#justice for barriss offee

[inquisitor-apologist]

Noooo Filoni when I fucking get you!!!! Must you always demonize one of the only Muslim-coded characters??????

[jedimasterbailey]

The Barriss Offee we deserved to see in canon 💙

Cover art for Medstar: Jedi Healer by Dave Seeley

[reislesbian]

[sabellart]

[short-wooloo]

I didn't think of this when I made my post about what I want from Rey's Jedi Order movie, but Barriss should absolutely be in it, have her be and elderly Jedi Healer (Barriss is anywhere between 15-17 years old at the start of the clone wars in 22 bby, so by the time of when this new movie is set-50 aby-she should be in her late 80s-early 90s), shoe that she found her way out of the darkness, that what happened to her was a misstep (in and out of universe) in her path, that she regained her faith and light, that she became what she was always meant to be before she was taken the wrong way

And more importantly, showing her as having returned to the light and alive 50 years after ANH means she'll be "locked down", so to speak, no writers will be able to do more terrible things to her (fuck you filoni), and better yet they'll be obligated to have her return to the light if they want to use her

@devondeal @jedimasterbailey

[jedimasterbailey]

I think we can also see this as “who does Dave Feloni give a shit about?” argument. It’s no secret that Ahsoka is his baby and will do anything to shove Ahsoka in literally every single Star Wars project ever even when she has no business being in. Furthermore Feloni claims that Anakin is the greatest Jedi ever which is absolutely insanity (don’t come for me I love both Anakin and Ahsoka but they’re not perfect by any means and that’s okay characters should be flawed). So of course he’s going to prop up HIS favorite characters and take a dump on the characters that didn’t come out of his mind. There’s clearly some racism and misogyny going on here when it comes to the Mirialans and other female characters in Star Wars. The Legends books (i.e “The Approaching Storm” and the “Medstar” books) as well as the Barriss short story in the canon Jedi and Sith book prove that Luminara and Barriss share a loving relationship (and I’m way too tired to fight the Weapons Factory argument I’ve made plenty posts and responses to why it’s not true that Luminara is apathetic) , it’s just obviously not a priority in the shows and films.

So…I propose that Lucasfilm shows us why Barriss and Luminara were torn apart all the time rather than together like Anakin and Ahsoka and show the Mirialans as people not villains. Let’s also not forget that while Anakin was a good teacher for Ahsoka and yes she was able to survive Order 66 from his unorthodox training; he still becomes Vader and inflicts trauma onto Ahsoka later.

currently thinking about Barriss as a foil for Ahsoka in TCW is such a good example of the nature vs. nurture argument. they had basically the exact same upbringing until they were 14 or so, whenever each of them became a Padawan.

and then in TCW we see Ahsoka with this whole support system or people who love and care about her!! Anakin and Rex and Padmé and Plo and Obi-Wan and more!! and they tell her and/or show her that they care about her!!

and then Barriss has no one, aside from her friendship with Ahsoka. Luminara cares about Barriss to an extent, and she’s certainly not malicious, but she acts at best apathetic toward Barriss. (of course Luminara is just following the Jedi Code as she sees it, but still.) it’s most evident in the Geonosis arc when Luminara is basically ready to just leave Barriss for dead, while Anakin never gives up on Ahsoka. but it goes beyond just Luminara — in TCW, we never see Barriss close to anyone else.

so Barriss is the one who becomes a “villain.” I’m absolutely a Barriss defender, so I don’t want to call her that, but that’s obviously what the writers intended. she turns on the Jedi (understandably) and she turns on Ahsoka. she’s not inherently a bad person, she just didn’t get the love and support she needed, whereas Ahsoka did :(

[weregonnabecoolbeans]

BARRISS! BARRISS OFFEE MY LOVE!!!

[jedimasterbailey]

The concept of Jedi Master Katri (referenced in episode three of Tales of the Jedi) being Luminara Unduli’s Master who later became Barriss Offee’s Master still has not left my mind. I’d want them to be known as the Luminous Lineage and for it to be a line of all Mirialan women dating back hundreds of years. It’s too bad this idea will most likely never be touched as women and POC will continue to be snubbed with Feloni and his goons in charge.

[inquisitor-apologist]

I think the Ahsoka show should have flashbacks that completely decanonize the Wrong Jedi Arc. Ahsoka left the Jedi Order for reasons completely unrelated to Barriss Offee, her crush who did not bomb the Jedi Temple.

[klazje]

my thoughts about tales of the empire:

barriss offee arc was fire and she was done justice after the shit show that tcw put her through

thrawn looks so fucking good in the tcw style

NON BINARY JEDI!!!!!!!!!!

what the hell is going on with the timeline

do not let dave filoni anywhere NEAR a writers room and thrawn

WHERE IS ELI VANTO? IS HE SAFE? IS HE ALRIGHT?

[abduloki]

Became a Jedi for his sense of justice to free his mother and other slaves suffering the same fate as her.

Unable to free her or even save her because the Republic dictates where the Jedi Council should go.

Can you imagine how frustrated and powerless he felt when he arrived too late to save his dying mother?

She's the reason he wanted to be a Jedi. Now that she's gone, he's lost, unleashing his anger on the Tusken Raiders.

Trained his padawan, Ahsoka, to ensure she becomes a better Jedi than he ever could be, seeing her as his redemption.

Almost lost her when she was framed by Barriss Offee and expelled from the Council for the bombings of the Temple.

Ahsoka lost faith in the Council she had served for so long , which can't even protect its own and so she left.

Anakin stayed, hoping that the Council will change and he will be the one to change it. Or so he thought.

Despite the soldiers he led, the people he saved, the Council still doesn't trust him and refuse to grant him the rank master.

His soldiers trust and respect him more than the Jedi, extending that courtesy to his padawan, Ahsoka.

After all he had experienced and seen, can you imagine what he feels when fears that he will lose Padme too?

The Council is the last placed he could ask for help and with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka gone, Palpatine is his only hope.

There's probably more than I can remember but you get the point. He doesn't simply fall to the dark side for lust for power.

Something happened.

Things might have been different if Qui Gon Jinn was still alive and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka were still by his side during the last moments.

[jedimasterbailey]

YES! 👏🏻 This is the one story I’ve been begging for and honestly the only one I care to see moving forward. I literally don’t understand how Feloni and his goons could create such a massive hole in Barriss’s and Luminara’s story (not to mention incredibly distasteful but that’s a whole other conversation) and never follow up on it. I have plenty of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, etc. content to last an eternity but absolutely nothing on the Miriralans. Id Dooku could have follow up after two decades then I have to believe Barriss and Luminara still have a chance 💚💙

Next season of Tales of the Jedi if we're keeping up with the master/padawan stories I need to see some of Barriss and Luminara. Cuz like where was luminara at during that wrong jedi arc? Her kid was out here wrecking havoc on the entire jedi order and she was nowhere to be found

[thatforkedroad]

the tearing at her soul

Summary: how Barriss Offee survives order 66

---

It doesn’t take long for the crying and yelping to blend into the background, as if they were as much a part of the prison’s structure as the metallic grey walls or the forcefield reinforced doors. There’s always something happening here, always someone remembering their old life or someone tempting the hand of an overzealous guard. Everyone — prisoners and guards alike — just gets used to the noise and keeps their head down. 

So when Barriss Offee doubles over in pain with a phantom scream locked in her throat, the guards outside don't even react. 

Barriss clutches — scrapes at — her heart as if that might ease the tearing at her soul. At first, she thinks she's dying. She must be. Someone has poisoned her food or pumped the air full of toxins or plunged a secret saber through her chest because there is no other possible explanation, not for the life-rending void bursting through every part of her. She is being autopsied and hollowed out from the inside out and all she can do is cry. 

The prey-animal blood haze passes and Barriss realises she's not dying; the galaxy is. It is being burned to ash and she is feeling every second of its suffering and nobody but her even seems to realise. The pain is not hers but it is so very close and it is bigger than anything Barriss has ever known. She wants to warn the men outside that something is happening, something is coming, but her throat refuses to cooperate. 

After minutes or hours or days, the pain recedes. It dribbles away, like a tsunami returning to its ocean, and in its wake there is an emptiness Barriss cannot name. She does not understand what is lost, not yet, but she knows that something in the galaxy’s structure has been shattered. 

— 

She was told, at the start, that this place was temporary. That’s why there’s so little in the cell, why she is kept in complete isolation. They were going to move her somewhere more secure soon, once they worked out the security plans. A few years ago, she would have spent mere days here. But the war gets in the way of everything — even transfers of dangerous terrorists — and so whatever they planned, it never happens. 

In a way, they were right; she does eventually find herself in a new prison, but she stays in the exact same cell. She’s no longer in Republic prison on Coruscant; she’s in an Imperial one. The changes are gradual; at first it’s the name, next it’s the insignias branded on the walls outside her cell. She notices less and less of the guards are painted maroon, replaced with varying soldiers who have numbers, not nicknames.

It’s one of the new guards she works up the courage to finally ask what happened, what this new Empire is that she hears over the loudspeakers. He doesn’t beat or electrocute her like she expected; he seems more confused by the question than anything. He explains it as if he were explaining a sunset to someone who’d never seen one, like it’s something that everyone should know, something natural. 

Distantly, Barriss thinks he must not know who she is — who she was. He explains in the bluntest, blandest terms and does not make a single comment when he gives a name to the night of her greatest pain. 

The Purge, he calls it. A dark and glorious birthday for the fledgeling Empire. With their strongest enemies dead, the Jedi betrayed the Republic and tried to assassinate the Chancellor — now Emperor. He lived and ordered the loyal Grand Clone Army to enact justice on its so-called peacekeepers. The Jedi are gone and they said the war’s over, but there are still Separatists. There are still campaigns in half the galaxy, but they don’t have rations or power cuts anymore. Aside from that nothing has changed under the Empire, he tells her, before he remembers himself and tells her to quiet down and step away from the cell door. 

Barriss barely hears the command over the thunder of blood in her ears. Nothing has changed. Everything has changed and she had no idea. She didn't agree with what they had become in the war, didn’t agree with the idea of Jedi generals and commanding warriors, but this… 

She knows in her hollowed-out heart that this is not true. The Jedi were made into soldiers, not power-hungry assassins. They could not have fallen this far, not yet. No Jedi would… They were only trying to free themselves from the thing that was eating them, corrupting them like a bled-out kyber. Could nobody see that? 

Barriss shook her head. She knew the Jedi would fall to the Republic one day, she just… didn’t expect it to happen like this. She expected years of solid decay, like the rotting of a living corpse, until the Order could no longer recognise itself. She thought its death would happen over years, maybe even decades. Yet all it took was one night and a knife in the back.

And now everything she fought to save is gone. 

Part of her hisses how dare you mourn, after everything you did to them. How dare you mourn, after everything you did to her. 

She wishes she could listen, but her grief pushes far heavier than her guilt. Instead, she tugs at the torn bonds in her soul, reaches through the empty expanse where ten thousand lives once sung bright, and calls. She calls and calls and screams and howls and calls. 

Nothing calls back. 

Soon enough, she begins to mourn herself. Every time she hears a too-heavy footstep, her heart spikes in panic. They’re coming for her too. The Republic used the Jedi for their power and the Empire killed them for it. Barriss might not be a Jedi now, but she was raised as one. She has that power. She is a threat. She is a loose thread and she must be cut. 

They’re coming for her too. It’s only a matter of time. 

—

She thinks she is less a person and more a thing by now. Hollowed out by isolation and preparation and an overwhelming knowledge of things she should never have had to understand. 

At first she is resigned. She sits and she waits and she watches the door, flinching every time a new food tray clatters in. All she registers is the fear of footsteps and the electric-fast beat of her heart. There is no room in this small, dark cell for anything but panic. 

She continues in this state, somewhere between life and death. She eats only when her stomach calls louder than her terror, moves only 

It’s soon. It has to be soon. 

She barely sleeps, but she dreams one night. It’s the first in months that doesn’t jolt her awake, heaving in a cold sweat. She dreams of the gardens, untouched by death and war, a calm in the middle of the chaotic city. She dreams of the Temple’s quiet, of her master’s instruction, of an orange-skinned and pointy-toothed grin. She dreams. 

She wakes up feeling — feeling, how novel! — a half-washed heartache. She knows they are dead. She knows she will never enter that Temple again, never hear another lesson or another sweet, honey-like laugh. She is going to die like them, this much she knows. But that morning she decides she will face death as her people did, with dignity and in strength. She runs through stances holding nothing. She meditates and ignores the Force’s black silence. It does not make her feel any less a ghost, but it ties her down. She memorises the guards’ shift changes and their footsteps, one-two-heavy down the hall. 

She does not hope. She does not expect anything to come of her memorisation, but there is nothing else to do but listen. 

— 

In the end, all that memorisation is for nothing. 

She blinks against the hallway light when they finally open her cell, wincing at the change in environment. A prim officer holding a datapad comes into focus, followed by a small squad of troopers. 

Barriss stills. She thinks this is it. They’ve come for me. 

But the troopers keep their guns across their chests. The officer clears his throat and reads a command; you’re being transferred, he tells her. She blinks dumbly. 

The officer’s mouth flattens in a mix of disappointment and boredom. She half-thinks he’ll repeat it — slower, like her brain has turned into the sludge they feed her. But he wants to get the job done; he silently gestures and two troopers move forward to cuff her routinely. They guide her out the cell and into the hall that she hasn’t seen in full in four years. 

The officer leaves the group as they turn down the hall, and she realises there are only four guards surrounding her. All they have are guns and flimsy white armour, shinier than the clones’ armour ever was. Have the Jedi been dead so long that the Empire has forgotten their danger? Or is it only that Barriss has been buried too deep for them to remember her or what she was?

She risks asking them where they’re taking her and she’s met with unsure silence. They’re just grunts, she supposes; the new Empire does not need its cogs to understand the machine. 

She considers waiting for a shipyard or a secondary location, but she has waited years for this opportunity; she will not waste it looking for a better one. The Republic forced her to be a warrior and the Empire forced her to be something craftier. She waits only for the bell that calls a shift change. THe flimsy guards fall like cards under the Force and she is gone before any alarms so much as think of blaring. 

She’s sure they notice something soon enough, but she's fled through the city before and this time there are no vengeant Jedi masters to find her. She steals a cloak from one stall and a headscarf from another, and blends right into the busy Coruscanti night. 

It takes little more than a nudge of his mind to convince the harbour master that she's meant allowed in, and more importantly allowed onto this cargo transport. She’ll switch ships at the next spaceport, stay running until her legs can’t take her any further.

In the later hours of travel, as the cargo around her shudders through hyperspace, her mind wanders to the negligence of her escape. Ahsoka has — or had. Ahsoka must have rejoined the Order after Barriss confessed and Ahsoka was exonerated, she and her master were probably executed too. But Ahsoka has-or-had friends in the Senate; she knows-or-knew all about bureaucracy and the drawn-out processes of politics, even if she claimed not to understand it when she tried to explain them to Barriss. Ahsoka would have known a thing or two about how an organisation could forget a prisoner like this. If she were here, sitting next to Barriss on this cargo carrier headed to who-knows-where, she would be theorising rapidly, her hands and eyes flitting about like living static. 

Barriss’ smile at the thought dies as fast as it appeared. It doesn’t matter that she’s free; she’s never going to see Ahsoka’s smirk or wild hands or hear her laugh again. She and her master were fast and bold Jedi, but they were closer to their soldiers than most. They never would have seen it coming. 

Barriss had tried to tell Ahsoka that she was too trusting.

But she doesn’t want to admonish her friend or try to blame her or even roll her eyes at her. Barriss misses her friend. Misses her more than she thought her heart capable of, and alll she wants to do now is apologise. Or frame her better, so Ahsoka could have survived in Barriss’ place instead of being shot in the head by her own troops. Ahsoka deserved better. 

But instead, it's Barriss who is sat in the shadow of a cargo crate headed to who-knows-where. A new plan forms alongside her directive to run. She must not take great risks and she must hide — but that does not mean she must be useless. She will help weaken the Empire, bit by bit, bolt by bolt, until it is weak enough to stab in the back. 

She no longer wonders why the Force gave the burden of survival to a traitor like her. The Jedi taught against revenge, taught of peace and forgiveness, yet it is too late to save these teachings. It is far too late to save them. 

But Barriss is certain, more than she has ever been of anything, it is not too late to avenge them. 

[jessequinnfirstofhername]

The Rules:

Every twenty-four hours there will be another round. After every round, the character in last place will be eliminated.

If there are multiple characters tying for last place, there will be a special elimination round. In these rounds, every character in last place will be eliminated, even if all the characters have tied equally.

When there are only two characters remaining, they will face off against one another in a week-long poll to determine the victor.

If the character that you consider the hottest isn’t listed here, hit the ‘what about ___???’ option and reply to this post with the overlooked character. The character with the highest 'write-in’ votes will be added to the next round. Unless the 'what about ___???’ option is the least voted for, in which case it will be eliminated.Welcome to the party, Zeb and Asajj!

This is all for fun. Don’t take it too seriously ;)

Oh no, Oola! I wasn't expecting to see her go so soon, let alone for her to receive zero votes. Much like (the illusion of) Vina in Star Trek, Oola is kinda the OG sexy Star Wars alien.

Well, she's hot to me. Justice for Oola!

Round Three!

[kalevalakryze]

College of Geonosis (Repost)

Reposting this one for @barrissday ! It's definitely high up on my list of things to get back into once Whumptober, Ahsoka week, wolfwren week, sabine week, and Sabine Bingo have passed; I have some great ideas for this and I love everything so much

Pairings: Barriss Offee & Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee/Ahsoka Tano, Ahsoka Tano & Anakin Skywalker

Characters: Barriss Offee, Luminara Unduli, Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker

Tags: Modern AU - Human, Modern AU - College, Slow Burn, Eventual Fluff, Barriss Offee-centric, Muslim Characters, Good Parent Luminara Unduli, Anxiety, References to depression, everyone is neurodivergent, no real hurt (yet)

Notes: This is one I'm actually pretty excited about, but I do have a few things to point out just so any inaccuracies are purely my own lack of expertise over ignorance.

I'm cis, nonreligious, and white. This has typically prevented me from writing or portraying any characters in any other category for fear of misrepresenting. However, when I picture a humanized version of both Barriss and Ahsoka, I cannot see women in my demographic. I'm putting in the work to try to be as accurate and learn as much as possible, however, if I mess anything up, please correct me, the last thing I'd like to do is butcher a representation and do them any less than the full justice they deserve.

I do not know much about any religion truthfully, so I'm learning with each piece I write, and I don't doubt that I will need to revise the more I learn.

I am also completely oblivious to the college experience, so if this works a little too much in the movies or cliche television, that's why. (personally, fingers crossed that one day I'll be able to get a degree, but with the way things have been working, it won't be doable for a while, so I'm just living my college dreams through these two).

Summary: Barriss was half excited and half full of dread as Luminara pulled up to the drop off at last. The dorm building was tall, the Tribunal building would be her home for the next few years, “I’m scared,” She found herself whispering against the window. Her hands were squeezing Luminara’s, and her mother lovingly squeezed back in a heartbeat pattern. “Fear can be a good thing, Barriss,” The wisened woman started, voice soft, even with all the noise of unruly undergrads outside. “Do it because you’re scared, and when you graduate, you’ll feel better about taking that step, the next ones won’t be as scary,” She pulled Barriss's hand until she could offer a gentle tug, leaning across the center console until Barriss’s head fell into her shoulder. “And, even if this doesn’t work out, I’m still proud of you for everything you’ve done to get here,”

Barriss used to believe things would be easier once she graduated high school. Maybe the pressure would stop, after all, she wouldn’t have to pile on her graduation requirements to her early college assignments, she could actually devote her focus on her pre-med track, where she’d earned enough credits during high school. If she could just stack as many classes into each available slot over the course of the year, including holidays and summer vacation, she could be heading for her Masters and her PhD in no time! At least, those were the hopes and dreams.

Her mother had never expressed any kind of expectation on her, not once, but Barriss had always felt… strange. Luminara Unduli was a healer, and so was her mother before her. Like with her own father, Luminara hadn’t known her own, and while the absence never felt large in her life, her mother’s attempts at pulling her away from her work to bond were a greater stressor. Realistically, the young woman knew that her mother hadn’t wanted to pass on the workaholic trait, but she’d been exposed ever since she was little, and if her mom was so perfect and put together, she could be to, if only she could rush through these classes and get a jump on this ‘stable adult life’ she’d been dreaming about since she was young.

Of course, the world worked in mysterious ways. Barriss Offee was moving halfway across the world to the states, where she would, apparently, be rooming with another undergrad in a mechanical engineering track, with minor lessons in law and politics. It seemed a rather… interesting tuition, but then, from the letters the two had exchanged over the summer since the College of Geonosis connected them, this Ahsoka Tano was an interesting character. The girl had apparently graduated high school early, and was going to be attending the same school as her older brother she only lovingly referred to as ‘skyguy’, who was a senior in the mechanical engineering program.

Ahsoka’s letters often rambled on and on, about her summer, and her excitement for the year, or to meet Barriss, or to tell her about ‘skyguy’ and his wife, or her apparently many brothers, she promised Barriss if she’s seen even one of them anywhere in the galaxy, she would know, apparently, for as many as she’d remembered to list off in the letters, they all looked quite similar. Those letters were the longest, and while exhausting to read, she hadn’t wanted to seem impolite.

Her own letters to Ahsoka were typically short, commenting on something she’d picked from pages of rambling to show she’d been paying attention, and filling in her own information whenever asked. Every time her mother retrieved the mail and dropped one of those orange envelopes at her desk, she would smile in a way that confused Barriss, would make her cheeks heat until she would sink further into her chair, pulling an end of her hijab just free enough that she could hide her burning face from her mothers’ knowing gaze.

This was a posture Barriss took for the majority of the trip away from Coruscant, and along the fifteen hour drive to the Geonosian capital, where her new university, new life, and new roommate would be waiting for her. The traffic to get into the school was jam packed, and Barriss considered herself lucky that the school had allowed her to get her assignments, keys, and badges delivered to her home prior to the semester’s start, one of her final tastes of the perks of having a parent much more extroverted than herself.

Luminara’s hand came to rest on her knee, and with a slow, measured breath, both of Barriss’s moved to cover her mother’s hand with her own. Anxiety thrummed in her veins, as they watched the line of cars into the dorms inch forward, and students taking ages to bid their farewells. “I’ve arranged some work, for the first couple of days,” Luminara started slowly, once Barriss’s fidgeting was directly to playing with her fingers, smoothing over the neat black polish on each fingernail, or the brass metal bracelets that adorned her mothers wrists.

The young woman was unable to hide her relief at this knowledge. If it became too much, she wouldn’t be inconveniencing her too much to ask to come home. This was her first trip more than two hours from home, after all, and she was more than a little scared, something her mother had always been keen at keeping an eye out for, and coming up with a solution that wouldn’t further damage her nerves. “Thank you,” She breathed, barely audible from the thumping of a nearby bass. Four young men pulled up in the car beside them, the driver… with a tattoo on his face? Was identical to every other passenger in the car, in a way that made her look twice, but no. The others did not share the goatee and forehead tattoo as the driver banged his head to a song she would never be able to make out.

She hadn’t realized she’d been squeezing her mother’s hand until Luminara had to reach across her seat, to brush her fingertips over the back of Barriss’s knuckles, to remind her that if she started squeezing any harder it would begin to hurt. Her cheeks burned as she released her hold on Luminara’s hand, but the woman did not move her hand away, simply rested her now free hand back on the steering wheel and inched just a bit closer in line. “You’re going to do perfect here, and you won’t be alone, you’ll have Ahsoka, and I’m sure Professor Vos wouldn’t mind checking in every now and then,” She promised, and Barriss felt some of the tension in her shoulders relax.

“I will do my best to utilize the resources offered,” Barriss promised, missing the frown that tugged on Luminara’s lips as her head turned back to the driveway. Enough cars were starting to clear now, that she was able to make a substantial jump in line.

“The temporary office is only ten minutes away, but I’ll only be here for a week, Master Tholme has requested that I return to the home office to work on one of our newer developed strands and vaccines,” She spoke about her work freely and often with Barriss, part of why she’d fallen in love with the pre-med track in the first place. Her mother’s passion for her career helped Barriss fall in love with the world in a way she didn’t think possible, and while she had many obstacles to overcome, she had to stay positive that she would succeed thanks to her hard work and the resources available.

She was half excited and half full of dread as Luminara pulled up to the drop off at last. The dorm building was tall, the Tribunal building would be her home for the next few years, “I’m scared,” She found herself whispering against the window. Her hands were squeezing Luminara’s once more, but this time, she squeezed back in a heartbeat pattern.

“Fear can be a good thing, Barriss,” Her mother started, voice soft, even with all the noise of unruly undergrads outside. “Do it because you’re scared, and when you graduate, you’ll feel better about taking that step, the next ones won’t be as scary,” She pulled the younger woman's hand until she could give a gentle tug, leaning across the center console until Barriss’s head fell into her shoulder. “And, even if this doesn’t work out, I’m still proud of you for everything you’ve done to get here,”

She inhaled slowly, eyes sliding shut as she cherished her last moment of peace. “I’ll take these ones with you,” Luminara promised, before unbuckling and sliding out of her seat. In just a few long strides, Barriss’s door was opened, and her mother’s hand reached to help her out. Another slow, controlled breath, before she grabbed her hand and rose out of the car.

The sounds hit her like a wall of bricks, but the young woman swallowed, squeezing her mothers' hand once more before she moved to gather her two bags from the back seat. It wasn’t much, but she’d practiced packing light. The heaviest things were most likely the books she’d brought, though if it had been up to her, the entire Unduli home's library would be packed into that car, so the dozen or so thick tomes she stashed was a lesson in self-control.

Luminara took one of the bags before Barriss could sling it over her shoulder, and then nodded her way towards the building. “I’ll follow you,” She promised, offering a reassuring smile. The lobby was crowded full of students collecting keys, complaining to the resident assistants, and students saying lengthy and teary eyed goodbyes. She’d studied every map, and had planned for every single scenario that could alter her course to her new home. It was a big step, but Barriss led the way through the winding mazes odd bodies, up until she came to room 332.

There was music playing through a speaker inside the room, Barriss paused at the sight of two figures that occupied the side closest to the heavy wooden door. And older man, long hair, sharp jawline, blue eyes enunciated with a scar that cut across his right eye. His arms were crossed against his chest as he seemed to be caught in an argument with his companion. The woman was young, younger than Barriss even, with dark skin offset by clean stripes of near white skin, she had wanted to guess tattoos, though it seemed highly improbable, most likely an intricate case of vitiligo that cast diamonds and sweeping lines across her face. White and Blue dyed dreads sat piled on top of her head, and her eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.

“If you didn’t interrupt me, every time I tried-“

“I wasn’t interrupting, I was trying to help you,” Which, Barriss believed, threw off whatever intention he was attempting to convey, considering he’d interrupted the younger woman.

The woman’s hands went up in the air as she shook her head. “Which I’d appreciate, if you didn’t interrupt me to do it! I just think maybe you don’t trust that I can handle this on my own,”

“It’s not about trust, it’s about making sure everything’s right,” He pushed himself off the desk then, and a gentle hand on Barriss shoulder had her stepping into the fray, her brows furrowing as she listened to them go back and forth.

“Oh! So you don’t trust me to do it right!” The woman accused, her finger poking into his bicep, which he batted out of the way with an exasperated sigh. “I knew it!’

His posture relaxed, seemingly defeated. “Snips, I never said-“

Her arms crossed defensively over her own chest, now, mirroring his habit of interruption. “No, no. It’s okay, I understand. I’m the freshman, you’re the aide,”The woman turned away from him, going back to angrily folding a sweatshirt that must have been tossed on the made ben when they started their spat.

Their conversation dropped to whispers neither woman could make out, but as Barriss stepped forward, to make their presence known,’snips’ started back up. “If you don’t trust me, why don’t you just send me back,” She snarked, the shirt tossed once again down onto the bed as she spun to face him once more.

“Don’t tempt me, Snips,” He warned, when his hand pulled into a fist, Barriss took note of the rigidness of his hand, it wasn’t hard to see the mechanics of a prosthetic through the black glove he’d placed over it.

“If you’re both finished…?” Luminara started, growing weary of standing in the entryway. Boredom outwore politeness and she stepped past her daughter, into the room, to set the small duffel bag onto the foot of the unclaimed bed. “Well, Barriss, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” She guided, once she’d finally entered and shut the door behind her.

She caught the man bumping the younger woman’s shoulder, until she’d turned to acknowledge the newcomers. Barriss stepped forward then, cheeks darkening as she dipped her head and curtseyed. “Kinesiology major, Barriss Offer, at your service,” She greeted, her lips quirking immediately at the way the woman she assumed to be her roommate beamed at her.

Ahsoka and the man shared a look, and she shook her head at him. The younger woman’s hand reached towards Barriss. “Glad to meet you, I’m Ahsoka, and this,” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, to the man at the desk, who’d rolled his eyes. “Is my brother, Anakin,”

When Barriss took Ahsoka’s hand, both woman offered near hesitant smiles simultaneously, and Barriss caught the way her mother’s lips quirked as she stepped closer to Anakin, and the way the two bowed their heads together and seemed to be passing on a quiet conversation. “Your majoring in mechanical engineering, correct?”

Ahsoka nodded, her hand squeezing Barriss before dropping her hand to turn and grab a notebook. “Yeah of course! I know you mentioned your pre med track, and I have a brother who did medical engineering too, he wouldn’t shut up about it when I asked,” Ahsoka grabbed a messy notebook from a spilled open duffel bag, messy notes scrawled across designs all across the sheets of paper, almost impossible to decipher as she peered over them.

“She’s been up Kix’s rear getting him to teach her everything he knew pre-med, since she learned her track,” Barriss heard Anakin mention to her mother. She paused, hand reaching to grab the corner of the notebook. Ahsoka had obviously put a great deal of time into learning about the stranger’s interests, so the least Barriss could do was pay attention.

“these are…” The woman blinked, her lips pulling into a smile. “Most of these designs aren’t used until more than halfway through the course, and you’ve already figured out their uses,” She was truly stunned, there were instruction diagrams and equipment notes for pieces she’d only ever hoped to use in the practice one day.

“I watched a lot of Grey’s anatomy,” The woman informed with a big grin and a nod of her head. The notebook was shut and sat back on the already cluttered desk. “It’s actually really interesting, the subject, not the show,” And then a half nervous laugh, Barriss turned her face, her hand raising to her lips to cover the smile that pulled at her own.

It was Luminara who finally stepped in, her hand on Barriss’s shoulder. “Perhaps you two would like to join us for a quick lunch, then? I’m sure Barriss would love to hear all about what you’ve learned,” Barriss’s cheeks darkened, but she did not her head and focus her gaze on Ahsoka, who was looking at her older brother for permission.

“Hey, snips, you’re the adult here,” He defended, his hands raised in surrender and a smirk pulling at his lips. The young woman stuck her tongue out at him cruelly, before nodding her head up at both Barriss and Luminara.

“I think that’d be great!” Ahsoka’s enthusiasm was starting to rub off on Barriss, who’d set her bags down with the intent of unpacking later. They’d been in the car for quite some time now, and she’d be lying to say she wasn’t starved.

Together, the four of them exited the dorm, Barriss and Luminara piling into their car once more, overheated with the summer, while Anakin and Ashoka dispersed into the student parking lot.

With the air conditioning cranked, and their car rolling down the road, the sight of a black helmet and a white and blue helmet further up along the busy roadways was enough for Luminara to speak. “How do you feel about your arrangements?” She prompted, eyes flickering from the road for only a moment.

“I… I do truly believe it will be an enlightening experience,” The young woman frowned in thought. “Ahsoka took an interest in what I told her, and learned more about it, it is quite an admirable feat,” A pregnant pause, as their car pulled to a stoplight. “Do you know her brother, Anakin?” Because really, the way she’d caught the two conversing was not entirely unusual for her mother, but she’d never taken politeness to a friendly level before.

“Do you remember Professor Kenobi? From the Criminal Justice department?”

“You two attended university together, correct?”

“We had, on Coruscant. Anakin and Ahsoka were his charges since they were young. When you mentioned that the university had put you with Ahsoka, I assumed it as a good thing, I’m glad to see that so far, it seems I was correct,”

Barriss cheeks heated, so she reached to turn the air conditioners vent to point at her face. “She is quite thoughtful, and this does ease some of my fears about being put with someone I would not grow to like… I hope the rest of the year turns out to be as fruitful.”

Poggle’s diner was surprisingly slow as they pulled into the parking lot, their sedan pulling into the empty spot between two sport bikes, one black and blue, with the other in a variety of orange, white, and blue. Barriss took immediate notice that the white designs on the helmet and gas tank vaguely resembled her new roommates vitiligo.

“The mosque is nearby as well, I wish to visit with you this afternoon, and help you get acquainted,” Luminara mentioned as the two women exited the vehicle, the car beeping to acknowledge its locked status.

“That would be lovely, I had a difficult time printing the directions at the library before we left,” Because, if there was one person who still used Mapquest, it was Barriss Offee, with an excuse of simplicity, and being able to draw her route along the map to help her stay oriented.

The inside of the dinner was a little dirty, just as spare as the outside, making it easy to see the two young adults, who kept sliding the paper to their straws back on and shooting them at each other. When Ahsoka’s paper projectile hit the floor, Anakin had shot up and declared her the loser, a sheepish smile on his face as the two women approached. “You made it! Hope traffic wasn’t too bad, I refuse to drive a car anywhere in the city this time of year,” He explained as he crumpled up the paper into a ball, dropping it next to Ashoka’s, before reaching into her hair to retrieve his own white paper that had been lost to white dye.

“He is a menace,” Ahsoka deadpanned, taking a sip from the water in front of her. The woman’s legs were tucked up onto the booth with her, childish, but… Barriss couldn’t help but find it endearing, as she slid herself to the inside of the booth across from her new friend. “Anakin said you were an early grad too, right?”

“Oh, yes, actually. I took my classes during holiday, and received credit from the local community college to aid in my enrollment here,” Barriss explained, her hands folding together on the table in front of her. “You graduated early as well?”

“Yeah! Well, kind of! Turns out, with my last placement, I was taking more classes than I needed to, and getting the credits I needed, so when Obi-Wan took me in, everything fell into place, but I did kind of gap it so I could work in Skyguy’s shop. The customer service is trash, but he can get anything working again,” She pointed out, grinning widely at the nudge of her brothers’ elbow into her ribs.

“That is interesting, and I have to say I am quite intrigued on your perspectives, more so education wise, I have not met anyone outside of my desired study who has taken the time to learn about it,”

Ahsoka’s cheeks darkened, and her shoulders shrugged. The waiter came and went, the two girls left alone in their little world. They continued to pass knowledge and stories back to each other, with Luminara or Anakin only chiming in so often to point out an embarrassing discrepancy in the story. Their meals came and went, and by the time they were all getting ready to depart once more, it would have been impossible to believe that the pair had only met that day.

“It was lovely to meet both of you, Anakin, Ahsoka. I will be in town for the next few days for some work, if either of you needs anything, and please, do pass on my well wishes to Professor Kenobi.” Luminara dismissed, her hand on Barriss shoulder as she nodded to the two young adults. “I am going to cool down the car,” And then her mother was walking away, but Ahsoka was stepping up, her hand extended.

“Guess I’ll see you tonight then, roomie?” She questioned with a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Barriss took her hand, much more confident than she had been upon their first meeting.

“Of course, I look forward to it. It was nice to meet you as well, Anakin,” The man in question raised two fingers to the corner of a split eyebrow in a friendly mock of a salute, before Barriss took her leave back to the cooling vehicle.

“They certainly are different, but.. not in a bad way,” She confided to Luminara as she sat in the passenger seat and secured her safety belt. “I think I will like it here, to an extent,” She didn’t want to promise that she would love the place, but she was now more willing to give it a chance than she’d been before.

“It makes me glad to hear this, Barriss. I’m proud of the steps you’ve taken today,” Her mothers hand did not leave her own the entire short trip to the Mosque, filling with folks all across the city

Even prayer felt more comfortable than it had in the Core. There were less people, she felt like she could breathe, and as the session came to a close, many stayed to converse, to check in. It was certainly more a community than the closed off life she’d come to know.

Barriss would not get to meet the imam, but she did get her name settled so they would know to expect her, if not every day, than at least four times a week. Prayer at home never came as easy to her, especially not as enlightening as it had been that day, and she quite looked forward to seeing if she would fit in to their community.

The return to the dorm was quieter than their first trip, and Barriss had to take a moment to prepare herself for her first true night away from her mother. “I will miss you,” She spoke into Luminara’s sweater as her face buried in her shoulder.

“I’ll only be a phone call away, little one,” The woman promised, her thumb brushing across Barriss’s cheek with her own sorrow painted on her features. “And I will be nearby as well, as you settle. You need only call,”

In the end Luminara did not walk up with Barriss, had guided her to make the hardest steps herself, and she had. The dorm room was dark, and mostly quiet when she entered. Ahsoka was sprawled haphazardly on her bed, with her phone settled by her head and quietly playing music too low for the older woman to make out.

Her belongings were unpacked quietly and carefully. Computer and books organized on the desk, clothes settled into the provided dresser. Her dead phone removed from her bag and plugged in, settled on the corner of the desk as well. When everything was just as she wanted it, and she could complete Maghrib, it was clear two very separate people occupied the space, with her neat organization, and color coded notebooks, and Ahsoka’s mess of books and notebooks opened and sprawled out with diagrams already across the desk.

It was mildly endearing, though Barriss had to wonder if it would ever come to grind on her. She had to hope it would not, as she quite enjoyed her current arrangement. She had many thoughts about the woman occupying the other space, as she retreated once more to the space provided for her fifth and final vesper of the night. She wasn’t necessarily distracted, but she did find herself pondering questions she’d never had before.

Sleep came that night with a new fear, one she had never entertained before, because no one else had ever held such meaning to her life, especially not in such a short time. The fear that perhaps Ahsoka did not like her at all? As sleep found her, Barriss promised, either to the sleeping Ahsoka, or to the ceiling, she was not certain, that she would wish to learn about the types of different engineering as well.

[jedimasterbailey]

barriss for the character asks!! 1 (i think we know), 7, 9, & 32

Hello there! 😊 It makes me laugh knowing that you know me well enough to know what my feelings are going to be on that first question 😂 Thank you for giving me the excuse to talk about my girl Barriss 💙

1- Canon I Outright Reject

That Barriss is not a terrorist or evil. She wasn’t out to get Ahsoka or anything out of spite or jealousy. She wasn’t abused or neglected by her Master. She didn’t want to hurt or kill anyone (she’s canonically a healer and it’s pretty clear from her words, actions, and facial expressions that she was tormented by what happened. The Temple bombing was a terrible accident Barriss got involved in, which can easily happen if an adult gets into your head about how wrong everything is and you’re most likely suffering from a multitude of mental illness as a result of being involved in war. People seem to forget that Barriss was a child like Ahsoka. At that time she didn’t have the wisdom or maturity to know that she was being used for nefarious reasons via Letta. Was it wrong what she did and how she went about it afterwards? Absolutely, but she’s still a kid at the end of the day, they’re not gonna make the best of choices especially if they’re already at a disadvantage (i.e riddled with PTSD and who knows what else).Barriss was a proud and gifted Jedi who cares for Ahsoka and everyone else she personally knew in the Order; she simply just hated the war and felt that the Jedi shouldn’t be dying or losing themselves to a cause that was orchestrated by an evil entity. Barriss says this clearly in her confession yet people wasn’t to have selective listening and only listen to the parts they want to hear to fit their narrative. The fact that Feloni and his goons decided to pick a Muslim coded character to be the one to bomb the Temple to further Ahsoka’s story and throw her on the pyre for toxic Star Wars fans to burn for years to come is disgusting and should be retconned immediately.

7-Age/Height/Weight Headcanon

Okay the age one is interesting because this is something we fans have wanted to know for years ever since Barriss got de-aged to be a companion for Ahsoka. It’s been said that Barriss is supposed to be a little bit older than Ahsoka in the Clone Wars. So if Ahsoka was 14-17 during the show, then I’d put Barriss roughly between the ages of 15-21ish. She’s likely 1-3 years older than Ahsoka if I had to guess. Height wise, she looks pretty tiny like 5’2-5’4 ish with the heels and weight would most likely be anywhere between 100-125 ish pounds considering she’s so thin.

9-Scene That Made Me Love The Character

I always thought Barriss was so cool when I first saw her in AOTC and in the Clone Wars 2003 mini series, but the scene that made me fall for her is undoubtedly when she introduces herself to Ahsoka in the 2008 Clone Wars episode “Weapons Factory”. Her sweet little bow had me and she is such a delight in that episode that I just fell for her right then and there and then it became obsession when she was willing to die when she got infected with brain worms so that others can live. In the three episodes she’s in, she showed the audience that she’s a multi layered character and I love characters like that 💙

32-Something Guaranteed To Make Them Smile/Laugh

I believe this to be a toss up between her Master Luminara and Ahsoka. Either woman most likely know all the ways to make Barriss smile or laugh, but I don’t think Anakin slipping on a banana peel or something wouldn’t do the trick either. Barriss has a big heart so I believe the ones she loves most would bring out the best in her.

Thank you again for this excellent character asks! Feel free to me what y’all think! 💙💚