#plant buire

[amberskyyking]

Clone Wars gave me big feelings and I accidentally wrote several hundred thousands words about it and now I’ve got fanfics (and paintings??) and pieces of my soul are on the internet and I blame the hat man. But turns out writing is cheaper than therapy and less likely to injure me than my other hobbies, so. Master list below! Please mind the tags and TWs.

Star Wars Long Fics Disillusioned - My big passion project story that started me down this rabbit hole in the first place! Cinnamon role rogue clone OCs and Luz the disaster pilot trip and fall into a series of rogue missions saving vode and taking names (mainly Krell, the name they are taking is Krell). 66 chapters long for… Reasons. 👀 Enemy - Sequel to Disillusioned, where big-hearted clones and a seriously pissed off Luz navigate the early seeds of a rebellion, doing their best to save each other and fuck the Empire while they're at it. Posting on Sundays! Dying Isn't Very Regulation - Fives should know better than to touch weird force shit, but what's the silver orb going to do? Kill him again? Pfft. (Time travel fix-it inspired by Snapback, by TooManyTeeth! With a sequel in the works - Murder Isn't Very Regulation, feat. Fox, because I have feelings okay???) Unattended Adiik'e Will Be Given Beskar'gam And A Free Tooka - Jaster Mereel finds a sad mandokarla child and Good-Buir-Jaster angst ensues (Written as a gift, but doubles as fic-therapy, I guess!) Implications Of Being Alive - Tech Lives but make it maliciously canon-compliant. That man is alive dammit, kriffing Domicile. Star Wars Short Fics & One Shots Facing Down Demons With A Drink In Hand - Captain Killswitch and his General have to face an old trauma in the form of his Jedi's old master, Pong Krell (Eventual series...?) You Trust Too Easily - Crosshair trusted the Bad Batch one too many times... And now it's too late. (Based off the BB S3 leak!!!) Brothers Gained Brothers Lost - Coruscant Guard CMO Stitch is fiercely loyal to Fox, and there's a fucking good reason for it. Collab work with TooManyTeeth! And part of a Corrie EU we've put together! How The Commander Crumbles - The story of Fox's downward spiral through the eyes of Stitch, who will never stop fighting for Fox's life, no matter how much darkness they face or how much of a self-sacrificing asshole Fox can be. Also part of the Corrie EU <3 Ten Out Of Ten - Fox stops himself from making a KMS joke. One thing leads to another, and the Corries throw the best talent show that Coruscant has ever seen.

Not-Star-Wars Fics, Lol Friend-Coded - Tron fic, post Legacy. Rinzler betrayed CLU. Rinzler fell into the Sea. Rinzler was not expecting to wake up in the presence of a *friend*.

PLANT BUIRE ART SERIES!!!! - I started painting clones with plants after making some jokes about it with TooManyTeeth and they're actually really fun?? I don't know how these guys are coming out of my own paint but they deserve lil plant friends!!! If you'd like a print of any of these please PM me! I'm glad to share the love <3 Commander Fox and his Cactus, cause he's a prickly guy Commander Wolffe and his Wolfsbane, he's proud it's so poisonous

[varpusvaras]

Fox wakes up choking on a scream.

He stumbles up and almost falls out of his bed, managing to plant his hand on the floor before he does so. He is heaving, with sharp taste of bile coating his mouth, as the images of his nightmares are still playing in his mind, projected to his eyes like he is seeing them happen in front of him.

He wants to think that they are only nightmares, but he cannot, because he doesn't know if they are true, or if something far worse is happening, if Bail or Breha are even alive anymore, or if something even worse than that is being done to them, or-

Leia starts to cry. Fox swallows. The taste of bile doesn't go anywhere.

He lets himself drop out of the bed to the floor, and he then picks himself up to go get Leia.

The ship is not big. It is just big enough to have it's own hyperdrive, but just barely. It is one that is supposed to be able to stay unnoticed. One in a thousand similar looking ships.

Impersonal.

Fox misses home already.

The only real bed in the ship is small enough that Fox hadn't felt comfortable in having Leia sleep with him in it, in case he would wake up trashing, like he just had, no matter how much he'd wanted to just keep holding onto her, at all times.

The travel cot Leia is laying is only a few steps away from the bed, and Fox knows that the cot had been put there just for her. That is the ships whole purpose, after all. To save Leia.

Fox does not want to think about the fact that the ship is too small to house more people than one adult and one baby. He does not want to think of the fact that the ship had been chosen carefully for its use.

He does not want to think about the fact that the plan had never been for them all to escape.

Fox does not think about the fact that he has left Bail and Breha behind.

Instead, he focuses all of his thoughts and attention to Leia.

"Hey, hey", he says to her, as he picks her up. "It's okay."

Leia is squeezing her eyes tightly shut as she cries, loud, high-pitched cries, her hands curled into angry little fists. She has never before been an excessive crier, with most of the time someone already tending to her after the tiniest of noises. Usually she calms down quickly enough, too.

Not this time.

This time, she cries and cries and cries, with big, hot tears running down her face, and her hands stay curled up and jam against Fox's chest as he holds her. She cries and cries and cries, making the whole ship echo with the noise.

Bail had the habit of just holding her during the night, even when she hadn't been crying. Breha would usually bring her to their bedroom for the rest of the night, after she'd tended to her. During those nights, with all three of them there, Leia would be the happiest little girl in the entire Galaxy.

"Perhaps she can feel it", Bail had said, once. "The love we have for her."

The thought that Leia could feel their emotions, their love and adoration, had eased up Fox's mind, back then. If she could feel it all, then she would never have to doubt their affection towards her.

Now, Fox can only dread the whole thought.

"Shhh", Fox tries to soother her, once again. "Shhh, Leili'ika. Shh. It's okay. Buir is here. It's okay."

Leia cries. Perhaps she can feel the fact that Fox doesn't believe in a single word that he is saying.

"Shhh", Fox tries. "It's okay."

Leia cries.

Fox holds her closer and cries too.

---

The house is quiet.

It is still standing, with no signs of battle or forced entry. The sand outside of it looks undisturbed.

Fox breathes a little deeper. If the Empire had already been there, he would've noticed.

Still, he keeps his blaster set on live rounds, as he slowly makes his way towards the house.

Leia has quieted down, now. She is awake, still, but she stays silent and unmoving underneath the blanket Fox has wrapped around her. It is not ideal to have her with him, but he couldn't risk leaving her alone in the ship, either.

He has heard enough of what Tatooine is like, already. Everything there is a risk.

They make it closer to the door. Fox holds Leia tighter, and turns his body around to shield her, as he steps slowly closer and closer.

He keeps his finger on the trigger the whole time.

They make it to the door. Fox knocks on it, the side of the blaster's barrel banging onto it sharply.

There is a moment of silence.

A light gust of wind blows down the dunes.

Leia sniffles.

The door opens.

The first thing that comes outside of the door is another blaster, aimed straight at Fox. Fox jumps back, twisting more around Leia.

The blaster doesn't fire.

Leia stays quiet.

Then, General Kenobi steps outside as well.

He looks at Fox with squinted eyes, his brow furrowed deeply.

"How did you find this place?" He asks. His voice is sharp and accusing, like he is interrogating Fox on the spot.

"I had the coordinates", Fox answers. "From Bail."

Something shifts in General Kenobi's eyes. It's like he is looking at Fox more intently now, like he is looking at more than Fox's face.

"...Commander Fox?" He asks. The blaster in his hands lowers ever so slightly. "I thought you were-"

"Dead?" Fox finishes up for him. "Most people in the Galaxy do."

General Kenobi looks like he wants to ask more about it momentarily, but then his expression shifts again, and he blinks and looks down at Leia.

He looks suddenly very pale underneath the light of the moons.

"We were discovered", Fox tells him. "Bail and Breha are-"

Gone.

Fox doesn't want to say it.

He doesn't need to. General Kenobi puts the blaster away, and steps out of the doorway.

"Come in", he says. "It's not safe out in the desert."

It's not safe anywhere, anymore, Fox thinks.

He doesn't say it.

Instead, he steps past General Kenobi into the house.

[star-farer]

the flowering stars

Summary: For a child of Kamino, it takes very little to amuse. AU: Ik'aad, High Fantasy Star Wars (hfsw) Taglist: @margindoodles2407, @kybercrystals94, @fionas-frenzy, @padawancat97

Author's note: This is a crossover with an AU belonging to my dear friend Margin — @high-fantasy-sw is her main blog concerning it, go check it out! — so the writing style will bear a more archaic feel, not to mention the characters speaking somewhat like a Knight of Olde tm. But it will also have elements of science, at the very least up till a somewhat 19th century science, of a sort. Friend's note: I hope you like it, Margin! Tried my best to balance the mix between the Ye Olden Days and Victorian Steampunk languages.

One unforeseen day in their barracks, surrounded by warm blankets and hearts, Omega, sat kindly upon Wrecker’s lap, is gently handed a gift she swears to remember unto the end of ages.

“Is it a star?” comes her gasping question, and laughter rumbles about her, shared by each of the four chambers of her heart, her vode.

She peers down at the object lying cupped in her two hands, having been warned to be most careful with it. Curiosity stirs within her: she has never seen anything so strange. Like the spokes of a wheel, five little fins flare out from the yellow of its center, a beautiful pure white.

Is this not what a star looks like?

“Ah, Om’ika,” laughs Hunter, and she lifts her face to see fondness glowing in his eyes, “We forget how little you have seen.”

Tech, he lifts a finger, quite ready to tell her a tale. Crosshair, he swipes a hand in the air, and cuts him off as a blade slices a cord. “Do not bore her with your lectures, ori’mirshe. Speak plainly.”

He earns himself a glare — two glares, in truth, for Omega would much like to know all there is concerning the wonder that lies cradled in her palms. It is ever so rare that her vode bring her something, a shard of life belonging to the world above the waters. It must be very important, then, if they have preserved it all this way to rest in her hands.

Tech relents with a heavy sigh, more for her sake than his, she is certain, and places her hands within his, unfurling them with his thumbs so that the curiosity lies displayed for all to see. “It is a plant, ad’ika. A flower.”

“Plant,” she breathes, watching her buir pick it up by its stalk, a green so vivid unlike the dim verdancy of kelp and algae, “Flower.”

She remembers the words, remembers the wondrous tales she would be told of lands filled with such fair beings, swaying in the air currents, shining bright beneath the great star. Those are tales spoken softly when the bells ring and the lamps are dimmed, when arms come sweetly around her to pull her close and warm and tuck a blanket around her curled form. Then is she borne on the wings of those quiet words into a land of dreams, where colors she has never imagined dazzle and blind her, where songs of creatures unseen and unheard of ring in her mind’s ear.

And here twirls a plant, a flower, from that foreign country, before her eyes and between Buir’s fingers.

Oh! Oh, but this is simply extraordinary!

“It is a mayflower blossom," he expounds, "Epigaea repens is its scientific name. Wholly pentamerous, bearing five of each of the components of the four whorls.”

She does not understand any of his speech, though it does not matter. Some day, she shall understand him perfectly. But for now, she is content with understanding little.

“Mayflower? Is that its name?”

Names are very important, she has been told. Nearly as important as the ring on a clone’s finger.

Buir smiles at her, eyes creasing in their corners beyond the yellow lenses, and holds the flower, the mayflower, up before her eyes. With his other hand, he picks up her own paw and directs her to wrap forefinger and thumb around the green stalk, mirroring himself.

Nodding, he releases the mayflower. “That is its name, my clever heart, yes.”

Once more does she gasp, gazing at the flower with wide eyes. Its fins — petals, she remembers being taught — they look soft and pliant to touch, and she moves to do so.

Until the Mistresses stern voice fills her head.

Omega, do not touch what you must not!

Swift is the motion with which she draws back the outreaching fingers. She raises nervous eyes.

“May I touch it?”

A noise, strange and low, reverberates behind her, and there is something sad upon Tech’s face, even as he speaks in that silent voice that means a warning, “Wrecker.”

There is a similar sorrow and warning in Hunter’s gaze when she turns to look, yet in Crosshair’s, there lies a stony wrath that makes her shrink into Wrecker’s embrace. Opening her mouth, she aims to repair her misstep with an apology.

But Crosshair, when his eyes alight upon her face, interrupts once more, stern features softening so that a smile slopes along the line of his lips. A hand he holds out, and she places hers in it. With a small chuckle, he raises it and holds her fingertip to the petal.

“Be gentle,” he murmurs, even as she begins to stroke it, “It may break.”

Her eyes widen. “It can break?”

“Aye. But it is stronger than it appears.”

“Even still,” puts in Hunter, no haste in his warm voice, “One must be careful. As with all things.”

She hums her understanding — prudence has been taught all her life. She knows how to hold this mayflower, how to touch its petals without breaking it. She knows to be gentle, for she learnt it of her vode.

“I believe I can do it,” she tells them, marveling at the curious texture beneath her finger, “I believe I can be gentle.”

And Wrecker barks a sound of laughter, deep and true where it rattles her ribs.

“As do we, tracinya. With all our hearts. This wee blossom, ‘twas picked with you foremost in our thoughts. And ‘tis yours for now and evermore!”

Here is a gift, of thought and wonder. Here is a symbol, of promises ne’er-forgotten. Here is an organism, of sky and earth and air.

Yet what can compare to the love of her aliit?

[twinterrors29]

The Lind-clone

Once upon a time, there was a Mand'alor named Jango who desperately wanted a son, but didn't have or want a partner.

One day he traveled alone to visit a strange old Jedi who lived alone in the woods of a neighboring county in order to ask for his wisdom on how he could acquire an heir of his own blood. The old Jedi listened to his problem, then offered him two seeds:

"The first," he said, "will give you a son to inherit your strength and determination, who will ruthlessly carry on your legacy.

"The second will give you a son to inherit your cunning and luck, who will ceaselessly carry on your line.

"But," he warned the king, "you must plant only one, because to plant two would be greedy, and bring a curse upon your line."

Jango returned to his castle with both seeds, pondering the decision of what he wanted his legacy to be. Eventually, he made his choice, and planted the seed of cunning in the field outside the city walls.

However, that night as he tried to sleep, he second guessed his decision, and snuck out to plant the second seed as well; after all, it always pays to have a backup plan, in case something goes wrong.

(Dooku had expected the Mandalorian to fall into this trap, and knew that the inevitable instability that decision would bring would serve the Sith's plans well.)

As the weeks passed, both seeds sprouted, growing so closely entwined that they resembled a single plant. Jango visited the field every day that summer, personally tending to the plant and checking its progress. As the days shortened, two smooth white pods budded and grew, each approaching the size of a pumpkin.

Finally, one morning, Jango was greeted by the sound of a baby crying as he approached the field, and he sprinted the last hundred meters to reach the plant and his promised heir.

One of the pods had split open in the night, revealing a human baby with his own dark curls, waiting for Jango to come and pick him up for the first time.

As he cradled his new son in his arms, he spoke to him:

"Ni kartayli gai sa'ad, Boba."

(As he turned toward his home, already planning how to introduce the newly-named prince to his household and ready to forget all about the plant and the old Jedi's warning, he failed to notice that the second pod had also split open in the night, leaving an empty husk swaying in the breeze...)

Years flew by, and Boba grew into a fine young man: proud and clever, and just like his buir in every way.

Once he passed his verd'goten at thirteen, Jango decided it was time to organize an alliance with the New Mandalorian faction from Kalevala. He and the Duchess Satine arranged a marriage between his son and her nephew, Korkie, to strengthen those ties to each other.

Neither acknowledged it publically, but both of their people would benefit from strengthening Boba and Korkie's claim to their respective inheritances, after how Satine's sister Bo-Katan got jealous of her sister and nephew's positions and ran off to join the Death Watch, a gang of bandits led by Jango's father's disgraced rival, Tor Vizsla. The Death Watch would use any excuse they could find to set her or Tor's son, Pre, upon either throne.

But with this agreement, worked out during Satine's visit to Jango's capitol city, Keldabe, they would strengthen both lineages, and ensure their people's security for another generation.

All that was left was for Boba to travel back to Kalevala with some of Satine's retinue to meet his riduur-to-be.

But before their party had traveled even half an hour down the road through the woods, they were waylaid by a large, serpentine creature, made of shadow and exposed bone.

The lightning-fast creature knocked the guards off their horses, which fled into the woods in terror, leaving their riders winded on the hard ground. With the outer defenses thus handily disarmed, the creature wasted no time in similarly unhorsing Boba and pinning him to the ground beneath its talons.

Then, with its face inches from Boba's, it spoke:

"A riduur for me before a riduur for thee."

Its message delivered, it released Boba and disappeared into the woods as swiftly as it appeared.

Once they got over the shock of the encounter, the party quickly retrieved their horses and hurried back to Keldabe to report what had happened.

Jango was concerned to see Boba returning so soon after he had left, but he grew even more alarmed when Boba described the creature and relayed its ultimatum.

He suddenly found himself recalling the old Jedi's warning, and the long-forgotten second pod on the plant that had given him Boba.

As he explained the story of his unnatural birth to his son, and with it his theory as to the cause of their current trouble, the boy nodded slowly.

"Does that make him my brother then?" he asked, curious.

"That thing is not your brother," Jango snapped.

Boba considered this, and nodded his acceptance.

"No," he agreed, "but based on its demand, it must think of itself as such."

With that realization, they knew they could only have one response to this situation. After all, the Death Watch were looking for any sign of weakness, and until this alliance was sealed with Boba's marriage, they couldn't afford to offer them any.

What they needed was to kill this creature before word of its presence could spread.

Two days later, they set out with a small party of guards, all equipped with their best arms and protected by their best armor. Once more, they only had to travel about half an hour into the woods before the creature appeared.

Prepared this time, they rebuffed its initial attack, and returned fire with a volley of arrows and spouts of burning oil. The creature was so fast, almost nothing seemed to hit it, and even those few arrows that reached it clattered fruitlessly off its bone armor. Boba swore that a few of his shots slotted into gaps between the stark white plates, but the bolts simply disappeared into the shadows beneath with no impact on the creature's speed. Even their fire splashed harmlessly off bone armor, and none of their grappling lines managed to make contact with the furious beast.

When its relentless attacks finally exhausted them all, it hissed the same demand as before: "A riduur for me before a riduur for thee," and once more released them, vanishing back into the shadows.

As they dragged themselves back into their keep, Jango and Boba were forced to accept that they had no choice but to agree with this ultimatum, or risk the alliance with the New Mandalorians falling apart. After carefully reassuring the Duchess of their ability to keep up their end of their treaty, the two of them struggled to think of an acceptable riduur for the creature.

They had no doubt that, believing itself to be the eldest son of the Mand'alor, the creature would require a political match, someone of their own standing. Of course, that rather left them stumped as to who they would be willing to sacrifice in this way, suspecting that whoever married it would be marching away sooner than later.

And then Boba had a realization.

"Dad," he said, "isn't the Commander of our Guard a bastard son of your second cousin? Do you think he might make a suitable match for our monster?"

Jango, pleased with his son's cleverness, looked into this Commander, a young man named Cody, who had even accompanied them on their ill-fated quest to kill the beast themselves. They were both even more pleased to note that he had a younger, legitimate brother who was also serving in their Guard, who could readily take up his role after his likely untimely demise.

"Good work, Boba," Jango praised, as they waited for the Commander to answer their summons.

A few minutes later, the Commander stepped into their chamber. As they explained their proposal to him, he turned white at the news of his planned betrothal to the creature, but held him tongue and kept his face neutral. Pleased with his composure and lack of argument, Jango urged him to consider his duty to his kingdom, even reminding him of his brother's suitability to step into his role (not specifying which role he meant, Guard Commander or sacrificial groom), and the man agreed to the betrothal. They dismissed him then, content to consider the matter satisfactorily settled.

(That night, after the conclusion of his duties, Cody fled to the rooms of his secret fiance, the Jedi monk assigned to support the Kalevalan delegation. Their affair, kept secret due to the requirement that the Jedi maintain neutrality in order to uphold their sacred duty, had been a source of comfort for him these past many months of negotiations amid the tension from the threat of Death Watch after Bo-Katan's defection.

After he finished relating what he'd agreed to, and admitted his fear at his looming presumed dark fate alone in the woods, Obi-Wan sat silent for a moment. Then, he reached out and laid his hand on the side of his beloved's face, and spoke:

"We have both known that our duties would likely pull us apart. But I do not intend to give up on you so easily, and I have hope for your survival, my love. I have heard the descriptions you and the other guards have given of this creature, and the nature of the curse is very familiar to me; it sounds very like to tales my own people tell of the Lindworm, and I believe those stories may hold the key to solving our current predicament...")

The morning of the riduurok, Cody dressed himself, carefully recalling Obi-Wan's whispered instructions.

Cody marched alone into the forest, seen off by the entire court. He didn't have far to go before he was beset by the lindworm.

"Have you come to marry me, little commander?"

"I have," Cody replied.

After the perfunctory exchange of vows, the lindworm smiled behind its bony mask.

"Take off your armor," it said, "and let me see my riduur."

"I'll take off my armor," Cody replied, "but only if you take off yours too."

The lindworm thought about this, and thinking that it really would be so much easier to eat this human if he was out of his armor, agreed to Cody's demand.

So the lindworm shed its bony plates, revealing more of the thick shadows underneath. Cody took off his shiny white armor, revealing the protective black undersuit underneath.

"Take off your undersuit," the lindworm demanded, "so that I can see who I have married."

"I'll take off my undersuit," Cody replied, "but only if you remove your shadows too."

The lindworm quickly agreed, eagerly shedding its shadows to show its white-and-blue flesh. Cody took off his kute as well, revealing a set of ordinary clothes underneath.

"Take off your clothes," the lindworm hissed, growing impatient with the delay, "so that I can see you."

"I'll take off my clothes," Cody replied, "but only if you take off yours as well."

As Cody removed his own clothing, the lindworm impatiently sheds its skin, revealing a confused naked human man. Cody couldn't help but notice that he bore an uncannily strong resemblance to Jango and Boba both.

"Come," Cody said immediately, remembering the last step in Obi-Wan's story, "now that we have taken off all our clothes, we should bathe in the river together to celebrate our marriage."

He carefully led the dazed-looking human down to the river, and, before he could react, dunked him in the cool, clean water.

The man came up spluttering, but far more lucid, and his shrewd eyes immediately locked with Cody's where he was standing, knee-deep in the running water.

There was a moment of silence, then the man started laughing.

"You've done well, riduur," he smirked approvingly. "That was quite the clever trick you played."

"Thank you, riduur," Cody bowed his head with his own smirk in return, "but it was not my idea alone."

The man followed Cody's gaze to where Obi-Wan was waiting for them with towels and fresh clothes, and snorted.

"What a team the two of you make," the man said. "Now, we should introduce ourselves."

"Naturally," the Jedi spoke up at last. "My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, and this is my fiancee, Cody."

"Well met. My father never named me," the man replied, "and has refused to acknowledge me. I have chosen to call myself Alpha the 17th."

"A bold choice," Cody acknowledged, reminded of the long line of Mand'alors named Alpha he was laying claim to, "and one that speaks of ambition. But one, I think, that suits you well."

"I should hope so," the newly-named Alpha responded. "I certainly haven't renounced my claim to the throne, and have every intention of fulfilling my birthright."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Obi-Wan asked cautiously.

"I don't know yet," Alpha acknowledged with a nod of his head, "but I was thinking that my two clever new partners might be of some help in coming up with a plan."

Cody and Obi-Wan shared a glance.

"You could root out the Death Watch, who would also contest your own claim to the throne," Obi-Wan suggested.

"And stopping those bandits from harassing the people will earn you their respect and gratitude, as well as spread knowledge of your existence," Cody offered.

"That," Alpha smiled, showing all his bone-white teeth, "seems like a good place to start then."

("Hold on," Cody asked the next morning, "How come you're fully grown, when Boba's only thirteen?"

"First, I'm the older brother ("I thought you were supposed to be twins-") and second, what part of 'born of magic' was inadequately clear?")

---

also posted on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51530599/chapters/130237681

[jabean-fanfiction]

A little something that I felt like sharing…

(A Little Rey AU/A Light in the Dark AU)

CMO Needles already knew it was going to be a long day long before the little tubie—well, more of a cadet really—long before the tiny cadet backed out of the storage closet that was tucked away in a far corner of his medbay aboard the Negotiator.

The little cadet—a human girl, by the looks of her—certainly had some nerve in her considering she was currently dragging one of the Two-Twelve’s bulky medkits across the floor. The thing was almost the size of her. But judging by the ugly bump on the right side of her head that all but guaranteed a seriously bad concussion, Needles wouldn’t be holding it against her.

This cadet needed medical attention. And stat.

“Just where do you think you’re going with my medkit?” Needles barked out, coming to a stop a few feet behind the cadet.

The cadet’s entire body seemed to flinch—he almost felt bad about scaring her—before she spun around to face him with her tiny hands held up in loose fists underneath her chin.

This girl was a fighter. A punch first and ask questions later kind of cadet, Needles thought, fondly. His kind of ad’ika.

Wait…what?

He was far too young to be adopting any cadet. He was ten for kriff’s sake.

“‘S’not yours,” the tiny cadet stubbornly argued—squeaked more like. She brought her fists up a bit higher, and glared up at him. “I found it, so it’s mine!”

“So you’re a thief, are ya?” What in the Sith Hells was wrong with him? Why was he even challenging this little pipsqueak? He needed to look at her injuries as soon as possible.

The cadet scoffed at his accusation, and planted her hands firmly on her hips. “No!” she cried out. “I’m a scavenger, not a thief!”

Her eyes darted around the mostly empty medbay, looking up at the glowpanel in the ceiling, then the beeping heart monitors attached to the two unconscious troopers, Peel and Trapper. Cale and Eyeball were currently floating in the bacta tanks in the adjoining medical room. Needles’ had assigned Stitch to take inventory of the remaining supplies following their last battle, so he figured the medic was still in the adjoining storage room, listening in and likely waiting for a call for assistance before making his presence known.

The girl’s eyes grew wider and wider at everything that was in front of her, before she returned her attention to him, very obviously tagging him as a potential threat to her safety.

Smart kid. Cautious kid.

“The Star Destroyer that I was scavenging from was…” the girl frowned, “it wasn’t running…it didn’t have a working power source like this one obviously does.”

Needles frowned at the girl’s words. “It was broken down?” he asked, crossing his arms across his chest to prevent himself from reaching out to her as she seemed to rock to the side ever-so-slightly. He had a feeling the girl would bite him before she let him touch her.

The little cadet shrugged. “Crashed.” She sniffed, her eyes were watering slightly like she was fighting off tears. “I’m not on Jakku no more, am I?”

”No kid. We’re on the other side of the galaxy, nowhere near Jakku.”

The little girl’s lip wobbled threateningly as she peered up at Needles. She took a deep breath in, working hard to calm herself down. “I have to get back, sir. My papa…he promised that he’d come back for me. I don’t want him to worry if I’m not there.”

Needles smiled at the little girl. “I think that he would be a lot more worried about that head wound you’ve got, little one. How ‘bout I take a look at it, and my medic, Stitch, can talk to the General to see if we can find a way to get in touch with your buir.”

“On it, sir,” Stitch muttered as he stepped out of the storage room.

The cadet frowned as she watched Stitch hurry out of the medbay. Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as her golden-brown eyes darted back to Needles. Familiar eyes, in an eerily familiar colour. Needles tucked that information away for the time being. “Boo-eer?”

“It means ‘parent’ in Mando’a,” Needles said with a slight smile. “Your papa, in other words.”

At the girl’s nod of her head in understanding, Needles gestured to one of the empty beds nearby. “Now, will you let me take a closer look at that bump on your noggin? How’d you get it by the way?” he asked. “It looks like it must’ve hurt.”

The girl shrugged, but hurried towards the indicated bed and carefully climbed up onto the mattress. Once she settled down on the bed, and Needles had his penlight in his hands, she responded, “It’s not so bad no more, promise. ‘Nuther scavenger bashed me over the head with a wrench a few days ago.”

Needles hummed thoughtfully as he brought the penlight up to shine in each of the girl’s eyes. “That wasn’t very nice of them,” he muttered. “Do you know their name?” No, he wasn’t planning to hunt the shabuir down across the galaxy for harming a kid. Honest.

“Namenthe,” the girl told him with a scowl. “He’s a sleemo.”

Needles had to agree with her character assessment. He hummed again as he gently ran his fingers around the goose egg. “Namenthe, huh?”

The girl winced as he pressed the pads of his fingers gently around the wound. A cracked skull was most likely. She likely needed to spend some time in a bacta tank to ensure everything was alright, Needles realized with dread pooling in his stomach.

Their two tanks were currently being used.

He smiled tightly at the little cadet. “Do you have a name, kid?”

Maybe General Kenobi would have a better idea on what to do for the time being. Maybe he could use some of that Jedi magic on the kid to ensure she’d be alright until one of the tanks was free.

“Rey,” the girl quietly murmured. “My papa named me Rey.”

[current-interest-writings]

A Babys Space Halloween

Mando x reader x baby yoda 

After leaving Navarro behind to begin to look for the child's people ( even if you didnt want to give him up). you had been traveling with din since tattooine. he trusted you to look after the child and be able to fight..... even if he didn't quite like it. but thats not the point. 

it was nearing the time of year at your home planet where Halloween is taking place, pumpkins being painted or cut into jack-o-lanterns to glow in the dark of night. children and adults dressing up as characters or just dressing up in general. a time of candy and fun. it was something you missed the most of your home. and looking at your small son you wanted him to partake in this tradition as well, for as long as you had him for. and you knew you had the perfect costume for the little one. you just had to convince your riduur to let you carve pumpkins and have them on the crest for a little bit.

as you walked up behind your riduur in the cockpit he turned around to look at you through his visor. you tilted your head and gave him a sweet smile that usually ended with you getting your way. “ My dear husband, I know you are not one to follow traditions outside of your own for holidays, ( excluding the times he's tried like for Christmas). But on my home planet around this time we have a day called Halloween. I wanna know if I can bring it on the crest?” You rested a hand on his pauldron.

he tilted his head more at to look at your face and tilt his head, even though you knew what he looked like he still found comfort in wearing his bucket so you never pressured him into removing it. He sighed “ and what are apart of these tradtions of yours” you squealed in excitement and rattled off the list of things you needed.

------------------------------------time skip---------------------------------------------------

Din walked down the ramp to go gather materials needed for the ship and for you to decorate the hull of the crest. He promised to get back in three hours, which left you and the child to your own devices for a while. you looked at the child “ my little trouble maker do you want to help me with something?” He’s at your leg try to crawl up your pant leg. “I’ll take that as a yes”

You grabbed the youngling and grabbed some of the scrap pieces Din kept around the ship for emergency repairs. “Time to get to work on this costume”

A few hours later din is walking back to the ship with some pumpkin-like plants and he sees you have placed your lights back up in the Hull of the ship but these ones are purple, where you keep them he doesn't know. but he knows he hears you in the sleep area and has missed you and the child.

"hold on little one, I know he is back but you need to wait. One last finishing touch and you can show your Buir your little costume."

a few babbles can be heard from the kid as he responds to you

but a few moments later you came out from the area shielding the child from his view, you can almost feel your husband raise his eyebrow under the helmet.

you just gave him a small smile and dramatically spread your arms comically wide and said

"may I present to you the best bounty hunter in this parsec" The room door slides open

din felt his heart fill with warmth at the sight of the kid dressed like him..

grogu waddled up to his father and raised his arms

"alright cryika what next?" both of your boys look at you

" time to eat candy, stay up wayyyyyy to late and watch holo vids"

"thats it?"

'normally we would go door to door for candy, but i dont think you would be down to do that"

"alright.... which candy first"

the rest of the night was spent watching holovids and eating too mant sweets and cookies

[beskar33]

Some baby Bev & fam stuff. 946 words, sorry not sorry lol. There's Mando'a in this.

-

"Ke'mot!"

Bev's staff falls to the dirt after it's knocked out of his hands for what feels like the hundredth time this morning. His breath steams in the frostbitten air, burning his lungs. Goosebumps prickle his skin when the breeze hits the sheen of sweat that's formed there over the hour.

He picks the staff up with numb fingers. He looks over his shoulder at Ijaat, whose intimidating silhouette stands motionless in the fog like a ghost, thick cape billowing in the wind behind him. Weak beams of sunlight have only just begun to filter through the steel sheet of dawn sky stretching over them.

"Me'vaar ti gar?" Ijaat asks him.

"Haryc, Buir."

"Ori'jate. Gar kotishya ibi'tuur."

At this, Bev allows himself a little smile. Ijaat was not one for empty compliments, or many compliments at all for that matter.

He trails at his father's feet as they head back to camp, occasionally glancing up at the dark visor of his helmet with reverence.

In his mind, Ijaat was a god, more fearsome to him even than the brutal imagery of Kad Ha'rangir on the old temple's walls. Somewhat stern and difficult to impress, but carried a spark within him, shereshoy, that seemed to heat the atmosphere around them. Bev hoped to emulate that trait someday too, when he was old enough to take his place beside the adults of his clan and assist in raising the younger ones. It was only a few years until he could undertake the verd'goten.

Bev knew nothing of war besides the stories passed to him and his three younger sisters at the feet of their grandparents. They would sit eating uj'alaylise, listening intently.

"It is a gift to serve one's clan," their grandmother had said with a smile on her face.

Kebiin, nicknamed for the bright blue of her beskar'gam, was a lean woman, still sharp as a new spear in her old age and twice as prickly.

"Let me tell you of the first time I saw the fright of death in a man's eyes."

Ijaat, unlike some, would not speak in depth of it, besides to tell his children that warfare was a filthy thing and that someday their hands would become as muddied as his own. This was not said to plant seeds of fear or disgust in them, rather to prepare them for what Ijaat believed was inevitable, a part of life that should be viewed through a lens of grave respect.

And Bev was far from afraid; he was fascinated, grasping at the tinest details given to him and clutching them close to his heart with all the pride of a warrior's son, as if they were his own battles.

-

They arrive to the smell of grilling meat and the chatter of the early risers. They gaze over the hill, down into the valley where their clan had made its home for generations. Members had come and gone, forging their own paths as they saw fit, but in the end, most of the Talaït family would return to their land.

They called it "Hettyc Vhetin" or "burning field" from a battle that had occurred when his people first settled here, years beyond the scope of Bev's young mind. All the ba'buire would eagerly recount the way the great Mando'ade before them had been greatly outnumbered but far from outclassed.

The battle had raged from daybreak into the dead of night. In the end, they surrounded their enemies in flames, setting fire to the whole valley, choking out the sun with smoke for days on end. Their foemen all perished, their bodies burned to ash, which was gathered and spread to the sea beyond the hills as a final respect paid by the beskar-clad ancestors who had emerged victorious and unscathed to continue their bloodlines.

All Bev can see as they stand there is that wall of flame, picturing the near immortal ones who walked within the blaze. There was nothing more honorable or more precious to him than the thought of becoming part of the legends whispered between his friends when they were wrinkled and scarred, being kept alive long after he passed on by the stories that would follow him.

He's roused from his daydreaming by a pat on the shoulder from Ijaat. His eyes aren't visible, but Bev can sense affection behind the impenetrable blackness.

"One day," he tells Bev softly, as if reading his mind. "Do not rush your growth. One day, you will pray to be a child again."

Bev ponders this for a moment, wondering why anyone would want to be small and weak like him ever again. The sentiment bothers him a bit; the thought of a life that would lead one to wish they could strip themselves of their experience and become fragile once more.

His eyes flick back to the shimmering armor of his older clanmates, twinkling like stars below as they cooked and cleaned and prepared for the day ahead. He supposes his mother, Choruk, is already off hunting. Some other children are playing a game of get'shuk, cheering as they run and tackle each other into the grass.

Ijaat breaks the silence between them once more.

"Do you know why we called you Bev?"

Bev shakes his head. Ijaat looks down at him.

"To survive this world, ner ad'ika, you must become a needle, threading the strands of life together to create something beautiful out of the darkness you encounter. And to draw blood from those who don't know better, who underestimate or mishandle you. Do you understand?"

Bev nods, even though he doesn't really understand. His father ruffles his hair.

"Jate. Oya."

[mrfandomwars]

Hear me out, instead of making the New Mandalorians villains just as bad as the Death Watch and that the True Mandalorians are the 'good guys' whenever people want to mix canon with legends...

... make them good friends with the True Mandalorians.

Adonai and Jaster having been Good Friends maybe more with Adonai, both former traditionalists who maybe wanted to change Mandalore for the better (even if Jaster Insists he just wanted to reform the Bounty Hunter aspect of the Mandalorians at first) that were maybe introduced via Jango's Father

(more under the cut)

You want Jaster to be the Mand'alor but Adonai has been stated to have been it? "It's your turn to deal House X, so congrats on your coronation" or even Jaster who Refused to take the crown for whatever reason - maybe Adonai had already been Mand'alor for a while and thus he felt like it was stealing the title from someone who was Trying to change, so even though Adonai was 'officially' the Mand'alor, Everyone knew Jaster was the true one

War against the Death Watch or Traditionalists? War against the Traditionalists, but the group closer to Tor was called 'Death Watch' (and years later, Satine assumed that the terrorists group had named themselves after that group and weren't the remains/the group reborn when their attacks were nothing more than vandalism and propaganda up until the clone wars - as it is )

Talking about Jango and Satine - consider them not Hating Each Other but having been Friends that were slowly changing because of the horrors they faced in the war, especially if they were Both target and had to go on the run

You want to go with a more reasonable/fanon like Jango but still keep aspects of how he was in the legends? Make Jango having been the reasonable one who, although knew sometimes he would have to get dirty, still wanted to at least try to talk to the traditionalists and convince them to switch sides at very least because there already has been too much death while Satine is the one who wants to get Done with the traditionalist who keep destroying their planet and killing their people, who wanted to KILL TOR after he killed her Buir (and thus have it be a problem in the year on the run, because she keeps trying to go to where the Death Watch are and putting )

and then you can have them both Change with the horrors of the war:

Satine (who maybe made it her mission to bring back plant life in an almost destroyed Kalevala, if you mesh Canon and Legends together) becoming more and more horrified with the violence in the war to the point where she is too traumatized to take lives, even if to defend herself and too tired to want to continue with war in the end after so much losses (her father, Jaster, the betrayal of Montross, the death of her other sibling) (just like it was implied in TCW) that she just wants to get done with and rebuilt, even if it means having to be nice to the traditionalists who did so much damage and letting them have the least affected planet/moon of all mandalorian system and be independent and let some criminals get away with things because if they tried to judge them it would just kick start the war again of at least cause more death because they Wouldn't go down nicely

Jango slowly losing his hope of a peaceful resolution and having to accept that the violence is necessary to to protect the people he loves, that he has to make sure that they are taken out and stay down, that they Don't get back up. Jango who is Angry that they are going to let the traditionalists go and get all the nice things while they get with the destroyed planets (feel free to make maybe Concord Dawn's broken planet situation have become Worse because of the war, bc if in TCW it was bad enough to turn Mandalore into a toxic waste planet then that can happen) and they get away with shit while the non-traditionalists are left to deal with the destroyed cities, the sick, the injured, the lost and the dead, all the while have Very Few resources

Or even if you don't want to go this route, it's fine!!! Just consider it!!! Them being friends instead of enemies!!!!

Oh, want to know about how Jaster died? Maybe Adonai died first and Jaster was left as the Mand'alor (either to take the title or as the solo one) and stayed behind with Qui-Gon (who... probably stayed with Obi-Wan and Satine in canon but I See Y'all Fanfictions so maybe he stayed behind to help throw off the location of the heirs and Mand'alor) and Jango ends up blaming Qui-Gon/the Jedi for Jaster's death because Montross was Also by Jaster side and Yet Montross passed unoticed, even if he interacted with Qui-Gon at least once a day

Want to drag more of Jango's story in Legends? Easy, after the war, as he couldn't support what Satine was doing i.e. letting the traditionalists go unpunished or at least not taking More from them, he left and maybe he wasn't the only one.

Maybe he had a group with him and after a while the accident of the comics happened, except this time it hurt More because he already knew Jedi and this was Another betrayal and maybe the events happened differently (maybe instead of being the Mandos shooting first, it was one of the hidden Death Watch member's shooting it or maybe it was Tor Vizsla (who maybe was the only one of the original leaders of the war to survive, so an Extra blow to Jango and Satine, who lost their parents to him) leaving someone cut in half with the Darksaber and thus making it seem like it was the Jedi who started it first) but still ends up with the same ending:

Jango and Silas being the only survivors, with Jango being sold to slavery, escaping and then killing Tor (...the DW probably lied and said he died in his sleep peacefully)

Oh, but then why did Obi-Wan and Jango not know each other? Jango is a common name, he changed his armour paint and during the war he went by Jango Mereel, so "Jango Fett" while raising an eyebrow not enough to make it clear that Jango was the Jango that Obi-Wan knew.

Also Obi-Wan would be Petty enough over Everything (including the clones thing) to refuse to acknowledge Jango as Jango Mereel until Jango admitted it too, and Jango is Stubborn enough to not give up

Or even Jango and Satine went different ways to make tracking them harder so while Obi-Wan and Jango heard about each other they never really met in person

...Don't want to go this far in planning? Then consider Jango's story happened a bit earlier, Adonai was one of the few True Mandalorians left alive and one of the highest ranking Mandos left so he had to take over when the Death Watch wasn't giving up thus dragging the war until they were *forced* to stop.

[violetjedisylveon]

Amnesia Chapter 17 - Preparing For Trouble

Bad batch Omega centric au

Summary: On her way home, Freyu has two strange encounters, well one strange encounter and one very annoying one.

Word count: 4k

Warnings: 🚫threats of violence and poisoning, nudity*🚫

A/N: *two characters are showering together, I didn't describe anything but they are naked. Just figured I'd say that.

Amnesia AU Masterpost

____________________________________________________________________________________________

“Thanks again Miss O'asisk!” The youngling yelled as Freyu left.

“Take care!” She shouted back.

She waved the youngling goodbye then began walking back to where she had left Asichi, ready to go home after a long day of deliveries.

She'd had a relatively peaceful week, Omega still hadn't wanted to join the more frequent trips to Mlikix after the fright they had, and her little sister was being extra mindful about keeping her secret. Freyu wouldn't make Omega do anything she didn't want to anyway.

She hadn't been bothered by those bounty hunters since her threat nearly two weeks ago. They were still around, Cai’s spies reported seeing them in town, but they weren't messing with her or Omega and as long as that continued, she couldn't give a fuck about what they did.

Asichi whinnied as she approached, the mare trotted in place excitedly. Boa, sleeping on her back, whined at the disturbance of her nap.

“Did you have a good day, Asichi?” She asked, petting Asichi's velvety soft muzzle.

The mare neighed, stomping her feet impatiently, she was ready to go home.

“Alright, alright, I get it, it's been a long day. Let me just pack up then we can head home.” She said.

She took off her backpack, setting it on the hitching post so she could disassemble it into its much easier to carry parts. With the main bag being fully empty, aside from a few spare miscalculated orders, it was easy to fold up and fit behind the saddle.

She set the spare orders aside, only nine this time, so she could put them in a much smaller bag, and started folding the main bag.

Behind you

Boa growled right as she got the warning. She glanced over her shoulder to see the creepy Imperial doctor from the capital standing behind the post, inspecting one of the misplaced orders. He smiled and set the medicine down.

“Miss O'asisk, I am Doctor Hemlock.” He greeted her.

She glanced around for any troopers, it looked like the doctor was here alone.

“Uh… hi? Do you need something?” She asked.

“No, I only wish to speak with you about your work, one doctor to another.” He said.

Freyu narrowed her eyes. Those weren't his true intentions, her instincts said not to trust him, but he wasn't a threat yet.

“Yeah… I don't think we're the same type of doctor…” she pointed out.

He didn't address that and picked up another vile of medicine.

“You make these yourself?” He asked.

“Yes, lots of plants here have some sort of healing properties, I find what conditions and combinations will bring out the most potent effect. It's a lot of chemistry.” She said.

“Did someone teach you?” He questioned.

“My Buir did, it's one of our family trades, and my mother knew some other stuff, and some of it I've figured out myself.” She nodded.

“And I suppose you can use it to make toxins?” He prompted.

“If I answer that, am I going to get arrested?” She asked with a frown.

“Not by me, I'm just curious how someone so young has such a robust understanding of such a complicated subject.” He said easily.

“Okay… yeah… that's believable.” She said sarcastically.

“You're a very cautious person, aren't you, Miss O��asisk.” Hemlock said, eyeing the right side of her face.

She glanced at his gloved hand and smirked.

“I would assume the same about you.” She said.

His face shifted slightly, the corners of his mouth twitched down in an aborted frown.

“So, why are you so interested in what I'm doing?” She asked.

“I'm interested in offering you a position as one of the Empire's researchers.” Hemlock said like it was the most casual thing.

Freyu stared at the human for a solid minute before she could formulate a response.

“Excuse me?!? Why are you- why is the Empire- offering me a job?! Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't seem like the type of person the Empire wants to employ.” She exclaimed with a gesture towards herself.

“You would be hired under my branch of the Empire’s scientific departments. I don't care for the typical hiring policies, I'm much more interested in skill than species.” He explained.

“My department also does work with animals, and you seem to be quite skilled in that area as well.” He said.

“Hmm, how'd you know?” She asked dryly.

He pointedly glanced at Iri perched on her head.

“Just a hunch.”

“Are you doing experiments on animals? I think it's quite obvious that I wouldn't be okay with that.” She pointed out.

“Mostly work with rare, endangered species, preserving and diversifying their genetics to create a healthier population.” He explained.

Now that doesn't seem like something the Empire would do. She thought.

“How familiar with genetics are you?” The doctor asked.

“Enough to get by in my line of work.” She answered, feeling ever more skeptical of this “doctor”.

Iri chirped to her, giving her a silent warning that she needed to get out soon.

“While I do appreciate the offer, I've got a bit too much going on right now and I need to get back home, but I'll think about it.” She told him.

“Very well, the offer will remain until you refuse it.” Hemlock said.

“Thanks…”

He smiled a smile that sent shivers down her spine, turned and left.

She waited for the doctor to be out of sight before quickly finishing her pack up. She mounted Asichi, patting the agitated mare’s neck to sooth her.

“It'll be fine, Asichi. I'm sure it's nothing.” She reassured her.

“Let's just get home.” She suggested.

Asichi whinnied in agreement.

XXX

Freyu knew she was being followed.

She knew since she left Mlikix, accordingly she took a misleading way to get home.

Those idiot bounty hunters were very bad at their jobs.

Asichi neighed again. The mare was growing increasingly agitated as the stalking continued.

They were nearby, all four of them this time.

She stopped Asichi, sitting back in the saddle before lazily glancing over her shoulder at the seemingly empty grass behind her.

“Are you done yet?” She asked.

Iri swooped on them, forcing them to reveal their positions to avoid being attacked by the bird. Asichi turned to face them, bellowing threateningly.

Freyu found it mildly funny that Asichi was much taller than all of them, at the shoulder.

“You are extremely shitty at this.” She commented to the group of hunters.

“Seriously, I'm starting to get pissed off, and while I could just kill you, believe me she would love to,” she patted Asichi's neck, “I don't wanna deal with the bodies or the legal process today.”

She really didn't want to kill someone today, it was way too much paperwork and she would be late getting home if she did. Omega was worried enough as it is.

And when it came to these four, she had a strange feeling in the back of her head telling her not to kill them. It was as annoying as it was vague.

“Legal process?” The shortest and most irritating one echoed.

“Oh yeah, laws here are different for locals than outsiders. See, I'm legally allowed to kill an outsider if they are threatening me, usually you don't need justification, but I have been documenting your behavior in case I need it.” She said.

“As if someone like you could actually kill all four of us.” The big guy laughed.

She shot him a glare. He was the least guarded of all them, probably because he put so much focus on beating everything physically that he never even thought of mental threats.

A perfect target to psych out. She gave his mind a very subtle suggestion of fear as she spoke.

“I am on a horned horse that's taller than all of you, I have several blasters on me, and toxins. I could kill you all multiple times over.”

Freyu couldn't hide her smug grin when the big, fearsome armored hunter stumbled back a few steps out of fear.

“Steady yourself soldier!” Shortie barked.

She took the opportunity to get him with a dart when his back was turned. The hunters instantly went on edge, except Shortie, he was quickly succumbing to the effects of her toxin.

The man was on his knees gasping in seconds.

“What the hell did you do to him?!” The droid shouted.

“Oh relax, it's not a fatal poison,” she glared down at the main, aiming her rifle in his general direction, enough to give the message of not fucking with her, “this time.”

The droid man was clearly the smartest out of all of them, he signaled for his buddies to stand down and protect their fallen member.

“This is your final warning, leave me and my sister alone.” She growled.

Asichi bellowed out her own warning, gnashing her teeth, and they were off.

Freyu made sure to take the most complicated way back home, just in case those hunters really were stupid enough to follow her.

XXX

Omega waited for the security system to confirm it was Freyu entering before she came out of her makeshift hiding spot. Her ori'vod was peering out the window with a pinched expression.

“Freyu?” She called out.

The Pantoran briefly glanced at her, her frown deepening.

“Is something wrong?” Omega asked.

The seed of worry in her stomach growing the longer her ori'vod stayed quiet.

“I had a few strange encounters today.” Freyu muttered.

“Is everything going to be okay?” she asked.

Freyu didn't answer.

“Freyu?”

The Pantoran didn't even look at her.

Her worry turned into panic. Tiny tears stung her eyes.

“Freyu?!” she shouted, voice cracking.

That got her sister to pay attention to her. Her face smoothed out as she calmly faced her.

“Alright Meg'ika, I think it's time for your first escape drill.” she said like it was the most normal thing ever.

“Escape drill? Why do I need an escape drill?!” Omega shouted, stepping away from the door.

“It's a necessity, our family is… well known… by certain groups and sometimes there is trouble. I’ve been practicing this since I was three. It'll be fine.” Freyu explained calmly.

Omega stared at her. She was worried when she came in, something was going on, there was trouble.

“There's something happening, isn't there?” She asked.

“I'd rather be safe than sorry.” Freyu said evenly.

Omega frowned, she didn't answer the question directly.

“What is it?” She insisted.

“Those bounty hunters. They haven't gotten the message yet.” Freyu answered.

They're coming for me.

“Are we going to be okay?” she asked timidly.

Freyu crossed the room, kneeling down to her level, cupping her face in her always warm hands.

“Of course, I'm going to keep you safe. I won't let anything happen to you.” Freyu promised.

Omega held Freyu's hands to her face so she couldn't pull away. I trust her, it'll be okay.

“How does the escape drill work?” She asked.

Her ori'vod gave her a strained grin.

“You're not claustrophobic, are you?”

“What?”

Freyu took her down to the basement where they did their training and Tesi had her main charging station, the droid in question woke up as they entered.

“Tesi, I think we need to clear the premise.” Freyu said to the droid.

“I assume you want a tunnel?” Tesi prompted.

“Yes, forest treehouse, you know the one.” Freyu answered.

Why are they talking so vaguely? Omega wondered.

Tesi scomped in to a hidden port, a patch of the floor shifted away, revealing a hatch that twisted itself open. Peering into it, she saw a ladder on one end of the hole and a sort of strap-in seat on the other. The hole went down deep, but was well light.

“My family has a series of secret passages running from pretty much every building they've ever worked with, the ones in the houses are the most extensive and well taken care of.” Freyu explained.

“Why do you have all these?” Omega asked, shooting her a quizzical glance.

“We’re cautious people, Meg'ika.” Freyu shrugged.

“I'll strap you in, it'll take you down and drop you into the cart, you can also walk through them but it'll take a lot longer and I want you at the safe house as fast as possible.” She instructed.

“Okay…” Omega nodded uncertainly.

Freyu frowned, biting her lip as she thought.

“Tesi, do we still have the star bugs?” She asked.

The droid was busy getting something from a hidden hatch in the far wall. Whatever it was, Omega couldn't fully see it.

“Yes, we've got two left, they should be satisfactory once I reboot them.” Tesi answered.

“The star bugs will help you, just follow their directions.” Freyu said.

“O-okay…” Omega said.

“Good.” Her ori'vod smiled at her, patting her head gently.

“Everything will be alright, I know it will.” She insisted.

Doubt plagued her mind. How could Freyu believe everything would be okay so confidently? There was danger coming for them and she was too calm!

“How do you know that?!” She exclaimed.

“It's just a feeling I have. And I trust that feeling.” Freyu said, brushing her loose hair back.

That doesn't make any sense! Omega thought, a gut feeling couldn't get them very far.

“How can you trust a feeling?” she asked in dismay.

Freyu cupped her face.

“A similar feeling led me to you. So it'll be alright.” she kissed the top of her forehead.

Omega lurched forward, wrapping her arms tight around her sister. She was unable to shake the fear that this was the last time she'd ever see her. Freyu waited a moment then pulled her back and wiped her tears away.

Tesi came up to them, the droid held a strange pair of balls out to Freyu. The Pantoran took them and whispered something in Mando'a or Pantoran.

The little balls came to life, uncurling into cute little bug-like droids. They buzzed around Freyu's head, chittering excitedly in binary.

“This is Omega, she's my sister, I need you to escort her to the tree safe house.” Freyu instructed the pair of droids.

They beeped back at her, fluttering over to land on her head. They were surprisingly fuzzy for droids.

“Her bag.” Tesi handed a backpack to Freyu.

“This has everything you might need in it, a med kit, food, survival equipment, a pair of blaster pistols and enough ammo to reload if you need to. You remember your shooting lesson, right?” she explained.

Omega nodded.

“Excellent.”

Freyu set her down onto the chair, fastening her in securely. She handed her the backpack, Omega saw her Tooka doll tucked into one of the pockets, she held onto the bag like a lifeline.

“Hey, everything is going to be fine.” Freyu assured her.

She didn't believe it, she couldn't let herself believe it, she had a horrible feeling that she would be alone again if she did.

“I won't leave you Omega, we're stuck with each other forever now, remember?” Freyu reminded her.

“Yeah. I remember.” Omega sniffled.

Freyu hugged her one last time, then the machine started taking her down. Omega kept her eyes fixed on the spot of light above her as she descended into the darkness.

Freyu watched her vod'ika until the star bug lights were swallowed by the darkness. She shut the hatch, locked it and locked down all the tunnels except the one Omega was using, just to be safe. She sat back with a heavy sigh. She always had a feeling letting Omega into her home would bring trouble, even before she noticed how fast the little girl healed.

“Do you want me to do a full clear of the premises?” Tesi asked.

“Better to be safe than sorry.” She said.

“You say that so often you should live by it.” Tesi snipped.

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes.

Her gaze fell on her armor chest. The chest and its extra contents need to be moved, likely to the ship. She needed to put her armor on.

“I'm going to change!” She called to Tesi, receiving a beep of affirmation.

She exchanged the flexible armor plate she always wore to protect her vital organs for a fresh one, then changed her clothes into something appropriate and pulled the top half of her kute on. She got the pants on and made sure the pieces fit together and overlapped correctly.

With practiced speed, she changed into her armor. The feeling of the overlapping plates on her body gave her a slight sense of security.

Buir made this armor, it would protect her.

Now all she has to do was wait for the right moment to strike.

XXX 

Chora ignored the insistent nudging on the edge of her senses. The planet was trying to push her towards the one place she was not welcomed.

It had been since she got here.

Honestly it was getting annoying.

Window

Without looking away from her data pad, she opened the window long enough for the fuzzy droid to come buzzing in, swiftly shutting it.

The little bug droid landed on her shoulder, cuddling up to her while buzzing happily.

“Let's see what you got.” Chora said, giving the bug an affectionate pat.

The bug-like droid connected to her data pad, feeding its surveillance into the system. She tapped her leg impatiently as it loaded.

She'd been on the planet for a little over two months at this point, she wasn't really doing her job as a bounty hunter and was more so dealing with the Massii when the Empire didn't want to.

It wasn't what she signed up for but at least she was getting paid.

Still, she was used to being constantly on the move, hunting down targets across the galaxy. She didn't usually stay in one place this long, if she did, it was a vacation or Yaosney forcing her to stay out so she could heal.

She was itching to get moving again.

So she'd sent out her surveillance to check out the one part of the planet she was avoiding like a plague.

Mlikix.

Just to see if there was anything she could do to get things going again. She wanted off this pushy planet.

She absently skimmed through the feed, waiting for something to catch her interest, or for the droid to get curious enough to disregard her orders and go where she said not to.

“Cyare… are you still up?” Yaosney asked, sitting up from their bed to turn on a bedside light.

“Just some late night work, I'll be in bed soon.” Chora promised, turning to her partner.

She blinked sleepily, having only gotten back two hours earlier, collapsing onto bed without getting a shower first. It was a bad habit they shared.

“How about you get a quick shower and change into something clean?” Chora suggested.

Yaosney frowned, tapping her chin in thought.

“Only if you join me.” She said.

Chora rolled her eyes.

“You need to clean that kute, you've been wearing it for days.” Yaosney pointed out.

She had been living and sleeping in her kute and armor for roughly the past two weeks.

“Alright you win, I'll join you.” Chora sighed dramatically, getting up and walking over to her.

Yaosney grinned smugly at her.

“But, I'm going to do the laundry afterwards.” Chora stipulated.

“Fine, but you leave cleaning your armor for the morning.” Yaosney said.

“I think I'd rather do it now.” Chora teased lightly, helping her partner out of bed and into their bathroom.

“Chora! You gotta sleep sometime today!” Yaosney whined, leaning her tired body on her.

“I'm a Pantoran, I don't need nearly as much sleep as you do.” Chora reminded her.

“Bet that sucks.” Yaosney huffed sleepily.

“No, having to be unconscious for a third of the standard day to remain functional sucks, I need half of that.” Chora said as she took off her armor, placing it onto her armor stand so she could clean it tomorrow.

Water hissed as the shower started, glancing back, Yaosney had already stripped the dark body suit she wore on duty and stepped into the shower. Chora changed quickly and got in with her.

Yaosney was busy washing her own body, scrubbing off the day's grit and grime from her skin. Chora lathered up her hands with Yaosney’s preferred shampoo, massaging it into the shorter woman's sweaty, grimy scalp.

“Those helmets do not help your hair.” She muttered as she scrubbed.

“Can't see shit through them either.” Yaosney grumbled in agreement.

Chora turned her girlfriend around, tipping her head back to wash out the shampoo, in turn, Yaosney started washing her body.

“You're so tall, it's not fair.” She pouted.

Chora glanced down at her, grinning.

“Why's it not fair?” She prompted.

“I have to stand on my toes to reach you right.” Yaosney puffed, indignantly looking up at her.

She stopped rinsing her girlfriend's hair, settling her hands on her hips.

“I can always just pick you up.” She suggested, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her closer.

“Not in the shower Chora, we'll fall, again!” Yaosney scolded.

Chora chuckled, letting go to finish rinsing her girlfriend's hair.

“You aren't even washing yourself, you're just washing me.” Yaosney grumbled.

“I’d let you, but you need a stool to reach.” She teased.

She was quick to finish washing Yaosney, then did a much faster wash of her own hair, Yaosney was practically asleep standing up. They got out, changed into fresh clothes, and Chora put their dirty clothes into the washing machine while Yaosney (very grumpily) went back to bed.

Her girlfriend was fast asleep by the time she came back to their bed. She kissed her forehead lightly before sitting down at her desk to finish her work.

“What've you got little guy?” She whispered to the little droid.

It buzzed quietly, pleased with what it had found.

“Huh, well whaddya know.” Chora hummed.

It was that group of clones that asshole sniper was obsessed with finding, they were hanging around Mlikix.

That's not good. Chora thought as she went through the images.

Two of the clones were messing with or being threatened by a way too fucking familiar Pantoran.

Ah. Of course. She groaned. This had to be some kind of joke. In the one place she was avoiding, messing with the one person she was avoiding was her way to get the Empire’s ass off this rock and let her get back to her proper work.

She dropped her head into her hands. She could almost hear her brother laughing at the irony, or her misfortune. Probably her misfortune, they weren't on the best terms before he died, he probably thought she deserved this.

He was right. She did. He was always right.

“Fuck me.” She muttered.

She had been trying to get out of here without touching that bomb.

Why are they messing with her? The intrusive little thought wormed its way into her head.

Those clones clearly wanted something, and she didn't look keen on giving it, cause she was a stubborn asshole when she wanted to be.

Nope! Shut it down! Chora scolded herself, she just needed to get off this planet before she had to get involved with her… acquaintance.

She could subcontract someone to give the situation a little nudge. Yeah, that was it.

It had to be someone cheap and inexperienced. She was sending that unfortunate soul into the Mythosaur’s liar, she just needed them to get those clones to reveal themselves, and if her old pal killed them afterwards, no harm done.

She quickly found who she was looking for and sent him the offer, it was more money than he'd ever been offered before so he immediately took it.

She gave her instructions and left the dominoes to fall.

She shut her data pad off, her droid buzzed up, nuzzling her cheek, then settled on it's charging station for the night. She quickly put the laundry into the dryer then climbed into bed with Yaosney.

She laid on her side, looking at her girlfriend's peaceful sleeping face.

Everything is going to be fine. She told herself, closing her eyes to sleep.

[fractured-shield]

Find the word tag

thanks for the tags @willtheweaver and @the-golden-comet!!

Rules: Use the word finder in your WIP/Story document to find the given words, and share the sentence/paragraph where the word occurs my words: slip, knot, loose, thread, freeze, fall, fight, forfeit your words: wilt, daydream, cliff, overhear

Slip: Oenith caught her by the wrist, like she thought the smaller girl would slip off into the crowd the moment she got the chance. “Gods’ sake, they’ll have your hide if you’re late again. Don’t forget you’re here for the butcher, not the council convoys. And you should’ve come earlier if you wanted to see them, I’m sure they’re already at the oak-hall by now.”

Knot: Therien tried to tidy her hair as well. For a moment, she considered leaving it loose, but the winds would only grow stronger once they left the city, and then it would only tangle further and be even more of an embarrassing mess. She worked the worst of the knots from it with her fingers, then quickly shaped it into two braids, and wove them both together as best she could without looking. She was grateful she couldn’t see what it looked like, mousy and strawlike as it was, and tried not to think about it.

Loose: There were loose books on one arm of the sofa, and next to them her mother’s yellow shawl with its brightly embroidered flowers hung neatly folded. “Welcome home,” her papa said finally as he stood, voice choked with barely contained emotion. “I…is it alright if I—” Therien half turned, nodding without knowing the question, and found herself lifted off her feet into a spine-popping embrace. He twirled her in a little circle and she laughed despite her fatigue, high pitched and childish. He set her back onto her feet and gave a decisive nod despite the tears brimming in eyes that looked just as tired as she felt.

Thread: The guards really should be made aware, if there was more unrest around the Alliance council than normal. And that was something else he had to discuss with Hal. The riot, the goblins attacking the Cefa region, the dragon-plague moving more quickly…it all carried the stench of war, the faint thread of warning smoke that made him want to run, without anything tangible to run from.

Freeze: And yet, Therien hadn’t been that afraid of the dragons. They hadn’t seemed like anything more to fear than buire deer, or the sharp-horned bulls people drove into the market to sell. Just…animals, predictable in their behavior once you learned it. The Lochieru sovereigns and their chill voices and summoned fire were what had frozen her blood still within her.

Fall: “Come look at this.” They spoke calmly as ever, but the vivid green of their eyes flashed sharply. They sifted a hand through the upturned soil, letting it fall through their fingers back to the ground. It was dry and crumbling, but no different than Therien expected it to be, from the lack of rain. Assuming it did rain eventually, there was plenty of time for it to recover with a few seasons of carefully-planned planting, or so it seemed to her. “So? Isn’t it supposed to look like that?” It seemed Condel shared her sentiments. They pointed at the dry, silty earth, the brown bits of dead root and unearthed rock. “That’s stone. Was stone.”

Fight: For a moment, in the dim light, her papa seemed less withdrawn and forlorn—just as much a soldier as the Golden Swordsman. Before her was a grim, tall figure in plain armor, unassuming yet resolute, someone who served on Maithyr’s famed war-court and kept a precarious peace in a room of heroes and kings. She’d never seen her papa in a real fight, outside of sparring or Tarnuvin’s festival games. She’d always had a hard time imagining it, gentle and placid as he seemed. But, no—this made sense, too. She felt safe, behind him. 

Forfeit: not found in the new drafts of ch 1-8 apparently...?

open tag for anyone who wants to join! doing open tags until I get caught up I think

tag list: @just-emis-blog @orions-quill @honeybewrites @leahnardo-da-veggie @robin-the-blind-sniper-rifle

[amberskyyking]

Uhm excuse me but HOW DID THIS COME OUT OF MY OWN PAINT??!! I’ve only ever done like landscapes and flowers??!! And now I have an oil of FOX WITH A CACTUS??!!

… Should I paint more commanders with houseplants?

(Edit - I did! Plant Buire is apparently a series now!)

Part 2: Commander Wolffe and his Wolfsbane

[stellevatum]

🌪 ― a scary memory.

Concordia, Mandalore System 13 Years Before the Battle of Geonosis Triggers: Self-harm, Gore

Sunlight dapples through the green of the forest-- what little there was left. The forest moon of Concordia wasn’t much of a forest anymore-- the resources stripped out of desperation and greed as its planet died away until it was nothing sandy wasteland. Jango’s people had been left hiding among the abandoned mines and logging camps; both harassing and being hunted by Death Watch.

Kar had taken advantage of her buir’s distraction-- too busy communing with the Mandalore and other alore-- to explore the creek beyond the camp. Abandoned mining equipment scattered the area, a few mining droids long since function. All had been there enough for the plants to reclaim the. She swore she saw the telltale signs of an adult shatual rub on one of the trees, the bark stripped from it was fairly fresh.

One the way, she’d decided to forage. She’d missed her evening meal the night before for failing yesterday’s lesson, and this morning it was halved for repeating something inappropriate she heard one of the other members of their camp say. As long as she made sure there had been no sign of this on her she was in the clear. Lying, sneaking and stealing was fine-- she was only punished if she had been caught. In the heavily monitored and rationed camp, it made things challenging. But he never said she couldn’t take from outside the camp.

After a small meal of berries and plants, she found herself in a gully-like creek bed. The size of gully gave sign that it could flood deeper and wider than at the moment. Currently it was trickling enough to cover her ankles and lower calves as she waded though to the other side. Kar tried to guess the birds by their song-- the native fauna dwindling too-- further collateral damage in this perennial war.

The peace was eventually broken by a sharp crack. The sound of a breaking twig. And not coming from the direction of her camp. She instinctively knew the direction, but couldn’t explain why. Calmly she withdrew from the creek, boots back on, instinctively seeking higher ground to assess the situation. Higher up in the rocks that framed the creek bed’s gully, Kar lay low in the greenery, the hood of her drab tunic pulled over her head to help blend in the greens and browns. It wasn’t long until she spotted them.

A scout, maybe late teens, young adult-- no more than twice her age. While they only had chest plate, their colors a glaring livery of Death Watch. She tensed, a sensation began deep in the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t fear, not entirely, anger and concern mingled with adrenaline kicking in as her mind was forced to make a decision. They were all alone, as far as she was aware, and breaking off now would alert them. But if she stayed there-- what would stop them from finding the camp?

She eyed a large, smooth stone next to her. The sort that just bare fit in one hand, but better in two. She’d come to her decision. Shifting as close to the edge without disturbance as she could, Kar would time her jump. Closer, closer, closer. An ambush predator waiting for the right moment to strike their prey.

Her instinctual timing kicked in, springing right in time, bringing the stone down like a hammer from above. It would have definitely stunned them enough for her to run, but she didn’t. Again. And again. Once more the stone was raised and brought down with force over and over. It wasn’t until her hands were red and stone was too slippery with blood that she stopped.

The scout’s face was shattered beyond recognition. Part of the skull exposed, bursting from the hair and scalp like a rotting fruit, brain matter coating the leaf litter. Some blows had landed on the throat and chest, too. She’d felt the stone bounce of the beskar chest plate. Their limbs twitched with the last impulses of life as their body began to shut down, then stopped. She felt their life ebb away in the Force.

The child stood over the body for a moment, picked up the stone, and laid down a second flurry of blows. Fear and anger was filled with a new sensation, a rush of almost euphoria. A feeling of power, control. She discarded the stone when the rush subsided unto a numb sort of relief. Like she had let something lose she had been holding on for so long.

With that came a sense of clarity, realization. She needed to hide the body. She would be punished if she returned to camp without hiding her tracks. But she needed to warn the camp. Or there could be others.

The scout was at least twice her size and then some. It needed to be out of the gully for sure. The child tugged at the corpse the best she could; taking both legs and pulling. The body had barely budged. Once more she made the attempt, only moving the corpse only slightly towards higher ground. Insects had started to buzz around.

Her next plan involved removing the few beskar plates off the body-- minimize identification and weight. And helped on minimally towards the overall weight as she packed them into her rucksack. Armed with only a tiny survivalist knife, dismemberment was not an option. She had some rope, just enough for her to get into the trees...now if she could find enough thick branches… maybe she could make some sort of sled to roll the corpse on and up where it could be buried under leaf litter…

Her hear thudded in her tiny chest, a mix of panic and frustration at herself. The small body of child pressed itself in the gully, muddied and bloodied. She screwed, up, and now found herself freezing. Her father’s expression of disappointment in her mind: she got caught. She couldn’t follow through. His phantom voice berating her that that her hesitation would kill her. Maybe it was better if Death Watch came across this failure.

It had been nearing midday when her absence went noticed. The small search party eventually came across the corpse, thick with insects. The bloodied stone. The child pressed against the gully, hugging her knees. Puffy eyes glanced up, dreading the sight of her father’s red and black armor, a plunging feeling in her stomach. The first to catch her eye was the tan and brown of her uncle Mij, then the flash of red looming caused a new wave of panic.

“Ad’ika,” It was the voice of her uncle that broke the silence, squatting down to her level. “Are you okay?”

“I couldn’t do it.” she sobbed. “They’re too big-- I messed up-- I messed up, I couldn’t do it…”

She repeated the phrases over and over. Nails dug into her cheeks and dragged, leaving deep, dark crescents and scratches into her skin. Better her to hurt herself, to go through the pain to lessen whatever punishment her father had planned after. Her uncle tried his best to deescalate, but she was like a frantic animal trying its hardest to escape some snare.

“I don’t see any other tracks,” another Mandalorian pointed out. “They were alone.”

“There will be others when they realize their scout hasn’t reported back.” Kaan remarked grimly, eyes on the brutalized corpse and not on his frantic daughter. “We’ll need to move camp earlier--”

“We’re far enough from the camp to be overlooked.” The dappled sunlight bounded on the unpainted beskar of Mandalore’s armor. “If we keep our activity low, we can go unnoticed. Move like we planned.”

Jango on the other hand watched Mij grounding and calming Kar, eventually catching her terrified expression as Mij picked her up to carry her back to camp. A small pang of sympathy for her, and perhaps some concern. He was not much older than her when he killed his first man--but it was clean blaster shot. The scout's head was barely recognizable as such. A lot of anger behind that sort of violence for someone that young.

Something to keep watch of, he noted.

“Dispose of the body further down the creek, just in case.” Jango ordered the other two adults Kar was too overwhelmed to recognize. Silver helmet tilted towards the statue like man next to him.

“Be kind to her.” The Mandalore stated. Watching Mij make his way past them, carrying Kar back to camp. The girl looked at them with wide, wild eyes, silent.

"Not everyone gets a clean first kill..."

[krispyswips]

Familiarity

Episode 4 or Ragnar's no good horrible, terrible week. I think he's just a shy kid that attracts trouble but doesn't realize it because he's surrounded by lots of loving family members that will save him.

Anyway: A drabble about Grogu and Ragnar

Part 1 - A family reunion with Paz and the Armorer

Part 2 - Some ghosts and pog soup

Part 3 - This magic kind of water

Dad said to take care of him. Din said this was his cousin.

Which maybe at the time, Grogu did not quite understand what that meant.

The human boy, maybe 12 standard years looked down at Grogu and Grogu stared back up at him.

“H-hello,” he stuttered, “I’m Ragnar.” He held himself nervously, a bit of a lisp still on his voice as he outstretched a hand. He seemed to hesitate as if realizing Grogu could not possibly reach for his hand. Instead Grogu politely waved back.

“You’re Grogu, right?” he asked, and the other boy nodded in response.

They stood in momentary repose and the human boy scratched his ankle with the back of his foot, “Can I show you something cool?” He finally asked and Grogu’s ears perked up.

“Yeah, okay!” Ragnar seemed delighted and gestured for Grogu to follow. He led them inland to where the lake lead into a small stream and up some rocks. Grogu quickly found out that the boy loved to talk and more than that it seemed that he was always distracted. His attention running from the bushes to the rocks to the sticks all while he was trying to speak.

Because of this, it became clear that Ragnar was not paying attention to where he was going.

“Have you ever had Tingilar?” He asked, but Grogu did not respond. Instead, the boy didn’t mind and continued, “You should try it, it’s really spicy.”

As they went along the boy looked behind him which meant he wasn’t looking in front of him. Grogu’s ears shot up as he nearly watched him careen off their trail and down an unknown cavern. Thinking quickly, Grogu raised his hands and yanked him to the side with the Force.

The boy, who had not been paying attention in the first place, stumbled and quickly regained his step and continued. Grogu let out a sigh of relief.

Ragnar paid him no mind and continued down the path while Grogu toddled along, “But ever since you two came for my armor ceremony, we’ve been eating nothing but turtle-dragon. Have you ever had turtle dragon?”

Again, the boy was not paying attention to his surroundings, and something slinked to the right of him. It was long and spindly, hanging from a branch. It was curled as if to strike and Grogu was quick to act. As Ragnar approached it, Grogu pushed it aside with the Force and it disappeared into the bush.

Still Ragnar was none the wiser, “And we haven’t been just eating Tingilar sometimes we put it in stir-fry, or roast it, or bake it, and Buir is even drying it out to save for later.”

They continued onward with no particular destination in mind. Grogu however was becoming increasingly annoyed with the boy’s antics. He had maybe saved him five times that day. Pushing him out of harm’s way, saving him from terrifying creatures, making sure he would not fall down an unknown pit, or land in a pile of sharp plants.

He concluded that this boy spelled bad luck, attracted it even, was made of it. By the end of the day Grogu was exhausted.

“So thanks to you and your Dad, turtle-duck is now my favorite! Okay we’re here and just in time too.”

Grogu had followed Ragnar up a steep hill and he was panting by the time they reached the summit. Ragnar finally noticed this and picked him up to sit on his lap. Then as Grogu gathered his bearings he looked off into the distance and understood why Ragnar had brought him up here.

The sun was setting which made the hilly landscape plunge into a strange sort of pattern. The shadows of the hills projecting a zigzagging shape. The sun against the lake in the distance, also made it glimmer and shine. The view was brilliant and peaceful, quiet from all the commotion from the covert.

Far too soon Ragnar hopped up and panic for this poor boy’s safety overwhelmed Grogu. He quickly toddled along after him, after all he had promised his Dad he would take care of his cousin. That was the way.

[figgiforever]

My first story set in Figgiverse is ready! 🎉🎉🎉

I decided to post it here because it wouldn't exist without Tumblr and my dear mutual @mandalorian-general <3 but I will upload it to my new account on Ao3 too.

This short (3 916 words) story is a sneak peek into my my AU called Figgiverse which focuses on my OC Tiggnella and her husband clone commando Fi. It's also my first try to write in English so I hope you'll like it :)

The title: Double date

Contains: some fluff, some angst, no gore or blood

It was another warm summer day in Kyrimorut. Tiggi was working in the garden. It was so hot and dry that they had to water the plants to get any vegetables and fruit this year. Their independence from outside sources of food improved since moving in here. The fields were full of golden wheat – almost ready to harvest. They had now plenty of nunas, marlello ducks and robas. The garden was full of vegetables and few kinds of berries brought here from other planets. After a few years of hard work and many mistakes they have learnt a lot and could be proud of setting up their own family farm. Somehow clones managed to become great farmers. But other residents were of great help, too. Right now Makke and Aku were assisting Tiggi in watering the garden. While her older daughter was using a watering can with a gentle manner, her youngest son was roughly splashing water from the bucket. Tiggi didn’t tell him anything because she was glad that he was helping her at all. He would rather be with his buir but Fi was helping Darman prepare roba before it will go to those chosen for the kitchen duty this week. He didn’t want his young son to accompany him during such a dirty job.

Tiggi put down a watering can and stretched her back. She missed using garden hose. The last one got broken in mysterious circumstances that involved Burk’yc and a sharp knife (rumors says Sh’ehn freaked out that it was a snake about to attack Makke). He was now with Mij on the barn’s roof. They were repairing it after the last thunderstorm. Briikase and Shukur were collecting vegetables for today’s dinner. The first one apparently enjoyed being on the kitchen duty while the other was just happy he didn’t have to do his chores with Sh’ehn and Kot. Those two were helping Levet with the animals. Tiggi looked around trying to find the last of her clone children when a piece of mud landed on her face. Aku was playing in the pool of muddy water he made between the loth carrots and marble-berries. She sighed.

“Could you stop wasting water, please?’’ she said in the nicest tone she could manage. “The plants need it to grow.”

Aku just ignored her.

“Maybe you would like to help ba’vodu Mij with the marlello ducks? I heard that one of them decided to have ducklings later than others and now ….”

“No.” he said and continued to play in the mud.

Tiggi just added two bars of soap to the already long shopping list. Their children were better in making clothes dirty than she had ever been. Without Fi she wouldn’t be able to take care of them. He seemed to find himself well in the role of the father. He was caring and helpful. Changing diapers and doing the laundry wasn’t a problem for him. It was making her happy that everything seemed to go well in their new life. Together they were able to face all the challenges. Tiggi just wished that she could spend more time just with Fi. Taking care of nine children was really time consuming and they barely had an occasion to be just with each other.

The movement at the edge of the garden caught her eye. It was Etain going somewhere with her younger child, Werda, in a baby carrier. Tiggi called her to come.

“Have you seen Baatir?” she asked when Etain managed to find the path between the carrots.

“He’s with Niner. They are hunting in the woods.” the younger woman replied. She looked much healthier than during the war. She finally gained some weight and didn’t look like a skeleton. Her skin got tanned from working in the fresh air.

“Oh, right. I’ve forgotten. Thanks.”

“Remember he’s not a child anymore, right?”

“He may be biologically twenty but for me he is still that seven-year-old-looking-fourteen frightened ad’ika I adopted…”

Etain smiled softly. “I guess it’s going to happen with all of us eventually, eh? You’ve just happened to experience it earlier… Anyway it’s easy to lose track with so many children. Maybe you need a break? One free day or at least an evening? I know you’re trying to do your best as a mother… but it’s not going to hurt to think about yourself sometimes. Soon you’re gonna develop bags under your eyes so big that they’ll fit Kandosii! Wait… Where is she?”

“With Lenne.” Tiggi’s voice tensed slightly.

“… I still can’t believe you let her take care of your baby.”

“She’s my mother. She can teach her things I can’t. Not since I’ve lost my wings…”

Two women were standing there in awkward silence for a moment.

“So… How do you sleep recently?” Etain asked to change the topic.

“The right question is: DID I sleep recently…”

“You really need to take a break.”

“And leave Fi with all our kids? I couldn’t do that.”

“Maybe you and he could take a break together?”

“And leave NINE kids with someone else?”

“Asking wouldn’t hurt. Someone might agree. You know, it’s not a bad thing to ask for help. We’re all family now. It’s been a hard time for all of us trying to find ourselves in this new reality. We all get tired. You don’t know how many times I think about how I used to spend time just with Darman… Our little dates on Coruscant… Or when you, me, Dar and Fi were just sitting and chatting like average young people who are in love... Of course, Qibbu’s Hut wasn’t the most romantic place. And the food wasn’t the best. But these memories are priceless. I wish I could relieve them... Being a parent demands to do some sacrifices but I wouldn’t change it for anything else.”

Etain affectionately kissed the top of Werda’s head. The toddler replied with a joyful giggle.

Tiggi smiled softly at them. She wished she could find herself in the role of the mother as easily as Etain did. It made her more mature and wiser compared to the young girl they met on Qiilura.

“If you’re so eager to help… Do you have any idea what to do with him?” she pointed her head at Aku playing in the mud.

Etain looked at the boy then she came closer and crouched next to him.

“What a nice paddle of mud you have here.”

Aku looked at her suspiciously.

“Can I join you?” she asked with a friendly smile.

The boy stared at her for a moment as if he was wondering if he could trust her. Eventually he accepted her and moved aside to make some space in the mud for her.

“I made it myself!” Aku said proudly.

“Wow! That’s amazing! Good job!”

Tiggi just stared at them in confusion while Etain started to play in the mud with Aku. Werda was wiggling in the carrier. She wanted to join them. One of the balls of mud that Aku had made earlier started to shake and then move slowly towards her.

“Hey! It’s mine!” Aku yelled and stopped the ball. Werda stared at him angrily.

“Why don’t you share some mud with her too?” Etain asked politely.

“Because then you will tell me to bath her!”

The young woman almost chuckled. “How about sharing the mud with the plants instead? And make them some nice fortresses to protect them from ants!”

She put some mud around the stem of a berry bush and shaped it into a little fortress. Then she added a leaf as a flag. Aku liked the idea and soon all mud was put under the nearby bushes.

“Good Job! They look amazing! And now the plants are safe.” Etain praised the boy. “Now, after you clean yourself, would you like to join Kad and ba’vode Vau? They are making wooden ships to launch on the lake later this afternoon.”

Tiggi watched in shock as Aku happily agreed and ran to the bathroom in the main building.

“How’s that possible that everyone has better relation with my own son then me?”

“Be patient and understanding. I believe you’ll find a common ground with him in the right time.”

“Yeah… Anyway. Remember what you said about relieving those romantic moments on Triple Zero? How about doing that again?”

Etain blinked in surprise. “You mean… You want the four of us…”

“Yes.”

“…to go back to Triple Zero…?”

“No, no ,no, no, no! I meant setting up an event here on Mandalore.”

“You mean… a date? For the four of us?”

“Regular folks call it a double-date. So what do you think?”

“I would love to but… how? Where? I don’t remember any romantic places in Enceri. Unless you want to go all the way to Keldabe…”

“Not necessary. How about preparing a romantic dinner nearby home, at the lake? Let’s say tomorrow evening? You and I could do the shopping in Enceri in the morning – I have a long list of things to buy anyway – and get something special for our boys, eh?”

“Uh-huh. You’re really into this idea, I see. Okay but who will take care of the children?”

“We’ll find someone.” Tiggi said with confidence. She was already setting up everything in her head.

***

Next morning Tiggi and Etain took the speeder and travelled to Enceri. Nobody got suspicious because it wasn’t uncommon for the two women to go shopping together. Few people even asked to buy something for them. In the city they split to find everything faster. Few hours later they were coming back home with all stuff from the list and more…

“Woo-hoo! You’re back! Did you buy extra spicy warra nuts I asked for?” Fi was already searching through the bags.

“Hey! Maybe help us bring everything inside first!” Tiggi said with a chuckle.

“Alright, alright!” he picked up few bags.

“Wait! Not this one!” she took one package from him.

“Oh? What’s inside?” Fi got intrigued.

“It’s a surprise.”

“A surprise? I love surprises! Is it something to eat?”

Tiggi chuckled. “You’ll see later! I hope you don’t have any plans for the evening…”

“No, I don’t. Why?”

“You’ll see~”

“Tell me!”

“No! It’s a surprise!”

“I don’t want to wait!”

Darman watched them argue playfully while bringing bags inside the house. He said to his wife:

“I wonder what they are up to.”

“I have no idea.” she replied in innocent voice. “But I hope you too have a free evening.”

“Huh? Yeah, I do.”

“Great.” she stated and left him even more confused to bring her secret package to the kitchen.

***

Much later that day Darman found Fi walking impatiently near the closed door to the kitchen.

“Hey, have you seen Kad’ika and Wer’ika? I can’t find them.”

“Nope. Sorry, vod.” Fi tried to look through the keyhole.

Darman stared at him in curiosity.

“What’s going on, vod?”

“They locked themselves in the kitchen!”

“Who?”

“Our wives! They are preparing a surprise for us.”

“Oh? I’m curious what it will be…”

“Me too! Do you still have the hydraulic ram? We could use it to open the door slightly and try to sneak in…”

The door suddenly opened and Tiggi came out of the kitchen. “No need to do that. It’s ready.”

“Yay! Where is it? Can I see it now?” Fi couldn’t constrain himself. His wife chuckled.

“It’s in the basket. And no, you can’t see it until we reach our destination.”

“Which is?” he followed her closely in excitement trying to take a peek into the basket.

“The lake.” Etain explained. She was holding another basket. “We’re going to spend this evening nicely… Just the four of us.”

“Yay!” Fi yelled happily and rushed to help his wife with carrying everything.

“But what about our children? I can’t find them anywhere!” Darman worried.

Fi froze in the middle of opening the basket. Tiggi used this moment to take it back from his hands.

“Don’t worry. We’ve found babysitters.”

“For all of them? For... ELEVEN children in total??” Darman was in a shock.

“Yes, darling. No worries.” His wife assured him. “This evening we can rest, relax and spend some time only with each other.”

“Perfect!” Fi grinned and picked up Tiggi with the basket. Darman and Etain just giggled, grabbed each other hands and followed the other couple to the lake. It was going to be a pleasant evening.

***

After a few minutes of walking they reached the lake. No one wanted to go all the way around it to reach their spot so they took the wooden boat. It wasn’t very impressive (the clones built it themselves) but big enough to fit the four of them and two baskets. The men persisted to paddle instead of using engine attached to the backside of their vehicle. In the meantime their wives were supposed to sit on the bench and enjoy the view.

The surface of the water was shining in the rays of the setting sun. Insects with glittering wings were flying right above the lake all around them. It reminded Etain of Qiilura and how she met Darman. It still wasn’t a fully pleasant memory – she had a very tough time there. But it made her stronger and gave her the most loving and loyal husband she could ask for.

Darman was staring at his wife with adoration while paddling. For him she looked beautiful everyday, even early in the morning, but in this moment she was even more stunning. Her gaze focused far away while she watched the nature around them, apparently lost in her thoughts. Her ginger hair seemed to burn in the last rays of the sun. He felt so happy at this moment.

In the meantime Tiggi was half-heartedly arguing with Fi.

“I can’t let you do all the work while I’m just sitting here and resting.” she stated.

“You and Etain have prepared everything for this date so it’s fair enough if we pay off by taking us all to the destination.” Fi replied while admiring how pretty his wife was while trying to be frustrated at him. Her eyes were betraying her. Whenever she looked at him they were always full of love and it was making him feel like the luckiest man alive.

“Besides, I thought you like to stare at me…” He winked.

Tiggi chuckled. “Oh, I absolutely love to admire your body~” she wiggled her eyebrows. “So… I suppose I can’t make you change your mind, huh?”

“No. Unless you swap me and I’ll be able to take a peek inside the basket...”

“Absolutely not!” Tiggi pulled the basket closer to herself and they both burst out with laugher.

Soon they reached their destination and pulled the boat onto the shore. There was a small beach with soft, golden sand. Close enough to see the bastion between the trees but far enough not to be bothered by anyone.

Together they spread out the a picnic blanket. Fi gazed at Tiggi pleadingly.

“Okay, okay!” she chuckled. “You can unpack the basket now.”

Fi grinned cheerfully and attacked the basket with the shout of victory. Darman followed him closely. They laid out on the blanket all the goods they had found. Smoked roba strips, roasted nuna wings, baked sweet potatoes, four types of warra nuts, some fruit from their garden plus some exotic ones from the market. And a bottle of wine.

Their eyes were sparkling in excitement as they started eating without hesitation. Etain and Tiggi giggled. The feast begun. The men let their wives take as much food as they wanted then consumed the rest with a great delight.

When their stomachs were full the couples snuggled together and enjoyed the wine. Fortunately Etain remembered to pack the glasses.

“Mmm… This tastes much different than ne’tra gal… Where did you get it from? Keldabe?” Darman asked.

“From Xi’leen.” Tiggi replied.

The rest stared at her in a shock.

“What? I’ve got it as a present from senator Mevena, my dear friend. He said to use it for a special occasion. I managed to take it from the Jedi Temple before… you know…”

“So is this occasion special enough?” Fi tried to steer the chat away from painful memories and nuzzled his head against her.

“Surely.” she kissed his temple with affection.

“You know, I like it now. We should do it more often.” Darman stated while rubbing Etain’s arm. “I mean, I love our children but… it’s nice to have some time just for ourselves.”

Etain rested her head on his shoulder. “I absolutely agree.”

They all sat in silence. Two couples in their loving embraces enjoying the peacefulness, their company, the last rays of the sun above the trees, the beautiful nature around them, just their special moment…

***

“I’m going to ask one last time… Where is Aku?” Mij had been staring with a deep frown at the group of young clones. All of them had perfectly neutral faces. One of them stepped out to the front.

“I’ll talk with them and find out… but please leave us alone for a moment.”

Mij sighed.

“Fine, Baatir. You have three minutes.”

He went to the other room where Tallisibeth was showing something on the microscope to Makke. The little girl seemed fascinated. Not too far behind them, Uthan was watching the children with a proud smirk.

“How are the ladies doing?” Mij asked his wife and stood next to her.

“Very well, my dear. Tall’ika is showing Mak’ika what’s hidden in the water from the lake. The young one is curious about everything yet very careful for her age. She is skilled to be a scientist one day.”

“I’m glad to hear that. We’re going to have another apprentice soon.” he said with a proud smile while he watched their daughter patiently teaching Makke how the microscope works.

“How about the boy?”

Mij sighed heavily.

“That bad?”

“They locked him somewhere and don’t want to tell me where.”

“Heh. I’m glad I’m taking care of the girl then.” She smirked.

“You’re not helping…”

Baatir’s head popped through the door.

“Sir, I know where he is.”

Uthan patted her husband’s shoulder. “Good luck, dear.”

Mij walked towards the door.

“It seemed easier back then on Kamino… Maybe I’m just getting too old for that.” He mumbled to himself and entered the other room. The clones stood in a perfect line. Baatir spoke for them.

“Sir, I’ll tell you where Aku is and I’ll take the blame on me...”

“No way! You can’t do that!” one of the clones opposed.

“We’ll take the blame on us as a team!” the third one said and the rest agreed.

Mij had to stop himself from sighing again.

“Fine, just please tell me where he is.”

All of them pointed at the bulletproof chest in the corner of the room. Gilamar walked over there, unlocked it and slowly opened. Aku burst out immediately, punched him in the face and sprinted towards the door. He tried slaloming between his brothers but Burk’yc managed to catch him. The boy started screaming and wiggling in his arms.

“Let him go…” Mij groaned while holding a hand to his bleeding nose. Burk’yc let his younger brother go and they all watched him storming out of the room in silence. Baatir just gave Mij a tissue.

Aku ran at full speed through the corridor, dodged Laseema and Jilka chatting and slipped into a random room. He closed the door, turned around and realized where he got himself locked. Next to now empty fireplace in an old armchair Walon Vau was sitting and knitting. Nearby Kad was playing with his toys on the floor. Werda was laying in her carrier and being closely watched by Mird. The old man didn’t even look up.

“Greetings, young one. You seem lost. Come, sit down. I bet Kad will gladly share his toys with you.”

The boys stared at each other in silence. Eventually the older one extended his hand holding one of his toy speeders.  Aku came closer, took it and started quietly playing with him. Suddenly something hit him in the back. He turned around and realized it was Werda’s teether. The little girl was grinning at him cheerfully. Mird made disappointed growl and took the teether back to her only for it to be thrown at Aku again. Mird whined in frustration and stared at its owner.

“Mird’ika, the young ones have to train their aim somehow. Besides I would be grateful if you could keep your own offspring in line…” Vau raised a thread of wool from which the tiny strill hung.

“Lord Carud, please, let it go.” he gently unattached it and put it back on the ground. The puppy whined in protest.

“Go play with your siblings.”

It looked at the other two puppies playfully fighting nearby. The last thing it wanted was to get another beating from its siblings. It walked over to Werda and curled up on her belly. She began gently petting it and soon both of them fell asleep.

Walon smirked slightly. He enjoyed the peaceful moment and continued knitting another blanket for Werda.

***

The sun was almost fully set. In the last of rays of the sun on the rooftop a winged woman was crouching. First wrinkles were decorating her face. The evening breeze was blowing her loose hair gently. A sharp gaze of her blue eyes was wandering across the lake to the opposite shore. She smiled softly at the view of two couples relaxing and enjoying each other company on the blanket. Some voices reached her ears and she looked down at the front yard beneath her bare feet.

It was already covered in shadow so the residents of Kyrimorut started bringing the tables and benches out to eat dinner there. She closed her eyes and breathed in a cooling evening breeze. The infant in her arms cooed.

“Shh…” she rocked it and wrapped her wings tighter around them both.

Below some children were laughing and running around. The older ones were helping adults bring the food and plates to the tables. Briikase and Shukur were arguing on which side of the plates forks should be placed.

The baby cooed again.

“Shush… Don’t worry little one, I’m here…” She smiled softly and gently stroked baby’s pouting face. “Your mamawill be back soon. Don’t worry, she didn’t abandon you. She wouldn’t…” the woman’s voice cracked. “She’s not like me…”

She gazed down again. The view of the family full of life, with lots of joyful children running around, with everyone helping each other, with their laughs and little talks… It all reminded her of her own home. The one she lost long time ago.

“Hey, Lenne!” Ruusan shouted from the ground. She was holding her little daughter in her arms. “Come down! The dinner is ready!”

Lenne smiled at the two. Not everybody in Skirata clan accepted her presence (Fi hardly ever gave her more than a disgusted look) but Ruu was always nice to her. The woman waved at the young girl in her friend’s arms. She smiled and waved back.

“I’m coming. Hold on, Kandosii.”

The moment she spread her wings the baby giggled happily. Lenne couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You surely have an allasian soul… Off we go!”

She floated down to join her… companions. She wouldn’t dare to call them family. Not yet… Maybe never.

[justalittletomato]

The Fortress gardens were greenhouses deep within the Labryinth of caves. The irrigation supplied by the River that was within the very same caves.

At first the Garden had been meant as a reprieve, like they once had on Sundari before the Siege, as the year passed this was no longer the case. With dwindling supplies likely as the Empire continued to grow in power it was clear the Gardens would be more of a necessity.

Angel planted the many seeds, they had collected. Little Ares and Eris and even little Feral toddled about their tiny toes squishing the loose dirt.

Savage helped till the ground for more.

Starlight had tugged their fine clothes up and hands in the earth. The first batch of carrots. Little Aster pawing at the earth alongside her Buir.

Cressie munching away at a fresh carrot with delight already eyeing another from the pile.

It was Maul who stared angrily at the gardens. What were they doing? What did they lower themselves to doing?

Little Cress raises up a carrot to Maul, offering the food with a smile.

Maul gives a half hearted smile.

“He pulled that one all by himself!” His Starlight says, there’s a look upon their face that Maul looks away from. Understanding? Concern?

—-

“We were meant to give them all they needed.”

Savage frowns at his brothers pacing.

“Brother we have.”

“Planting food? Making stores of supplies?”

“It is more than either of us were ever given and you know this. We are giving them all they need, it may not be what you envisioned.”

Maul still held the carrot in his hand.

“It is not.”

“I can’t change what you desire, but do try to remind yourself that your Star and your children are safe and cared for.”

Savage leaves his brother to once again help. His own little ones eagerly going up to show him sweet potatoes they would happily have roasted later.

Maul watches as his Star and his own children continue to dig at the earth. Content and smiles as they find more.

It is not what he had envisioned….but It was what they needed…

@patchiefrog @eyecandyeoz @gran-maul-seizure @by-the-primes @stardustbee @literatureandqueen @apocalypticwafflekitten @storm89

[morganwrites-starwars]

Time is a social construct pt. 23

Mandalorian Time Travel AU

Summary: Din is trying his best, ok? But between trying to find a teacher for his magic kid and learning there were other Mandalorians who follow a different creed, Din is very confused and lost. So when he ends up on a plant that his HUD says is Manda’yaim and encounters two teens on the run from a group of dar’mandas called Death Watch, Din figures he may as well help them. He never meant to adopt them. Or become Mand’alor.

Masterlist

<Back/Next>

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            The kids were up to something and weren’t trying to hide it. Din didn’t know if that meant he’d need to teach them about subtlety, if they didn’t think he’d notice, or if they didn’t care. Din took solace in the fact that they weren’t including Jango too. That did leave the two of them alone as they darted between stalls and shops, and Jango kept making little remarks. Din was questioning if this current Mandalore was just failing in teaching subtlety.

         Din was just considering approaching his kids as they left another stall- a stall selling various pieces of metal works. Obi-wan whipped around towards him and whispered frantically to their group. Bo-Katan moved over to a group of younger ade being watched over by their buire as they played. She talked to the buire, gesturing to Din. Din stopped in his tracks and sighed as the adults laughed and nodded to Bo-Katan.

         “That looks fun,” Jango commented.

         “Yeah.” Din sighed. Bo-Katan walked back over to Din, and the buire said something to their ade. They exclaimed and began to follow after Bo-Katan. It was cute, the 7 ade following after a serious-looking Bo-Katan. Obi-wan and Satine were laughing at him.

         When Bo-Katan reached Din, she turned to her little followers and announced, “This is Din. He’s a beroya and fought Kry’tsad to save my vod’e!”

         The ade gasped, and Din had 7 pairs of awe-filled eyes turned on him. He was then bombarded with overlapping questions in basic, Mando’a, and what Din was pretty sure of Ryl. Two of the ade, a Twi’lek, and a human female, latched onto his legs. Din looked to Jango for help but saw Bo-Katan dragging him away. Jango was laughing, the traitor. The buire of the ade currently trying to climb him and talk to him was laughing as they walked closer. They didn’t try to help Din, but they did send him sympathetic looks.

         Din tried to field questions while spreading his attention equally. He watched as Jango and his ade walked into another shop, feeling a mix of pride and annoyance.

         “Is it true that you fought off 10 Kyr’tsad by yourself?”

         “Is your ad really a Jetii?”

         “Are you really a Taung, and that’s why you don’t take off your buy’ce?”

         “Did you really kill 6 Jedi with your bare hands?”

         “That was Mand’alor Fett, di’kut!”

         “Sheb!”

         “Rid’ika!” One of the parents scolded sharply. The ad, Rid, apologized. Great, Din now knew one of their names.

         “Ok, ok,” Din took advantage of the moment of silence. “One at a time, please.”

         The kids bickered with each other on who got to go first, and Din sent a comm to Obi-wan not-quite begging him to come back. Leave the other Mandos to their scheming. Aren’t Jedi supposed to help people?

         Obi-wan left him on read. Din would have to talk to Jinn about his Padawan’s manners.

         One of the ade- the little Twi’lek- tugged on his hand to get his attention. Din kneeled so he could better heat the ade, so he didn’t loom over them.

         “’Lek?” Din asked in his softest voice.

         “Are you really gonna unite Mandalore?” The little girl asked. Din hesitated in the face of her open and earnest expression. Din didn’t know where she’d gotten that idea- if Bo-Katan had brought it up or if that rumor was spreading about him. Despite Din’s feelings on the matter, he didn’t want to disappoint these ade. They were all looking hopefully at him.

         “I’m going to do my best to help,” Din answered. Not a total lie. “That’s not a job only one person can do.”

         The ade seemed happy with their answers and continued to ask him questions, many about his bounty hunting and how he’d met Satine and Obi-wan. Those were questions he could easily answer, and he did so. Din was still checking in on his ade’s location- even in the heart of Sundari, there was a chance of a Death Watch attack. Din trusted that Obi-wan and Jango could protect Satine, Grogu, and Bo-Katan, but he was still going to be on watch. Plus, they were all wearing some sort of head covering to protect their identities. Not that Din wasn’t recognizable enough to give that away. But the Mandalorians in their section seemed happy to pretend they didn’t know them.

         After maybe 15 minutes, the ade ran out of questions- and wow, there were a lot of wide rumors and stories spreading about Din- and began to demand Din show off some of his skills. Fortunately, the ade’s buire stepped in and redirected their attention. One of the buire- Rid’s if Din’s memory served, stepped up to him.

         “ Thank you for that,” they said. “You’ve become quite the tale among the ade. Some of the adults too. My name is Ove, by the way.”

         “ It was no problem,” Din replied. “ My ade seemed eager to distract me.”

         Ove laughed. “ They certainly did seem like it. I’m sure it is for a good reason.”

         “I doubt it ,” Din said with a sigh.

         “It is good to see them able to act like kids,” Ove said, looking over to where Din’s ade were standing outside a shop with their heads bent together. “ It has been a hard time for them .”

         Din nodded. “ Makes up for the dread.”

         They laughed together before Ove said goodbye, but not before inviting Din back to entertain the ade another time. Din found himself seriously considering it. When Din walked towards his little group, they actually allowed him to get close enough to talk to them. He was met with innocent smiles.

         “Have fun?” Obi-wan asked.

         “…Yes,” Din answered as he took Grogu from Satine. Grogu huffed and pulled himself closer to Din. Din chuckled. “No need to be jealous, Grog’ika. What were you kids doing, and do I have to worry about it?”

         “You’ll see, and it depends,” Bo-Katan helpfully answered.

         “Great.”

         “Jango is helping me talk to some of the Haat Mando’ade. I want to hear the opinions of the citizens,” Sainte added. Jango didn’t look terribly thrilled at the idea of re-introducing himself to his people. Din didn’t feel pity for him. Serves him right.

         “That’s smart,” Din praised. Satine smiled at him.

         “We also wanted to introduce Obi-wan,” Bo-Katan said. “Ya’know, introduce a non-threatening Jetii.”

         Obi-wan frowned. “Hey-“

         Din nodded, purposefully cutting Obi-wan off. “An ikaad Jetii is more likely to be welcomed by the Mando’ade.”

         “Oh, come on-“

         “Better than Dooku. Or Yoda, the troll,” Jango said, muttering the last bit. Obi-wan seemingly had given up. Din patted his shoulder.

         “You are a good fighter and Jetii,” Din consoled Obi-wan.

         “Yeah, Obi,” Satine said.

         “Vor’e,” Obi-wan said with a smile. “And don’t forget Bo and Jango talking up Din. Especially to the buire.”

         Bo-Katan winced, but Jango met Din’s stare head-on. Bo-Katan quickly copied him, and Din found himself in the middle of a staring contest with the two of them.

         “Oh, please,” Satine sighed. “Jango, stop trying to pawn off your responsibilities. Din, just accept that you are becoming popular. And Bo, stop instigating.”

         They dropped it, but as they continued to walk around the market, Din began to notice the people looking at him. There was less curiosity and more intrigue.

         “Don’t worry,” Obi-wan whispered to him. “I made sure to compliment Jango’s political return behind his back for you.”

         “Good ad,” Din said and patted his head. Grogu reached out and patted Obi-wan too.

         They all stopped in front of a store selling various types of blades. Bo-Katan was practically pressing her face into the transparisteel of the shop front. She was fixated on a vibroblade. It was small and discrete. Probably wouldn’t do too much damage, but it would fit nicely into a boot.

         “What are you looking at, Bo?” Satine asked as she stepped up next to his sister. Bo pointed the knife out, and Satine bit her lip. Din could see that she was warring with herself. Satine worried about Bo-Katan’s safety, and a vibroblade would help the girl defend herself. But Satine was still adjusting to the thought of carrying around anything that wasn’t a stun blaster. Armor was easy enough to adjust to; it was inherently protective, and any deadliness was an add-on. Din would’ve offered to buy Bo-Katan the blade, but he thought it was important for Satine to make the decision.

         Eventually, Satine sighed. “Ok. Do you want it?”

         Bo-Katan lit up. “Really?! I love this less stuck-up you, Satie!”

         Satine frowned as Bo-Katan grabbed Obi-wan and Jango and pulled them into the store. “I wasn’t stuck up. Right?”

         “Uhh.” Din didn’t want to answer that. “You are, uh, very opinionated and stubborn. Still are, but you’re better about it?” Satine, thankfully, didn’t get offended at Din’s fumble (Grogu was laughing away). She just nodded. “Do you want a blade too?” Satine gave Din a look he couldn’t read. “It would make me feel better?”

         Satine shook her head, but Din could see her smile. “I’ll think about it.”

         They walked into the shop. The shopkeeper looked over at them from where they were talking to Bo-Katan. They looked faintly shocked as if they couldn’t believe Satine was walking in. Din shifted to stand in front of her. The shopkeeper looked away quickly. Din and Satine walked over to the rest of their group. Obi-wan and Jango were bickering about blasters vs lightsabers. At the same time, Bo-Katan listened intently to the shopkeeper explain the specs of the vibroblade.

         On one of the display stands, something caught his eye. It was a long metal tube with holes and a sharpened tip. Din wracked his brain for the name of it but came up blank. The merchant saw what Din was looking at.

         “Ah, I see this bes’bev has caught your eye,” they said with a smile. They walked over and picked the tool up to show it off. “It functions both as an instrument and a weapon. It is a beskar blend, so it is very strong. And this-“ they pointed to the engraving on the side of the bes’bev- “was hand engraved by my riduur. It depicts the beautiful landscapes of Mandalore of old.”

         “It’s beautiful,” Satine murmured. She shook her head, as if breaking a trace. “But I’m afraid I only have the credits for my sister’s blade on me today.”

         “That is alright,” the merchant said, setting down the bes’bev. Bo-Katan took Satine to the droid manning the front desk to buy the blade. The merchant stayed by Din, and Jango and Obi-wan moved to stand next to him. All three men were looking at the bes’bev and between each other.

         “I could put it on hold if you’d like to come back for it?” the merchant suggested.

         “ You would do that?” Jango asked, faintly surprised.

         “It is nice to see the Duchess widening her horizons, ” the merchant admitted. “I believe a bes’bev is the perfect weapon for her at this point, elegant but still dangerous. I hope it will help in changing her views.”

         Din agreed, and the merchant marked the bes’bev on hold for a week. Din was pretty sure he couldn’t afford it on his own, but he’d probably be able to convince Jango or someone else to pitch in.

         They exited the shop, Bo-Katan showing her new vibroblade off to Din, who made sure to react with the appropriate amount of awe and sternness in making sure she would be able to use it properly. Grogu was also watching, fascinated by the swishing movements. Satine was talking to Jango- the two getting into debates frequently. They had stopped getting heated for the most part, but Din kept half an ear on it just in case. Obi-wan was walking silently, his lips pulled down into a slight frown. Din was about to as the Jetii what was wrong as they turned down a side road, but Obi-wan stopped in his tracks.

         “Obi?” Satine asked in worry. Obi-wan looked around frantically, causing Din and Jango to reach for their weapons. Grogu whined, his ears flattening. His son’s eyes widening at something behind him that alerted Din to the danger.

         Without a second thought, Din tossed Grogu to Satine and spun on his heel with his blaster at the ready.

         There was a hiss, gasps from the group, and a bright red light began to descend on Din. It was too close to shoot, so Din lifted his arm to block the blade. He grunted with the force of it- the attacker had dropped down from above- but despite the awful sound of a lightsaber (for Din was sure that’s what it was- despite its red color) on beskar, he held firm. He managed to push his attacker back in order to pull out his own vibroblade, not that it’d do much against a lightsaber. Of all the times to forgo his spear.

         The attacker- a Zabrack Din was able to identify them as- lunged again. This time it was towards Satine and Grogu. The Zabrack moved unnaturally quickly, so Din couldn’t get in between his ade and the attacker. But Obi-wan was and met the red lightsaber head-on with his own. The Zabrack growled. Obi-wan’s face scrunched in effort, so Din stepped in as he barked orders to Jango.

         “ Get them out of here!” Din didn’t wait for a response but noted that Jango quickly grabbed Satine and Bo-Katan and began to run. Din hoped that one of them had commed for help. Preferably a Jetii.

         Din raised his blaster to shoot the attacker’s back, but he pulled back from Obi-wan in time to deflect it straight back at Din. The shot hit his pauldron, and Din could already feel the bruise that would form. But it didn’t stop Din from moving forward to meet the Zabrack’s blade. At the same time, Obi-wan moved to hit the attacker’s back with his own lightsaber while Din kept the attack’s blade occupied.

         The Zabrack grinned- an unpleasant sight made worse by the unnaturally yellow eyes- and hit a button on his blade’s handle. Another equally red blade sprung from the back and nearly skewered Obi-wan. The Jetii barely managed to avoid it, but it did singe his arm. Din grunted and pulled back, and Obi-wan did the same.

         The attacker was still grinning ferally as he looked between Din and Obi-wan. “Run back to your Master, little Jedi,” he purred. “I’m not here for you.”

         Obi-wan’s face hardened. “As if.”

         Din took the opportunity to rush the Zabrack. The Zabrack wasn’t taken by surprise at the motion- Din was pretty sure he could also use the Force- but he wasn’t ready for Din straight up tackling him. It was a weakness Din had noted in all of the Jetii he’d seen fight. They never expect you to charge them. Granted, that was probably due to the lightsaber, but Din was mostly well-protected from those. Mostly, the sharp burn that appeared on the back of his thigh where there were no plates, reminded him.

         They fell to the ground and rolled. When they came to a stop, Din lashed his fist out and caught the Zabrack’s cheek. He was rewarded with a gnashing of teeth and the feeling of being shoved over by a brick wall. Din managed to roll to his feet and partially resist the movement, but he was still pushed back enough that the Zabrack could get it.

         But it was too late. The commotion had drawn in Mandalorians from the street. Fully armored and armed Mandalorians who apparently had taken a liking to Din. And, go figure, when faced with 20 fully trained warriors and a Jedi, the Zabrack retreated. He jumped, making it farther in the air than was natural, until he reached a rooftop. Some of the Mandalorians with jetpacks followed him.

         “Get to your ade,” one of them told Din as he prepared to follow. “We will follow him and lead the other Jetii to him.”

         Din nodded, and the Mandalorians dispersed. Din rushed to Obi-wan, but besides the slight burn, he seemed unharmed.

         “Are you ok?” Din still asked, gently grabbing Obi-wan’s arms.

         “Yeah, you?” Din nodded, choosing to ignore his wound. It didn’t hurt much yet, and he could still walk on it.

         “Let’s get back to the place now.”

         The two of them began to run, but as they reached the main street, they stopped. Because all around the city, there was an explosion in the distance. Screaming and blaster fire erupted, and Mandalorians zipped through the air as they fought. Din saw a group fly by and felt the breath lead him as he finally discovered where the explosion was.

         Death Watch was here. And they had bombed a hospital.

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Masterlist

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