#movement and perspective what XD but I pulled through and ended this in less than 20 layers in the end yay

[omaano]

A tragedy in action

If I don't look at canon it doesn't exist, but at the end of last year I was commissioned to paint this Order66 moment by CJ on Instagram. It was a very challenging but also amazingly emotional and very inspiring prompt - and while I've never drawn such an action focused pose before I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I also very badly missed using this much purple in my pictures TT^TT

Captain Dev and Padawan Jilia belong to CJ

[ace-oreos]

I know its impossible for it to have happened but I would like to see some Alpha vs Darth Maul. Like Maul would be like 'oh your one of kenobi's' and Alpha would be like 'i just work for the man but i will absolutely fight you'

I’ve said it many times before and I’ll say it one last time here: anon, you were so very patient and I can’t thank you enough for waiting all these months for me to finish this. 

I can safely say the funniest part of writing this was trying to figure out how to put together Maul’s Drama™ and... Alpha’s penchant for avoiding drama by any means necessary. It made writing the dialogue VERY fun XD

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added!): @dudewhynotthis @merspots @the-mandalorian-clone-lover @delta-the-mando @or-te-ka-ra @huitzilinthebudgie3 @a-lil-perspective

By all accounts, the Sith isn’t supposed to be here.

Just my luck, Alpha thinks, and sighs when he remembers Fordo offered to take this one off his hands. It wasn’t worth committing the full strength of Fordo’s squad to this assignment - or so he initially thought. They hadn’t gotten word of hostile Force-users until Alpha reported his findings. 

He’d been unpleasantly surprised, to say the least.

Maul and Kenobi have history, if he remembers correctly. Kenobi hasn’t told him the half of it and Alpha really doesn’t care one way or another. He wouldn’t, if he had already devised his own method for killing someone who can very likely predict his every movement. 

Really, the only way to get one over on Maul would be to cut off his connection to the Force. There’s no way of doing that, as far as Alpha knows, so this op will require a fair share of ingenuity and a healthy disregard for conventional means of warfare. Some more time wouldn’t go amiss either, but Alpha will have to work with what he has. 

So he lets Maul find him. Draws him out now rather than exert energy that could very well be the deciding factor later. He can’t say for sure that Maul is surprised, exactly, but whatever flickers across his face doesn’t look like anger just yet. 

“I wasn’t expecting you,” the Sith says slowly, all acid sibilants. 

“I suppose you were hoping for Kenobi,” Alpha dismisses. “Tough luck.” 

Alpha can put up just as much of a fight as any Jetii, but letting Maul underestimate him could work to his advantage if he plays his cards right. If Kenobi’s teachings are true, the Sith use their anger to guide them. Alpha intends to use that against him.

“So he sent you in his place, is that it?” 

“The general couldn’t be bothered with the likes of you,” Alpha is more than happy to inform him. “He’s beaten you once already. Why waste energy proving it again?” 

That strikes a nerve. The Force might not be part of Alpha’s arsenal, but he can read the rage in Maul’s expression all the same. Better to tread cautiously now; provoke Maul too soon, and the force of his anger will be too much for Alpha to redirect.

The Sith is examining him closely. “You must be one of Kenobi’s, then.”

Alpha shrugs. “Not exactly, but for our purposes - you could say so.”

“You feel no loyalty to him?” Maul asks slyly like that will get under Alpha’s skin.

“Depends on the day.” Alpha lets his hand drift casually to his blaster. “If you’re looking for a fight, I’d be happy to fill in. Like I said, Kenobi couldn’t care less about - ”

True to his intuition, Maul’s first attack isn’t based in the Force. He’s faster than Alpha anticipated, but he manages to dodge the headlong strike. Maul pivots, and a double-bladed lightsaber appears in his hands.

Maul is fast - Alpha just has to be faster. 

Evasion isn’t Alpha’s usual style, but he recognizes the necessity given the threat he’s facing. It’s no use trying to get a round past Maul’s saber; it would likely be deflected back at him anyways. 

And there’s no way Alpha can pull this off if he and the Sith are on equal footing. But if he can make the environment work to his advantage - if he can force Maul onto the wrong foot and seize that opportunity when it arises - he just might have a chance. 

Still, Maul isn’t sloppy enough that an opening will appear without some coaxing on Alpha’s end. It’ll mean sacrificing discipline for whatever works in the moment, but he decides it’s justifiable given the payoff. 

Even as he stays in motion he’s careful not to expend more energy than is strictly necessary. It’s just as well Jango was never one for fancy footwork; Alpha doesn’t get caught up in anything of the sort now. Eventually, however, Maul catches on and pulls back, eyeing him. 

“Kenobi’s lessons weren’t lost on you, I see.”

Alpha lets him talk, mind racing all the while. The compound’s labyrinthine layout could give him an edge - he’ll just have to do what he can to avoid getting crossed up along the way. But there’ll be risks no matter what; it’s just a matter of choosing the approach that will leave him the most room to adapt.

Just as Maul begins another pass with his saber, Alpha sends a few well-placed shots towards the Sith's feet and makes a break for a doorway just off Maul’s left shoulder.

Something collides with the wall dangerously close to his head, aided by the Force. Alpha ducks away instinctively but doesn’t look back. The first corridor is narrow; the second opens up to a catwalk that overlooks a wide hangar several meters below. 

He doesn’t have time to plant charges around the doorframe. It’s a shame, really - even the Force wouldn’t reveal detonators. But no use lamenting what he can’t have; Maul isn’t far behind. 

Alpha doesn’t much like the thought of getting caught on the catwalk, either, but there’s no other route out of this section of the compound. At least it’s stable; he doesn’t like to think what could happen if he didn’t have secure footing. 

He’s nearly halfway across, just starting to think he might’ve pulled this off when something slams into him from behind and he’s plunging towards the hangar floor in an uncontrolled fall, fighting blind panic. 

It’s sheer dumb luck that his rappel line catches something solid. He clutches at the taut line, muscles shaking with exertion and a fresh wave of adrenaline. Regaining a clearheaded state of mind is a conscious effort made all the more difficult by the realization that for all the Sith underestimated him, it’s painfully clear that Alpha badly underestimated Maul. 

With the catwalk no longer an option - he’ll only be walking straight into the onslaught - Alpha draws a steadying breath and lets himself fall. The breath is knocked from his lungs when he hits the ground, but he manages to roll with the impact. 

One glance towards the catwalk confirms Maul intends to follow him. Before the Sith’s feet hit the floor, Alpha fires. Maul is nowhere near defenseless, but splitting his concentration between fending off Alpha’s attack and manipulating the Force is the closest he’ll get.

The first shot clips Maul’s shoulder; the second hits home center mass. Knocked back by the force of impact, Maul’s landing is graceless and uncoordinated. Alpha presses his advantage, aiming for vulnerable joints.

Another round sears Maul’s arm. He snarls and switches his blade to his other hand. Despite Alpha’s best efforts, a few more steps and he’ll be too close for comfort. 

Alpha risks a glance at the catwalk. After Maul’s attack, it’s unlikely it’ll hold up under additional strain. He still has a few detonators on hand, and given their positioning…

The explosion rocks the hangar. Shards of metal pepper the hangar floor, and the catwalk begins to buckle. Sheets of metal tear away and plummet to the ground.

Alpha throws himself aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed. Maul isn’t so lucky. Another section of the catwalk crashes down, and the Sith disappears beneath the metal. 

The hangar is oddly silent now; the ragged gasps seizing Alpha’s chest are suddenly deafening. He half expects Maul to explode out of the wreckage, enraged, but there’s no sign of movement. 

Time to pull out. 

Traveling to the nearest Republic outpost will take the better part of a day, but they’ve got reinforcements and his ride out of here. And if the rumors are to be believed, Fordo and his squad are just a star system away. Navigating through Separatist-infested territory will no doubt be slow going, but if he has to he can hold out until - 

And suddenly a vice tightens around his throat and he claws at his neck instinctively, his free hand scrabbling for a hold on his knife, lungs aching as he struggles to breathe, and Maul proves to be very much alive, looming over Alpha, lightsaber in hand once again.

Even as Alpha’s vision threatens to fade - he can’t breathe - it registers distantly that Maul is within arm’s length. There’s a knife sheathed on Alpha’s belt - there’s a slim chance he can - if he could just -

Maul steps closer. 

Alpha drives his knife up and in and doesn’t let go until it sinks to the hilt. Maul is howling, the hangar echoing with the animalistic scream, and the blur of red at the edge of Alpha’s vision streaks closer - 

And then the pressure on his neck abruptly loosens. He curls into himself instinctively, coughing as he struggles to draw air into his lungs. The telltale hum of lightsabers drowns out Maul’s snarling; Alpha can’t help thinking that at least if he dies here, he’ll die on his feet. Not the death he’d have preferred, but -

“Easy, Captain.” A gentle pressure on his shoulder accompanies the familiar voice, and Kenobi’s face comes into view. He’s smiling, somehow, as though he couldn’t be bothered with the ongoing duel behind him. Of course Skywalker is here too; where his Master goes, he goes. 

There’s a story behind that, no doubt, but Alpha has a feeling everything will be divulged in due time.

_____________

“Well, you certainly took your time, General,” Alpha grumbles with a halfhearted attempt at exasperation after Kenobi is done detailing exactly how he and his Padawan ended up here when they were expected at the Temple.

“We made a few detours along the way,” Kenobi answers, flashing his Padawan a wry look that suggests those detours were likely not by their design. 

Skywalker decidedly ignores his Master’s remark and instead says, “So now what?” 

Alpha sighs. “Maul escaped, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“And?”

“And you’re not going after him,” Kenobi declares, correctly interpreting the look on Skywalker’s face and the set of his shoulders.

“We don’t know what kind of reinforcements he might have,” Alpha points out. “Or where he is now, for that matter.”

“And some of us need medical attention,” Kenobi adds with a pointed look at Alpha. 

“It’s nothing serious,” Alpha says, more out of habit than anything as he knows full well his protests fall on deaf ears.

“Alpha...”

“I’ve had worse,” he insists. “Sir.”

“Humor me,” Kenobi says with enough of an edge to his voice that Alpha understands the words are not open for interpretation. “I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of him.”

“Do me a favor, then, General.”

“Oh?”

“Next time you run into him, knock his shebs to haran and back.”

Kenobi smiles. “I’ll see what I can do, Captain.”

[skyedestiny]

It’s High Noon (He’s Playing Overwatch)

I don’t know what specifically inspired this but I really enjoy writing for Taehyung.  He’s gotten himself into a bunch of my drabbles without any previous planning before.  So clearly, his muse is vocal (he’s just more polite about it than Jimin’s who literally breaks into other people’s narration so he can be in a thing xD).  And I’ve really wanted to write more of Kookie, since the only time I really wrote for him was in my very first Bangtan drabble.  I just adore the kid.  He’s a dork who loves comics and video games, I mean, come on.

(AO3 link)

It was one of those rare days where the group had free time.  And the two youngest members of Bangtan had chosen to spend the time relaxing in the truest way possible.

In the living room of the Bangtan dorm, Jungkook sat on the floor, a controller in his hands and his concentration intense on the TV screen ahead of him.  Behind him, lying upside down on the couch with half a candy straw sticking out of his mouth was Taehyung.

This provided the most interesting view of the television, Taehyung had reasoned.  It was what he’d told Jimin when the other boy had come into the room earlier in search of some articles of clothing that had apparently gone missing from his closet.  His eyes had landed on Tae and all speech had ceased until Taehyung answered the silent question.

Jungkook hadn’t even thought to ask about Taehyung’s position.  His hyung was strange - it was usually just best not to ask about these things.  However, in this case, Taehyung had been right.  The position did provide a very interesting view of the television screen.  (He may have tried it out himself at a separate time.)

So this was how they found themselves when Taehyung suddenly started voicing questions - probably out of some semi-boredom.

“Who would win in a fight?” he prompted.  His voice was made even deeper than normal by how his adam’s apple pressed right against his skin, his throat constrained.  “Iron Man or Spider-Man?”

It took a lot to break through Jungkook’s expression of deep focus, but this did manage to have him furrow his brows.  “Why are they fighting?” he asked.  “They’re both good guys.”

“I don’t know,” said Tae, removing the sour candy straw from his mouth and smacking his lips.  

It seemed like Jungkook wasn’t going to answer unless he got an explanation that he deemed logical for the proposed scenario.  Glance drifting upwards, Taehyung got to thinking.  

“He stole his pop-tart.”

Jungkook wrinkled his nose.  “Tony Stark doesn’t eat pop-tarts.”

A sharp snapping sound came from behind Jungkook.  He should have probably been concerned and looked back, but he wasn’t, and didn’t.  In reality, the maknae’s apathy was warranted - this sound was only due to Taehyung choosing to clamp his teeth on his candy and yank until it forcibly splintered off, instead of just simply biting or chewing a piece off.  “What does he eat then?”

The younger’s look switched so that one eyebrow was raised.  He was tempted to turn around and face Tae, his head almost turned towards the side.  In the end, he just took to shaking it it.  “I don’t know - he’s an American billionaire.  He eats whatever American billionaires eat.”

Tae turned to flip onto his stomach, then, legs pressed up against the back of the couch.  He yelped as some sour powder landed in his eye at the movement.  But this was the only audible indication given that he was under any sort of duress.  Taehyung rubbed at his eye with a balled fist.

Still, Jungkook jolted as if concerned, looking as if he was actually going to turn back this time.  It didn’t happen, though.  His head remained twisted, slightly, but his focus was still firmly on the game playing out on screen.

“You don’t know?” Taehyung continued.  It sounded like he was unaffected from it all - the powder burning his eyes and making his nose run and Jungkook’s seeming lack of care.

“Do I look like an American billionaire?” Though disrespectful, this wasn’t said with any malice.  In fact, the maknae’s tone was bone dry, any sharpness to his words only due to the frustration of focusing on two separate (but also equally frustrating) things at once.  

“So then how do you know he doesn’t have pop-tarts?” Taehyung’s voice was a casual challenge.  

And at the question, Jungkook felt heat rise to his cheeks.  Iron Man was his favorite superhero - of course he had an answer for this.  

But before he could bring himself to say anything, Taehyung continued.  “You don’t know.”  The nod he said it with was filled with a sense of finality, as if that was the end of the discussion.

Even having not seen it flustered the younger member of Bangtan.  “Yah.”  His voice was a disbelieving breath, his fingers freezing on the controller, his focus snapped.  The cessation of movement, of sound, from the younger was a betrayal to the fact that his blood had actually begun to boil.

Boom.  Because of his freezing, his character in the game had been sniped.  And that was the final straw for the usually placid maknae.  “Yah!!” He jumped to his feet, whipping around to angrily face Tae.

First he’d called his knowledge of his favorite superhero into question and now he’d caused him to lose his game.  What the hell?

Immediately Taehyung scrambled into standing.  “Yah!” he yelled back, almost in mocking reverberation, offense littering his tone.  “Who are you saying ‘yah’ to?!” Jungkook could maybe get away with that disrespect with the others, him being their cute maknae, but Taehyung stood for it much less.

Even less so when he was, honestly, somewhat fed up from being ignored.

When it came to the members, though, (and especially when he was in a bad mood,) Jungkook didn’t care so much for that ‘age equals respect’ stuff.  He was a playful sort at the best of times, but he wasn’t beyond sticking up for himself, rudely if necessarily, when upset.  “I’m saying it to you,” he shouted, “because you see I’m trying to concentrate on something and then you ask me about Iron Man and then you insult me about Iron Man, you, who have never read a comic in your life, when I-!”

Something made his anger fizzle right away.  Color drained from Jungkook’s face as his complexion returned to normal, no longer fury red - perhaps even a little paler than normal.  There was concern in his expression and his breaths were shallow as his temper quickly cooled.

The whole atmosphere seemed to change.  Taehyung, too, had dropped his tension.  His mouth, which had been stretched into a hard line, relaxed into its usual resting droop, brows unknitting from how they’d been - arched in perturbation.  Blinking, confused, Taehyung rubbed again at his burning eye.

“What happened to your face?” Jungkook asked.

Confused silence.  Taehyung tilted his head.

“Your eye’s all red.”

Beat.  “Oh.  Something got into it.”  Absentmindedly, Tae lifted his hand with what remained of the candy straw and rubbed his affected eye once more.

Jungkook’s gaze went from the candy to Taehyung’s irritated face.  Realization sparked.  “Ah, jinjja!”

Red eye closed, Taehyung’s brows rose, and he tilted his head towards the other side, the sides of his mouth pulling down more in question.

If he weren’t concerned for his friend, Jungkook may have had the urge to roll his eyes.  “Come on, we gotta wash that out.”  He didn’t wait - he walked over and grabbed Taehyung by his elbow, pulling him along to the bathroom.

Taehyung’s eye did not look much better - not immediately.  But it stopped worsening at least.  

“What happened?” Jungkook asked, calmer now.

“I was eating candy while I was upside down.”  The elder said it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Why?”

“Because I was upside down when I wanted candy.”

Of course.  Jungkook did roll his eyes this time.  “You have to be careful.”  It wasn’t said dismissively.  (He was struck, then, with the sudden, passing thought that this wouldn’t have mattered as much to him a few years back.  He’d cared for the other members, then, too, surely, but it was in a more casual way.  Things - these people, his brothers, had come to mean a lot more to him in time.)  

Then, there was guilt.  A feeling in his gut so sure that maybe he could’ve stopped Taehyung from hurting himself if only he’d been paying attention.  “I’m sorry I let you get so bored.”  

A moment passed and Taehyung’s gaze dropped.  He shook his head.  “You were only playing a game,” he said.  “I’m sorry I made you get so mad about Iron Man.”

Color returned, again, to Jungkook’s cheeks.  When Taehyung put it like that, it put things into perspective.  “No, it was stupid.”  It was a really dumb reason to have gotten so angry.

Tae didn’t seem to think so, though.  His eyes rose to meet Jungkook’s again.  “No, it’s something you like a lot.  It matters to you,” he said.  Then, a beat.  “I’ve never read any comics before.”

“I know.”

But there was something in the air now, floating there.  A shy, unspoken request.  

“Do you want to?”

Again, Taehyung’s head snapped up, eyes a bit wider this time.  “I don’t know where to start,” he said.  “Aren’t there like, hundreds and hundreds of them?”

For some reason, the fact that Taehyung was showing an interest in this had warmth spread from Jungkook’s chest.  “I can show you a good jumping-on point,” he offered easily.  “We could look at them together.”

“Oh, really?” There was shock in the older boy’s tone.  “What about your game?”

Jungkook waved a hand.  “There’ll be people playing later.”

Truthfully, they both knew he might not get the chance to hop back on any time soon.

But this, to Jungkook, was more important.