#kallus not know how to handle that

[seth-shitposts]

me, refreshing the ao3 page 5 times everyday to see if anyone else has posted kalluzeb stuff yet-

[nicki0kaye]

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Junior Guard Captain Garazeb and Underworld crime prince Sasha fall into each other's orbit and hard. This is the 'verse where they have complimentary force powers; Guard (Zeb, empath) and Watcher (Kallus, heightened senses). you can check out the sketch phases of this here. Zeb characterization and general Lasan HCs courtesy of @sidhebeingbrand

Not ten minutes after meeting, Sasha tries to use Zeb as his ticket off Coruscant, which creates something of a diplomatic incident.

The Kallus' aren't a very powerful underworld gang, but they don't want to lose Sasha and are more than willing to become a pain in the surface's ass to get him back. Zeb's superiors don't want any of that, but there's a hiccup; Zeb and Sasha are already 'bonded'. Their auras compliment one another, and have more or less interlocked in what little time they've known each other. Untangling them now would be a process. That, and Sasha has told them some concerning things about how his family treats him and his gift.

So the plan becomes; parlay with the Kallus Family down in the Underworld.

It goes better than expected, all things considered. Sasha's family wants him to stay and are willing to accept assistance from the Lasat, because they're under no illusions that their family's way of doing things is working. Sasha's magic has always been more than either his brother or grandmother could handle. If the Lasat are willing to spare a teacher, the Kallus' will put them up and treat them like family.

Which means Zeb is going to stay.

Sasha is furious. He wants to stay with Zeb, yeah, but he wanted to go with him to Lasan. Not ruin the guy's whole career by getting him stuck in the frozen ass-end of Coruscant's basement sectors.

There's one place Sasha goes when he's feeling trapped and overstimulated. At the bottom of level 1996--a level comprised entirely of the piping needed to keep the above levels running--is a giant empty space where the next level should be. Over a hundred stories of nothing between the pipes of '96 and the sewage pit of 1994. This is where Sasha goes to worship his god. The Lasat know him as the Bendu--the one who walks in the middle--but in the north-eastern sectors of the Underworld, they simply call it 'The Void'. It isn't the kind of god to lend its favor, but it is there all the same, and it will listen. Sasha comes to it often to vent his frustrations, to scream into the dark, and this time, Zeb follows.

The whole thing freaks Zeb out. He's a good, devout child of the Ashla, and this big yawning pit his bonded feels compelled to dangle over scares him shitless. He respects the Bendu, respects Sasha as a child of the Between, so he doesn't interfere. Zeb does, however, reel Sasha into the safety of his own arms the second his crazy little human is done.

That's when this conversation happens. Across their bond, in the privacy of their auras, Zeb promises the next time he sees the stars, Sasha will be there beside him. "I know why it calls to you now, the emptiness."

A shiver works its way through Sasha. "Why are you like this?" he asks, pressing into Zeb's space, forehead to forehead. "You just promise like it's nothing."

"To be your Guard is everything. I do not want another bondmate. Terrifying small human."

Sasha's laugh is a little wheezy and broken. He forces a grin as he asks "what if?" aloud, pretending it's a game, a new way to tease the overly serious Guard, and that there's no growing fear he may misstep and give Zeb reason to abandon him.

Zeb says he doesn't know, but then counters; "what if I steal you?"

The question is left unanswered--they aren't alone in the 1996 and need to get going--but it isn't forgotten. Nor Zeb's promise that one day, the two of them will hunt the stars.

[solrika]

I alluded to this in this piece of writing, and this one, but since bo-rifles contain kyber I think they should behave similarly to light sabers. It would lend more weight to Zeb’s canon outrage at seeing one held by Kallus.

Just like light sabers, their wielders feel the absence of their weapon as a sense of unease. In return, bo-rifles “know” their wielder, and don’t like to be handled by anyone else. I'm sure many curious fingers have gotten zapped.

I do think they’re more flexible than light sabers about changing wielders. I like the idea of bo-rifles being handed down through the Guard, the old passing to the new. Bo-rifles rebuilt around the central kyber, holding on to generations of history. Every new Guard tinkers with the weapon to make them theirs, but there's also a sense of lineage in the weapon.

Because of this, the Boosahn Kershaw (might have mispelled but oh well) is a very weighted ceremony. The fact that the bo-rifle accepted Kallus is a Big Deal--its last wielder meant the gesture. It would help explain how quickly Zeb decides on a truce. He's got proof that Kallus somehow is an honorable man. Even if it's very deep down. :p

[spectres-fulcrum]

I did finish binging the Alexander docuseries last night but by the end I had a migraine so I went to bed early and just hung out on my phone cause my mind was so not up for bed but it was the most light my head could handle(If I didn't move).

Overall, I did really enjoy it and I learned a lot. I didn't care much for the battles of Alexander in my fandom days, caring more for the relationships and people around him. I also just find imagining action pretty hard. I'm semi okay with Star Wars battles in space but I've like. grown up with them. They don't count. So I learned a lot about Alexander the tactician I think.

And I really did love the acted parts. Like can we get a full drama on Alexander, some TV network???? It could be SO LONG. Cause if there's one thing about Alexanders, they will never sastifyed. The Great, Hamilton, Claremont-Diaz, Kallus. Also: I hated the nicknames Heph and Alex(It's Phai and Xander thank you very much) but the stupid nickname Ptol grew on me. Ptol is so stupid but so cute. But I will never shut up about the lake make out scene cause it's so perfect and Phai giving Xander a place to be human and back out is so perfect.

I really did love the Persian parts too. It was great contrast, and perhaps happiness. Love between Stateira and Darius, luxury, Stateira's actions driven to protect her daughter in contrast to Phillip disowning Alexander when Alexander didn't like him siding with Attalus hoping his new wife would grant him a son, Barsine having to grow up so quickly. Memnon is always love for me and they did him very well. Darius deserved so much better than to be slain by a traitor. I could rant about Hephaestion being in Babylon after the death and how if that was accurate then in my fanfic where he and Drypetis fell in love during the Persian campagin then I could've used that for a good scene but it wasn't accurate so it was all hurt/no romantic comfort :(((((( And I'm kinda salty they changed that up not knowing what they were missing. But I'm not going to rant. (She had Bagoas though at least!)

I wanted so much more. Wanted Aristotle and the boys at Mieza and the flashbacks to taming Bucephalus(I cannot be bothered to check if that is the correct spelling) and more of the Persian royal family(Drypetis! Being strong during Stateira's death! Sisygambis!) and Bagoas and mentions of Phai being Xander's Patroclos and oh and Darius's brother and his daughter Amastris in the baggage train and more of the companions(Not including Leonnatus is a crime imo. Just cause I like Leonnatus).

Like I recognize they needed a small cast but also-a girl can dream. A girl can dream of what she was teased with. One day, maybe we'll get a proper series. *le sigh* I did really like that Lloyd historian guy too.

[cross-my-heartt]

Appreciating Rebels Thrawn: Atollon

Okay folks this one is going to be different from my Rewriting Rebels Thrawn series. I wanted to take the time to appreciate this arc because I think it's very in line with what we know about book canon Thrawn.

So this is going to be an analysis of why Atollon works, especially in the sense of what failure looks like for Thrawn, with some teeny tiny scene tweaks and suggestions at the end for how it could be brought even closer to book canon.

So without further ado, let's get into it. (As always, spoilers for the books ahead).

In terms of chronology, we're at a point where Thrawn has recently been promoted and given command of the Seventh Fleet, and been assigned to deal with the rebel threat on Lothal. This is important because it means he's had limited time to handpick and mentor his subordinates. Something that's vital to the success of his convoluted plans.

To put it simply, Thrawn's way of leadership requires trust and competence (both of which he does his damnedest to cultivate in the books). Otherwise his sand castle tactics are likely to fall apart as soon as something minor goes wrong. And a lot of things go wrong at Atollon.

In the books, he's at his most successful when his forces follow his orders to a t. When they trust him to know what he's doing and his officers can keep up with him after working with him long enough and absorbing his teachings.

The best examples of this are Karyn Faro and Eli. And during the Atollon attack, Eli is with the Chiss while Karyn is a later introduction to the franchise that sadly doesn't make an appearance in the show.

All of this to say that Thrawn is now left with Konstantine and Pryce at the helm and, surprise surprise, both of them make huge, costly, stupid mistakes. (Way to go guys.)

There are three major factors to Thrawn's failure:

Konstantine's stupid stunt, resulting in the interdictor's destruction, Ezra's escape and the subsequent arrival of reinforcements

Pryce's handling of Kallus' imprisonment

and the Bendu, ie some serious Deus Ex Machina force shenanigans

And honestly, objectively speaking? None of these are Thrawn's fault. Which is good because after reading about the ridiculous uber talented things he pulls off in the books, we need a damn good reason for him to fail so spectacularly.

Moving on, Konstantine's blunder is the result of him disobeying Thrawn's orders out of pure stupidity. In that moment he's motivated by his own petty ambition, the kind of thing Thrawn doesn't understand (and would have a difficult time foreseeing) because it's not what motivates him.

Pryce's handling of Kallus on the other hand is an emotional reaction. She gets angry, sends Kallus to get killed (something Tharwn would never do because it's a waste of resources) with minimal security and Kallus escapes.

This is again something Tharwn would have a hard time foreseeing because he rarely, if ever, allows emotions to cloud his judgement.

There is also the fact that Pryce is someone Thrawn has to work with not because he wants to but because he has to. She's his political mediator, someone he needs to help him navigate politics and do damage control for his blunders.

Which is a detail I find really neat because it means that a) he can't get rid of her despite her not meeting his standard for competence and b) he's in this position because Pryce dragged him to deal with the rebels on Lothal as part of their deal.

And then we have this moment:

Which is

hands down

MY FAVORITE MOMENT IN THE WHOLE SERIES.

My man is befuddled. He is bamboozled. Baffled. Discombobulated. Stunned. Because for the first time there's been a wrench of such epic proportions thrown into his plans that we see him thwarted in every direction.

This is Thrawn faced with an unknown he couldn't have foreseen or factored into his plans in any way. And I love to see that.

All in all this arc serves to demonstrate how fragile Thrawn's tactics can be. How his plans are not necessarily flawed but their success relies on things going exactly how he needs them to and people doing exactly what he tells them to which isn't always the case.

Back in the Ascendancy his success rate was higher because of the people he worked alongside and the familiarity of his circumstances. Here, he doesn't have that same stable footing and it only makes sense for him to stumble more often as a result.

And this is why I like this arc in general.

Other notable moments are Kallus' 'You talk too much' because yes, Thrawn does indeed talk a lot. He explains, he elaborates, he muses he very much loves including people into these musings and explaining every minor detail of his plans.

Then there is Kallus being present when Thrawn explains how he's found Atollon and for the subsequent battle. Some fics have interpreted that as an necessarily cruel 'making him watch' and 'gloating' moment. Which may very well be the case from Kallus' pov.

But in reality this is a tactic Thrawn often uses in the books: observing his enemies' reactions to things (sometimes events he's gone so far as to fabricate for this very purpose) and using that to extrapolate information. And Kallus' visible reaction to Atollon's location may well have been the final confirmation that Thrawn needed (smh, Yularen would be so disappointed).

I also love the moment where Thrawn cuts Konstantine off and emphasizes the importance of him doing exactly as Thrawn has ordered. Because as we've already said, that's key to the success of his plans. But it also shows that despite Thrawn's difficulty in predicting some people's motivations, he does have a good sense for his subordinates' competence. Part of why he's so good at curating competent crews. And he is not loving Konstantine's vibes here.

As for the things I would (personally!) tweak to bring show and book canon even closer, they're both very minor and have to do with dialogue.

Like Thrawn's line to Kallus:

I do not require glory, only results (this is where I was screaming YES) for my Emperor. (and this is where I was screaming NOOO).

Yes, Thrawn values results over everything. He values results over etiquette (his words to Samakro), he values results over rules and he values results over rewards.

One thing he does struggle with however is convincing Palpatine of his loyalty to the Empire - something that has very real consequences for him in Alliances. That's because Thrawn isn't actually loyal to the Empire. He's loyal to his people first and foremost and when he does try to convince the Emperor, or Vader, of his loyalty it's by arguing that his people's interests coincide with the Empire's.

So this part of his line doesn't sit well with me.

The use of my in 'my Emperor' especially tilts the line towards a personal loyalty to Palpatine which couldn't be further from the truth. Saying 'the Emperor' would be a bit better but I'd remove the Emperor part altogether.

You could argue that he's doing it to create an illusion of loyalty but seeing as he had difficulties doing that with Vader, I don't see why he would bother attempting it with a rebel prisoner.

Thrawn has no trouble lying when it's part of his tactical maneuvering, when it's for the sake of misinformation and positioning an opponent into a trap, but this kind of lie is more in the realm of political manipulation. Currying favor with allies and superiors. And that's an area he notably struggles in.

And finally: 'You misunderstand, Captain. I'm not accepting surrenders at this time. I want you to know failure, utter defeat, and that it is I who delivers it crashing down upon you.'

Again we start off great: Thrawn is blunt and he doesn't hesitate to present his enemies with hard facts, especially when he has them cornered and right where he wants them to. Call it an intimidation tactic or just part of his habit to lay things out.

The next part though, I would cut out completely. Because if there's one thing Tharwn is not, in my opinion, it's gloating. The canon books don't give you the sense that he's a character with a bloated ego or someone who engages in unnecessary comments just for the sake of his own malicious satisfaction. So it's a no for me.

But I'll stop myself here before this becomes too long... or, well, longer. All in all, an amazing arc that gives us great character moments and one I could rewatch many times over.

[antianakin]

I find it really interesting that you don’t like kallus at all bc say what you will about fulcrum or kalluzeb but he’s the first ex-/imperial character that we saw on screen who wasn’t already defected when we met him. Like obvs you’ve got Han and Sabine who started off in the academy and then left bc they realised in wasn’t what they wanted and tala who’s already a mole for the path by the time she’s on screen but most other characters we interact with regularly and significantly either stay imperial or have never been one as far as we know. And I think that watching kallus’ arc play out as he realises that no the empire isn’t worth it actually and it is worse and the rebels he’s fighting and trying to capture are better and are the good guys is just so fascinating to watch. If anakin’s arc in tcw and the prequels is about him getting worse and worse and making all the wrong choices again and again then kallus’s overarching storyline is about learning that actually his choices were wrong and he is the villain and he needs to accept that and try to do better as best he can. Ymmv on how well it was executed (and I do think there are parts that could have been done so much better) but the bare bones are there (and also I do love the interactions he has with kanan and Ezra post defection pre extraction where they’re like “this guy 😤” and are doing things like throwing him through glass screens to cover for him bc hey! They’re helping and they get to be a bit petty about it bc they still don’t like him and he just. Has to put up with it bc he’s on their side now and they are technically helping him)

I don’t know I just think it’s a pretty interesting arc to follow and I do think that however clumsily handled (again ymmv on how clumsily), the idea in his character of “it’s not too late to change and to choose to do better, you can unlearn your prejudice and biases and you can always start trying to do good no matter who you are” is a really important message that feels like Star Wars yk

(Side note: I just wanted to add that I love the anakin salt and the pro Jedi posts. I always pop around your blog when I’ve seen a few too many “he’s misunderstood” takes for my own good and it’s really cathartic to see someone else point out he sucks in new ways I hadn’t yet considered. I also find your Ahsoka takes super interesting bc most other things I see either just straight up do not like her or think she’s perfect where I always fell in the middle of “she’s interesting and narratively seems to be there to point out how anakin could have been if he’d made different choices since their flaws are so similar” ❤️❤️❤️)

This probably should have been split into two asks but I’ve written it all out now and my break is over so I guess it’s going to be one

Hi! I'm glad my blog helps provide you an area to just feel a little bitter sometimes when fandom gets hard, that's exactly why I made it for myself, just an escape when I'm starting to forget why I like this stuff sometimes and I just need to get rid of some of the bitterness.

I'm not against the IDEA of an Imperial character who turns against the Empire, of watching an Imperial character start to learn better and change sides. I promise I'm not!

I just think it shouldn't have been Kallus. I don't personally believe that they had a redemption arc in mind for Kallus when they were writing him in the first season at all. I don't know when the idea first got brought up for the writers, but it doesn't really seem to be one they had in mind in early season 2, either, so it just comes out of NOWHERE in that episode with Zeb where they get stuck in the ice. And the side effect of this lack of set up means that they really were writing Kallus as an irredeemable villain. He led a genocide against Zeb's people, he laughs at Zeb about being a survivor, he uses one of the Lasat's weapons as a trophy he took from that genocide. He turns against one of his own fellow officers at the end of season 1/beginning of season 2 when Tarkin and Vader show up and want someone to answer for their failure on Lothal. He helps lead Tua to her death and SMILES about the whole thing. Tua's death could've been a way to begin that journey, give him a crack in the wall where he feels doubt about what they're doing, but it DOESN'T, it just makes him MORE of a fanatic.

So when you get to that episode with Zeb in the ice, all of the sudden you have to take Kallus at his word that he DIDN'T lead the genocide he's already been saying he led, that he DIDN'T steal the Lasat weapon he already said he stole, that he totally had a sorta sympathetic reason for wanting an entire group of people eliminated from the galaxy, and that he apparently cares about having friends in the Empire. This isn't just a retcon of his backstory, it's a retcon of his CHARACTER. And they have to "all lives matter" the entire situation to do it by having him point out that Zeb judges all Imperials the same (and sees them all as enemies) which is somehow equivalent to Kallus judging an entire SPECIES for the actions of ONE PERSON and choosing to go genocide the entire species as a result. That's not just clumsy, that's OFFENSIVE. This is one of the WORST written episodes of Star Wars I have ever seen, which is saying something since I've seen the Ahsoka show and the Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian Season 3.

I think my major issue with Kallus's "arc", beyond the offensiveness of the retcon of his entire character, is that it isn't really an arc at all. It's ONE episode. The next time we even SEE Kallus, he's already willing to help Sabine escape from the Empire and then season 3 goes on to basically tell us he's been acting as a spy most of the season now. We DON'T actually get to see that arc for Kallus, he spends a few hours in the ice with Zeb and that's all it takes to turn him against the Empire really. The few times he shows up in-between don't do a lot to really emphasize a JOURNEY he's going on, he's just already on the side of the rebels and trying to push back against the Empire. And he fucking SUCKS at it, too. They have to come rescue his ass TWICE because he wasn't good enough at being a spy to not get caught and then he has the fucking GALL to think he's thrown off Thrawn and refuses to run when Kanan and Ezra risk their necks to save him which is what directly leads to Chopper Base being discovered. So not only is his redemption "arc" barely there anyway, he's an awful rebel and an awful spy.

This is why I keep arguing that it should've been PRYCE to be the Imperial defector. She isn't introduced to the story until season 3, and so her character is basically a big blank slate. They'd MENTIONED her, but all we knew is that she was the governor of the planet or something and she was gone on Coruscant dealing with stuff. This and the fact that she has an ACTUAL connection to Lothal by being FROM THE PLANET gives her a really really excellent pathway towards turning on the Empire. Maybe she sided with the Empire because she genuinely believed it would help save them from what everyone else suffered by fighting back. Maybe she was promised certain advantages if she sided with the Empire that they could show haven't been kept. Let her CARE about Lothal and its people just enough for her to have a REASON to turn against the Empire and see its truth.

It's one of the other reasons I don't like using Kallus, he's not really emotionally connected to any character but Zeb. Turning Kallus does very little for the main characters Ezra and Kanan. If they were going to turn an Imperial character, which IS a fairly big thing to put into a narrative, I feel like it should've impacted the MAIN characters far more than it actually does. Let Ezra, the person whose story is being told here, be a part of the reason that Imperial character turns. Let that journey away from the Empire be something they're actively WORKING on rather than something that primarily happens off screen in Kallus's head.

I think the only reason they chose Kallus for this was because fans already liked him and they couldn't figure out what else to do with him at this point. He's a basically ineffective villain because he keeps having to lose and the only times he "wins" against the crew is when they LET him win by sacrificing themselves or something. And they were already starting to write him out as an antagonist by including Vader, Tarkin, the Inquisitors, and they might've known they were bringing in Thrawn in season 3 (and maybe that Pryce would finally show up) by the time that ice episode was being written. Kallus was becoming irrelevant, but fans enjoyed him so they had to figure out a way to make him relevant moving forward, and so, quick and dirty redemption "arc" so he can move to the rebel side. You'll notice he barely does anything in season 4, though, once he's moved to the rebellion he's just kinda... there. Irrelevant again because he's not actually good enough at anything to be worth having him DO anything important or interesting to the plot.

A LOT of people seem to think Kallus's "redemption" was really well done and I just can't agree. I think it would've been better to take Kallus a different direction, to really have him just succumb to being evil, to become even MORE of a fanatic for the Empire moving forward, and then just pick someone else to be the defected Imperial character. Or they should've had a redemption arc in mind for Kallus from the beginning. Using Tua's death to start the process of doubt in his mind, or having him be the one the Empire turns on would've both worked. They didn't give themselves enough time to really write him a good redemption arc where the reasons for why he turns on the Empire actually feel in character to what we've been told and shown of him so far.

I think if you just... start in season 3 and act like Kallus has HAD a true redemption arc already by season 3, then those scenes work. The humor of the Rebels crew starting to discover Kallus is on their side now and not entirely trusting that and wanting to punt him through a window IS funny! I, too, would like to throw Kallus through a window several times, even perhaps over a cliff or out an airlock. But those scenes come with the context of having seen the first two seasons and feeling the VERY abrupt 180 his character took without the show doing any of the actual work to make his defection seem realistic or reasonable. Season 3 is fine for Kallus, the scenes are funny, etc. But he wasn't actually redeemed yet and neither season 2 nor season 3 do the work to showcase that journey.

And I think that this is likely one of the reasons we DON'T see very many Imperial redemption stories and most of the Imperial defectors we see are already defected when we meet them. You can count Gorn and Taramyn from Andor in this category, as well. It's HARD to take a character who's been set up as violent, selfish, and cruel, and REALLY do the work necessary to turn them around into someone who would genuinely turn on the Empire and join the Rebellion. It's by no means impossible, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of focus on said character. Most of these shows and stories aren't willing to put in that kind of work because they're focusing on someone else who needs their story told instead, so it's easier to just... have someone who's already changed sides.

All of that being said, there IS a character who we've seen go through this arc that I think was done MILES better than Kallus.

Reva Sevander. An Inquisitor (possibly BY CHOICE unlike all of the others who were presumably captured and broken into it) working for the Empire, who DOES do violent and selfish stuff, but who ultimately leaves that behind by the end of the season. Reva, who obviously was written with that turn in mind, and so her tragedy is BAKED into her character from the moment the show begins (we literally start the ENTIRE SHOW with a flashback of Reva at the Temple when Order 66 starts, and the terror of that night). The twist in her character, that she's doing all of this as a way to get closer to Anakin so she can kill him as vengeance for the Jedi, doesn't feel like it comes out of nowhere. It's just always been there FROM THE BEGINNING. Making her an Inquisitor, something Jedi: Fallen Order and some comic books have fleshed out into people who weren't given much choice in becoming monsters, was an expert choice. Using her to parallel and foil Anakin, someone whose primary storyline is that he was a GOOD person who turned bad and still had good in him, also helps her out.

I'd argue Reva hasn't gone on a full "redemption arc" as yet, she's sort-of barely scratched the surface of it, but she does obviously make the choice to STOP going down the path she's on, to turn away from her anger and vengeance, and leaves behind being an Inquisitor and the darkness she'd succumbed to. The reasons for why she does the things she does MAKE SENSE, they're narratively relevant, they're important to the main character of the story she's in, and the writers didn't wait too long to tell us more about her and her motivations. It's expertly done in my opinion.

So while Kallus might have been the first Imperial defector to show up in mainstream Star Wars, he is not the ONLY Imperial character we have seen to turn against the Empire. And yet Kallus gets praise and accolades for being such a great character with such a great character arc, while Reva got panned and critiqued for being unlikable. I wonder what could be the reason behind that.

So I think you and I have fairly similar feelings on this in that the IDEA of a redeemed Imperial character whose journey towards turning on the Empire is actually shown is a GOOD story to tell (with a very Star Wars style message, as you say), but that the way it was done with Kallus was REALLY badly written. You seem to be leaning towards liking the concept enough that the clumsiness of it is outweighed, whereas I hate the clumsy way it was written so much that my positive feelings towards the concept are outweighed.

And I deserve a good Reva show where we get to follow more of her character post-OWK where she still has to work on herself and figure out who she is now that she's left the darkness behind. Finish the arc she's only just started on.

[jessicas-pi]

All the best meet cutes involve knives, I guess...

“Did it hurt?”

“If the next words out of your mouth are when you fell from heaven, I will cut your throat.”

Ezra gave the girl a grin, trying to ignore the cold metal pressed up against his neck. “I was gonna say, as the temperature of your bloodstream slowly lowered to a point that the human body could no longer maintain consciousness and you passed out from the cold. Because I’ve never actually manipulated the temperature of a living creature before, so, y’know, I'm just curious. For science purposes. By the way, you recovered really fast. I’m impressed.”

She shoved him a little harder against the floor, and the knife shifted closer.

“What are you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, murder girl?”

“Don’t call me that.”

It was an impatient snarl, and Ezra winced as the knife started to press against his throat.

“Okay,” he breathed, trying not to move. “Okay. You’re not the one we’re looking for, anyway.”

The pressure let up as she sat back, surprised. “I’m not?”

“Really. So, how about you get off me, and I don’t freeze you solid, and we talk this out like normal people?”

She thought for a minute, and then she stood up, still holding the knife at the ready. Ezra sat.

“So, where is she?” he asked without preamble.

“What?”

“Me and my handler are looking for a woman, age 20 to 30, trained assassin, spent fifteen years in the Black Widow program before vanishing. This is her house, so where is she?”

The girl exhaled sharply, the scowl never leaving her face. “You’re looking for an ex-Black Widow?”

“Apparently, she goes by Ingenue now.”

“SHIELD is sending little boys to look for assassins?”

Ezra cleared his throat and stood, brushing off the dust that had stuck to him from the unswept floor. “First of all, I resent being called a little boy, and second of all, I wasn’t sent. I snuck along, and Agent Kallus is totally gonna ground me.” He looked around. “But he might not ground me quite as much if I find Ingenue, sooo… like I was asking. Where is she?”

The girl stepped backwards a few paces, and then dropped into the only chair in the one-room apartment. “She’s here.”

“She is?”

“You’re looking at her.”

Ezra did some math. She was sixteen—maybe seventeen, if he was being generous. Fifteen years of training…

The girl—Ingenue—smiled grimly, flicking her sunset-orange hair out of her face.

“The Academy takes us as babies.”

The silence was slow and long and potent. Then she grinned coldly.

“But, this does mean that I really am the one you’re looking for, so I’m gonna have to kill you now. No hard feelings.”

She was fast, but Ezra was faster.

His hand closed around the knife as she flew forward and swung it at him, enclosing both his fist and the blade in a casing of ice.

With a jerk of his hand, he snapped the brittle blade off its handle, and her eyes grew huge.

Frankly, he hadn’t known he could do that, either.

They stared at each other in silent shock, and then Ezra got what some people like to call a Terrible Idea.

“This is totally hypothetical,” he blurted out. “But how attached are you to this assassin thing?”

———

———

———

BONUS: when kallus arrives 5 minutes later

———

Part of this AU!

[thecoffeelorian]

The Mayday Game (Part 1 of 2)

◾"How come it's always cold on this floor...?"

◾Ensign Kallus asks this question of Ensign Gorn one summer afternoon, the outside temperature measuring almost into the 90-degree range.

◾Inside this dormitory, however...the thermostat appears to be "frozen" around the mid-thirties range, and almost always dropping.

◾Add to that the other strange occurrence of the lights occasionally flickering blue, and a second question is almost posed out loud--why is it just our room? Why do none of the other cadets have the same problem?

◾To his credit, Ensign Gorn doesn't dwell too long on the unfairness of this situation, as it won't exactly fix whatever's wrong with the temperature controls. That is, perhaps, a situation best brought up with their instructors in between classes.

◾In the meantime, though...it's here that he suggests a pause in their studies, because he would like to try playing a little game instead.

◾"What sort of game...?" Kallus asks, not knowing whether to feel interested or nervous.

◾"The Mayday Game," Gorn replies, tugging the regulation blanket a bit tighter around his shoulders.

◾"How do you play it?"

◾"Simple--all you have to do is light a candle, stand in front of a mirror with all the lights off, and say the name 'Mayday' three times. After that, Mayday himself will come and whisper your future to you."

◾"And...who exactly is this...'Mayday'?"

◾Well...I guess you'll just have to play the game to find out, won't you?

◾It's probably just a prank, Kallus tells himself, not wanting to look like a coward in front of his roommate. Just some test to see if I'm brave or not. I can handle pranks--

◾"--I'll do it."

◾"I'll get the candle."

◾And so, about a minute or so later...the two cadets are standing together before their dorm's small mirror, with Gorn holding the candle while Kallus has temporary custody of the blankets.

◾On the count of three, they chant the name of the lost Commander three times exactly as the game requires.

◾"Mayday. Mayday. Mayday."

◾Kallus is staring hard at his own reflection at this point, and naturally assumes that Gorn is doing the same thing...until he happens to turn to his left side, and sees nothing but empty space, endless drifts of snow, and cold.

◾There is very little else here besides this, although he thinks he sees something still and pale lying just out of the corner of his eye. No sounds come to him, other than the slow, shaky sound of his own breathing.

◾And strangest of all, the feeling of the cold is sinking into his clothing within seconds, even before he can do so much as take a step in any direction.

◾Right as he thinks to call out for Ensign Gorn, or the nearest teacher, or anyone else at all, however...that pale something suddenly jolts to life, and now the only thought Ensign Kallus has in his head is this.

◾Hide.

writer's notes: I wrote this as a bit of horror story practice, as well as to turn the most random of SW timeline connections into a somewhat living tale of the past. Also, Kallus' appearance fits his voice actor rather than the tall ginger guy we got in the animation. Finally, the divider was made by @djarrex.

no pressure tags: @nimata-beroya @intrepidmare @ilovecatsandbaking @mayawakening @heart-of-a-rebel16 @mystical-salamander @lost-in-derry @sapphic-loser16 @astralalmighty @archaicsymbols @imabeautifulbutterfly @jamine-boi-124 and anybody else who might like a story today.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "Wings of the Master"

Hera focus this time 'round, let's go flying.

Technically not a Friendship Fetch Quest episode, at least in terms of allies specifically for the Ghost crew. We DO gain an ally, but he and his creation are really more useful to the wider Rebellion at large. That is also a major recurring theme of the show: Building up the Rebellion piece by piece, ship by ship, cell by cell, person by person.

Not entirely sure why Kallus is heading up an Imperial blockade, that doesn't usually seem his area of expertise.

I think we're supposed to understand that Empire learned about them trying to smuggle aid to Ibaar and enacted the blockade to capture/destroy them but... honestly they just seem really really petty about preventing this one planet in particular from getting food.

It's always weird when one of the background bit roles is clearly just Steve Blum or Freddie Prince Jr.

Hera taking control and barking orders at everyone one by one, a nice hint foreshadowing that she's our focal character for today.

Sad Hera makes the heart hurteth. :(

Oooh, really liking this 360 dolly shot around the briefing holodisplay and the way the harp notes almost seem like they're in time with Rex's steps.

Kanan volunteers Hera for the mission to retrieve the B-wing and booooooooy the bad takes I had to see about that. Fandom could not give the boys a break, always took some of the most reaching uncharitable interpretations of everything they did.

(Fortunately most of them went away after the Season Two finale, with occasional hiccups.)

All I'm gonna say is that it was clear from the action prologue and basically the entirety of how Hera'd been acting that she was tunnel visioning and needed to be broken out of that single-goal mindset, or at least redirected to go after the solution that would actively help.

I do wonder if the reason Hera was so unusually determined to blunt force her way past the blockade had anything to do with her Clone Wars experiences. Ryloth was blockaded and starved out as well.

You know, after the crap he dealt with last episode it's really kind of nice to see Ezra feeling and acting lighter, he seems much less stressed.

Also this whole exchange is hilarious. Love Ezra banging on Chopper's dome and then pretending he didn't do it.

A new cue starts up here, a bit akin to the "Victory" leitmotif, sounds like snare drums handling the beat there maybe. Makes it sound a bit more exotic.

This whole sequence has some great camerawork and blocking. Really makes you feel the speed and wind and hard turns.

I appreciate that they could have played Zeb's weight tilting the ship dangerously off the edge for laughs but didn't, they stayed very serious throughout.

Quarrie is obviously named after Ralph McQuarrie, one of the big concept artists for the Original Trilogy. A nice little homage.

There's this really pretty quality to how Quarrie's irises are painted. Rebels' eye models are always so detailed and vibrant and look like a lot of hard work to make so consistently lovely, I totally get why the animators sometimes went out of their way to avoid doing them lol.

I'm frankly still a little confused by Quarrie's initial refusal to let them take the B-wing. I guess he was doing a Secret Test Of Character and once he heard why Hera was motivated to fly he decided she was up to snuff?

The set design for Quarrie's shipyard is nice though.

A little bit of Hera backstory! Honestly, I never thought Hera as a character needed much explanation; What we get about her motivation and past in this episode is pretty much all we need. (We get more obviously when we meet her dad but that's kind of a bonus.) Hera is straightforward (passionate about flying, channeled her skills and passion into the Rebellion) and her character arc is nearly already complete by the time we meet her, only missing that reconciliation with her father.

She doesn't have as many character struggles but then she doesn't exactly need them. She knows who she is, what she wants, what motivates her, and there's something to be said for that kind of self-assuredness.

The show would shake up her foundations later, as things got more serious but for now this was just enough character exploration to satisfy.

Anyway, Hera's speech is what Quarrie was waiting for, apparently, and he lets her test fly the B-wing.

This beautiful sweeping cue I think might be Hera's theme. It first turns up in this episode and has played periodically throughout.

I know a lot of fans have praised this flying sequence so let me just add to the chorus, it's really good. You get a solid sense of the speed and maneuverability of the B-wing.

Lol Sabine and Quarrie spatting over who's going to modify and refine the B-Wing.

The Phantom gets a mid-season upgrade, now capable of hyperspace travel on its own, independent of the Ghost, a feature which gets puts to a LOT of use the rest of the season as Kanan and Ezra split off from the rest more and more.

Running a blockade stationed on one side of a planet might seem weird when there's a whole back half of the planet that's not blocked off but remember, hyperspace lanes are a thing, it takes more work and effort to chart new paths through hyperspace than it does to just use the existing lane, which will only let you out at a certain spot. All the Empire has to do is sit in front of that spot to prevent you from maneuvering around and outflanking them.

The new Rebel Alliance cue that we heard in the first season finale makes an appearance to herald Hera's arrival.

"Oh shit that's my wife, lol y'all screwed now."

And the B-wing takes out a huge chunk of one of the Imperial cruisers. This is why developing the TIE Defenders became so important, never underestimate the importance of fighter superiority.

The success of the mission prompts Sato to promote Hera officially to Phoenix Leader and everyone looks so proud of her. As they should lol.

This is one of my husband's favorite episodes. If we're consuming Rebels like comfort food it's one of the ones he tends to pick. The man likes starfighters and the B-wing is his favorite, what can I say?

It's not a very complicated episode but it's beautiful and leaves me feeling light and happy.

Sabine's turn for basic backstory and minor character development is next and... well I'll just comment about it when I get there.

[ahsoka-its-all-of-us]

Hmmmmmm.

How about Hera for the ask game!

Yesssss Hera my queen! 🖤

One aspect about them I love

How level-headed she is. She's arguably the only person on the Ghost who always handles everything that's thrown at her and her own emotions responsibly and maturely. No wonder she was made a general in the Rebellion; I would trust her with my life. And because she's so controlled, the moments that she's truly angry make her absolutely terrifying.

One aspect I wish more people understood about them

Hmmm. I'm not sure if I have anything here, I can't really recall having seen any takes on her that I outright disagree with. The only thing I can think of that because of the above stated competence, sometimes it's easy to forget just how young she is. She's twenty-four when she takes in Ezra. Twenty-four! And an accomplished leader in a war, with the responsibility of a crew/family that includes two teenagers and three traumatised soldiers (yes, I'm including Chopper).

One (or more) headcanon(s) I have about this character

Despite having no less than two Jedi on her crew, she's the most perceptive one of the Spectres. Kanan and Ezra can sense things others can't, but Hera is much better than them at interpreting observations, and as such understands things quicker than they do. She's also realistic enough to not get blinded by her own emotions or wishes, which is how she was the only one to see through Gall Trayvis's deception.

One character I love seeing them interact with

I love it when Hera gets snarky with Imperials (Kallus, Thrawn). Because of her function as pilot, she gets the least amount of screen time with Imperials of the crew, but when she does she's just so collected, so in control. Truly a strong queen. Also Kanan, of course. Their relationship is arguably the best one in the entire Star Wars universe ;-;

One character I wish they would interact with/interact with more

I'd love to see her interact more with Rex! I loved the way she interacted with the clones in The Bad Batch, and I can imagine Rex reminding her of Howzer (also PLEASE I need her and Howzer to meet each other again in the Rebellion). Being with someone as traumatised as Kanan I can imagine her not talking about the clones a lot, and I think her and Rex could bond.

One (or more) headcanon(s) I have that involve them and one other character

She eventually develops a close friendship with Kallus, who becomes a member of her crew some time after losing Kanan and Ezra. Both of them are true commanders, capable of staying clear and focused in the fight more than a lot of rebels, and of course she sees his connection with Zeb and knows from the very beginning that he will end up becoming a part of her little family as well. Kallus, being with an emotional Lasat, sometimes needs her practical approach.

[seth-shitposts]

Working on trying to throw SOMETHING over on ao3 (it will either be the next concept dump for defectors, the first concept dump for SoFS&V, OR a once shot wip that's sitting in our docs-)

But for now we're dumping stuff we wrote for a friend about defectors au >:]

Enjoy Ezra & Kallus-

---

The first 6-8 months Ezra, while seeing and acknowledging that he has some definite safety and security around Kallus, doesn't take to him right away. The first month or so, his anger is not quiet at all. Kallus is careful to keep his patience in check, and doesn't hold anything over Ezra because he's very aware of how hard everything is on Ezra. Him reacting with anger in return will only serve to ensure Ezra never trusts him. Kallus is acutely aware that if he wants Ezra to trust him and feel safe around him, he has to feel safe enough to express the intense emotions and distress he's experiencing in the only ways he knows how.

Kallus had prepared himself for it to take much longer, but when Ezra started calming down and being more at ease around Kallus, he figured that how he chose to handle the situation worked. 

After working the situation out with Mira & Ephraim, Kallus took the time to explain it to Ezra and did so as often as Ezra asked. And that seemed to help in putting Ezra at ease. Whatever amount of dislike Ezra had died slowly over the course of the first 8 months. 

The first time Kallus comforted Ezra from a nightmare, it had been a few months into the first year. Kallus was up working late and his attention was immediately grabbed from the sound of muffled crying from the next room. Could he have ignored it? Returned to his work? it would have been possible, but he didn't allow it. Not with how this still new sensation of his chest breaking in two demanding his focus. It felt wrong not to comfort the child that is just starting to bring himself to not glare at him. 

Kallus quickly heated a blanket for Ezra as he gathered a few other things for him. Water (both drinking and in a warm bowl with a soft rag), one of the fruits he knows the kid likes, and a gentle powerlight. By the time Kallus is finished gathering the few items, the blanket has been warmed.

He gently knocks on Ezra’s door and asks if he's permitted to enter. He's taken small efforts to let Ezra know that anything is allowed to happen at his pace. Boundaries are where he wants to have them. Nothing is demanded of him. 

The other side quiets for a moment. Just as Kallus thinks that Ezra is pretending to be asleep for him to leave, he hears a quiet yes. 

Kallus balances everything carefully as he slips in through the door and has it slide shut behind him. 

“I know none of this will fix the cause of your distress, but it will help in it not be as intense.” Kallus sets things down on the night stand and let's Ezra feel the blanket before asking permission to help wrap it around him. Kallus has seen tears of anger and frustration on the kid's face, but tears of sadness have been kept hidden from him. This is the first time Kallus has been allowed by Ezra to offer comfort. And he honestly isn't entirely sure what to do. 

He's taken advice from local caregivers and has been relying heavily on it. There was one time he asked a fellow officer for advice and what he was given left a sour taste in his mouth. Tseebo and the Bridger Parents have been where he's asked most questions. 

Kallus is barely even on the edge of the mattress, more so just resting his hip against it as he gently speaks, offering the bottle of water and explaining that it will help ease the aches on his head, asking if Ezra would like to try and eat, being declined, asking if Ezra would like him to soothe his irritate skin with the warm rag, receiving a wordless nod and reaching for the rag. 

As Kallus is wringing out the rag, Ezra scoots over and shifts his gaze from Kallus to the now open space. Kallus hesitantly moves farther onto the bed, allowing himself to be more comfortable as he eases away the ache and distress from Ezra. It doesn't take long before Ezra begins to duck his head, eyelids growing heavy. 

Taking a reluctantly breath, Kallus helps Ezra lay back and get comfortable as he begins to sing the lullaby the Bridgers taught him, one that Tseebo explained to him is a lothal tradition and folklore and its history and significance. 

Something about Kallus singing the song to Ezra erases a tension that Kallus hadn't realized the kid had been holding onto the entire time. It takes only a few moments for Ezra to be eased into a gentle sleep. Seeing the kid so tired, recovering from whatever had woken him up, and so vulnerable brings a heat and rush of tears to Kallus’s own face. He swallows before blinking the feeling away as he tucks Ezra in, swaddling the still toasty blanket around him and brushing a few stray locks out of his face.

Kallus leaves the gentle glow of the light cell on and next to the half empty bottle of water. He waits a few moments at the door before letting himself slip out quietly, wanting to make sure the kid was lulled to a deeper sleep and won't wake up again. 

This pattern repeats several times within the first 8 months. The first night Ezra seeks Kallus out is after Kallus had stopped an officer from reprimanded Ezra wrongfully. No harm fell to him, but Ezra was still shaken over it. And Kallus still torn between wanting to rip into the officer himself and feeling as though he shouldn't have turned his back for two minutes. 

Kallus was up late again, working on more of the Bridger suggested cases when he heard a knock at his door, accompanied by a request from Ezra to see him. Kallus immediately shuts the datapad off and puts it away as he grants Ezra permission. The door slides open to reveal Ezra, who still clutches onto that lothwolf plush and tries to hide his misty eyes with it while simultaneously searching for Kallus. 

“I couldn't sleep, can I lay down with you?” 

Kallus nods, barely able to trust his own voice before learning his throat. “of course, Ezra.” 

Ezra doesn't waste a second crossing the room, as if Kallus would change his mind if he took too long. As Kallus moves over to make sure Ezra has plenty of room, Ezra chooses to latch onto Kallus rather than take the space made for him. Making himself situated, Kallus dims the light as Ezra buries his face against Kallus’s throat. And Kallus can feel as the tears finally slip from him. Holding Ezra reassuringly tight in his arms, Kallus promises that he won't ever let anyone hurt Ezra. That he's right here for him. Kallus doesn't let himself slip away into sleep until he's certain Ezra has first. It's much harder for him to fight the urge to sleep than it usually is, but the gentle snoring from Ezra finally pushes him over the edge of unconsciousness. 

—

As time goes on, it's much more frequent for Ezra to ask Kallus to help him fall asleep. To hold him or comfort him from bad dreams. Ezra gets the best sleep he's had since before the raid, Kallus makes him feel safe and he doesn't have any nightmares when he's near Kallus. And Kallus never turns him away. It just becomes their routine. As Ezra gets older, he doesn't ask as frequently, but still on occasion. 

At one point, when Ezra is around 10 or 11, he wakes up and focuses on Kallus, making sure that his caregiver is undoubtedly asleep. 

After being certain, Ezra whispers, “I know that you have a secret. You don't want to tell me or my parents because you don't want us to be too excited. But I know you're fighting for their early release. I hope when you win, that you'll leave the Empire and stay with us. I understand now that you think the empire wants what's best, but I want you to understand that it isn't. That there's better. Please, Ally.” 

—

In his free time, Kallus likes to make repairs and do basic maintenance to droids. When Kallus brings home one of the MSE droids, Ezra asks him questions about Everything and Kallus gives every question a full response as he updates the damaged droid. 

Ezra asks a lot of questions in general. Sometimes catches Kallus off guard. 

—

There was one point early on when Ezra was mad at everything and angry over everything. So much so that he really tried pushing Kallus’s buttons. Wanted him to react. And just as Ezra thought he was about to, Kallus took a deep, calming breath and asked Ezra to help him cook. 

It was random and out of no where. Ezra thought it might be a trap of some sort because of just how terrible some of the things he said to Kallus were. 

But the entire time, Kallus simply taught him a couple recipes from scratch, guiding Ezra gently on the process. And as they cooked, Ezra felt his frustration and rage slowly leave his body. He felt much better, but also a bit guilty over lashing out on Kallus. 

“I'm sorry for saying all those mean things to you.” 

“They did hurt. But I know you're also hurting right now and you're mad at the world and I'm not going to say that you aren't allowed to be.” 

“Why did we start cooking?” 

“When I was around your age, I also used to lash out. I lashed out a lot at my own caregiver. But they never lashed back or sent me away from them. They would simply say that it's time to cook and we would make something together. It never fixed my problems, but something about it made me feel better.” 

— 

Kallus has one of the strongest immune systems. Surprising with how poorly he takes care of himself. Morad has lectured him time and time again about taking better care of himself or that he has too much work on his plate or that there's any number of things that he isn't being careful about. Kallus was a sick child but his immune system turned around as he grew into his teen years and joined the academy. 

On paper, Kallus is 32. On paper, Kallus hasn't had so much as a cold in his time under the empire. Both are untrue, to some degree. Kallus is around 28 and he's had small fits of illness that he always concealed and powered through to work. But they were always manageable. Kallus hasn't been severely sick in over 14 years. 

Until today. Kallus tried working through it, concealing it. Ezra didn't know how to act. He tried saying that Kallus should rest. Kallus simply gave a weak smile to the 12 year old and told him that he'll be fine by lunch. Tseebo cringed away from him for the first time in years before rushing to stop Kallus from tripping. Before Tseebo could suggest that Kallus stay home, Kallus explained that there's an important meeting he needs to be a part of concerning the mistreatment of Lothalite citizens. 

Kallus successfully does his part for the meeting, but puts in a request for a break afterwards. Minister Tua stumbles across him and overrides it from a request for a short break to a “leaving and going home”. By the time she found him, he was violently ill and she demanded to know from the fellow officers who let Kallus remain present until he got this bad. That someone should have sent this poor man home hours ago. Kallus can't even muster the will or ability to argue.

Kallus was certain that the contact he had on file had been the Sumars, but when Ezra arrives, by himself, Kallus isn't even able to bring himself to question or worry. Everything spins and blurs too much for him to focus on anything. 

Ezra takes care of Kallus just as Kallus had taken care of him when he had been equally as sick. 

-----------

That's mostly all for now.

Mmm notes:

Kallus lied about his age to get into the academy. He was 14 when he enlisted, around 18 when he graduated, and around 19 when Onderon happened. And he was 23 on the night of the bridger raid with Ezra having been 7.

I'm looking forward to writing out how Kallus realizes just how young he was when he enlisted when he sees Ezra being taken care of and protected by the ghost crew. Like he knew on some level and realized that earlier on as he was raising Ezra, but it hits him like a freight train that he was Ezra’s age when he lied to get into the academy and Ezra is still just so young.

It had always been one of the main reasons why Kallus fought so hard for Ezra to not be enlisted as a child when the empire tried to mandate it.

--idea of kallus lying about his age was inspired by something @heart-of-a-rebel16 spoke about :]

[oenimo]

In honour of the Ahsoka show coming out, I’m coming out of my internet/Tumblr hiatus to write out my feelings, the feelings that caused the hiatus in the first place.

I love Ahsoka as a character. I love Clone Wars.

I love Star Wars Rebels

I want Ezra to come home. To see Hera again. To see Sabine again. Zeb. Chopper. Kallus. Rex.

I want him to meet Jacen

I loved the Mandalorian

I loved the Bad Batch (whitewashing not included)

I loved Book of Boba Fett

But I am terrified of the Ahsoka show

I am terrified at what they are going to do to the characters I love with all my heart. I am terrified of what they are going to do to Sabine. To Ezra. To Hera. To Chopper.

I am terrified they are going to erase Zeb. Terrified they’ll erase the meagre progress we got in the finale, of Kallus and Zeb on Lira San together.

I am terrified that Thrawn is going to be a villain.

“But he is a villain?” I hear you ask. “He was a villain in Rebels? He was the big bad for season 3 and 4?”

He was.

And that’s half the reason I’m scared.

Because I read the books.

Before I read the Thrawn books, Rebels was my favourite piece of Star Wars content/media I’d ever consumed (and I have consumed a metric fuckton of Star Wars). But the two new Thrawn book series beat it out. The new canon ones (Disney canon, if you want to call it that).

I love these books so much that I couldn’t consume any more Star Wars media after them. The live action shows, I could see the hints flooding in, and I have barely a shred of hope left that they won’t take my beloved books and destroy them. By which I mean, destroy Thrawn. This is why I’m so so scared of the Ahsoka show. I retreated from every bit of Star Wars fandom because I just couldn’t handle it.

The Thrawn books set up a beautiful narrative for the time skip in rebels. The hints from both the original trilogy (of Thrawn books) and the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy wove into the beginnings of an amazing explanation for where Ezra might’ve been during the gap, and did so while exploring Thrawn's character in a way that made me love him. And if you’ve only watched Rebels, you’ll believe me when I say that before reading the books I hated him. Before I read the books I couldn’t imagine liking him. And then I read them. And now the main reason that I am so so so distrustful and scared of the Ahsoka show is that I can see contradictory hints in the trailers, hints at the themes and stories that are going to be explored in the show, and they are all hints pointing towards making Thrawn who he was in the pre-Disney canon, in the old Thrawn novels. In those, he was exactly what you likely think of him as—ruthless, evil, heartless. However you want to describe it. But the newer books (written by the same guy who created Thrawn in the first place, I’d like you to know) changed that. They made him an infinitely more nuanced character, gave him a story that is so much more interesting than an evil dictator. But the trailers for the Ahsoka show make reference to the old books. The set up of the show is making Thrawn out to be the big bad. And when I heard “Heir to the Empire” (the title of one of the old Thrawn books, in which he is exactly that, and is his usual Legends canon nightmareish evil self) I pretty much lost all hope.

Theoretically, all this should’ve been assuaged by the fact that the new Thrawn books are canon. Not Legends canon, they are current canon.

But after how they changed Kanan’s backstory in Bad Batch, contradicting canon comics in favour of their new audiovisual show, I can’t expect much respect for written canon vs audiovisual canon. They’ve already disregarded their books once, why wouldn’t they do it again?

And let’s loop back around to that “but Thrawn was a big bad villain in the Rebels show”, because that ties right in.

Most of us love Dave Filoni. Clone Wars kicked ass. Rebels is amazing. I said it before—it’s my second favourite Star Wars media ever.

However.

Dave Filoni is also involved in the whole changes that happened with Jacen. He did the Bad Batch.

He also did Rebels, and specifically, also chose to make Thrawn the way he was in Rebels.

Compared to how Thrawn is in the new books, written by Timothy Zahn (again, the guy who made Thrawn in the first place), I’d take Zahn Thrawn over Filoni Thrawn any day. Because as I said, he is way more nuanced and complex in the books.

Villain and antagonist are two very different things. A villain is bad. A villain is cruel, and wrong. An antagonist is an opposing force. An opposing force against the protagonist. The protagonist doesn’t have to be a hero. The protagonist is simply the person we are following the story of, the one we hear the side of.

In Rebels, Thrawn is presented as antagonist and villain. He is countering the rebels efforts, doing things they don’t condone. The Empire is the true overarching villain of Rebels, and he is the face of the empire (once the inquisitors are done away with, and Kallus has defected). He and Pryce are the Empire. (Maul’s also an antagonist, but this isn’t about him.)

In the books, Thrawn is the (main) protagonist. He’s not really a hero, not in any usual meaning of the word, but he’s a protagonist.

The other main protagonist for the first book is Eli Vanto. An imperial officer who’s a hick from Wild Space, he’s about as low on the food chain as you could get.

For the first while, the Thrawn books don’t really have a distinct villain. The antagonists are, as could be expected for a book centred on imperial officers, sympathetic, or just plain unimportant enough to really count. Pirates. Smugglers.

And then comes Nightswan.

Nightswan is not a villain—He’s an antagonist. But he’s not a hero either. He’s not even really a rebel, not in with the rebellion, or his own sect like Saw Guerrera. He’s just swindling and fighting because he doesn’t like the empire, but he’s not overly concerned with results. A bit, but not much.

Pryce is a protagonist of the first Thrawn book. She is also, simultaneously, a villain. We watch her turn from a cunning and conniving 30-something, to a cunning, conniving, ruthless 50-something with a body count and a former best friend she turned in, making her rot in prison (because she joined a rebellion after seeing how Pryce was treated by her superiors!).

The last of the conflicts in the first Thrawn book is not a person vs person conflict. It is a person vs society. The last antagonist is the Empire. Or, specifically, the Empire’s xenophobia.

Thrawn is treated like crap by more than half of the people he works with. Eli, hick extraordinaire, the lowest member of the food chain, is not the lowest. Thrawn is. The only thing worse than being a hick from the ass end of nowhere is being an alien from the ass end of nowhere. At every turn, there are enemies watching for Thrawn and Eli to slip up, so they can be sent packing. The only reason they don’t, the only reason they survive, is a combination of one (1) influential non-xenophobic friend (who’s a remnant of the Republic, funnily enough (love you, Yularen)), plain competency at military matters, and a lot of tiptoeing around and making concessions.

“When can we push without being kicked out or killed”. “When do we have to give ground in order to stay in the fleet, and have the chance to do better in the long run”. More often than not, for two people such as themselves, they have to give ground. Eli, and Thrawn, spend a lot of their time in the books having ethical dilemmas and crises of conscious. It’s subtler from Thrawn, but it’s there.

Tell me that’s not more interesting than another black and white imperial villain. Tell me that doesn’t make more sense than a black and white imperial villain when said villain is an alien.

I also… don’t like Lars Mikklesen, heh. I don’t have anything against him, not really, but the problem stems from how he doesn’t help counter what I’m seeing in the trailer(s). Lars Mikkelsen was, indeed, Thrawn’s voice actor in Rebels. However, it’s Dave Filoni’s Thrawn (Rebels Thrawn) that I’m worried about. As we’ve said, Thrawn in Rebels occupies a very black and white villain role, this cold as ice ruthless and cruel and creepy villain, but then they (Disney! Literally Disney! Literally canon!) expanded on him, changing his backstory and history and present to be something way more interesting, way more complicated and nuanced and sympathetic and tbh, not a villain so much as a misguided hero. 

That’s the Thrawn I want! That’s the Thrawn I read six books of! That’s the Thrawn that makes a fascinating counter to Ezra’s reckless idealism! But they are hinting at all the wrong hints, and the fact that they keep pulling from Rebels is one part of those hints. Ahsoka snarling in Mando asking for where “Grand Admiral Thrawn” is, is another. “Heir to the empire” is another, and that’s the really, really, really damning one. Anyway, yeah, Lars is not the problem, but he’s another person involved who doesn’t have any exposure to Book Thrawn, so he does nothing to reassure. Also, in the pettier reasons I’m eh on him, lmao, he’s… kinda old for how I think Thrawn should look since we’ve experienced that Chiss seem to age extremely gracefully, and also just generally his face isn’t right, and also… I know he was the first voice but I really like Mark Thompson (the voice actor for the audiobooks) way better, lol.

Other than Thrawn, the trailer(s) worries me that they’re going to pull force-sensitive Sabine out of their asses. There’s no reason to make her force-sensitive, she could use Ezra’s lightsaber without it, and work with Ahsoka without being her padawan (remember how Ahsoka left the Jedi order also?? And refused to train Grogu? Her randomly turning around to train Sabine (who shouldn’t be force sensitive anyway) doesn’t even fit in with their own canon!)

Ahem.

That’s all I can think of right now. If you’ve read the Thrawn books, or if you haven’t but are curious and don’t care about spoilers, this is what I think should’ve/should happen with Ezra, Thrawn, and all the post-rebels pre-rebels epilogue/pre-Ahsoka time.

[katara-stan-club]

I’ve just rewatched all of Rebels while working on a sewing project (and yet I still have more hemming to do grrr), and its finale has me wishing TBB’s had been as impactful/well executed, so I’m putting a tiny bit of salt beneath the cut.

In Rebels they bring back so many old friends for the finale fight: Ryder Azadi, Hondo Ohnaka, Muchi, Gregor, Wolffe, Mart Mattin, Vizago, Ketsu, and Zeb’s boyfriend Kallus. Hell, they brought back the purgill! It’s a nice culmination of how far everyone, both Ghost crew and not, have come during the show’s running, and I wish that TBB had gotten that so badly.

I had been hoping bare minimum the Batch would send word to Rex so his group of fighters could be a part of liberating their brothers from the place they had been searching for!! And yet, come the finale it was just the Batch raiding Tantiss, not a single other ally in sight. No Rex and company, no Phee, no Benni or Syndullas or Romar or Cid or even the Wookiee’s! Literally anyone else they had ever worked with! Hell, even the Zillo Beast gets used somewhat disappointingly, only causing a distraction and breaking a hole in a wall, compared to the purgill herd whisking Thrawn and Ezra away to places unknown.

It feels like such a let down of a finale in terms of keeping the Batch separated from everyone else, when the whole point is they work better together (with every member there grumble grumble). It would feel more like a wrapping up of the Batch’s story if they had gathered allies in the lead up to the finale like the ghost crew did, instead of running around with Rampart for several episodes. Phee was literally right there!!! She was friends with the Batch AND wasn’t an antagonist for a season and a half!!! Was it funny to see Rampart? Yes. Do I think they could’ve used their time more wisely with anyone else? Also yes.

The lack of ally usage really feels like a weird choice writing wise. They set up all these connections, and then they are just never used? We only get some payoff for Roland Durand and Phee, we get way more for fucking Rampart, and everyone else can apparently suck eggs. The absence of any other clones outside of the Batch and Emerie is so jarring, when so much of the show has been about showcasing clones breaking free! I just can’t get over no other clones help the Tantiss clones break out except Echo and Omega, it just feels so out of place compared to the rest of the show.

Also, this is more personal, but I’ve seen the Rebels finale at least 6 times at this point, compared to the 2 times I watched the Bad Batch finale (both on the day it came out). Despite crying every time I watch the Rebels finale, I am still willing to watch it because it’s a satisfying wrap up for so many characters in that show. I don’t know when, if ever, I’ll watch the TBB finale again. It has so many weird writing choices and it hurts me too badly for me to be able to handle watching it. Maybe we’ll get a follow up show that focuses on clone rebellion stuff that will recontextualize it, but as it currently stands I won’t be rewatching TBB’s finale anytime soon. I’ll stick with crying while rewatching The Clone Wars and Rebel’s finales.

[ms-erin-kallus]

When the Weight's too Heavy but You Won't Let Go

Chapter 16

AO3 link ~ https://archiveofourown.org/works/44541196/chapters/136966204

Through the broken glass from the blown out windows of what was once someone’s home, a faint glow managed its way into the small room Kallus stood trapped in. The meager light afforded just enough of a break in the darkness for him to see the silhouette of a person blanketed within a large, black cape. Blended into the shadows and blocking his only means of plausible escape, they asked threateningly after a long, terse silence, “why are you following me?”

Even with the hood pulled down low enough that he couldn’t see their face, he could recognize that voice out of another million.

“Rhoan?” Kallus asked, almost unable to speak from his shock.

“I can’t believe that you were top of your class,” she quipped sarcastically. “You’re really bad at this.”

“If they catch you off base they will…” he trailed off as he intentionally ignored her insult to concentrate on the scenarios that began to run rampant in his mind.

To talk her way out of being off base and after curfew, considering the trouble that she was already in, would be an impossible feat. Even for him.

“What are you even doing out here? Why are you creeping around in the middle of the night?” he asked the still faceless voice.

A silence fell between them and the pause gave his mind time to catch up to the obvious, that’s why she’s risked being out here; what she was doing in that house.

“You’re trying to get off world.”

“Yeah, trying. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a massive orbital blockade thanks to you rescuing that girl,” she said sarcastically as she twirled her finger in a circle above her head. Her arm dropped hard to her side, “I can’t get out now,” she resigned with a quiet sigh.

Kallus’ stomach dropped to the floor. She can’t get out because of me, he realized as an unsettling feeling of dread came over him.

A single life or the whole cause? That scenario had become hard enough for him to deal with the further his foray into the workings of the rebellion went. But in their case, the situation they inadvertently found themselves in, he found things more than typically unbalanced and in his own selfish way.

“Look, I know that you mean well,” she told him and snapped his mind back to where it needed to be, “but you really should stay out of this.”

“Absolutely not-,” Kallus started before she suddenly turned and pulled the hood further over her head.

The door barely opened in her hand before something flew past her face and hit it with enough force to slam it back closed. Another rock of duracreet tossed up and fell back easily into Kallus’ hand as if to say ‘I can do this all night if need be’.

“Try it again,” he threatened with intent.

“Stop acting like a child,” she retorted as she rolled her eyes and reached behind her again.

Before she could even begin to turn the handle, the other stone sailed by her and impacted hard enough that the dilapidated metal exploded into myriad shrapnel.

Rhoan didn’t so much as flinch from it and waited a long few seconds before she turned around and glared at him, “now what are you gonna throw?”

“Myself if I have to!” Kallus snapped. “Rhoan, I am trying to help you from the force knows what,” he said a little gentler considering her penchant for violence when angered, and the fact that they were off to that kind of start. Yet again.

“I’m not asking for your help, I’m telling you that I don’t want it,” she said without conviction.

Deterrence wasn’t going to work for her like it had previously; he wasn’t going to let her get away from him as easily as he knew she could, but he didn’t know how. A picture of her file flashed through his mind as he searched desperately for anything that he could use in his favor before he lost her for good.

“I know how long that you have been here,” he blurted out, “17 bby. That’s a long time to walk away from, I know.” It was true; the only accurate information on her record was her work history. It was two decades of impeccable service that the Empire would simply ignore. “I know that you’ve only worked in departments that require skeleton crews.” Though he himself had only made a small handful of acquaintances throughout his career, she somehow had managed to have fewer, “I know that you’ve never had any real associations. That kind of self reliance would make asking for help difficult.”

With her hood still pulled down low, Kallus couldn’t gauge her reaction; her body language was even less of an indication.

Sunrise was quickly approaching, “we don’t have a lot of time.”

“No, I don’t have time,” she reminded him to reiterate that it wasn’t his problem and that she had no intention to make it that way.

Kallus let his head fall back annoyed. “You may be used to doing everything for yourself, but, whether you like it or not, you can’t do this alone,” he told her as he looked back down and took a deep breath. His next words were hard to say, and even worse to hear, “we both know what will happen-“

Before he could finish, she cut him off, “you make it sound like I’m going to be whisked away and executed mercilessly or something.”

Kallus couldn’t stop himself from yelling at her, “you may very well be!” It was no secret that Tarkin loved to make examples of wayward employees and creativity seemed to be one of his specialties.

A terse silence fell between them again and Kallus swore that he could hear every beat of his pounding heart reverberate off of the barely standing walls around them like tiny seismic charges. Any harder and he was sure the whole structure would collapse around them.

Execution may have been an extreme, but he knew better than to hope for the best, and for some reason he couldn’t shake the feeling that his intuition was correct.

“I can get you out of here,” he told her as a plan began to form in his mind, “I will simply walk you straight to a hangar and onto a ship. If anyone dare ask, I will tell them that I have arrested you and am taking you to Coruscant to stand trial.”

That can absolutely work, especially at this hour.

The thought of her going back to the dome terrified him, but he couldn’t leave her in the city either. Especially after Konstantine had taken her advice and bolstered security pretty much everywhere that Kallus could attempt to smuggle her out of. If whoever was in that safe house couldn’t do it, then he couldn’t risk it either.

“They wouldn’t think twice about stopping us if we did it right under their noses and with conviction.” The Ghost crew had proven that time and again with their uncanny ability to sneak onto military bases and even Imperial war ships without notice. It was getting out that usually posed the biggest problem to them.

“And where are we supposed to go? Do you think they will let a defected ISB officer and naval captain just waltz away without chase?” she shook her head as if she absolutely knew that one day she would be caught by them. “They will hunt us down like game until they find us.”

Us was absolutely right. Whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not, he wasn’t going to just abandon her to fend for herself alone. The majority of her life might have been spent on her own, but that wasn’t the case anymore regardless of the reciprocity of his feelings.

It was why he took the biggest, and potentially most fatal chance of his life.

“We can hide with the rebels.”

Even under the hood of her cape he could see the bewilderment in her eyes. “Are you fucking stupid?” she asked in a tone that wasn’t clear as to whether the question was rhetorical or not. “Do you really think they would simply just welcome you with open arms? They may be trusting to a fault, but you are ISB,” she reminded him. “That makes it different.”

The admission of his next secret he feared, might have been the tipping point that she needed to finally come to her senses and turn him in to protect herself. But he told her regardless, “I’ve been helping them.”

“Not for long enough,” she followed up quickly as she pulled the hood from her head. “It would take more than you realize.”

Kallus knew that she was right, that they wouldn’t accept either of them readily, but she had changed the subject again and he hadn’t realized it.

That was when he used the only other ammunition that she had given him.

“Would your family want you to throw away your life if you didn’t have to?”

Everything changed: the air felt colder around him as her posture instantly tensed and turned defensive. Even through the somehow darker darkness around them he could see the storm clouds that began to roil in her eyes. Yet, at the same time flashes of the despondent woman that sat across from him after the ‘events’ of the yacht party seemed to intertwine and create an unpredicted stoicism.

What happened to you?

Still, through that all, it felt to him as though she was also desperately searching for her answer before she finally spoke, “don’t you dare.”

The tone in which she warned him sent a chill down his spine and he took a small step back intuitively at it. His intent had backfired spectacularly.

Through the fog of his racing mind, coupled with the gloom that the long gone moons had left behind them, he didn’t notice that in one inarguably fast move, Rhoan had knelt to the floor, grabbed a rock of her own and threw it at him with surprising accuracy and strength.

Yet somehow, Kallus was able to duck out of its way and as he quickly stood back up to protect himself from another projectile, he noticed that the crouched position she dropped into had left her just vulnerable enough that he could rush at and possibly overtake her.

Her back slammed into the wall harder than Kallus meant when he charged her, but the panic was beginning to become uncontrollable. Both of her wrists were pinned against the wall at her sides before he realized that he had done it.

“Rhoan, please-“ he started before she quickly hit him with an intentionally vicious verbal gut punch.

“Looks like you finally got me where you want me.”

What she said hurt; he couldn’t lie. The continuous and unforeseen guilt that began to build up in him from that night forward would never cease. Somehow, he knew that she knew it too. That kind of intuition was an intelligently effective weapon that she had honed to perfection.

“That’s not going to work again,” he said quietly down into her ear, close enough that he could feel her body heat against his own reddened skin.

There was no response and he hoped it was the realization that he was both completely serious about her situation and that he was sincerely scared that he wouldn’t be able to do enough to protect her. That she would get hurt from his shortcomings.

Her wrists twitched in his grip, but he didn’t let go because he knew what would happen if he did. “You’re wasting time and we need to get back to the dome before anyone notices.” Kallus looked around nervously, “if they were to catch you in what could be construed as a rebel safe house,” he cautioned as he reluctantly pulled himself away from her warmth just enough to look at her to reinforce his concern.

Hazel green eyes focused back deeply into his own with a look he hadn’t expected, “I doubt that anyone will notice. They didn’t notice, or even care, when you disappeared on Bahryn,” she said somberly.

Kallus wasn’t buying her sudden concern for his well being and leaned back down, straight in her face. “Stop. Deflecting.”

Soft moonlight shone down onto a face quickly more recognizable, “what do you expect me to do, Kallus?” she derided him loud enough that he was sure the entire neighborhood heard. “I can’t get off of the planet and there’s nowhere to hide here, remember?”

“Rhoan,” Kallus began before she immediately cut him off.

“Look, it’s just minor assault,” she admitted more quietly. “Perhaps if I cooperate and show some well faked remorse-“

“I just caught you trying to escape the planet minutes ago!” he yelled. “How have you so effortlessly and indifferently decided to just accept what is about to happen to you?”

“Look, this is where I belong, where I need to be,” she paused for effect, ”my allegiances have never wavered because of emotions or fears.”

Kallus stared at her blankly, “you were just trying to leave.”

“I’ve come to my senses.”

With that, one of his biggest fears proved true, they had brainwashed her to the point that she couldn’t think for herself anymore. Escape was no more than a short lived reflex of self preservation.

“I know how much intelligence goes through you.” Droid maintenance didn’t appear to be an important job to most, but he knew otherwise. In actuality she held one of the most important positions on the planet and she did it without notice or bother. “You’ve seen what they are doing, you can’t deny that most of their actions are despicable atrocities of the worst kind and that they are multiplying exponentially.”

“Yeah, but those weren’t my decisions. I don’t work in the field or blindly follow their orders,” she said as she looked straight at him. It was as if she deliberately wanted to remind him that he had done those things, and he had done them recently.

Again, her words cut through him with surgical precision.

“I simply just pass on information to where I need it to go.”

Kallus shook his head, “I know that you still have a conscience, you’ve shown me that firsthand.” There was no way he was going to let her use something like that to get to him again. “And I’ve seen it more than once,” he reminded her.

I’ve seen it, Rhoan.

It wasn’t enough to sway her and she tilted her head at him knowingly, “I have the wit to understand the risks I’ve taken and I’ve come to terms with that.”

“But somehow you don’t have the understanding to know what they will do to you? I’ve seen those things, Rhoan, the ones that don’t get passed through messenger droids or stormtrooper gossip, and for a reason!”

That feeling he couldn’t shake only intensified with his heed.

“It’s only minor assault. From what I’ve seen about the guy, I’m doing the Empire a favor,” she said as if she had read his mind. “I may be a hermit but at least I’m not a dick that’s terrible at her job.”

“They won’t care about that! They won’t care about your career, Rhoan. They wont care how long you’ve served or how well.” Kallus could no longer control himself, “they will arrest you and most likely make an example of you!” he almost yelled in her face.

“This isn’t your problem, Kallus. You really need to stay out of it,” she replied simply.

“No,” he told her in the same matter-of-factly tone that she always used on him when she wanted him to know that she wasn’t going to argue further, “I’m not going to let this happen. Not without a fight, so it looks like that if you go down,” he grabbed hold of her gaze and didn’t let go so as to convey the gravity of what he was telling her, “then I’m going with you.”

For the first time, Kallus managed to leave her speechless.

Or so he thought.

“That’s just stupid,” she answered sarcastically.

Kallus cursed her under his breath as rage quickly began to overtake his panic. “I can’t leave you here; you don’t have to stay with me, but you are not staying here. I won’t let you.”

“I’m not leaving,” she retorted, unwavering in her decision. “I shouldn’t have even tried to go in the first place.” Her eyes fell to the ground, “I could’ve put those people in danger,” she said with quiet remorse.

It’s never herself, even when it needs to be.

“You need to think about you,” he pleaded her, desperate for her to come to her senses. “There is nothing here for you anymore.”

“Everything is here: my home, my job, my purpose,” she told him. “This has become my life.”

Rhoan, you’re smarter than this.

Kallus jumped on a potential opportunity, “you destroyed your place here when you let yourself lose control.”

Her head shook slightly as if she was refusing to hear the truth or accept her mistake before she looked up at him with complete resolve. “I’ll take my chances with the Empire.”

For the life of him, Kallus could not figure out what exactly she was holding on to there, on Lothal or within the Empire or whatever, wherever. There was no way that she could possibly think that what was waiting for her would be something she could simply walk away from. Especially if she thought that her service would be enough to save her.

The Empire’s brainwashing techniques were impressively and terrifyingly effective.

Kallus tried one last time before he would have to finally let her go.

“Rhoan,” he began as he searched desperately for words that he suddenly couldn’t find. “There’s no easy way to hear this,” he looked down at her helplessly. Whatever it was that she was holding onto, it needed to end. Quickly.

“It’s time to let go.”

“Do not assume that you may tell me what to do,” she snapped, unable to hide the raw emotion that suddenly dominated her in every sense that it could. The reaction wasn’t what Kallus had expected and he immediately regretted pulling her pain out from wherever she had locked it away for him to witness.

It was hard for him to watch her unable to control herself.

Kallus felt her try to shake loose from the grip he still held but he wouldn’t let go. The timing may have been as bad as it could have, and it may not have been his place, but she was going to at least listen to him for once. “You’re only hurting yourself.”

“I deserve it!” she cried up at him with the unequivocal anguish of someone that was suffering. “I deserve the pain and the guilt and the nightmares,” she growled as she stood up onto her toes and put her face straight into his.

“I deserve it all.”

Neither of them so much as breathed. Kallus because the part of her that he thought he wanted to see was broken almost beyond repair, and she at the realization that she had shown that to him.

Rhoan fell back down onto her feet, “It’s my penance,” she whispered as her head hung low. “It was supposed to be both of us,” she whispered so quietly the Kallus only heard us.

That’s when he realized that she wasn’t holding onto something, she was holding onto someone.

Kallus’ heart fell into his stomach as he felt the hardened stone held within his tight grasp suddenly melt as she conceded for the second time that night.

A wave of something within him, something that he couldn’t understand, suddenly surrounded and permeated all the way into his bones. It took over him so strongly that it felt as if he no longer held his own control. “Rhoan,” he said down to her affectionately, but was met with little response.

Her misery felt as if it was also his own. It was suffocating.

One of his hands let go of her and he gently used a finger to lift her still twisted face to his own, “it’s been long enough.”

Even through the darkness of the night he could easily see that her eyes glassed over at his words as she silently stared back at him. As a small tear fell down the side of her face, a knot formed in his throat.

Before he could realize that he had done it, Kallus let his fingers draw along her jawline and his thumb gently wiped it away before he let his hand cradle her head behind her ear. The usual tension that seemed to always radiate from her vanished and left behind an unforeseen calm and ease at his touch.

He prayed that it was progress.

Lost in the moment he hadn’t noticed that her freed hand was wrapped lightly around his forearm and her head tilted so slightly into his palm that he wasn’t sure if it really was or if he was just hoping that it had. Regardless, he did know that she wasn’t breathing.

A small, unsure sigh quietly broke the silence before his forehead leaned gently against hers. The two of them stood, one in quiet contemplation and the other in hopeful anticipation, as a warm breeze blew in from the window at their side and played at the loose hair that fell around her face.

Kallus could’ve stood there forever, but time wasn’t on their side. It never would be.

“Rhoan,” he said quietly, necessarily, but reluctant, to break whatever it was that had taken over.

Finally, he felt her take a small breath in before she looked up at him. The grip on his arm tightened but she didn’t move as he leaned down to fit his face into hers.

There was no intense excitement or metaphorical fireworks or even an uncontrollable heartbeat in his chest as he let the soft skin of her nose brush against his own. What he thought would be unbridled exhilaration, was instead a peace so serene it felt almost familiar.

The feeling was short lived.

As she gave into yet another defeat, he felt her gently shake her head as she pulled away from him. Her eyes fell as hard as her hand from his arm, and with it he realized that she had shown him the obvious.

Again.

As much as he wanted to say or do something, he didn’t. Whether she wanted to accept it or not, he had helped her make a small amount of the much needed progress that she was incapable of doing solely on her own.

He wasn’t about to shatter it with the necessity of what he wanted from her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered so quietly that he didn’t hear her before she turned and quickly opened the door to disappear into the cool night air.

Kallus stood immobilized in the doorway for what felt like an eternity as the darkest part of night fell heavily upon the city.

It’s time you let go too.

The Empire was going to take her, he knew it, and he would never see her again. Even if they didn’t, if she managed to get off world before they could, she would vanish and he would never get to look into that pair of tormented hazel green eyes again.

His own eyes closed as he took in a deep breath, you tried, he told himself as he walked outside into the stilled air and looked up at a sky littered with thousands upon thousands of stars. Make a wish, he thought childishly before a voice to his side startled him.

“Are you not coming?” Rhoan asked as she stood in the middle of the street. The dark hood of her cloak lay haphazardly on her shoulders and she still blended almost completely into the darkness around her as she stood motionless and anticipated his answer. It was as if she had been waiting on him the whole time.

“What?” Kallus asked, confused.

Her head nodded toward the dome, “it’ll be dawn soon.”

~

Before he knew it, the two of them stood silently in a lift, side by side, eyes ahead. Instead of a feeling of excitement or even simple contentment with how his evening had unexpectedly shifted, Kallus instead fought hard against a ruthless unease aided by an unexplainable and stagnate backdrop that slowly pulled the air from his lungs.

Rhoan suddenly turned and looked up at him with a quizzical intensity in her pensive eyes as she studied the man in front of her and contrasted him against the memories she had of the one she originally met all of those months ago.

Enough time passed as Kallus looked back down at her, unsettled by both whatever was going through a still silent Rhoan’s mind and his apprehension that grew exponentially with every second that they stayed in the dome, he decided it was time for him to take full control and act.

That was until she quickly and unexpectedly turned forward and pushed a button on the control panel, the level to her workshop.

“Rho-“

“I have to get to R3,” she told him more than she asked and he knew better than to argue it. “They will know what to do.”

Whatever will get you off of this planet.

“I,” she started before she stopped and took a deep breath to collect herself. “Thank you,” she told him quietly before she looked up to him with a peculiar placation and let the corner of her mouth raise just enough for him to notice.

“Rho-“

The lift doors opened and the undeniable sound of shifting body armor tore his gaze away from her.

“Rhoan Rial?” a cocky voice asked from behind the four death troopers that stood in the hallway, two on each side of its source.

Without hesitation or even cognizance, Kallus grabbed Rhoan, who was still looking at <em>him,</em> by the arm and yanked her backward hard as he intentionally positioned himself between her and the danger he knew she was in. “What is this?” he asked barely able to keep calm as decades of training readily abandoned him to, unfortunately, let his emotions take over.

“That is none of your concern,” the man said sarcastically as he sauntered up to them easily, “agent.”

Kallus took a threatening step forward, his anxiety instantly melted away as muscle memory instinctively kicked in. Menacingly, he lifted his chin as his hands clasped behind his back, “she is the subject in an investigation that <em>I</em> am leading.” By instinct, one of his feet shifted as he squared his frame and subtly pushed his chest outward, the way he always did when confronted, “this is <em>ISB</em> jurisdiction, not yours.”

“<em>Your</em> investigation is no longer relevant,” the man that Kallus noticed wore no insignia and his cap pulled down low, said simply. “She is coming with us.”

“Under whose authority?” Kallus snapped before soft fingers wrapped loosely around his tightly fisted and ungloved hands.

Rhoan had settled up into his back without notice, “I need you to find me,” her voice carried quietly and delicately up to his ear.

Kallus looked down and to his side with only his eyes, “Rho-,” he began before he felt her lean her forehead against him and her hands squeeze his harder. Instantly he felt some sort of paradoxical calm radiate through him when she left her fingers slowly draw across his still tightly clenched fists as she stepped out from behind him.

“Hands up!” a scrambled voice barked at her as she readily complied.

The person behind the dark armor grabbed her wrist before she was even out of the lift and slammed her hard into the wall at her side with an easy delight.

Kallus heard the sickening, and regrettably, familiar sound of her head hit the cold duracreet, hard. All he could see through the sea of darkness around her was gloved fingers threaded into her hair as they pushed her face harder into the wall. In what he knew would later haunt him, her neck twisted into an unnatural position and she let out a sound that he would never be able, or even want to describe.

“She is complying!” Kallus unintentionally screamed as he managed only one step out of the lift to intervene before an ominously opportunistic blaster rifle was instantly trained on him by a black suit of armor devoid of anything other than the faceless barbarity of the Empire’s might.

“As I said before,” the mystery man snarked from their side, “she is also no longer <em>your</em> concern.”

<em>Find me,</em> her voice danced airily through his mind out of nowhere and forced him to finally come to terms with the fact that there was nothing more that could be done but watch, in slow motion, as her other arm was wretched and cuffed behind her, effectively rendering her completely at their will.

<em>I will,</em> he promised her silently as a blur made smaller by the towering soldiers around her was quickly shoved past him and onto the lift before the four sentries turned to face forward, two in front of her and two behind.

The ‘officer’ boarded last and smiled obnoxiously until the doors closed between them.

As he listened to the lift move away from him, a part of him was being taken with her.

A quiet sound suddenly drew his attention to his side. At the end of the hallway, just outside of the large doors that led into the area where they stayed overnight, sat a motionless green droid,

‘this is going to take both of us.’

Kallus’ body felt like it weighed a million pounds: far too much to move, as his legs numbly led him onto the lift that opened almost unnoticed. Dizziness took hold of his still reeling mind as he turned to press the control panel and lean his suddenly exhausted body against it to stay upright.

When he looked back to R3, they were gone.

~

A few unnerving minutes later, Kallus paced nervously back and forth around his office, revitalized by the massive amount of adrenaline that had been coursing through him the entire time, as he furiously scrolled through the crime blotter on his datapad. Please please please, he repeated, his grip further tightening around the device with every plea, until he froze and it fell from his hands.

AWOL

[anoray]

Ahsoka trailer

I’m late to the table with my two cents on the official Ahsoka trailer, but here are my thoughts:

1. Glad we’re getting Lars Mikkelsen back as Thrawn. I’m very curious to see what has been going on with the grand admiral all these years, how it ties into what we’ve seen on the Mandalorian, plus what happened to Ezra, of course. In a nutshell, why has it taken so long for the search for Ezra to happen when the war ended years ago?

2. Speaking of Ezra, Eman Esfandi seems like perfect casting for his character. Like many others, I think it is likely that Ezra and Thrawn won’t come into active play until later in the season.

3. Live action purrgil, yay! From what I can see, the creatures look awesome! Same goes for the Loth-cats :)

4. Natasha Liu Bordizzo appears to be a perfect choice for Sabine. I’m not quite as content with the look or sound of Hera thus far, but that could totally change once the series begins. After all, Vanessa Marshall’s voice is a very hard act to follow. (But why do the distinctive tattoos on Hera’s lekku seem so muted?)

5. I have no idea yet what to think about the non-Sith/non-Jedi Force user villains and mystery Inquisitor. Gonna just stay neutral on them for now.

6. I am intrigued by what type of Legends material might be interlaced into the series. Not that I’ve actually read much from Legends, but there sure is a wealth of imaginative stuff on Wookieepedia. 

7. I will be very surprised and rather ticked off if they actually give Sabine Force powers. How could Kanan and Ezra not sense that ability in her if it existed all those years, especially when Kanan trained her with the Darksaber? I do recall the Bendu was lurking around during that episode, but I think it had more to do with Kanan and Ezra learning lessons themselves as they taught Sabine, not because she is Force sensitive. Anyway, my bet is that Ahsoka simply trained Sabine on how to use Ezra’s lightsaber like Kanan did with the Darksaber due to all the rising threats.

8. I’m pretty sure we’ll get at least some Zeb, not sure about Kallus.

9. If Hondo is going to show up, they’re keeping a tight lid on it. 

10. We already know Jacen will appear, huzzah, and I’m 100% sure he is Force sensitive like his poppa. Perhaps Huyang is involved with training Jacen as part of his involvement in the story? I’m super curious about how all this will be handled and what, if anything, will be mentioned about Kanan. Regarding the green hair, maybe they couldn’t get it look believable in live action? Or he dyes it to look like his dad? We shall see...

11. Live action Chopper = chaos in a good way. And I would love some AP-5 sass to go along with it, but that’s probably not in the cards.

12. As for Ahsoka herself, I stand by my puzzlement that the quest of finding of Thrawn and Ezra was laid at her feet when she had nothing to do with Thrawn and zero screen time with Sabine in Rebels. Yes, Ezra said “come find me” when they escaped the World Between Worlds, but at that time he had no clue what he was going to have to do to get Thrawn out of the mix, so he was just telling her to meet up with him and the Ghost family again. All the information presented in the SWR epilogue pointed to the search for Ezra starting around 5-6 years after the war ended, so I hope the show gives us some solid reasons for the long delay, plus Ahsoka being front and center instead of the Ghost family members themselves if this is SWR Season 5 per Filoni.

Bottom line, the trailer cements the fact that Ahsoka is 100% different from what I’ve been imagining since SWR ended, but I intend to approach Ahsoka with an open mind and enjoy the new canon as much as possible. Thankfully, there’s always great fanfic on AO3 to soothe my tattered soul ;)

[thatonegreyghost]

How about Hunger and/or The Fantastic Four(And What They Did There) for the wip game? 👀

yessssssss!!!!

So. Hunger is an ongoing Star Wars fic and will be resuming very shortly(I'm very sorry for the hiatus!!! I hit a wall and had to take a break). For those unfamiliar, Hunger is the story of Alexsandr Kallus learning to love himself through the power of food... while simultaneously learning that food is not the enemy.

snippet for the future;

"I haven't done this in a while." Alex admits quietly. "You don't have to stay. We both know this arrangement is for convenience."

"You... Ugh. Give me the frying pan." Zeb grumbles, hiking his shorts up higher. "You could just say you don't know how to cook, you know."

"I just don't understand why you put up with me." Alex murmurs.

The Fantastic Four(And What They Did There) is a Genshin Impact series. It's the story of Navia, Wriothesley, Clorinde, and Neuvillette during the aftermath of the prophecy. They each have a different way of handling crisis, but when working together, they can get Fontaine back on track in no time. There's just a few problems... Like Navia having a secret half brother. Or Clorinde being haunted by the ghost of the one person she shouldn't have killed. Or Wriothesley being allergic to magic. ...Actually, this is going to be harder than they thought.

snippet for the future;

"I've always had a weird reaction to this stuff." Wriothesley giggles as Sigewinne pushes another round of antibiotics into his arm. "That tickles."

"Will you please hold still?" Sigewinne sighs. "Why did we think this was a good idea?"

"It's the cheap route." Navia and Wriothesley say in unison.