#idk when anyone figures out what's happening on tatooine

[angelrider13]

A Barren Sea of Sun-Bleached Bones

Sooooooo this is something that I’ve been thinking about off and on for a while now and given that I’ve had literally nothing better to do at work because everything has gone cuckoo bananapuffs, have some rambles! (*pokes @hamelin-born because it sounds like you’re also having a rough time lately and could use a pick me up*)

-

When Thalassa wakes up in a desert with twin suns beating down on her, her first thought is ‘this might as well happen’. Her second thought is ‘why the fuck is this happening?”

(Titan, brother, why would you do this to me? When did I wrong you???)

She has no idea where she is and eventually she succumbs to the heat. When she wates, she finds herself in the care of a woman who introduces herself as Shmi Skywalker and explains that her husband, Cliegg Lars, found her unconscious in the desert.

She’s in Star Wars. On Tatooine of all places. Because of course she is. In her first life, Thalassa wasn’t overly familiar with story - she’d seen the first 6 movies, a few episodes of the various cartoons here and there, but she knows that there is a wider knowledge base that she never looked twice at and is therefore missing.

What she does know is this: Tatooine is run by slavers.

Tatooine is a slave planet and everyone knows but no one cares enough to stop it.

Well then.

Thalassa settles in and recovers and gets to know her rescuers. With Shmi married to Cliegg (happily so and by her own choice, Thalassa checked), it’s clear that the timeline is somewhere between Episodes 1 and 2. Something she doesn’t particularly care about much aside from the fact that it means war has not broken out. Yet. Meaning that larger entities will not yet be putting much effort into winning the Hutt’s favor - which in turn means that no one will be looking to closely at the Outer Rim desert planet. Or that, if they do, they will look the other way. As always.

So Thalassa stays and watches and explores and learns. She helps around the homestead, walks through the cities. She makes note of who owns slaves and who doesn’t. She observes any slave quarters she comes across. She grows close with Shmi and Cliegg ad teases young Owen about his budding romance with Beru.

And sometimes, she just walks out into the desert and disappears for days, weeks.

There are echoes, you see, all round the desert. A song on the wind, screams in the shifting sands. Tatooine wasn’t always a Desert. Many, many, many, moons ago, it was a Sea. And that is not something easily forgotten. Deserts aren’t so different after all - their shifting sands hide treasures as easily as waves and their memories stretch just as long.

It is for this reason that Thalassa has lasted as long as she had. In another life, perhaps this planet could have been Hers. In this life, it is the echoes of that past that sustain her when she is so far from her own Sea.

Shmi frets over her whenever se returns from these wanderings for Thalassa’s skin is perpetually dry and cracked, splitting open whenever she so much as twitches. Her hair is bleached and brittle and the sands have carved deep lines into her face. (She hasn’t dared changing shapes since she arrived - she suspects she would simply fall apart if she tried.) Shmi continues to rub salves into her skin and Cliegg tries to caution her against further trips, to at least make them shorter, to take more water, something.

And Thalassa smiles because they care, but their little moisture farm would never produce enough water to sustain her. Besides, she can’t stop yet.

“I’m searching for something,” she says.

“What?” Cliegg asks as Shmi bandages her arms, worry shinning in their eyes.

Thalassa smiles wistfully. “A memory.”

-

She finds it eventually. It takes her two years of looking and waiting and listening, but Thalassa finds the heart of the memory, of the Sea. The entrance could have been great once. A temple, perhaps. Or a palace. Or probably none of those things and something else entirely. But is was something once. Something grand. Now it is little more than weathered stone - nothing other than a natural formation if one doesn’t know how to look. It’s a maze of caverns deep underground and Thalassa can see were once great arches and painted tiles and etched columns. The echoes that were only faint whispers on the wind are stronger here - louder, firmer, solid. Real. She can see what once was and what now is. What was once a vast Sea is not little more than a well. A small pool no longer deep or large enough to flow through underground riverbeds.

There is still enough water for Thalassa to submerge herself completely. The water is soothing against her dry, cracked skin - an ancient, dying Sea welcoming one of its own. Thalassa opens herself to this strange-familiar Sea, lets it see all of her and in turn it grants Thalassa the same.

Tatooine was once a water planet - vast and deep and blue. But time marches on and things change as they always do. The slightest of shifts in the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, the gravitational axis tilting a single degree to the left. Small hings. Little things. But a single change is always enough and Tatooine began to dry up until it became as it is today. Thalassa can feel the boundless rage of this dying Sea at the state of its domain today. Not so much the state of its waters - change is what it is and there is no escaping it - but the state its people. Because Seas, regardless of time and place and origin, are the same. Seas are free. And Tatooine has been chained and branded and bound for so long that its people have forgotten any other way to be.

But the Sea remembers.

The Desert remembers.

And it rages at this slight, at this betrayal, at this abomination that has been allowed to fester at among its people so long unchecked.

Very well, Thalassa promises, The infection will be cut out.

Tatooine’s Sea is grateful and offers what is left of its dying depths to the liberation of its children.

Thalassa’s skin knits together, the ever present rash in her throat fades, the dryness in her lungs vanishes. She takes stock, considers, and changes. Scales, claws, a tail. It feels good. The water is not deep enough, vast enough for Leviathan, but she changes anyway, filling the cavern with her massive form. She stretches and twists and basks in her ability to be once more. She changes. Again and again and again. An old woman bent with age, a young boy with scraped knees, a Zabrak male, an elderly Rodian, a Twi’liek woman, a Jawa just because she can. It has been so long. Tatooine’s Sea is laughing at her, she can tell, but she doesn’t mind.

The Desert greets her when she finally emerges, its voice a twin of the Sea’s, different that what she is used to but no less welcome. It reminds her of her stone brother.

-

Thalassa returns to the Lars-Skywalker homestead and Shmi is already pulling out medical supplies before she registers the shine of Thalassa’s hair, the unblemished skin of her face.

“It was a gift,” she explains when Shmi strips her down anyway and runs her hands over smooth skin she swears was falling apart only a week ago.

Thalassa lets them fuss for two days before she wanders off again. She made a promise after all and she’s had time to observe. She knows who is rotten and who is not. The Hutts for one. The most obvious blight. But to cut them out so soon, so quickly, without any plan or safety net would do Tatooine children no favors. One day. But not yet. She must start small. She knows where to go first.

There is a man who live in Mos Entha with a dozen slaves to his name. Thalassa does not claim knowledge of all the races this universe has to offer, but she knows children when she sees them. All of them are young. All of them are pleasing to the eye. All of them are dressed in little more than scraps of sheer cloth.

The man dies that night.

In the morning, Thalassa returns to Shmi and Cliegg with a dozen children of various races peeking out from behind her legs.

“She was like you,” Thalassa tells the children of Shmi before she ushers Cliegg out of the room when Shmi pulls out a scanner and Beru starts setting up medical supplies.

(Thalassa has seen the scar on Shmi’s hip. She knows what used to live under Shmi’s skin.)

Cliegg sets up rooms for the kids without protest and the farm gains a dozen helpers. Owen is a gruff, but protective, older brother. Shmi and Beru are both gentle and patient even when the children finally feel secure enough to start testing boundaries and act out.

This is how it starts.

-

Thalassa cannot bring everyone back to the homestead, of course. But she’s watched. She knows. Slaves are never content to be slaves. And here they are survivors born of both the Desert and the Sea. They will find a way. Secret languages. hidden paths, safe houses. Thalassa does not have to be a member of their community to know.

Slavers start disappearing. The smugglers, the mercenaries, the masters. No one dealing in the trade of sentient beings is safe.

Shmi finally confronts her about it he third time she brings home a group to be de-chipped. Shmi would never turn them away - that’s not in her nature - and Thalassa has provided them with enough funds for the extra mouths (The Desert and the Sea both have their secrets and guard treasures well from outsiders. But not from on of their own.), but she does wonder what, exactly, her friend thinks she’s doing.

“Tatooine used to be a Sea,” Thalassa says when she asks as she looks out in the desert. “Do you know what a Sea is?”

Shmi may have lived in a desert all her life, but she is not stupid and she is a little indignant that Thalassa thinks she might be. “A large body of water,” she answers, keeping the frown out of her voice and off her face.

Thalassa smiles. “You’re not wrong. Most people would agree with you. But I asked what a Sea was, not how to describe it.”

Shmi blinks, thrown by the direction this entire conversation has taken.

“A Sea,” Thalassa continues without looking away from the vast stretch of sand, “is freedom.”

Oh, Shmi thinks.

“Tatooine used to be a Sea,” Thalassa says again, “And such a thing leaves echoes. A Desert is not so different, after all. They are no place for chains and brands and chips.” Thalassa spits the last word as if it is the most vile poison and Shmi wonders if she truly understands what such a life is like to hate it so.

“There is a Sea inside of me,” Thalassa says, turning to look at Shmi with glowing gold eyes, “And it is raging at the way your Sea and Desert have been bound. The have been screaming for so long, Shmi, so long. I will free them even if I have to cut down every slaver myself.”

Shmi believes her. Not only that, but she believe Thalassa ca do it. Her friend has always been an odd one. Human in appearance, but never quite right. Something easy to pass off in a universe such as theirs. But the way she seems to whither in the desert is like nothing Shmi has ever seen. The cracks that once carved themselves into Thalassa’s flesh - and still do whenever she ventures out too far for too long - had never seemed as simple as a reaction to the body’s lack of water or exposure to heat. And then one day Thalassa healed. She healed and she stated wearing different skins. Shmi has heard people start calling her Quyllur of the Many Faces. They have stories about beings like her - whispers passed down in he dark of night while huddled together for warmth. Thalassa does not know these stories. She does not know their language or culture or history. She is something different. But she is something similar enough.

-

Thalassa cleans Tatooine of filth one slaver at a time. None of them can quite figure out why they are being hunted, only that they are. Some try to flee or buy protection. Some even petition the Hutts fir help. But Thalassa is an ancient, death-touched Sea with a pair of twins - a Desert full of screaming winds and barren Sea full of sun-bleached bones - at her back. She can be patient. Water goes where it will and Death come for all in the end. Thalassa will get her way.

-

It happens slowly, quietly, but it happens.

Most people don’t notice at first because they aren’t looking. Who pays attention to slaves after all? That is their first mistake. A slaver should always pay attention and never be comforatable - a slave is never content to be a slave. All it takes is a single moment, a single detail, a single second. But people who assume they have all the power never think like that. And it is always, always, their downfall.

-

The slaves are freed.

The masters are killed.

No one notices.

And then the first Hutt dies.

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

Here have this dinfeld idea i cant get out of my head despite me not having seen s2 in over a year

So its post season 2 finale but some slight changes: they didnt leave Mayfeld on Morrak, Luke didnt show up for Grogu, and idk what to do with the darksaber so im just not going to address it

So everyone's flying "home". Bo-Katan and Koska took the cruiser with them and everyone else is on Boba's ship

And it takes a few days to get to wherever their destination is (Tatooine?). Everyone (cough Din cough) is recovering. And Mayfeld watches everyone else vaguely resemble a family

Now no one (still) wants to answer any of Mayfeld's questions, so he doesnt actually know this is the first time this crew has ever run together. The big difference from Mayfeld's last crew is #1 everyone is actually respecting one other (well, now that Bo-Katan is gone) and #2 that its pretty quiet

The most anyone really talks is when they all play sabacc

So Mayfeld watches these interactions. Fennec and Cara cleaning their equipment together. Boba and Din saying the occasional thing in Mando'a. Fennec and Boba's silent communication and the way Din and Cara can exist in each other's space comfortably. And, of course, how everyone takes turns entertaining or caring for Grogu.

Mayfeld interacts with Grogu too. What is he supposed to do, ignore a baby? What if he starts crying?

Mayfeld breaks the silence with questions. Most go ignored. Most of it is mundane chatter, he does ask why does Boba take his helmet off but Mando cant, and he pokes fun at Cara and Din's "relationship"

Mayfeld figures out they arent dating but that doesnt stop him. He makes comments about their sex life and how Cara is Grogu's mom and yadda yadda

He's watching them one day in the cockpit. Cara is reclining and dosing off in one of the chairs, Grogu asleep on her chest. Din comes up, dressed in a combination of his flight suit and bandages, and sits next to her. And what happens is so domestic. Din looks at them for a minute (and Mayfeld tries not to imagine his face, a face Mayfeld now knows, looking fond) before touching Cara's shoulder. She makes a sleepy noise, turns towards him, and they have a quiet conversation (like parents). Eventually Din takes Grogu, and Cara stands up. Din has his hand on her back as he steers her towards the ladder. And Mayfeld feels his black heart shrivel up. Because they may not be a couple, but they're gonna be

He's wrong obviously but the angst

Eventually Mayfeld's trip through slow social torture ends when they finally dock. Turns out they're dropping Cara (and carbonite Gideon) off. It was decided that they wont send Mayfeld back to prison, as a thank you. Cara will have it put into the system that he died on Morak. So the plan is to drop Cara off, and everyone else is going to Tatooine; for Din to help Boba and Fennec with a "job" and for Mayfeld to either find a life in the desert or catch his own ride off planet

Theres a goodbye of course. Cara grasps forearms with Boba, shakes hands with Fennec, tells Grogu to be good for his dad, and hugs Din before they tap "foreheads" (Cara's forehead, Din's helmet)

They make it to Tatooine in the next day or so

Now either Mayfeld fades into Tatooine's background: becoming a bounty hunter or another criminal type or he ends up in a village as remote and off the maps as Mos Pelgo is

But he hears Fett took over Mos Espa. Maybe he hears Fett is looking for henchmen, and thinks he wouldnt be a horrible guy to work for and maybe he can get the chance to see Mando again...

Anyways his path eventually crosses with Din's again, either through Fett's group or during/the aftermath of one of the Pyke battle(s)

Maybe Grogu is there maybe he's with Luke. I havent thought this far yet im winging it now

And now Mayfeld flirts all the time with him

Din is dying inside that helmet

Mayfeld tries not to give himself hope but he's not wasting a chance

Boba and Fennec are (unofficial) partners and that includes wingmaning/torturing their good friend Din. Mayfeld soon finds him and Mando getting paired up a lot

???? Then Cobb comes out of the tank?? And Cobb flirts with Mando. Mando doesnt stop him. Worse even, Mando is attempting to be friends with him in his awkward way. And apparently, him and Cobb have "history"

History involves Cobb having his village volunteered without his permission to work with their long time enemies to kill a unkillable dragon who Mando then personally exploded. Cobb might let Mayfeld assume they've got more than that though

Ummmmmmm Din is the one to take Cobb back home to Mos Pelgo Freetown, says he's gotta see a mechanic in Mos Eisley and thats on the way so he'll be back tomorrow night

Mayfeld gets drunk at the bar in the throne room. Employees get 40% off and he's using it. Mayfeld is sitting there spiraling about how Din was actually single but the story about the mechanic has to be a cover up (and oh gods was that Mando's way of being considerate of Mayfeld's feelings?) because he's gonna sleep with Cobb and then he wont be single anymore. Fett attempts to comfort him he thinks? He remembers that Fett showed up at one point and sat next to him and then for some reason (something about Cobb and armor) he started imaging Din with a mando spouse and yeah he woke up pretty hungover. That makes him feel extra pathetic

Din shows up in his new fancy remodeled Naboo Starfighter to show off to Boba and Fennec and Mayfeld. Mayfeld finds out he's been working with someone named Peli to fix it up for the last month. Mayfeld realizes Din was actually with a mechanic yesterday.

Hungover and sunburnt Mayfeld decides to make his move right there in the hot suns

Later Din asks why, since Mayfeld hated the fact he wouldnt show his face before he actually saw it and always makes helmet comments when insulting Din's sex life

[hannah-schooler]

Fic writer interview!!!

Thanks so much for the tag @stormwarnings sorry it took me so long to do this!!! <33

how many works do you have on ao3?

9!!

what’s your total ao3 word count?

39,086. huh somehow I expected it to be higher than that

how many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Just Star Wars! pretty much entirely The Clone Wars with all of my current fics and most of my WIPs focused on Anakin and Ahsoka

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

don’t just stand there staring, honey— a silly little fic about the Jedi and their troopers (Everybody Lives!AU) going undercover and they don’t understand that they’re all incredibly attractive. A sequel is coming....one day...

long after you’re gone (gone, gone)— 5+1; Five times Ahsoka left and the one time she came home. Happy ending, mostly

as if you don’t remember, as if you can forget—some post-Zygerria angst and healing. Aayla Secura and Ahsoka Tano centric. Lots of feels, angst, and hurt/comfort. Inspired by @webtrinsic1122 ‘s “Show Me Your Teeth”

once the last drop of rain has dried off the pavement— some MORE post-Zygerria recovery. This one is a little bit more pointed with what happened to Ahsoka and features a very distressed Anakin trying to figure out how to help his traumatized little sis. 

said you’d always be my white blood (i need you right here with me)—post Trandoshans/Padawan Lost arc. I LOVE this arc and there’s not nearly enough content about it. Wrote this to fill a tumblr prompt not long ago so I’m actually surprised it’s in my top 5!! Hurt/comfort, recovery, scary!Anakin and Ahsoka bringing him back from the edge

do you respond to comments? why, or why not?

Yes!! people take the time to write them and they make me so so indescribably happy! I literally end up gushing about readers leaving comments as much as they do about my work!

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Definitely Never Let Me Go, but that was also my first ever work, and not my best. Pretty much all of my works have at least hopeful endings, if not happy, but my angstiest fic is you drew stars around my scars (but now i’m bleeding) so I’m gonna say that one

do you write crossovers? if so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

no, never have. I don’t think I could do it well and there’s not really any fandoms that I want to see mixed together

have you ever recieved hate on a fic?

thankfully, no. I think I would cry ahahaa. My readers are literally some of the kindest people in the world I love you guys so much!!!

do you write smut? if so, what kind?

no. never say never, but it’s unlikely. again, I don’t think I would do it well

have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of!

have you ever had a fic translated?

nope!

have you ever co-written a fic before?

no but i’d probably be down!

what’s your all-time favorite ship?

like....ever?? idk if i can pick! Star Wars though is hard bc i’m not the hugest anidala fan but also don’t really ship Anakin with anyone else. I like Ahsoka ships, just cause she’s my favorite character, but not all of them work. My guilty pleasure ship is probably fives/ahsoka, but there’s not a lot of content for them. i’ll pretty much read anything that’s well written except for the ones that i really don’t like (not going to list, no hate here!)

what’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

ugh right now it feels like i will never finish the don’t just stand there sequel, but i will one day! I have several multi chap fics that I want to write including one about Rex and Ahsoka saving the 332nd, and one in an Anakin doesn’t fall-verse where he and Ahsoka free the slaves on Tatooine, but long fics are not my strong suit. (looks guiltily at my original novel i haven’t touched in 3 months)

what are your writing strengths?

i’d probably say the emotional aspects of the characters?? that’s what i most enjoy writing. I’ve also been told that my prose itself is good so maybe that too?

what are your writing weaknesses?

plotting lmao. and action sequences. 

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i mean my only other language i use is some sparse mando’a. I don’t speak any other languages so it’s probably not something i would think about. but i definitely enjoy fics and books that incorporate it because it adds such a cultural depth to the characters!! (i’m also such a sucker for the trope where Character A says something cute to their love interest in their native language, and when asked what they said they say something bland)

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

i have NO idea. I’ve been writing since I was really young, but maybe percy jackson? I remember writing for maze runner when i was like 12 but....

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

definitely you drew stars around my stars (but now i’m bleeding). I worked on it for so long and am really proud of it and the response it’s gotten

this was so fun!!! thanks again, @stormwarnings

Tagging: @ashgryff @lynnpaper @webtrinsic1122 and anyone else who wants to participate!! <333

[vagrantblvrd]

about the sweethearts au - how does din react to knowing luke told his friends about him?

(Sweethearts AU)

Oooh, okay, so.

It never really occurs to Luke to tell Din that he was his ~sweetheart from home story?

Because they weren’t really sweethearts, you know? Maybe right on the edge of something, but Din couldn’t stay, and then the thing with Artoo and C-3PO and everything.

But wartime and people need nice stories, memories to carry them through the rough patches, and anyway. It just never occurs to Luke to mention it to Din.

And then a few weeks, months, whatever after they get the chance to move past those bittersweet memories on Tatooine Han or Wedge or whoever comes to visit.

Because they have hear, alright, they have heard that Luke went and found himself a student for that school of his. A student that comes with a Mandalorian-shaped father and the two of them have been fixing the place up for Luke’s student and future students.

It’s this combination of curiosity about what Luke’s been up to lately and maybe some completely reasonable worry about Luke’s well-being. What with him being a wanted person in many places due to one thing or another, and someone mentioned this Mandalorian is an excellent bounty hunter?

So off they go to Yavin 4 or wherever, very “Oh, we just happened to be in the area and decided to check in, see how things are and such, hahaha.”

Obvious lie, but Luke rolls his eyes and gives Din this look, lets him know they’re maybe not harmless, but they’re not a threat, and Din defers to Luke’s judgement on the matter, and anyway,

Han and Wedge are HMMM because that was a Meaningful Look Luke gave his Mandalorian, and since when did he give Meaningful Looks to people outside his circle of Trusted People???

Anyway.

Shenanigans in which they try to get any information at all about Din out of Luke and Din himself, and are given crumbs at best.

And then one night and, idk, a storm or something where they all stay inside and someone brings out a pack of sabacc cards or whatever. Booze shows up - Han or Wedge, possibly both, and anyway.

“So, Mando,” Han says, studying his cards. “Luke didn’t mention how the two of you met?”

(Luke knows Din doesn’t give his name out to many people, holds it close to his heart, and anyway. If he wants Han to have it, Din will give it to him himself.)

Din gives Luke a ??? look because he didn’t think it was a secret? But Luke is watching Han with narrowed eyes and anyway -

“We met on Tatooine,” Din says, and dealer calls and anyway.

It goes on like that, Din, and Luke, giving Han and Wedge information about their relationship with each hand until Din wins the first game. Rakes in his winnings, and gives Luke a cut because of course the two of them are playing their own game against Han and Wedge and anyway.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Han says, after losing his second straight game of the night. “You two met on Tatooine when Luke was working in Mos Eisley?“

Han and Wedge and one too many drinks to do any kind of good math, and it takes that long for dots to be connected.

Wedge perks up, eyeing Luke who turns his head to look him right in his beady little eyes, eyebrow raised and Wedge starts laughing because he knows that look.

Laughs so hard he drops his cards and doesn’t even care because Luke Skywalker wartime sweetheart is the guy in shiny beskar sitting next to him.

The one this pair of X-wing pilots stationed in the Outer Rim mentioned in passing, trouble magnet and one hell of a pilot and someone should make sure he poor bastard gets some rest at some point, and anyway.

Han looks at Wedge all ??? before Wedge points at Din, at Luke, and wheezes out the word sweethearts like a dying man telling a witness the name of his killer, and anyway.

That’s how those two idiots figure it out.

But then later, okay, later.

Luke and Din going off to their place, Luke possibly a little unsteady because he can hold his alcohol sure, but it’s been a while and Din was like “Maybe don’t use your Jedi abilities to sober up when you’re unable to walk in a straight line.”

Like, my dude, please don’t mess with your body chemistry or whatever nonsense while drunk, because Din cannot see it ending well, and anyway.

The two of them going about their bedtime routines, Din all soft and fond and amused because Luke’s coordination is just that little bit off, and he watches Luke fumbling about without his usual grace and it’s just.

Adorable, not that he’d ever tell Luke that - the man’s kind of a bastard when he wants to be.

And then, them climbing into bed, and Luke is all...huffy because Han! And Wedge! And he just kind of flails a bit, annoyed but mostly fondly exasperated by his friends and family and favorite idiots.

Din is just, “You never told anyone?”

Not because he’s upset, because he didn’t tell anyone about Luke either. Alluded to him, perhaps, but. Like Luke when he told them about his sweetheart, he didn’t want other to have that piece of him.

(Luke gave them the story of him and Din, but he things out, and not just the bit about Din being a Mandalorian to keep from getting Han worked up.)

Anyway.

Luke is like...not exactly.

Which makes Din all, OH??? and Luke sighs, burrowing into Din’s side because he’s warm and and familiar and loved, and also because it might let him get away with insisting he’s not blushing when he tells Din about the everything.

(He doesn’t, because Din can feel when Luke blushes, heat in his cheeks and the sound of his voice, and anyway, he knows. Still lets Luke he got away with it, but Din knows.)

Luke tells him about being a dumb kid caught up in a war, a kid who destroyed the Death Star at nineteen and even at twenty-eight is still trying to come to grips with that.

This dumb kid caught up in a war and a Figure he never asked to be, and this very small group of people who still treated him like that dumb kid no matter what weird shit happened to him.

Tells him about sleepless night and nightmares and wandering the base like a lost spirit. Being drawn to this little bubble that seemed to exist outside of all that with these people who looked at him and saw that dumb kid he really was no matter what.

The kind of stories they told one another when things became too heavy for any one of them to carry alone, and Luke who didn’t really have much in the way the others did.

But he had the memories of this Mandalorian he met, mostly likely annoyed, pestered, because - and Din may not know this, but there was a time Luke was worse than he is now about those kind of things.

“Hm,” Din says, playing with Luke’s hair, tugs gently on a lock of his hair before tucking it behind his ear. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Luke laughing against Din’s side and lifting his had to scowl at him because rude, alright? Rude.

So anyway, okay, anyway.

Luke told them about Din, gave them that much of himself because they’d already given him so much without realizing it, and just.

“It was a happy memory,” Luke says. He didn’t really have many of them the others would understand.

And Din, okay.

Din’s never fought in a war, never been a soldier.

He’s been a fighter for most of his life, yes. Sold his services when he had to, fought to protect his covert and those who couldn’t fight for themselves.

So.

He doesn’t fully understand what Luke went through during the war, what the others did, but he understands the need for stories like that, and anyway, anyway.

He understands.

BUT ALSO.

Once Han and Wedge know the whole thing about Din being Luke’s wartime sweetheart news travels fast among Luke’s inner circle.

They get all these people poking their nose into things, Luke flustered and exasperated and Din all ??? and :DDDDDDDDDDDD at Luke’s reaction.

And also, though, also.

Relieved, grateful, that so many people want to meet this person who holds Luke’s heart in his hands, who want to know Luke is being treated he way he deserves because has seen so many times the way Luke gives so much of himself to others, keeps so little for himself, and anyway,

He’s just.

Honored, humbled, whatnot that Luke used their story to bolster his spirits and those of his friends in bad times, because he didn’t expect to mean so much to him?

And also, okay, also.

Din confessing to Luke there were times he looked back at those moments on Tatooine when things were bad in his own life. That yes, okay, Tatooine was a good place to pick up work or find one of his bounties, but some part of him hoped he might run into a familiar face again, and just.

Yes.

[star-whores-a-new-hoe]

What about a fic where reader gets stuck in a storm (sand storm?) and anakin has to come to the rescue? Bonus points for fluff

I Don’t Like Sand // Anakin X Reader One shot.

A/N: So I literally did the opposite of fluff I am so sorry! This may or may not be the crigiest thing I’ve ever written, idk! 

Warnings: Angst! So much angst! but a lil fluff! mentions of injury, mentions of death and grief.

Word count: 1K

“Come on.” You pleaded through gritted teeth, attempting to start the uncooperative speeder for the thousandth time. Shoulders slumped in defeat, you finally gave up making the blasted thing work and rested your forehead against the handle bars with a sigh. 

Surrounding you was an endless sea of sand, stretching out as far as the eye could see. It swallowed every visible inch of land. The heat of the unforgiving sun stung the exposed skin of your neck, but you were too defeated to care about it. Your eyes took in the way the sun cast it golden glow over the dunes, highlighting their tones of red and yellow. It was almost beautiful.  

Although it wasn't Tatooine, the similarities between the two planets were undeniable, and it seemed that you were not the only one to make that connection. The moment you and Anakin set foot on the ground he changed. His usual playful demeanor faded away, leaving a cold, reserved Anakin in its place. With everything he’s been through, I can’t really blame him. You thought, remembering what he had told you of his life as a slave.

Shaking the thoughts from your mind, you sat up straight and grabbed your comlink. Guess I gotta call Ani if I want to get out of here anytime soon. As you went to dial him, you felt a slight gust of wind brush against your back, an odd contrast to the hot, still air that filled the desert. Looking up, you noticed the sky had turned an ominous gray. That can’t be good. 

The com link came to life in your palm, Anakin’s voice coming through. “Y/n, have you reached the destination?” 

“Negative.” You replied. “The speeder broke down and I can’t fix it. Looks like I’ll need a lift.” The sky grew ever darker around you, and the wind began to carry the sand along with it, swirling it about before it fell back to the ground. “And soon.” 

“I’m on my way.” He said before hanging up, a sense of urgency heavy in his tone. 

                                                          ***

Anakin walked quickly to the ship, a purpose in his step and an aura of intense focus surrounding him. He didn't stop to tell anyone where he was going, there wasn't any time. Anakin climbed into his ship, the clones around paying him no mind. As he began to fiddle with the controls, he was unable to stop the slight shake in his hand. He took off out of the base into the sky as tendrils of sand swirled higher and higher, devouring the darkening horizon. Sand. He hated everything it represented for him, all the memories it brought back. using his ship’s tracker, he locked onto your coordinates. 

Anakin had seen plenty of sandstorms as a boy and knew of all the horrible things that happened to people unlucky enough to find themselves stuck in one. And by the Maker, he wasn't going to let any of them happen to you. 

It was beginning to get hard to see through the debris, and the wind shook the ship so fiercely that it became a challenge to get a steady grip on the controls. A lesser pilot would have been thrown to the ground almost immediately. But not Anakin. He focused all of his energy on keeping the ship steady, at any rate it was an excuse to avoid the memories of Tatooine. 

Memories of sand storms so thick you could see a foot in front of you, the kind where dust snuck in under the nooks and crannies of doorways and windows, stinging your eyes and lungs. He remembered all the people he witnessed attempting to brave the sand dunes of Tatooine, only to be swallowed up by desert storms, never to be seen from again. Or worse, the ones who did come back. The ones who were dragged back into the spaceport on the brink of death, dehydrated from days laying in the heat, too exhausted to move, skin burnt to a crisp from the harsh suns. 

No! He reprimanded himself, tightening his grip on the wheel until it was borderline painful. Focus. The wind was beyond crazy now, making the ship tremble under its wrath, a sheen of gray completely obscuring the once unforgiving sun. Maker what if he couldn’t find you? What if you fixed the speeder and tried to get away only to crash it? What if I’m too late?

He'd been late before. To save innocent refugees, political officials. Shimi. He would never forget that night, riding across the sand dunes as fast as the spreader would allow, pushing the machine to its limits, the same sense of dread and fear that filled him then writhed inside of his chest once again. 

And then there was the blinding sadness when he saw her broken body lying on the sand covered floor of the Tuskin hut, the all encompassing helplessness and shame. He’d failed. And the feeling of holding her in his arms as life fled from his mother’s eyes…

No! He would not let that happen again, he would not let that happen to you! 

Anakin glanced down at the tracking signal again to see your location so agonizingly close. He lowered the ship towards the ground, frantically searching for signs of life through the dusty haze covering the windshield. There! He could just make out the silhouette of a figure and a speeder in front of him. He lowered the ship as close to the ground as he could before opening the door, doing his best to keep it steady. 

He ran towards the entrance, holding his hand up to block him from the sand blasting into the ship, waiting to see any sign of you. Out of the gray sandy haze, your figure appeared, jogging into the ship and closing the door behind you.

“An-Anakin!” You called, coughing up the dust from your throat. Though you were covered in layers of dirt, he wasted no time wrapping you in a bone crushing hug. 

“Maker, I’m so glad you're ok! Next time let me check your speeder before you leave, or take some clone with you, better yet-“ 

You pulled back from him. “Ani, I’m fine.” You reassured him, a gentle smile spreading across your face as you cupped his face in your hand. “Thank you for coming to get me baby.” You stared deep into his eyes, seeing the fear and turmoil that laid inside him. “It was only a little storm, I would have been fine.”

“I know.” He responded, his voice wavering just the tiniest bit.

You paused, attempting to find the right words. “I know being somewhere like this isn't easy for you. Do you want to talk about it?” 

“I...just,” he looked down at you, to your expression so full of love, your eyes, holding the same caring compassion that his mothers had. He pulled you back against him, tighter. “I don’t like sand.”

Tag list: @mysteryofkokoro @dexthtoyounglings @chokemeanakin @anakinsslag @sarapixieelliott08 @anakinravageme @anakinswhore

[katierosefun]

back on my w: two worlds bullshit but also make it star wars and obi-wan and anakin angst, because in typical caroline fashion, i’ve wondered about like. au? au. like, lowkey a canon divergence but also not a canon divergence au, i don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s really fucking meta--

anyways. thoughts under the cut, because i don’t want to burden anyone with ‘caroline what are you talking about why don’t you just write/don’t you have things to do’ shhhHHHHhh at this point i’m just a miserable pile of half-written docs and ideas but let me word-vomit for a second  (but also please do indulge me in this because i need to scream and i lowkey am into this idea but also i have too many things to write but also)

okay, so i’ve already rambled a bit about w: two worlds, but basically, the actual kdrama’s premise is that a young woman accidentally is dragged into the world of the comic/webtoon her father writes--essentially, this young woman saves the comic protagonist’s life, and she keeps accidentally slipping into the world, and it’s just. it’s so fucking meta and so fucking good and so fucking smart, and even though i think this is the kind of story that you.....can’t really mimic just because of how fucking smart and unique it is, it still got me thinking about star wars but make it “w” and uh--

disclaimer: i don’t think i’d ever actually write this because it would be so niche and also so incredibly convoluted, idk man i’m just kinda going off here: 

- so, the events of rots do happen. (note how i said that this is still slight canon-divergence au but also not? yeah, it’s about to get super complicated) 

- and of course, at this point, the galaxy like....no one except like obi-wan and yoda and bail actually know that darth vader is anakin, right? i think that’s what the situation is? 

- anyways, i think that’s where the story picks up: obi-wan’s in the middle-of-nowhere tatooine, and no one knows where/what the fuck happened to anakin skywalker, but we know that anakin skywalker was a pretty well-respected/public figure (because war propagandaaaaa) 

- anyways, thinking about obi-wan kenobi coming into town one day and realizing that people are shadily passing around a data pad to look at hey, this story just updated!!! this story just updated, and obi-wan realizes that there’s a rebelling artist somewhere out in the galaxy making comics about a young man who just so happens to Look Like and Act Like and also is named Anakin Skywalker, except he’s not a jedi, he’s just a regular guy making an honest living in the galaxy (and also on the hunt to avenge his friends’ and his family’s mysterious deaths) 

- i know, really fucking meta at this point 

- things are harmless enough: obi-wan tries to ignore this comic’s existence (if anything, he’s a little insulted by it because how dare you use his face and his name and turn it into...whatever this is), but like. 

- the thing is, grief is a funny thing, and sometimes you start to look for your person everywhere. 

- so obi-wan winds up reading along. he reads, and sometimes he thinks that things are a little too eerie--like, apparently, obi-wan is one of the people who was mysteriously killed / anakin’s mom was mysteriously killed / the dialogue is way too fucking real-- 

- anyways, the comic updates one day: obi-wan sees that the author has somehow decided to basically almost kill off anakin--bleeding out in the middle of nowhere, and obi-wan just watches and it’s painful because this isn’t actually anakin, this is just a comic character-- 

- and that’s when obi-wan gets pulled in. 

- obi-wan kenobi--our obi-wan kenobi--staring at this anakin skywalker-but-not-really-anakin-skywalker, who is bleeding out at his feet-- 

- obi-wan saves anakin’s life because what else is he gonna do, it doesn’t matter if this guy is a comic book character or not--he’s still going to save this person who has his best friend’s face 

- obi-wan gets transported back into his world. he looks down at the comic to find a drawing of himself saving the comic-anakin and promptly freaks tf out because that just happened why did that happen how the fuck did that happen 

- anyways, lots of other things happen. obi-wan now sometimes gets randomly pulled into this comic, and the comic-anakin skywalker is freaking out a little too because he’s like “you look exactly like my best friend, only my best friend was murdered”. and our obi-wan’s just like “yeah. i know the feeling--” 

- meanwhile, somewhere on the other side of the galaxy, imagine darth vader/anakin walking past a bunch of stormtroopers/former clone troopers and discovering this comic (lol this is kinda funny but also kinda not, because vader’s going to be like “find this artist and kill them”) 

- but who is the artist? who is the author? do we know? (we do not. at least, not right away.) 

- but anyways, back to obi-wan and comic-anakin: holy shit, okay, it seems like i’m getting a little invested now oh no, but anyways, in the comic, obi-wan still meets others: he meets a comic-padme (who is Not Married to comic anakin but there’s obviously some flirting there), and he meets a comic-ahsoka and a comic-rex, and it’s utterly painful for obi-wan because. because in this world. in this world, things are kind of okay. 

- comic-anakin still doesn’t know where obi-wan’s come from though--comic-anakin doesn’t know that he’s just a comic character. (which makes for Bad Realizations later.) 

- uh now there are other details i want to work out and an Actual Storyline in the process here in this what started as a joke to now what is turning into a brainstorm, but like-- 

- the actual plot? idk probably something to do with comic-anakin slowly realizing that he is. actually. just some grieving author’s fantasy / darth vader in real-time tracking down obi-wan and whoever tf is writing this comic / obi-wan constantly being yanked into this world against his will. 

- angst? so much angst. 

- just thinking about how our obi-wan decides to help comic-anakin.....comic-anakin being like “who are you?” / obi-wan: “me? i’m someone who wants you to have a happy ending. at least in this life. in this world.” / comic-anakin: ??? 

- kind of a bittersweet ending ngl-- 

- comic-anakin learns the truth: everything, from the fact that he. he is but someone’s imagination, to the fact that obi-wan comes from the Real World and that the Anakin Skywalker of the Real World turns into a villain/is the real killer of everyone he’s ever loved. 

- sad. so sad. 

- but ends with comic-anakin giving our obi-wan one last hug. (”i’m sorry that you never got to save your anakin.” / obi-wan trying really, really, really hard not to cry because a part of him doesn’t want to leave this world. this world where everyone’s safe and alive, but he has to go. in the end, he always has to go.) 

- as obi-wan leaves, comic-anakin smiles at him. (”i’m someone who’s rooting for you to have a happy ending.”) 

- anyways. uh. oh god. 

[ye-olde-norrington-stan]

I would like to hear about your OCs?? If you would like to share??? (no pressure of course haha)

Ahhh omg yes of course!! Thank you so much for asking! It might not be the most indepth coherent description but I'll try!! I'm super focused on my Star Wars OC right now, I feel like I can talk about her pretty well so I'll tell you about her. I've had her the longest, created her when I was 12 and she has a super special place in my heart 🥺🥺.

Her name is Doctor Xirea Nath, she's a human that lives on Tatooine. She's a doctor based out of Mos Espa but she has a small office in Mos Eisley as well because even a hive of scum and villainy deserves access to compassionate medical care! She travels a lot too, that's just the nature of being a medical professional in a place like that. She passes through the remote tiny settlements as often as she's able to make sure they have what they need.

She has a medical droid nurse named Fritz, that her dad bought broken from some Jawas and fixed up, thought it took a lot of tinkering and Xirea's mom joked that the droid was always on the fritz. The name stuck and Fritz hasn't been on the fritz since Xirea's dad got them in tip top shape. Fritz always offers patients lollipops and stickers no matter their age.

Xirea's mother Tili Nath was a doctor and Xirea grew up assisting in her mother's practice while her father, Zias Nath ran his mechanic shop. Small family, Xirea doesn't have siblings, no aunts or uncles and Zias' folks died before she was born. Her maternal grandparents were still in the picture when she was young, they were moisture farmers and Tili grew the herbs she used for certain remedies in the small hydroponic garden her parent's had from the surplus water gathered by their vaporators.

Tili Nath died in a speeder accident when Xirea was 17 and the loss sent Zias spiraling down in grief, he went from occasionally enjoying a drink socially to drinking heavily every day while a gambling habit he'd beaten as a youth came back in full force, all in an effort to try to distract himself from the pain of loosing the love of his life. Xirea went to assist in Doctor Mandible's practice while continuing her medical education in the hopes that someday she would be able to reopen her mother's practice. She took care of her father as best she could, trying to guide him from the self destructive path he was walking down and help him cope with the pain, but the only help he'd accept was hangover remedies, telling her not to worry about him.

A few years after Xirea lost her mom, her father was killed in a bar fight. She thought it had to be over gambling, debts her father couldn't pay but she learned that it was a hot shot hot headed pod racer that killed her dad merely because he stumbled into him and made him spill his drink. It's the first time she felt a very strong desire to do harm and also the first and last time she ever enlisted the services of a bounty hunter. She hired Boba Fett to kill the guy that murdered her father.

She's known Boba since he first showed up on Tatooine trying to make a name for himself. They're the same age and she was one of the first locals Boba befriended. Boba sometimes was severe about Xirea's kind and nurturing ways Boba but secretly appreciated them. They might have been more than friends if Xirea didn't only have eyes for her childhood sweetheart, Brentil Motto, neighbor that ended up becoming a mechanic in her dad's shop and took over running the shop when Zias' drinking really got out of control.

Boba took the job, remembering a time when Zias hadn't been consumed by grief. He'd liked him well enough, appreciated his skills as a mechanic and had felt a twinge of anger and disappointment upon learning of Zias' demise. Boba didn't take the job for free but he certainly relished the hunt more than usual, and maybe channeled his need to avenge his own father a bit in helping Xirea avenge her own.

Xirea went on to reopen her mother's practice, though she continued to work closely with Doctor Mandible and to this day they have monthly medical symposiums. Xirea and Brentil married in their mid twenties in a small ceremony attended by their nearest and dearest. There were good times and bad, Xirea's grandfather passed from a stroke shortly after the wedding, her grandmother selling the farm and moving to a small home in the city, becoming a bar tender in one of the cantinas. Xirea and Brentil often played sabacc in that cantina with Brentil's sister Peli and Doctor Mandible, though Xirea also spent her spare time making sculptures out of scrap metal.

Xirea looks back on those years with a mixture of tears and smiles, lots of grief but lots of happiness too. She cherished every moment she had with Brentil and when she lost him to cancer just six years after getting married, she was bitter and closed off for a long time, threw herself into work and her sculptures, hardly socialized outside of work, but her grandmother, Peli and Doctor Mandible wouldn't stand for it, slowly but surely helping her navigate through the grief in a way she wished she could have helped her father figure out. Even Boba helped, the two of them discussing loss at length, the way the pain of it is ever changing, never really leaving and the ways to cope with that.

Loss still hurts, but she far more accepting of it now. Life on Tatooine is going to be harsh and hard but there's beauty and joy to be found there too. Even at her lowest she never lost her compassion when treating patients and has become one of Tatooine's best doctors. Her sculptures haven't really caught on and some of her friends give her a hard time about them but Xirea loves creating so she'll keep at it.

Ahhhh this was a big info dumb, I really hope it's interesting to you and anyone else that happens to read!!

When I was a kiddo I did write a silly fanfic where Xirea parched up Boba's hurt after he escaped the Sarlaac pit and they fell in luuuuv but it's lost to time and was very ridiculous so I'm not sure I'd share it even if I did still have a copy lolololol. I may revisit the idea, idk! More likely I'll just watch The Book of Boba Fett and maybe see if I can work Xirea into things.

[blackkatmagic]

also, i just saw about open your wounds being on tuesday and not spring in hell, and also the snippet you posted and. xanathos describing alt!obi-wan as alt!qui-gon's sycophant.... so much of obi-wan's character, at least in the fanon ive seen, is built on the fact that he was stubbornly determined to carry out qui-gon's last wish of training anakin, to the possible (probable?) detriment of all parties involved (1/?)

like i firmly believe that had canon!anakin gotten a master who had more experience training padawans, or a master who wasn't currently grieving the death of his own mentor/father-figure, or a master who was familiar with the psychological traumas of slavery and how to help to heal from those traumas, or at the very fucking least, a master who didn't let anakin spend so much alone time with the fucking chancellor, anakin, and consequently the galaxy, might be in an entirely different place

i guess where i've been going with this train of thought is in alt!xanathos' universe, we know qui-gon isn't dead. i don't remember if you said one way or another whether, at this point in xanathos' timeline, alt!qui-gon and alt!obi-wan have met alt!anakin, and if so what's become of that whole situation. because if alt!qui-gon is still alive, then is he the one training anakin? or is it still obi-wan just now with less trauma and more guidance from his own mentor? and i know the focus of oyw is xanathos, but you always have such good and detailed world-building and thoughts on meta, and if there's anything you can (and want to) share about that behind-the-scenes, alternate timeline, i would be incredibly interested in reading it. (also sorry for the fucking essay, i haven't had breakfast yet so idk how to not ramble)

Yeah, i feel like there’s a lot that could have gone better in regards to Anakin’s training, and I do wonder how much of Obi-Wan training Anakin was him insisting on fulfilling Qui-Gon’s last wish rather than, like, letting the Council put Anakin in the creche for a few years to grow up with other kids. Because Anakin on Tatooine had��friends, but Anakin at the Temple didn’t seem to have anyone he was close to except Obi-Wan and Palpatine, and that’s...really sad. Like, I don’t blame Obi-Wan, but taking on a student when he’d literally just been Knighted and was grieving for his father figure and traumatized was probably not the right choice. 

As far as oyw!Xanatos’s universe, that other option is pretty much what ended up happening - Qui-Gon survived, but instead of taking Anakin on immediately, the Council insisted on putting Anakin in the creche to adjust, and he stayed there for a few extra years until Obi-Wan was Knighted and ready to take on a padawan. Qui-Gon got to be his Grandmaster and have a hand in training without having sole responsibility, and Anakin got to grow up and actually be part of the Temple culture and share in it in a way he didn’t in the canon universe. 

[alwaysupatnight]

IN DEPTH FANDOM QUESTIONS: The Mandalorian and FDTD 💖💖💖

From Dusk Till Dawn

Top 5 favorite characters: Kate, Seth, Scott, Eddie, Vanessa

Other characters you like: Rafa, Ximena, Burt

Least favorite characters: Kisa, Sonja, Carlos, Sex Machine

Otps: sethkate only

Notps: kate/richie, seth/kisa

Favorite friendships: Richie & Scott lmfao

Favorite family: Kate & Scott

Favorite episodes: 1.04, 2.01, 2.02, 3.04, 3.07, 3.09, & 3.10

Favorite season/book/movie: overall I think s1 is probably the best but I like s3 the most

Favorite quotes: “You… be cool” and Kate threatening to bible-thump Richie’s ass back to Kansas XD

Best musical moment: maybe the old west theme that plays after Seth’s flying reload? lmfao

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: WHEN SETH RUNS TO CHURCH 🙌

When it really disappointed you: when they brought carlos back in s3… 😤

Saddest moment: when they killed kate. also when they killed Eddie

Most well done character death: SONJA. IT WAS WHAT SHE DESERVED

Favorite guest star: Tom Savini as Burt!!

Favorite cast member: MADIE

Character you wish was still alive: Uncle Eddie

One thing you hope really happens: an onscreen sethkate kiss lmfao

Most shocking twist: it’s been so long I can’t remember actually shocked me… lol Maybe Dakota shooting Richie?

When did you start watching/reading?: I first watched s1 in 2015 just a few months before s2 aired.

Best animal/creature: I guess the Xibalbans??

Favorite location: the RV lol & the Dew Drop Inn

Trope you wish they would stop using: killing off all the best characters for man pain

One thing this show/book/film does better than others: giving the “innocent” female character so much depth instead of her just being a one-note goody two shoes character. Kate does bad things too!! And she gets angry sometimes and lashes out!! I love that about her!!

Funniest moments: Seth and Richie’s bet in s3 XD any time Seth says “shut up, Richard”. Kate yelling at Richie. lmfao when Richie was so excited to get a one-way ticket to Xibalba 🤣

Couple you would like to see: sethkate obviously. But also I’d love to see Richie and Scott hanging out too. Also Richie/Dakota!!

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: Salma Hayek!! That’d be amazing!!!

Favorite outfit: SETH’S JEANS AND HENLEY AND GLOVES!! also Kate’s Amaru outfit. THE RED BOOTS. I WANT THEM.

Favorite item: Kate’s cross, Seth’s jacket

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: nope

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: I wanna rob banks with Kate and the geckos!! XD

Most boring plotline: anything involving Kisa and Carlos or Richie tbh. I DON’T CAAAARE

Most laughably bad moment: Natalie as Amaru 🤣 I’M SORRY I CAN’T

Best flashback/flashfoward if any: KATE ROBBING BANKS AT THE END OF S3!!

Most layered character: KATE FUCKING FULLER. Seth too lol

Most one dimensional character: CARLOS

Scariest moment: ngl I was actually afraid for Seth’s life in that fight against Brasa in 3.09. Also when Kate gets kidnapped by the chanan in the temple

Grossest moment: any scene involving Tanner 🤮

Best looking male: SETH 🥵

Best looking female: KATE. IDC SHE’S FUCKING GORGEOUS. Also Monica and Vanessa were really pretty too

Who you’re crushing on (if any): SETH AND KATE. I LOVE THEM BOTH TO DEATH

Favorite cast moment: All of Madie’s on-set photos of DJ lmfao Also any time DJ fangirled over Madie at the panels and interviews XD

Favorite transportation: the camaro seth and Kate ride off into the sunset in at the end of s1. IT’S SETH’S DREAM CAR XD

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): I think the motel scenes in s2 were really visually appealing to me with all the bright colors

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. TOO MANY TO LIST HERE.

Best promo: All of the cast posts on instagram and twitter and the live tweets during the shows. I also really enjoyed seeing the clips they’d release on twitter and youtube… I liked the one of Seth’s s3 line “reptile, regular jackass, I don’t really give a shit” with the fancy text XD Also Madie’s song “Monsters”!!

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: I think it was the Mexican Honeymoon episodes. I don’t think I really shipped sethkate before that but they really made the whole show for me

The Mandalorian

Top 5 favorite characters: BABY, MANDO, Peli, Kuiil, & Greef Karga

Other characters you like: IG-11, Fennec Shand, Cobb Vanth

Least favorite characters: Qin & Xi’an

Otps: None

Notps: Mando/Cara. Just. No.

Favorite friendships: Din & Cobb Vanth

Favorite family: Din-Grogu-Kuiil!! Alternatively Din-Grogu-Peli lmfao

Favorite episodes: 1.02, 1.03, 2.01, 2.07 and maybe a couple others idk

Favorite season/book/movie: hmm maybe s1?

Favorite quotes: “I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold” & “I have spoken”

Best musical moment: the theme song!!

Moment that made you fangirl/boy the hardest: when mando rescued his son in ep3!!

When it really disappointed you: WHEN THEY KILLED KUIIL. AND IT HAPPENED OFF SCREEN TOO WTF 😤

Saddest moment: when Din’s ship got blown up right after the baby was kidnapped

Most well done character death: IG-11’s sacrifice

Favorite guest star: umm maybe Matt Lanter in s1? I didn’t actually watch Clone Wars tho :P

Favorite cast member: PEDRO

Character you wish was still alive: KUIIL

One thing you hope really happens: I guess it already happened? baby got to see Din’s face finally

Most shocking twist: how many times Din removed his helmet in s2 lmfao was not expecting that

When did you start watching/reading?: I started watching I think either the same day or the day after ep 1.03 came out lol

Best animal/creature: the blurrgs XD

Favorite location: Tatooine

Trope you wish they would stop using: the baby eating random shit. WATCH YOUR CHILD, MANDO FFS

One thing this show/book/film does better than others: I feel like this series is the most accessible to casual and non star wars fans? I’ve never really been into star wars anything that much ngl but this one I really enjoy. maybe because the creators actually really care about the content and it shows

Funniest moments: the stuff involving the Jawas in ep2 XD

Couple you would like to see: uhh I don’t ship anyone

Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: I heard Sophie Thatcher might be joining in s3? IF NOT THAT’S WHAT I WANT OKAY. A PEDRO AND SOPHIE REUNION.

Favorite outfit: Mando’s suit? I mean c’mon!!

Favorite item: the beskar spear in s2

Do you own anything related to this show/book/film?: a baby!! my tiny green son!! The bigger one with the plastic head lol not the ugly plush

What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in?: haha idk I never thought about it. being a bounty hunter would be cool though

Most boring plotline: that bounty hunter noob betraying mando, as if no one saw that coming

Most laughably bad moment: Gina’s acting lmfao

Best flashback/flashfoward if any: so it’s not really a flashback, but Grogu’s memories before meeting Mando

Most layered character: Din!! Just his whole journey through fatherhood and his struggles in s2 with figuring out how he can reconcile practicing his religion with his obligations to the things he cares about

Most one dimensional character: those bounty hunters in 1.06

Scariest moment: so maybe it’s not scary exactly, but when the baby was getting beat up by that asshole storm trooper. I was afraid he’d get hurt

Grossest moment: the scene with the space spiders

Best looking male: Cobb Vanth!!

Best looking female: Fennec!!

Who you’re crushing on (if any): Din of course

Favorite cast moment: anything involving Pedro. Maybe that one clip of him doing voice overs while holding a pillow and pretending it’s the baby XD

Favorite transportation: rip razor crest 😥

Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): haha idk I guess whichever planet it is that mando takes the baby to contact more jedi

Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: nothing I can think of…

Best promo: all the baby merch!! Also any interview with Pedro XD

At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: ep3!!

[generallynerdy]

Maybe it does all add up to a single hush (Kanan Jarrus/Cal Kestis)

Summary: 15 years after the Fall, 10 years after the death of Caleb Dume, Kanan Jarrus and Cal Kestis find each other again.

Warnings: Jedi: Fallen Order Spoilers, Implied/Referenced Character Death, cursing, brief suicidal ideation/thoughts Word Count: 5,143

Author’s Note: the effort I had to put in not to make this another series...I had to stage an intervention for myself. Anyway, I love Cal and Kanan’s dynamic, whether as partners or as friends, and an Idea struck me that wouldn’t leave. Also, idk how old most people think Cal was when the war ended based on JFO clips, but I always just kind of went with him being the same age as Kanan at the end of the war bc I love them and I need them to know each other. The title is from the poem “So They Say— They Finally Nailed— The Proton’s Size— & Hope— Dies—” by Rosebud Ben-Oni.

Read On AO3

*

When the hard part is over, Cal returns to Bracca, his new lightsaber tucked under Cere’s old robe that still smells like the Temple, with the intention of burning Prauf’s body.

Caleb still had his own robe. He kept it in the deepest part of their shared closet, bringing it out only on the worst days. If Prauf saw it, he never mentioned it, and both boys were grateful for it. There was a lot he didn’t mention.

Cal thinks, sometimes, that Prauf knew who they were before. After all, it’s hard to look at two abandoned kids in the wake of the Clone Wars that can survive being riggers and not think of the thousands of Jedi younglings that died on Empire Day. It’s even harder to ignore two lightsabers and one ratty, brown robe.

Maybe Prauf wasn’t sure.

But he had to be, on that last day, when they found that fighter. When Cal caught him with the Force. He knew then, maybe before. But he still took care of them.

Maybe he knew when the Empire showed up, when Caleb heard the roar of a TIE Fighter and looked instantly to the redheaded boy beside him like he was about to die before his eyes. Maybe that was the moment he put it all together. Or was it his last moment? When the world began to go dark and both Cal and Caleb lashed out in fury at his killers with matching, bright blue blades—did he know? Did he know that he died for the children of an already dying Order?

Standing over the bonfire, Cal holds the Holocron in shaky hands.

Did Prauf know his sacrifice would save the life of every child just like them?

Cal moves away from the flames to the gap in the ground that they’d held Caleb over, his calloused hands clawing at the Ninth Sister, who clutched his throat.

Deep in Cal’s heart, he knows half the reason he beat her was for his best friend. He’d almost given in to rage but stopped himself at the memory of him. Revenge is not the way of the Jedi. But justice is. And so is survival, these days.

Caleb’s lightsaber fell long before he did. When he did fall, he went screaming bloody murder, the noise echoing in the silence that rang in Cal’s ears.

Standing at the edge now, Cal almost considers simply...stepping off.

He can survive it. He has before. And what’s to say that Caleb isn’t waiting at the bottom?

Caleb...used to like animals, he remembers. He preferred them to plants, which are unreadable if you don’t have practise with them. Animals, like people, are complex but tell you in simple terms what they want and what they don’t want. Cal has always been better with plants. They’re simple, grounding, natural. Caleb used to tease him for it.

The only plant he ever managed to grow on this place was a seedling in a boot filled with dirt he kept in their room. It had been making good progress in their last weeks, enough that he’d actually felt some semblance of hope.

And then...and then he’d lost everything. Again.

The Holocron burns in his hand, reminding him that there is more in store for him than an endless chasm. Hundreds of thousands of Force-sensitive children are depending on him now, him and the Mantis crew.

Cal lets out a shaky breath. “I couldn’t save you,” he whispers to the wind. “But maybe I can save them.”

On the way back to the Mantis, he turns around to go find the robe and the plant in its boot. The robe smells like blaster fire and the plant is wilting but both are comforting: one because it’s familiar and the other because it’s not quite gone yet.

*

Kanan changes his name.

It doesn’t feel right, hearing his given name from anyone that isn’t Cal or Prauf. The first and only time it happens, nausea sinks in and he quickly makes the change.

Some days, he wants to go back to Bracca. Some part of him still hopes Cal survived the Inquisitors, that he’s waiting for him back at what used to be home, but the logical part of him knows that he’s not. Kanan surviving was a miracle, a fluke, and those don’t happen twice. Sometimes he wishes it had never happened at all.

He managed to save his lightsaber, as broken to bits as it was. It and the necklace Cal gave him are all he has now.

Kanan doesn’t let himself grieve, as much as he knows he needs to. He hardly did it before, on Bracca, but now he won’t allow even a tear. Surviving is the only thing on his mind, though for what he doesn’t know.

When he almost loses that little piece of metal on a string, though, he breaks down sobbing.

It’s the stupidest thing, really. All those lessons on attachment are lost on him now, as he cries over the rusted symbol of the Jedi Order on a piece of scrap metal that Cal had put on a cord for him. He keeps it close to his heart, hanging off his neck every hour of every day if he can help it, and getting that close to losing it is the last straw.

He knows now, why he’s surviving. Because Cal would want him to.

Meeting Hera is a relief. She’s kind but curious, which is more of a bane than it should be.

(Painfully, he’s reminded of himself as a youngling. His Master always said his frequent questions were what drew her to him.)

She’s the first to know about his past, both as a Jedi and a rigger on Bracca. He doesn’t think to mention Caleb, doesn’t think it would matter to anyone, not until after a mission gone bad.

Hera is putting bacta on his wounds and graciously ignoring his constant wincing when she sees it.

She points to the cord after examining what hangs on it for a minute. “For someone who’s trying to be discreet, you wear a lot of Jedi stuff.”

Kanan snorts. “Yeah, well, I won’t get rid of this one.”

“It’s important to you,” she points out. “Can I ask why?”

He hesitates, swallowing roughly. “My best friend gave it to me...on Bracca, befo-before the Inquisitors caught up to us,” he admits. “He didn’t make it.”

Her eyes are full of empathy, something she never lacks. “What was his name?”

“Cal,” he says, voice quiet. “Cal Kestis.”

“If you remember his name,” she promises, “he’ll always be with you.”

It’s not so much a Twi’lek belief as it is her own but it reminds Kanan of Grey more than anyone else. His buir. The clones subscribed to many Mandalorian beliefs, including the echoing of remembrances for the dead. Before the abrupt end of the war, little Caleb used to say his every morning with his Master and buir.

So, he decides to start again. It’s difficult, at first, to even get through the first names, his oldest names.

“Depa Billaba,” he says through tears in the quiet of pre-dawn, “Grey, Styles, Prauf...”

He stops.

It’s hard to think, even harder to say, but he knows he needs to. He needs to tell himself the truth, needs to accept the truth.

“Cal—”

He sobs, shaky and painful. His throat burns just like it did when he fell down the chasm on Bracca, screaming his head off, part out of fear for himself but mostly for fear of what was happening to Cal above him. It hurts to speak it into the world, into the Force and those marching on. Cal is among them now, he knows. He just...has to admit it.

“Cal Kestis,” he finally says, the admission wobbly and half-hearted.

He never loses the necklace again.

*

They’ve finally settled on Bogano, after wiping every trace of it from Imperial data servers. The Holocron is safely locked away in the Vault, guarded by their crew and the Binog, fondly called ‘the big guy,’ mostly by fault of Greez.

Though mostly self-sufficient, occasionally some of them will leave the planet for supplies they can’t make themselves. While off on supply runs, well, they can’t help it if some Imperials just look like easy pickings. Apparently, slavers get the same treatment because Merrin ends up a figure in some sort of oral tradition of a Tatooine family, which Cal finds hilarious. Cere is not so amused and grounds them—literally, in that they can’t leave Bogano—for over a month.

Cal spends most of it repairing old platforms and ziplines, not to mention entertaining the Boglings.

They’re fond of him, for some reason, and BD-1, who loves to run around with them while Cal works. One in particular, named Rabid by Merrin after she stole her entire plate of food, is especially loveable.

Cal snickers as he pulls Rabid off his shoulder. “I have to finish this, then I can play.”

Rabid is not pleased with his answer, nibbling at his trousers.

“Rabid,” he chides, ignoring her in favour of his work. He laughs again. “I used to know somebody who would’ve loved you, annoying as you are.”

BD, who has taken Rabid’s place, beeps curiously.

Cal’s face falls a little. He pauses in his work. “Oh. I guess I’ve never told you about Caleb, huh?”

The little droid shakes his head.

Cal never intended to talk about Caleb to anyone, really, but it all comes pouring out. He tells BD and Rabid all about his old best friend, his confidant. The story is a long one, reaching from the creche all the way to Bracca and its bitter end. By the time he’s finished, his voice is quiet and hesitant, his grief echoing through.

Rabid curls up in his lap, nudging his hand, while BD sits in front of them, tilting his head.

A little light on the side of his scope says that he’s recording. He does that a lot, Cal knows, for prosperity, just like he was programmed to. Cal doesn’t mind, really.

When he finishes, BD gets his attention by chirping.

“Huh? You have something to show me?”

BD’s projector whirrs to life and a blue image appears. It’s Cordova, again, but not a video this time. It’s only a holo, of him and another Jedi—Master Jocasta Nu, Cal realises. Master Cordova is dead asleep on her shoulder and she’s leaned over to kiss his brow.

“Oh,” Cal breathes out, something jarring in his chest.

BD-1 thinks that he and Caleb were—well, were like that.

“I—” he pauses. “I dunno, buddy. I never asked him if...but I think…”

Well. It’d be a stretch to say Cal loved him, but he certainly cared for him more than he ever did anyone else. When they were thirteen and stupid, he might’ve said he had a crush on him. After the Fall, on Bracca, he just...didn't think of it. Caleb was all he had and he clung but he never...thought about what it was, thought about what they were.

It hurts to think of now, all that he missed.

“I don’t know if I did,” Cal tells BD quietly. “But I think I- I think I could have.”

BD asks about Caleb a lot, after that. Maybe he can tell that talking about him makes Cal happy. The others know about the one he lost but they don’t ask. They all have their demons and Cal’s are just...just too great to pile on another person. BD, though, is a little easier. All he wants is to see Cal smile again.

*

“What’s this?”

Kanan doesn’t think to look up at whatever Ezra—the newest addition to the Ghost crew—has swiped from him, until he notices a weight missing from his neck. His head snaps up to where a cord hangs from Ezra’s hand.

“Give that back,” Kanan growls, not meaning to be so aggressive.

Ezra’s eyes widen. He holds it out immediately, dropping it into Kanan’s open hand. “Sorry,” he mutters, watching curiously as Kanan puts it back on.

Almost by instinct, Kanan tucks the piece of scrap metal back under his shirt and breathes out a sigh of relief. He goes back to his datapad. Then, a moment later, when he notices the entire room is still silent, he looks up. Sabine and Zeb have joined Ezra in staring incredulously.

“What?” Kanan asks, his voice back to normal.

“I’ve never seen you that mad before,” Sabine admits with a half-shrug, though her eyes betray her concern.

Zeb nods, arms crossed. “And I’ve never seen you without that thing on your neck.”

“Yeah, you even sleep with it!” Ezra adds. “What’s up with that?”

“I—” He goes to make an excuse but stops, his hand fidgeting with the necklace.

“You don’t have to…” Sabine starts to say, but he shakes his head.

He sighs. To be honest, he’s surprised Zeb and Sabine haven’t asked before. “My best friend gave it to me.”

Ezra immediately sits down across from him, eyes wide. “Another Jedi?”

Admittedly, the kid is a lot like he used to be: always asking questions, always pushing. It’s going to get him in trouble someday but for now, it just gets him more stories out of Kanan, stories about the Jedi.

“Yeah. Yeah, another Padawan. We grew up in the Temple together.” He smiles, a fickle and fleeting thing. “He was picked by a Master before me, so we were separated...at the end. But I found him again, on the planet he was last assigned. He gave me this.”

Ezra’s face is bright, curious. Sabine, on the other hand, looks prepared for a gut-punch.

“What happened to him?” she asks quietly.

Kanan exhales sharply, ruefully. “Inquisitors. After 5 years of nothing, they came out of nowhere. I never saw what happened to him. For all I know, they still have him.”

“Oh,” Ezra says, his face falling.

“You know, Zeb,” Kanan begins, not wanting to make things any sadder, “his Master was a Lasat.”

He scoffs. “No way.”

“He was, swear it on my life!” he claims, raising a hand. “First time I saw you, I thought Master Tapal came back to haunt me for being a bad influence.”

Zeb snickers. “Bad influence? You?”

“Eh, a nudge here and there. We were not good kids.”

He tells them a few stories before Sabine and Zeb are called away by Hera and Chopper, leaving Ezra and Kanan alone. Ezra makes to follow them but stops, his expression cautiously blank.

“What is it, Ezra?” Kanan asks, already knowing that he’s brimming with curiosity.

“You said he was...your best friend?”

He frowns. “Yeah, ever since we were kids. Why?”

“I dunno. The way you talked about him just reminded me of my parents,” Ezra admits hesitantly. “Sappy. Did you—?”

Kanan sighs, touching his necklace again.

He had always been more reckless than Cal, back then. He threw himself into everything, into every situation. No matter the problem or the person, he was all-in. No matter what. And that included Cal. Once he took that step, he was karked. Before he knew it, he was hanging onto the redhead’s every word.

Cal was...different. Kanan had known that for a long time but the war only brought it out.

Kanan had a stupid crush, that was all. But on Bracca, it was everything and more.

He’d known then, known for a long time. Cal had never seen it but he didn’t have to. Kanan was fine the way things were. It didn’t feel right, bringing things up after...well, after. So Cal never knew.

(Sure, he could see the past of things with a single touch of his hands but he’d always been pretty oblivious.)

“Love him?” Kanan asks, raising an eyebrow.

Ezra nods.

It’s without hesitation that he answers. “I did.”

When they go in search of Master Luminara, Kanan’s kids buy him a precious few minutes to search for a Cal Kestis in the prisoner logs. He’s not there, of course, but Kanan thinks he prefers that to a death certificate.

*

“Ho-oly shit,” Greez says over comms one day. “You guys better get up here.”

Cal shares a look with Cere, following her out of the workshop with BD on his shoulder. Merrin has already teleported to Greez’s side when they arrive, lightsabers in hand. Greez passes the young man—not so young anymore, Cere has commented teasingly as he desperately shaves away any trace of his age—a pair of electrobinoculars.

Squinting through the scope, he spies a trail of smoke on the horizon attached to a ship.

“Kriffing hells,” Cere says after she gets a look.

In all their 10 years here, no one has ever landed—or crashed, for that matter—on the planet. The few ships that have come into orbit were Imperial and always quickly dealt with before word could get out. This one, however, isn’t exactly your standard Imperial cruiser. And it’s wrecked.

“Looks like a modified VCX-100 light freighter to me,” Greez says. “It’s a nice ship.”

Merrin rolls her eyes. “Are we waiting for them to come to us?”

“Looks like we don’t have to,” Cere declares, still looking through the binocs. “They’re headed this way, six hostiles. Three humans, a Lasat, a Twi’lek, and a droid.”

Greez laughs. “A Lasat? We’re kriffed.”

“Says you,” Merrin snorts.

“I’m with her,” Cal agrees, a cocky smile on his face. “Merrin and I will take the Vault. Cere, Greez, take home. BD will lure the big ones our way.”

“You got it, kid.”

Cere puts a hand on his shoulder before he can follow Merrin—more or less, seeing as she just teleports everywhere. “Be careful.”

The worst part of intruders is that even the hypothetical good ones can’t know Bogano is here. They’ll have to knock them out hard enough for their memories to be spotty and dump them in a nearby system if they’re smart—and they are.

Cal slips on his robe, a gift from Cere, and flips the hood up, making for the Vault.

If these visitors think they can take the Holocron, they have another thing coming.

*

“Are you sure we can find help here?” Ezra asks for the third time as they approach the massive building in the distance. “It looks...deserted.”

Hera sighs for the third time. “Scanners said there were signs of life here in a higher concentration than the rest of the planet. It’s worth checking out.”

Sabine gestures through the mild fog. “There’s buildings up ahead.”

“Good, let’s head there,” Kanan says, a cautious hand on his lightsaber.

Hopping across platforms is a pain, but they all manage to make their way to what looks like a residential area. A small path digs into the ground, leading deeper inside the planet’s crust. With a look at her second in command, Hera starts toward it. However, she stops when Kanan freezes.

“Do you feel that?” he asks suddenly, squinting as he looks into the distance.

Something is...tugging at him. Something in the Force is insistent that he go...that way. The feeling of incompleteness settles inside his chest.

“No…” Ezra replies uneasily. “What is it?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know.” After a moment, he decides. “I think I should go this way. You guys go on ahead.”

Zeb scoffs. “I’ll go with you. We don’t know who lived here. Could be Inquisitors for all we know.”

“They generally prefer places with lava,” Ezra counters.

The group splits, with Hera leading Sabine, Chopper, and Ezra into the abode. She and Sabine have their blasters raised, while Ezra keeps a hand on his lightsaber. Chopper is always ready to give someone a nasty shock.

“Anyone home?” Sabine calls.

There’s no answer.

They come across a small kitchen and dining room, where two chairs are pulled out. Over one hangs a small, ratty brown robe with multiple blaster burns.

Ezra plucks it off the back of the seat. “Woah, cool,” he breathes. “Very Jedi-like, huh?”

“Leave it, Ezra,” Hera chides fondly.

“You’d best,” says another voice.

All three of them jump as a lightsaber hums to life. Double-bladed, the weapon burns bright white throughout the room, illuminating its bearer, a woman with dark skin and hair, and her companion.

“Inquisitor!” Ezra cries, lighting his own.

The lightsaber wielder’s friend fires off a blaster right at Hera, who’s shoved out of the way by Sabine. Chopper shrieks, his head spinning.

“Look out!”

On the surface, Zeb follows Kanan to the edge of the platform. There, they find a zip line, which they intend to brave before a series of chirps stops them.

Zeb yelps and lifts his rifle when a droid appears, only stopped by Kanan’s raised hand.

It’s...a buddy droid.

“Hey, little guy,” Kanan greets cautiously. “What are you doing all the way out here?”

He beeps excitedly and backs away, indicating that they should follow. With a single leap, he attaches himself to the zipline and whirrs as he zooms all the way down.

“Don’t tell me we’re following the droid,” Zeb groans.

Kanan just smiles. “We’re following the droid.”

Using the Force to balance himself, he leaps atop the zipline and begins to tiptoe his way down. Behind him, Zeb sighs but reaches up to grab the line, following right after him. They land on a platform a good distance away, where a small slope is guarded by two statues; the beings depicted are of an unknown species, one lost to time.

“I don’t like this,” Zeb says as soon as he hops onto the grass. “It’s like the start of a bad horror holo.”

Kanan snorts. “If that were true, it would be raining tookas and massiffs.”

The buddy droid whirrs loudly to get their attention and bounces his way up the sloping path, on top of which sits a fluffy native creature. Kanan doesn’t know what they’re called, but this one is adorable. She chirps at them, much like the droid did.

“Oh, you’re a sweet little thing, aren’t you?” Kanan coos, moving to meet the creature and let her sniff his hand.

She makes a happy noise and nudges him.

“Ugh,” Zeb mutters, “more things.”

The droid and the creature lead them to the entrance of the massive, ancient building that had caught Kanan’s eye from the crash site. He steps in front of Zeb, placing his hand on the runes in the rock as the Force sings. This isn’t what’s calling him, but…

“Something is here,” Kanan whispers.

“I hope it’s not something that wants to eat us,” Zeb says long-sufferingly.

The slab of rock retreats into the space above, leaving an open tunnel of sorts.

“Karabast,” the Lasat curses, “I hate Jedi stuff.”

Kanan rolls his eyes. “C’mon.”

It’s a tight fit, but the two squeeze their way through, Kanan leading the way. They exit into a large cavern filled with a few inches of water, just enough to be annoying. Standing in the midst of the cave is a figure in a brown robe. The moment Kanan spots him, he draws his lightsaber and stands in front of Zeb until he can ready his rifle, too.

“You are not meant to be here.”

Kanan frowns. “The Force says otherwise. Who are you?”

“The guardian of this vault. You need to leave,” the figure says.

From underneath their robe, they draw a very familiar weapon. With a snap and a hiss, two blades of yellow light appear. Kanan lights his own lightsaber in response but it’s too little too late.

A green smoke encompasses Zeb, who yelps as he’s flung across the room by a pissed off Nightsister—which makes zero sense because they’re all supposed to be dead.

Kanan makes for his friend, interrupted only by the mysterious guardian rushing at him.

“Where did you get that lightsaber?” the faceless figure hisses.

And, well, Kanan doesn’t know how to answer that question except with another question. “Where did you get yours? ”

Back in the residential platform, Hera leaps in between Ezra and the lightsaber-wielder. “Wait!” she cries.

Both stop, staring at her like she’s crazy.

“That’s a healed kyber crystal, isn’t it?” Hera asks, pointing to her white blade. “You’re not an Inquisitor. You’re a Jedi.”

The woman lowers her lightsaber just slightly. “I was.”

“I’m one, too!” Ezra chirps, popping out from behind Hera. “Er. I’m training to be one!”

Her eyes widen. “A Padawan? Who’s your Master?”

Before he can answer, Hera speaks for him. “Kanan Jarrus. But his name used to be Caleb Dume.”

“Caleb?” she asks, her voice hushed in awe. “Depa Billaba’s Padawan?”

She nods.

Abruptly, the woman turns sharply on her heel, raising her comm unit to her lips and rushing out the door. “Cal, they’re non-hostiles, non-hostiles! Don’t hurt your boyfriend!”

“What!?” Ezra and Sabine cry at the same time, the former’s voice cracking.

Without another word, they follow her and her friend outside.

*

Merrin has the Lasat out of the Vault long before Cal gets his opponent to the entrance, admittedly. Lightsaber to lightsaber combat is significantly more balanced than Nightsister magick against a bo-rifle, poor guy.

Still, Cal pushes the intruder to the top of the Vault’s slope, the man just on the edge of slipping.

That’s when Cere’s voice crackles through the comms.

“Cal, they’re non-hostiles, non-hostiles! Don’t hurt your boyfriend!”

Hand grasping the intruder’s shirt, holding him above the edge, Cal freezes. He meets brown eyes and suddenly can’t breathe, gaze drifting to the cord around the taller man’s neck. His gloveless fingers just barely skim the material, Force signatures exploding in front of his eyes.

And suddenly, he can see it. He can see himself, painstakingly painting that symbol onto the metal and bartering for a cord. He sees an older Caleb sobbing in the quiet of an unfamiliar room, clutching that necklaces like a lifeline.

“Did you—?”

“Love him? I did.”

A shaky breath passes his lips.

“Caleb?” he asks, voice breaking on the name that’s so unfamiliar on his tongue.

The grip on his wrist loosens.

Kanan hears the woman’s voice, clear as day, but he almost doesn’t believe it at first. He almost doesn’t believe when he hears that whispered question. Caleb. It’s the name of a stranger and yet—yet when that robe’s hood slips off to reveal red hair and bright green eyes, he feels like he’s never known any other name.

“Cal?”

The Force wasn’t calling him to the Vault. It was calling him to its guardian.

Silence falls, the rest of the world fading away. All they’ve been through, all they’ve seen, and it all stops in this moment. It all adds up to this.

Cal lets go of his shirt, letting him balance precariously at the top of the muddy slope down from the Vault. Neither of them speaks—neither of them knows what to feel, except bright, unparalleled joy.

Cal doesn’t let himself flinch when Caleb reaches, his fingers just barely skimming his cheek.

He doesn’t get much further. Green smoke encompasses his body and before Cal knows it, his best friend is being flung from the Vault entrance to the platform beyond, screaming as he goes. The platform beyond, where the Oggdo used to reside, is covered in flowers. It was there that Cal planted his little sapling in a boot and there that the plant spread, covering almost every inch of land with budding blue and yellow flowers.

Cal whirls around to see Merrin, her eyes glowing green.

“Merrin, no!” he protests, eyes wide with desperation. “That’s Caleb!”

Merrin’s glowing fades as she glances at the nearby Lasat and her friend’s horrified face. “My mistake,” she says in that tone that says she knows exactly who he is.

(They were taking too long to speak, in her opinion.)

Cal huffs at her before getting a running start toward the entrance, using the Force to balance himself as he slides down that muddied slope, sailing right toward Caleb. Near the end, he leaps into the air, propelling himself a mere few feet from his collapsed companion.

“Caleb!” he cries, stumbling the last few steps and falling to his knees, where Caleb is face-down in the damp grass, his hair-tie mysteriously missing.

Caleb is—well, he’s okay. He’s just...wheezing with laughter.

He pushes himself up on his elbows and flips over just as Cal makes it to him, his chest heaving with the effort. And still, he laughs, a half-mad sound.

“Are you o—?” Cal is cut off by his own yelp when Caleb flings himself up from the ground and pulls Cal with him.

He embraces the redhead, dragging them both to their feet so he can swing Cal around. Cal shrieks and hitches his legs up on his hips, as difficult as that is with the man’s height—the bastard, he grew. He reaches desperately for Caleb’s shoulders to hold onto when they spin, completely unaware of Cere and the rest of Caleb’s group appearing on the platform.

Finally, Caleb stops, looking up at Cal with shining eyes and a smile that could kill a man. Cal leans forward, letting his forehead fall against his and breathing out a sigh of relief.

“I thought the Inquisitors had you,” Caleb whispers, a thousand more words in the back of his mind, too many to count.

Cal’s eyes well with tears. “I thought you were dead.”

Caleb has always been more reckless than Cal but the latter was the one to hear his words echo through that necklace, an admission years too late. It’s because of that little echo that Cal buries a hand in the hair that falls to his shoulders and pushes his head upward, meeting him in a searing kiss.

Out of shock, Caleb both squeaks—adorable, Cal thinks—and clutches the back of Cal’s shirt for a moment before dropping him. Luckily, his instinct has him landing on his feet.

The drop pulls him away and, looking up, he sees Caleb looking shell-shocked.

He just grins, grabs the taller man’s shirt, and pulls him in for another kiss, this one saying much more than the first. Caleb plants his feet and buries a hand in Cal’s hair for good measure.

They both ignore Greez cackling in the distance and Sabine’s whispered: “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck —”

Because in that moment, all is right with the galaxy. Cal’s flowers are fully grown and blossoming beneath their feet, Caleb’s robe is waiting for him in the other room, and they have each other again.

And that’s all they’ve ever really wanted, isn’t it?

*

River’s Tags: @hahaboop & @mystoragehatesme

Masterlist

[cruisercrusher]

i totally wanna hear what you have to say abt rebels!! personally im a big fan and ive never seen anyone specifically not like the show so im interested in ur thoughts !!

Ok please keep in mind I do not at all pretend to be unbiased because clone wars is my most favourite thing ever so every Star Wars thing ever gets compared to clone wars it’s like my thing

The core of why I’m not fond of rebels is because to me none of it felt impactful. I’ve actually watched I think 3 out of the 4 seasons, because my d*d made us all watch it as a “family” and imma be real with you chief. Years down the line I struggled to remember the main characters names. Almost none of it actually stuck with me in any meaningful way, someone will mention something that happened in an episode I did watch and I’ll be like damn i have no recollection???? But also like having gone back and taken a second and third look at the show I’ve gotten the impression that even within the show nothing has that much impact, maybe the last season is different idk but it feels very one note to me and at times shallow in the story telling. Nothing sticks, because the characters retain a degree of staticity throughout what I’ve seen, and Disney very clearly had a set formula laid out for how the episodes/arcs would go that left little room for the ballsy storytelling and character development we got from clone wars.

It’s a little disappointing because I think there were things in rebels that had a lot of potential, rebels as a whole had a lot of potential but Disney really put a stranglehold on Dave Filoni and the rest of the creative teams creative ability.

That being said, I really don’t like the animation either. Like, really don’t like it. I feel like it lacks depth and texture, and I don’t like a lot of the character designs, and the backgrounds are a little flat, and the way the characters move is weird to me. They’re just a tad too fluid and a touch too expressive that for me it reads as very uncanny valley, it actually took me out of it sometimes.

(Also the human skin tones all looked kinda off to me I was like I don’t think that’s the right undertone babes that’s too much yellow. Too much yellow babe)

As well as the fact that the animation stayed pretty much exactly the same throughout the series, and had none of the actual real innovation and groundbreaking animation that the clone wars had.

Going back to the story telling, and again, this is Disney’s fault, there were a lot of missed opportunities for them to go really hard. There were a lot of lessons in clone wars (like always question authority, and Capitalism Bad, and War is Futile, and sometimes the people who are supposed to be the good guys aren’t necessarily very good) that Disney is just straight up afraid of. Like clone wars really had a lot of more left leaning themes that is simply too much for the conservative, one percenter, trump supporting Disney executives and shareholders.

An example of this I feel would be when they introduced the clones. If I could have I would have done that arc very differently. And don’t get me wrong, I loved seeing grandpa Rex! But the way those episodes were executed felt a little. Dissatisfying? Maybe not quite disrespectful, but then again imo the story of the clones is THE MOST tragic one in all of Star Wars and those episodes had an element of levity to them that I don’t think fit. That arc could have been really deep and somber (and they could have done at least a little to acknowledge the rampant ptsd the clones must have, especially Wolffe who shot down his general and father figure against his will) yet the script didn’t really do those characters justice at all.

Also, I would have written Sabine’s character very differently. For one, I would have made her at least twenty, because with everything I know about it her it’s baffling that she’s supposedly only like sixteen. Makes zero sense. I don’t get it. Also I would make her a butch lesbian. Like a total mean dyke. We need more of those and I think Sabine could have mean dyke potential.

Now. The inquisitors. Dear lord. Again, could have been really cool, but tHOSE SPINNY LIGHTSABERS DRIVE ME INSANE HOW DO YOU FLY WITH THOSE IT SHDHJSJFJD FORGET THATS NOT HOW THE FORCE WORKS, THATS NOT HOW PHYSICS WORKS!!!!

Barbie life in the dream house had better animation because they were actually supposed to look plastic. Also, rebels yoda haunts my nightmares.

And I specifically don’t like Ahsoka’s character design either. I like her outfit but she looks less like Ahsoka to me and more like Ahsoka’s cousin. Her skull is a different shape. Why is it a different shape? Did she have jaw transplant surgery? Where is the consistency. We literally see an older version of Ahsoka during the mortis arc and she actually looks like herself (and looks really cool!) but Rebels Ahsoka looks nothing like that? I don’t understand. It makes my brain hurt to think about it

Alright, I’ve said a lot of negative things, so here’s a positive: I really appreciate Chopper. I just love chaotic astromech droids who feel nothing but unbridled bloodlust at all times. It is so funny. I appreciate him

And, bearing in mind I haven’t seen the whole episode (because I don’t want to) mostly just gift sets and clips, but the episode where Maul finally finds Obi-Wan on tatooine and they have their final duel?? Very cool concept, lots of potential, I just wish the lightsabers weren’t so SKINNY WHY ARE THEY SO SKINNYYYYYYY

I think that’s about everything? Barring the fact that for the longest damn time I thought none of the characters had fingernails because I mistook Ezra’s layered gloves for fingerless gloves and thought he didn’t have fingernails and that freaked me out? Yeah I think that’s about all my thoughts. I tried to have as little blantantly comparing to clone wars as I could because that’s not exactly fair, of course rebels was never going to be on the same level as clone wars. When it comes to well done cartoons I think it’s like. Way up at the top tier is Atla then clone wars in second place, and then literally everything else is wayyyy below it because that’s just how it is tbh. Anyways hope this satiated your curiosity!

[phosphorescent-naidheachd]

I saw TROS earlier today and, well, it was definitely a Star Wars sequel movie, for better and for worse. I can see why some people on my dash hated this movie and why some of them loved it. I can also see why some of them threw their hands into the air over it and shrugged. (FYI, I’m in the third category.) More scattered and spoiler-laden thoughts below the cut:

--“Never underestimate a droid.” This line would have been so much more meaningful if the spy had turned out to be a First Order droid rather than Hux. A droid that had broken free of its programming, just like Finn (and later Jannah and the other unnamed former stormtroopers). But as always, the Droid Revolution that we deserve is probably never going to be a thing, at least not onscreen where it counts.

--Just like TFA, the copy-and-pasting from the Original Trilogy was painfully obvious, but what was forgivable in the first film of a new trilogy is less so in said trilogy’s concluding film. 

--Trần Loan/Rose deserved more screentime and prominence. And did we really have to turn Poe into a former spice runner? Really? *sighs heavily*

--Zorii Bliss felt sort of shoehorned in? I didn’t hate her, but it felt like TPTB only introduced her to give Poe another person to flirt with. And I say this as someone who was not expecting PoeFinn or any other LGBTQIAP+ relationship between named characters to be made canon in this movie at all. Hopefully fans will give her more depth in fic!

--Jannah was really interesting and I would have loved to see more of her. Once again, hopefully fans will take her character and deepen/explore it in fic.

--LANDO! 

--Finn was all but explicitly confirmed as Force sensitive, and it’s What He Deserves. 

--I mean, Finn also deserved his own storyline and a stronger conclusion to his character arc in this film, especially considering he was promoted as one of the leads of the sequel trilogy. But while I’m irked that he was relegated to a side character, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming, especially after TLJ. 

--Likewise, I knew Reyl0 was going to be a thing after TLJ. I found their relationship less grating than Anida1a in the prequels, but it still didn’t do much of anything for me in this film. Do I understand from an objective POV why some people enjoy it so much? Yep. It’s the grand, tortured, Byronic Romance™, where it isn’t really about whether the characters have anything in common or even like each other, it’s about their near-mystical connection and their inability (and lack of true desire) to be rid of it; it’s about the lengths to which they will go for each other/themselves; it’s about the powerful man who is emotionally vulnerable and eager to serve his True Love at the expense of all else. It’s also the whole enemies-to-lovers trope, and so on. I understand the appeal of this mashup intellectually, it’s just not my cup of tea here. YMMV and all that, and that’s as it should be.

--Palpatine back from death is as ridiculous here as it was in the old EU, but I can roll with it. I think the movie made the right decision not to explain all the nitty-gritty details of how he cheated death or manipulated the whole Snoke deal... ultimately, it doesn’t really matter, y’know? Ditto to Rey Palpatine lol.

--Leia’s death felt pretty narratively cheap to me, but I understand that there was only so much TPTB could do with the footage they already had of Carrie Fisher in costume. Still, poor Leia. She drew a deeply shitty hand in life, didn’t she?

--That said, it was nice to see Leia training as a Jedi in flashbacks, however briefly. (Is it just me, or did her saber hilt vaguely resemble Obi-Wan’s?) Does it make a lot less sense that she would then send Ben away to Luke if she’s had Jedi training? Yes. Can I created headcanons to explain this? Also yes. And do I really care about this particular inconsistency when there are far worse ones out there and this one makes dudebro sections of the fandom spitting mad? NOPE.

--I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not inherently against the redemption of Kylo/Ben. But, as I had suspected/feared, they “redeemed” him at the narrative expense of other characters I personally find more interesting... and they still didn’t manage to make said redemption feel narratively earned to me. Is there undoubtedly ancillary material in SW books and comics that give more background behind Kylo/Ben’s turn to the Dark Side and eventual turn back to the Light? Yes. Do I want to read it? Not really, no. Also, unless something happens onscreen in the SW universe, it doesn’t really count as true canon. So it’s disappointing that the movie shoved other characters and plots to the side to make room for Kylo/Ben’s redemption arc and then didn’t even do a good job with it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--Also, of course TPTB had Kylo/Ben die saving someone rather than narratively deal with what it means to work towards redemption after having done lots of terrible things, and having to recover from having been manipulated/groomed by Sidious. Not surprised in the slightest.

--I would have preferred a Stormtrooper Rebellion storyline, but I’m not going to blast TROS or the sequel trilogy for being what it is rather than what I wanted it to be. I will, however, blast it for its sloppy execution of its existing storylines. Which leads to my next point...

--Even though TROS was long, it still felt rushed and, like the first two movies in this trilogy, it felt largely disconnected from the other sequel trilogy films. The Star Wars Story Group really should have planned this trilogy out better. If TPTB were going to go with two different directors/writers, they should have made sure said directors/writers were on the same page rather than seemingly fighting each other’s visions of what the overarching story should be at every step.  

--I’m willing to handwave a lot of stuff that happens in TROS, mainly because I’m long past expecting coherence from this franchise... or pretty much any major franchise, tbh. (For instance: Thousands of people show up to aid the Resistance when Lando calls them but not when Leia did in TLJ? OK. Force Ghost Luke shows up to catch Rey’s lightsaber but not to help her against Palpatine? Sure.) These issues don’t really make or break the series for me, so I can work with them with a minimum of grumbling. Which isn’t quite the same thing as letting TPTB off the hook for their laziness and inconsistencies.

--Honestly, I hate to say it, but it would have made for a stronger story if Chewie had died aboard the ship when Rey and Kylo/Ben were fighting over it; that would have driven home the consequences of Rey’s lack of control and lessened the artificiality of the stakes in this movie. But I get that this is ultimately a family film, so it’s more of a minor quibble than anything else.

--It’s kind of weird that Rey’s hair is back in the three buns again for the entirety of TROS after she wore her hair differently for almost all of TLJ. But that’s a fairly minor quibble too, and one of the sort I can easily create a headcanon to explain. Actually, come to think of it, I wonder if they didn’t do this at least partially to be able to recycle some of the unused TFA clips with Leia and Rey?

--Frankly, I’m not sure why Rey suddenly cared so much about what Luke thought, considering A. he was a huge jerk to her for most of TLJ, and B. she seemed to have broken with following his advice towards the end of TLJ. And since she didn’t have a great relationship with Luke, it seems weird that she’d take his last name. Shouldn’t she have gone with Organa or even Solo, if she’s naming herself after a mentor? But whatever, I get that it’s about the symbolism more than the character or logic. And I can create headcanons to explain all of this.

--It’s a little weird that there wasn’t any more resolution to Kylo/Ben’s storyline and Rey’s feelings about it after his death. But with Leia dead, I guess there isn’t anyone left who’d especially care if Kylo/Ben turned back to the Light aside from Rey herself. Still, there should have been something more. Especially since Ben didn’t show up as a Force Ghost alongside Luke and Leia on Tatooine.

--While I’m at it, I wish we could have had a minute’s conversation with Rey telling Finn about her heritage, if only because I think he would have understood. But I wish we could have learned more about Finn’s heritage (which didn’t need to be a known SW lineage, btw) too, so... 

--For that matter, I wish we could have had Finn get a chance to tell Rey about his being Force Sensitive, which might have made her feel slightly less alone. I wish we could have seen Finn figure out what being Force Sensitive meant to him. And so on.

--Not sure where people are getting the idea that Lando & Jannah were flirting, because I didn’t read their interaction that way at all.

--General Poe and General Finn were great, but also sort of felt unearned after the events of TLJ.

--The abilities that come from being part of a Dyad are overpowered and a little silly, but hey, they’re also following a long-established SW tradition of overpowered silliness, so... *shrugs*

--Confused as to why Rey suddenly killed Kylo/Ben when she did?? I mean, if it was because she was angry Leia had just died, wouldn’t that be acting from the Dark Side and shouldn’t that have, idk, narrative consequences for her?

--I don’t see why some people loved or hated Rey’s ending so much. It’s pretty open, IMO, just like the endings for all of the surviving characters. Who says Rey is going to stay on Tatooine or be alone there, after all? For all we know, she just stopped there for a few days to bury the lightsabers, grieve for Kylo/Ben, and meditate. For all we know, Finn or one of her other friends from the Resistance is going to drop in any moment now. Heck, for all we know, one of her friends is hanging out inside the Falcon where we can’t see them, giving her a little space. (Was her friendship with Finn and Poe depicted pretty shallowly in this movie? Yeah. But so was her relationship with Kylo/Ben tbh, even with the Dyad Force bond thingamajig.) Rey has a whole world of choices available to her. Does it suck that we didn’t get to see that onscreen? Yeah. Does it mean she’s doomed to be eternally lonely as a hermit on a desert planet? Not in the slightest.

--Someone really needs to tell the writers of these big franchises that using ring structure is pointless if there isn’t meaning behind it. There’s nothing inherently significant about repeating events or revisiting locations. 

--Overall, I felt pretty meh about TROS. I didn’t love it or hate it. As with any movie in a series, there’s good stuff to be mined from it, and bad stuff to be handwaved away or given headcanon explanations. But mostly, I just can’t dredge up the energy to care very much. And I’m not in the mood for TROS fix-it fanfiction so much as I am TROS crack fics. 

--I haven’t talked about everything that worked or didn’t work for me in TROS here, but if you have any questions, I’m always happy to answer them to the best of my abilities!

[comprosedreviews-blog]

Wednesday with Colleen!

Eyyyyoooooo! It’s Wednesday which means REVIEW TIME! Yay!

Today’s Review: Wild Space by Karen Miller 

Genre: Science Fiction/ Star Wars 

(Yes another Star Wars book because Star Wars is ridiculous sometimes all the time and I can talk about it for hours) 

My Rating: 4.5/10 Goodreads Rating: 3.8/5

Okay okay so right off the bat I’m going to tell you I have a love/hate relationship with this book. This is going to be a completely honest and no-holds-barred review. I love it because half of it is good and the other half is complete trash. There I said it. 

This book takes place right smack dab in the middle of the Clone Wars. Here’s the backcover summary: 

“The Separatists have launched a sneak attack on Coruscant. Obi-Wan Kenobi, wounded in battle, insists that Anakin Skywalker and his rookie Padawan Ahsoka leave on a risky mission against General Grievous. But when Senator Bail Organa reveals explosive intelligence that could turn the tide of war in the Republic’s favour, the Jedi Master agrees to accompany him to an obscure planet on the Outer Rim to verify the facts. What Obi-Wan and Bail don’t realize is that they’re walking into a deadly trap concocted by Palpatine... and that escape may not be an option.” 

Summary courtesy of Disney Lucasfilm Press

Because who doesn’t love a winking, tea-drinking Obi-Wan?

Why I love this novel: 

Alright alright, let’s start with the good stuff. A little confession: I am a complete sucker for Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi stuff (fanfiction included. Judge me if you must but I don’t care). This book is literally ALL hurt Obi-Wan. From start to finish, our poor Obi-Wan is thrown into the meat mincer both physically and emotionally. Also, the character development between Obi-Wan and Bail is amazing. Bail is such an underdeveloped character in the films/other novels. In this book he has motivation, emotional appeals, honest conversation, and humour. He is strong, smart, talented, and badass. 

—————————— Spoilers Below

————————————————————————–

Bail literally hauls Obi-Wan’s injured arse halfway across a planet. That takes dedication. He also sees the incredible duress the Jedi are under and acknowledges that they are peacekeepers not warmongers. They were just thrown into a conflict they had no desire to be a part of and expected to take command. That would be like me being forced to take over Monica’s presidency on her mock trial team with no experience. It was would disastrous for both of us but somehow the Jedi are managing pretty well in their corner of the galaxy. And I do concede, Bail was kind of an idiot but going with Obi-Wan to Zigoola (which on a completely unrelated note, totally has to win for the greatest planet name everrrrr). I mean it’s a freaking Sith planet, WHAT WERE EITHER OF THEM THINKING???? But also, Bail was incredibly brave for volunteering to go on that mission because he’s a senator. He literally works a desk job (and again the recurring theme of badass senatorial workers presents itself). Obi-Wan is quite literally put through hell in this book and continues to be overly Extra™ about it. Anyone who can’t see where Anakin got his Extra™ from needs to reread/watch everything because it’s so obvious.

Here’s one little hint if you can’t figure it out:

Obi-Wan and Bail also squabble like an old married couple for half the book which makes the book’s insufferable scenes just a little bit better knowing that’s there. For example:

“..I want your word you won’t try any of your Jedi mind tricks on me.

Kenobi’s eyes chilled. “I beg your pardon?” 

“Please. Don’t insult my meager, privileged intelligence. I have access to certain... classified material. When it’s convenient, or expedient, you Jedi... influence... people.” Bail let his urbane, polished mask slip then. Let Kenobi cfatch the merest glimpse of what he kept hidden. “But I give you fair warning: attempt to influence me against my will and I’ll show you what exploiting privilege looks like.” 

Kenobi nodded. “Senator.” No reluctant respect now. They were back to hauteur. 

Arrogant man. Insufferable Jedi. 

“So do I have your word?” He persisted. “No funny business?” 

Kenobi nodded. “You have it.” 

(Miller 227) 

Oh yes, you read that right. BAIL DUG UP DIRT ON THE JEDI JUST SO HE COULD FIRE BACK AT OBI-WAN. THIS MAN IS A GOD. 

Why I don’t like this book:

Ha. There’s so many reasons why. Let’s start with the big one. THIS BOOK READS A LOT LIKE A POORLY WRITTEN FANFICTION. Anakin and Padme are written pretty terribly. I mean they literally are the most un-subtle (is that even a word?) people in the galaxy in this book. Anakin is about as clever as a doorknob in this. He is super rude to Ahsoka, his padawan who is just trying to learn about life while BEING IN A WAR. Anakin is love-crazed and Obi-Wan obsessed in this. He literally questions Obi-Wan so much that it causes Obi-Wan to have a RELAPSE OF HIS INJURIES. LIKE WTF ANAKIN THAT’S TOO FAR??? HE’S YOUR BEST FRIEND AND YOU JUST EFFING CAUSED HIM TO HAVE LIKE A SEIZURE?????? THAT DEFINITELY DOES NOT SEEM LIKE FRIENDSHIP TO ME???????? AND PADME???? DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON HER? SHE IS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OVERLY DRAMATIC.

CHILL OUT PADME YOU’RE NOT GOING FOR A DAYTIME EMMY HERE YOU’RE JUST TALKING TO OBI-WAN. Obi-Wan tells her that she’s not allowed to see Anakin and she just cannot accept that. She gets all huffy and gives Obi-Wan the cold shoulder. Like Padme, he’s just following the rules. Calm down. You’re not allowed to see Anakin, idk because YOU’RE NOT HIS FAMILY MEMBER????? 

Padme and Obi-Wan get into this hissy fit worthy of an episode of a soap opera: 

“So,” she said, her heart pounding. “You blame Anakin for what happened.” 

Obi-Wan stood and half turned away from her. “I did not come here to rehash the events on Geonosis. That is Jedi business, not yours.”

“Then get to the point or return to the Temple, Obi-Wan,” she retorted. “I didn’t invite you here. And I’ve permitted you to stay as a courtesy, no more.” 

Slowly he turned back to her. His face was pale, his clear blue eyes darkened with difficult emotions. “The point is there can be no hope for anything but a civil cordiality between you and Anakin, Senator. He has made a commitment to the Jedi Order. His life is with us. To dream otherwise is folly.”

She felt a shimmer of rage in her blood, like heat haze dancing on the Tatooine desert. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Don’t take me for a fool, Padme!” he snapped. “Of course you do. He has feelings for you. Strong feelings that cloud his judgment and make him disobedient to the Order. Are you going to pretend you don’t have similar feelings for him?” 

“My feelings are my own affair!”

“Not when they involve a Jedi!”

Breathing harshly, they glared at each other. If she could see pain in him, surely he could see it in her too.

...

Again Obi-Wan stood, and this time he walked away. “If I did not... love... him,” he said, his voice unsteady, his back turned, “I would not be here now.”

She leapt to her feet. “Then I think you and I define love very differently. I will never do anything to hurt Anakin. Can you say the same, Obi-Wan?”

He swung around, his eyes blazing. “That’s a stupid, childish thing to say!” 

(Miller 29-31)

When I read this part for the first time, I sighed super loudly and had to set the book down because I could not handle the melodrama. And that’s just in the first THIRTY PAGES. There are 311 more pages of that kind of melodrama. It’s laid on thick and murky. Normally I can read a book of this size in a day. It took me a whole week to read this one because I could only read it in little chunks without getting overwhelmed by the bad drama. I guarantee this book would be about 100 pages if they cut out half of the melodrama. The only reason I was able to actually finish reading it is because of the scenes on Zigoola. That’s it. I couldn’t handle any of the scenes on Coruscant because it was just drama, drama, drama. 

This book needs to have a subtitle:

Also, if you haven’t read the Snark Wars post(s) that @forcearama made for this book, you are seriously missing out. Like I’m not even joking, she deserves to work at Lucasfilm making sure that the writers actually think about what they’re writing before they write it. All of her posts amazing and Wild Space parts one through four are found here. 

This concludes today’s review, enjoy reading! 

Helping you navigate through the oceans of books in the world, this is Colleen, signing off.

(Here’s a bonus gif of Obi-Wan because you can never have too much Obi-Wan)

[skywvlked]

1-5

(1. What is the biggest headcanon deviation from the canon material that you have incorporated into the way you write your muse? Why did you come up with it?)

i think i actively focus on his struggle with the dark side more than canon does (at least so far, eyezooms at the tlj promo material,) along with all his conflict around obi-wan and yoda lying to him and the revelations about vader and his survivor’s guilt over the death star and losing his family and biggs and - idk, i generally deviate in the sense that i give weight to heavy emotional shit that tends to get brushed over in the OT, where independent character consequences are practically unaddressed compared to the grander scale of the conflict. i feel like i kind of write OT luke more like he’s a character in rogue one, in a way.

i don’t think this is a direct answer to the question, so.. other than that, headcanoning him as primarily attracted to men is a big difference, i guess? his long standing love for biggs and his brief crush on han do especially impact how i write him around anh, so i guess that’s that. and i came up with it because……. star wars is gay, all of it

(2. Do you have any controversial headcanons that go against what is generally accepted by the fandom? Do you incorporate this into writing your muse or keep it to yourself?)

i very firmly headcanon that he never married after the OT, and specifically that he’d basically never have biological kids because he’d never want to run the risk of bringing another child into the world and leaving them orphaned. if he was going to have kids, he would adopt war orphans or kids out of slavery, not have a biological child at a point where there’s any chance his family could be in danger (and when would they not? he’s luke fucking skywalker.) and he’d certainly never have a child and then abandon them alone in slavery, especially not when the same damn planet had a village full of people he knew and trusted who would have been much more suited to taking care of his child if he absolutely had to send them away for their safety like ten years before the main threat to him happened. not naming any names here.

another thing that’s unpopular, if not controversial, is that i really stand by the mortis trilogy as important with regards to the skywalker family legacy. when it’s explicitly stated in that ep that anakin was meant to become the father, and he goes onto have a twin son and daughter… look, i can’t not see that as meaningful.

and yeah, i do incorporate both of these a lot. the former especially is really key to how i read luke’s character.

(3. What is something that was never addressed at all in the canon material that you have independently developed for your muse?)

his injuries after rotj and how that affects him is entirely my own creation! i researched and wrote up everything myself based on absolutely nothing in canon because sith lightning is… kind of consistently portrayed as not actually having any lasting effects and that pisses me off, so i decided to put hours into properly researching lightning injuries to figure out how luke might’ve been affected. the ways that it would mirror anakin’s injuries on mustafar added to it the more i worked on the concept, and it’s ended up being a really prominent feature in luke’s state of mind as of the end of rotj.

also, recently i’ve got his affair with brennan vega (who’s an original character himself lmao) but i haven’t written out much of that development on here yet and need to do more of that. i think part of me is holding out that i’ll somehow get a star wars novel published and can make this canon but disney are cowards and won’t give us mlm luke

(4. Have you made any outright changes to the canon material in order to write your muse the way you wanted (entire scenes you chose to omit, chapters you say never existed, things you assume were never said, etc.)?)

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

luke was not sexually attracted to leia.

(5. What is an aspect of your muse’s canon material or canon existence that you never had the opportunity to explore but really want to?)

i’d like to go more into his childhood and adolescence on tatooine and his culture generally. i’d love to have him interacting with other tatooinian/amavikka people within the alliance (though i don’t know any other rpers who write in fialleril’s ‘verse, which is a shame because OH MY GOD) or have a chance to share his culture with leia, and this is something that i generally want to do but listen: luke definitely went back to tatooine and freed all the slaves that remained (after leia killed jabba and toppled the first domino of the hutt slave trade) in anakin’s name. i want to write that stuff so bad.

ALSO: just more alliance stuff in general! i’d really like to have more opportunity to develop luke’s place within the alliance as a military outside of his own personal arc. i always bring this up but i want to deal with his more questionable (terrible) military choices and the fact that despite his talent as a fighter and as a leader he STRUGGLES to work as a single part of a large unit where the group comes before the individual. luke is not a particularly selfish person at his core, but he’s not exclusively selfless either, and choices like his decision to desert under fire to go off to dagobah for an indefinite period of time without so much as telling anyone he’s alive come from the fact that he’s in an environment that he was never trained for. he’s not like cassian, for example, who grew up in the rebellion; luke never really learned how to be a soldier. AND I WANT TO DEVELOP THIS MORE IF THAT RANT DIDN’T MAKE THAT CLEAR

[eleutheriana-archive]

I just watched a video from Star Wars Theory about what might happen if Anakin killed Obi-wan on Mustafar, then Palpatine, and became the Emperor, but i didn't like the story they set up for Padme, so i figured there is no one better than you to ask: If Anakin became the Emperor, how would Padme react, and what would she do?

i just want you to know i saw this before i ate breakfast and got online and i’ve been highkey crying about it since then and i didn’t want to touch it until i had enough coffee. but like ??? i’m ???? ‘no better than you to ask’.

me: starts fucking bawling

I’M JUST !!! THANK YOU !!! SO MUCH !! FOR TRUSTING ME TO DO OUR GIRL SOME JUSTICE

but okay !! onto the question –––– if anakin had killed obi-wan and palpatine and crowned himself emperor, what would have padmé done ?

so let’s start at the beginning of the mustafar scene with this one, because i need to go into this in a meta somewhere and i think this is the perfect time to talk about it. i’ve mentioned this before here and there in passing but there was a scrapped part of rots where padmé gave birth before mustafar and then effectively went after darth vader with a knife, which is normally what i consider to be canon for my padmé verses where she doesn’t die in childbirth, and like….padmé pulling a knife on anakin on mustafar is pretty much canon for my padmé regardless. the reason for this ––––– i’ve talked a lot before about how padmé feels RESPONSIBLE for anakin in a lot of respects, and knowing that she, in a way, caused his fall into the dark side….she’s going to feel responsible for the monster he’s made himself into, and she’s going to feel like it’s her responsibility to kill him. this isn’t an act of hatred or anger. this is an act of love. padmé loves her husband, she loves anakin, and she knows that deep down the man she fell in love with would not want to see himself become this monster. padmé’s mentality here is a matter of ‘i made him into this, i have to unmake him. i owe him that.’ so like keep that mentality in mind while you read this. padmé feels like she made darth vader. it is her responsibility to unmake vader. 

so we open on mustafar, we’re going to say for the sake of argument here that padmé has not yet given birth. she runs down to try and talk anakin down, it doesn’t work, vader takes over, and while embracing him, she pulls out a vibrodagger and tries to end that motherfucker. also doesn’t work, because he’s a sith lord now and padmé, god bless her, is not force sensitive, and does not have jedi reflexes. vader chokes her to the point of unconsciousness with the mentality that he’ll come back for her and the child when he’s done with obi-wan ( and if that sentence doesn’t fill you with the blessed and holy spirit of perpetual yikes idk what will ) and then goes to duel obi-wan. in this universe, obi-wan dies at vader’s hand. 

WHILE THIS IS GOING ON: padmé has woken up from being unconscious, manages to stumble back onto the ship. somewhere in this process, her water breaks. this is important, because SHE WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT OBI-WAN ON MUSTAFAR OTHERWISE. it’s VITAL for padmé’s survival that she gets off mustafar before the duel ends, but she would not leave obi-wan there unless she goes into labor. obi-wan is one of her best friends, she trusts obi-wan with her life, and she would not leave him ––– unless her child is in more pressing danger. 

so she leaves mustafar and hates herself for it, is probably sobbing the entire time because not only is her husband dead, but she’s just left her friend to certain death, and her baby’s on the way and there’s literally nothing she can do to stop any of this, but it’s really important to note –––– SHE GETS IT DONE. 

she probably makes it to the rendezvous point on polis massa with like contractions less than two minutes apart and six centimeters dilated but the point here is that she makes it. she gives birth to luke and leia, which is a long and grueling process, and she’s highkey in shock and about to crush bail’s hand, but because vader isn’t dying and palpatine isn’t leeching off her life force, padmé doesn’t die in labor.

now, this is probably around the time they find out obi-wan didn’t make it. i’m assuming, for the sake of ease with this storyline, that anakin/vader goes straight back to palpatine, some exposition happens there that i’m less concerned about because this isn’t about that, it’s about padmé, and anakin/vader kills palpatine. now, vader’s named himself emperor, is probably ready to hunt down his child and his wife, dead or alive, and padmé is. not. about. this. fucking. business. the reason luke and leia had been separated was because it would be harder for the empire to find them, and i stand by that in a verse where palpatine survives and is ruling the galaxy with an iron fist, but in a world where it’s vader vs his wife ? nope. it’ll be a cold day in space hell before padmé lets anyone take her children away from her. 

FIRST ORDERS OF BUSINESS: get her family off naboo and find sanctuary for herself and her children. vader has enough of anakin left in him to know that the naberrie family is the first place to look for information, and padmé knows that, so she would get her family off planet first and foremost. while i’m attached to the idea of padmé hiding on alderaan, it’s not the smartest move, given that her friendship with bail and breha is public knowledge. now, knowing what padmé knows about anakin, she’s not going to take them to tatooine. while anakin would never want to set foot on that planet again, owen and beru are still there, and padmé doesn’t have the added security of sand straight up destroying vader’s suit in this verse. so with all that in mind, she’d find a remote planet, something that they do not have personal history on. somewhere like dantooine. she’d follow mon mothma and the rebellion, with luke strapped to her back and leia strapped to her chest, and work as a leader of the rebellion against the empire that her former husband is now the head of. 

the main difference here is that ANAKIN WOULD STOP AT NOTHING TO FIND HIS CHILDREN AND HIS WIFE. and padmé would rather set herself on fire than see him ever come near their children. she’d probably move around more and hide significantly more. she’d use an alias, and her priority would always be her children. she’d be hell bent on taking vader down, because, again, this is her responsibility, but luke and leia’s safety would remain, always, her priority. ( if i’m being honest she’s probably the one on the ship that gets the death star plans and then confronts vader directly with the same vibrodagger she tried to kill him with nineteen years prior and it all comes full circle but anyway !!!!!! ) 

so yeah that’s how i feel like her life would go thank you for letting me ramble about this i love you.