#never written Ahsoka before so that's fun

[charmwasjess]

time travel DO write it!!!!! 👀👀👀👀

I'm sorry this is so late, Boli. I went to grab a snippet of Time Travel (Not Writing It) Fic and accidentally, uhh, started writing it again.

Teenaged Dooku and Sifo-Dyas touch the wrong artifact and get plopped into the end of the Clone Wars where they make an escalating series of predictably horrible choices! :D Here's Sifo-Dyas making some now:

“What do you mean mine?” Sifo-Dyas’s voice rose in an alarming way. 

Dooku sensed the movement coming in the Force before he even did it: the odd, loud crash of feathers against air, a bird burst into startled flight. 

–And then Sifo-Dyas was shoving past Master Kenobi, almost knocking him over, and running for it.

“Hey!” Master Skywalker grabbed for the young seer, but Sifo-Dyas dodged and opened his long body into a sprint. A flash of color as the Togruta Padawan took off in pursuit, and Dooku found himself running too, chasing them both and yelling pointless, desperate things.

“Sifo-Dyas! Stop!”

Panic thudded in his chest as he watched him tear off down the corridor into the depths of the huge ship, his dark Padawan braid whipping behind him. If Sifo-Dyas was trying to truly escape, he appeared to be headed in the wrong direction from The Negotiator’s massive hanger bay. 

…why was his whole stupid life running after Sifo-Dyas?

“Don’t chase him, it will just make him run further! I’ll get him!” Dooku yelled to the girl. 

She shot him a very defiant look for a Padawan his junior in age who should, technically, be following his lead. 

“He’ll come to me! He’s my best friend!” 

The Torgruta still didn’t seem precisely convinced, but the words “best friend” seemed to decide something for her. She peeled off the chase; Dooku ran on. He touched the Force to accelerate his speed. Sifo-Dyas might be quicker than him, but he had the endurance. 

At a Y in the corridor, Sifo-Dyas hesitated between options just long enough. Dooku turned his run into a slide, crashing into his legs and bringing him toppling down. They rolled together, scrabbling around on the metal floor to see who would come up on top.

“Sifo-Dyas! Stop!” 

“Let go of me!” 

Dooku straddled him, and Sifo-Dyas drummed blows on his chest and stomach. Retaliating without thinking, Dooku smashed the heel of his palm into his nose. A yelp, a spray of fine blood, and Sifo-Dyas's body, his answering crash against him. They fell to fighting in practiced silence. 

Sifo-Dyas’s teeth closed down on the thin skin of his wrist. Dooku jerked back, more startled than hurt. That was all the opening needed. His knee wedged up into the new space between his body and Dooku’s chest and he kicked himself free.  

Sifo-Dyas leapt up, blood flowing from his nose, stumbled, regained his footing, and threw himself forward again. Not far. Through a swishing doorway. Dooku lunged after him, closing the distance.  

They spilled out onto an observation platform, looking down into a huge bay. Dooku seized him, but Sifo-Dyas didn't struggle this time. He stood was frozen, staring. He sank to his knees. 

Dooku raised his head to see what he had seen. 

Sifo-Dyas hadn’t been running away. He had been running to them. 

“Mine…” he breathed through the blood, his eyes traveling down row after row of identical men in their identical white armor. Black eyes, huge and wide, brimming over with either love or agony. Unbearable love. Unbearable agony. 

Dooku wrapped both arms around him, holding his shaking body hard. He didn’t know if he was trying to restrain him, to offer him comfort, or simply squeeze him until everything made sense again. Until Sifo-Dyas dreamed the galaxy back into proper order.

“Mine,” Sifo-Dyas stammered again, and bent to throw up.

[somethingsteff]

Hello there!!

I see in your WIPS you have a Smash fic and let me tell you I AM 100% SAT for this fic and I hope it’s one that you write! Anakin saying “smash” by accident and revealing his feelings about Obi-Wan to others is so genius!!!!

Thank you, lovely anon! I actually have some of it written, but I'm not sure when the inspiration will strike again or when it will be posted. In the meantime, enjoy a little bit below the cut!

“Okay, Skyguy, let's keep playing Smash or Pass.” Ahsoka pulled up the search engine on her datapad. “Padme, you can play too! I think you'll have fun. I'll pull up some celebrities and then we'll each say either smash or pass depending on if we’d get with them.”

Anakin took a fortifying swig of his beer. “I don't know why Ahsoka keeps wanting me to play, halfway through she always makes a big fuss about it being gross to think about who I’d sleep with.” Another drink and he realized he'd drained the bottle. C3PO brought him another. “She never makes Obi-Wan play with us.”

Ahsoka scrunched up her nose. “He's more dad-dad master, you're like brother-dad master, you know? And when Rex and the other guys are busy you're the only one I've got to entertain me.”

Padme just laughed at the pair. “It sounds fun, Ahsoka, I'd love to play. And Ani, try sipping that drink. You're a lightweight as it is and we haven't had dinner yet.”

Anakin just waved her off and took another drink, as if he could hold his alcohol better through sheer determination. 

“Okay, here we go!”

A muscular Twi'lek man holding a guitar with two frets appeared in the small holo projector of Ahsoka's datapad. Anakin didn’t even think before he declared “Smash.” Ahsoka agreed while Padme hesitated.

“Pass. I don’t have a great history with musicians.”

“Yeah, but think of how good he’d be with his fingers,” Anakin wiggled his fingers around the bottle in his hand.

“Oh Force, not this already,” Ahsoka murmured to herself and pulled up the next projection. A Kaminoan female (or at least, Anakin thought it was a female) hovered above her datapad.

“Pass!” They all yelled in unison, bursting out into giggles.

It went on much the same for another hour, until the Corellian ale caught up with Anakin, and the girls stopped answering in favor of coming up with the most absurd options they could think of.

Master Fisto.

“Smash. Tit Fisto every day.”

A male Dug.

“Pass. I had some… unpleasant interactions with a Dug as a kid.”

Breha Organa.

“Smash. Think she’d get Senator Organa in on it? Double smash?”

Grandmaster Yoda.

“Blech, pass! I mean, he’s probably got some tricks up his sleeve but I just can’t.”

Quinlan Vos.

“Hmmmm. I’d have to really think about that one.” Anakin drank the last of his second beer. “He is an attractive man, but I don’t know if I could ever sleep with someone who’s that good of friends with my master. It would be too weird, right? Pass. Yeah, pass.”

As she was about to pull up an image of her next selection - Master Unduli - Ahsoka’s datapad got a notification of an incoming holo call from Obi-Wan, and she accepted. Before she could greet her honorary master, however, Anakin started talking.

[panic-in-the-multiverse]

Being Ahsoka Tano’s best friend would include

Pairings: Ahsoka Tano x reader

Imagine: being Obi-Wan’s padawan and Ahsoka’s best friend

Warnings: idk, Ahsoka leaving the order (I swear I can’t watch those episodes bc I cry every damn time, not because she’s leaving the order but bc she leaves people who care for her)

A/N I love Ahsoka and it’s a wonder I haven’t written anything for her before, but here I am writing for my fav girl so I hope someone out there will enjoy this <3

Becoming friends as soon as you both met, which was when you were still in training to become a padawan, which means you grew up with each other

You’d study with eachother

Hype eachother up if one of you is feeling sad or stressed, literally just helping eachother with emotions and anything in general

Ahsoka running to you filled with excitement to tell you she’s becoming a padawan and her master will be the one and only Anakin Skywalker

You doing the same to Ahsoka when you found out your master will be the one and only Obi-Wan Kenobi

Gossiping with each other

Getting in trouble together

Pranking people together with Fives, Waxer, Boil and a few others, you tried once to prank Cody, lesson learned you will never prank Cody again, he wasn’t to happy to have his helmet filled with blue and orange glitter (he still can find glitter to this day)

Obi-Wan now has to deal with three children (you, Anakin and Ahsoka) while Cody has to deal with more than five children (You, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex, Waxer, Boil…)

Did I mention getting in trouble together

Being another headache for the Jedi council and those who tries to protect you both and those trying to keep you out of trouble

Training your lightsaber skills with each other, being an excellent match because you always end up even because by know you know every move the other will make

Calling each other names that you hate just for the fun of it

If anyone else were to call either you or Ahsoka those names you would both go into protective mood, no one gets to call you two that but you two

Always defending and protecting each other, if it is when you get in trouble with the council or when you fight for example General Grievous doesn’t matter

I hate to write it down but sadly I think I need too after all it is a big part of Ahsoka’s life. When Ahsoka gets accused of the bombing I believe you would 100% side with her, you’re best fiends siblings after all and you always have each others backs. You try to help her prove her innocence but it didn’t go exactly as planned. We all know what happens and so when she decided to leave you were heartbroken, you couldn’t care less about the order you only cared about Ahsoka. You knew it was what she wanted so you let her go but you were still sad over it, and selfishly tried to convince her to stay because you didn’t want to be without her, after all you were practically siblings and grew up with each other. In the end she told you it was for the best and that she didn’t trust the order anymore, she’d always trust you and she did try to keep in contact with you but it was hard with the ongoing war

Then comes the times in the order without Ahsoka, and if I’m being honest I think you would kinda mope around when you thought no one was looking becasue you missed your best friend so much, your bad days become even worse because you didn’t have Ahsoka to cheer you up, but you managed as did Ahsoka who missed you as much as you missed her

I believe Obi-Wan would do his best to comfort you even though he knew as well as you that it would never be the same as Ahsoka comforting you and cheering you up, but he did his best, and that’s all you could of asked for

Anakin and you probably talked about Ahsoka a lot with eachother or avoided the topic all together

However Plo Koon talked to you about Ahsoka all the time

Skip to Ahsoka coming back with Bo-Katan to save Mandalore from Maul (why does autocorrect keep wanting to change his name to Mail), you convinced your master to let you come with Ahsoka, and so a new adventure started for the two of you

Then there’s order 66 and you, Ahsoka and Rex barely escaped

You and Ahsoka stuck together after that never leaving each other sides scared you would lose eachother again let’s not forget you got frequent calls from Rex and Obi-Wan talked to you sometimes through the force (but not much he was in hiding after all and so were you)

[timelesslords]

fic writer twenty questions!!!

I got tagged by the beautiful lovely gorgeous @tapemonkey21 who has written some of my fav star wars fics to date and who got me on the cody/obi-wan/satine train without which my current wip would not exist <333

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

2. What's your AO3 word count?

812,034 😵‍💫

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Rn only star wars with Ahsoka in it, but I've written for TLOU and PJO too!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Under Freezing Stars

have my back, yeah, every day

Violent Heart

invisible string

For Real This Time

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yesssss!!! I honestly love responding to comments just as much as reading them. I like chatting with people and hearing their thoughts and their theories and what they want to happen next!! I think it makes it more fun for everyone but especially for me hehe

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

and the waves come crashing down for sure. I'm really not an angsty ending kind of person except with that fic lol

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Roman Holiday has the cheesiest mushiest most ridiculous holiday fluff ending ever <3

8. Do you get hate on fics?

haha yea 😭 messed up some niche details in my star wars fic and got absolutely lambasted in the comments lmao i never wanted to post sw again 😭 but then i realized i just needed to find the gay people and it all worked out lol

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I would say I'm retired from smut writing lmao 😭 but idk maybe something will change. i am not typing out the gory details of everything ive written on here I have no desire to get cancelled again

10. Do you write cross overs? What's the craziest one you've written?

No but I do write AU fusions <3 my favorite stupid insane one was a James Potter/Lily Evans Batman universe fusion fic it lowkey ate but I had to hide it because I was embarrassed at the quality and the very just-took-sociology-101 level of social commentary 😭

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so???? back in the day maybe lol

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I have had a few podfics of my fics made and that is my absolute most favorite thing ever ever 🥹

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes with my wonderful beautiful brilliant best friend forever who shares half of my brain @captain-jackson

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

all-time...,, whew. rn it's definitely Codywan. Idk if I have an all-time transcendent one that I always come back to tbh. I'm really more into platonic relationship dynamics than ships tbh

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever wilI?

God, I have one re-writing the Zygerria arc where Ahsoka sneaks onto the mission instead of being incorporated into it that i want to finish SO BAD. when the ties that bind is done I'm really going to hammer it out because I do love it but its kind of a monster.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'm good with dialogue and characterization and, on occasion, plot twists.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I hate writing filler. I can't do it for the life of me, which means I also tend to have pretty poor pacing. im also bad at ending scenes which is why many times my chapters will end with my characters falling asleep 😭

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

jesus fucking christ it's so hard. doing it for Mando'a is hard and it's not even a real language. Usually I just go for the itallics but sometimes it's nice to have the immersion (which only works if you do it perfectly lol)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I did not stake out the username "timelesslords" back in 2013 for the answer to this question to NOT be Doctor Who

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

cheating and doing my fav from my three main fandoms:

Under Freezing Stars because it was the first long piece of fiction I ever finished, and without it I would not have made three of my best friends in the whole world so its very special and important to me

if you never bleed you're never gonna grow is one where I feel like I did something interesting and innovative with form and perspective and I'm really proud of it. I feel like a lot of times as a fic writer you can feel like what you're doing is repetitive and this one felt really unique to me!

The Ties That Bind is still a WIP but I honestly really love it and have been loving the process of writing it a lot. it's the first WIP I started posting without having at least 75% of the fic completed and it's been really interesting to see what a different process it is pre-writing vs writing as you go! Also, I love the plot contrivance that makes up the premise, I love working out all the little butterfly effects of that decision, I love making it gay and poly and I love writing a million different perspectives!!!

this was so super fun I miss doing tag games like this hehe :3 low pressure tags @bbyannabeth @lena-hills @bookishjules @captain-jackson & anyone else who wants to consider urself tagged by me :3

[david-talks-sw]

any new Star Wars essays in the making, or are you moving on?

I don't know, honestly.

Part of it is "life gets in the way," I'm working a lot and so whatever time I have left is spent just messing around or meeting with my loved ones.

I've got a bunch of stuff in my drafts. I don't mind sharing it here, most recent to oldest:

Sort of a joke post of me pointing out how stressful being George Lucas' producer must've been, like this guy really DIDN'T WANT to write his fucking scripts, did he? Poor Rick McCallum. Abandoned because who gives a crap.

'Ask' reply on how EU-fueled fandom perception of the Jedi was flipped by the prequels.

'Ask' reply about the themes in Ahsoka and why the show doesn't know what it's about. Problem is, I go about it starting from the basics, so nobody's gonna sit through reading a tematic breakdown of the first Pirates of the Carribean movie, The Batman and the original six Star Wars films before I even get to the show at hand.

"Part II" post about what Ahsoka, Rebels and TCW get right about lightsaber duels, which the Prequels never did.

Quote collection & analysis on just how complex the Prequels were meant to be (in the late 80s, Lucas intimated that the Sequels were the story that was supposed to have gray morality, not the Prequels)

Quote collection on how the themes and principles of Star Wars align with Lucas' own opinions and philosophies.

Quote collection on Lucas defining Anakin's flaws.

Quote collection on Lucas talking about the fact that we need to be more proactive, which aligns with what Lumi points out sometimes about the Jedi: they should've been more politically engaged because we all should be.

Why I approach Lucas as "word of god".

Personal life/joke-y post dating from the time of the WGA strike about how Jack Black's School of Rock lyrics "In his heart he knew, the artist must be true, but the legend of the rent was way past due!" applied to me. Abandoned because I didn't wanna bum everyone out.

Correcting the notion that Dark Times-era Jedi such as Kanan or Ezra or Ahsoka represent what Jedi were supposed to be.

A comprehensive end-all outlook on how Anakin's flaws all tie together. I've written this one twice and I don't know how to differentiate it from my other posts.

A secret "Part 3" to my TLJ Luke post, in which I point out that RJ's being too "indie", while being a strong point for a big chunk of the film, hampers the film's ability to make Luke feel as badass as he does on paper. I want to illustrate a storyboard for this one, but that takes time.

The evolution of Star Wars' approach to transmedia.

Debunking Star Wars myths: a (very) comprehensive outlook on children in the Jedi Order.

Problem is that only like 2/3rds of these are fully-written... and I still need to find the relevant clips, turn them into GIFs, etc etc.

There's many other interesting Asks in my inbox btw. But I'm already behind on all these, so I haven't begun to touch them.

Then there's the drawings.

I wanna draw a comic of the meeting between Yoda and Dooku in Dark Rendezvous. I wanna finish the comic fight between Maul and Ben. I wanna draw Mace, Shaak Ti, I've got a Luminara fan-art that was supposed to be ready for Jedi June 2022 and an Anakin drawing that looks weird. No time, nor am I skilled enough. (Like, I trace, that's what I do, it's not a secret I've said so before... but it takes me a long while to do so. I'm not fast at drawing, let alone coloring.) I could commission some of these, but there are obvious obstacles there.

There's fun tidbits I've discovered here and there but nobody will care about them and I usually try to not drown my blog with bs posts.

Then there's the bigger problem.

All the things I've listed above? I'm not 100% motivated to finish. But a lot of the new stuff I wanna write about is hella negative.

I had a lot of stuff I wanted to say about Ahsoka. But it wasn't all good. It was mostly me bitching, be it about the show or the fandom's reactions to it.

I've also got more stuff to say about Filoni's take on Star Wars, but I've talked about why it's inaccurate like 8 times already, and I don't actually dislike the guy, like there's plenty of things he knows and does that I think are awesome but also people won't stop putting him and his takes on a pedestal and--

oh shit, there's Acolyte too, I forgot about that, gray morality galore, here we come. But here too, like... I've talked a couple of times about why this entire gray morality thing is actually just the gen X-ers trying to make the prequels "cool" and "complex". but I've never explored properly, with quotes and research and shit. but i've talked about it so many times that at this point it'd end up like the Filoni rants, redundant. "we get it already." as if this show didn't have haters lined round the block for absolutely sexist reasons.

Don't get me started on the mountain of lies and/or idiocy that is the YouTuber Star Wars Theory.

And yet he said one thing a few months ago which struck a chord within me and it's the fact that Andor is awesome, excels on all levels because it's treated seriously, like a proper show, not a Disney Plus one... why wasn't Obi-Wan Kenobi? Why wasn't Book of Boba Fett? And I've already established multiple times that I enjoyed Kenobi (yes, including the Reva parts) and I've established that I know what they were going for in Fett and I've established that this is mainly a "Disney Plus didn't know how to structure a fucking show pre-WGA strike" issue more than anything else... but when I think about how these could've been treated instead? When I look at the characterizations and emotional stakes of like Fargo Season 5? It's infuriating. Because it's not bad (talking about Kenobi, BOBF is awful)... but it could've been EXCELLENT and instead it was just "okay" to "good".

I just miss live action lightsaber duels, man. Like, good ones.

and i dunno. maybe I should just let it rip on all this. "go off, king!"

but I think there's so much negativity re: Star Wars that adding my thoughts on these subjects, no matter how structured and reason, will just blend into a wave of needless, un-constructive hate.

maybe I should finish the writings in the drafts and just post them with no gifs, maybe just still images?

but doing any of that feels like a step back.

So that's where I'm at right now.

[femmefighter]

I'll be greedy and ask 2, 6, 17 and 18 for the Fic Writer Asks 😘

Alright, I'm loving @btwxsixesandsevens 's idea of using these as a 'writing warm-up', so let's see how this goes!

2. Do you read/reread your own fics? Yes, very much so. It sounds conceited perhaps, but when I started my WIP, there was next to no Sokabine content whatsoever. So I literally went, "stuff it, I'll do it myself". I'm writing the story/stories I want to read, so yes I reread my own work. It's also great to come across horrible spelling or grammar mistakes and be like, "SHIIIIIIIIT" *RACES FOR EDIT BUTTON*. 🤣

6. Are there many fics you reread all the time? You bet there are! I especially read WIPs over and over, either when a new chapter is up to double-check what was going before moving on with the story, or just because I'm loving where the author is going with the piece; I love cheering them on with comments and I want to keep reliving it and wonder where the adventure's going next. I don't reread the completed multi-fics so much (but I do sometimes!), but I do love rereading some one shots! (I feel less guilty doing so coz they're shorter!)

And since we're here, might as well do some special shout outs: WIPs: Heart of a leader, soul of a rebel  by @halepo ; Crimson Dusk, Cerulean Dawn by @loevawrites ; Splintered Realities by @calyxborealis and Dreams and Madness by CarboniteCass Multi-chaptered fics: chaos, yet harmony by rain_sleet_snow ; Rid'alor by albedobrave

One-shots: what strange dreams have we shared by October_sky ; In Her Mouth an Amethyst by @ambiguityisnoonesfriend ; Love So Alike by @tatooinesun2121 ; Ka'rta Ve'vut by @kanskje-kaffe and never know what to say (but you get it anyway) by lostresidentevilpotter 

Decadent smut fics for dessert: Mesh'la by @machinerismsx ; ni kar'tayli gar darasuum (i will know you forever) by @augustfiction and pretty much anything written by @armoralor but especially Homecoming, Built to Wreck and Here & Now 

17. What's something you learned about while doing research for a fic? Well, my favourite concept (from Legends) was about Togruta blushing through the darkening of the stripes on their montrals and lekku! So the fact that Ahsoka blushes blue just makes me 😍 But I think the most interesting thing I've discovered is Operation Cinder, the world-killing revenge mission for Imperial remnants after the Emperor dies - and even though I haven't found anything to confirm it yet, I reckon Mandalore was victim to this operation. 18. What's one of your favourite lines you've written in a fic? Ugh, that's a hard one. The title of my WIP, Reach Out and Feel Me, is probably my favourite line to slip in. Maybe that's a cop-out. Fine, lemme think... Alright. A paragraph from Ch 18 of RO&FM, Sabine talking to Ahsoka: "The person I wanted to learn how to wield a lightsaber from I thought was dead. I resented Kanan because he wasn’t you, and I was horrible because of it.” ~~~ I dunno, I love that whole chapter of the first time Sabine has a lesson with Ahsoka in lightsaber sparring.

Well that was fun! Sorry for the avalanche. Guess I'm well warmed up now! Thanks for the ask 😘

[jessicas-pi]

i present a highlights collection of The Sequel Trilogy But Better (Or Maybe Worse) by my kid sister

here's a few fun facts:

Okay, so, the highlight of the ENTIRE fic is that the Knights of Ren are a squad of. like. really hot beefy women. and Kylo is their bratty kid brother figure. They bully him constantly. One of them is named Izmai and she's, like, the OG Katka / Zhaya character. I'm fairly certain her adopted sister Shyla (also a KoR) was supposed to be Ahsoka Tano's daughter, but Makenna has refused to confirm this, and she never wrote the whole fic so we'll never know.

The stormtrooper who died in the beginning of TFA & left the bloody handprint on Finn's helmet is given a full character here. She was constantly dragging Finn into trouble and her death is a big part of HIS character motivation. And before you think "oh, this might actually be a decent, fleshed-out character," she was also Captain Phasma's secret daughter and Poe's eventual love interest (because she didn't actually die in the beginning).

Kylo/Ben got redeemed halfway through part 3 (there were four parts) and spent the rest of the time getting nonstop roasted by Poe.

It was written in first person in size 12 comic sans. Sometimes the POV jumped halfway through a scene with no warning and you just had to figure it out. And the grammar was either perfect or there was no punctuation whatsoever.

There were actually like three really good plot points that she said I could use in my MandaloREYan AU since she was never going to finish writing this one.

And some of the (in my opinion) funny snippets beneath the cut:

[kanerallels]

🍓🌵🧃🧩

🍓: How did you get into writing fan fiction? *clears throat* *Dr. Doofenshmirtz voice* It all started the day I finished season two of Agent Carter. I really loved the main couple, but they didn't stay together (thanks for nothing, Endgame). So I decided to write how they got engaged! It was a lot of fun, though it probably isn't the best written thing in the world. (I also wrote a story about a made up Warrior Cats clan years ago, if that counts!) And then when I started SWR it took over my brain, and there was this one headcanon about Hera being an amazing singer that really stuck with me. Hence, my first SWR fic!

🌵: Share the link to a playlist you love. Oh-ho-ho GLADLY!! Dang okay so I have a lot of good ones, but I'm gonna go with... my generic Star Wars Rebels (ft. the Ahsoka show!) playlist! It's a fun one

🧃: Share some personal lore you never posted about before. Hmmm good question, let's think. Personal lore... oh my gosh okay here's a super specific one. When I was like... ten? Eleven? My family was going through a rough time that I shall not go into specifics of because privacy. But during that time, one of the main things that really helped us was this Newsboys concert that someone had given us-- recorded on both DVD and CD! It's one of the most nostalgic things in the world for me, and I'm pretty sure we still have the DVD somewhere. (I also found the whole concert on both YouTube and Spotify, to my own great JOY)

���: What will make you click away from a fan fic immediately? Well, smut or NFSW stuff is the immediate answer. I can also be a little picky about if the author has a good grasp on the character's voice. Sometimes I can stick it out or it isn't too bad, but other times? It's a big nope

Truth or dare writing ask game!

[wild-karrde]

In Command - Part 1

Master List | Next Part

A/N: ALRIGHT, WELL, HERE WE ARE AGAIN! For those of you reading this story for the first time, this was my first fic in about a decade. I've written a lot since then (including three complete sequel fics with more planned), and my writing style has changed quite a bit, so I wanted to circle back and see if I could do this fic more justice. Rex and Senna are my favorites, and it's been a blast to revisit their origins to see if I can improve upon them. This go-around, I'll have the incredible @teletraan-meets-jarvis beta reading for me, which is also going to make this a better story (fun fact: TJ and I first connected over this fic). Anyway, whether this is your first time reading this fic or not, I hope you enjoy this re-write!

Chapter Rating: T (entire work is rated E, but M-rated version can be found on AO3)

Warnings: language

Word Count: 4.2k words

Sunlight filtered in through the thinning curtains, chasing the last traces of sleep from the captain’s mind as he slowly opened his eyes. Lothal’s lone sun twinkled through the weave in the curtains, casting dancing shadows across the small bedroom. He could already hear children outside in the street and the sound of the morning’s first speeders making their way further into town. Rex stretched his arms over his head, rolling his ankles under the blanket as he inhaled deeply, feeling his muscles tense and flex. He sat up in the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes and rolling his neck, which popped satisfyingly. His fingers raked through his blonde curls, which he’d allowed to grow beyond the buzz cut he’d sported during the war. He was sure that any of his brothers would tease him that his hair was hardly long, but it was longer than Rex was used to, the length being more comparable to the regulation haircut Cody, Fives, and millions of others had sported, although less militaristic in its styling in an attempt to blend in. If nothing else, his blonde curls hid the scar on the right side of his head. It was a reminder he didn’t need to see every time he looked in a mirror.

At least the dreams hadn’t come last night. He hadn’t seen the faces of countless brothers lost, friends betrayed and presumed dead. Rex rubbed his hands over his face before glancing over to where his commlink was resting on the nightstand. There was no blinking light to alert him of a waiting message, and he sighed. He went through this same routine every morning, but the disappointment each time never seemed to abate.

She’ll call when she’s ready. For now, you just have to trust that she’s safe. Ahsoka has always been good at taking care of herself.

Hardly a day went by where he didn’t think of the young Togruta he’d come to view as a younger sister, hoping she was safe. While he had been eager to carry on the fight after the fall of the Republic, Ahsoka had needed time to grieve, unsure if there was any fight left in her, and he had chosen to respect that. She’d fought in a war and watched thousands die before her sixteenth year. She’d felt abandoned by the Jedi, and yet still returned, only to watch her men turn against her and lose everyone close to her yet again. Of course she was tired of it. Of course she needed time. He never doubted her competence or her ability to survive, but that didn’t make him any less worried about her. 

The sound of ceramic tinkling in the kitchen outside of his bedroom drew his attention, alerting him that his companion was already awake, and judging by the sharp smell wafting past the door, in the middle of making another offensively strong batch of caf. He sighed.

She’s at it again, I see. Time to go face whatever chaos she’s created this morning.

Rex clambered out of bed, replacing the sheets, pillow, and comforter with his usual military precision, creased and folded back without a wrinkle in sight. Some habits were impossible to break, even after almost a year. He yanked on the pair of grey trousers he favored, buckling his belt and holster across his hips before pulling a loose-fitting light blue shirt over his shoulders, the worn fabric grazing his skin as the hem fell to his waist. While the civilian garment should have been far more comfortable than his armor kit, it left him feeling constantly exposed, a feeling he didn’t particularly care for.

He picked up the beat-up DL-44 from where he’d placed it the night before on the nightstand, turning it over in his hand for a quick inspection before he tucked it into his holster. The weight of the blaster still felt off in his hand, but with practice, he had grown more accustomed to it. He had never been a poor shot, but the unfamiliarity of the weapon concerned him, and he felt that he couldn’t allow for even the most minor mistakes at this point. Not with what was on the line. The war had been a constant threat to his life, but this was an entirely different sort of danger, with him embedded deep in enemy territory with a complete stranger as his partner.

Rex hoped that the information that they were planning to glean would prove to be worth the risk in the end. It still felt like they were chucking pebbles at a giant, hoping to somehow make a scratch, but he had to believe that in time, things would grow. The rebellion would spread. There had been rumors of uprisings across the galaxy, most of which had been quashed easily by the Empire, but that could change. It had to.

All it takes is one victory. And then another. Until then, we don’t stop fighting. 

He had to believe that winning was a possibility; if not, then what was the point of going on? Rex was a soldier, loyal to a Republic that no longer existed, loyal to friends that were mostly dead, and now, loyal to a rebel faction that was outmatched in almost every way. Carrying on the fight seemed the best way to honor those that he’d lost in the hopes that those that were still alive might know the peace he and the rest of the Grand Army of the Republic had promised to deliver.  

He paused at the door and listened to the silence on the other side. The quiet always made him nervous. Did she go back upstairs? Closing his eyes, he could still smell the caf, and then he heard a sigh and the shuffling of feet, barely perceptible through the door. 

Nope. Still down here. Great. 

Taking a deep breath, he pushed through the door for another day.

She had her back to him, staring out the kitchen window, a steaming mug of caf in her hand. The steam rose over her bare shoulders, and her dark blue sleeveless tunic hung down her back, slightly too large for her, but cinched at her waist with a belt. He could see her blinking data pad tucked into its slot at her thigh. There were new bandages wrapped around a few of her fingers, and he briefly wondered if they were soldering burns, cuts, or from some other mishap. Her dark brown hair was piled on top of her head in a mess that more resembled a loth cat nest than the sleek military buns Rex had become accustomed to from the female officers he’d served alongside the war. She’s a civilian, he reminded himself. You can’t expect her to hold herself to the same standards.

Although some standards wouldn’t hurt. Just a minimum of decorum.  

Rex had never necessarily been a stickler for the rules or regulations, but he had no doubt his counterpart wouldn’t have lasted a day had she served in one of the civilian factions of GAR. He’d never commented on it before, but she was a downright slob, and it nagged at him even if he remained silent. The hairdo, ill-fitting wardrobe, and general clutter that followed her around seemed to perfectly encompass the technical specialist and her way of doing things: a fly-by-the-seat of your pants mess that still somehow got the job done.

He noted the second mug that was already sitting out for him alongside the sugar bowl and carafe of cream that she had undoubtedly used to make her drink more palatable. He never understood why she made it so strong only to add so many different things to it in order to be able to drink it. Even though Rex had always preferred his caf black, he could just barely tolerate the way she brewed it most days.

She turned, her bright blue eyes widening slightly in surprise as she snorted into her mug, slopping some of the liquid down her front. “KARK! Good morning. You startled me, Re – sorry.” She cut herself off before she finished his name, clearly bracing for a scolding.

Unable to stifle his reaction this time, Rex sighed in frustration. “How many times do I need to tell you to not use our real names here? You’re going to slip up and get us both killed,” he grumbled. “You’ve got to get used to saying it, and I have to get used to responding. We need to keep up the ruse here. Otherwise we run the risk of accidentally mixing things up when we’re out there and within earshot of Imperials.”

She dipped her head in apology, a slight mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Understood. But I uhh… thought you hated the name Lon anyway.”

“I do, but I understand what’s necessary for us to stay alive, Valla.” He emphasized her false name, dragging the syllables out, his eyebrows furrowed in a deep scowl.

She rolled her eyes, sipping from her mug again. “Fine, fine, Lon,” she bit back, mocking his emphasis. Reaching over, she slid the empty mug across the counter towards him.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he caught the mug just before it slipped off the edge of the counter, reaching for the caf press and pouring some of the nearly-black liquid into the mug. “You’re careless,” he stated flatly, trying to keep his nose from wrinkling at the incredibly bitter smell.

“And you’re uptight,” she muttered into her cup, tipping the last of the contents into her mouth and wiping her lips with the back of her hand. Somehow, she already had grease on her wrist, and it smudged across her face.

Rex ignored the comment, bracing himself mentally for the first sip. He could hardly complain since she’d woken up before him. In fact, taking a closer look at her, he noticed the bags under her eyes and the droop in her shoulders. Her posture had always been terrible, but it seemed extra slouchy today. Her neck was tipped forward as if her head was almost too heavy to hold up, and her shoulders were hunched at such an extreme angle it made his spine ache just looking at her. 

Perhaps she didn’t even go to sleep last night. Got wrapped up in another one of her science projects again.

She interrupted his observations as she reached across him to pour herself another cup. “So what’s the plan today then? Do we get to leave the compound?”

Her eagerness to step into danger read as naivete to Rex, and it annoyed him. It normally was an indication that the person didn’t fully comprehend or appreciate the situation they were in and didn’t understand how easily it could all fall apart. Frustratingly, it seemed no matter how much Rex preached caution, she ignored every warning, still nagging him to let her be more directly involved. But he didn’t trust her yet, and she’d done nothing to earn it in their short time together. How he’d gotten paired off with her to begin with was beyond him, but he’d been assured that their skill sets were the perfect complement for this particular venture. 

She wouldn’t have been my first choice. Or second. Or tenth. 

Even with all of his concerns and issues with her, he had to admit that while her methods were unconventional, they had been successful, at least so far. He once again wished there had been more in her personnel file to reveal her background and where she’d gotten her technical prowess, but it had been almost empty. It mentioned her engineering coursework she’d completed on Naboo, her estimated birthdate, and a few other facts and tidbits that weren’t particularly relevant to the work they were doing, but other than that, her background was a mystery, and that concerned him further. 

No personal history means no work experience. No military service. Hardly any travel beyond her home planet. It’s like she’s spent the few decades of her life hiding out in her workshop and never setting foot outside.

Abandoning his misgivings for the moment, he turned to her. “You’re not going anywhere. I’ll head out to do some recon work in the area, but you need to stay on the waves here. We have to establish a baseline of what Imperials are stationed here and who’s responsible for what before we can start having any interactions that are worthwhile.”

She dumped another few scoops of sugar into her cup, her face pinching into a borderline pout as she reached for the cream. “I’ve spent the last few weeks doing nothing but that.” Rex’s face remained impassive, and she sighed dramatically, seeing that there would be no budging him. “Fine, but at some point, we should probably go out together at least once. We are supposed to be a newlywed couple after all. Otherwise people are going to think you murdered me and buried me in the backyard.”

“The thought has crossed my mind,” he muttered under his breath.

“I heard that,” she said, shoving past him, sloshing some of the bitter liquid dangerously close to the edge of his mug. “Fine. If you need me, I’ll be in my cave.”

“As if you’d be anywhere else.” 

She muttered something under her breath he didn’t catch in response. He listened to her tromp up the stairs, her boots falling louder than they feasibly should for a person her size. Turning his attention back out the kitchen window, he watched the dust swirl in the early morning winds as he finally took a sip of the caf. The bitterness overwhelmed him, and his eyes watered as he grimaced, exhaling sharply out of his nose before he managed to choke down the mouthful.

Can’t say I’m not awake now. But that’s as much as I can stand of that.

He took a look at the remaining caf in the cup, and with a deep sigh, walked to the back door of the dwelling, punching the unlock button. The door hissed open, and he stepped outside, dumping the remaining contents of his mug on the potted plant closest to him. It had started to wither after just the first week they’d been here, presumably because it was his regular disposal spot for the caf he couldn’t tolerate, and he had to hide his smile every time his partner made a comment about how she couldn’t figure out why it was dying. “Sorry” he whispered to the plant before stepping back inside and shutting the door behind him.

---

Senna stepped into her “cave”, smiling to herself as some of the tension from the conversation with Rex evaporated. If one were to judge by the layout of the dwelling, this room had likely been intended to be an extra bedroom or perhaps an office. However, Senna was using it as a storage space for piles and piles of tech, tools, and junk that also doubled as her command center. Spare parts of hardware that she’d collected were strewn around the room in various states of repair, and she carefully picked her way to the desk tucked into one corner. Pushing some loose wire and her soldering tool aside, she settled her mug of caf within reach and slipped the headphones over her ears, punching on the holo computer’s power. The hum of the system booting up gave her a warm feeling in her stomach, and she grinned. “Good morning, baby. Ready for another fun day of foiling the Empire?” she asked quietly.

The computer beeped cheerily in response.

She tuned into the comm transmission frequencies she had identified as the ones most frequently used by the Empire, opened a notes application, and after masking her location, she logged into the Imperial database using the false credentials she’d been given prior to the mission. Tapping a few keys, the audio crackled into her earphones, and she leaned back in her chair, taking another swig of her caf. She grinned triumphantly as the first voices came in clear. She’d been up the entire night tweaking the modulator to try and increase the audio’s clarity, and it appeared her hours of cursing and the two electric shocks she’d experienced hadn’t been in vain. Idly, she picked at the fresh bandages on her fingers before shaking her head to clear her mind. 

Alright, let’s get started.

Yanking the datapad from its pouch on her hip she began scrolling through the news feeds, searching for anything noteworthy that she could feed back to the captain. Lothal was an Outer Rim world that had largely been untouched by the war, but in the last few months, Imperial activity had skyrocketed. It couldn’t be denied that the planet was drastically in need of help after several large hits to its economy from drought and famine that went unaddressed during the war, but the new activity went above and beyond the standard aid that would normally be expected from the central government. And what’s more, it seemed that central government knew very little about what was actually planned for Lothal. The sudden uptick in activity had drawn the attention of many in the Imperial Senate, and while the inquiries of those attempting to have some insight over the Emperor had stalled, some back channel information had led to Rex and Senna being sent to investigate, although their activities were anything but sanctioned. Senna still wasn’t entirely sure how many in the Senate she still trusted, but from everything she’d seen at the mission briefing, this source was considered to be as reliable as they come, and that would have to be good enough for her.

Halfway through an article about the new job postings at Pryce Mining that were allegedly coming due to the Empire’s increased presence on Lothal and its need for resources, she felt a warm prickling sensation on the back of her neck. She slowly turned to find the captain standing in the doorway. He’d thrown a waist-length cloak around his shoulders and had hidden his blonde hair underneath a wide brimmed hat. He seemed pleased and perhaps slightly smug about the fact that he’d snuck up on her. 

She spluttered again in surprise, choking on her caf and ripping off her earphones. “Would you STOP doing that? Just make some noise or something when you’re moving around, for Maker’s sake.” She dabbed at the caf she’d splattered down her front with a filthy rag from the corner of her desk. She knew it was a lost cause, and that this caf stain would join the other one from earlier along with countless grease marks and other mystery stains. Tossing the rag aside, she glared at Rex, who smirked as he leaned into the room, not daring to try and place a boot among the mess.

“How do you even function in here? I’ve seen cleaner bantha pens.”

She huffed in annoyance. “Did you actually need something, or are you just here to criticize how I do things?”

His smirk faded as he straightened, eyebrows furrowing again into what seemed to be a perpetual frown. “I’m heading out. Do you need me to grab anything?”

“I’m almost out of sugar again,” she replied.

“Can’t imagine why.”

Senna’s annoyance deepened. “If you’re going to give me shit, then why ask?” When he didn’t say anything, she rolled her eyes. “Would you just pick some up on the way home please? And we could use some more noodles.”

“All you eat is noodles.”

“They’re easy.”

“Fine. Noodles and sugar it is.” He turned to leave. “Try to find something useful for us to go on today.”

Her attention already back on her datapad, she waved a hand at him absently. “Yeah, yeah.”

Appearing to suddenly remember something else, he turned back one more time. “It would also be nice if I had a speeder bike that was usable to get around on.”

She looked up at him through her eyebrows. “You have one.”

“It’s in pieces outside.”

“I put it mostly back together. You’re welcome for the improvements I made, by the way. The fluid lines were super worn out and caked with sludge.”

“I walked by it this morning, and the brake compressor cables are still dangling loose on the side. I think it’s safe to assume those are important.”

She sighed. “Yes alright, I’ll get to it today. Any other technical upgrades you require while you’re out?” she asked mockingly, her patience continuing to wear thin. She didn’t like to be bothered when she worked.

“A working comm would be nice,” he replied.

Senna had absolutely noticed the commlink that never seemed to move from Rex’s nightstand, and for a moment, she considered mentioning it. But, the captain had a particular way of operating, and ultimately, she found he really hated having to explain things when she asked questions. If he hasn’t brought it up, then maybe it’s best not to ask. It’ll save me a painful conversation filled with more annoyed glares and disappointed sighs from him anyway. Turning in her chair, she dug under a pile in one corner of the desk, pulling out a scratched up comm and tossing it to him. “That should work.”

He stared at the item in his hand with obvious concern. “Where did you even get this?”

“One of our neighbors threw it out the other day. Couldn’t believe it. All it needed was some wiring replaced. It should work. Go on, power it up.”

Rex clicked on the commlink, and she grabbed her own device, holding it up to her lips and whispering, “Go get me some sugar for my caf, Lon.”

Rex didn’t bother to hide his exasperation as he clicked off the device and tucked it into his belt before turning on his heel to leave. “Stop going outside and picking through people’s trash. It’s strange and could draw attention.”

“I think you mean ‘Thank you, my wonderful fake wife! You’re so resourceful and good at anticipating my needs’!” she called after him. All she got in return was yet another sigh and some muttering that she couldn’t discern. A few moments later, she heard the front door of the dwelling hiss shut and turned her chair to watch out the window as he strode away, losing sight of him as he turned the corner and disappeared behind the outer wall.

Shrugging back into her seat, she pulled one of her feet up onto the chair cushion and rested her head on her knee as she continued scrolling through the comm channels, making notes about which Imperial officer was saying what. Over the last few weeks, she’d been able to identify a good chunk of the command infrastructure that the Empire had put in place on Lothal. She had mapped out the command hierarchy and who was responsible for what tasks, but even with all of that information, she still hadn’t managed to impress the captain or even satisfy him in the slightest. She wasn’t sure exactly what was gnawing at him or why he took such issue with her, but she had decided to not be overly concerned with it.

No one had explicitly told her he was a clone, but it had been apparent to her from the start, and once he’d introduced himself as Rex, she knew exactly who he was, but had never let on. He had made some references to being a soldier during their always-brief interactions, and so she assumed he was fine with her knowing that he was a clone, but she had never pushed the conversation further. The darkness that would reach across his face when the war came up and he became lost in the memories made it abundantly clear to her that it was not a topic he liked to revisit. She’d noted the light scarring on the right side of his head before his hair had grown long enough to cover it. She’d heard the rumors that some clones had removed their inhibitor chips, but again, it was not a topic she wished to broach, for both of their sakes.

The end of the war had come as a shock to everyone, and it wasn’t something she wanted to discuss either. While the outcome of the war had never been certain for anyone, never in her wildest dreams had Senna imagined this would be the result, the Republic gone and replaced by the Empire. She had to imagine Rex hadn’t either; it was apparent that something still haunted him, and while she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, she certainly had her suspicions as to what that was. She had heard him yelling himself awake sometimes at night while she was upstairs tinkering and had always opted to pretend the sound didn’t make it to her. She assumed he’d done the same when she woke up screaming. The war was over, but the nightmares persisted, which was why she often chose caf and her work over unconsciousness. Her bed was too soft compared to what she was used to sleeping on anyway, and when she was stooped over a broken piece of hardware, the sparks of her soldering iron seemed to stave off the fingers of darkness that reached out to drag her back into her nightmares.

At least awake, she had some control.

Tag List: @seriowan @partoftheeternalsoul @rosmariner @misogirl828 @ellichonkasaurusrex @zoeykallus @the-sith-in-the-sky-with-diamond @gjrain20-starwars @dsburnerblog @staycalmandhugaclone @redheadgirl @fordo-kixed-rex @wizardofrozz @ariadnes-red-thread @moonstrider9904 @rain-on-kamino @ladykatakuri @sleepingsun501 @ladykagewaki

[bobafett]

stealing this because the boops made me realize how much i miss tag games.

How many works do you have on AO3? A grand total of 14. I am not a prolific writer.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 63,880. Please see above answer.

What fandoms do you write for? Batman and Star Wars. I have a little bit of Supernatural fic posted on an alt account, and I've been turning over an idea for an OW fic in my head for a while, but it takes me a long time to figure out how to write in a fandom in a way that still captures the "vibes" of the source material (which is always one of my goals). So I rarely branch out.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? New Cornerstone (suitless!Vader AU from a million years ago), Brothers in Arms (Jon starts to get an inkling that his best friend has perhaps not had a normal childhood), Setting the Bone (Selina Kyle: reluctant parental figure), In This Twilight (Damian and Jason brotherly bonding, first batfam fic I ever wrote), and Try to Sweep the Darkness Out (batfam Christmas special that I've almost orphaned 10 times because I hate the writing choices I made in it so much). None of the fics I'm actually proud of are on this list. Tragic.

Do you respond to comments? Irregularly and unpredictably! I will if I feel like I have something to say and it catches me in the right mood.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Uh, that would be High Water Mark since it starts with a scene of Cody contemplating suicide and ends with the instant right before Order 66 kicks in.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably Problem Solving since it's the only fic I've ever written where I was actually trying to be light hearted.

Do you get hate on fics? Never, thankfully.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? If I thought I could do it successfully, I would. But I'm not, so I don't.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Basically never. There is a Doctor Who/Sherlock fic buried on my old FF.net account. There's also a Super Smash Bros fic on there that I wrote in 2009, which I suppose also counts.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? I can't imagine why anyone would.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, and I never would. I'm too much of a control freak about my writing. Writing, say, shared universe stuff might be fun, but actually co-authoring something would drive me nuts.

What’s your all time favorite ship? What a question. I come back to Jaime/Brienne a lot for reading, but I don't think I'd ever write it. I write a ton of BatCat, but rarely read it because I'm particular. I like Lois/Clark, but I almost never write OR read it. I'm honestly not very ship motivated. Most of the time I filter for a ship because I'm in the mood for its attendant tropes, and if the writing is good, you can sell me on just about anything.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Hmngh. New Cornerstone again. There's 20k of an expanded version of it on my hard drive that I haven't added to since probably 2017. There's something very fun about suitless!Vader as a character because he's such a sparking, destructive livewire of a person, but also I'm experienced enough now to realize how difficult doing justice to that premise is. Also, I'd have to rewatch TCW to get Ahsoka's voice down, and I just don't got time for that shit.

What are your writing strengths? Description and sense of place. Also pretty good at dialogue.

What are your writing weaknesses? Fucking. Long fic. Plot in general. I'm horrifically bad at it.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I'm usually inclined to keep all my dialogue in English, but it would depend on the context and the effect I was going for.

First fandom you wrote for? Purposefully? Inuyasha. Without having any idea what fanfic was? I created an Artemis Fowl fairy OC and stuck her in Indiana Jones when I was 10 years old.

Favorite fic you’ve written? They Don't Sing Songs For Me. No contest. It's perfectly captures what I think is the ideal form of fanfic: two characters who have absolutely no business interacting with each other building a compelling relationship dynamic over the course of 9k words.

I will be tagging @panharmonium, @apostatefrog, @dead-ghost-walking, @ryehouses, @yellowocaballero, @lazuliquetzal. Also anyone else who wants to. I will bring back tag games by force of will, so help me God.

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars Ahsoka: "The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord" - Review

Ahsoka closes out in a fun, frustrating, and occasionally beautiful finale.

With little time remaining before Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his jump back to the known galaxy, Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra race against time to stop the start of an apocalyptic war.

It becomes clear early on that "The Jedi, The Witch, and The Warlord" isn't going to provide Ahsoka viewers much in the way of closure. To some degree, this is expected. We know that there are plenty of stories to come in the Mandoverse, including a feature film written and directed by series showrunner Dave Filoni. It makes sense that there will be dangling plot threads and cliffhangers, but I don't think most viewers expected to be left hanging with so many questions left to carry.

Much of this comes down to the somewhat truncated focus of Ahsoka's finale. Despite our expansive ensemble of characters and competing motivations, "The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord" comes down to a fast paced mission of our three central Jedi attempting to stop Thrawn's escape. Emotionally or thematically, Filoni wants this to be a story about the master-apprentice relationship between Sabine and Ahsoka and it's here where the episode both triumphs and fumbles most dramatically.

After six long weeks of confusion and guessing, we finally get some answer regarding what happened between these two women. Huyang tells Ezra and us that Ahsoka abandoned Sabine after the destruction of Mandalore and her family, fearing that training her apprentice further would risk her falling to the Dark Side. There's some interesting symmetry here where you can read Ahsoka's decision as being motivated by the trauma of Anakin's fall, but this is, once again, mostly conjecture.

There's still a lot about Sabine's Jedi training and eventual status as a Jedi that feels cloudy. It appears as if Dave Filoni's script is trying to do away with any purely genetic requirements regarding Force Sensitivity and that is something that feels thematically welcome and does away with a lot of the icky talk about bloodlines that plagues this franchise so much. If this is the case however and Ahsoka is making the case that, with the right training, anyone can be a Jedi, it's not actually communicated clearly in the narrative itself. Much of this comes down to the circumstances and motivations behind Ahsoka's decision to train Sabine in the first place. It's a strange plot set up that the series wants us to take for granted, but never quite congealed in a way that allowed the viewer to understand this on either an emotional or narrative level. The persistent vagueness concerning Ahsoka's recent history is ultimately this season's original and cardinal sin and ends up tanking much of what this story tries to offer.

Speaking of Sabine, as nice as it is to see her begin to embrace her Jedi status and ultimately make a selfless decision to rescue her friend, the much foreshadowed confrontation between her and Ezra regarding the role she played in Thrawn's potential escape never materializes. It simply never comes up in conversation. Ezra just seems to accept that suddenly, at the same time that his surrogate sister and Ahsoka arrive on planet, Thrawn has also gained the ability to leave the galaxy he's been trapped in for a decade. It's a strange move made all the stranger given how much attention was paid to Sabine purposefully not telling Ezra in the two episodes prior.

That all being said, there is something inherently thrilling and exciting in seeing our three heroes ride into battle together against Thrawn's forces. And given the animosity and frustration that defined their relationship at the show's start, it is somewhat satisfying to watch the playfulness and serenity that takes over the two women at our story's center.

Also, there's just a lot of fun dumb spectacle. While the execution and choreography sometimes left something to be desired, I kind of loved that we finally get to see some zombie Stormtroopers. It's silly, pulpy fantasy fun and there's a fun creepiness to seeing the groaning corpses of Imperial troopers rise from the ground to fight once again. I'm particularly a fan of the zombified Deathtroopers (now true twice over) and how they actually snap and snarl like Walking Dead style infected.

Equally fun is Ahsoka's fast and flashy duel against Morgan Elsbeth. While Morgan never really felt like a character that came into her own, the lore nerd inside me really enjoyed getting to see her initiation into becoming a full Nightsister and having the Three Mothers bestow upon her the sword of Talzin (!!!). Also just having a sword glow with green flame is kind of badass and it makes for an flashy counter to Ahsoka's twin white blades. Here, the saber choreography finally matches up to the masterful work we saw back in "Fallen Jedi" and we are treated to a nasty and fast moving showdown between witch and Jedi. There's not much in the way of stakes or emotional weight here, but it sure as hell looks cool. I guess that kind of defines much of my thoughts about this finale in general? It's a damn fun time to watch, but I'm not sure if most of this will end up sticking in my mind.

The one exception to this is the extended denouement that takes up the closing minutes of this season (maybe the series?) of Ahsoka. Kevin Kiner and his talented family treat us to a haunting and quietly sad instrumental track that shows just where all of our many cast members are left. Thrawn and his new Nightsister allies arrive over the red skies of Dathomir, their vengeance in sight. A lost and dejected Shin wanders in a Howler to a camp of Peridea's bandits, announcing herself as an ally and new potential leader. Baylan Skoll (this series' most interesting character which makes the passing of Ray Stevenson all the more tragic) travels closer to his mysterious goal, gazing out at a fiery mountain in the distance while perched atop giant statues of the Mortis gods. (I guess there might be truth to those Abeloth theories after all?) Ezra is reunited with Hera in a moment that is emotional, but not quite as hard hitting as it could have been. And Sabine and Ahsoka settle into their new lives on a barren world, separated from everyone they knew, but resolved in their trust in one another and whatever future journey they face. The spirit of Anakin Skywalker watches them from afar, proud of how far his apprentice has come.

It's a moving ending even if a lot of it comes down to strong direction by Rick Famuyiwa and the Kiners' dependably great musical score. It leaves Ahsoka slightly better off than where it began, but still a frustrating series. While it undeniably showed more flashes of inspiration and promise than any Lucasfilm's live action shows with the exception of Andor, Ahsoka remains a fascinatingly clunky series. In a way, Dave Filoni has finally followed in the footsteps of his own master, creating an intriguing, often visually exciting, and sometimes beautiful space fantasy that's ultimately undone by its awkward plotting and stilted characterization. The mantle really has been passed on. For better and for worse, the apprentice has become the master.

Score: B-

[fancy-a-dance-brigadier]

For the ask game: Voyager and SNW

Feel free to do Ahsoka as a bonus! :)

Thank you for the ask friend! And OF COURSE I am going to do Ahsoka as a bonus because my obsession with that show knows no bounds.

Voyager

Favourite character: I am one of the 0.0000009% of the earth’s population whose favourite Voyager character is Kes. She stood out to me from the very start, and that VOICE my god. She’s the perfect blend of kind and gentle and good but also she can boil your blood with her brain and she eats bugs and reads autopsy reports for fun. Nobody does it like her, and I really wished the show had leaned into some of her more horrific qualities (which obviously they never would because this is 90s Star Trek we’re talking about). But she’s a monstrous woman to me and I love her for it.

Second favourite character: B’Elanna! So many of her focus episodes just hit different - she’s easily one of the most complex characters in the cast, and not only that but the writers actually gave her material that makes the most of that complexity. They do such a good job of exploring her inner conflicts and her complicated relationship to her identity right from the get go (I’m thinking about that season 1 episode ‘Faces’. They really wasted no time in making her so interesting). B’Elanna’s episodes seldom ever miss basically. Also I just love her attitude.

Least favourite character: uhh Q 😂 I know he only has three guest episodes in the whole show, but he makes me want to set things on fire. I do not know why he’s so popular, I do not find him charming at all! Even in TNG!!

The character I’m most like: Idk, I always struggle with questions like this, but maybe Harry? Idk a few weeks ago someone in the uni department I work in said I wasn’t a staff member even though I’m literally on the payroll as a staff member and it just felt like I was living the Ensign Kim fantasy.

Favourite pairing: What a surprise! My favourite pairing is between my favourite character and my second favourite character! Kes/B’Elanna truthers if you’re out there, we can’t let their lack of screentime win.

Least favourite pairing: uhh Kes/Neelix because I honestly think a chaotic sibling-type relationship would’ve suited them so much better. Just let them be adventurous spacefaring besties together, it would’ve made things so much less awkward!

Favourite moment: Ok this is hyper specific and I think I’ve mentioned it before, but you know the ending of ‘The Thaw’? Where Janeway literally kills fear itself and there’s that really striking visual of Fear fading into the darkness and you can only see the parts of his face that are painted white? Yeah, that lives in my head rent free forever.

Rating out of 10: Solid 8/10. Highly entertaining, but I’m not feral about it.

Strange New Worlds

Favourite character: Ortegas! Which is incredibly unfortunate for me because the writers just refuse to let her do anything. It’s been two seasons, where is my Ortegas focus episode??? She’s my favourite character based purely on vibes alone, so imagine how much more there will be to love when they. Y’know. Actually develop her backstory and personality.

Second favourite character: Ok this is really bad but I honestly don’t feel strongly enough about any other members of the SNW cast to have a character that stands out as my second favourite 🙈 They’re all lovely! I do generally like them all! But I just struggle to get invested in them the way I do with other Star Trek characters, idk what it is.

Least favourite character: Chapel 🙈 I think I’m mostly just frustrated by the way she’s written - I think the intention was to make her a stronger character than she was in TOS, but I can’t think of a single aspect of her storyline that isn’t directly connected to one of the men in her life. It’s more like she’s an accessory to Spock and M’Benga’s storylines rather than a character in her own right. She had so much potential, because I remember her being kind of goofy and fun and chaotic and unique in the very first episode, and that was great! But I think a lot of that has got lost amongst the pining for Spock and the wartime M’Benga angst.

The character I’m most like: Hmm Uhura maybe?? Just with the whole struggling to make meaningful connections to people thing. Also I too miss Hemmer.

Favourite pairing: I don’t really have any ships for SNW, but let’s just say Ortegas/Una in the Elysian Kingdom because that was immense.

Least favourite pairing: Spock and Chapel, but mostly for the same reasons why I’m frustrated with Chapel’s character in general. I think there are moments where it does work, and I’m not opposed to them existing as a couple. I just wish they could give Chapel more interiority so they could flesh it out a bit more. As it stands, the whole Spock/T’Pring/Chapel thing reads very much like a generic YA love triangle romance. Maybe polyamory could fix them idk.

Favourite moment: The ending of ‘The Elysian Kingdom’ just gets me man. It hits on similar themes as the DS9 episode ‘Far Beyond the Stars’ in that it really centres on the power of storytelling, and I just love how nicely those two episodes fit together (I mean the Elysian Kingdom book was literally written by Benny Russell!! Hello????)

Rating out of 10: 7/10. It’s a good show and I do enjoy it, but I just struggle to connect with it in the same way that I can with shows that I really love.

Ok I’m going to put the Ahsoka stuff under a read more because I don’t want to spoil anything for you!

Ahsoka

Favourite character: This is so hard because I love them all!! But I think I have to choose Ahsoka because she’s just. She’s so good in this. I know a lot of people think she’s out of character, but I couldn’t disagree more. She’s seen some shit! She’s gone through hell! Of course she’s going to be more subdued as an adult than she was as a teenager! She brings such a presence and a gravitas to the show that really elevates it. Basically I’m love her.

Second favourite character: Shin Hati my disaster daughter. I’m fully convinced that Baylan found her in a trashcan somewhere and was like “I want that one” because she just has this slightly feral energy that I’m honestly obsessed with. I’m really excited to see if the show expands on her character, because she’s mostly been running around doing Baylan’s bidding and getting into very hot lightsaber fights with Sabine. Give my girl some development let’s GOOOOO. (Also honourable mention to Anakin because that’s my GUY that’s my BOY)

Least favourite character: I honestly can’t think of one, I love everyone in this show to pieces. Maybe that Empire sympathiser dude that Ahsoka and Hera met in episode 2. Yeah, him.

The character I’m most like: Ummm Sabine because I too am very fond of cats and creatures that look like cats.

Favourite pairing: Does Shin/Sabine have a ship name? Idk if they do, but either way I feel very normal about them. Mostly because of the vibes, since they haven’t done much beyond beating the crap out of each other. I’m hoping they’ll actually get to have a conversation in the next few episodes, especially after what went down in episode 4!

Least favourite pairing: I don’t think I have an answer for this one? Idk I’m not quite deep enough in the fandom side of things yet to know what else people are shipping from this show.

Favourite moment: Because I am a very basic Prequel era/Clone Wars girlie I have no choice but to choose the entire section of episode 5 with Ahsoka and Anakin. Number one television event that makes me want to bite things, I’m still not over it, I’ll never be over it. It’s fan service but it serves a purpose in the story. Anakin was better than he’s ever been in anything ever. Temuera Morrison was there. I have no choice but to go insane about every single second of these scenes. And don’t even get me started on teenage Ahsoka that was HEARTBREAKING.

Rating out of 10: 10/10. It’s perfect. Star Wars hasn’t been this good in ages. I’m actually actively looking forward to each new episode as they release, which is very rare for me.

[tavdraws]

TEN CHARACTERS

rules: pick 10 characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people!

Thank you @justporo for the tag! I am so sorry I have practically written as essay for these characters but this was fun!

1.) Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3

Honestly is anyone surprised? I’m not saying this list is in order, but I love his character so much. The balance of feminine and masculine, the trauma without it being his only personality trait, the nuance is just superb writing (and acting) that I’ve never seen in media before.

Plus BG3 has got me back on tumblr, drawing for pleasure again, and I’ve made a bunch of wonderful friends - so I have a lot to thank the pasty elf for.

2.) Renee Walker from 24

Okay so this is a super niche one but Renee Walker got me through some of my darkest teenage years. Whilst I don’t agree with everything in 24, I love her character (another complex character with trauma), I love Annie Wersching (Gods rest her soul), and this character is the first I think of when someone says ‘favourites’.

3.) Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars

I know the point of this post is characters I love, but omg do I love Ahsoka! Her development is some top tier writing, and she’s the first strong female lead I ever remember recognising in Star Wars.

4.) Dr James Wilson from House MD

I relate to Wilson more than I should. He cares so much it gets him hurt, he’s the eternal optimist, and, he sees the good in people even when it’s not there. He’s also self sacrificing, relentless, and occasionally, a complete dumbass. (I’m also in love with Robert Sean Leonard so that definitely helps).

5.) Chin Ho Kelly from Hawaii Five O

I don’t have much to say about this one. He’s cool. He rides a motorcycle and has a shotgun. Daniel Dae Kim is gorgeous. Chin Ho is just a cool guy. (He’s also complex but I fear I am starting to sound like a broken record).

6.) Amy Santiago from Brooklyn Nine Nine

This is another case of James Wilson. I have changed a lot since then but mannn if I wasn’t an Amy in University! (Wanted to be a Rosa, was absolutely an Amy) Honestly though, it was nice to see a Type A, more than likely neurodivergent, but still strong and respected female lead. She is rarely the butt of the joke and I appreciate that about B99.

7.) Anna from Frozen

I know this makes me look like a Disney Adult but it’s so nice to see a kind, emotionally available, independent woman, in a loving and equal relationship, in popular media. She also deals with heavy grief in a way that both hurts and heals me.

8.) Ice Bear from We Bare Bears

I love this show. It is my background comfort show and Ice Bear is just the best. Nothing more to it than that.

9.) Sara Lance from Arrow

Okay so I ran a Thea Queen fan account when I was a teen, but Sara Lance was the first queer woman I ever saw on TV and it changed my life. I told my friends about my girlfriend (at the time) because of her. She made me feel seen when there was very little queer pop culture rep.

10.) Leonard Snart from The Flash

Ending in a cyclical manner - with a white haired, morally grey, traumatised, soft-for-the-right-person, queer thief. I am a woman of simple, and apparently identical tastes.

I’m tagging @mushy6902 @tatterings @sunserenade @bearhugsandshrugs @megs-98 @bloodlessbhaalbabe @azaani-art @novarunestone @minibabymel @weatherbane3 only if you all want to though! 😁💕

[ipreferfiction]

20 questions for fic writers

@spyscrapper tagged me (shocking for everyone, i'm sure). thanks beloved

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

26!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

337,006 (a chunk of which is cowritten)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

posted, i have star wars (totj, kotor, swtor, prequels, and tcw), lockwood & co., and asoiaf. i've also written hotd-era asoiaf fics, a couple of unfinished mdzs fics, and something for grimm floating around.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

The Bond Between: fic i wrote for a tcw zine, Ahsoka & Obi-Wan. 137 kudos.

(note: technically the second fic is one that got hit by the kudos bot, so i am taking it out of the ranking because i cannot trust its numbers)

How Far We've Come: Lockwood & Co., written and set right after TCS. Kipps and the crew. 62 kudos.

Wasteland: prequels/tcw/original trilogy, Obi-Wan on Tatooine having a truly questionable time. 60 kudos.

Dragon's Rise: asoiaf, post-series. Dany, Jon, Tyrion, and Arya go to Old Valyria so Dany can break the Doom and rebuild the Valyrian Freehold. i hate several things i did with characters here, truly, and i am never going to finish it; i'm keeping it up so i can see comments and kudos, because it got a lot of engagement (posted right after the show ended), but i would change so many things now. 54 kudos.

tremble for yourself, my man (you know that you have seen this all before): kotor - Cassus Fett dies on Malachor and wakes up six years in the past, with the knowledge that something is manipulating the war. he kidnaps Revan and Alek right off Dantooine at one point to help him. extremely full of torture! also the cousin of found family, sibling acquisition via kidnapping. 50 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to, but i haven't been great at it for a while. so occasionally it takes me a few months, lol

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

posted? probably my mando wars novelization. none of the really angsty stuff is finished, and i also tend to shy away from bitter endings because they make me depressed. and i do mean depressed, i have depression and i tend to get a little too into my characters' heads, which is not great when they're having bad times.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

uh. um. the... ahsoka and obi-wan one maybe??

8. Do you get hate on fic?

the only ones that actually hurt me were on a years-old asoiaf fic. i've gotten two or three in recent years when i've been writing star wars stuff, but they're so out of pocket they're absolutely hilarious to me. i make fun of them with my friends. shoutout to the person who told me not to use bitch because it was a slur against women when the context was literally a man calling his long hair a bitch to deal with. i am NEVER getting over that, it's so funny.

9. Do you write smut?

periodically, yeah. it's fun, i just am also horribly embarrassed trying to write it lol. i have very little posted, but i've got a handful of half-finished ones in docs.

10. Do you write crossovers?

nnnnnnot really? i toss them around for some of my OCs and original works (between each other), but i don't really write them or post them. now, fusions? yeah, i write those. the hp au is the only one i've posted, and also is my favorite. read the main fic before you read the oneshot, though, because besides being utterly awful (affectionate) it also makes no sense without context. not that the series has given basically any of that context yet, but, yk. it's coming. eventually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i know. there's less theft in really niche communities like the stuff i tend to write.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nope

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

yes!! @spyscrapper (i keep typing revanchxst as your url beloved when will you change it back) is my coauthor for the hp au and for our big swtor novelization, plus a couple of totj fics.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

frankly, a couple of my ocs who live rent-free in my head at all times, from one of my original works. 1920s monster hunters, secret government organization, repressed queer people (person. the others are not at all repressed he's just a dumbass about emotions), constant threats of violence, morally grey pov characters, murder. i am literally insane about them. also a different set of ocs from fic that developed their own original work as well: magic university, depressed gay people, Plots, the usual. i am constantly chewing on them. in fandom, knight/scourge and cassus/ultimate, probably.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but probably won't?

most of my asoiaf stuff, tbh

16. What are your writing strengths?

prose. give me a good several paragraphs and i will give you gorgeous prose. flowing, poetic, great imagery, the works. i am not afraid to say that's what i'm good at

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

FUCKING dialogue. i hate dialogue so much. no more talking society has progressed past the need for talking. i can do a sentence or two, but full conversations? evil.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fics?

I'll throw in a word or two without translating, because single words are easy to remember and write a glossary for at the end of the chapter. full sentences, though? They're either in italics (if the fic is generally speaking one language and this is another), or unmarked except by dialogue tags (much rarer, generally only do it if the pov character would mostly be speaking another language and so marking it as unusual doesn't make sense. e.g., Cassus talking to other Mandalorians isn't gonna be italicized because it being in Mando'a is expected.)

19. First fandom that you wrote for?

sherlock, i think? i wrote an OC fic that has now evolved into its own original universe because i ended up hating sherlock after season 4, and also the fandom was so fucking annoying. i was writing doctor who and supernatural OC fics around the same time, but i'm pretty sure sherlock was first.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

tremble for yourself, my man (linked above) or start a war, for posted fics. for unposted stuff, a cassus wip i will eventually. eventually finish

tags: @zaolat, @hermitmoss, yeah that's all i've got lee got all the other people i know lol

[tomicaleto]

when you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers, if you can. let’s spread the self-love ♥️

Okay! I'm not gonna rank them so in no particular order, here are 5 of my fave fics!

Take my soul (keep it warm)

My first obikin fanfic! I had lots of fun writing their dynamic here and tried my best to mix it with stuff from canon in order to more or less give it a bit of background worldbuilding to something that was mostly an excuse to have them cuddle. I even managed to sneak in an easter egg! (wonder if people noticed)

Like sea foam around your neck

Writing for a rareship with two characters I had never really written before while trying to mix some humor in this one was a bit of a challenge but very fun nonetheless! If you're into Naruto rareships, this is the fic for you xD

Until you choose to return 

The first Zorro fic I’ve ever posted (but not the first I’ve written). I always enjoy writing Zorro fics, it’s a comfort show of mine and I always enjoy creating stuff for it! The only problem is I wrote it in Spanish first and had to translate it for the bingo event this one was part of xD

Frozen fire flowing through my veins 

I just wanted to explore a Vaderkin in a non-obikin setting having to regret his choices and also mix it with ATLA which is a great show that I love. I’m pretty satisfied with the results and I hope people who read it like it as well!

More than one lifetime 

Not only was the smut for this fic so much fun to write, I also got to write new stuff that I had never got to write before in my smut. But what I also liked from this one is that I got to write about Anakin & Ahsoka’s bond too and I really enjoyed that.

So there is that, five fics that were a joy to work on! Thank you for sending me this ask and to everyone who decides to give them a try, I hope you enjoy them! 🥰

[jcbmcdrmtt]

Get to know me game: tag someone you want to get to know better!

Tagged by the lovely @thedaughterofkings ! Thanks for the tag :)

Three ships: Sterek, Wangxian, and Andreil/Pynch tie… ranking interchangeable based on mood.

First ship: Oh gosh… probably Sterek? The first fic in my AO3 history is Sterek back in 2014, but I was reading without an account for a while before that, so I can’t say it with 100% certainty. Sterek was the first ship to leave a lasting impression, anyway.

Last song: Odo, by Ado (I was listening to my “Pump Up” playlist 😁)

Last movie: Marry My Dead Body (Taiwanese movie (US NF); casually homophobic cop has to marry a dead man’s ghost for Plot Reasons, and then a mystery unfolds. Not a BL, but watching them go from enemies to friends and watching the cop learn to not be a dick was fun and kinda heartwarming (cw for two brief but very demeaning portrayals of fat people though). Next in the queue is Our 30-Minute Sessions… primarily because it has Mackenyu from the One Piece live action in it 🙈 (in a Japanese-speaking role too!), but it also just looks cute

Currently reading: (all the fic) I just finished the Tinkered Starsong trilogy by Gail Carriger (gays and kpop in space with aliens! very fun and all fairly quick reads). I just started I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression for my own personal benefit, and then I think the next FUN book on my list is going to be Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaros. All I know is it’s YA with dragon riding, so like. I’m already sold lol.

Currently watching: Gaya sa Pelikula (Like in the Movies, free on YT). Gay Filipino series; I’m only on episode 3 but so far I am enjoying it. Also watching Strange Planet, Ahsoka, and Star Trek: Lower Decks as they air, and Bob’s Burgers season 14 premiers tomorrow night so I am excited for that (that’s my comfort show haha). Next up is Pending Train.

Last thing I wrote: Uhhhh I’m not an author and I’ve never published anything, but in 2019 I was bodily possessed by a plot bunny and did write a VERY angsty 2.5k Sterek fic fragment involving Derek going to a supernatural BDSM brothel and meeting Stiles and realizing Kate had fucked him up way too much for this and that he was more lonely than horny *cue breakdown and a caring Stiles*… to this day the only fan thing I’ve ever written lol

Currently writing: Nothing! But my brother in law just finished writing his first actual book so I recently helped my sister bind it for him as a surprise! It was both our first times binding, but I was able to help out because I have experience typesetting and had bought binding supplies for my own use before (I still intend to bind The One-Body Problem by metisket eventually because I cannot put into words how much I love that fic)

Tagging: @mobeu , @moondal514 , @aredblush , (if y’all feel like it!) and anyone else who wants to do it :)