#oh for just obi-wan: padawan. master & apprentice. both pretty great

[intermundia]

@buying-the-space-farm in answer to your ask, here's a list of options!! karen miller's works really do have some incredible obikin moments and are worth checking out

which sw books would you recommend for superior obikin/obi wan content? i know the rots novel is supposedly really good and i plan to read it but i was wondering if there were any others that the fandom likes particularly?

I'm glad you mentioned Stover's Revenge of the Sith, that really should be the first priority. It transcends the genre with its elevated prose style and is one of the more deeply homoerotic texts I've ever read lol so yeah it is essential. I listened to it on audiobook as well as reading it and I'm pretty sure parts of it are now etched in my brain like cuneiform on clay lmao.

There is a lot of fandom famous obikin content in the works of Karen Miller, like Wild Space in particular, but also some in the Clone Wars Gambit duology, so her work is what I would probably recommend next. I think there's some great moments in Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno too. After that, there’s a couple good moments in the Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster and Dark Disciple by Christie Golden. Kenobi by John Jackson Miller doesn't have a lot, but it's still worth reading. Mike Chen's Brotherhood has some, but it's pretty mid in my opinion. Jude Watson’s short story “The Last One Standing” will give you psychic damage from depressed post-Mustafar Obi-Wan, so be prepared for that, but it is absolutely worth a read as his thoughts turn toward Anakin plenty.

If you are willing to look into Legends comics, there is a 5 issue arc called "Obsession" collected in Clone Wars Volume 7: When They Were Brothers, which contains homoerotic sparring, jealousy between the two of them, Obi-Wan over Anakin's attention to Padmé and Anakin over Obi-Wan's attention to Ventress, and other fun things. It is in continuity with Republic comics #55-58, where Ventress takes Obi-Wan captive during the Battle of Jabiim, and Anakin believes that he is dead, which believe it or not, he doesn't take very well lmao. Both of these I recommend very highly.

I will add that Greg Bear's Rogue Planet is a book that should not be read through a ship lens (Anakin is in his early teens), but rather read for the sake of understanding who Anakin and Obi-Wan are as individuals at their core, so that you see the cracks in the foundation of their relationship that are exacerbated by the Clone Wars and Anakin's transition to adulthood. Bear's characterization of each of them is so perfect, Rogue Planet a text that illuminates and deepens the value of reading the others above. Admittedly the plot is kind of silly, but it's not the point of reading it. The beating heart of the characters is there to be understood.

[charmwasjess]

Okay, I finally finished The Living Force, and as promised, I have thoughts. These are just my musings as a fan and a reader - if you enjoyed the book more than I did, I'm really glad! If you hated it, good for you too! Let people like things, let people not like things. <3 My feelings with this book were somewhat down the middle. I'm interested in reading it again in a couple months and seeing how I feel.

Overall: a fun, engaging read, genuinely hard to put down once the action starts going. The book isn’t afraid to be funny. SO MUCH GOOD JEDI CONTENT! Miller takes on a huge task trying to write perspectives for all twelve Council member characters and does a pretty good job bringing them to life. Mace and Depa steal the show. I had a hard time with some of the meta plot and overriding messages about the Jedi Order.

Andddddd the long version:

The entire conceit of the book comes about when Qui-Gon goes head to head with the Council, who are bogged down in committee red tape Senate paperwork disconnection, and challenges them to “help one person.” So inspired, the Jedi Council in its entirety goes to the planet Kwenn to help close down a hundreds-year-old Jedi Outpost. 

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan serve as the book’s inciting incident, our quest giver NPCs, who hang around close enough to the action to keep the readers who bought the book only for them engaged. It reminds me a little bit of a spin-off TV show where the fan favorite character from the original series shows up to boost ratings, saying their classic catch phrase while the live studio audience goes crazy. Look, Qui-Gon is Being Kind to Pathetic Lifeforms! Obi-Wan drops a “hello there” in the first scene! Oh, them!

Lest you think I’m being shitty, let me say that it was actually great to see Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on the eve of TPM working together well and having a blast. Both in Padawan and Master & Apprentice, they are still very much figuring out their relationship, and now it’s clearly evolved to its final magnificent form. They’re utterly corny together - I love that for them. This is the same pair that gave us “the negotiations were short” and the baffling “there’s always a bigger fish!”

I’ll talk a little bit about Sifo-Dyas because of course I will. He appears only in mentions, but so many of them, he's a huge part of the subtext of the book as he's recently left (been fired) from the Council and been killed - he's apparently on everyone's mind. I’ve posted about this before - I love the Seeker Sifo addition, and further, letting him be a rightful problem, a true pain in the Council’s ass and who ultimately got himself fired for not following the rules. Of course I have sympathy for him: this is a person who is beyond desperate to save his world and willing to try anything at this point in his life. And I think it’s worth mentioning that this is well within Cavan Scott’s characterization of him as a natural born troublemaker. I mean, he’s on screen for about two pages in Dooku: Jedi Lost before he just fucking literally steps on Yoda. Apparently, he never stopped. 

The book is oddly complimentary of him in weird places. Canon is inconsistent about Sifo-Dyas and how much his visions were impacting his judgment or even his simple ability to function. The last we heard of him in the Yoda comics, Sifo-Dyas was so routinely incapacitated by them that he was traveling with Lene full time. So it was cool to see that he had apparently gotten in control of them enough to be a super crucial member of the Council. Mace complains about Sifo’s absence and how that has directly impacted their entire ability to perceive the future, an acknowledged blind spot that comes up quite a lot in the prequel films and Clone Wars. Yoda goes on and on about how what a powerful Jedi he was.

...I don’t think the scene where the ENTIRE FUCKING Council round robin style takes potshots at Sifo-Dyas for *checks notes* rescuing some orphans was particularly successful. Of course, accuse me of bias, he’s a favorite character of mine, and it’s rough to see his colleagues - who are also his only friends and family - sitting around talking shit about him (to a bad guy no less!) for a page and a half, when he literally just got violently killed. (And they know he’s dead, at least, if not the circumstances. Killed on Felucia was the official story reported to the Council per wookiepedia.) Just tonally weird.

But really, I think what actually bothers me about that scene is the treatment of the baddie, Zalestra’s motivation as in any way legitimate, credible, or worth an apology by the narrative. Wow, the villain had a good point! To be clear, her issue with Sifo-Dyas taking her friends away to be Jedi is not that it changed her situation in any meaningful way in terms of care provided. It was a crime of omission. And these friends were so dear to her that she goes around indiscriminately killing Jedi of their exact generation? I suspect Miller liked his cool Nautolan Pirate Joker OC and wanted to give her a sympathetic excuse for why she was going around torturing and murdering Jedi (and just random people, including children) for fun, and “I got separated from my friends as a kid because of a Jedi” was the best he could do. Of course, it sets up Depa for a really beautiful line about not using other people as a canvas to paint grief on. 

The question of Attachment is a strong theme. Depa seems to be Going Through It - about attachment in particular, but also generally in the book. She’s shown relying a little too firmly on the no attachment cause in the wake of grief for a lost student. For example, she is quick to volunteer that Zalestra’s friends who were brought into the Temple together would be immediately separated so as to not form attachments - without pointing out the rest of that, that this separation would be specifically into Creche clans so they could bond with other Jedi kids and grow up in a community. Mace’s reaction to Depa’s attitudes make me suspect this is a Depa character growth thing, not something we’re supposed to take as a face value fact about the Jedi Order. Indeed, she ultimately overcomes her fears about this and decides to take a Padawan. And the final lines of the book include Qui-Gon defining for us that it isn’t attachment that’s a problem for Jedi – it’s indifference. 

Mace and Depa are the clear stars of the book. The Shatterpoint lineage vibes are immaculate. I’d read that the Living Force is supposed to set up an upcoming novel about Mace, and I am legitimately thrilled for it after reading this. Anyway, their dynamic is fantastic. Mace treats her 100% like a respected colleague, no cute Padawan infantilization tropes, even when he is put in situations like rescuing her after weeks of prolonged torture. Instead, he gives her his lightsaber to use, since hers has been taken. A really powerful and beautiful moment of support, while still recognizing her strength and agency. 

That said, if you’re looking for a deep dive into more obscure members of the Council or an EU/Legends junkie looking to see your favorite backstory pulled from the fire, this book might not be it.  With his five wives and seven daughters in old EU, Ki-Adi-Mundi might be the least likely Council Member to be the comedic butt of a bit revolving around awkwardness around women, but Miller goes for it, and there’s no mention of his family situation. 

Another odd reference, this time to current canon: the civilians the Council are working to help are mentioned as being the relocated survivors of the Protobranch disaster. It’s an ironic choice to frame the narrative of “the Jedi have been too focused on the big picture/the future at the expense of their duty to ordinary people” and then set the story in a community of people that the Jedi literally saved after getting a vision of the future disaster. The fact that it was our problem child Sifo-Dyas’s vision, and the rescue only happened after he and Lene outright defied the Council to get the gears moving is never mentioned or addressed, despite its seeming supreme relevance to the other themes in the story. 

For a time, I thought the narrative tension there between those two truths - that the Jedi should be concerned about ordinary people and living in the moment, but that this doom future is truly about to be a huge problem for the Jedi Order and the galaxy - was intentional. Having now finished the book, it doesn't seem to have actually been. Maybe someone else has a different perspective.

In truth, I didn’t understand what I kept reacting negatively to about with some of the meta themes of the book until the literal last page, John Jackson Miller’s author’s note where he says it outright. He talked about the other Star Wars books he has written over the last decade - how they all have depicted (Jedi) characters who are off on their own, away from the Order, “loners like Luke Skywalker,” and how his depiction of the Jedi Order from that perspective has been very critical. With this book, he decided that ALL Jedi couldn’t be bad, and that “Qui-Gon Jinn was the greatest symbol (of diversity of thought in the Order)” so he wanted to explore that. 

I closed the book and gently placed it in the trash can.

No, I’m kidding. Kind of. You know that I love Qui-Gon Jinn, he is my first favorite character, but this take exhausts me. That he is the magical exception to all of Jedi’s problems leading up to the prequels, and that if he were somehow not a direct product of that same Jedi Order, which encouraged him in his particular way of thinking almost to a fault, starting with Dooku.

In the final scene, with a magical twinkle in his eyes, Qui-Gon explains his own “defiance”of the Council: “I’m not insubordinate. I’m unorthodox. The insubordinate are ignored. The unorthodox are heard - grudgingly.” So the book finally resolves for us the narrative confusion in the difference between Sifo-Dyas’s bad future-fixated rulebreaking, which is shown to create villains and piss off his colleagues alike, and Qui-Gon’s good Living Force-serving unorthodoxy, which creates friends for the Order and moments of spiritual understanding for the Council. 

...Smashcut to six months later when Qui-Gon himself is outright defying the Council’s decision on Anakin and sidelining Obi-Wan because he’s convinced the Chosen One prophecy is just that important. 

Star Wars: The Living Force by John Jackson Miller, 6.5/10 stars, would have been 7 if I hadn’t read that asinine author’s note and gotten all mad again. 

[obiwanobi]

I’ve been meaning to reply to this for so long and when I did I got carried away and wrote 1k of Sith!AU, but what did you except, Sith!Obi-wan and Anakin is my favourite AU, so here you go: 

Obi-wan and Anakin are just two Jedi among many others, but let’s just imagine them around the end of the clone wars; they’re both well known in the galaxy, (or at least in the core worlds,) are called ‘the negotiator’ and ‘the hero with no fear’ and are poster boys of the republic. Anakin is the chosen one (or some believe it at least) and one of the strongest Jedi with the force. In addition to being a member of the council, the Order seems to rely on Obi-wan a lot, he’s probably one the most influential generals of the GAR, and is basically the go-to guy for the battlefield part of the war.

Towards the end of the clone wars, people are tired of it; they’re not trusting the Jedi like they used too and kind of lost faith in them and their ‘peacekeeper’ image. And that’s not even talking about the clones, their production and how they’re perceived but the senate and the public in general. So it safe to say that at this point, the Republic and the Jedi really need a big win. It would not be the time for another failure. 

And that’s the best time for Obi-wan to stab them in the back.

A general, having a breakdown and defecting to the separatist side? That’s already pretty bad. But the supposed model Jedi, the one you can always count on, the one part of the team you call when you really need a miracle? THIS Jedi falling to the dark side, fucking the entire Order over, switching the allegiance of most of the GAR to the enemy AND taking the chosen one with him? That’s not something you can recover easily from in this kind of desperate times.

And then the Jedi discover that he didn’t just fall, oh no, he has been an actual sith lord for years, playing the role of the good little Jedi so perfectly and for so long, always right under their nose, without anyone noticing anything wrong. 

And oh, did you think he forgot the way the Order promised him a great future as a knight since he was three years old before telling him he wasn’t good enough when he was a teenager? Did you think he forgot that his master abandoned him when a better padawan showed up? Or all the time the Jedi said they were not warriors and couldn’t participate in a resistance movement against a tyrannic government or just didn’t have the time to stop the slave traffic in the outer-rim? And then years later, agreeing to lead the war effort for the republic as generals of the army? And lastly, did you really think that he just casually stumbled into a clone factory in the middle of nowhere right on time for the republic to go to war?

The answer to that question is pretty clear when he’s the one to trigger order 66, while at the same time Anakin is descending on the Jedi temple and killing all Jedi in sight without even an ounce of remorse.

Anakin is ruthless. Merciless. But also in complete control of himself. Gone are the mindless rage and swirling emotions that always seemed so un-Jedi like in him.‘He’s a monster!’ they cry. ‘We always knew it was a bad idea to take him in! He probably corrupted Master Kenobi too!’

And that’s the irony, isn’t it? How Master Kenobi finally arrives once he’s sure that the rest of the Jedi stretched across the galaxy are taken care of, when Anakin is finally ready to end Windu’s life.

“How,” Windu asks, “How could you train him for years and watch him kill all you dedicated your life to?”

Obi-wan smiles. Windu never realised before that Obi-wan’s smile has always been a bit too sly. Too sharp. He guesses that it’s easier to pay attention to the face of the enemy in front of you than the smile of the friend next to you.

“What have the Jedi ever done for me?” Obi-wan laughs. He puts his hand on Anakin’s neck. “I didn’t train a Jedi. I trained a soldier.”

And just like that, the Jedi Order is dead. 

Sidious is… vexed, that the whole plan worked so well without him. He was supposed to activate order 66. He was supposed to decide when. He was supposed to wait for the perfect moment. Kenobi’s time as his apprentice was apparently coming to an end, especially since he completed his primary purpose of bringing the chosen one to the dark side. To him.

“There has been… a last-minute change of plans, I’m afraid,” Kenobi says, his infuriating pleasant smile still on his face. Sidious is glad that soon, he will not have to see it again.

“You hate change of plan.”

“Well, yes. But that’s something I had to get myself used to for Anakin.”

“For him? Didn’t he fall to the dark side like I wanted to? Is he still not ready yet?”

“Oh, he is. He has been more than what I could have even imagined all these years ago.” And there is something here that Sidious doesn’t get, because Kenobi has never taken this tone of voice before. “And that’s why I had to adjust everything to keep him.”

Sidious should have seen this. Should have realised that establishing a stronger, personal connection to the chosen one was essential, and not delegate it to Kenobi. Entirely to Kenobi. Because that’s how you get the chosen one’s lightsaber impaling you from behind, just to please his master.

Because that’s what it was, isn’t it? The chosen one and his master. The smiling bastard, watching him die slowly. Cooing at Skywalker how proud he is of him. Sidious should have seen it. But Sidious never understood utter devotion and true affection. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power.

And just like that, Sidious is dead.

“What now?” Anakin asks, turning his head so his master could wipe away the last trace of blood on his face. “What’s the plan now?”

But there is no plan anymore. The Jedi are dead. The Sith are dead. It is done. And Obi-wan always planned to leave the remains of the Republic in chaos. It is not his problem anymore. Only…

Only, Anakin cares. Anakin wants order, Anakin wants freedom, justice and control. Everything Obi-wan banished from his mind a long time ago. 

“You know Master, I think I would like to see you on a throne,” He says casually. He pauses, smiles and slowly goes down on one knee. “I wouldn’t want any other ruler.”

Obi-wan has never learned how to say no to him.

[gffa]

tallulalusa said: 

didn’t qui gonn say to obi wan in tpm that obi was wiser than him and would become a better jedi? i imagine it’s difficult to mentor someone who surpasses you on pretty much every aspect. also, i like how this shows that not everyone is cut out to be a teacher. it requires a certain temperament. they may have been a good match for each other in terms of character (idon’t actually know) but qui gon may have failed as his teacher. good thing… it’s a good thing masters rotate their padawans for a bit from time to time!

Qui-Gon says that after he throws Obi-Wan over for Anakin in the Council chamber, which frankly kind of read like an apology to me--Qui-Gon doesn’t actually apologize, Obi-Wan is the one who brings it up by apologizing first, saying it wasn’t his place to question Qui-Gon, who then says that Obi-Wan is wiser than him. Here’s the Council Room scene:

The way Qui-Gon looks over at Obi-Wan for a brief moment says, oh, he knows how that landed and how it was a dick move, but he doesn’t say anything about it. Their conversation after this is: OBI-WAN: It is not disrespect, Master, it is the truth. QUI-GON: From your point of view.... OBI-WAN: The boy is dangerous... they all sense it. Why can't you? QUI-GON: His fate is uncertain, he's not dangerous. The Council will decide Anakin's future... that should be enough for you. Now get on board. That’s it for their conversation until they’re on Naboo, a couple of lines about Amidala using the Gungans for her army, then: OBI-WAN: I'm... I'm sorry for my behavior, Master. It is not my place to disagree with you about the boy... and I am grateful you think I am ready to take the trials. [Qui-Gon looks at him for a long moment.] QUI-GON: You've been a good apprentice, Obi-Wan, and you're a much wiser man than I am. I foresee you will become a great Jedi Knight. It’s not a lot to go on, but given that we’re also discussing Master & Apprentice, where Qui-Gon really never actually talks to Obi-Wan about anything, including things he absolutely knows he needs to talk to him about.  He puts them off until they explode in his face or he shuts down the conversation when he doesn’t think Obi-Wan is listening properly, etc. It does sort of paint the picture that they may not have been a great match and that Qui-Gon was not great at actually talking to his student.  He makes an effort with Anakin, but there’s a whole lot of OMG CHOSEN ONE YOU MUST SEE IT driving that, because that’s exactly how he presents Anakin to the Jedi (and we see from how Qui-Gon treats Jar Jar that he’s not kind to everyone just to be kind to them, so Anakin is special to him). And it’s not that I think he’s bad or anything!  But, honestly, even when he appears in The Clone Wars to Obi-Wan on Mortis, he has no words to spare for his student of 12 years, no, “Hello, Obi-Wan, it’s been a long time, my friend.”, it’s straight to, “Have you trained the boy like I asked?”  It’s not until Qui-Gon’s dead that they seem to have any kind of relationship and even then he still doesn’t talk to Obi-Wan about the things he really should.  (”They have never spoken of this, not once in all Qui-Gon’s journeys into the mortal realm to commune with him. This is primarily because Qui-Gon thought his mistakes so wretched, so obvious, that Obi-Wan had wanted to spare him any discussion of it. Yet here, too, he has failed to do his Padawan justice.“ --From a Certain Point of View) I think this works out reasonably well with Obi-Wan, who has always been better balanced and can read between the lines and is selfless enough to think of what the other person is going through.  But I think two characters who aren’t the one to initiate conversations--as Qui-Gon and Anakin are both routinely shown to be (in addition to everything else)--would not be a good match. Qui-Gon cares very deeply, I think he genuinely felt bad about what that did to Obi-Wan, the way he touches Obi-Wan’s face (even if his last words are of Anakin) shows that he does!  He’s just not great at the details of these things.

[crispyjenkins]

I’m resending it now! ok so what if for some reason Obi’s lightsaber either gets destroyed or the crystal stops resonating with him & He’s with Jango who goes with him to wherever the force guides him to find his new crystal at & like Obi goes through some wack vision/trial from the force and when he gets through it his new crystal reveals itself and it’s the same type of crystal like in the dark saber? And Jango is just losing it when he sees it bc he thinks “HOW?! but also, That’s HOT” hehe

(my DUDE i’m so flippin glad you re-sent this, i’ve had to force myself not to write this one so i could get other people’s prompts out, and i was at first unsure of how to spin this, but holy FECK is it all i can think about now. i just. i just want to write so much of this obi. i’m sorry i didn’t get to jango much, but you bet your butters he and obi are connected every which way in this, in ways beyond force bonds because i’m a dramatic bitch.

i hope y’all enjoy this one as much as i did!!)

edit 6/26/20: this is now part of a full fix-it! you can read it as it updates here on my Ao3! updates on fridays.

  Illum is colder than he remembered, though the last time Obi-Wan had been here, he had not feared wrapping himself up in the Force. It’s been... Force, he hasn’t been back since after Melida/Daan, and something in him breaks again at the thought that he’d lost the ‘saber that had been with him for more than a decade. But, no, a lightsaber is a small price to pay to have saved his master.

  His former master. He isn't Qui-Gon’s apprentice anymore, Anakin had made sure of that.  

  Obi-Wan had been sent to Illum alone, no younglings in need of making their first ‘saber, and no one else needing to replace theirs; Anakin has a few more months in the crèche before he can build his, and Obi-Wan can’t thank the council enough that he doesn’t have to walk the caves knowing his replacement is somewhere doing the same. With Qui-Gon still in the Halls, Master Plo had stepped forward in offer to knight him, and had almost had to fight Master Depa for the honor, which was... strange. He’s used to quite the opposite of masters fighting over him, but an amused Yoda had almost used his lineage status to refuse them both for himself instead, until Mace, as Master of the Order, had given the right to Plo Koon. And Jedi do not gloat, but the Kel Dor had certainly been smiling behind his mask.

  The doors to the caves open easily despite the ice, so maybe his great-grandmaster had been right about Obi-Wan rebuilding his lightsaber before his knighting ceremony. This thought doesn’t settle the feeling of intruding when he steps over the threshold, the marrow-deep feeling of being an imposter in one of the most holy places in the galaxy. 

  The kyber hums around him, as if he wasn’t at this exact moment considering walking away from the Order.

  He’s hardly a proper Jedi, is he? Killing a Sith with a sai tok, falling in love with Satine, holding a grudge against a nine year-old freed slave for taking his master away from him. Hadn’t he drawn on the dark side to defeat the Zabrak? Killed him not out of duty to his vow but in revenge for the fallen Qui-Gon? His lightsaber might have cauterised the wounds, but he has blood on his hands all the same.

  So he keeps walking, refusing to touch a single crystal he passes. The Force tugs him deeper into the caves anyways, and he has half a thought to ignoring it (does he even deserve to listen to it anymore?) but for all his tumultuous thoughts, Obi-Wan is beholden to the Force, beholden to the grip it has in his viscera. 

  He follows it as his breath forms clouds before his lips, frost on his skin that he cannot even feel. Where would he go, if he left? Stewjon is insular, they would not want him back, but he cannot stay at the Temple. Naboo, perhaps? Padmé would surely welcome him, but could he really settle down on such a peaceful planet after spending over half his life running around the stars with his master?

  Closing his eyes at the memory of Satine, he allows himself to... consider it. Would she still want him? They haven’t spoken since, but sometimes he can feel her in his mind still, a little warm bud that could bloom, if he let it. And even if she threw him out, Mandalore isn’t a bad place to restart.

  “Could I really?” he muses out loud, stepping over a great crack in the stone floor and setting his feet to follow a barely-there path towards the lake, only for the Force to have him veer away from it. Could he really give up being a Jedi? After every trial the Force had put him through to even become an apprentice? Oh, but he had tried so. kriffing. hard. to get this far, could he really do anything else?

  He swallows thickly and almost desperately pulls the Force back around himself, as if in apology, as if in repentance, as if anguish—

  Peace, it whispers, brushing over his mind even as it sinks claws into his ribs and pulls him up short.

  Obi-Wan is twelve again, wind whipping around him as the Jedi transport takes off from Bandomeer, Qui-Gon Jinn staring down at him. Force, but he hasn’t ever felt worse than when he feels their raw bond stretching with distance, yanking deep in him until he’s breathless, doesn’t Master Jinn feel it—?

  And Obi-Wan is sitting in the living room of their Temple apartment, kneeling on his cloth meditation mat across from Qui-Gon’s bamboo one. His master’s warmth surrounds him in a glittering cloud of comfort and ease, and they’ve been at this for five years now, and still Obi-Wan holds this as his most treasured memory, something to cling to when things seem desolate or he’s been arguing with Qui-Gon, or—

  He’s in the glass city of Sundari, brushing a hand over Satine’s cheek as she laughs, and Force, she’s even more beautiful than he remembers— She’s dying in his arms, bruises violent red around her throat, a sizzling ‘saber wound through her middle, and she’s beautiful even now, oh Force not like this—

  Obi-Wan is older, his joints a little creakier, his hair grey at the temples, and he has a beskad sticking out of his chest. Above him is a boy that looks suspiciously like him, red hair and green eyes but with Satine’s lips and eyebrows. Korkie, the Force tells him, as the boy leans over Obi-Wan and why is he angry? Ah, so this blade had not been meant for him—

  Anakin, little Anakin with a padawan braid beams up at him in a training salle with a practice saber in his fists. Obi-Wan moves to correct his kata, and though he’s... sure he had never learned this from Qui-Gon, he knows it’s Form III, he knows it’s Soresu like he knows his own name, like he knows the padawan bond in his mind and the warm nova glow of Anakin attached to his core—

  Obi-Wan is an old man, seated on a perfectly smooth grey stone above a green, green cliff battered by ocean waves and briny air. He meditates with the knowledge he had come from here, the Force here as close to home as he could ever hope to achieve. He had not searched for the family that left him on the Temple steps, and that’s just fine by him, he could not have asked for a better place to begin his seclusion studies than Stewjon—

  Obi-Wan is an old man, seated on a perfectly smooth red stone, the desert cliffs around him worn smooth from the sand that batters around him, ripping through his robes but never touching his skin. The Force is feral here, claws and bone and teeth teeth teeth, but somewhere out in the dunes, there shines Luke, pearlescent and good and proof that Obi-Wan has not failed just yet. 

  Satine is screaming at him as she shoves Korkie behind her back and raises a beskad that seems wrong, wrong in her hands, but he doesn’t have time to think about his heart wielding a blade, when he’s wielding the darksaber, whistling as it cuts through the air against Tor Vizsla, why had they trusted him, he knew he could not be trusted, and now his family is going to pay the price— His ‘saber, black as space, connects with Vizsla's, black as night, and Obi-Wan is not wielding the darksaber, but something else entirely, with a beskad’s edge, with a hum that’s almost a scream, that moves towards the darksaber with the intent to shatter—

  A Mando in blue and silver beskar’gam hands him a hilt, hammered durasteel wrapped in black leather, so unlike any Jedi ‘saber hilt he’s ever seen, but Obi-Wan knows it’s his from the way it sings, the way the Force insists it’s his his his—

  The blue and silver Mando with his helmet off, a man so unspeakably gorgeous that Obi-Wan wonders how he even copes— The Mando’s gloved hand grips Obi-Wan’s wrist, the face he knows so well twisted into dread and anger. Don’t go, they beg, but Obi-Wan must, he cannot abandon Mandalore, he cannot—, Don’t you realize that Zabrak’s fucking crazy? Obi-Wan, he’s going to kill you—

  Obi-Wan is older, but not much, pinned underneath blue and silver armour as Sundari glass and blasterfire rains around them—

  Obi-Wan watches the Beautiful Mando sleeping with his head pillowed on Obi-Wan’s arm, a new scar curling through his eyebrow that he hasn’t asked about yet—

  A mini Beautiful Mando eyes him suspiciously, hands on his hips while his buir stands behind him and tries not to laugh—

  Obi-Wan is on Illum, but he is not, he weaves his way through dusty streets he has never seen before and yet knows the way by heart, following that heart towards the hangar where his aliit waits. He has beads braided messily in his hair, twisted by pudgy fingers insisting Obi-Wan deserves to look just as pretty as his buir; that durasteel and leather hilt bounces against his hip, and he has a single blue and silver gauntlet on his right arm. He is a Jedi, the Force assures him, in the way light bends through him, but he is also Mando’ad, he knows that without needing to ask. He belongs to a planet and to a people that he did not start with, in a strange Force-willed way that he can’t explain, and he’s a Jedi, but he knows he has a family waiting for him in an old police craft. A black-bladed ‘saber hums at his side.

  Obi-Wan opens his eyes in front of a rock wall, glittering kyber in every colour rising up the sheer face until their little lights disappear into the darkness far above him. Just above eye-level, there is a small crater in the wall, as if the rest of the kyber cannot grow around the single crystal at the crater’s center. 

  It is opalescent and space-black, and looks as if it had been cut for a piece of opulent jewellery. The Force whispers heart heart heart, and he supposes it does look the size and shape of a beskar’ta, and isn’t that fitting?

  When he reaches out to take it, the white glow at its edges seems to suck in the light from around it, and it sings higher than any crystal he’s ever touched, whistling trials and heartbreak and pain and blood, but also love and laughter and family, if he lets it form the notes just right. It sings in Mando’a, in war gods and clans and beskar, and it sings for Obi-Wan alone.

-   Across the galaxy, Jango wakes on Jaster’s Legacy in a cold sweat.

Translations/Other: sai tok — the ‘saber move of cutting an opponent in half, frowned upon by the Jedi for its roots in the dark side. beskad — traditional Mandalorian curved saber made of beskar. allit — Mando’a for “clan” or “family”. buir — Mando’a for “parent”, gender neutral. beskar’ta — Mando’a for “iron heart”, the elongated hex-shape common in Mandalorian armour designs (great post here comparing them to katana tsuba). also called ka’rta beskar or “heart of the iron”. Jaster’s Legacy — Jaster’s old ship that Jango found and used post Galidraan, and pre Slave I.

[houndin-around]

Volition | Darth Maul

warnings: angst, minor abuse from previous master, minor drug mention, a small tidbit of arousal | Padawan is of age !

author notes: so today turned into a really bad day and so I took my anger out on writing I guess. Hope ya’ll enjoy it! We all need a maul to rescue us from some shit. This is my first time writing for maul so please be nice 🥺 I’m still second-guessing myself on posting this...😅

“(Y/n) go back to your quarters. I’m done dealing with your subpar technique.” your master ordered, whipping your lightsaber toward you.

Falling to your knees, lips quivering you didn’t even dare to look at your master. “I’m sorry master...please. Please forgive me. One more chance?” you begged.

“Absolutely not! You don’t even deserve the rank as my padawan (y/n), and yet here you are before me. Look how pathetic you are, is this how you’ll be on the battlefield when you lose? Get out of my sight.”

Burning hot with shame as you failed his assessment on formation, though it was something you studied to no end, you still managed to screw it up. Tears streamed down your face as you sat in the dirt, his words cutting into you like a vibroblade. You couldn’t fathom how out of all the Jedi in the temple you ended up with Master Feles. As you were growing up, you had hoped to begin your training with Master Plo Koon, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, or even Master Yoda. At least they were kind to you, but it never worked like that no. Feles sensed much strength within you and thus convinced the council to let him train you. But why? He acted as he cared for you but as soon as you slipped up, harsh words were thrown at you and sometimes even his fists. Master Feles was so full of rage, hate, his aura throwing off uncertain vibes within your instincts.

Alas, there wasn’t anything you could do, you’ve been his padawan for many years and put up with his barbarous treatment. It’s not like the other Jedi masters would believe it though, Feles had them wrapped around his finger. The only time they ended up being skeptical of his teachings was when he ended up losing a battle against the separatist droids, blaming it on you for slowing him down. The result was a quick strike from his lightsaber against your back when you turned to check on one of your downed troopers.

Taking a deep breath, you grab your lightsaber that was thrown into the dirt and wipe it off with your robes. Clipping it to your belt, you scan the area quickly before heading toward the corridor leading to the back entrance of the Jedi temple. It would be hard to dodge any Knights or Masters walking the hallways but it was worth it. You needed to leave and clear your mind, to pretend you weren’t even a padawan for just a night. As you approach a long staircase, two knights head in your direction walking in unison. Swiftly you tuck yourself behind a statue attempting to silence your mind so your presence isn’t detected.

Several excruciating moments later, they pass too absorbed in their own discussion about who was to become a Master before the other. Hesitantly you make you way down the stairs scanning the lower level to see if anyone was lingering. It was well past curfew so luckily you didn’t run into anyone else on your journey to the back entrance. Stepping foot outside of the temple without having to carry out a mission or an errand felt so liberating. Heading down the vast staircase that led toward the city of Coruscant, you couldn’t help but launch into a sprint. The freedom lured you out encouraging you to detach from the order you once followed so closely. Pulling your hood over your head to mask your identity somewhat, you saunter the lively streets of Galactic City. No one even bothers to pay you any mind which eased the anxiety that whirled around in your gut.

The only unfortunate part about this planet was there weren’t many places to just sit down and rest. Everyone was always in such a hurry that sitting down to take in the sights around never came to mind to these citizens. Nearing a dark alley, you round the corner finding it empty, where it was less likely for anyone to want to bother you. Sitting on the duracrete sent a shiver up your spine, it was nothing like the plush pillows you knelt on in the temple but it would have to do. Head against the building made of durasteel, you glance up barely able to make out the stars as the lights of Coruscant hid them.

Out of the corner of your eye, were two gentlemen also hooded part taking in some dubious acts. At first, they hadn’t realized you, though once they did they strutted over, grins flustered on their face.

“What’s a pretty face doing out here all by her lonesome?” the one snickered.

“Seems like she needs some protecting, whaddya think Ander?” the second snickered.

“Well, seems like you just witnessed something you weren’t supposed to. Only way out of it is either pay up and buy some death sticks off me, or you come with us. I much rather the second option. We’re both a good amount of fun.” Ander elbowed his friend playfully, eyes narrowing at you as they both erupted into a fit of laughter.

“I didn’t see anything...I-I promise. Please just leave me alone.” you pleaded. Of course, you didn’t want to make a scene and it was against the code to use your power in any type of personal gain. As much as you wanted to detach from the ways of the Jedi you simply couldn’t abandon the belief system that taught you so much.

“See, we can’t take your word for it sweetheart, so you’re going to have to come with us.” the second unnamed counterpart was a Trandoshan, a species you’re familiar with for being quite aggressive.

The Trandoshan had his digits gripped onto your jaw, staring into your eyes as Ander prattled on probably due to the effects of the death sticks.

“Get your kriffing hands off me!” rage engulfed you, causing you to use the force against the two.

Shocked by the sudden revelation, the men couldn’t scurry out fast enough, fearing for their lives. A sigh of relief escaped your lips only to be sucked back in at the sound of another voice.

“It seems like you’re very strong with the force hmm?” his voice was honeyed, though it sent a shudder down your back at the deep sound.

“I guess..not really though,” you mumbled. “I shouldn’t have done what I just did.” guilt beginning to consume you as you just let anger take over.

“And why do you say that? Because you used your gift simply to protect yourself?”

“It’s not the Jedi way…” trailing off you kneel down before the stranger, assuming he was a Master as it was hard to make out his robes due to the lighting but he spoke in a way that suggested so. “You know that…”

A deep chuckle was released, “I am no Jedi. I was trained in the ways of the force yes, but was never a Jedi.”

The rush of fear soon rested inside you as you realized before you was a sith. Was it the one the Jedi have been looking for? The sith lord? “You’re a sith! You’re the one everyone has been looking for!” you hissed.

Walking closer, the faint light showed bits of his face which was red intertwined with black ink, his eyes a honey-like color that was surrounded by a crimson ring. “My darling, you may think I am evil. I am not. I am efficient. I was apprentice to the most powerful being in the galaxy once. I was destined to become so much more. But I was robbed of that destiny by the Jedi, by Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Moving even closer to you, he too knelt down in front of you, inches away from your face eyes locked. “My name is Maul. I no longer have any attachment to the sith. I’m purely on my own.”

Blinking, you try to figure out how Master Kenobi played in this though that wasn’t something that concerned you too much. What did was the fact this stranger and force wielder is mere inches away from your face, intrigued with you. “So what do you want with me…? It’s clear you want something.” you faltered.

“Passing by, I heard your thoughts. The white noise they emitted that distracted me and lured me in out of pure curiosity. Then,” he paused, licking his lips “Then I saw the power you possess deep inside of you. A power only I am able to help you achieve. But I also feel your strong hatred toward something. Perhaps..someone?” a smirk emerged as he noticed you beginning to go wide-eyed

Putting your head down, you realized you needed to silence your thoughts and feelings as they were clearly becoming very loud for any force user to sense them. Suddenly your jaw was grabbed but the touch was oh so tender, so light as he brought your eyes back to his. As horrifying as this experience was, there was something about him that made you question his true intentions. His eyes seemed to be telling the truth even if his words seemed off, but you can see the pain within them.  

At the sight of you, his hearts began to thud, something about you was driving this zabrak insane. Could it be the power? The drive? Or was it something else so unfamiliar to the zabrak that made him almost feral with just the scent of you lingering in his nostrils. Callused fingertips still touching your soft skin, he closed his eyes trying to read you even further and to give you a chance to consider his words.

“I may have some doubts, but that doesn’t mean I want to leave nor join someone like you!” fear creeping into your voice. As much as you hated your master, how could you leave the only home you know, especially with Maul? A stranger you have no knowledge of, except that Master Kenobi had dealt with him at one point.

Pulling away, he turned his head and rose to his feet. “Very well. I won’t force you to make this decision. If you cannot see your true potential and want to continue enduring the mistreatment from your Master, so be it.” his once smooth voice, now harsh, full of rage.

Him knowing what your master has done was enough to make you fall back in surprise. The sincerity in his voice was convincing, but ultimately there wasn’t much to lose. At this point, it felt great to be away from the temple, and the thought of never seeing Feles again was a bonus. Quickly you leap to your feet, reaching out to grab his forearm. Even though you couldn’t see it a grin enveloped his features. Turning around, this time he leaned in closer, forehead brushing against yours, eyes searching yours.

“I-I’ll take your offer. Let me join you..and get me far away from here as possible. Help me discover my inner power you see.” you urged desperately. You were almost breathless with how close he was, but not out of fear this time, no it was something else. Something about him was drawing you in, the way he touched you, the way he looked into your eyes, it all just sent a new sensation into your depths. Even if your body never experienced this before it wanted more, it craved it, judging by Maul’s facial expressions he sensed it too, and he liked it.

“Good…” he trailed off, his grin still present on his face. “I will help you. Help you discover it all and so much more. You will never regret this encounter and joining me by my side. I promise you that.” His pupils were dilated and his breathing was ragged. A gentle hand moving a stray hair off your face, gaze still fixated like a predator stalking its prey.

Whether or not this was a good idea didn’t matter anymore. The Jedi didn’t matter anymore, nor did your attachment to the code itself, what you wanted now was him. The infatuation was too strong to ignore and swallowed you whole, making you it’s victim though you weren’t the only one falling for its trap.

[ahumansvoid]

What Almost Was

So this is kind of the original way Din Djarin Accidentally Saves the Galaxy was going before I decided I really didn’t want to deal with that. So I cut it and rewrote it. 

But I kept the original version and I’m bored so I’m posting it. It’s obviously unfinished, but it’s just what I had going before I decided I did not want to do it. 

Enjoy!

Characters: Obi-wan Kenobi, Jango Fett, Din Djarin, Cara Dune

Words: 3000~

Warnings:  Description of Death/Body disposal (Kind of)

This starts about right after the end of DDAStG, so Jango and Obi-wan have their heads together in a Kov’nyn or Keldabe Kiss. And is in Jango’s POV at first.

They stay like that for a while before Obi-wan pulls back, “Master Yoda.” Jango looks over to see the old Troll walking toward them.

“Change of plan, there has been. With me, you will come. To Be’ilad, others will go. Meet up with the others, we now will.” Yoda states. Obi-wan nods and follows the Troll. Jango walks over to Boba, who was questioning Cara about some things. Jango notes Dooku’s body is missing, but considering the soldiers around and his non-functional ship, Jango presumes one of the Clones took him. “Follow, you will.” Yoda states, addressing Amidala, Skywalker, Jango, Mando, Cara and Boba.

They all silently follow Yoda and Obi-wan onto a transport.

Yoda explains while they are heading back to the others, “To Coruscant, Obi-wan and I will go. Take care of things, we will. Deal with the Clones, Shaak and Plo will. Return to Naboo, Anakin and Senator Amidala will. To Be’ilad, Mando, Cara, Jango and Mace will go.”

No one argues with the old Troll. 

Jango doesn’t like being seperated from Obi-wan- something he will attribute to the Force bond because he can- but if Obi-wan’s agreed to this then he won’t argue.

“Do I still have to take your stupid medical exam?” Cara asks.

“No. Under what you are, I do. Not ill, you are. Displaced.”

“Although really everyone should get checked out by medical. We were all just in a fight.” Obi-wan tacks on.

“I’ll take Anakin to medical before we head back to Naboo.”

Skywalker shrugs, “We can go to medical on Naboo.” Jango thought that was odd. While he’s never lost a limb, he can’t imagine it’s a benign pain like it apparently it to Skywalker.

Obi-wan seems amused, “You’ll go to medical here. You won’t be able to tamp down the pain with the Force for the entire journey back to Naboo.”

Skywalker huffs but doesn’t argue.

The rest of the trip is silent. Upon landing at the command center, they all disembark and Obi-wan and Yoda immediately separate from the group and head off on their own. Senator Amidala helps Skywalker over to what looks like a medical tent, leaving Jango, Mando, Cara and the kids standing around not entirely sure what they should do.

Until a dark-skinned Jedi approaches them. The one Jango had told he and Obi-wan were married.

Mace Windu, his mind supplies.

Well, the Bond supplies. At least he’ll never have a problem identifying Jedi.

“Do any of you have any pressing issues or can we head to Be’ilad now?” Windu asks, cutting right to the point.

“We’re good.” Cara answers for all of them, “What ship are we taking?”

Which was a good question. “We would all fit on the Slave I,” Jango states, he doesn’t really want to leave him ship behind. 

Windu raises an eyebrow but says, “Very well. Take us to your ship, Fett.”

Jango really hopes Windu only knows his name from Obi-wan and not his previous activities, because that’d make this trip awkward. Still, Jango lead the group away from the battle and to where he had parked the Firespray.

_-Obi-wan-_

“So, why are we going to Coruscant rather than Be’ilad?” Obi-wan hadn’t wanted to ask in front of everyone, instead going along with what Master Yoda said, but he was curious.And they were in a sealed cockpit so it wasn’t as if anyone could hear them.

“See who trained the Child, I did.” Yoda states, “Chancellor Palpatine, it was. A sith, he is.”

“That,” Obi-wan hesitates, “That is a weighty accusation Master Yoda.”

“An accusation it is not! A fact, it is. The future, those three are from. Know the artifact they speak of, I do. Send those where needed it does. Needed they were here. Save the Galaxy they have.”

“What do you mean save the galaxy? Stopping the war was important but,” The war wouldn’t have destroyed the Galaxy.

“Showed me, the Child did. Destroy the Jedi, Palpatine did. Descend into suffering, the Galaxy did.”

“And what are we going to do once we reach Coruscant? A Child’s memory from the future is not viable evidence.” If the Child’s memory was correct, they have no proof Palpatine is a Sith Lord. And Obi-wan didn’t have much faith in the Child’s memory. Memory was a fickle thing, subject to change each time you remembered an event. 

“Reveal to us, he will. Hide a body, you know how to.” Yoda states solemnly.

And.

Obi-wan didn’t like the implications of that.

Yes, he knew how to hide a body, but he didn’t like the implication that they’re going to kill the Chancellor.

That Yoda has already decided this.

It’s not good.

“I don’t like what you are implying Master. What if he is not a Sith Lord?” Because it seemed Yoda was already certain he was.

“Then excuse your ramblings, I will, as a damaged man, dealing with much loss.”

What.

“Ramblings?”

“To the Chancellor, you will go. Inform him of Skywalker’s return to Naboo, you will. About Dooku’s capture, tell him you will. Ramble you will, about the strife Dooku has caused for the Jedi. If Sith he is, try to turn you he will. Lost his apprentice he has.”

“So the plan is, is that I share my more unfavourable opinions with the Chancellor of the Republic, so he might take me on as his apprentice.” Obi-wan sighs, he didn’t like this plan.

“Take you as his apprentice, he will. Stupid he would be, to pass that opportunity.”

Obi-wan raised an eyebrow, “I do recall having to browbeat Qui Gon into taking me as his Padawan.”

Master Yoda made a sad sound, “Foolish, I was. Responsible for that, I was. A connection, you as Qui Gon had. Nurture it, I thought was right. Wrong I was. More broken than I thought, Qui Gon was. Allowed you a different Master, I should have.”

Obi-wan always knew Yoda had had some hand in Qui Gon being his master. But the implication that Yoda had arranged it so Qui Gon was the only one able to be his master… well. Obi-wan had never considered that. Still, nothing to be done now, “It is in the past Master. You cannot undo what you have already done. Live in the moment, and look to the future. Not the past.”

“Hmph, turning my words back at me? Insolent youngling.” Obi-wan smiles at the grumble. It had been a long time since Yoda had called him a youngling.

“I will try to summon as much ire as I can, but I don’t know how convincing I will be.”

“Have faith in you, I do.”

Well. At least one of them does.

Obi-wan certainly didn’t.

_-Be’ilad-_

The place definitely wasn’t abandoned. There were a lot of sentients milling about. Jedi Monks. Non-violent, they don’t fight. Not trained to, true pacifists. Windu bows and says something to one of them, then gestures for them to follow. They all enter the first room of the temple and stop.

“Guide us to where you went,” Windu states, gesturing for Mando or Cara to lead.

Mando looks to Cara, who sighs and pushes through one of the doors, she keeps walking without stopping until they were pretty far into the temple. 

She stops at a wall, looking back in confusion. “There should be a door there.” She points to the wall that looks like just a wall. The monk who had come with them seemed a bit surprised, and waved their hand.

Doing something with the Force evidently as the wall recedes to reveal a door the Cara pushes open and leads them all into the room. It was a circular room that was angled slightly. It was lower in the center than the rest of the room, and in the center was a giant white crystal.

“The kid touched this and we got sent flying back.” Cara states, gesturing to the crystal.

The Monk hums, “How interesting. This is a Force Artifact, it has been dormant for very long,” To prove their point the Monk touches the Artifact, both Mando and Cara visibly tense up but nothing happens, “But our history dictates that when active, this Artifact will send you to where you need to be. The Force needed you two where you ended up.”

“Uh,” Cara sighs deeply, “Can it send us back in time? Or forward?” She looked like it pained herself to ask that. 

Did she think they were time travelers? Weird.

“Theoretically, yes. The Force does as the Force wills, it is not bound by our laws.” The Monk explains.

“Oh. Great.”

“What has made you ask such a thing?”

Cara seemed to of had a mental debate before responding, “Because when me and Mando came in here, there wasn’t anyone here. It had been abandoned for at least a decade, probably two or three. It was in disrepair, there was no life. But there were bodies. Everywhere. Skeletons.”

The Monk hums in interest, “A future you came from, but not the one you will see now. Changed the past, the Force has chosen to. Through you, it has. How peculiar.”

Jango was going to get a headache if people started talking weirdly constantly. Seriously, why can’t any of this be straightforward?

“You don’t seem disturbed that I just told you you all die.”

The Monk shrugs, “You may come from a far off future, or one in ten years, but that matters not. For we do not care about death. To die, is to join the Force. We do not fear it. We do not care for it. It will happen. And we will honor our fate.”

Well that’s, an interesting view. 

And if Kenobi shares it, definitely explains his stupid decisions and careless remarks about death in the arena.

“So, can we not go back?” Mando asks.

“The future you came from no longer exists. It was destroyed the moment you came here.” The Monk states.

Well. Jango sure hopes neither of them left anything behind since they certainly weren’t getting it back. Or anyone behind.

“Thank you, Monk Gyta.” Windu states and the Monk in turn bows and leaves the room. “Satisfied?”

“We can’t go back.”

“The Jedi will help you all get back on your feet.” Windu states.

Which.

Jango doesn’t think that’s the problem.

They probably leave family or friends behind.

But Jango didn’t really know what to say.

_-Obi-wan-_

Well.

Obi-wan owed Yoda 20 credits.

Because, holyshit the Chancellor was a Sith Lord.

And wanted Obi-wan as his apprentice.

Great. Just great.

Obi-wan leaves the Rotunda and heads to the Temple to meet up with Master Yoda, activating a camera looper he had hidden within Palpatine’s office as he does. It would make the camera see him doing paperwork and nothing more on repeat for six hours. Master Yoda and Obi-wan would convene on the correct course of action before heading back to the Rotunda to meet with the Chancellor to officially go over what happened on Geonosis and Dooku’s capture. 

Unofficially, they were going to kill the Chancellor of the Republic.

And Obi-wan was going to dispose of his body.

Great.

Obi-wan was never telling Anakin about this.

Or anyone for that matter.

Maybe Jango. 

They were married apparently.

“Lost in thought, you are?” Yoda asks, Obi-wan had come to the old Troll’s rooms mindlessly.

“I suppose so. I’m apparently married to Jango Fett but cannot for the life of me recall a ceremony.” Obi-wan remarks, entering Yoda’s room and letting the Grandmaster shut the door behind him.

“Hmph. A celebration we will throw you. Legally married you two already are.”

…

Well. 

Okay, then.

“Nice to know. Such a shame I wasn’t present for it.” Obi-wan was only slightly annoyed with that. And only slightly because he knows none of the other Jedi knew of his ‘marriage’ to Jango until a few hours ago, so one of them must have filed his marriage license. Either knowing he wasn’t actually married or worried that the government had lost his and Jango’s marriage license and filed one for them.

“Your nuptials, enough of. A Sith lord, the Chancellor is?” 

Obi-wan sighs, “Yes. He asked me to be his apprentice.”

“Say, what did you?”

“Yes? I didn’t know what else to say. And didn’t know what would happen if I said no.” Obi-wan imagined death. Or torture. Or torture then death. Or something worse than death Obi-wan didn’t really want to think about.

Yoda nodded, “See him later, we will. Kill him, you will.”

“Excuse me?” Obi-wan agreed to dispose of the body, he did not agree to killing the Chancellor. That raised him from accessory after the fact and destroying evidence to murder 1 plus everything else.

“Crush his heart you will. In control you are.”

“...What?” Obi-wan, for the first time since he was a kid, had no clue what Yoda was saying.

“Slipped into the dark you have. Touch it you do.  Darkness you use, but let it control you, you do not. In control you always are. Never fall you will.”

“I’m honoured by the faith you have in me master,” ’and slightly disturbed how often you think I use the Dark side’ Obi-wan thought privately, “but I don’t know what you want me to do. Crush his heart? I’ve never heard of such a technique.”

“Crushed blasters you have. Crushed droids you have. Crushing fruit, you learnt by. Crushing a heart is no different.”

“Well for one, I can see the droids I’m crushing, or the fruit, but I cannot see someone’s heart.”

“Mmm, practice, we will. Dragon heart fruit, you will crush. Placed where you cannot see, it will be.” Yoda states, using the force to levitate a few dragon heart fruits out of his fruit bowl and places it behind the chair Yoda was in. “Focus you will on crushing one of the dragon fruits, but show it you cannot. Let him know what you are doing, you cannot!”

Obi-wan nods, great. Just great. This was definitely something he wanted to do.

Not. Taking a deep breath Obi-wan tries to sense the dragon fruit as best he can but his concentration is ruined by Yoda hitting him in the leg. “What?”

“Obvious it is, concentrating you are.”

Obi-wan sighs and tries again, trying to make it less obvious he was concentrating.

He got hit in the leg again.

This was going to be a long day.

_-Jango-_

“We traveled back in time.” Cara states. They were on their way to Coruscant, have been for a while. So for Cara to be saying this now…

“Did it just hit you that you time traveled?” Jango asks, it had been a while since the Monk told them that.

“Honestly I‘ve kind of been hoping this was just a bad dream. But I don’t think so. And how the fuck is time travel just acceptable to you? How are you not freaking out?”

“All is possible through the Force,” Windu states serenely. 

Which Jango translates from Jedi bullshit to normal basic, “Just don’t think too hard and don’t care about anything and it’s fine.” For Cara and Mando’s sake.

Definitely not to subtly call the Jedi out.

Never.

Wait since when is Jan go subtle?

…

He blames Kenobi for this.

Even if it’s not possible. Obi-wan is to blame. Somehow.

“I’m sure that makes a lot of things easier.”

“Mmhmm. So, any plans for your future now that you’ve processed the fact that you time travelled?” Jango asks.

“Bounty hunting probably?”

“You don’t have to decide right now. “ Windu cuts in, “We will brief you on the current political situation along with relevant details of the past and anything you’re curious about in the Jedi Temple. You are welcome to stay there as long as you need to until you get back on your feet.”

“Your offer is very generous.” Mando states.

“You require assistance. It would be wrong of me to not offer.”

“So, what, you just go around offering assistance to anyone who needs it?” Cara asks.

“As Jedi, we try. We do not always succeed, but we will not turn down a request for help. If we see someone who needs help, we will try to help them, but it is not always possible. Sometimes, we help the wrong people and do a great disservice to others. “ Windu states.

“Well, that sounds like something that has nothing to do with either of us.”

“Yes. Now, do you wish for that youngling to be entered into the Creche and trained or would you prefer to keep him?” Windu asks, no doubt gesturing to the Terror Child Jango had reluctantly let back into the cockpit on the condition Mando keeps a tight hold of it. But Windu wasn’t in Jango’s eyeline so he wasn’t entirely sure what the Jedi was doing.

“I… don’t know.”

“That is fine. You will have time to make that decision.”

Silence descended onto the cockpit.

Jango kind of wish he had a radio in here because it was not a comfortable silence.

_-Obi-wan-_

“Need all this, you do?” Yoda asks, stepping into the room Obi-wan had commandeered.

They had successfully killed the Chancellor of the Republic without getting caught, the Sentinels were out defusing any contingencies or plans Palpatine had made, and Obi-wan had the body to start disposing of it.

So Obi-wan had commandeered a room in the temple, had several large jars, a bone grinder, and currently was removing most of the blood from Palpatine’s body. Obi-wan had Palpatine upright, syringe needles in several major blood vessels in the legs to tube the blood into a couple of the large jars.

“You asked me to get rid of the body. Jars are for the organs, bone grinder to grind the bones, and once that’s all done I’ll send it to a butcher I’m friends with who’ll sell it to whoever wants human meat.”

“When told us, Qui Gon did, of your newfound skill. Expected this, I did not.”

“Well what did you expect?” Obi-wan asks, he had nothing to do until the blood drains.

[nny11writes]

My Padawan- Chapter 3

<--Previous

Ahsoka frowned at the paperwork in front of her and fought to find her center. She’d taken Petro on as a Padawan Learner, her Padawan Learner. How had anyone allowed her to have a Padawan Learner? As page after page of paperwork reminded her of her new duties and obligations, responsibilities and plans for emergencies involving younglings, Ahsoka was feeling more and more ready to claim amnesia about the whole thing.

That was a blatant lie, she was excited to have Petro, she was just nervous. It was different than anything she’d done before. She’d been responsible for groups of younglings, and the lives of civilians, but never directly responsible for a youngling. It was a silly thought in and of itself, but as she read about Padawan initial acquisitions she also found herself wondering why she had felt drawn towards a male and a human. How was she supposed to choose a shampoo for him, what was she supposed to do in the next one to five years when he developed sexual attractions to people? She entertained the idea that he might be asexual like Master Fisto or aromantic like Master Obi-Wan.

Ahsoka’s romantic and sexual experiences were pretty much a dumpster fire if she was being honest. She flirted less than casually with pretty much anything that moved and tended to moon over people she knew she could never have that kind of relationship with. What if he wanted her advice? She could give him a mountain of lines that didn’t work well and tell him the quickest way to get pulled in front of the Reconciliation Council to have some serious talks about attachment.

And that was in the future!

She was legitimately taking notes on what her Padawan might need starting the next day (linens, toiletries, food, clothes, books?, furniture??)  when there was a knock on the door. Ahsoka gratefully rushed over to open it, hoping beyond reason that Barriss had gotten her message and arrived to help her sort out being a responsible adult. Instead she got shoot first and ask questions later Skywalker. Ahsoka had never been so relieved to see him.

“Skyguy, just in time!” She dragged her Master in and over to the small table where her holopad sat. “Boys, pre-teen boys, you were one once and I need that expertise.”

His grin did a lot to settle her nerves, mostly because they were being flipped from worried to annoyed. “Slow down Snips! Aren’t you a little overly worried about this?”

She groaned. “I’ve been forced to take notes on this, notes! What do human boys want to wear, how am I supposed to choose hair products?”

“No, seriously, you are overthinking this just a bit and honestly just take Petro with you to the Commissar so he can pick out deodorant and whatever else. Relax, being a Master isn’t so hard.” Anakin had put on his ‘Wise Master’ voice. Ahsoka supposed she should be taking notes on this interaction for what not to do.

“You’re right!” She said sweetly and placed a hand on his shoulder, “After all, you were a Master and look how I turned out!”

“Hey!” Anakin frowned in mock hurt. “It’s not that easy either!”

“Of course not, thank goodness you had so much help from Obi-Wan, Padme, Rex, Master Plo, Cody, Echo, Luminara, Master Fisto—”

“And you will be lucky to have my help, my former Padawan!” Anakin gave her a small sharp poke to her side before adding, “If you are really lucky Petro will be a lot like me too!”

“Don’t jinx it, why would you say that? That’s inviting badness into my life, which is unacceptable, and you need to leave.” Ahsoka pulled him half out of his seat before being pulled down by his superior strength instead.

“Ok, ok! Pre-teen boys! Didn’t know we’d have this conversation after you became a Knight but here we go.” Anakin cleared his throat before starting. “They’re just people Ahsoka. Petro wants to do good by you, he’s excited to be your Padawan. Ask him questions and get his input especially on stuff for your quarters. Honestly, after you two talk you’ll feel better and know his boundaries. Ask and don’t be afraid to send out feelers.”

Ahsoka squinted at him.

“Oh fine, get one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of conditioner. Some sort of scrubby for the showers--”

“Scrubby?” Ahsoka asked with a grin.

Anakin snatched the requisition list from her and began highlighting. “Shove it Snips.”

                               mp-mp-mp-mp-mp-mp-mp-mp-mp

“I like what you’ve done with the place.” Obi-Wan commented lightly as he looked around the barren and very new quarters Ahsoka had moved into literally a day before in preparation for Petro’s Apprenticeship. “It really brings out the natural earth tones of the temple.”

Ahsoka glared at him before returning her attention to the holopad. “I haven’t exactly had much time to do anything, and besides, Vow of Poverty.”

Obi-Wan’s smirk and significant glance towards her bedroom only made Ahsoka flush. “Ah, so that box of things I saw you carrying earlier was nothing of yours then?”

“That was mostly clothes!” Ahsoka groused, even though she was starting to smile. “Besides, Petro isn’t going to want to see a bunch of trinkets I’ve been given, that’s, it’s a bit like showing off don’t you think?”

“From what I know of Petro as soon as he is given something in gratitude he’ll display it out here. I’m guessing this middle shelf will contain items from his exploits.” Obi-Wan waved meaningfully towards the main, and very empty, built in bookshelf. “Reminds me of someone else actually.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you had such displays when you were a Padawan!” Ahsoka fluttered her eyes and rested her chin on her fist. “Ghastly!”

He smiled and lifted a single brow before walking over and sitting down with her. With a heavy sigh he glanced at the pad before looking at her again. “The joys of paperwork I presume? Anything I can do to help with it?”

It was a sweet offer and one she would have taken him up on yesterday but today, she was feeling less overwhelmed and more determined than anything else. And yes she had made sure to let Anakin know she was grateful. Ahsoka also did try her best to remember that for as kind, open, and helpful as her Grand Master was he was also a Council Member. His schedule was swamped and she was becoming more and more flattered that Obi-Wan made it a point to check in with her at least once a week. She’d taken that for granted for a long time.

Ahsoka flipped through her expanding notes before shrugging. “Anything you feel like they left off of this list? Feels like I’m trying to supply a colony instead of one young Padawan.”

“Ask him what snacks and drinks he likes, try to keep some around the apartment if you can. Especially as puberty hits he’ll typically want to eat all the time, and I do mean all the time. Try to find something he can do to relax while here as well. Anakin always had droids to tinker with, and I often needed puzzle games to take my mind off of training.” He paused thoughtfully before adding, “Honestly, after you both have everything on there just ask if there’s anything else he’d like. If he says no just try to keep an eye out for something he might appreciate. Most Padawans don’t like admitting to wanting or needing something like a toy or anything they might think sounds childish.”

Ahsoka thought about the now very worn blanket she’d all but stolen from Anakin several years back. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Thank you, I’ll make sure to check in.”

“Anything else? Hair care products perhaps?” Obi-Wan pressed with a smile.

“Got that mostly sorted after speaking to Anakin, and no I am not taking his suggestions for anything specific.” Ahsoka smiled at him. “Otherwise I think I have it, unless you can magically make this reading more interesting and a few shades less terrifying?”

Obi-Wan laughed and shook his head. “No, but I will say this. When I first took Anakin on as my apprentice I was a few years older than you, but I didn’t feel ready and had been Knighted literally less than a week before. I didn’t see how I could possibly meet all the demands of the Order and the expectations of my ward. I tried to remember what my Master had taught me or what his Master had told him, and it often feels like you are failing everyone.”

“Is this supposed to be a pep talk, because it’s not helping.” Ahsoka cut in uncertainly.

His warm smile helped to sooth her as he continued, “Just remember that you don’t have to be a perfect Jedi to be a great Master. Talk to your Padawan, listen to him. Petro will let you know if things are not working if you give him the ability to speak to you.”

His hands were warm against her bare shoulders. He had a wide toothy smile, his eyes sparkling blue. She could feel the pride he pushed to her in the Force, his pride in her, his unshakable faith. She straightened up under his love and smiled back at him. There was pretty much nothing better for one’s morale than getting Obi-Wan’s approval.

“You are going to be a wonderful Master, he’s lucky to have you Ahsoka.”

[mythicbios]

On The Role-Models of Kylo Ren

I was just thinking about something today that I am pretty sure a Star Wars fanatic or article writer has already written something about.

Forgive the Spoilers but if you haven't watched The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi by now, and you still want to, you have far greater patience than most people and you should either watch them, or just not read this Facebook post.

All I really want to say is this: it really says something that Kylo Ren has been seen killing, or trying to kill, any father-figure he comes across. Think about it. 

Lor San Tekka, the old man he personally cuts down on Jakku is a scholar and worshiper of Jedi lore: a member of the Church of the Force. He must have visited Luke's Temple constantly and perhaps even taught courses to the Padawans there: including the former Ben Solo. The last thing he says to him is something incredibly moralizing and, well at that point, rather tone deaf.

And while Lor San Tekka is a bit of a stretch, look no further than Han Solo: Kylo Ren's biological father. Han was always distant and working on his businesses. He had no background in the Force and didn't want to understand, and didn't want to try understanding it. He had issues with Kylo Ren's possible tantrums and maybe was even a bit afraid of him. Even so, you get this feeling that Kylo didn't ... really hate Han that much. He was disappointed in him and angry at him, but killing him was more of an ideological move: to prove to Snoke and himself that he could destroy his attachments and fully embrace the Dark Side.

Which brings us to Snoke. Snoke became the father-figure that Han couldn't be, and Luke Skywalker utterly failed to be. Snoke was always there in the background, potentially, whispering to Kylo about how no one trusted him, or they were afraid of him but that he understood him and his grandfather. He manipulated Kylo into becoming a Knight of Ren and utterly betraying his uncle and his fellow students. He told him that the anger and bitterness he felt was valid and a legitimate way to embrace the legacy of his grandfather and a unified Galaxy.

Of course, we know what really went down. And so does Kylo. Snoke is just using Kylo because of his bloodline and his powers. He is preying on his insecurities and he both physically and mentally belittles him, offering praise to keep manipulating him. Snoke is a powerful, yet petty and small-minded bully by the time we see him portrayed in The Last Jedi. And so, with Han's words about how Snoke will discard him once he is finished using his powers, and Snoke's humiliations about being defeated "by a girl" it doesn't take much to figure out that the lesson he attempted to learn from killing Han would also be applicable to the man who pretended to be something of a demented, twisted, father-figure.

And then there is Luke. Oh boy. Where do I even start with that?

Luke Skywalker is someone that trained Kylo, who he probably trusted and looked up to and wanted to emulate. Here was a man who understood him: as a Force-user and potential Jedi Knight. Here is someone who has seen him wrestle with the Dark and knows that Luke knows how that feels like. But the problem here, well ... it's not certain, but I think the issue was that Luke was having trouble being Ben Solo's Jedi Master and Ben Solo's uncle. He knows as a prospective Jedi that the former Ben Solo needs to control his anger and passion, but as the first of the new Jedi Masters Luke can't show preferential treatment to Ben over his other students. And Luke keeps remembering the lesson of Obi-Wan and his father: of what happens when a Jedi Master fails to train their apprentice properly. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant, as this is what Luke probably believes.

So Luke is cautious when Kylo becomes more powerful but his feelings are still not completely under control. And then, there is the night where he comes into Kylo's Hut and reads his mind, or tries to see into his future, and all he sees is incredible darkness.

So imagine being Kylo Ren at this point. You have had a distant, inconstant father, your mother is always putting politics over her time with you, and the one person who seems to understand you -- who *should* understand you -- not only continues to fail doing so, and tries to potentially keep his distance from you emotionally, but after another being keeps telling you reassuring tales of how your grandfather was really a good man and Luke Skywalker doesn't know what he's doing, you find your uncle hanging over your bed with an ignited lightsaber.

Of course, Kylo Ren hated Luke from that point on. His hero figure tried to kill him, before he did anything. It doesn't matter that Luke changed his mind. It shouldn't have happened at all. It is a lesson that Luke should have learned thirty years ago. So after Kylo destroys all of Luke's work out of sheer spite, he spends the rest of his time hunting him down and wanting to kill him.

In fact, the sad thing is, when you really think about it, the only positive male role model Kylo Ren has ever had -- and forget Chewbacca because he killed his best friend and then the former shot him with a bowcaster bolt -- is the illusion of his grandfather: Darth Vader. It's easier this way, when you think about it. Darth Vader is the spectre of a strong, invincible, armoured Sith whom nothing and no one can effect. In Kylo's mind, he is probably like an unmovable monolith or a destructive, yet controlled force of nature. He doesn't run away. He doesn't belittle or manipulate. He doesn't remain distant, berate your failures, and then try to kill you arbitrarily. He, in Kylo Ren's mind, is the ideology of a constant and consistent force of protection and power that he can always fall back upon and justify all of his terrible, destructive behaviour.

Do you know who we *don't* see Kylo Ren killing in the films so far?

Leia.

It's true that Leia Organa had been busy with politics and even agreed to send Ben Solo to Luke for training when his temper kept manifesting, but I can see Kylo actually being thankful -- at least in the beginning -- to his Mother for sending him to his much toted Uncle for the training that he actually needed: to be where he thought people would finally understand him and his power. Yes, in the novel Bloodline, Leia not telling him about his grandfather bit her in the ass when it was revealed politically, but he ends up actually finding out more about his grandfather possibly as a result of this. Snoke of course would distort more of that information, but in a way Leia led him to everything he wanted, or thinks he wants. She even genetically gave him his powers.

So over D'Qar, when Kylo actually has the chance to kill Leia, he can't do it. She gave him so much, at least in his mind. More than his useless father did. More than the uncle that tried to murder him in his sleep out of fear. And inevitably more than the ancient psychopath who keeps treating him like so much Mynock droppings and might even replace him with the girl that defeated him. And we all know what happens after this, when Kylo eventually returns to his Master.

But do you know who else he didn't kill?

Rey.

You would think that he would want to kill her most of all. She humiliated him. This young untrained Force-sensitive girl from nowhere kicked his ass right after he believed he would gain more power from the release of the attachment he had with his father after murdering him. Instead, he found himself weaker and this girl somehow managed to read all of his skills from his mind from when he was interrogating her earlier in the film, take his grandfather's old lightsaber, and slash him across the face with it.

Yet for some reason, all Kylo wanted to do was train her. He wanted her to be with him. And perhaps, at first, I thought it was because she would have been one more tool he could use to overthrow his own Master in the Sith tradition. But it is more than that.

In the Last Jedi, we find out that Rey's parents abandoned her. That, according to Kylo, they were scavengers that left her for credits and died elsewhere. Kylo knows all about what it is like to be abandoned, to be used for someone else's gain -- for others whom you looked up to -- and discarded when you did not meet their expectations, or you realize they never had a place for you to begin with.

When he offers Rey to join him in ruling the First Order, it's more than any possibility of romance or familial ties. He sees someone who is like him. Someone with great power, who had been abused and neglected, someone else whom Luke Skywalker also failed, and who actually seemed to see him after a while as a person. Not as a potential Jedi, not as a Knight of Ren, or a mistake, but as a human being. Of course, I don't think Kylo is mature enough to understand this distinction but I think this is close to what he felt. It is also the reason why he tells her to "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to." This is how he has had to deal with the pain with his past, with the mentors that failed him. He has literally had to destroy them. That is all he has learned from them. That is all he can understand that this point: this mentality of destroying the flawed foundations of his male role model teachers to strive for independence.

For all he actually succeeds.

And when Rey rejects his offer for power and to destroy Luke Skywalker, and he rejects her offer to go away with her, he does go to kill her and his mother and all the Resistance on Crait but ... well, he throws all that aside when he sees the astral spectre of his Uncle.

I could end this whole extremely long status that should be its own post off by saying that Kylo Ren, also known as Ben Solo, is representative of toxic masculinity in a meta-narrative context -- saying more about our world than really his own, or Star Wars -- but I think in a way that isn't mutually exclusive at all, this says a lot about how he related to his world and how he perceived the utter betrayal and failure of those who had been supposed to raise and train him: to those people whom he should have been able to call Father, to those he wished he could be called a son.

TLTR: Kylo Ren's father figures sucked.

That is my Star Wars thought for today.

[ao3feed-obikin]

hey！do u have any ficrec for this paring？

Oh, boy, do I! Where can I even start? Some of my favourite fics of all time are in this pairing. Here, have a list of the ones I can think of off the top of my head! In no particular order:

Times, Measures by theascetic - “What if, to stop Palpatine and win back Anakin, Obi Wan had made the boy a counter-offer? What if there was another ancient, forbidden power which might save Padmé and the Galaxy?“

Reunion of the Fallen by amarielah - “In a world where Obi-Wan took the chance to flee from Vader rather than defeat him, he still ends up a hermit in the Jundland Wastes. But Vader manages to track him down, and Obi-Wan must comply with his demands lest he risk Luke's discovery. Complications ensue.”

White Rabbits by Butterfly - “Through the Force, everything is connected. Anakin and Obi-Wan find this out first-hand.”

Futurus (-a -um) by cadesama - “Cracked hyperdrive? No problem. Just hold it together with the Force. Time travel? Well. That could be a bigger problem.”

Sun Kissed by Vee017 - “Being on a world that supports slavery is one thing. Buying a slave and bringing him into Republic space is entirely another.”

Return to the Point of No Return by theascetic (HONESTLY ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVS) - “He turns around, his tunic soaked with blood, and holds the gorgon's head up by its wispy hair.

‘Anakin, please-’

‘Don't beg me, Master,’ says the last of the Sith, tenderly reaching to cup Obi Wan's hot cheek with a gore-stained hand. ‘Command me.’

The ever-popular time travel fix-it fic... with a bit of a twist.”

The entire Atlas series by my beloved ShakyHades @thefiresofmustafar​ - “A series of short stories, all one-shots, inspired by a song from the album Atlas Year One or Year Two by Sleeping At Last, or I wrote it first and then realized it fit. Both are very possible.

To borrow the lovely bookmark description made by breadephants:

‘In which Obi-Wan and Anakin are meant to be together, no matter what the circumstances are.’”

My most adored Gift Fic of ALL TIME, forgiveness is a lesson he cursed you to learn by ShakyHades - “Grief can affect a person in many ways. To some, it gives the courage to do something they were previously incapable of; to honor the memory of a loved one. To others, it is a crippling force, a constantly bleeding wound they can’t heal; something that continues to haunt them after years.

It changes people, even those too young to understand.”

Twenty Five Lives by darthrevaan (Burning_Nightingale) - “It’s only fair that I should be the one to chase you across ten, twenty-five, a hundred lifetimes until I find the one where you’ll return to me.

They were only Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi once, but they've been together much longer than that.”

always giving, never taken by Kittycombs (THE GROUP IS BEHIND YOU ALL THE WAY, LOVE!) - “Anakin is learning a lot of new things. Things he never wanted to know. Things that his padawan self would have never believed.

Anakin is possibly having a heart attack. And probably a nosebleed, like one of the characters in the holodramas that Ashoka liked.

Anakin is definitely having a complete mental breakdown.

Obi-Wan is confused by this weird-ass Jedi Knight that his Master apparently asked to watch him, who will just gape at him all the time with his mouth open like a dead fish and his eyes glazed over. He's pretty hot though.”

Unearthed Bones by Glare - “Obi-Wan Kenobi has given up a life of crime in favor of the questionable comforts of witness protection. Placed in a boring library job, everything appears to go great until he realizes his incompetent handlers somehow managed to drop him right in the middle of another man's operation.

Or, How Obi-Wan Kenobi Became a Crime Lord... Again.”

Soldier, Poet, King by Glare - “Second chances are very rarely given, but the Force smiles upon two of its favorite children and returns them to a time before their actions have met their consequences. Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader, seeks redemption while Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi, disillusioned with the Jedi Order and its Code, falls to the Darkness. Trapped out of time, Master and Apprentice must once again work together to stop Sideous’ plans from reaching fruition and bring Balance to the Force—all the while dodging the Jedi, the Sith, and their feelings for each other.”

starbird by imaginarykat - “As far as Anakin’s concerned, Obi-Wan is the picture of a perfect Jedi.

or,

Anakin thinks he knows everything about Obi-Wan but doesn't. Anakin thinks a lot of things, actually, and he's wrong about most of them. Anakin's whole world view is turned upside down. Obi-Wan is having the time of his life.”

There you go, darlings! That should do for now! I will also very not-casually plug my own Obikin fic. But those you don’t have to read at all.

[sl-walker]

The (Reasonably) Ultimate Maul Rec List: Part 2

Part 1

Gen or Platonic

Your Love Alone by dimtraces :: G :: 300 words Author’s summary:  Savage loves the idea of a brother, and Maul the affection he can't accept or refuse. That's why it works. Why I’m reccing it: It seems that I’m likely to start off every list with dimtraces. Or at least the first few.  But this story packs a hell of a punch for being as short as it is. My own opinion: No one handles Savage the way dimtraces does.  I know I’ve probably said that before, but the sheer weight of the tragedy to befall that Nightbrother often gets overlooked, and it’s good to have an author out there who’s willing to take an unflinching look at it, and to his relationship with Maul.  Because they were brothers, onscreen.  They acted like brothers.  And it did go both ways, which was frankly the only kind relationship Maul had in his adult life to that point, and maybe overall.  So, even for three hundred words, it’s all there.  Love and tragedy.

Fearful Symmetry by skywalker05/Nemonus :: T :: 44K, 21 chapters :: complete, on FF.net Author’s summary:  In which Obi-Wan's death on Tatooine and Qui-Gon's reluctant gain of a new and sinister apprentice lead the Jedi Council to take an action not seen since the time of Revan. Darth Maul's memory may be lost, but can the Jedi truly remake him? Why I’m reccing it: It’s a fairly long, thoughtful story.  It also doesn’t shy away from some of the measures the Jedi Council is willing to go to in order to neutralize a threat or get what they want.  Some of the imagery is terrific.  And it’ll make your heart ache at points. My own opinion: Nemonus’s characterization is never not fascinating, even when I don’t always agree with it.  Even when I don’t, though, there’s a lot of care and thought put into their writing, so it’s never a wasted effort to read it and there’s a lot to think about afterwards.  This story was written before the Dathomir connection came into play, so Maul’s backstory is inconsistent, but there was such care in extrapolating one anyway that it doesn’t matter.  I have a weakness for Maul and Qui-Gon interacting, which might seem odd when you hear me complain about Qui-Gon Jinn, but there you have it.  And in this story, both his good traits and his less-good ones get time onscreen.  And Maul’s confusion and attempts to deal with being yanked in two different directions is well done.  You firmly get a sense of how young and lost he is, and I genuinely love the fact that when given an out -- even if both he and I agree that it was an awful violation -- something in him remains strong enough to take it on its own merits regardless of how he got there.  This is probably the best story Nemonus has for taking emotional risks while writing Maul, so I definitely recommend it.

Sith Apprentice: Darth Venge by Mengde :: T-M :: 209K+, 17 stories :: in progress Author’s summary: What if Qui-Gon Jinn had been there to accept Maul from his mother on Dathomir? What if, then, Sidious had taken on a young man named Kenobi as his Sith apprentice? Why I’m reccing it: This one’s a case of Maul not being the primary character, but having such a decent secondary role that it’s worthy of being rec’d on a list for him.  This is one long, complicated, interesting series, mostly focusing on the premise above and how much actually changes in that case.  If you like Sith!Obi-Wan and Jedi!Maul, here’s a great set of tales that will entertain like whoa. My own opinion: It’s definitely fascinating how the author interprets a Jedi-raised Maul.  He seems most like himself early on, when he’s young and still a bit wild-hearted, but even if he becomes quite stoically serene later in the series, it’s not hard to extrapolate why from the text.  Special mention has to be given to the downright adorable way that Maul and Anakin interact, having both been padawans to Qui-Gon Jinn; they seem very brotherly, and it’s freaking wonderful when they play off each other and Qui-Gon.  The fact that Maul ends up as master to Ahsoka Tano doesn’t hurt things, either, especially since her sense of humor and his seems to dovetail nicely.  His interactions with Obi-Wan -- well, just Kenobi or Venge in this timeline -- are also a treat; they needle one another, but they also respect one another.  So, if you’d like to read Jedi!Maul, who is every bit as badass as his original incarnation but a heck of a lot more... well, Jedi!  Then you can’t go wrong here.  (And the Order seems to have sorted some of their shit out, which also doesn’t hurt things.)

Wrath and Loyalty by editoress :: T :: 9800+, five chapters :: Unfinished Author’s summary: Sidious suffers the consequences for breaking the Rule of Two: he loses his apprentice. But the attack that was supposed to kill young Maul takes an unexpected turn when a Mandalorian makes off with him instead. Now Maul, Savage, and Feral will face their pasts. Why I’m reccing it: I’m a sucker for any AU where someone gets Maul out of Sid’s clutches early enough for him to build a life and become a reasonably well-adjusted adult.  And this one has some great interactions and characterizations, especially of the three Nightbrothers and their adoptive family. My own opinion: I’m pretty tepid when it comes to the Mandalorians, honestly, because I just-- am.  But in this case, it seems that it’s a very good fit.  Feral’s adorable and sort of wise-cracking, which is a nice take on him.  Savage is more solid and responsible.  And Maul is quite thoughtful and quiet, both traits which are very him; a certain solemness that it’s no trouble seeing him carry from timeline to timeline.  A lot of stories tend to make him a sarcastic critter -- legacy of the Sith Academy stories, I can pretty much guarantee it -- but in almost all canon and Legends material, Maul’s not actually very sarcastic at all.  Once in a rare while does he deploy that (and that when he’s much older).  Beyond the characterization, the plot’s breathless; it’s a pity it hasn’t been updated in over a year, because the cliffhanger it’s left on is one that makes the ready go oh crap.  But maybe if interest spikes, the author will pick it up again, because this is a terrific, well-paced, fascinating AU and I’d love to see where it goes.

[swfanficbyjz]

SW AU - Fate of the Master Chapter 8

<- Previous Chapter

Bail greeted Anakin and Ahsoka with a huge smile. He knew they'd been through so much, but there was so much more to do. He wanted to talk battle plans with them before sending them to some quarters to get some rest. He was delighted to see that Anakin was no longer in the Vader suit, though he had to admit he was troubled. If Anakin was alive, and back to himself, he would eventually have to tell him about Leia... and Luke... and even Obi wan. He dreaded it; it wasn't that he felt he deserved Anakin and Padme's children more than him, he just didn't want to give Leia up. When he'd taken her home to Breha, he had no real belief that she would ever be anything other than their daughter. But that was when he thought Anakin was gone and Padmé, dead. She was just a teenager after all, how would she take the news? He tried to squash his thoughts, reminding himself that Jedi can sense feelings. He looked up in time to see Ahsoka watching him. Stang! He hadn't shut it down quickly enough.

When Vader had first contacted him, he'd known who he really was. He'd learned the truth from Obi wan and Yoda. In fact, he was one of the few people in the galaxy that had known Vader's true identity. So when he'd first tried to bring Ahsoka into the rebellion he'd done so cautiously. Did she know what had happened to her master? He was careful how he approached it with her so she never suspected it if she didn't already know the truth. She hadn't, which had been the only reason he'd trusted her. He had known she left the order, he learned all about what had happened from Padmé. But he'd had no idea how her connection with her master worked.

Obi wan had admitted that had he not seen Anakin for himself, he never would have believed that he was now a Sith. Which at the time, had told Bail, that just because there was a strong bond between a master and an apprentice, didn't mean they always knew the truth about each other. But he'd also learned from years as a friend to the Jedi, that master and padawan tended to be very similar in behavior and belief. Bringing Ahsoka into his ranks had been a huge risk. He knew both Padmé and Anakin had trusted her, but that could also be a bad thing in such troubled times. She hadn't been eager to join the fight, the scars from the last war had still run too deep. But she had been a valuable asset in the times since. Her behavior was not always so Jedi-like, though she still seemed to be a warrior for good. When Kanan and Ezra had reported her "death" at the hands of Vader, Bail had despaired. Both for knowing how hard it must have been for her to discover the truth, but also, he feared if he didn’t kill her, he’d try to turn her. 

That had been the most important thing he'd known about her from day one; she was extremely loyal to Anakin. More so than she was to the Jedi. And though Padmé had pretended it was useless information, Bail had recognized the jealousy in his friend. Especially since Anakin was hugely loyal to Ahsoka as well. Seeing Anakin and Ahsoka talk to and treat each other like lovers, had riled him. Padmé had cared about Anakin's padawan of course, but she had also been suspicious of their true relationship. And for him to witness such intimacy between them, even after all these years, he couldn't help but think it had always been that way. Padmé was gone now, Anakin had a right to take other lovers, but it still bothered him. Especially if he ever found out for sure they'd been more while Anakin was married to Padmé. 

"I loved Padmé." Anakin whispered, breaking into Bail's thoughts.

Curses, he berated himself for being so easy to read. He glanced at Ahsoka. Her face was neutral. She didn't appear to be surprised or offended by Anakin's statement.

"I always will." Anakin spoke again. 

"I'm sure," Bail stammered, trying to figure out how to recover from whatever Anakin had read in him.

"I love Anakin," Ahsoka spoke at last. "But I loved Padmé too. I never came between them. I knew they were a thing from early on. Course, I didn't know they'd been married." She said playfully punching Anakin on the shoulder. "Though that does explain a lot." It was Anakin who showed surprise first.

"You knew?" He asked her.

"Yeah, Skyguy," she snipped. "Pretty much everyone did. I know why you kept it a secret of course, the Jedi code and all, but subtle, you are most certainly not."

"Did you know?" Anakin asked Bail.

"Yes," he replied.

"Did she tell you?"

"No. I figured it out. Padmé wasn't subtle either."

"Oh great," Anakin breathed. 

Bail hadn't asked them here to talk about the past, though there were things there that needed to be addressed. Now, however, the future was the most important...

"Do you think Obi wan knew?" Anakin asked Ahsoka unable to let the subject drop. Bail had to bite his lip so he didn't give anything away about Padmé giving birth to the twins before dying and the fact that Obi wan had been there at the time and of course had known who the father was.

"Yeah, he did." Ahsoka answered. "Like me, he may not have known you were married but he did know that the two of you were a couple."

"Why didn't he ever say anything to the council then? If he knew I was breaking Jedi rules, why didn't he turn me in?"

"Because he loved you, of course. Just like rest of us that knew. Why would we tell on you?"

"But Obi wan was just like all the other Jedi. He told me constantly that attachment wasn't allowed, always criticizing me for my feelings and how much I cared. If he'd known, he would have told on me." Anakin sounded frustrated. 

"Do you really believe he was just like all the others? You have to understand, Anakin, master Kenobi had been raised in the temple. He was taught all those things from a young age. He had no life experience before that to think that what he was taught could be wrong. So it was difficult for him to show you or tell you that he did care. He didn't know how. But love comes out in many ways. It's not always an obvious statement." Ahsoka responded to him soothingly.

Bail started feeling as though he shouldn't even be in the room. But since they were carrying on without care that he was there, he decided to just wait it out. He couldn't help his curiosity. There was just so much about Skywalker that he didn't understand. Or the Jedi for that matter. This was a rare opportunity to learn even though neither of them were Jedi anymore.

"But you were raised in the temple too, and you're not like that at all." Anakin said looking up at her.

"I was, but I was also raised by you. And you never told me not to care." She replied simply. "When I wanted people to know I loved them, I'd say things like, 'I'll watch your back,' 'right beside you,' 'can I come?' 'Are you okay?' You don't have to face it alone,' 'let me help you.' 'I won't leave you...' It took me a long time to realize those things meant as much as 'I love you,' they're just not as obvious. In the beginning, I always misinterpreted your reactions to things as that you didn't trust me, or believe in me or that you didn't care. But then one day I realized that no, you cared too much. What I'd perceived as mistrust or doubt, was you trying to protect me. Trying to keep me safe, trying to teach me. Obi wan was the same way. He didn't always know how to tell you that he cared, so he tried to teach you, or keep you safe." Anakin sat down in a chair and started weeping. Ahsoka put her arm around his shoulder and held him. She glanced up at Bail, and he understood.

"The last thing Obi wan told me..." Anakin choked out. "Right after I told him how much I hated him, was 'you were my brother Anakin, I loved you.'" As Anakin released that sentence, he fell apart completely. Ahsoka caught him in her arms as he slid out of the chair. "I thought he was lying to me! I thought he was trying to hurt me! It couldn't have been the truth, he couldn't love me. Not really. He'd turned Padmé against me..." Ahsoka held him in silence. 

Finally unable to stay quiet anymore, Bail spoke, "I was with Padmé when she died. She loved you until her last breath. You were all she cared about."

Bail’s words made Anakin manage to pull himself together enough to look up at him. "Thank you." He said, his voice steadying a bit. Bail was surprised he didn't ask him any questions about it. Maybe he wasn't ready to hear anything more. 

"I hadn't meant to bring up the past," he said at last, trying to redirect the conversation again. "If the emperor is truly dead, we have an opportunity now to strike them hard."

"No," Anakin said standing up, more like the general he'd use to be. "They'll figure it out soon enough, let them cause their own chaos for a bit. We will wait patiently and then we'll take it down. To rebuild the Republic, we need more than a few victories, we need to slowly start reforming institutions in order for it to be solid when we take it back. What do you say, Snips? Think a former Sith Lord and a part timer can reboot the Jedi order with some modern sensibilities?"

Ahsoka laughed, "no, even with changes, I don't think we're the right ones for the job. But I think I know who might be."

"The blind one and the kid?" Anakin asked.

"You mean Kanan and Ezra? They're good, but no, that's not who I had in mind..." but Ahsoka didn't have a chance to say who she was thinking of, because the door opened and in wheeled a very familiar droid.

"Artoo!" Anakin cried out his whole face lighting up.

R2D2 beeped happily and rolled over to greet Anakin. 

"I know, my friend. I'm sorry. No, don't worry. I'm here now. Yes of course. I've missed you too!" Anakin carried on. Pretty soon, Anakin and the droid were deep in conversation as if they were telling each other all about a mission. 

"Artoo," Bail interrupted. "Would you kindly show Anakin to a set of quarters so he can rest?"

The droid beeped obediently. Ahsoka patted its dome top as it rolled by, a smile on her lips as she watched them go still chatting.

A few minutes after they left, Ahsoka finally turned to look at Bail. "Don't worry about telling him about his children just yet. Let's give him a chance to remember how to be Anakin Skywalker, before he finds out he's a father." Bail looked at her in surprise.

"You knew?" He asked.

"I had suspicions," she said, "your thoughts earlier confirmed them though." 

"If you don't mind me asking, what made you suspicious? Besides the usual Jedi reading minds thing?"

She smiled, "Anakin and I didn't really keep in touch after I left the Jedi order, but I still heard the news. I knew that Senator Amidala was pregnant, who else could be the father? I thought she'd died before she gave birth, but then I remembered something from one of the first time I met with you after the Jedi purge. You were talking to a child. I didn't see her, but I definitely sensed something familiar about her. I imagine that's why you never let me meet your daughter, you knew I would sense who she really was. You're a good man, Bail. Not everyone would have been so willing to take in a child of those two. Not because they were bad, but because they'd be powerful and dangerous, especially to the Emperor. You took an incredible risk to raise her as your own. I'm sure when Anakin finds out, he'll be appreciative of you raising her with love and support; giving her a life he never had. There's another too, I can feel it now."

"Yes," Bail said. "He's being watched over by Obi wan." After having guarded the secret about the old Jedi master for so long, it was strange to say the words aloud. "But you knew that, too..."

"I didn't know the child was with Obi wan, but I can feel master Kenobi through the force now that the force isn’t so cloudy and empty." 

"I'm surprised Anakin can't." Bail said.

"It's going to take awhile for his senses to recover after everything he's been through. He will eventually though. But I do believe Obi wan and the future of the Jedi are our best possibility at rebuilding the Republic. Not because we need more warriors, but rather, we need more peacekeepers. We'll need Jedi help, but they cannot be pulled into another war like the Clone Wars. They need to exist as a beacon of hope; as a symbol of light. Be helpful, but not a military." Ahsoka sighed. "Palpatine sure knew what he was doing drawing us in and weighing so heavily on us. It forced us to lose sight of who we were meant to be. Just because Jedi can see the future, doesn't mean we always see the big picture. It's one of our biggest failings. We're instinctual, we listen to the force in every moment. And every moment we were drawn deeper in the war, we were pulled further from our roots and our beliefs. And it became harder and harder to make the right decisions."

Bail patted her on the shoulder. "You should get some rest too. The two of you can take one of my ships to find Obi wan tomorrow. He's on Tatooine." She nodded her thanks and then headed down the hallway following in the direction Anakin and Artoo had gone. 

 ---

 Ahsoka hesitated with her hand up in the air about to knock. He'd been through so much in the last few days. Not just fighting the emperor or the major surgery. He's had to deal with long term beliefs being turned upside down. She should let him have some time to himself. But before she could turn away, she heard him tell her to enter. 

She did so, of course. How could she leave his side now? He was sitting cross legged on the bed platform, he'd removed his shirt. She took a moment to trace the scars that riddled his torso with her eyes. She couldn't imagine how painful to endure that must have been. He was her old master, the same person she'd always loved. But life had shaped him differently than she ever thought possible. Even in the light again, his energy was different; scarred just like his body. His perspective, his outlook, his beliefs, his desires... they had all changed. 

She removed her armor and kneeled in front of him. Meditating face to face like they used to do all the time. Feeling his presence again in the force... it felt like she was whole again. She'd been lucky enough to never lose limbs, but his absence had felt as though part of her was just gone. Missing him had been the hardest part. In spite of his own chaos, he was comfort to her; he was home. 

She'd always thought of the Jedi as her family, the temple as her home. Until she'd met him. Master Secura had told her that the bond between a master and a student was so deep that it could distract you from your duty. It could cause your devotion to shift from others to them. And that if left unchecked, could cause more harm than good. But whether Ahsoka liked it or not, Anakin had her devotion. Even when they argued, she'd never wanted to be beside anyone else. She respected Master Kenobi, but she was constantly grateful that Anakin had taken her as his apprentice. He was a difficult teacher; a difficult person to be around. But so was she.

Nobody in the temple had really wanted to put up with her. They treated her civilly, but no masters really volunteered to take her on. She'd always believed it was because she wasn't trying hard enough; that she had to prove herself somehow. There were rumors about the chosen one, of course. He was powerful; unlike any other Jedi. But he was a loner. He was mysterious. He never cared about the younglings, he never taught classes, or shared wisdom. He was standoffish. Amongst the masters he had a reputation for being reckless and frustrating to work with. And, the one thing that had always been clear, was that he never wanted a padawan. 

When master Yoda had called her in to tell her that she was going to Christophsis to meet her new master and to deliver a message, she'd been nervous but excited. She was finally going to get to be an apprentice! But then he'd told her who she was being assigned to, and she'd nearly fainted. He'd given her a choice; she was to meditate on her way there, and when the introductions were made, she'd tell them which one she had chosen. It was clear from the start, that both Master Yoda and Master Kenobi wanted her to be Anakin's padawan. But if she didn't feel like she could handle it, Obi wan would take her on. 

She'd done as Master Yoda had instructed; she'd meditated on it all the way there. Anakin had been very confused by her, she knew every time she opened her mouth she wasn't making a good impression with him. It was clear from the start, he hadn't wanted anything to do with her. But she couldn't deny what she'd felt; for better or worse, she was meant to be by his side. She'd been so desperate to prove herself, and yet so scared. She could not imagine ever standing next to him as his equal. She had sassed him mercilessly, trying to sound like she knew more than she did, wanting to impress him. It was a wonder, now that she thought about it, that he hadn't just let the battle droids kill her. She'd so spectacularly failed giving him a good impression of her that by the end, she wasn't even sure Obi wan would still want her. But then Anakin had changed. He had promised to train her. She never knew why; she'd simply hoped that he'd felt in the force what she had. She knew from that moment on, she would do whatever it took not to let him down. 

"You want to know why I chose to train you?" He asked suddenly. "Because I saw a fire in you. Like I'd once had. And by the end of that first mission, I knew I couldn't let anyone put it out." She opened her eyes to see him staring at her. His eyes had changed again. They weren't yellow, or dark. But they weren't completely the blue they used to be either. They were like a mixture of the two. They reminded her of the star charts she'd studied thousands of times. Deep, mysterious, intense... it was like the entire galaxy could be seen in them, and she wanted to explore every corner. "I chose not to teach younglings, because I would never be the teacher they wanted me to be. I disagreed too much with their methods, they didn't even bother to ask me to after awhile. I hadn't wanted a padawan for the same reason. I knew I had skill and potential to teach, but the masters never acknowledged it or worse, berated me for it. Chancellor Palpatine was the only one that really praised me. The Jedi, they were always so critical. Praise felt so good, it was a stark contrast to what I was used to. He made me feel like a human. Like I mattered. Not like I was an annoyance people had to put up with. I could sense you felt the same way. And I didn't want them making you feel unwanted like they'd done to me. From that moment on, I couldn't let you go. I praised you whenever I thought I could get away with it. And I watched you burn. Laying waste to anything that got in your way. And I loved it. You had the natural ability from day one, what you'd only ever needed was confidence. When you’re only ever criticized, confidence is hard to come by.

Ahsoka could feel the truth in every word he spoke. Not just that he meant what he was saying about her, but also how he spoke from his own experience. She'd been so hurt by the betrayal. How the Jedi had thrown her to the wolves. In that great trial… Anakin had been the only one that hadn't given up on her. The only one that really cared if she stayed. What they'd done to her had killed him too. He'd always seem to fight the council at every turn, but at the same time, he couldn't stop being a Jedi. She'd wanted so badly to beg him to come with her that day she walked away, but she couldn't ask him to give it all up.

But she still had to go. She had to find, as he'd said, confidence. She had been scared that if she'd stayed... she would never find it. That's what it had been for him. He'd always sounded confident, but in truth, he never was. He was good at pretending, but it had always been a lie. 

She stood up and closed the distance between them. He looked up at her, his eyes... brilliant; sparkling as if they possessed their own source of light. She took his head in her hands, rubbing it softly. "Let's forget all about the Jedi for awhile." 

 ----

 His breath caught in his throat. Her presence was intoxicating. He'd been so lonely, so lost. In the days since Malachor, his whole world had flipped upside down. He'd never wanted to remember what it was like to be good. He was afraid to face the consequences of his actions; the punishment he so deserved. But so far, the only punishment had been truth. Truth he'd never been able to see. They'd all been so nice to him. Even Rex's outburst at him could have been so much worse. He'd once sought love like it was the rarest, most precious gem, only to discover that it wasn't rare at all, though no less valuable. For years he'd been using people's compassion against them, laughing at their predictability, savoring the moment of crushed hopes. Every time, disassociating himself further from the time he'd been one of them. Sidious thrived on his disassociation, referring to Skywalker as a separate entity entirely. Until even he'd believed they weren't the same person. Every life he struck down, had in his eyes, been himself. By murdering them, he was killing his own soul, his own ability to love. 

Finding Ahsoka alive after so many years, had given him a burning desire to crush her. She'd needed to die like the others, she couldn't find out who he'd become. But somehow, she'd brought Anakin rushing to the surface, barreling in to protect her just like he'd always done. Except this time, it was to protect her from himself.  She'd forced his alter egos to fuse again. Forced him to see in stark clarity, what he'd become and what he'd done. And he couldn't live with that. So he'd tried desperately to separate the two again. And in so doing, he'd almost destroyed her.

Since the moment she'd begged to go with him, a war had erupted inside him. A war he'd long thought he'd won. Every moment it swung one way or the other, every time he was able to come up for air, he was looking at her differently. As the battles ravaged his mind, Anakin had crept closer and closer to the surface. Until not even the poisonous drug that Sidious had been feeding him could keep Vader at the forefront. There really was something more dangerous than darkness; light. Darkness could never be so complete that a single candle couldn't break it. 

Ahsoka wasn't a candle, though. She was a fire. Wild, dangerous, reckless, intense and so bright she could blind you. But at the same time so warm and so inviting, that you just wanted to burn in her forever. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. Burying his face in her abdomen. He'd been so cold. He never wanted to be that way again. No matter what pain he had to endure for the rest of his life, he would never let go of the warmth that she provided him.

Next Chapter ->

[jedimasterbailey]

What about 7,8,12 for the ask thingy?

Hello there! ❤️ Thank you for the asks, I love doing these, makes spending time at the hospital (this mysterious illness is still killing me) a little more bearable, so thank you ☺️

List to the original questions are linked below!

7.) Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?*

I used to be okay with the idea that if Qui-gon had lived then maybe Anakin would not have turned to the dark side but now I can’t stand it! The idea that a “father figure” would stop a man from completing genocide and turning evil is so infuriating 😠 Completely disparages all the other loving, familial relationships Anakin had (aka THE ENTIRE JEDI ORDER, HIS MOTHER, AND HIS WIFE) and….. HOT TAKE NO ONE FORCES ANYONE TO DO ANYTHING EVIL! As much as Palpatine pulled all the right strings to make Anakin feel he had no other choice, it was ANAKIN himself who made the choice to do what he did. Star Wars and by extension George Lucas has made it pretty damn clear that everything ultimately boils down to INDIVIDUAL choice. I don’t know how many times that man has made it clear that the dark side is the path of greed and selfishness and no one goes down that path unless they want to (mic drop). Furthermore have y’all met Qui-Gon?! Mister “imma drop my Padawan on a whim to do something I want?”, Mister “Obi-wan doesn’t feel that I care about him because I can show affection to save my life?” Go read “Master and Apprentice” and re-watch Episode 1 and try to tell me that this man would have been the best thing for “I need all the validation, hugs and kisses in the whole galaxy” Anakin Skywalker. I love both characters but I’m not naive to ignore their weakness (another hot take everyone has them and that’s okay! 😁) So yeah…Feloni you are wrong there big time.

The look on Obi-wan’s face 🥺

8.) Have you received anon hate? What about?*

Thankfully none yet! 🤞🏻 but my hot takes do catch fire on the YouTube platform…oh to be a woman talking Star Wars on the Internet. It can be a real treat sometimes having men twice my age telling me I don’t know anything 😅

12.) Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

I don’t know if it’s considered “unpopular” but my favorite Clone Wars arc of all time is the “Return to Geonosis” arc. It has all my favorite characters and the story and messages within it are just so good! I can never get sick of that arc 😁 so many great moments ☺️

Original Salty Questions here!

https://jedimasterbailey.tumblr.com/post/653578269379198976/salty-ask-list

[gffa]

I DEFINITELY DO. While I get why in canon (both in terms of “because that was the set-up we had to work with” and “Obi-Wan had just had his whole world burned down by the person he loved most, he wasn’t in the right place for a kid” terms), my heart still cries out for any AU where Obi-Wan raises Luke (or Leia!) and fandom does provide! And, yes, there’s going to be a lot of crying. STAR WARS FIC RECS - OBI-WAN RAISES LUKE: → Island in a Sea of Sand by mybluerose, obi-wan & luke, 42.5k    Obi-Wan Kenobi never intended to be a father. He never intended to be a moisture farmer, either. But when he arrives on the Lars homestead to find Owen and Beru slain by Sand people, he finds himself raising Luke, the galaxy’s best hope of defeating the Empire, on a desert planet thousands of light years from his friends and allies. → Names by Erisette, obi-wan & luke & leia, 3.8k    He has held these children in his arms for five minutes, Padme’s body is still warm on the medical table, and he rejects the Jedi’s delusions and any denial of his attachment. (Obi-Wan raising the twins) → To Live Among Wolves by FireflyFish, obi-wan & luke & cast, 33.1k wip    A father and his son are on the run from bounty hunters, five years after the creation of the Galactic Empire. → Beneath the Sand by LurkingCrow, obi-wan & beru & luke, 2.9k    A change in Imperial policy leads to a small but significant change to matters on Tatooine. A short exploration of how a sad hermit may have ended up a little less lonely. → Master and Padawan by Katharos, obi-wan & luke & cast, 15.5k wip    What if Luke was raised by Obi-Wan as his Padawan? → Tatooine AU by Nisa, obi-wan/anakin & luke, 6.2k    In a world where Obi-Wan doesn’t know how lucky he is the worst has never happened, he still finds it hard to go on. → Path of Choice by UnknownFigment, obi-wan & mara & luke & owen/beru & cast, 45k wip    Five years after RotS, Obi-Wan agrees to protect a young girl rescued from the Empire. Then protection becomes training, one student becomes two, and the galaxy is set on a different course. → turn my sorrow into treasured gold by cosmicocean, obi-wan/padme & luke & leia, 15.6k    Padmé survives childbirth, dies as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned, takes her children with Obi-Wan, and runs. → World Come Undone by crazyundeadfairy, obi-wan/anakin & luke + background anakin/padme, 68.3k wip    Unexpected things happen when ObiWan takes Luke to Tatooine. + BONUS RECS UNDER THE CUT 

→ Island in a Sea of Sand by mybluerose, obi-wan & luke, 42.5k    Obi-Wan Kenobi never intended to be a father. He never intended to be a moisture farmer, either. But when he arrives on the Lars homestead to find Owen and Beru slain by Sand people, he finds himself raising Luke, the galaxy’s best hope of defeating the Empire, on a desert planet thousands of light years from his friends and allies.    The first fic is up on AO3 and I’ve linked to that one (its sequel is here) but it’s much further along on FFNET, here and here, hence the word count discrepency! I haven’t finished reading this one, but I’ve really enjoyed what I have of it so far (and possibly am hoarding it for a rainy day, just a little bit!) and I believe A Delicate Fury enjoyed it as well, so I feel comfortable recommending it already! It’s pretty much exactly what one wants out of “Obi-Wan raises Luke in an AU” and just has this really charismatic, warm feeling to it! → Names by Erisette, obi-wan & luke & leia, 3.8k    He has held these children in his arms for five minutes, Padme’s body is still warm on the medical table, and he rejects the Jedi’s delusions and any denial of his attachment. (Obi-Wan raising the twins)    Holy shit, I did not know I needed Obi-Wan raising Luke and Leia as badly as I did until I read this and it was just a straight goddamned shot to my heart. The differences, yet echoes of canon, the way so much changes and yet some things stay the same, the way Obi-Wan loves these last pieces of Anakin, but also loves them for themselves, the beautiful writing of the scenes as they grow up and begin to fight in this war, all of it. All of it. I loved all of it. I’d have read 100k of this and come back for more, even as satisfying as it is in just under 4k. There’s a brief bit of attachment = love that goes against canon, but it’s mostly just in the beginning and I don’t remember it much beyond that (though, my memory is fuzzy) and Obi-Wan’s not in a good headspace! → To Live Among Wolves by FireflyFish, obi-wan & luke & cast, 33.1k wip    A father and his son are on the run from bounty hunters, five years after the creation of the Galactic Empire.    While I understand why canon went the way it did, because who knows if there was enough left of Obi-Wan to raise a kid, I love love love AU fics where Obi-Wan is instead the one who raises Luke, who loves him because this is the last piece of Anakin he has, but then comes to love him for himself. And I love that he well and truly is Luke’s father here, that as much as Luke is Anakin’s biological son and that’s important, the fic is about Obi-Wan being there in Luke’s life, truly being the one who raises him, who is his father here. And it’s balanced with a plot, where they’re constantly on the run and that’s such a hard life, but it’s not a bad one, there’s such joy in the small things, Luke is so bright in personality and in the Force, and the fic does a really lovely job with showing that to the reader. There’s a mix of something that feels like slice-of-life with the greater, more frantic running from the Empire, something that feels very true to Star Wars and the characters, something that really kept me engaged with the fic the entire time.    And, indeed, I pretty much read the whole thing in about two sittings, because it sailed along so smoothly, and I would have easily read another 100k of this, had it already been written. I also don’t mind that it’s a wip (aside from that, of course I want more!) because it’s not really about the end, it’s about the journey there. The point of it is seeing the daily moments where Luke is this little ball of sunshine that’s so bright in the Force, the point is seeing Obi-Wan find something that makes him live again, not just survive, the point is showing life under the Empire, especially for a Jedi and the child of Anakin Skywalker. All of which this story does a lovely job with and was a great read to pick up! → Beneath the Sand by LurkingCrow, obi-wan & beru & luke, 2.9k    A change in Imperial policy leads to a small but significant change to matters on Tatooine. A short exploration of how a sad hermit may have ended up a little less lonely.    Oh, I didn’t know how much I needed this fic until I had it–where things are mostly the same post-ROTS, except Beru takes one look at Obi-Wan and says, okay, he’s coming with us. I love this because it doesn’t diminish how important Owen and Beru are to Luke’s future, especially because Obi-Wan’s not really in a place to raise a kid, but it also makes things better for Obi-Wan, gives him something more to live for, rather than just a distant sort of promise and affection. This is a slightly kinder to Obi-Wan Kenobi universe and I love it, I love the gentleness of Beru here that’s layered over steel, I love how warm it is here, it’s bittersweet but in a really good way, and just soothed something in me that always needs soothing. It was a beautiful fic. → Master and Padawan by Katharos, obi-wan & luke & cast, 15.5k wip    What if Luke was raised by Obi-Wan as his Padawan?    This was a fic written post-TPM, but pre-AOTC or ROTS, so a lot of stuff is going to be different here, but it doesn’t really matter that much, because it’s a story about Obi-Wan raising Luke, halfway as his son and halfway as his apprentice, in a story that’s just CUTENESS ALL THE WAY AROUND. I really loved tearing through it and I don’t mind that it’s a wip that hasn’t been updated in ~15 years because it’s not one that’s about resolution, it’s about the slice of life dynamic between these characters as Luke (who is a ball of sunshine, of course, even as he’s also a little shit sometimes) grows up and Obi-Wan adores him and loves him. That it’s a heartwarming fic set on Tatooine, with Luke making friends with Biggs and they go to see a podrace with Obi-Wan as the exasperated dad chasing after energetic kids, with teaching Luke to be patient and let go of his anger and frustration, all of it was just really sweet and a nice read. → Tatooine AU by Nisa, obi-wan/anakin & luke, 6.2k    In a world where Obi-Wan doesn’t know how lucky he is the worst has never happened, he still finds it hard to go on.    This is a pretty fluffy AU, where Anakin didn’t turn and went with Obi-Wan and Luke to Tatooine. It’s a combination of a happier universe for the two of them with a lot of focus on Luke growing up, which was nicely adorable. It’s one of those fics that I read everything together and it was just… nice to read, even when bad things started happening in the final fic, it just… was a better, softer universe and sometimes I really need that. → Path of Choice by UnknownFigment, obi-wan & mara & luke & owen/beru & cast, 45k wip    Five years after RotS, Obi-Wan agrees to protect a young girl rescued from the Empire. Then protection becomes training, one student becomes two, and the galaxy is set on a different course.    I’ll warn ahead of time that this is a WIP, but it’s really more of a slice of life kind of fic, where Obi-Wan takes on a young Mara Jade to raise, which affects the events of the story so that Luke comes into proper orbit sooner, and you get a ton of the good stuff in what’s already here! Plus, it was recently-ish updated, so it’s entirely likely that we’ll still get more to come. But, honestly, I could have kissed this fic for doing what my heart was braced against: So often when I go into AU fics like this, unless I’m going for fic specifically geared towards it, the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin gets entirely downplayed and it hurts my heart to think of any universe where they weren’t best friends/brothers who loved each other. While the fic is absolutely not about that, it’s about Obi-Wan raising Mara and training both her and Luke, you can feel in the background how deeply Obi-Wan’s feeling about Anakin go. How much he loved (and probably still loves, underneath everything) that boy he trained. It’s a perfect amount, it’s never directly said, you just feel it, in the way he moves and talks and interacts with Luke and Mara. But the heart of the fic is really on his relationships with them, as well as their relationship with each other, and I love love love that Luke/Mara feels like it’s kind of there, but it’s also kind of not because they have other shit going on and this universe is so much better for Mara, who will always be bruised around the edges, will always have sharp corners, but has learned to love and care and be loved in turn here. It’s sort of fluffy, it’s slice of life as the kids grow up, they have play dates together, they train together, they go on “missions” together, they learn the way of the Jedi, but also it’s not really the same, they’re a new generation that’s their own thing. There’s greater plot machinations happening in the background, they’re being trained to take on the Emperor and Vader, but the heart is firmly on their growing up on Tattoine and it was such a delightful read, mixed in with just enough revelations (the scenes were Obi-Wan told Luke about Anakin!) and history of the galaxy to make it feel suitably Star Wars. → turn my sorrow into treasured gold by cosmicocean, obi-wan/padme & luke & leia, 15.6k    Padmé survives childbirth, dies as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned, takes her children with Obi-Wan, and runs.    Oh, I was just utterly engrossed by this fic, it’s such a lovely story about Obi-Wan and Padme post-ROTS and how they slowly develop a relationship, how Obi-Wan is absolutely Luke and Leia’s father even if they’re not his by blood, how Padme is their mother, how so many things are the same and yet so many things are different, how the fic can still break my heart and yet provide something a little better for these characters. The only way Obi-Wan/Padme usually works for me is when Anakin’s ghost both is and isn’t there, which this fic does perfectly, they both loved (love) him but he’s gone and they’re building something for the twins, they’re building something between the two of them as well, which all these little details and moments in the fic builds up towards. I love how much presence all four of them have here, that none of them are left out or forgotten by the story, I love that the fic is just so solidly good and I would have read another 100k of it, both for how much it pleased my id and just how well-told it was all the way around. This is a terrible rec, but this fic was an absolutely wonderful addition to the Padme Lives fic in the fandom, as well as for Obi-Wan raising the twins. → World Come Undone by crazyundeadfairy, obi-wan/anakin (?) & luke + background anakin/padme, 68.3k wip    Unexpected things happen when ObiWan takes Luke to Tatooine.    [Note: This is one of the fics that I read most early on in my time in SW fandom, when I wasn’t that familiar with canon, so caveat that I don’t know how it holds up over time! It may go against the Jedi of canon or my better understanding of Obi-Wan and Anakin’s characters, I can’t say without a reread! But I have SUCH fond memories of this fic and it definitely fits the bill!] Oh, lord, this fic. I cannot tell you how hard this fic grabbed me and would not let go until I finished it! There are a couple of caveats: The first two chapters are fairly slow, a lot of monologuing over things actually happening, but once Luke starts talking, it kicks into gear and doesn’t let go. It’s also a WIP and hasn’t been updated in a few years, but the author has gone years between updates before, so you never know, but more importantly! You get so much of the good stuff in what’s already here! So, while I would have loved to have had the rest of the fic, I’m genuinely content with what we had here as well, because let me tell you about my feelings on Obi-Wan raising Luke, who is this amazingly sweet little moppet that I was instantly in love with, as well as Anakin eventually finds out and tries to steal Luke away but gets in his own way too much and finds himself trapped in a situation that he’s not sure how to get out of. I was initially skimming ahead to just read the confrontation between Obi-Wan and Anakin when they saw each other again, just to see if the fic picked up, and found myself getting sucked in because the fic does a great job with each scene making me want to read the next and the next and the next, so I had to go back to my original place and then I just hungrily read the entire thing because Anakin wants to take Luke and kill Obi-Wan, but he can’t because he wants Luke to lovehim and that won’t happen if Luke knows he killed the only father he’s ever known, yet Anakin still burns that Obi-Wan has taken Luke, despite that Obi-Wan has always talked about Anakin to Luke, always told him stories, and Luke can already feel that there’s still love there, no matter how much anger and hate is held onto, sometimes on both sides, after all that’s happened. It’s one of those fics where they’re forced to be semi-civil to each other again, but underneath is all this emotional tension and hurt that made my fannish heart absolutely ache while reading it, yet was delicious candy at the same time because it hit my id perfectly. Getting well-written fic that does justice to the iddy concept it has is such a rare treat in fandom and I love this fic for doing that for me! It’s one of those situations that I would dream up without trying to properly justify it in my head just because I wanted it, but the fic actually sold me on it and doesn’t shortchance that Anakin is full of rage and hates Obi-Wan, even as you feel how much of it is borne out of still loving him. Obi-Wan is fantastic, he’s so steady and solid, but that doesn’t mean he’s passive or without his own anger on Anakin’s actions, even as he’s still willing to try to help him again. And Anakin feels so right to me, that he’s not there yet, he’s not doing any of this for the right reasons, his love for Luke is still selfish and obsessive, but there’s hope in him and you can see the sparks of maybe something still good in there. And I’m labeling this as Obi-Wan/Anakin because the author has written slash fic for them before and the relationship is very central to the story, even if there’s no kissing, and Anakin’s relationship with Padme is very important and I just really, really was hit spot on by this fic, okay. So good. BONUS - PADME LIVES: These are more Padme-centric fics, but have Obi-Wan as the twins’ father as a sub-plot, so if you want to read more, these might help scratch that itch! → Keep Breathing by Yesac, obi-wan/padme + some anakin/padme + luke & leia & oc, 45.8k    Padme doesn’t die at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Instead, she decides to take the twins and join Obi-Wan in exile. → the family amidala by dirgewithoutmusic, padme & obi-wan & luke & leia, 6.8k    Padme lives. She runs. → Circles by ambiguously, obi-wan/padme & luke & leia & anakin + past anakin/padme, 4.2k    Padmé and Obi-Wan raise the twins together while hiding from the Empire. BONUS - UNREAD: These are ones I haven’t read yet (but are tucked away on my reader to do so!) but either they look promising or I like the author, so I’m reasonably confident recommending them! But if there’s something in them that would have me turning away (you all know my general tastes!) I can’t say for certain about them yet, either. → The Hermit’s Son by landsail0r, obi-wan & luke, 1.2k    AU where Obi-Wan raises Luke. → we were born for better days by FireflysLove, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & luke & cast, 3.6k wip    Obi-Wan attempts to save Vader from the Dark Side, but the Rebellion, especially Bail Organa and Ahsoka Tano, are not going to believe that after a decade of terrorizing the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker can possibly be saved. → Hope is a Four Letter Word by laniew1, obi-wan & luke, 3.2k wip    Obi-Wan’s life is simple; he wakes, he eats, he meditates and on some mornings he watches Luke (or the Obi-Wan raises Luke instead AU).

[throwingideasatthewall]

Clone Wars     Episode 9

     (Cloak of Darkness)

[Title     Scene!]

  Quote; Ignore your instincts   at your own peril

  Oof  

Acc  o    un   tability       Instincts

And  

Conscience

Valid

But also sounds like a vague threat to the   viewer

“Vice        Roy,”

  This       is where we’re starting off       on?

   Not the best episode

The first one to get a strike   from me

Who knows maybe it’s just a bad starting place   and they make something out of it

Er-

 “Luminara        And      Ahsoka,”

Interesting,     that is a good start

Showing that   Anakin has no control of his   Padawan

And opening the door for   New dynamics

Sounds interesting

Honestly, I don’t   know much   about     Luminara       so this      will    be    a   good        For        Her

“ under heavy guard,”

 It’s   two     people

 Face      Trial

 And       Get       Acquitted

“For    his   many        war   crimes,”

 Why   don’t   you   just   kick     this   bitch   from   society

Make   him   deal   with   himself

 What     did     the    other   prisoners      do      to   deserve          his            Company

   Oh            This character

   Also - still don’t   get the close-ups on      her face

Is this like the   second time   it’s happened?

Don’t think it happened with any other characters though  Obi wan is a glory hound

“ have you made contact with the   cruiser?”

  Good leadership           (Kinda)

              Assumed                    authority                               Kind

Good scene

But those dude’s eyes

Blink

Professional

Bull shit

Scam art       ist

I’m glad it seems to have the awareness   not to have the clones fall for this

“Generous,”

Fuck off old man

Also Luminara just called him    ‘Subtley’     a piece of work

Good for her

Dude don’t   respond to him

Don’t let him have any control   or say in your life

“Tempting   offer,”

“ I have a   gift for you,”

Snarky   little   shit

Also; I thought he was going to go for the   gag

What     have   really   been      the    tea

“Finally,”          Nope       Tone     is   already     out     the   window

 I’m   starting      to   think     it’s      a   problem     with   female   characters

  But      Lumi nara       hear      sounds     perf   ectly      fine

Maybe     it’s    just   child   female   characters...

  Nice

 Really         Like          The        Design       Going        Here

  Ooh      Sweet     columns       Here

All around the sides give it abstract   value

Like salagtites

Why   doesn’t someone   muzzle   him?

Like I know the moral reasons   why

But   if you’re going to     enable     Please   do with the utmost care to your   safety

And   at least bring some of   ear phones

So... you don’t have to   listen to this   tox

Lit      igator

On one hand   playing by your own rules

On the other hand, accountability

And   how it lends itself to vigilante justice

 “Keep moving,”

Assault’s not   cool

Hahaha

I’m sorry

WHAT

Is with the dude’s    design?

He looks like   a guy   out of an old Timey      story   book

“His locks shimmered in the breeze like   Golden sunlight,’

He looks like his name is to be      Valor   Mic   -do        -good

I’m sorry that’s enough   roasting of   his design

(It’s not that         bad)

Traitor

Commander    Gre-

“Let’s   move,”

  Right      Into     His     Ear

 Gree   doesn’t     give       a     fuck

Getting   revenge     for   getting     his      ear     talked     off

Just   tossing       him      off

   Oh       no       wait        they’re   following   him   good

    I      expect   some   treachery       to      go    down

(Specifically-)

  Senator       Commando   s

 “Rate        all   security,”

  A) he’s           a war criminal

     They   want to make a show out of him

 And show they can handle it

 It’s a propaganda move

Secondly they operate under the   enabler, “Several people dec     ided to enable him so clearly   only he’s   the problem and the   others   were just poor souls   lead astray,”

(Despite the fact that this completely   un   dermineds the ability of   choice

And paint them as well-)

Actually children does work in this   analogy

 Since they will just   do   orders      And   that’s   why   they’re   not   accountable

(Only    wish      “Uncle”       Eeroy            Was       up           There)

            If I can                twist                 that             episode                 into                 any              positive                light                 it’s             showing                 how                adults                  will                  try                   to                  use               children                   to               validate             themselves                (And                  their             bullshit)

          Don’t           let            your       overconfidence           give        Gunnar         another     advantage

   She’s a child

 Gunnery       already       has       the       advantage

   As an adult

   Sure she has a gun

   That.... expression is more along the lines of what I was   expecting

  We’re going for   dull

  Ahsoka wouldn’t really   care

 Also,       ships

Don’t look like   Republic   ships

And   intimidating   music   is   playing

What’s the scoop?

Hologram?

Sidious

Dooku??

 “Vice        Roy,”

    He’s going to escape ?

   I have already put a plan into action   my Lord

   Also cloaks just coming back in   style

 Also   glad   we’re     getting     to    see     more    of   the     other     villains

Having   focused   on   Grievous   for     hours

  * They wore it   better

  “ my best apprentice            Asaj Ventress,”

   Oh we’re getting a bit of a          re-introduction to her

    And (Kinda) an answer to who that person he was      communicating   with earlier     are

 *was

   * or silence him

   Rough

 “ Ventress,”

  I like   how they keep     the diagonal lines      On Sidious’s        face

   To make his       chancellor    persona

 That’s    good   attention       to        detail

  “ you are putting a lot of faith in an operative      that has failed us in the past,”

   Call back

  “She’s a gifted       assassin,”

Aww,      he looks so innocent     here

  Also,     complements

“ you may proceed,”

Off,       Sidious sounds pretty old in that last line

Oof

“Master,”

  “There        is no   margin for error,”

 “Child,”

Okay,     woah, woah    gross

 She supposed to be a grown woman     right?

  Because otherwise holding her to the completely Wrong standard

  That’s not how you do    over sexualization of children       If Not that that’s just a standard   tox

  Comparing a grown woman to     an undeveloped-

 Let’s just hope   they don’t go down      that lane 

“ being my apprentice,”

 Being my   sub-servient

“ I am worthy,”

 “ As you shall       see,”

 Having to prove your worth   to others

 Tox.

Ship!

 Oh

Dressed     Like    Cen      turons

 The design  in this episode     is   very     goofy

Oof

Walking   towards   a normal      clone

How     goes    the   interrogation

 Oh   that’s   an     interrogator

(Also    his   voice   sounds   surprisingly   normal)

Then   again    he   seems    to   be   special   ops    /    FBI      Degree         of   enforcing

   So           maybe      more     initiative

   “Has     Vice      Roy       cracked,”

  Yes   screw   accountability      and   making    them    deal    with   themselves    away    from   society   where    they      can’t     hurt   anyone      Or   having   faith     in   society     that      no     one     will    enable

Let’s    go   Third   degree 

Nice

The   Jedi   will   wear   him   down

🎵 The Jedi are complicit in torture 🎵

   “ your thoughts betray you, Vice Roy,”

     Aka I saw you do it

   I can sense your concern   

    your fear

    That you will lose the power        and the wealth

    Falsely accumulated!

      Also no being has authority         over others

 “ I have no idea   what you’re talking about,”

 Dude...

You hide   great many    things

Asoka’s   showing      too      much    emotion

  Also what’s the betting that Asoka breaks the trial   completely irrationally

 She’s   tapping her   fingers

The locations of their   bases

“ I am an innocent pawn       in all this,”

  Bull. shit

   You. Made. A. Choice

“ if you are merely a pawn        then who are you protecting,”

Don’t enable this

Hold him accountable

And if you stumble across the bastard

Hold him accountable

Just...   Hold people    accountable

[Also, Asoka’s there   like yes   I’m helping,”]

No one   I know   nothing

Bullshit   enabler

“Liar,        Liar,”

 Told     ya

Ahsoka

Padawan

Well     At least they didn’t      Pretend Ahsoka       Was capable of doing    bad cop good cop

   Still       a completely unrealistic   outburst

  [there’s a reason why the people in bad cop- good scenarios   are adults

 This is why

Literally applying unnecessarily emotional, mental, and physical   stress

  Instead of holding him accountable

   Bullshit,   M’lady

 Just as guilty     

Asoka just brought to a new   extreme

And what would’ve been a   good scene about     how Anakin   and by default   Obi-Wan’s     ‘abuse’      Or     lessons   to do    so

Intensified

We get a scene with     an irrationally angry       Ahsoka       That shows   unrealistic      child-   like        Behavior

More   befitting    of an adult

This could’ve been a good scene about Luminara getting slapped in the face with the things she’s enabling

And   Asoka    not   realizing     (Not   able    to   realize)   The harm    in her robotic   automated   action

        And that considering       Asoka and Anakin are both under 22               The fact that she can technically               Unfuck the situation         (at least for the next generation)                And the conscientious    decision, to not to 

 Despite all the bad   signs

     Don’t know about the toxicity   level      it’s looking pretty tox

   “ I wasn’t serious,”

    You were unrealistically unchildlike

   And, by adult standards ,  you’d be had for toxicity

But   this    is   just   bad   wri   ting

“ The only way he’ll talk is if        he’s scared enough,”

  Or if he wants to

Literally, only if he   wants- to

  Em,        perhaps I was too hasty

   Let us   negotiate

  He just   decided   to do that

 Ahsoka

[I really    hope they aren’t    going   the direction   of the last   episode

And   blaming     all the    adult problems      on the child

 Ah!

Captain

“Status      Report,”

   Good      captaining

[Weird animation with   flailing arms]

Fighters    in      -coming

 They brought   boarding ships

Hey   actually doing some thing

Prepare to     repeal   the enemy

Action

  Off

 Tough    Bastards

 Right   through     the    ship

 Off

Right   there     thing      is droids

 Neat

Ok how are they going to hold off   tanks

That requires some kind of explosive

There’s   another    gun

They    get     shot   down

 Again, explosives

Oh, immediate   fill in

 [they didn’t even take that guy      to the medic!]

Also yeah stand in the same spot with   no cover

Oof

They got   one

 [are we sure that Guy didn’t     just die from exhaustion?]

Oh, yeah cannons

Get some explosives

Lot     to go

  Seriously get explosives

  Super battle droids

  I just called him   tanks

  Whelp

 Jedi are you waiting for    Cue?

 Whelp

They’re headed for the   detention level

“Aight,”

Night buddy

“ we need reinforcements- oh,”

   That was the most disinterested      scream of getting shot

  I’ve ever heard

[are we sure he didn’t get hit by a    stun weapon?]

Also,           no,   you need more    grenades

   Throwing       bodies        at it       clearly        isn’t      helping

  Commander: I’ll need your   assistance

   Why?

Also; now you help

 After everyone’s dead

 Sat   there   listening      to   chatter      for    about    5 to 6   minutes

 “You stay here with captain Aguyis,”

   What?!

   Also,       no how    about         better idea

    You       stay      here      and      deal      with      the   negotiations

  Asoka      and the   captain go to deal      with it

    So you don’t leave a child with a     manipulative maniac

    (Not encouraging   child soldiers)

   Nor   do I think   Ahsoka     can   take  them

“ Guard      the   viceroy,”

  Guard   the     manipulative     maniac       with        no     muzzle

  [But

It’s a terrible idea!]

  Hopefully        the      captain        a     more   responsible     Guard

   OK maybe will get a look into who’s ordering Ahsoka     and their general ideals

“Master,”

   Is it Master used        just for apprentices

  Shouldn’t Ahsoka be calling her something like    my lady, or some other    high old’ medieval title

 “Lord”?

“Lordess?”

 “Mistress?”

It appears you are no situation to   negotiate Padawan

Dude...

She has

A light saber

Also this is the problem with leaving   children     with toxic     adults

Rescue

Never mind they’re going Full on   unchildlike with   Ahsoka right now

Screw   interesting   narrative

 Ack

That   ended   quickly

 There she   is

Oof

That dude is   still alive

Seriously, was that the dude that got shot over the   Coms?

How?

Whelp   

ouch

Also      no one going to         notice that?

What     have you found?”

  Some       one    noticed

  “Copy,”

  Clearly           Not

   And      she      has      the     cuff

 Guess    she liked it?

 Good for her?

Battle droids are everywhere

Guess   she likes    the radio

 Also,      Luminara       didn’t kill      those droids?

 ‘Cause there were      way more than one

 “ we have to     protect the prisoner,”

  That literally     didn’t change     any      thing

  Also so Luminara is right back where   she started

     Whole scene      was pointless

     Whelp

  How do      they stand         -?

   Also     hope     clones      get       good     health   coverage

 Again     Cannon

  Unnecessarily      dead

  Whelp

 How long does it take   her to walk?!

Also who killed all those dress setting   battle droids   then?

Think it was the authors

Could’ve done this   five seconds ago

Also, sneaking around in   vents

Off

Why   are     you     here?

This is not where   prisoner

 Is

Is it the   security   core?

[is it to ship   hyperdrive?]

Whelp

Poor

Skeletal~ *Shivers*

Droid

Sorry am I supposed to like     this   droid

[I’m trying    but it looks like a    human spine]

Whoop

There     she     goes

Whelp

See   anything

People    are   getting     massacred      and     you just switched back to everything’s all right     mode        that   quickly

Whelp

Creepy   Roomba

Engine   room   seems     clear

We’ll     lock     it   down

Seriously     everyone      went      back       to   normal     real   quickly

Shouldn’t      you      be   hauling   someone     to     the   medic

  Or     PROTECT   ING       the     Priso    -ner

Seriously     no     one     can    seem        to    keep     the consistency      and the battle scene       was over      way too quick     without any confirmation

   And I’m on guard

 Not for Ventress

 But     the     droid   things

Seriously!?

[only two of them    in that hallway?!]

 The enemy   is approaching towards the   prison level

You- do realize how much that doesn’t fit up

 [” oh yeah Joe I’m just grabbing some   donuts

  “ oh good the enemy is about to capture the very important prisoner we   have,”

    Isn’t that always how it is?

     [Laugh track]

  “We’re on our way,”

  Keep watch 327

 Ok 327   T

IRONY

Also cute

 Even       if     it        does   look   like   a           dismembered        spine

 Do you know     droids never like to be called by their   nicknames

Pretty sure that’s like calling you by your last   name

Nicknames     are   different

Beeping

Oof

Again      I   wasn’t     too   worried    about    her

I’m worried about those droids

[Though do you like the sass they gave her   in this frame]

Neat

Well...

Shit

S’up

Really   playing   around   

with the droid

S’up

Again,

Looks    like     the     last        of     them   commander

 But    I   sense   our   troubles   are   not     over

Maybe because you left a child soldier do with a     mani-

S’up

Well

Sounds like your rescue-

Nope       

Cocky Ahsoka

Don’t mind me   as my brain just slowly numbs out

[Your child shouldn’t have more cocky and   sass than your adults]

I am ready to discuss our         bargain   again

This   dude   goes   back      -and-     forth   like    a   top

Padawan       Tano     may       I   have     a   word

Why?

[if     I    leave you won’t go anywhere will you?]

 Argh

The enemy has been repealed

Why are you telling her     this??

Where is          Luminara     then?

[Seriously   how long does it take     her to walk?”]

Whelp

And, subtlety             just went out the roof

[almost     literally]

Whelp,       really   showing     off

“If it isn’t-”

 Again, child

No sass

This should be Un     knowledgeably       Terrify-       Ing

Hey, some snark

“ Skywalkers little pet,”

   If only...

    More so Skywalker’s    unchildlike abomination

    Currently

  So this is a child vs adult

  This isn’t a battle of      equals

  It’s an ass beating    waiting to happen

 “ i’ll give you a     merciful death,”

 Ahhhhhhhhh

Skip

“The Padawan,”

 The   unchildlike     semi   abomination

  That’s     not      a    child

If   so   it   would         Follow       the     rules      of   writing      a   child

 As such         I have no        Commit     -ment?     Invol     vement?

Interest?

In the   fight

It could turn something into a toaster   and I’d just have to accept that

Clones   never   help

Again,   ass-       beat

 This a     curb stop battle  

waiting to happen

Whelp     See

Also   that   Guard   has   plot   armor

Whelp       -yet

Hard     pull

You     Know-

“ Skywalker’s not here to save you now,”

 Again      she   can   just   pull     a   toaster    out     of    her     ass 

This     is     the   problem    with   breaking    the rules of   writing

“I don’t need saving,”

  COMPLETELY UN     - realistically

Seriously, movie

Children for the Woobies

Adult for a bad asses

Get it right

 Any way...

Still     repels

“Over        Here,”

She’s not getting repelled by a     literal child is she

 “Buy you a planet,”

Whatever

Heck

Oh, no she can just the phase through the doors....

My sense of   suspension isn’t really broken

But it is very   well damaged

  (Especially with      Ahsoka)

   ......

Blah blah tempting taunting whatever

 “Irony,”

    NO

Irony is when an adult, one that can be held     accountable, does something     This        is poor   writing

     With       no        investment

(You   didn’t    earn     that)

 Ventress         stick him for double irony

     (Actually      deserved        irony)

Youngling

  NEVER-

( I’m filled with so much       anger)

Argh-

Whelp

Why would you check     there

Whelp

Finally       got    there

Whelp       Heck       ed 

Blah,         Blah  

Surrender

Dude    got away didn’t he

There’s too much riding for this to be a   success

Whelp

 Bull shit

  I watched that   animation!

 She didn’t press a button!

  What?!

And they all died

That dude’s a   weakling

Whelp

Frick       That

 Heck

Whelp

There     You        Go

[Dude left behind without even a   scratch]

[Or he disappeared in a    cut scene]

Cause he’s not there

Blah     Blah

That power’s kinda of neat     though

Okay

What     are we waiting   for?

 Survival

Protecting       the   prisoner

Common       sense

Everything   running   haywire

The engine   got blown up

Shouldn’t you be   busy

Should someone be switching on the back up power

[Shouldn’t the power been off for a   few seconds?]

That wouldn’t screw with the   buttons

Also   there   he is

[I’m five seconds from calling bullshit-]

Whatever

An explosive bomb     Caused- 

[Frustrated     inhale]

 Okay-

Don’t

Gunnery

-No

I’m-

Too     Tired

 To   yell at enable(r) logic

Whatever

       [oh so yeah there clearly are explosives!]

[Fru       strated]

 .....

No

....

-

[i’m getting a damn tox     headache from this ]

Damn

  .....

Argh

Argh...

Whoah

 No

But...     

Cool

Whelp

Whelp

Tal     king

.....

OMG

What     ever

Neither     do   you

-What

Why-

Argh    -

Oh-

 Just-

Argh-

Well-

 Hmm

ARGH

 ..

 Bull shit

Alright

 ‘ superior        my       ass’

  Droids

  Right.....

Whatever

Nice fight   scene

I don’t   care

‘cause        it’s   overshadowed      by     Asoka’s   bullshit

Whelp

 What-         Ever

 Hmm 

They’ve got it all reversed      They’ve given     Luminara     all of Ahsoka’s      helplessness         (And     reactions)      Asoka has ended up with all of the     Luminara’s         Self-assured     confidence      (One of     which can be       switched     because an     adult     react     (Almost)       as much       as they wish     (Child-like      naivetè     absolutely      not)      Does    not     work   the     other         way

    That’s      what’s wrong      with this cut     scene        (Scene)

  And        It       Gets      Worse...

Count     Dooku

Whatever

Blah    blah    blah

Whatever       That’s        Cool

“I can’t dis-”

Back to this     again

Stop saying    

start doing   movie

Also   you know     what would be great?

Having     Luminara         Have         This        Con     versation        Debating        if     she     should     disobey     her     previous         handlers,         as      she     sends         a      child        to       their       very         literal         death            Giving           the        watcher          some               hope              when                she            decides                to           eventually             decides                 to               rescue                 Ahsoka

Or   the   feeling    of   dread        as     she   continues      to     follow   orders     cutting   with     Ahsoka   getting     her     ass   kicked      to   contrast       the    wrongess         of           the         situation

    Ventress,         eventually         leaving           her         out          of          pity

      The        Future          now         with a           lot          more        distance            to          cover

         If            it          ever           wishes           to       recover              ...

 Wasted potential

    It even            Has the            Line        Over stepp          ing                  Bound       aries

 Argh

    And          Gene        rational          Back          Stab...

      It      does     everyt           hing          wrong

    For           the        common         courtesy         of not           Blast         - ing              My           Ears            Off            Try  ing         To         Ma       -ke              An       abus      -i        ve              Mom         ent-               A              Nice          One

     It          Gets              No          Tox      (Though              it        Certainly         Te sts       The      Boundary)

      (Even a moral           about how       you’re expendable to           enablers...

[gffa]

Holy hell, STAR WARS tumblr has been on fire these last couple of weeks! So many people posting so many cool snippets and AUs and feelings-laden fics! In addition to some really stellar AUs on AO3, it’s like an absolute candy store around here these days. ♥ STAR WARS FIC RECS: ✦ time to change the road you’re on by wreckageofstars, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & cast, 24.3k wip    The end of the Clone War is near - the fall of the Republic even nearer. Anakin Skywalker, caught up in the events that lead to the rise of the Empire and the loss of everything he holds dear, finds himself sent nearly two decades into the future. ✦ Home Again by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, dom/sub, light kink, 1.7k    When Anakin’s emotions overwhelm him, Obi-Wan is always there with a firm hand and clear eye to help him find his way back from the dark. ✦ Finally Home by starbirdrampant (ineasako22), obi-wan/anakin/padme & luke & leia, ~1k    “send me a made-up fic title and i’ll tell you what i would write to go with it” tumblr prompt ✦ Of Beds and Padawans by Vee017, obi-wan/anakin, 1.3k    A one sided pseudo discussion of nightly habits goes awry as Anakin takes ObiWan’s meaning in a completely different direction than intended. ✦ Where Have We Come? by soaring_heart, obi-wan & anakin, 1.9k    The first time was one of the hardest and the easiest. Obi-Wan loses at Mustafar, but instead of dying he wakes up at the dawn of the last day of the republic, doomed to repeat the worst day of his life, over and over again. ✦ Tumblr Ramblings (Obi-Wan Time Travel/AU-jump) by gaealynn, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & cast,    At the end of RotJ, Obi-Wan reaches out a hand to help Anakin cross over and instead – wakes up on Naboo. ✦ Falls the Shadow, part 1 + part 2 by phosphorescent-naidheachd, obi-wan & padme & luke & leia (& anakin), 2.8k wip    Under the auspices of JEDI GENERALS ANAKIN SKYWALKER and OBI-WAN KENOBI, an elite strike team was smuggled onto the planet in carbonite. But when the slab of carbonite containing OBI-WAN KENOBI was lost before he could be defrosted, the team was forced to prioritize… and to leave him behind to an unknown fate. ✦ Cold Comforts by Sealgirl, obi-wan & mace, ~1k    Not long after he becomes a Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself in need of reassurance. ✦ untitled by spectral-musette, obi-wan & ahsoka & caleb, 1.3k    A short scene set in the slightly-less-sadness-AU (in which Obi-Wan finds Ahsoka Tano and Caleb Dume after Order 66, and the surviving Jedi stay together). Obi-Wan is exhausted, Ahsoka is restless, and Caleb misses his Master. ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, anakin & palpatine, 1.3k    “Ah, Anakin, my boy. Welcome!” Palpatine comes toward Anakin with open arms. ✦ untitled by bedlamsbard, obi-wan & anakin/padme, 4.1k    For those just joining us, this is the concept work for the third alternate universe in the Ouroboros series, which is an AU where Dooku kills Palpatine and takes over the Republic, declaring himself emperor. ✦ i hold with those who favor fire by penultimatepanic, mace, 1.3k wip    Mace thought the sight of the Temple would test his tenuous control over his anger all over again, but, as he sits in the shadow of an abandoned repair shop’s roof and looks at the smoking hulk of it, the only feeling he can identify is a deep weariness. ✦ untitled + untitled by bedlamsbard, obi-wan/padme(/anakin?), NSFW, dark!obi-wan, 5.7k    Backstory: The Republic has fallen. The Jedi Order is broken, its surviving Knights and padawans scattered across the galaxy. The Sith lord Count Dooku has declared himself the leader of a new Galactic Empire. ✦ Everything That Rises Must Converge by victoria_p (musesfool), obi-wan & anakin & luke & leia, 5.1k    In which Leia makes it to Tatooine’s surface after the Tantive IV is boarded, and nobody is prepared for this particular family reunion. full details + recs under the cut!

✦ time to change the road you’re on by wreckageofstars, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & cast, 24.3k wip    The end of the Clone War is near - the fall of the Republic even nearer. Anakin Skywalker, caught up in the events that lead to the rise of the Empire and the loss of everything he holds dear, finds himself sent nearly two decades into the future.    Chapter 5: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. Oh, I read this entire chapter with a heavy feeling in my chest, in exactly the way the fic was supposed to give me, that it lived up to the potential of it in all the ways I was hoping it would. Ahsoka and Anakin have found Obi-Wan on Tatooine and the entire chapter is about trying to piece together what happened, along with just how much it weighed on Obi-Wan, just how much of him died back on Mustafar. The little touches, the way Anakin is so on edge here, but then flings himself at Obi-Wan to cry on him, the way Obi-Wan brushes Anakin’s hair out of his face when he’s sleeping, the way every word about what he knows feels like it’s a heavy stone being dragged up a mountain, all of it made me feel that sheer weight of feeling, how much love and care there was there and how much it hurt when things all went bad. It’s lovely writing and does so much justice to these characters and events and the Ahsoka pov is used so well to show how worn down this version of the man she used to know is, how different Ben Kenobi is from Obi-Wan Kenobi. There’s so much hurt and anger and exhaustion here, in all the right places and it’s so good. ✦ Home Again by lilyconrad, obi-wan/anakin, NSFW, dom/sub, light kink, 1.7k    When Anakin’s emotions overwhelm him, Obi-Wan is always there with a firm hand and clear eye to help him find his way back from the dark.    Holy hell, this fic was made for me, but also it’s just incredibly lovely and perfect. It’s set in a relationship between them that is dom/sub, in a way that benefits Anakin so much, you can feel even in a pwp fic that Anakin has all this noise in his head and the way Obi-Wan takes him in hand cuts through that and clears it away. I would have loved it just for that. I would have loved it just for the delicious and well-described sex, the light kink and the spanking and then the fucking, it has some really beautiful imagery here! But I think my very favorite thing (if just barely, because I have many favorite things about this fic) is the tension the author builds up–the way Obi-Wan seems like he’s ignoring Anakin, but you feel how much his attention very much is on Anakin, the way he gives Anakin an order, who doesn’t quite know what’s coming, that tension that nearly boils over in him before Obi-Wan cuts through it. The build-up had me feeling wound up, so that the release was even better, making this a really satisfying and well-written fic! ✦ Finally Home by starbirdrampant (ineasako22), obi-wan/anakin/padme & luke & leia, ~1k    “send me a made-up fic title and i’ll tell you what i would write to go with it” tumblr prompt    This is super short, it’s just a snippet, but oh man it’s lovely and it’s exactly what I want from dometic, sleepy Obianidala. With Anakin sandwiched between his two favorite people, the three of them curled up together on a tired but content morning, until they’re woken up by the screams of two tiny little terrors and it’s PURE ADORABLE. Cuddles and kidlets, Obi-Wan pressed against Anakin’s back, who is pressed against Padme, until the children clamor in between them and it’s just everything my gross domesticity loving heart wants. ✦ Of Beds and Padawans by Vee017, obi-wan/anakin, 1.3k    A one sided pseudo discussion of nightly habits goes awry as Anakin takes ObiWan’s meaning in a completely different direction than intended.    I am always here for bed sharing, especially where Anakin just crawls into the bed and kind of flops there and is unfairly beautiful just by being Anakin. This is cute and entirely fluffy and soft and adorable and made me feel all warm while reading it, which I need in this fandom sometimes! ✦ Where Have We Come? by soaring_heart, obi-wan & anakin, 1.9k    The first time was one of the hardest and the easiest. Obi-Wan loses at Mustafar, but instead of dying he wakes up at the dawn of the last day of the republic, doomed to repeat the worst day of his life, over and over again.    I’ll warn ahead of time that this fic isn’t about resolution, but instead about the repetition of Obi-Wan caught in a time loop, trying to figure out how to stop it, how to solve things, and how to save Anakin. It’s a fic that really is about those two at the heart of it, that Obi-Wan has to live this day over and over, that he tries so many things to save Anakin, to understand him, to help him, to just steal him away, to die with him, to be caught up with him. It’s a bittersweet, ouchy fic, it never stops hurting, how deeply Obi-Wan loves him and how many tragic turns their lives take in these moments, how many different ways things can go wrong or just not quite right. And that’s what really works for me here, even if it’s not really solved, the foundation is there, the love between them is there, the sheer amount of how important Anakin is in Obi-Wan’s life and vice versa is there. ✦ Tumblr Ramblings (Obi-Wan Time Travel/AU-jump) by gaealynn, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & cast,    At the end of RotJ, Obi-Wan reaches out a hand to help Anakin cross over and instead – wakes up on Naboo.    I am always willing to pick up a time travel fic, especially if it’s Obi-Wan time travelling, so I enjoyed this half-fic, half-scenario piece just for those things! And I love that this is an Obi-Wan who has suffered through so many terrible losses, the weight of that isn’t gone, but he’s still that guy who keeps getting up again, who doesn’t know how to surrender when something like this is put in front of him. And, oh, there’s a scene in the second chapter where he meets bb!Anakin again, where he knows there will be hope now, and there’s cuddling and, oh, it’s Anakin and just. I had feelings all over the place during that scene alone! ✦ Falls the Shadow, part 1 + part 2 by phosphorescent-naidheachd, obi-wan & padme & luke & leia (& anakin), 2.8k wip    Under the auspices of JEDI GENERALS ANAKIN SKYWALKER and OBI-WAN KENOBI, an elite strike team was smuggled onto the planet in carbonite. But when the slab of carbonite containing OBI-WAN KENOBI was lost before he could be defrosted, the team was forced to prioritize… and to leave him behind to an unknown fate.    This is such an interesting AU and it has me hooked in under 3k already! On that mission with the carbon freezing, Obi-Wan is lost and it sends things careening out of control in a different way, because Anakin kind of loses his shit about it. And Obi-Wan wakes up to this galaxy that’s entirely different and, oh, I’m fascinated by all the changes this would mean–not directly witnessing Vader’s crimes, not fighting him on Mustafar, not having the horrible burden of everything he had after ROTS, waking up to Padme still alive, waking up to the twins being these bright little sparks, waking up to Anakin suddenly being gone. The writing builds all of this up nicely, you get a nice amount of the good stuff already, even though OH MAN I WANT SO MUCH MORE, I want so much the second part of that conversation with Padme or just Obi-Wan’s reactions or just anything more from this one! ✦ Cold Comforts by Sealgirl, obi-wan & mace, ~1k    Not long after he becomes a Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself in need of reassurance.    This was short but it was absolutely lovely and a really solidly good read about Mace Windu supporting Obi-Wan in a Jedi-like way, but being just what Obi-Wan needs to hear at the moment. I love the potential with this dynamic and these two characters, so it’s nice to see a solid and well-done little fic that’s about this one moment that means so much to both characterizations! ✦ untitled by spectral-musette, obi-wan & ahsoka & caleb, 1.3k    A short scene set in the slightly-less-sadness-AU (in which Obi-Wan finds Ahsoka Tano and Caleb Dume after Order 66, and the surviving Jedi stay together). Obi-Wan is exhausted, Ahsoka is restless, and Caleb misses his Master.    In a universe that’s slightly less sad, where Ahsoka and Caleb Dume are there with Obi-Wan, where they do at least have each other, it still strikes against just how much they’ve lost. There’s hope still here, there’s some bittersweetness, but each of them has lost so much, each of them is word down and wounded at heart, even as they dust themselves off and keep going. It’s short but a really interesting little AU snippet that I’d love more of, but also stands well on its own! ✦ untitled by stonefreeak, anakin & palpatine, 1.3k    “Ah, Anakin, my boy. Welcome!” Palpatine comes toward Anakin with open arms.    I should probably start collating these recs together but, eh, I don’t care, this AU is one of my happy places and I love seeing it update whenever the author gets a chance to. And I greatly enjoy how much Palpatine haaaaaates Obi-Wan for fucking up all his plans in this AU, which is already an echo of canon, where… one of the things I love so much is that I feel like this is a really good fic series for showing how things could have gone better, if only things had been nudged in the right direction, that they weren’t doomed to tragedy from the start. And seeing Palpatine’s plans fizzle out in front of him and how he makes more to keep up, the audience knowing that they’ll probably blow up in his face as well, is really, really satisfying and fun. ✦ untitled by bedlamsbard, obi-wan & anakin/padme, 4.1k    For those just joining us, this is the concept work for the third alternate universe in the Ouroboros series, which is an AU where Dooku kills Palpatine and takes over the Republic, declaring himself emperor.    You’ll probably definitely be lost if you haven’t read at least the first fic of the Ouroboros series, though, you can gather a lot from context if you really want! And this is lovely where… it’s an Anakin/Padme scene, but it’s very much about the trio with Obi-Wan, it’s very much about Anakin’s desperate love for both of them, as seen through Padme’s eyes. It’s leaning towards a trio, but Anakin is definitely the center (as is the way I would see it going, because he’s just so… Anakin is so intense, he’s so bright, he burns so hotly, that he kind of overtakes the emotional aspect of any scene), but it doesn’t feel unbalanced, either. I’m not explaining it well, but I really enjoyed that feeling of something weighing on me, that genuine sense of tension I feel with the characters as they try to figure out what to do and how desperately Anakin wants to see Obi-Wan again, how desperately he wants to keep Padme safe, and just what a giant ball of feelings he is. As Anakin Skywalker should always be. ✦ i hold with those who favor fire by penultimatepanic, mace, 1.3k wip    Mace thought the sight of the Temple would test his tenuous control over his anger all over again, but, as he sits in the shadow of an abandoned repair shop’s roof and looks at the smoking hulk of it, the only feeling he can identify is a deep weariness.    Part 2: This is an update rec and will focus on this chapter, rather than the fic as a whole. I’m so glad this fic updated because I have a growing appreciate for Mace’s character, as well as it’s just really intriguing and heartbreaking in all the right ways. This is more of a reflecting kind of chapter, it’s very muted or understated, it’s about Mace having the space to breathe for a bit and try to take in everything that’s happened after Order 66 and to try to begin to marshal himself, and it’s just… really sad and heavy and full of so much loss, in that quiet, reserved way that suits the character so well. ✦ untitled + untitled by bedlamsbard, obi-wan/padme(/anakin?), NSFW, dark!obi-wan, 5.7k    Backstory: The Republic has fallen. The Jedi Order is broken, its surviving Knights and padawans scattered across the galaxy. The Sith lord Count Dooku has declared himself the leader of a new Galactic Empire.    I think you could read this one without being that familiar with the Ourboros series, the summary gives a solid background and you can pick up enough on context, and honestly it’s about Obi-Wan feeling out of his head and trying to remain isolated because he’s so dangerous like this, but also wanting contact with another human being. And he just can’t go near Anakin, he can’t risk that, Anakin is too precious and dear, you can just feel that about Obi-Wans feelings towards him, but Padme is gentle and solid without being too much, while still being warm and someone important. It’s just a really good balance between the two, but also oh man Obi-Wan going down on Padme and then fucking her over the desk, how it’s about these two characters in this moment, but also not, how it’s also about what thoughts of Anakin have stirred up, and I love how sharp and messy and dark Obi-Wan and Padme are here, it works so well for me and also it was just really, really hot. Padme pulling her massive skirts up and Obi-Wan licking her open and then wrapping herself around him as he desperately pushes into her, all rough edges and desperation and care between the two of them. So good for me. ✦ Everything That Rises Must Converge by victoria_p (musesfool), obi-wan & anakin & luke & leia, 5.1k    In which Leia makes it to Tatooine’s surface after the Tantive IV is boarded, and nobody is prepared for this particular family reunion.    This was an interesting, if surprisingly kind, AU where Leia makes it to Tatooine and Vader’s right on her heels and everything comes spilling out. I think my favorite part of it was the sheer weight of history between Obi-Wan and Anakin, but also I enjoyed that everything was just a lot softer and kinder here than in canon. Not entirely soft and kind, it’s still Star Wars, but the pull of family and old friends overwrote a lot of the anger and hate that had been stewing in these characters for so long. It was a fun little read that I enjoyed a lot!