the window and doesn't get yoinked into the unknown with Thrawn.

mandoverse-era:

So, Mandoverse events take place about five years sooner than in canon. this is solely for the purpose of giving ezra a Chaotic 23 Year Old Who May Not Have His Life Figured Out But By Golly He Has A Laser Sword vibe.

(I've figured some more stuff out, so bear with me because I've changed up the part about Din's introduction from what I said yesterday.)

Luke has also become an honorary member of the Gremlin Squad at this point. He and Ezra met up and discussed their Jedi training. Ezra meets Ben Solo at some point too. He recognizes in the child the same Dark influences that Ezra himself went through after Maul took him, and helps the boy pull through. Ben never Falls, thus averting the events of the sequel trilogy. Luke is secretly a little jealous that Ben thinks his honorary uncle Ezra is cooler than his actual uncle Luke, to which Ezra says, "Aliit ori'shya tal'din."

With Luke's help, the Gremlin Squad becomes the Official Jedi Search-And-Rescue Club. They go looking for more Jedi survivors and invite them to Luke's Jedi school on Mandalore. (Cal and Merrin are some of the first to show up.)

This search for Jedi ends up leading Ezra and Tristan to the planet Arvala-7... mere days after Din Djarin has already retrieved Grogu (AKA the Jedi they were looking for.)

(Din is there early because Moff Gideon's inability to take over Mandalore has moved up the timeline on some other events.)

(Also, Moff Gideon still has the Darksaber, but in this AU, he didn't get it from Bo-Katan, since Bo never got it from Sabine, because Sabine never went to Dathomir, because the events of Visions and Voices never happened. Instead, Gideon got it from Morgan Elsbeth, who took it from Maul's creepy cave and passed it on to him so he could. like. flex on the mandalorians or something idk.)

Ezra and Tristan track Din, because they're worried about Grogu. They constantly follow him for, like, basically 1 1/2 seasons of The Mandalorian. They're always just slightly behind and keep showing up a tiny bit too late to get mixed up in Plot Events.

When Bo-Katan offers to bring Din and Grogu to her Jedi Mandalorian son, Din is not expecting to see one of the two Mandalorians who have been following him constantly. The misunderstanding takes a bit of explaining to clear up.

Oh yeah also. Ezra's response to Bo telling him that she insulted Din to his face when they first met was "Oh, so you're into him?" It was a joke, but the more he saw of the two of them together, the more he started to wonder if there might actually be something there.

When Grogu gets kidnapped, the (official) members of the Gremlin Squad join in the rescue.

After winning the Darksaber and reluctantly agreeing to be Mand'alor, Ezra decides not to live in the palace in Sundari. Mandalore is a dead planet, and a Jedi needs to live with the living. He sets up as Mand'alor on Kalevala, under Bo-Katan's guidance.

Sabine is Ezra's official advisor and Korkie is his PR guy, but Korkie is the one with actual good advice and Sabine is kind of a miracle worker for PR (when she tries. which is not often.) Bo points out that it would make sense to switch their titles, but Ezra thrives on chaos and so he refuses.

Ezra refuses to sit on his Mand'alor Throne in any remotely normal or dignified way. He slouches. He lounges. He sprawls. He sits upside-down. He does one-handed handstands. He and Korkie and Tristan all squeeze together and sit on the throne in identical sets of armor to mess with people. Ezra's Throne Antics are a source of constant exasperation for Bo.

Speaking of the throne, Sabine has claimed the armrest as her official Mand'alor Advisor seat. She thinks sitting there makes her look cool. and yknow what? She's right. It does make her look cool.

Oh yeah, also, nobody knows that Sabine is Ezra's advisor. She wears a plain set of armor, keeps her helmet on, and goes by an alias. This disguise is supposedly for security purposes, but it's actually to keep herself out of the gossip holomagazines. She gets enough attention just as acquaintances with Ezra... imagine what would happen if the press found out she was the one lounging on the armrest of his Mand'alor Throne!

Sabine is also Ezra's bodyguard. She volunteered enthusiastically and kind of begged for the position. Sabine takes a maniacal delight in ferreting out assassination attempts and turning the hunters into the hunted, so to speak. It's like if Kevin McCallister was homicidal.

The first time a Mandalorian clan leader proposes marriage to Ezra, Tristan laughs so hard he falls out of his chair.

----

I have to leave for work now, but I'll probably ramble some more tonight!

[deniigi]

For the asks about qui gon, would you want to talk about him in the last fic? Like his relationship w obi wan, how his hiding in the bedroom helped/hurt their relationship? Also what does he do for fun? When he’s not busy thinking 3 steps ahead of his friends and padawans haha

Hello hello anon!

For reference, they are referring to my latest fic, by the following acts committed, which is an AU in which Qui-Gon lives and Obi-Wan and Anakin are only 5 years apart in age. Qui-Gon does not become Anakin's master because he is training Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan becomes a crechemaster.

At one point in the fic, Qui-Gon needs information from Obi-Wan that Obi-Wan isn't ready to give him and so ends up coming by that information through the means Anon mentions.

I should start out by saying that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are used to playing mental chess with each other and with tricking each other into doing shit that's good for them.

Their relationship is comparable to a mother and daughter accusing the other of being ridiculous and needing to take care of themselves.

Qui-Gon, in this fic, feels guilty about having caused Obi-Wan suffering since his PTSD from Melida/Daan and epilepsy are less controlled than in other AUs. Because of that, Qui-Gon is faced with the evidence of his mistakes on the regular and because of that, he is generally overly supportive of most of Obi-Wan's decisions and over-forgiving of the bad ones.

He's an enabler, really, which Obi-Wan as a youth took advantage of, and which Obi-Wan of the present finds patronizing.

Obi-Wan himself is an anxious perfectionist who would rather eat his own fist than ask for help.

So when Obi-Wan does shit like keeping secrets about actual genocide in the hopes of not causing mass hysteria, Qui-Gon is forced to respond by being the devious, conniving mastermind that he is for the greater good.

Was Obi-Wan upset at being manipulated by his master? Did his master prey on Obi-Wan's attraction to Cody? Did Cody betray Obi-Wan by agreeing to this arrangement in full knowledge of the facts?

Yes.

But the point of that betrayal was to make Obi-Wan eat the words he threw at Anakin at this point in the fic:

“If it was, I would not betray my lover’s trust in me by kissing and telling, Anakin,” Obi-Wan says loftily, “If you want general advice in the area of romance, you might start by considering how the feelings of your partner might be damaged by your actions. There are some hurts that can never be repaired. Betrayal is among the greatest, and it is far more easily triggered than one might think. If I were in your shoes, I would explain to your dear captain that you have acted in accordance with the vows you took as a jedi, not in reaction to anything he did or did not do.”

Right after Obi-Wan says this, he is betrayed by Cody. But Cody was acting on Anakin's betrayal of Rex and a lingering betrayal from Obi-Wan earlier, who accused him of being a traitor (due to the chips).

So Qui-Gon's manipulation of Obi-Wan' in that moment was a relief overall because Obi-Wan realized that his master would have believed him from the start.

Essentially, this is normal for them. Is it healthy? No. But they're already enabling each other left and right, so they may as well take this in stride too.

For fun, this Qui-Gon tries to convince himself that he does NOT treat Rex like a padawan. He does not. He does not. He does NOT.

[ospreyeamon]

For the life of me, I cannot work out what Palpatine’s actual plan was in Attack of the Clones. The Phantom Menace’s core plot is relatively straightforward (though the film forgetting to let the audience know Sidious and Palpatine are the same person leaves it appearing unhinged); Darth Palpatine persuades Trade Federation to invade Naboo to manufacture a crisis -> Senator Sidious persuades Padmé to call for Vote of No Confidence when current Chancellor can’t fix crisis -> Big Bad is elected head of state. In Attack of the Clones though, it feels like the evil schemes are missing some connective tissue. I can see what Palpatine’s goals were, but I have no clue how he was planning to achieve half of them, so it looks like he just got unreasonably lucky.

Sub-objectives of Palpatine’s evil plan for galactic domination;

The Jedi need to discover the clone army on Kamino (as close to the beginning of the war as possible; too far before will make it more likely the Jedi will seriously investigate the army’s origin or decide clone slave armies are bad).

Ideally, the Jedi should also discover the existence of the Separatists’ secret droid army because that will make them much more likely to deploy the clone army.

Get someone in the Senate to put forward a resolution to grant emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (as close to the beginning of the war as possible; if Palpatine has emergency powers when there isn’t a war, he’s more likely to be asked to give them up).

Have tensions between Separatists and Republic Loyalists continue to rise until things turn violent somewhere triggering the start of the war – but both sides need to look both plausibly reasonable and culpable.

Ideally, the Jedi should appear as the aggressors in the first battle of the Clone Wars because this will help turn public opinion against them.

Dooku needs to wave his edgy red lightsaber around in front of the Jedi so they will peg him as Count Evil McBadguy and ignore everything he says because it’s obviously a Sith trick. Convincing the Jedi that the Separatists are bad actors wilfully following their ancient enemy will go a long way to prevent them from attempting diplomatic solutions rather than violent ones.

Ideally, it shouldn’t become public knowledge that the Jedi had no idea about the existence of the clone army that was ordered in their name. If people don’t know the Jedi weren’t aware of the army, they will assume the Jedi have known for the last decade and hid the army on purpose because it was their secret army.

Kill Padmé because she’s blocking the Military Creation Act from passing through the Senate and because Palpatine doesn’t want her pulling any more solutions that he hasn’t predicted and can’t counter out from under her wig, like she did in the previous film by allying with the Gungans.

Maybe kill Jango Fett too. He was hired by “Tyranus” which is Dooku’s super-secret Sith name. If he knows Dooku was involved in commissioning the clone army, he might let that slip – and that information is horribly suspicious.

(Kill Obi-Wan because he’s Anakin’s competing father-figure. If Obi-Wan dies, Anakin won’t become attached to his new Jedi Master to the extent he was Obi-Wan, leaving him more vulnerable to Palpatine’s manipulations in his grief. Not super practical at this time because his main proxy is Dooku who would prefer to kill Anakin and keep Obi-Wan.)

Events play out perfectly to Palpatine’s advantage, with the exception that Padmé survives the film. But it seems implausible that he could have known those chains of events would or could occur.

Did Palpatine really know that the Kaminoans manufacture a unique style of poison darts? And that Jango Fett would add those darts to his arsenal and use them to kill Zam Wesell in front of the Jedi instead of shooting her with a blaster? And that Obi-Wan’s friend Dex Jettster would be able to recognise a Kaminoan dart? If Jango Fett leading Obi-Wan from Kamino to Geonosis was part of the plan, then why did Fett try to kill him so hard with the energy bombs instead of pretending not to notice he was being followed? Why try to kill Obi-Wan at all? Obi-Wan only sent the message about the clone army back to the Jedi Council on Geonosis, so him dying before that on Kamino would have been grossly inconvenient.

Does anyone have thoughts on what the hell is going on here? Was Taun We eventually just going to show up at the Temple with a clipboard to ask the Jedi which one of them was going to sign for delivery of their five million identical human men? How does a plan like that give Dooku the opportunity to show off his new red glowstick?

[thesunmakesmetired]

I still haven't finished tcw (im watching it with my brother and he is slow af so we obly just finished the zygerria arc) so this may not be fully accurate but here is why, in my opinion, artoo is the most likely to succeed.

° Anakin is an obvious no. Palpatine has been manipulating him since he was 9. It was never specified that he would trust what I tell him, so he would most likely think I'm just trying to tear apart the Republic from the inside. Palpatine is his "friend" and even if he hasn't been manipulated through the visions of Padme's death, he would still chose him over some random person's words.

° I don't know Satine much but I do know she is a pacifist and hates violence. This might not be the same in arcs I haven't watched yet but since it's at the beginning of tcw, I'll simply assume so.

° With Ahsoka, if this is at the beginning of the clone wars, then she isn't as skilled as she got during her time as Anakin's padawan. She's inexperienced and, as much as I don't doubt her abilities, I feel like it would be a lot safer to pick someone else.

° Rex and Fox could be good options but with the whole brain-chip stuff I keep seeing, I feel like it might not be the safest plan, no matter how skilled they may be.

° Padme wouldn't be a good option because, no matter how great she can be, the senate is too corrupt for it to be solved through politics. I honestly doubt that it would go well if a single senator tried to convince the rest of the senate that the chancellor is bad, without being able to explain why. I don't doubt her abilities, but I also strongly believe that over half of the senate has been either manipulated or bought on Palpatine's side. I mean, they were all clapping when Palpatine turned the Republic into an empire... Plus, part of me even believes that if padme could tell them, they would either not care or think she's a liar.

° Yoda and Mace Windu (who wasn't on the list but a lot of ppl mentioned him in the comments) might be good jedi but personally I have don't see their success rate being that high. Both of them were unsuccessful when confronting palpatine in rots, but also because I think it would be a scenario Palpatine would be prepared for. Jedi, especially high ranking ones like Yoda and Windu, will 100% be considered a risk in Palpatine's plans and he probably prepared for this scenario.

° Obi-Wan is a bit like Windu and Yoda, but I can't help but think Palpatine might not expect Obi-Wan as much as he expected Mace and Yoda.

.

● I think Artoo has the highest success rate of all the star wars cast. He has an easier access to Palpatine through Anakin and Palpatine's "friendship" and as much as everyone might have some access too, Artoo feels the less obvious and the least threatening on a surface level. Plus, who would suspect that both 1: This Astromech droid is basically sentient and 2: he knows one of the galaxy's biggest secrets. Technically, Astromech's data are supposed to be wiped to avoid Republic info to leak into separatist hands. Not only has R2's memory never really been wiped, but this knowledge is what makes him so alive.

Artoo would also be the best at ending Palps. Hacking into some computer to close some door while palps walks through it? To slightly change a ship's trajectory so it crashes either on palps or with palps as a passenger? To control a building's self defence system and shoot palps? To activate some other self defence system and activate some trap thats was meant for intruders? To slightly modify hyperspace calculations, making palps's ship come out of hyperspace inside a black hole or a star? To change the recipe that Republic chefs use so that it poisons palps? Heck, even just some hidden weapons that he just pulls out before anyone can even imagine it being possible?

If there's one character in sw that has enough sass and lack of shits to give about what he is told to do (unless he feels like it), to the point where he could pull absolutely anything? It's Artoo. I once saw a clip of an interview with Goerge Lucas where he said Artoo was the most powerful character in the whole franchise because he's always the one that ends up saving everyone, either directly or indirectly.

(He got the message to Obi-Wan, finding Luke in the process, and thus being able to save Leia ; He reminds 3PO of the comlink in anh, saving Luke, Han and Leia from being crushed ; He kept Luke's X-wing stabilized as much as possible, helping Luke blow up the Death Star ; and so much more but I won't name them all...)

Ik all these examples are from Anh but I've seen it a million times, while the others not as much, so I thought I'd be more accurate to use example from the movie I know it almost by heart

(TLDR: R2 slays)

Please explain your reasoning in the tags and may the Force be with you.

[phoenixyfriend]

Rey Gives No F*cks About the Grandfather Paradox

Okay so since nobody’s suggested a fic under these terms, I ended up expanding on this post on discord and things snowballed. We kept to the basics of the entire plot revolving around Rey really hating her grandad and leveraging her blood relation to not be unalived about it.

With contributions by @atagotiak​, @dracothulhu​, @thepallaspalace​, and several others. The title comes from @gelpenss​.

The basic thing I absolutely need is this: Rey gets thrown back to the middle of the clone wars, and the subsequent plot leans in really heavily on her being, genetically-via-clone-dad, the daughter of the guy running the entire galaxy.

Nobody knows what to do with her.

The timing is mid-TCW for the past (because I want Ahsoka there) and vaguely between Episodes 8 and 9 because I... never watched E9 and don’t want to worry about the timeline. The only things that matter is that Luke is dead (he can die as he did in canon) and that Rey knows she’s Palp’s granddaughter (not the way she does in canon).

We'll say Luke found out from Anakin's panicked force-ghost and just went "well, fuck, okay, I should tell her this before she ends up in a situation like mine and finds out mid-battle or something."

Luke, prior to time-travel: Okay, so, now that I'm dead I know some things I didn't before. Like who your parents were. In the interest of full disclosure because I was in a very similar situation and I don't want you learning the way I did, I'm just going to come right out and say that your father was a clone was Sheev Palpatine. Rey: ... Luke: Are you okay? Rey: I don't know who that is.

(She grew up on Jakku, the history education was a little subpar.)

Setting The Scene

Imagine Rey showing up during or immediately before the clone wars. There’s this phenomenally powerful feral teenager from a desert backwater who tells you that if you ran a paternity test, it would probably pop up the Chancellor. She may or may not bring up cloning. She accuses said Chancellor of being a Sith Lord.

Your other phenomenally powerful feral teenager from a desert backwater, who may not be a teenager anymore but only barely, is very offended by this because Palpatine’s a Very Nice Old Grandfather Figure, but also he’s a little full of side-eye because if the blood test comes back as proof, then Palpatine had a kid and didn’t even know about them, or lied to Anakin, and that’s! Bad! Family’s important!!!

Palpatine hears about this daughter he apparently? Has? And is very confused because the timing doesn’t match up with ANYTHING he was doing, so the kid isn’t natural, and he says as much. (There is an explanation! It’s not a correct explanation, but he does come up with one.)

Finn and Poe and BB-8 all get dragged along because why not have the gang there? Nobody that’s already born, because [handwave] conservation of souls or something, IDK, point is the only person dragged along that’s even remotely close to already existing is Luke’s Force Ghost, who mostly hangs around begging Rey to be less impulsive. Finn is good because he is a nice polite boy, but for actual useful information they need Poe. The unfortunate situation is that the three do not land together. They land at the same time, in completely different corners of the galaxy. This means that nobody is there to curb Rey being her most impulsive self.

Time travel Rey knows two things. Luke’s dad ends up evil. Palpatine has always been evil.

She can solve one of these problems by killing the other, yes?

Rey: Ready to Rumble

See, the initial idea was this: Rey tried to break into the senate to kill Palpatine, got arrested, and then used the "he's biologically my father" card to get out of jail free. (Force Ghost Luke follows her like “please take five seconds to think this through.”)

But.

But.

It would be very, very, very funny if The Force just dumps her in a flash of light in the senate building and she just attacks Gramps on sight. Just a shouted "YOU!" and no-hesitation attempted murder.

Palpatine has no idea what's going on.

Rey took maybe two seconds to get identity confirmation and then started swinging.

[Image Description: An individual in a green metal helmet with an eye slit, holding a pistol. In the upper left, upper right, and lower middle are the phrases “I do not know who I am...” “I don’t know why I’m here” and “All I know is that I must kill.” End description.]

Of course, she gets arrested. There are Master Jedi in the Senate. There are Clone Troopers. Palpatine isn’t the weak old man he pretends to be. Of course she’s stopped.

But she isn’t executed in time for Palpatine to stop her from ruining his entire reputation.

Immediately after Rey fails to kill her Shitty Granddad, Luke's ghost shows up and begs her to not talk about the Sith thing because it will completely undermine everything she's trying to do. Pass off the attempted murder as something else!

Rey, panicking: "that fucker left me on a desert planet for 10 years!" "You owe me 19 years of child support you son of a Hutt!"

The Jedi have to do the investigation, because the girl showed up with a laser sword, and the conversation is, uh... interesting. (“Where did you get that lightsaber?” “I got it from a mysterious old pirate lady I never met before. I don't know, I was being shown around by a smuggler and a Wookie.”)

Interviewer: Why did you try to assassinate the Chancellor? Luke: Say it wasn't assassination. Rey: It wasn't assassination. Int: You weren't trying to kill him? Luke: Assassination has to be politically motivated. Rey: This was, um... not political. Assassination is political, right? Int: You mean this was personally motivated? Rey: Yes. Int: I see. What personal motivation? Luke: Jakku! Rey: He's my grandfather. Int: ... Rey: Possibly father. Nobody was very clear on that. Int: ... Luke: Tell them to run a paternity test. Rey: Oh hey, a blood test would tell us which, right? Int: ............ Rey: I spent ten years as an orphaned scrapdealer on Jakku. He's my father. I'm kind of a little angry. Int: ........... Luke: Good job, kid. You bought yourself some time. Int: I'm going to get a medic to see about that parternity test.

Obviously, it comes back positive. Congratulations, Sheev, you’re the father.

Rey comes with a ready-made built-in excuse for hating Palpatine that nobody can question or fault her for!

Rey, pouring Truth into the Force: I didn't even know I was related to the Chancellor until a few months ago, but it's his fault I grew up the way I did, and he should take some responsibility!

The entire thing is mostly kept hush hush but someone leaks it to the press and Palpatine's ratings tank.

"Chancellor, I think we'll need to waive family visitation until she wants you a little less dead." "I would like to find out why she wants me dead, and indeed, where she came from." "...sir, for your own safety--"

Who would win? A master plan years in the making spanning decades of manipulating and work? or One (1) paternity test

"Okay, so, Rey Palpat--" "Ew, no, I don't want his name." "You--okay. Sure, we can understand that. Is there a name you would prefer to put on the paperwork?" Rey, who would have gone by Skywalker in honor of Luke but can't do that when Anakin is right there and all: "Can I think about it?"

Rey: I don't know what I want my last name to be but I know I don't want his, and most of the people I’d want a name from have famous families like you... Luke's ghost, pointing out the Literal Nobody that she cares about a lot: How about Solo? Rey: ...Solo, then.

(A few months later she runs into Poe again and he offers for Finn and Rey to both take his name because honestly they need SOMETHING but at that point she’s already decided on Smuggler Dad.)

Backtrack a bit. We’ve got a bigger cast.

They all arrive separately. Poe, for one, does better than Rey, who is aiming for a murder, but not quite as well as Finn, who is currently being adopted and hidden like a secret cat by a bunch of Alpha Clones on Kamino. He vibes with the names-or-numbers thing. He doesn’t necessarily tell them where and when he’s from, but he’s very sweet and a great liar and they adopt him wholesale anyway.

The Finn situation is just... "Buir Ti, we need you to hide this man, we've decided he's our little brother but if Nala Se finds out she'll make him leave."

Of course, this leads into Shaak Ti teaching Finn how to Jedi.

Maybe consider Finn needing to almost be tricked into learning Jedi things because he willfully forgets it could apply to him. Finn does not like to think of himself as special, which is super valid, but frustrating for Shaak Ti when it comes to, you know, getting him to acquire knowledge. Finn's training at some point is "here, levitate objects with the Force to entertain the tubies." It’s a lot easier to convince him to practice when it involves the babies.

(Everyone on Kamino looked at Finn and went “oh I love him I’m keeping him and teaching him things.”)

(He’s just very lovable.)

Poe, meanwhile, buys the trust of Anakin Skywalker via R2D2 declaring BB-8 the absolute most baby of droids. R2D2 met BB-8 three hours ago but.

"Hey Obi-Wan this is Poe I met him like five days ago but R2D2 says he checks out because his droid is a baby." "That's nice, Anakin, did you know the Chancellor has a daughter who tried to assassinate him in broad daylight yesterday? Because guess who had to stop the Chancellor from getting assassinated by his daughter in broad daylight yesterday."

A summary so far:

Finn, on Kamino: Hey, um, I don't know where this is, but it's not where I was a few minutes ago. Do you think you could get me a comm? What's your name? Poe, on [dice roll] Denon: Oh, hey, you're General Skywalker? Nice to meet you, I'm so sorry about my droid, she's a little excitable and thought your R2 unit looked like a friend of hers-- Rey, on Coruscant: DIE, GRANDFATHER

Finn: [Peacefully vibing on Kamino, unaware of the chaos and bonding with the clones] Poe: [Trying to explain how he knows someone who tried to kill the chancellor and defend Rey] Rey: [Arrested for trying to kill the chancellor]

Just... just...

Anakin: Some guy ended up lost on base yesterday with his droid, how’s your day going? Obi-Wan: I had to stop someone who claims to be the chancellors daughter from murdering the chancellor after she seemingly blinked into existence in the Senate building. Poe: 😐

(Poe: Oh, so that's where Chaos^2 went.)

Poe: In her defense, she is his... well we don't know if she's his daughter or granddaughter, but she's definitely related to him, and she definitely grew up in a shitty situation that was his fault, so...

(Poe is trying very hard to explain this and not get arrested on the military base.)

As you’ve probably guessed, what's especially funny about all of this for me is the fact that Palpatine is fully aware that this girl shouldn't exist, but can't find a single piece of evidence about where she came from. He didn't start any experiments that could result in a female child, and he didn't have sex in that period of time, so where the hell--

Rey spends so much time in jail... BUT they do eventually assign her a Jedi Master. Possibly before she actually proves her evil grandfather is in fact evil. Most votes went to either Plo Koon or Obi-Wan. Plo, because he’s dad-shaped, and Obi...

"Obi-Wan, you already raised one feral desert child with implausible amounts of power, you handle this." Rey in return is very "Sweet, you vaguely remind me of Master Luke," and nobody knows who the hell she's talking about. Obi-Wan is NOT on board with this plan, she'd really be better off with Plo or like........ Mace.

Reunion Tour

What I need out of this is the eventual Finn and Rey reunion scene that is just excited screaming while someone in the background explains to Shaak Ti that yes this is apparently Palpatine's terrifyingly force-sensitive daughter who hates him.

(Finn senses Rey’s approach and just. Gathers the everyone to wait. He’s just :D REY MY FRIEND REY GUYS MY FRIEND REY IS COMING.)

Anakin shows up with Poe--just a guy who signed on to the military, no big deal--and then Poe and Rey are EXCITED and everyone's just like "Cool, how do you know this literal terrorist child?" And Poe has to scramble and "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh she saved my droid from a scrapheap once and BB-8 is basically my child so I owe her one."

Rey knows that Anakin ends up evil so she’s maybe not actively hostile but definitely very “I’m watching you.” That said, she vibes with him on a lot of things that he maybe doesn’t actively notice.

Rey picks up a snake, snaps off the head for venom avoidance, and starts biting off chunks. Obi-Wan's reaction: [undisguised horror] Anakin and Ahsoka: Ooh, where'd you find that? (Obi-Wan: And now I’m up to three feral children.)

What Does Palpatine Even Do?

OBVIOUSLY at a certain point, Palpatine is just phoning up every ally he has to figure out who broke protocol to synthesize a daughter for him.

So of course, Palpatine blame Plagueis.

She'd have been born five or so years before Naboo, just a few years younger than Anakin. It's such an EASY theory to build a conspiracy around. It is ENTIRELY WRONG, but it’s plausible! And anyone who might have been involved to say otherwise is probably dead!

A random bio-kid shows up you can’t possibly have contributed genes to? Maybe it’s the evil bio spark that did it.

Palpatine tries to placate her with the ‘my genes were stolen for an experiment and I didn’t know’ thing. It doesn’t work because her actual main complaint is he’s evil in her future but he tries.

It'd be a struggle to even get access to her, because of the aforementioned “maybe don’t try to talk to the daughter(?) that hates you” thing, but you know who Palpatine does have access to? The Chosen One.

Rey kind of decides on her favorites early on (she gravitates to Dad Energy and Sad Old Men so Plo and Obi-Wan are on her list, and that means decent time around Anakin and Ahsoka). It's really easy to talk Anakin into helping to some degree because "he'd like to connect to a daughter he never knew" and "a child of her power on a planet like that, you'd know her struggle, my dear boy" and so on. Anakin tries to connect! He tries to play up Sheev’s kind political work and how it can’t have really been his fault! It doesn’t work. Rey does not believe a word of it. Mostly she doesn’t even seem to hear him.

Rey's just like "...oh right, you're the melted mask that Kylo Ren was always ranting about," which means absolutely NOTHING to Anakin, but he mentions it to Palps, who loses his goddamn mind trying to figure out what she's talking about, because it also means absolutely nothing to him.

Here’s the thing: Rey’s already decided that Obi-Wan is cool, because Luke said so, and Plo Koon is dad-shaped, and she also gravitates towards earnest kindness in general, like she made friends with Finn real quick, so Ahsoka? Already getting along great.

She doesn’t dislike Anakin, really, he isn’t evil yet, he’s just... meh. She’s a little suspicious and she likes him less than the others but... Anakin.

Rey, to Anakin: You are my least favorite. Anakin, to Palpatine: YOUR DAUGHTER HATES ME???

And he goes from “she’s a lil standoffish” to “she doesn’t like me” to “she hates me” as is normal for Anakin.

It’s just an escalation of this one time Palpatine wants Anakin to not have rifts and trust issues with a person, at least not until later, because he needs information.

Meanwhile, that very moment, Rey is just like "huh, nobody here is listening to me about how make a sixth-hand carburetor work, where's Luke's dad?"

Anakin is venting to Palpatine about how hard it is to talk to Rey, and she's over in the Temple just like "Hey, that guy was useful last time, I should ask him," but also she only ever thinks of him as Luke's Dad.

(At one point, Obi-Wan is having a bit of a break down, and then Anakin starts having a breakdown about that, meanwhile the clones are (badly) trying to hide Finn behind their backs, Rey is watching Ahsoka practice and being like "I want two lightsabers," and Poe is trying to keep R2 from stealing BB-8 and Force Ghost Luke is just face palming in the background.)

(Rey deserved a saber staff, maybe one that can detach and turn into a jar’kai set. Possibly a pike. Mostly I just wish she got more chances to whack things with a big stick.)

[nevertheless-moving]

Star Wars Aus

I have so many star wars time travel aus in my head. writing fanfiction is really, really hard (mad props, no idea how you do it). it is 1:26am. and i have come here to shout into the void.

crack/rock star fluff fix it: obi wan several years post ROTS travels back to the very beginning of TPM. Had enough time to mostly process/repress Order 66 and imagine 10000 if-i-had only-done-things-differently, so after a fairly brief freak out he can pass off as an intense force vision, he’s a pretty effective time traveler. Frees Anikan AND Shmi, keeps qui-gon from dying, properly kills maul on Naboo. Anikan is brought to the creche so he has time to befriend other initiates and learn Jedi culture before becoming a padawan. Obi wan is a young knight, he privately tutors Anikan and works with him on his issues and also his issues. The very first second Palpatine starts sniffing around he point blank tells Anikan do not let yourself be alone with him, I can’t explain completely but trust me and Anikan does. 

Obi wan also has the independence to go off on missions and start covertly undoing only-visible-in-hindsight complicated sith conspiracies that have been eroding the republic and trying to gather actual evidence to take Chancellor Palpatine down cleanly without people turning on the Jedi. Doesn’t confide in anyone because a) he’s still a crazy hermit man and b)his biggest advantage is that Sideous has no idea he’s on to him. He has to disable all the back up destroy-the-Jedi plots before he plays his hand.

But this is all just background plot for the real meat of this au! Which is Obi Wan Kenobi is secretly a famous mystery pop star! Bear with me!

Obi Wan needs covert money to work against sideous.

 He has knowledge of the future! Easy money. 

He could invest in stocks or gamble on famous races, but... 

 Just in case his covert ploting and secret money ever gets uncovered (yeah, he’s Xanatos gambiting) he needs his source of space cash to be clean, and not seem like everyone’s worst fears about Jedi seers.

What was that ridiculously viral pop song towards the end of the clone wars that got stuck in every human and near-humans head? That never stopped playing on space radio? That obi wan of course knows all the words to because its the most viral, slightly irritating but so catchy song ever made?

And wasn’t the guy who wrote it just, the worst? Like, Obi Wan wasn’t exactly following celebrity gossip, but towards the end of the songs replays someone would feel the need to ‘you know what that guy does to’- ‘yes. its a pirated version’. R Kelly problematic. Absolutely fine stealing his art before he makes it, noble even.

And hey, Obi Wan’s got a decent singing voice. 

So! Obi Wan goes down a few levels. He finds a sketchy recording studio, picks up some backup musicians from dive bars, and records a demo.

The song goes out from a big recording studio who got it from a small recording studio who got it from an agent who got it from a lawyer who got it from a mysterious B.K who never reveals his face, who was absolutely convinced it would go viral, just protect the copyright, don’t ask or answer any questions, and channel the money into these discrete untraceable accounts and you can be ridiculously wealthy. 

It takes a year or two, Obi Wan is a little concerned that the cultural influences just didn’t come together. or he didn’t replicate the recording perfectly enough. oh well.

And then it becomes an even bigger hit then the original timeline

He has enough money to fund his one man campaign against the trade federation. Success.

B.K’s mystery identity fuels a ravening, obsessive fanbase. The random band he picked up become overnight stars, and they literally have never seen B.K’s face, he appeared out of the ether, paid them in beer for a couple days while they jammed together and arranged with the lawyer for them to get a cut of the proceeds ‘once the song took off’

A few people who know obi wan do make jokes that the singer kind-of sounds like him. Bant and Garen tease him a little and try to get him to come to space karaoke to sing it but they never actually think its him. 

Qui-Gon, who listened to him sing in the shower for a decade asks him about it the first time he hears the song and Obi-Wan just acts offended that he things he would write trash like that. He’s still a little suspicious but he know Ob-Wan doesn’t even like pop music so he just chalks it up to the force working in mysterious ways. 

Quinlan is convinced its him. Obi-Wan won’t flat out deny anything, just scoffs and responds sarcastically. It drives him absolutely insane. Because it is just such a stupid song and Obi-Wan writes sad poetry how did this happen. WHO even are you. Makes conspiracy boards with yarn. Obsesses over it. Tracks him and finds him doing convert anti-trade federation/banking clans stuff. HOW DO YOU HAVE TIME TO DO THIS AND BE A SECRET POP STAR.

[slimy-eye]

Clone Wars AU Where Maul Saves The Galaxy

Kenobi senses something terrifyingly familiar (and very much alive) on Lotho Minor while meditating on the war in a neighboring system. Feeling as if it is his responsibility to confront a remnant of his past, he leaves his command post without so much as a word and throws himself onto a fighter, before traveling alone to Lotho Minor. He’s anxious, and ready for a fight, as he lands on the world of trash and begins seeking out his old and lethal enemy. Following Maul’s signature in the force, Kenobi eventually discovers his foe among the junk, and realizes instantly that the former Sith before him was no longer who he used to be. He was suffering, damaged, and insane. 

Despite the bloody scrawling of ‘Kenobi’ across the structure walls, Maul doesn’t seem to recognize his old enemy. His eyes are unfocused, and he mutters incoherently. Overcome by intense and crushing guilt, Kenobi carries Maul’s damaged body back to his ship. You can imagine the surprise of his comrades when he returns to to the Star Destroyer with a crazed Zabrak cradled in his arms, muttering endlessly about revenge against the man that held him. Against the agitated advice of Anakin, Kenobi returns to the temple, and presents Maul to the council. The Zabrak doesn’t seem to even know where he’s at. He doesn’t seem to be able to focus on the Jedi seated around him. He crouches, and mutters to himself, blind to the surrounding world. Tempers flare, but Jedi Master Plo Koon makes it blatantly clear that it would be cruel to force Maul to undergo a trial, and afterward, prison, while he is in such a fragile state. Reluctantly, the other Jedi eventually agree. Still plagued by his guilt, Obi-Wan designates himself as Maul’s caretaker, and out of fear that he could come to his senses at any time, the Council decides that Maul must remain in the temple, not only hidden from the public, but hidden from The Senate as well, despite knowing that their actions would not be looked upon fondly by the government that they were meant to serve. 

Maul remains in the temple throughout the war. Over time, he appears to recover somewhat. Instead of clawing his own skin and scrawling words of bloody vengeance across the walls, he paints bright colors across a canvas, under the guilty and ever watchful eyes of his Jedi caretaker. When Kenobi is called away from the Temple to see to the war efforts, Plo Koon is almost always left behind in his place, dutifully watching over the maddened Zabrak. His makeshift prosthetic waist and legs are replaced with professional care.

Eventually, Maul’s endless desire for revenge seems to transform into a childlike curiosity for the world. It was not uncommon to see Kenobi guiding him through the temple gardens, where he would gently touch every petal on every flower. 

Suddenly, and quite unannounced, the Jedi at the temple are surprised by the presence of Chancellor Palpatine. No doubt he has sensed Maul’s presence, but he cannot give that knowledge away to the Jedi. He lies to the Council, and claims to have come for other reasons. During his stay, Maul becomes visibly agitated. The fear in his eyes leaks into the surrounding air. Everyone around him can feel it. Obi-Wan does his best to offer the Zabrak comfort, but to no avail. Maul begins muttering about his ‘Master’, about ‘Darth Sidious’, and when Palpatine finds them in the garden before the Council can warn Ob-Wan to return the former Sith to his room, Maul cowers behind his Jedi caretaker.

Suspicious by this newfound behavior, Kenobi plays it off, and apologizes to The Chancellor, stating that Maul is harmless now, and not quite ‘all there’ in terms of mind. Palpatine lingers for an uncomfortably long time, but eventually says his polite goodbyes, and promises that he will keep Maul’s presence in the temple to himself. That should have come as a relief, but Kenobi could feel the distress from Maul. He could feel the terror. He knew something wasn’t right. Turning to embrace Maul, he finds him cowering in the flowers, staring toward the door where Palpatine had exited. Normally Kenobi would pay Maul’s mutterings no serious mind, but this time was different. Maul seemed convinced that the Chancellor was a Sith Lord. His former master. As maddened as the Zabrak may be, Kenobi could find no source of delusion. This was real.

Gently, he walks Maul back to the Council Chamber, and addresses his fellow Masters. He presents them with grave news. Some, like Mace Windu, take the idea that the Chancellor could be a Sith Lord very seriously. He lays out the implications of what it could mean, and how they couldn’t afford to be wrong about this. The consequences to the whole of the Order would no doubt be quite severe. If Palpatine was, in fact, not a Sith Lord, then the people would lose faith in the Order, and accuse them of political sabotage. But if he was...they couldn’t afford to not act. Others reminded their fellow master’s that Maul was not sound of mind. Surely they couldn’t believe the ramblings of a madman? But Kenobi was insistent. If the council refused to investigate, then he would do it himself. They all knew it was not a mere threat. Obi-Wan wasn’t a liar. And to make such a bold claim in front of the Council...none of them could deny that Kenobi was passionate about this.

And so, the Council sets up a meeting with The Chancellor to discuss what he believes the Order should do with Maul. While the Chancellor is distracted, Plo Koon and Ahsoka Tano investigate the Chancellor’s office in secret. Skywalker, do to his closeness with Palpatine, was notified of what was going on, but was not permitted to join the investigation. Anakin had never been happy with Maul’s presence at the temple, and so of course, he’s agitated. He won’t believe anything that Zabrak mutters about. He paces the temple endlessly, until his padawan and Plo Koon finally return. They had found evidence of potential Sith activity in the office, but none that proved outright that Palpatine was a Sith Lord himself. Regardless, Plo Koon enters the Council chamber, where the Jedi are still discussing Maul with the Chancellor, and lays the evidence bare. Palpatine appears flustered, but he plays it off. That evidence must have been planted, but the Order presses on, and suddenly, they sense a slip up in the force, a sudden flash of anger, and power. Palpatine realizes that he let his emotions slip as well. Without hesitation, he pulls a crimson lightsaber from his robes, and attacks.

Despite the presence of nearly the entire council, Palpatine puts up an incredible fight. He nearly escapes through a shattered window, but it’s Mace Windu that strikes the final blow. The head of the Sith rolls clean off his shoulders. 

With Palpatine dead, Maul seems to be in unusually good spirits. The tension in the temple is lifted. Anakin realizes his mistake, and contemplates leaving the order, but either way, he is saved from the Sith’s grooming. Order 66 will never be carried out without Palpatine’s voice to command it. The separatist army slowly begins to fall apart. Grievous is slain in one of the last skirmishes, and though Dooku makes many attempts to evade the Jedi, he is eventually apprehended, along with many other prominent figures of the army. The Republic can finally celebrate peace once more.

Maul would spend the rest of his life in the temple. He would never fully recover his mind, but everyone could see that he had felt that his former Master was no longer alive. The incredible hate and rage that used to radiate from him through the surrounding force in waves was now mysteriously gone.

...Anyways, who wants a fanfic on AO3? And if ya’ll have chapter ideas, ya’ll better gimmie gimmie cause I might just include them, hehe.

[stellarstarwarsimagines]

Could you write an imagine where the reader self harms and tries to keep it a secret from Anakin that she’s being harassed by her master, and when he finds out he comforts her, and kisses her, but he’s super nervous and gentle?

I can! I hope you find this a bit of a comfort should you ever need it. <3

TW: Mentions of Self Harm

There is no emotion, there is peace. 

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. 

There is no passion, there is serenity. 

There is no chaos, there is harmony. 

There is no death, there is the force. 

It was a mantra that you had been repeating for as long as you could remember. It was supposed to give you comfort, hope, peace . . . but after years and years of being harassed, dismissed, nothing less than bullied by the one person you were supposed to trust more than anyone . . . They had become nothing but words. 

Master Krell had let you have it moments before in the gardens, a place of quiet now forever tainted in your memory with shouts and violent drills that went far beyond anything that you had ever seen any other Master do with their Padawan. He told you he was preparing you for the worst, that there were things out there that would be much harder on you than him. The bruises, aches, and split lip you were currently supporting said otherwise. 

As if the force itself had decided you had enough for today, Master Krell had been called away by Master Windu moments earlier, and you didn’t hesitate to make your escape to an unused meditation area, the sharp object you used for relief clasped tight in your hand. It was about to touch your skin when a familiar voice called out your name. 

Anakin was striding towards you, a happy smile on his lips that vanished almost as soon as he saw your appearance. “Are you all right?” He asked, concern in his eyes as he took in the visible injuries on your face. 

“I’m fine, Ani, just got through with a rough session is all.” You tried to reassure him, brushing some of your hair behind your ear and trying to plaster on a convincing smile. 

You realized that you had done something wrong almost immediately. His hand reached out before you could process it, and snatched your arm, glancing down at the marks there. 

The marks that could only be self made. 

You pulled your arm away, but the damage had been done, the look on Anakin’s face proved that. He said your name again, this time in disbelief. “What are you doing to yourself?” 

Turning away so you didn’t have to look at him, you hurriedly pulled your sleeve down to cover the scars. “You wouldn’t understand.” You told him. 

“You don’t think I’d understand? After everything I’ve been through?” Anakin asked, and you could hear the tinge of anger in his voice. 

It triggered your own. You spun around, startling him enough to where he took a step backwards. “No, you wouldn’t! Because as much as you think that Obi-Wan doesn’t trust you, or could be teaching you more, he believes in you! He knows you’re going to be a great Jedi, and so do you, because of his teaching! You have no idea how it feels to have the person that’s supposed to be building you up and training you do nothing but bully and harrass you and make you feel like the most pathetic creature on Coruscant!”

Anakin took a step forward again, calling out your name and reaching out to you, but you took a step back, shaking your head. 

“I know we’re not supposed to let our emotions get to us like this, but Ani . . . meditating doesn’t work anymore.” Tears were streaming down your face as Anakin stepped forward once more, and this time you let him pull you into his arms. “He’s invaded my mind and every part of this temple. This is the only thing that’s mine.” You gasped out, muffled as you buried your face in his robes. “Hurting myself is the only way I can shut his voice off for a moment.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me he was doing this to you?” Anakin asked, his fingers running through your hair. “We have to tell someone. Obi-Wan, Master Yoda . . . someone who can put a stop to it.” 

But you were shaking your head. “Who are they going to believe? A Master or his pathetic Padawan?” Krell had drilled that into your head more times than you could count. They had known him for years, and all the other Masters trusted him. You weren’t anything compared to him. 

“That isn’t true.” Anakin argued, pulling back so he could look you in the eyes. “You’re worth a million of him. You’re worth more than any Jedi in this place, Knight or Master.” 

“Ani, stop.” You turned your eyes away from him, knowing that he was lying as he tried to make you feel better, but he didn’t realize that nothing he could say or do would. Your situation was hopeless, and you hated that you had dragged him into it. 

“No.” With gentle fingers, Anakin turned your head back to face him until you were looking him in the eyes once more. “You need to believe me. Don’t you see how much I care about you?” Anakin lifted your wrist up to his lips where he pressed a gentle kiss to your scars. “I’m not going to let him get away with it. I’ll figure out something.” 

His actions made you want to melt into the floor and cry at the same time. Never had anyone looked at you with as much care as Anakin did, and while both of you knew it was against the code . . . There was no stopping it. “Ani -” You repeated, trying to reason with him even if you knew it was hopeless. 

Before you could though, Anakin tugged you closer and after a brief moment of staring into your eyes, pressed the softest, most gentle kiss against your lips. “I care about you.” He repeated, whispering the words against your lips. “I can’t see anyone, even yourself, hurting you like this and not do anything.” 

“But what if it’s hopeless?” You replied, clutching at him as if he was all you had, and at this point . . . He was. 

“It won’t be. I promise.” Anakin assured you, and then he pulled you against his chest once more, rocking you back and forth in his arms. 

And maybe it was naive to believe him . . . But you did.

[pirate-tink]

And so we've come to the end (for now...)

I was slower watching these new episodes than I thought I'd be, but I got to really enjoy them and let them percolate in my brain. Thanks to everyone who read my rambling, half-formed thoughts, and didn't immediately vote me off the island for being a little insane around the edges.

Thoughts on The Mastermind Job, with ever-present spoilers, below:

This was so sweet and fun and exciting! I loved it! It was a great mix of the feel and spirit of the original show, and the characters and relationships of the new show. I never would have come up with the idea to have an old lackey coworker of Nate's "borrow" his stories and try to publish a book with all the team's secrets, but wow does it work really well. (It felt very 'Ember Island Players' to me, and it made me giddy.)

The team is really sweet in the beginning, trying to rally around Sophie and help keep her spirits up on her and Nate's anniversary. But I appreciate her calling them on their coddling behavior. ("You can't con a conman.") She even called Parker out on letting her run the jobs and cons. I hope that means we'll get more Parker leadership, or at least equal representation, in the back half. Our girl has so much to offer, and so much knowledge to show off.

Fake mastermind guy is just... meh. I mean, that's kinda the point, especially with his "superpower" of putting people to sleep, but still. Meh. He's as bland as some of the characters Nate used to play, and now I'm wondering if Nate didn't borrow inspiration for some of his grifter identities from certain accountants he knew.

For some reason, Harry trying to figure out how to sit casually and hide the taser after Parker tied him back up is really funny to me. (If I knew how to gif things, I'd gif that moment.) He was slightly more background/comic relief here again, and it's still great. His grand solution to distract his guard was to literally be himself. But hey, it worked.

Breanna is also a little more background, but her valley-girl PA character in the beginning is so good. She's hilarious, and I love her.

We get Russian and German Parker, and southern Sophie, and valley-girl Breanna, all in this episode! I love it. All the accents! All the grifts! I'm betting Eliot is the one who taught Parker that yelling at someone is a good way to get them to go away and let you do your thing. It probably works much better for her than trying to use Sophie's jedi mind tricks to convince people they want to do what she's making them do.

Eliot really made that woman fall in love with him in less than two minutes, and I for one admire him for that. I feel like that's what Christian does with the fandom. I'd trust him to protect me any day.

I really love how the episode mostly focused on Sophie, Parker, and Eliot- our full-time original cast members. (I miss Hardison! But he got so many mentions in this one!) The story really honored the original show, what the characters built, and how and why they came together. It's really nice for the fans of the original. And this ep was written by Kate Rorick! She's the new show runner for Leverage: Redemption, and one of the executive producers! Knowing that she's the mastermind behind this wonderful episode makes me feel certain that the show is in good hands, and will hopefully continue to go in a direction that allows for growth, but not at the expense of the past.

I'm sad that I've run out of the new episodes already, but that just means I'll have to watch them all again! (And go even deeper in my meta-analysis of it all...)

[ironmandeficiency]

pedro boys + 🌨snow🌨 (part two)

inspired by seeing snow for the first time in nearly seven years, enjoy more fluff y’all

boys featured in this part: whiskey, marcus m, ezra, dave, marcus p, & pero

boys featured in part one: din, maxwell, javi p, oberyn, frankie, & max

whiskey: he’s seen snow before in his statesman travels but there was never really time to enjoy the beauty of it. jack’s another southerner who didn’t grow up with snow. unlike javi who would gladly do without, he loves it, there was just never the time or reason to truly enjoy it after joining statesman. but when you stumbled into his arms after slipping on an icy patch of sidewalk, his whole world changed. since you came along, he would purposefully carve out the time, if even a few moments, to feel the snow kiss his face with the same gentleness that you do. when he decides to retire from field work, he makes sure to take advantage of every winter second with you; from riding horses in a snowy pasture to building snow people (there’s a special stetson specifically for slightly colder versions of jack). the nights are spent curled in his arms in front of the fireplace with a meal cooked by your favorite cowboy

marcus m: winter is always a great time to spend time w family, and no one knows this better than marcus. he can always be found building snowfamilies and having snowball fights w missy, and when you join the family it only adds to the joy. you fit right in with the moreno family festivities, joining them in playing in the snow and the homemade hot cocoa recipe that anita passed down to marcus when missy was born (the secret is the nutmeg & and the tiniest pinch of cinnamon). your first snow as a couple is where marcus realizes he loves you; seeing you and missy bond during a time that’s always been near and dear to the morenos makes him realize that you may be ready to become a moreno yourself.

ezra: the first time you experience snow together was completely unexpected, the planet whose name you forgot very early into the trip being on the verge of its wintertime. ezra thought it would be the best time because most would avoid the planet during this time, leaving more spoils for the two of you. it was all fine and dandy until the day before you’re set to leave. the glistening powder drifts from the heavens and slowly starts to coat your work area and more than anything, you wish you could catch them on your tongue. you end up shocked from your thoughts by a solid ball of snow meeting your back and the melodious laughter of your poet from behind you. it turns into the silliest snowball fight in known history and eventually, the two of you just rolling around in the snow like giddy children. it just gave you both the perfect excuse to spend the night and leftover time before the slingback in each other’s arms, watching the snowfall thru the viewport.

dave: he didn’t often get to play with the girls when it snowed before, but when carol left him a “dear john” note and the girls short a parent, he stepped up majorly. snow days were a new form of bonding that they didn’t get before and dave was very hesitant to let anyone encroach on that time with his girls. it took the girls asking for you by name to convince him to budge on his “no non-york allowed on snow days” rule. it wasn’t like he didn’t want you to be a york, he just didn’t want the girls to needlessly lose another parental figure if things went wrong. but to his detriment, his girls are just as, if not more clever, than he is and end up asking you to be a york before he can get around to it. he can’t be mad though when you tackle hug him into a massive pile of snow, kissing him senseless while the girls dogpile on top of you both.

marcus p: this absolute romantic is gonna go the whole nine yards with literally anything he does in the wintertime. there’s the candlelit dinners in front of a fireplace, horse-drawn carriage rides on red brick streets, holding hands during walks in the snow-painted park, and the constant use of validating a little extra affection with keeping you warm. marcus is a walking hallmark card and he will not hesitate to make this known thru the cold winter months. man knows what he wants and goes for it with unshakable confidence, especially when he wants you to feel loved and cherished. if you ever tire of the grandiose displays, he will gladly tone it down and be in servitude to your every whim. he’s a simp through and through.

pero: he will not indulge any love for snow if you don’t have a home to take shelter in once the fun has been had. he has firsthand knowledge of how the chill can be lethal and would rather die than be careless in protecting you. he’s even more protective of you than normal in the cold and will watch you very intently. the slightest shiver or clattering of your teeth will have you scooped into his arms and plopped in front of the nearest fire. do not challenge this man to a snowball fight. yes he loves you and worships you like the gods of old, but he is competitive and will not let you win under any circumstances. when the fight’s over, pero will make it up to you with the warmth he radiates and honey dripping affection

tagging a few friends & my taglist babes: @the-purity-pen @huliabitch @mudhornchronicles @thegildedquill @jangohshit @anakin-danvers @frannyzooey @filthybookworm @miraclemoreno @goldafterglow @blue-space-porgs @likeshootingstarsinthenightsky @obirain @themarcusmoreno @catsnkooks @captainrexstan @battletales @stardustsunrisekisses @darthadeline @roseofalderaan @majorshiraharu @getdookuedon @max--phillips @jedi-mando @bisexual-space-slut @andysficrecs @jedi-mando

[writer1]

A Jedi's wolf

Part 1

Anakin lays in his bed, thinking about his boyfriend, Rex. It's been fifteen long years since he's seen him, Rex was with Ahsoka during order 66.

They both separated since it was safer, Ahsoka them met up with Anakin a few years later. Ever since they reunited, Anakin and his Padawan have been trying to get ahold of Rex. But it's all for not.

Anakin misses him so much, ever since his near death at the hands of Palpatine he's been trying to find Rex. It was hard at first, Palpatine did some real damage before Master Windu saved him.

Palpatine cut off all of his remaining limbs, Anakin still gets severe phantom pain on bad days. He still wears the glove on his left hand though, he thinks it looks cool. And he can make people think that it's his only remaining limb, he had a lot of fun with that when Kanan asked for "a hand" with the ghost.

Ahsoka's bee very secretive these past few days though, first it was this person she sent the ghost crew after, now she won't tell him who it is, skittering around the details about them.

Anakin hears a knock on the door, he pushes himself up. He brushes his fingers through his long hair, trying to make himself look at least a little bit presentable. Ahsoka told him that she would be sending the new Rebel up to talk to him, he has no idea why she always sends them up to talk, but she does.

"Coming!" Anakin yells out as he checks himself in the mirror, he looks good enough. He walks over and swings the door open, ready to say the usual welcome to the Rebellion speech but what he see's freezes him in place.

It's an older man with a bald head and fluffy white beard, Anakin doesn't know who it is for a minute but then it clicks.

"Rex?" Anakin asks quietly, he prays to the force that he isn't wrong, that this isn't just a brother that looks more like Rex. The man nods, looking equally as shocked as Anakin.

"Rex!" Anakin slams into him full force, wrapping his arms tightly around Rex, never wanting to let go again. He lets out a sob, unable to hold it back.

Rex pulls him even closer, tears falling down his face as he kisses Anakin's tears away.

"You're alive." Rex whispers quietly as he kisses Anakin, he can't believe it. He's thought that Anakin died for years, Rex looks down to see the new cybernetic arm. He pulls away, cupping Anakin's cheek.

"What happened! Who hurt you!" Anakin looks down, he knows that it's going to be different.

"Palpatine. It's not just my arm either, he got both my legs too." Rex feels rage boil up in him, but he pushes it down.

"I'll kill him if I ever get the chance." Rex grumbles and Anakin pulls him in for a kiss, it makes Rex smile.

"Come on, I'll show you around. Then we can thank Ahsoka for this." Rex nods, and grabs Anakin hand as he's lead out of the room, happy to be home.

×××

It's been a few weeks since Rex had joined the Rebellion and he's loved it, Gregor and Wolffe ended up joining too.

Rex has been helping Anakin through his bad days, but he's been trying to figure out how to tell Anakin his secret. He's a Werewolf, it happened during the siege of Mandalore.

Ahsoka helped him, but he had her promise not to tell anyone. Including Anakin, the only people who know are Ahsoka, Gregor and Wolffe. They've all tried to convince him to tell Anakin but he's to scared, he doesn't want Anakin to hate him.

He has a mission with Anakin, the ghost crew and his brothers, he just hopes that it goes well.

×××

"Come on, Rex!" Rex sighs as he shoots down the stormtroopers, they were found out and everyone is fighting. They are in the middle of a fire fight.

"Anakin! Where are yah going!"

"I'm going to make it to the base, we need those supplies." Rex grunts, this mission was supposed to be simple, get into the empires base using stealth, get the supplies and get out. But it never goes the way it's supposed to go.

"I'm going with him, make sure he doesn't get himself killed!" Everyone nods as Rex goes running.

"Are missions with Skywalker always like this?"

"Pretty much." Ahsoka answers Kanan as Rex goes running after Anakin.

He falls behind and he searches the base, shooting down and fighting any stormtroopers that Cross his path. He knows that Anakin is going for the large hanger bay, if he opens up the door Hera can pick up everyone else and fly over, they'll hopefully have enough time to get the supplies and get out.

Rex runs into the hanger bay, but what he sees makes his blood boil in rage. Anakin is being beaten by stormtroopers, but not just stormtroopers.

There's another Werewolf with black fur, he must have been part of the empire before he was bit. The Wolf has clawed Anakin's chest, leaving deep slash wounds and all four of his cybernetics have been destroyed. He can see Anakin breathing and hear his tiny whimpers.

Rex knows that he has to protect Anakin, and he knows that's there's only one way that he'll have a chance too. The troopers see him, they don't think anything of him, but the Werewolf knows better, he can smell what Rex is.

Rex starts to concentrate, making himself transform. The Wolf let's him, he's bored and wants a challenge. Killing human Rebels can only be fun for so long.

Rex groans in pain as the transformation starts, he doesn't even bother to take his armor off. He'd rather it break than give them anymore time to hurt Anakin, his voice grows deeper everytime he groans as he kneels on the floor.

His body grows bigger, armor starting to bend. It hurts even more when the armor tightens around him, but the problem is taken care of when it starts to pop off, chestplate first.

Anakin is in a world of pain, that Wolf like beast came out of no where. He senses when Rex walks in, he's had a force inhibitor, the thing stabbed him with the dart.

But it's a lower kind, he can sense everything but can't harness it. As soon as he senses Rex all Anakin feels is fear that this thing will kill him.

Anakin hears the groans of pain but hasn't sensed the Wolf move, so he fights through his agonizing pain and turns on his stomach. He sees Rex start to transform, armor popping off and his eyes widen. Anakin has no idea what's happening.

Rex keeps growing bigger, fur sprouting out all over him. He has no idea that Anakin's watching, and wouldn't care if he did know.

Rex squeezes his eyes shut to block out the pain as his mouth elongates into a snout. The pain lessens and he can finally catch his breath as the transformation finishes, he stands up and shakes himself off.

Rex has grey fur with specks of white with a large area of white fur where his beard once was, he has a large fluffy tail that sways back and forth. He looks over at the black Wolf angrily, glancing down to see Anakin staring back at him in fear and shock.

Rex feels so bad for scaring him but that doesn't matter now, the other Wolf launches himself at Rex. Anakin watches as both werewolves fight, he can't believe what his boyfriend has become.

He wonders how it happened, and when it happened. Anakin. Tries to stand up to help Rex fight, but he screams in pain and falls back down, his cybernetics are ruined.

Rex hears the scream as he sees Anakin trying to get up, only to fall back to the ground in pain, he loses it and attacks the black Wolf with no mercy.

The black Wolf slashes Rex with its claws in so many places but Rex ignores the agonizing pain, biting the Wolf's throat. He can taste the blood as he forces the Wolf to the ground, and it takes its last breath.

It transforms back into a human, Rex recognizes him as one of the leaders of the Empire's fleet. He stands up as the rest of the stormtroopers run in fear, he limps over and open's up the bay doors then hurries to Anakin.

"Anakin? Ani, are you okay." Rex picks Anakin up gently, cradling his broken body in his large arms, his ears are pressed tightly against his head and he lets out a whine, Anakin looks up at Rex with wide eyes.

"Rex?" He asks and Rex nods.

"Y-Yeah, it's me. I'm here." Anakin looks up at Rex in fear and shock, he tries to speak but finally passes out from the severity of his injuries, all Rex can feel is fear.

"Ani! Anakin wake up! please." Rex whimpers out the last part as he presses his forehead against Anakin's

Hera gets the ship in the hanger bay and everyone jumps out, the ghost crew pull their guns and lightsaber's out, aiming for Rex.

"Wait! Stop it's Rex!" Ahsoka runs in front of him and so does his brothers, Gregor walk's back to check on them both.

"You okay Rex."

"Check Anakin first." Rex tells him, he doesn't care how injured he is, Anakin comes first.

"Okay brother, I'll check your Riduur first." Gregor takes Anakin as Hera comes running out of the ghost to check on Anakin and Rex, the rest of the ghost crew are either loading the supplies or keeping guard.

"Rex, you and Gregor get Anakin into the ghost. We have medical supplies on board, we're almost done here." They both nod, and Rex picks Anakin up.

He may be injured but his Wolf form helps him power through it. Rex limps into the ghost followed by Gregor, Rex sits down on the ground as Gregor grabs the medical supplies. He sets Anakin on his lap, wrapping his tail around his crossed legs.

Thank the force the kaminoans did one food thing and taught all troopers basic medical knowledge. Rex looks Anakin over, it's pretty bad.

"He's going to be okay Rex." Rex nods at Gregor, unable to speak. Gregor starts bandaging Anakin up and Rex prays to the force that he'll be okay.

Tagging: @ahsokatano-thetogruta @captainrexisboo @pro-fangirls-unsocial-life

[raven-of-domain-kwaad]

We've said before about the disaster that would be Amarra meeting Iph, what would Amarra think if she met Emyr though?

Hahaha! Yeah Amarra and Iph would be a recipe for disaster or at least an endless amount of petty pranks before their inevitable violent confrontation.

Going to be honest, my immediate mental image of Emyr and Amarra is both of them sitting silently in a room, each either reading or working on something and never once looking up at the other. If someone asks them about it later they both say that it was a lovely time and they’d happily do it again.

Actual thoughts get a bit rambly and long winded so under the cut.

If she saw him sometime during the vanilla game, I think that Amarra would be silently impressed that this man and his apprentice seem to be light leaning Sith. She would file that away in her mind but say nothing and probably keep her distance from Emyr. She would likely see him as a possible ally or ideal Sith that could be trusted with power after her sire was killed. If she were to do further research and learn that his parents were dissidents (and alive in the reoublic), she would be further convinced that Emyr is someone she could trust to help lead the Empire to a better future.

It’s actually possible that Jaesa might locate Amarra while trying to find other light Sith. That could be the start of a working relationship between team Emyr and Amarra. She would definitely be impressed at the network that Emyr and Jaesa have been creating and would approve of their plans to reform the Empire. She would probably stop short of actually offering to join them on their missions as she is trying to learn more about the Hand and the Emperor’s personal power base but she would tell Emyr and Jaesa that they can call upon her if they ever need assistance.

She would be very concerned after he is named the Emperor’s Wrath (might even find him on Quesh if she was actively tracking Servant One and Two). There would have to be a lengthy conversation with Emyr so she could determine if his intentions have changed now that he has a connection to the most powerful Sith in the Empire. She would also want to determine if her sire and the Servants had done anything to influence or alter Emyr. She has few enough allies as it is but Emyr is more than that. To her, Emyr and his network of light Sith are the best hope the Empire has to survive and advance into the future.

Despite believing that he could help the Empire survive, Amarra would keep her connection to the Emperor a secret. Her heritage is dangerous knowledge and she would not trust that Emyr or his crew could keep that information to themselves.

His relationships with Vette and Kaetos would also endear him to her. Though initially she might just assume he is a xenophile. But upon learning that he has these genuinely loving relationships she would again be impressed at his ability to rise above the common prejudices that so many in the Empire have. She would also be highly amused at the number of Jedi he has picked up in his travels and joke that he was single handedly responsible for helping the Jedi Order survive the War with Zakuul.

Overall, Amarra would definitely respect Emyr. He is a level headed Sith that dares to think that things could be better.

However, if she encountered Emyr for the first time after he was named Wrath, she would definitely keep her distance but also actively tail him. He is her sire’s Wrath and that means that he will have to be eliminated if she is to kill Vitiate. There would be almost nothing that Emyr could do to convince her that he is not just another of her sire's puppets.

[stardustkenobi]

Razbliuto

Kylo Ren x Reader

Warnings: canonic typical violence, angst, mention of loss 

A/N: Hello everyone! This might be a series, it might not be, but i just wanted to write some Kylo fic okay? Okay. Cool. This takes place somewhere between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker!

Razbliuto [ros-blee-OO-toe] – noun. The feeling a person has for someone he or she once loved but now does not.

“You still call me Ben in your mind.”

His voice was steady, perhaps even uninterested behind that Godforsaken mask as he swept into the prison hold you had been situated in for approximately five days now.

You narrowed your eyes up at the man who was once your best friend, your partner in crime, before standing up. The one that would make goofy faces over Master Skywalker’s shoulder after you had been scolded for, once again, letting yourself center your focus on your anxieties rather than simply letting go.

“I figured my mind was a safe space for me to retreat away from the ridiculous amount of interrogation that you and your watch dogs have put me through over the past few days.” Despite your…predicament, you found yourself to be just as capable of confronting Kylo Ren with a tone as chillingly calm as his own. Dripping with disinterest, trying so desperately to disguise the fact that you were almost trembling.

He stopped in front of you, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “Not when you’re calling his name out like that in your mind.”

The fall of the Temple, albeit years ago now, was not something you were likely to ever forget. The putrid smell of smoke and burning flesh still filled your nose as you woke from nightmares now and again – it was only magnified here, what with the sterile walls and complete and utter silence between grueling interrogation sessions.

“Your name.” You said simply, trying to push him as far as you could. Maybe you’d make him angry enough to let you go, or even end it all for you. Maybe he’d wipe your mind and try to take you on as a student, like he tried to so many years ago. You had no way of knowing if you had been compromised and were almost positive that even though you ranked high in the chain of command with the Resistance, there would be no attempt to rescue you. No attempt to make a prisoner exchange. You weren’t even sure if they would take you back if you somehow managed to escape and you prayed that they would put you on an escape pod with no coordinates and let you float through space. It seemed like the best punishment for letting yourself succumb to the torture you had been subjected to – you’d never see your friends again and you’d have to live with your guilt until you finally met your end.

His hands came up to the mask, unhinging it with a mechanic hiss that felt as cold as his demeanor toward you. He lifted it up, then tucked it under his arm. “Is this what you wanted?” He asked, deep brown eyes so uncharacteristically cold. So unlike they had been the last time you had seen his face, on your knees and begging him not to leave with Snoke and the others he had managed to convince to come with him.

You steeled your jaw as you tried your very best to not let him on to the fact that seeing his face was the worst form of torture he could have inflicted on you. “Yes.” You growled, voice cracking despite your efforts to make the simple word drip with acid.

A knowing smirk traced his lips and it was enough to bring you to your knees for him all over again. “Ben Solo is dead.” He said simply, his posture not changing in the slightest. “He was gone the minute I left the ruins of the temple.”

His voice in all of its unmodulated glory and his eyes on yours brought back memories of running through the fields of Naboo on excursions that your master allowed every once and awhile. Your first kiss in the cockpit of his father’s beloved ship, the one that you had spent hours on after he and his wife came to save you and Luke from the carnage their son had inflicted on what was everything to the two of you.

“It doesn’t have to end the way it did last time.” He continued, taking advantage of your uncharacteristic silence. “You don’t have to walk away. You can stay and be with me and we can build something together, like we used to talk about.”

All you could see was the inside of that very same cockpit – how Han and Chewbacca sat rigidly silent at the helm of the ship. How Leia held you as she cried silently. How Luke had found a blanket for you and wrapped you in it before leaving to sit in the gunner’s seat, despite the fact that there was no imminent threat. He couldn’t bring himself to watch his sister cry, to watch you cry as you stared out into hyperspace with complete and total numbness. To watch the man he considered to be a brother white knuckle the controls of his Falcon, at a loss for words because the ship felt a little lighter with the notable absence of his only son.

“It still kills her, you know.” You growled suddenly, trying your hardest to ignore the part of you that screamed to run into his arms and kiss him with the force of a thousand suns. “I see a part of her die each and every day she wakes up and goes to the bridge, knowing that it’ll be another day that you won’t return to her.”

His jaw tightened at the mention of his mother, the one thing from his old life that could still make him keel over with the force of that pull to the light. It had dulled since Han Solo had died, but the reoccurring dreams of the last time his mother had looked over his face with the knowledge from his former master that there was a conflict in his heart, that look that could convince the most closed off of people that she saw into their hearts and knew and understood everything they felt? That was enough to make him question everything.

It was your turn to take advantage of the silence that ebbed from both his lips and his mind. “It kills her that she has lost everything, everything because you made the worst decision you could have. You are the reason that her husband and brother are dead and she clings to me, the closest thing she’s had to a daughter, like it’s her last chance at breathing in clean air.” She snapped, eyes hard. “She’s probably searching for me right now, has probably sent her best pilot –“

You were silenced when you surged backwards into the bench you had slept on ever since arriving on the First Order controlled ship. He wouldn’t ever hit you, or try to hurt you in any way, shape, or form, you told yourself. Pushing you back was his way of putting you in your place without raising a hand to you. “The best pilot,” He sneered, looking down at you with total disdain. “You’re talking about isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. I snapped him like a toothpick and I know for a fact that General Organa wouldn’t ever dare send her pet back this way. Too great of a risk, even to save you.”

It wasn’t his words about Poe that cut you to the core, or even the insinuation that Leia would rather keep him safe over you. It was the fact that he was now looking at you like he looked at every other Resistance prisoner, as if you were nothing but the dirt beneath his boots that some unlucky bastard had the honor of scrubbing clear before he went to grovel at the feet of his master. You, who had once been the subject of his praises and sweet nothings and promises of his forever after you had both passed the trials? You were now just another piece of rebel scum. Nothing. Not when you turned him away and pushed him further and further toward the anger that made him bend toward the dark in the first place.

The thing was, Kylo Ren almost hoped that you would be the one to push him back the other way. To drive him back into his mother’s embrace because deep down he was so, so sorry for every single misstep he had taken since the moment he was born. For the disgrace he had brought to his family and for the disappointment that he knew lived in Leia’s heart and would continue to for the rest of her life if he never came back.

The desire kept him awake at night and he did his damned best to keep it from Snoke during the most invasive of probs from his master, the puppeteer pulling all of his strings. He was sure as hell scrambling with all of his might to hide it from you now as you sat before him for the first time in years. Same eyes, just broken and hardened with all of the carnage you had seen because of him.

“You know there’s only one way this ends up favorable for you.” He finally said, voice taught. He was teetering again and you were starting to become aware of it as you reached out to him with the Force, trying desperately to grasp for any fraction of the man he once was.

You shook your head. “I would rather die –“

He scoffed, tossing his helmet to the floor with a clang. “You and I both know that I wouldn’t let you die.” He said, leading you to believe that there was definitely a possibility that he was teetering on his allegiances. “You can either stay here or go.”

You opened your mouth to say that you would be more than willing to leave, but were interrupted before the words left your mouth.

“If you leave, you will tell me the location of General Organa’s secret base.” He said simply, flicking an invisible piece of dust off of his tunic. “Then your mind will be wiped and you will be a spy for us. At the end of the war, if you do well, you will return to me and rule by my side.”

You scoffed this time, opening your mouth once more, only to be silenced by his words once more.

“If you stay and don’t submit, you’ll be tried for crimes against the New Republic and we will eventually pull the location of the base from your mind.” He said simply, leaning against the wall as if he was simply telling someone what he wanted for dinner that evening. “If you do…” He trailed off, licking his lips. “If you stay and you give yourself to me, it’ll be just like it used to be.” He was desperate now as he watched you. Definitely teetering. “We can train together, get stronger.”

“You could come back with me.” You breathed, shaking your head. “We don’t have to stay here. You know she’d take you back in the blink of an eye.”

“That part of me is gone.” He snarled, trying to convince himself more than you. “But I still love you, Y/N. That part of me never went anywhere. If you stay, I won’t ask you to give me the coordinates of the base anymore. I won’t ask you to send your friends to their demise. I won’t make you fight them if you so choose and I won’t bring them up. This can be a new start for you.”

The tears in your eyes threatened to betray you and you quickly dwindling resolve as you shook your head once more. “You never use to speak in clichés, Ben.”

His eyes hardened once more at your words. “Never call me that again.”

“No.” You snapped back, sitting up straighter. “If you really still love me, you have to know that I only love the man I knew before he destroyed the temple. I don’t know a damn thing about you except that you have taken everything so, if you really want me to stay and…And submit to you? You’ll have to cope with me calling you by your goddamn name because fuck, Ben, you took everything from me!” The tears you had tried so desperately to hold back were now flowing freely as you stood, marching up to stand right against his chest. You thrust a finger into his face accusingly, eyes hard. “You’re taking everything from me right now – the friends that have come to replace you and your father and uncle? You’re giving me the ultimatum to either lead them to their deaths or still give them a fighting chance, but never see them again. How can you say that you love me, but make me choose between you and them?”

Kylo Ren tightened his jaw once more, studying you over and over again as he remained silent. Part of him was trying not to tremble from your close proximity, part of him was trying not to snap and give you no other option but to stay and submit or to stay and have your mind wiped because all he knew is that he wanted you back. Preferably chosen on your own accord.

“I’ll expect your answer in the morning.” He said after a long silence, taking a step back and picking up his mask. His eyes never left you as you collapsed onto the floor, chest heaving from the exertion of pent up emotions. The minute he stepped over the door frame, the door slid shut, leaving you in darkness once more.

The only difference being that now your nightmares would be plagued by a set of once warm brown eyes, dimples, and beauty marks dappled across a face that you used to kiss over and over again until your face and his were rosy.

[atamascolily]

So I want to talk about one of Luke’s less publicized fails in Legends, namely with Cray Mingla and Nichos Marr in Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly. It’s not as flashy and obvious as his failures with Kyp Durron and Kueller, since only two people die, and the New Republic government doesn’t get involved. It’s framed as the result of his students’ choices, rather than their teacher’s, and Luke benefits a great deal from the fallout. But the more I study the backstory for fic purposes, the more convinced I am that Luke Majorly Screwed Up, and I want to call him out on it.

When we first meet Cray and Nichos, the situation is presented as both a tragic love story, and also a Done Deal. Two Force prodigies (and childhood best friends?) fall in love and come to Yavin to train, only for one to be diagnosed with a fatal illness, and the other uses their life’s work to save them. It’s a Nicholas Sparks novel with robots.... except it doesn’t work.

Instead of successfully transferring Nichos’s spirit into a new body, Cray creates a droid replica straight out of the Uncanny Valley, with life-like face and hands. a metallic body, and all of Nichos’s memories. (How she does this is handwaved as techno-wizardry, with a little bit of Ssi-ruuvi techniques thrown in the mix, which is... even more horrific if you start to think about it.) The result isn’t the “real” Nichos--it’s not the man she fell in love with. It’s a construct, a copy, not a human being.

I get where Hambly was trying to go with this meditation on what constitutes personhood, but I feel like dismissing the new Nichos as “just” a droid” is kinda sketchy, given that machines and droids in the Star Wars universe have emotions and personalities and are clearly capable of independent agency not directly contradicted by their programming. Maybe this new Nichos is “another Corellian by the same name”  and not the original, but does that make him any less deserving of autonomy and personhood? I don’t think so.

Droid-Nichos is clearly aware that he’s not human--he pretends because he wants to please Cray (and there’s a not-so-subtle implication she programmed him to do that, which is hella creepy)--but his conversations with Threepio make it equally clear that he sees that as his only function, and he’s not of much ‘use’ for anything else. His very specificity makes him an outlier among droids. He doesn’t fit into either world, which is why he’s so willing to sacrifice himself at the end of the novel--besides the fact that Cray asks him to and he’s not in position to be able to say no.

But Cray is so deep in denial she refuses to admit that this isn’t the original Nichos until droid-Nichos is unable to rescue her from torture because he’s wearing a restraining bolt. Then she breaks down completely, sending droid-Nichos up to shut down the ship and be shot to pieces while she commits suicide by letting Callista’s spirit take over her own body.

So where does Luke fit into all of this? Isn’t it unfair to hold him responsible for Cray’s decisions, given that he was unconscious at the time and determined to sacrifice himself instead? At twenty-six, Cray was a grown-ass adult; if she wanted to create a walking RealDoll with the memories of dead lover, that was her business, right? Right?

The thing is that Hambly makes it clear during Cray’s breakdown that Luke knew all along that Cray hadn’t saved the “real” Nichos.

“Luke …”

He looked up quickly, to meet the blue glass eyes. In the shadowy gloom the face that he’d known so well was almost a stranger’s, affixed monstrously to the silver cowl of the metal skull.

“Am I really Nichos?”

Luke said, “I don’t know.” He had never in his life felt so helpless, because in his heart—in the secret shadows where the truth always lay—he knew that this was a lie.

He knew.

Luke knew exactly what the new Nichos was, and he never sat down with Cray and talked about this or staged an intervention of any kind. He let her deceive herself, even though one of the foremost principles of being a Jedi is self-knowledge and facing grief and failure directly. He knew and he never said anything, because....  I don’t know, exactly.

The Doylist answer is that Callista needed a hot young body to inhabit, and Cray’s entire existence was to provide her with one, more or less guilt-free. (I still think it’s incredibly creepy, and I know I’m not the only one, but most of the characters in-universe let it slide, and I just... can’t even...)

“Am I ‘another Corellian of the same name’?”

“I’d like to tell you one way or the other,” said Luke. The bolt came away from the brushed-steel chest, lay thick and heavy in Luke’s hand. One hand real, one hand mechanical, but both his. “But I … I don’t know. You are who you are. You are the being, the consciousness, that you are at this moment. That’s all I can tell you.” That fact, at least, was true.

The smooth face did not alter, but the blue eyes looked infinitely sad. “I had hoped that, being a Jedi, you would know.”

And Luke had the uncomfortable sensation that, having been a Jedi, Nichos knew perfectly well that he was keeping something back.

It’s worth noting here that Luke is one of the few people in the GFFA who we see treating droids as people. He’s not dismissive of Nichos’s existential angst, and he’s not going to dictate what Nichos is, no matter how much Nichos wants to be reassured one way or the other. I don’t know if other characters who are less sympathetic to droids would react this way.

I also like the juxtaposition between Nichos’s metallic body and Luke’s mechanical hand. Luke is human; Nichos isn’t--where’s the line between them? Isn’t Luke’s point here is that the line is where you define it to be?

Or at least that’s the image Luke wants to project. He’s still holding something back--namely, the real truth, which he shares with Callista:

“Is Nichos all right?”

Luke nodded, then caught himself, and shook his head. “Nichos … is a droid,” he said.

“I know.”

Callista sees right off that Nichos is a droid; she calls him “the droid with the human eyes” and asks if he’s some new creature of Palpatine’s when she and Luke first meet. Luke can admit to her that Nichos is a droid, but not to Nichos or Cray--not even when Nichos directly asks him. So, #TeachingFail there, I think. What the hell was Luke thinking?

This gets even worse as Callista continues:

“Luke,” she said gently. “Sometimes there is nothing you can do.”

He expelled his breath in an angry gust, fist clenched hard; but he did not, after all, speak for a time. Then it was only to say, “I know.” He realized he hadn’t known that, two weeks ago. In some ways, learning about Sith Lords and cloned Emperors had been easier.

So if Luke didn’t know there was nothing to be done but accept the situation as it was, why didn’t he try to do something for Cray before now? Why did he let her coast along in denial with her robot boyfriend for months?

Which makes it all the more ironic that the conversation turns to the role of mistakes in the education of a Jedi, as well as recounting of Luke’s other teaching mistakes.

“I just wish some of those one thousand eighty mistakes didn’t involve teaching students. Teaching Jedi. Transmitting power, or the ability to use the Force. My ignorance—my own inexperience—cost one of my students his life already, and threw another one into the arms of the dark side and caused havoc in the galaxy I don’t even want to think about. The whole thing—the Academy, and bringing back the skills of the Jedi—is too important for … for ‘Learn While You Teach.’"

Luke isn’t responsible for Nichos’s illness or his death, but he is responsible for letting Cray keep her illusions for so long. He isn’t responsible for the dramatic, over-the-top way in which Cray’s fantasies come tumbling down--but why did he let it get to that point in the first place?

Here’s Cray’s reaction when Luke does try to talk to her about Nichos:

“I know he had a scum-eating motherless restraining bolt, you jerk!” She screamed the words, spat them at him, hatred and fury a bitter fire in her eyes; and when the words were out sat staring at him in blind, helpless rage behind which Luke could see the fathomless well of defeat, and grief, and the ending of everything she had ever hoped.

Then silence, as Cray turned her face aside. The nervous thinness that had advanced on her during Nichos’s illness had turned brittle, as if something had been taken, not just from her flesh, but from the marrow of her bones. Over the torn uniform, grimed with blood and oil, the blanket hung on her like a battered shroud.

If they had had this conversation before now--after Nichos’s death, or at any point before that trip to Ithor--would matters have come to this?  Is Luke culpable for all the things he didn’t say to Cray, as well as the things he did say to Gantoris and Kyp (cited above)?

Does Cray fall prey to the Dark Side here? Is that why Callista loses her powers? I don’t know. I love this novel, but so much of its logic is incomprehensible to me, and I don’t understand it. Maybe that’s why I love it so much, because it keeps me thinking about it.

“Don’t hate him for being what he is,” he said, the only thing he could think of to say. “Or for being what he’s not.”

The words sounded puerile in his own ears, like a half-credit computerized fortune-teller at a fair. Ben, he thought, would have had something to say, something healing … Yoda would have known how to deal with the wretched ruin of a friend’s heart and life.

The mightiest Jedi in the universe, he reflected bitterly—that he knew of, anyway—the destroyer of the Sun Crusher, the slayer of evil, who’d defeated the recloned Emperor and the Sith Lord Exar Kun, and all he could offer someone who had been disemboweled was, Gee, I’m sorry you’re not feeling so well …

Luke, you should have had this conversation with her months ago. Or if you didn’t feel up to it, you should have insisted she go to THERAPY as a condition of her continued training at your school, you knew damn well she wasn’t okay, and you just let her go on her way as if nothing was wrong and I just... 

As a result of his screw-ups with Cray and Nichos, Luke survives, his ghost girlfriend gets a body, and the Eye of Palpatine is destroyed, so I guess it works out pretty well for him. Cray and Nichos, not so much, sadly. Does he learn anything from the experience? I don’t know, because nothing quite this weird happens ever again.

Anyway, I don’t know why I’m so mad about this one point from a novel published twenty-five years ago that only a handful of people remember, but I can’t read it anymore without wanting to smack Luke here for his part in this whole mess. Even though I think I understand why he holds back, why he’s afraid he’ll make matters worse, and why it’s easier to just to leave Cray alone and hope it all works out, it’s still the wrong decision and Obi-wan and Yoda and I are all shaking our heads at him, because really, Luke, why did you do that--??

[labyrinthof-fan-fiction]

The Princess and the Smuggler

Leia Organa X Han Solo Drabble

Summary: Leia’s been wrapped up in the politics of the New Republic and the politics of her new marriage. At least political abilities run in her blood. 

A/N: These two are my original OTP. I love them with my entire soul. I miss them and the new trilogy did them so wrong. Look I enjoyed it, but I wanted better. Finnpoe for example, would have been better. But I’ve always wondered how the years after the First Rebellion went for my favorite duo, or at least take my own personal spin on it.

Warnings: Sexual Themes, Annoyed Leia.

Word Count: 1,026

Leia was hiding, she knew this, she acknowledged it, but she still hid in her room. When she had been a senator her privacy had been often sacrificed, yet she still persisted. Even when she began to join the Rebellion she continued on. She stared the Emperor in the eye, she faced Darth Vader, her father, she should not be hiding in her room.

Her mind froze when she remembered her lineage. For years she had lived as the daughter of Bail and Breha of Alderaan. She was a princess, then the youngest senator ever elected. This fact now amused her upon the realization of her birth mother. Padmè Amidala. Politics seemed to have been hardwired into her genetics, not her brother’s though. The amount of minor conflicts she spent her time cleaning up related to Luke were enough to send her into the center of another galactic war.

Yes, rebuilding the Jedi Order was on her list of things that needed to happen to rebuild the New Galactic Republic, but it was not a driving force for her. Luke would talk her ear off about being sure to mention the possibility of a new Jedi Order, about how it could bring peace to the New Republic. Convincing Senators that they should not execute Luke as the son of Vader took most of her time, and some days she wanted to offer him up to them on a silver platter. When it became public knowledge that she was his sister, they called for the public execution of both children of Vader, completely forgetting her work as a Senator and leader within the Rebellion.

Several assassination attempts had been made, at this point she had lost count. Han, however, had not. He kept a constant tally of the number and reminded her when she attempted something that he thought too risky. Han was a protective and loving husband, it was that first bit that made diplomacy hard, especially after the assassination attempts. Meeting with planetary dignitaries with Chewbacca behind you was not the most effective way of creating alliances. Mon Motha had sent the duo on several missions to keep the peace when sensitive dignitaries and representatives made an appearance.

Tonight she found herself standing on the balcony of her Senator apartment. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was how her mother had felt. Staring into the city, determined to change the galaxy, scared that she would fail. After the Rebellion she had become determined to learn about her family. The Organas and Alderaan had been her family and home, but she was curious. Padmè Amidala had been inspirational for her when she became a Senator. Amidala had been able to institute so much change at a young age. Questions swirled around inside her mind, ones that she doubted would ever be answered. Did she know that he was going to become Vader? Had she seen it? How did she mange everything?

The woman who gave her life had faced the fact that she was pregnant from a secret relationship. That she would never be able to openly be a married couple with her husband. Then she had to watch as he became consumed by the Dark Side. There had been several moments when she wondered how her mother coped with the knowledge of what he had done. Luke had been adamant about sharing all the knowledge he learned about the Jedi Order, including the massacre at the Temple. Leia felt a chill down her spine as she remembered his detailing of the events. She didn’t know what she would have done if it would have been Han and herself. She shook the thought from her head.

Han was a good man. That was evident by his campaign to liberate Kashyyyk with Chewbacca. He had been determined to release the Wookies from Imperial control, even at the expense of his own life. His friendship with Chewbacca was the motivation to help. He pulled together an unruly group of smugglers to help. It was admirable, and made her love him more, even if at the time she had been irritated with his choices. By removing himself from the New Republic General position he had relinquished any rescues. With the Imperial control begin stronger than they had thought, the New Republic finally sent ships to aid them. Chewbacca had stayed behind with his family. This had given the couple the first time alone since Endor.

Han entered the apartment, she could hear him muttering to himself. She would bet that it had something to do with the most recent mission he had been sent on. She heard him toss his jacket on the back of one of their chairs. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, his head resting on her shoulder. “Hello, princess.”

“Welcome back.” She murmured, closing her eyes as he nuzzled his face against her neck. They remained silent for a moment, taking in the small window of time they had to be truly alone.

“R2 has asked that we don’t go on another mission with your brother for at least a month.” Han said, breaking the silence.

“Oh, has R2?” She asked, the corners of her lips turning up.

“Yes, he has.” His arms pulled her closer to him. “He misses his wife. He’s feeling awfully lonely in the Falcon.”

“He knew that this was going to be a part of their marriage.” Leia murmured, turning in Han’s arms so she was facing him. She looked into his hazel eyes. “It won’t last forever.”

He nodded. “My offer to escape on the Falcon and become a smuggling duo still stands.”

She chuckled, putting her forehead against his. “Might be a nice change of pace.”

“And we could start on that family we talked about.” He placed a kiss to her forehead as he said this.

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “We could start thinking about that now.”

“I love you.” He said, picking her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“I know.” She said before pressing her lips to his in a passionate kiss.