#plo thirst be real

[dukeoftheblackstar]

Plo Koon's knees.

On my neck or whatever. Bye.

[hellowkatey]

Febuwhump Day 22

Prompt: Burned

Read on AO3

This is sort of a sequel to day 11 (hallucinations), which you can read here

Learning to Fly

Ahsoka can do a lot of things.

Take out an entire battlement of battle droids on her own with two lightsabers and a shot of stim.

Jump out of ships without a parachute.

Install a hyperdrive in under five hours.

Fly a Delta-7 (though landing a Delta-7 is more of a maybe).

Do a triple backflip off the high rocks in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

Beat Rex in a hot dog eating contest.

Survive being hunted for sport.

Break into and out of the Citadel.

And yet...

She finds herself holding her hand under a stream of cold water, cursing at the blisters that are already forming across her palm. Because somehow Ahsoka Tano can efficiently kill four Mandalorians while still tied up, but taking a dish out of the oven is what brings her to her knees. 

Common sense should have led her to realize that grabbing the pan with her bare hand wasn't a very good plan, but she was distracted by trying to figure out how to reset her data router, which was blaring an annoying noise.

Tears start to form in the corners of her eyes. Not from the sting of the burn, (it's practically a papercut next to the burn of a training saber) but because everything is just so hard. She didn't realize when she walked away from the Jedi Order just how difficult it would be.

She didn't expect it to be easy. She didn't expect to walk out into a galaxy she has never explored besides in the context of a battle and immediately succeed... but trillions of sentients across every system live on their own every day, don't they? So why is she struggling so much?

She turns off the water, wiping away the tears before they fall, dragging her feet as she walks to the little nest of blankets she calls her bed. The listing for this apartment said it was "cozy" and "modest", but Ahsoka has been in prison cells larger than this and with better accommodations. The kitchen is threadbare-- nothing more than a standalone reheater with a range cooker on top, and a refrigerator, but even those two appliances take up most of the wall space on that side of the room. The only other thing in her apartment is her "bed" and a pile of clothes in the center of it all because there is no closet or chest to put them in. Jedi don't really keep possessions-- and so she practically has nothing.

And that's been her life since she left. Either sitting here, staring at the bland gray walls, moving that pile of clothes to a different location to see if it makes any difference (it doesn't), or walking the lower levels of Coruscant looking for some kind of work-- any kind of work. But she runs into the problem again-- she can handle a lightsaber and fire a blaster and jump from high places, but when it comes down to it, she has no real skills to put on a resume to find work. No real experience besides maybe being a mechanic, but the places she did go by were weary to hire a young girl with no references.

She cradles her hand in her lap, tracing along the edges of the raised, inflamed skin. It stings to the touch. Right about now she'd really kill for some bacta. Or even a sterile bandage. Or a clone medic cleaning her up while Master Skywalker stands as near as he can without Kix yelling at him. Oh, Anakin, she thinks, those tears threatening to resurface. What I wouldn't give to have you scolding me for being reckless while you wrap my hand in bacta strips.

Maybe that's what's missing from her barren apartment and barren life. It's not like her room on The Resolute or in the Jedi Temple were any less plain, but at least she had Anakin barging in every few minutes to ask her questions or show her something he found on the holonet. Or Master Kenobi coming to get her with a cup of caff or tea when they had particularly early starts because he knows she is not a morning person.

Rex sitting next to her on the bunk while they read through the hilarious comments on the holonet of people thirsting after her master... and her grandmaster.

Fives randomly opening her door and throwing in a brew to test her Jedi senses-- if she caught it, she got to join them down in the break room.

Master Plo popping in after Zygerria and holding her as she finally sobbed over the stress of everything that had happened.

If Ahsoka wasn't crying before, she's crying now because Force, her life as a Jedi wasn't anything extravagant but it was her life, and that was her family. And now she's sitting in an apartment with raggedy blankets for a bed and a pile of clothes in the center of her room as a closet.

And she's alone. Actually, truly, alone.

Somehow, when she was at the Temple or on the ship, she could be the only one in the room but not feel as though she was alone. She never realized the privilege of not knowing what it feels like to be lonely until now. Loneliness is a dull ache that starts as a tight knot in her stomach and slowly overtakes her entire body. It's an insidious virus, creeping into every cell of her being until it begins to fester and sting and pull her into a state of hazy numbness.

Maybe I should have accepted their offer to return. Maybe I shouldn't have left so hastily.

They're thoughts that plague her every morning when she wakes up and every night when she tries to fall asleep. Maybe this, and maybe that, and maybe if she could go back she would make a different decision. Or maybe she would walk down those stairs again, leave Anakin holding her beads between his fingers all the same.

Ahsoka grabs a clean shirt and tears off a strip at the bottom. She wraps her wound loosely, pausing to wipe away the stray tears that still leak from her eyes. Anakin isn't here. Neither is Master Kenobi or Rex or Fives or Plo Koon. There is no one but herself to tend her wounds, and that is just the way it is now. Ahsoka can do a lot of things, and learn to be on her own will have to be one of them.

[yasbxxgie]

Black athletes are often portrayed as gods—though not always saints. They’re gravity defying (Air Jordan), invincible (Iron Mike), supercharged (if Usain Bolt’s last name didn’t exist, we would have had to invent it), or all-around supernatural (Magic Johnson). These monikers help sell magazines and sneakers, but there may be a deeper bias at play. New research suggests that whites think of blacks in general as superhuman, or at least more so than whites. And this bias may have implications far outside the wide world of sports.

Adam Waytz of Northwestern University and Kelly Marie Hoffman and Sophie Trawalter of the University of Virginia report the results of several studies on this subject in an upcoming issue of Social Psychological and Personality Science. In one experiment, white Internet users were shown a white face and a black face and asked to decide:

1) Which person “is more likely to have superhuman skin that is thick enough that it can withstand the pain of burning hot coals?”

2) Which person “is more capable of using their supernatural powers to suppress hunger and thirst?”

3) Which person “is more capable of using supernatural powers to read a person’s mind by touching the person’s head?”

4) Which person “is more capable of surviving a fall from an airplane without breaking a bone through the use of supernatural powers?”

5) Which person “has supernatural quickness that makes them capable of running faster than a fighter jet?”

6) Which person “has supernatural strength that makes them capable of lifting up a tank?”

Blacks were selected 63.5 percent of the time, significantly more than whites. The only two items that did not differ significantly were the ones about reading minds (52 percent blacks) and falling from a plane (54 percent).

If whites see blacks as excelling at superhuman physical tasks, do whites think they’re better at everyday stuff too? In another experiment, white subjects saw pictures of a black man and a white man and judged who was more capable when it came to everyday activities like walking a dog, picking a ripe avocado, and sitting through a baseball game, as well as superhuman ones like running as fast as light, lifting up a building, and suppressing bodily needs. They also judged who would require more pain medication for various incidents such as touching a hot dish or dislocating a shoulder.

For superhuman abilities, blacks were chosen 65 percent of the time, but for everyday abilities they were chosen only 46 percent of the time, so whatever leads whites to see blacks as superhuman doesn’t apply to commonplace tasks. Meanwhile, blacks were chosen as more sensitive to pain 31 percent of the time, confirming work by the same authors: In a paper in PLOS ONE, they showed that whites, blacks, and nurses of any race see blacks as less sensitive to pain than whites, and that black NFL players are put back in the lineup sooner after injuries.

Waytz says the superhuman bias may result in part from “long-held stereotypes about toughness, aggression, physicality, and sexuality.” Whites see blacks as athletic and aggressive, and so it’s easier to picture them running as fast as a jet or picking up a tank.

Matthew Hughey, a sociologist at the University of Connecticut, notes that at the turn of the 20th century blacks began succeeding at popular sports, and “commentators began to emphasize white cognitive superiority in contrast to the supposedly savage and unbridled physical superiority of blacks. Accordingly, a popular culture narrative of ‘black brawn’ versus ‘white brains’ emerged.”

Pain tolerance would go along with that narrative, based on what Kurt Gray and Daniel Wegner called moral typecasting. In any instance of intentional helping and hurting, we perceive an agent and a patient, a doer and a doee. They found that the more you cast someone as an active doer, the less you see the person as susceptible to things being done. Villains and heroes such as Hitler and the Dalai Lama, for instance, were considered relatively impervious to pain. Fitting this explanation, Waytz and colleagues found that the more people “superhumanized” blacks, the less pain sensitivity they attributed to them.

There’s another black superhuman stereotype, one less reliant on strength. In a recent sketch by the comedy duo Key and Peele, an old black man enters a white man’s office to empty the trash. He offers a bit of cryptic wisdom regarding the white man’s troubles—“I find, the more garbage in the can, the better it feels to dump it all out”—and makes a sparkly burst of light appear with the snap of his fingers. Another elderly black man enters to fix the copier. “Sometimes things ain’t really broken; it’s the way we treat ’em that needs to be fixed,” he says, before turning on the copier with a burst of energy from his hand. A duel of supernatural powers ensues between the two older men. They exclaim in unison: “There can be only one Magical Negro.”

Key and Peele were, of course, referring to a common trope. The Magical Negro has appeared regularly in film and fiction, particularly since the early 1990s. Examples can be found in Bruce Almighty, The Green Mile, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Ghost, The Family Man, and The Matrix (both the Oracle and to some degree Morpheus). These supporting black characters often come from a poor background and use magical powers or sage advice to help struggling white protagonists find themselves and achieve success. Unfortunately, their inner lives are rarely explored and they prioritize white people’s problems over their own. “How is it that black people have these powers but they use them for the benefit of white people?” Spike Lee asked an audience at Yale in 2001. “They’re still doing the same old thing … recycling the noble savage and the happy slave.” In August, Jamil Ellis, a storyteller and writer, staged a one-man show in New York City called Magical Negro Speaks. He told me he created the show in part to protect his new daughter from “that nagging feeling that people sometimes think of you as a sidekick or as magical, and not as a fully fledged person.”

Might a superhumanizing bias help explain this persistent trope? In another experiment in the new paper, white undergrads were asked to press computer keys to place words quickly into one of two categories: superhuman or human. (The superhuman words were ghost, paranormal, spirit, wizard, supernatural, magic, and mystical; the human words were person, individual, humanity, people, civilian, mankind, and citizen.) Before each word appeared, a black or a white face appeared on the screen for 35 milliseconds, not long enough for someone to recognize it consciously, but just long enough to subconsciously prime thoughts about race. After black faces, subjects processed superhuman words faster than human words, while no difference existed after white faces.

So it appears that whites see blacks as having not just the strength and quickness of a superhero but also the mystical powers of a Magical Negro.

Well, not so fast. Waytz showed only an implicit association between blacks and mystical concepts, not explicit judgments of blacks as having occult capacities. And recall that on the explicit face-comparing task, blacks were chosen as better mind readers only 52 percent of the time. I was curious about other mystical powers, so I conducted a bit of my own research into these biases, using GuidedTrack and Amazon Mechanical Turk. Replicating Waytz’s comparing-faces procedure, using different questions and two new samples (of 85 and 74 white American adults), I found that subjects actually rated blacks as less likely than whites to have the kinds of mystical powers of the Magical Negro—telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and spell-casting. Overall, blacks were chosen 43 percent of the time. So it’s possible that this movie trope does not result from a stereotype of blacks as magical. The reason for the implicit association with magic reported in the paper demands further research. Might it have resulted from whites seeing blacks as believing in magic, rather than having magical powers? Maybe not: I found that whites judged blacks to be more superstitious only 53 percent of the time and to believe more strongly in ghosts only 45 percent of the time.

Where might the fictional trope come from, then? Some scholars suggest Magical Negroes exist in order to depict interracial cooperation in a nonthreatening way, or to reconnect cerebral white boys with their inner “swing.” (Thanks, Bagger!) Consistent with the idea that they offer a folksy soulfulness, I found that blacks were perceived as more likely than whites to rely on intuition in everyday life (62 percent) and to trust their guts making big decisions (70 percent). They’re also seen as giving better relationship advice (73 percent). As for the hocus pocus, I suspect it’s a form of cinematic affirmative action, a way to couch minorities’ differences as something “more than” rather than “less than.” The race-consciousness of 1990s America may have spurred filmmakers to theatrically ennoble certain stereotypes. Thus blacks gain their intuitive wisdom not through lack of sophistication but through supernatural gifts. They become gods, not animals.

Whatever the causes of the superhuman stereotypes and magical tropes, they appear to have real-world effects. The authors of the PLOS ONE paper write that their findings on pain attribution could explain the fact that black hospital patients receive less pain medication than whites do. The assumption of less pain and greater strength could also lead to support for police brutality against blacks. Waytz points to depictions of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and other black teenagers killed while unarmed. “You hear these stories of virtually superhuman black males charging toward the police officer or posing a larger than life physical threat,” he says. Police say they have no choice but to shoot. In the new paper they suggest that the superhuman bias could explain why black juveniles are judged more culpable for crimes than whites. They’re seen as more capable, more adult, and more responsible for their actions. For an articulation of this view, refer to what Ron Paul wrote in a 1992 newsletter: “We don’t think a child of thirteen should be held responsible as a man of twenty-three. That’s true for most people, but black males age thirteen who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such.”

So the superhuman bias potentially leads to greater abuse, reduced compassion, greater blame—and an overall estrangement. “Exoticism is linked to social marginality,” says Michael Jeffries, a sociologist at Wellesley College. “It inhibits empathy and the ability to develop a sense of linked fate across racial divides.” Waytz concurs. “Although superhumanization depictions of African Americans seem ostensibly positive in nature—in a sense it’s a great honor to depict someone as godlike or spirit-like,” he says, “ultimately we believe that superhumanization is just another way of ‘othering’ African Americans.” Superhumanization, in the end, is just dehumanization in a cape.

[dukeoftheblackstar]

@saengak ;///////; Plo going zappy zap zap ;//////////; hnnnnnng ♥ ~

AND HE LOOKS SO SERIOUS ANGRY HERE TOO OMG e////////////e

But like imagine Plo tho. Yes, just that. Just imagine him.

Electric judgment Plo, bc Canon was coward and they didn't gave us this.

also practicing some lightning impact.

Don't worry, Plo is just casually frying some criminals like other perfectly normal days.

[vipxrofshili-a-blog]

So, I’m officially back in me home town. And, my head still hurts (rip). But, before I really crack down on threads, Imma post my current Wishlist for the muses. Gonna put it under a read more though, cause it’ll be LONG, cause five muses.

General wants:

Modern au stuff, which is my own true weakness

Pokemon aus! Give them all to me

More threads in main verse with the muses that aren’t Shaak too, I love her but for real guys she’s not the only one

Fluff

Angst

Fluffy angst

Shaak specifically:

Padawan Shaak, before she was a graceful Jedi Master and more or less space Rapunzel. Most suited peeps for this are other older Jedi Masters so like, Qui Gon and Plo Koon and Mace Windu, for example.

Younger Jedi Shaak, before she was a Master but she’s a little more settled with herself, probably around the point when she first took on Fe Sun as a padawan. Same characters apply here, but with bonuses of like, bby Obi Wan and crew.

Someone confronting her during the loss of Fe Sun, specifically for comfort fluff. She needs snuggles at this point in time, and someone to probably tell her she isn’t alone on her morning

Shaak with clones, especially lil baby clones. Give me Togruta mama and her little boys, P L S

Shaak and Plo in general tbh, platonic or shipping, I don’t care. I need my clone parent bffsies back in my life again, like, holy fuck.

Shipping in general is also something I need more of for her. I love shipping stuff, fluffy smooches or heart wrenching angst, the mun has a thirst and it isn’t even funny.

Non force sensitive au where she becomes the Duchess of Shili like her bitchy mother, snark master tiger princess rocking the senate is a mighty need.

Mad Max grandma level bad ass TFA era Shaak is literally something I’d never say no to

Saesee specifically:

Same as Shaak, I want more smol Saesee. And same as Shaak, most characters within the same age range would apply to him

Saesee and little ones is something I need. He’s so good with kids it isn’t even funny okay, it’s so good and so pure. Please give your little baby muses to the goat dad

Younger Jedi Saesee, when he was real awkward and quiet and scared of everyone. Someone go give him a snuggle, maybe flatter him a bit, he deserves it

Au where he survives Order 66 and becomes this bamf pirate, fixing ships like we all know he’s excellent at.

Dark Jedi bros holy fuck. My soul needs more of Saesee and Mace, they go together so well. They aren’t bffs but, they’re definitely one of my brotps

Au where he lives to TFAs timeline and so doesn’t want to be a Jedi, he’s avoiding it at all costs, he just wants to be an old man in frigging peace.

Someone comforting just made a Jedi Saesee after he loses his master, getting snuggles and reassurance is something he’d need so badly omg

Saesee and his kids, specifically. While Saesee and little one’s are so good, when they’re his adopted little ones scuttling into his robes for hugs is so good

Sha specifically:

Baby Sha, between the tiniest youngling to the tiniest padawan. Just, itty bitty mini Kel Dor

Sha and Plo. Like, holy fuck, I need it so bad. I need travel sized Kel Dor and the full sized Kel Dor, just, at any given point. I just, need it so bad.

Au where Plo took on Sha as his padawan, because I need it. I need it so bad

Someone interacting with her after the battle of Giju, when she’s down one eye and without her padawan and her battalion

Pre Clone Wars Sha with other Jedi her own age, so anyone who would’ve been a padawan at the same time as Obi Wan and crew.

Post 66 Sha, where she’s just this bitter brooding over intelligent hella reckless mess of an ex Jedi, trying to recollect her life

Her interacting with Clones after Giju, all that awkward tension and fear and mistrust, just, yes

Cham specifically:

Him with other Twi’Leks is just, a need. Bonus points if they call him out on his shit

I need stuff where he’s interacting with Jedi during The Clone Wars, bonus points for extra shit that is bound to happen.

Cham with Clones, because you can’t tell me he wouldn’t be a massive clone sympathizer.

Someone talking with him after Hera leaves Ryloth, because there’s that good ol’ heartbreak

Cham and Hera talking about Sabine leaving, comfort hugs and stuff, that whole good angst that fuels my life force.

Interactions with other members of the Ghost Crew are also a mighty need. I want Chopper to run his foot over, and the fact this hasn’t happened yet deeply displeases me

Even though I can’t interact in it, I wanna see an au where Cham dies instead of Rhea. I just, really hate myself, and want to suffer, obviously.

Au where the clone wars actually end well and Ryloth is doing good

Senator Cham Syndulla, because yes

Nubraa specifically:

Lil bby Nubraa, the sweetest togruta prince ever

More interactions with other Imperial era senators, someone handle this child

Au where O66 doesn’t happen and this sweetie is a youngling and uber cute

Just, more Nubraa in general tbh

[florahecate]

Read More 30 Reasons Why You’re Always Hungry

The following post 30 Reasons Why You’re Always Hungry is republished from Eat This Not That by Olivia Tarantino

While some people may double check to make sure they have their keys when they leave the house, you have to make sure you have a snack. And if you forget? Let’s just hope no one is around to witness how hangry you get. You think you’re eating enough, but no matter what you put in your body, you always seem to develop maddening cravings.

So, what exactly is going on here? It turns out that hunger is a pretty complicated function and is influenced by both biological and psychological factors. (And there are also the devilish foods that make you hungrier, too!) We found some of the most common, scientifically-backed reasons why some of us are constantly ravenous. We also paired each reason why you’re always hungry with a tip that can help you fill up and finally feel satisfied!

1

You Eat A Lot of Refined Carbs

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Even if you’re eating something at every meal, if your day looks something like this—a cup of sugary, flaked cereal for breakfast, a slice of pizza or a sandwich on white bread for lunch, chips for a snack, either white rice or pasta for dinner, and then a chocolate chip cookie for dessert—your problem is that you’re constantly fueling yourself with nutritionally-deficient refined carbs. Lacking the satiating fiber of their original form, simple and refined carbs burn up quickly in your body, which spikes your blood sugar and then causes it to crash. Low glucose levels are what triggers your hunger hormones, as detailed in a Disease Models & Mechanisms review, leaving you with a craving for more carbs!

Eat This! Tip:

For slow-burning, clean sources of energy, choose complex carbs such as grains like brown rice, quinoa and triticale, cruciferous vegetables, fruits, and whole-grain sprouted bread.

2

You’re Actually Thirsty

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Did seeing that picture of water just make you forget about what you thought was a hungry tummy? A study in the journal Physiology & Behavior suggests people inappropriately respond to thirst over 62 percent of the time by eating instead of drinking. That’s because your hypothalamus regulates hunger and thirst, and sometimes it mixes up its signals. Just sipping on H2O is the solution to quelling your hunger pangs and, ultimately, helping you slim down. In fact, preloading meals with water can shave hundreds of calories from your daily intake. A study published in Obesity found that drinking two cups of water before eating led people to consume 75 to 90 fewer calories over the course of a meal.

Eat This! Tip:

Next time you’re hankering for a snack, knock back a cup of water first and wait 20 minutes. If you’re still hungry, eat something. And if you’re sick of plain ol’ H2O, whip up some of these best detox waters to rev your metabolism and boost your fat burning potential!

3

You Eat While Distracted

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Everyone knows that you eat with your eyes, but it turns out, your ears also play a role. A new study, published in the journal Food Quality and Preference, tested how our perception of the sound of eating food affects our eating habits. They had two groups of participants eat crunchy foods, one with white-noise-producing headphones and the other without. These headphones were intended to mimic everyday behaviors of distracted eating, such as watching TV or listening to music while you eat. It turned out, participants who were less aware of the sound of the food, because of the levels of white noise, ate more than those that could hear the food they were eating.

Eat This! Tip:

Step away from the TV (or computer, for all you cord-cutters out there) and lower the music during dinner. And if you’re out to dinner at a busy restaurant, maybe think about ordering something crunchy! As long as you can hear the food you are eating, it’ll make you aware of the fact that you’re actually eating food. When you’re unaware, you basically forget that you’re eating, which can lead to an increase in food consumption.

4

You’re Always Stressed Out

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While stress may shut down appetite in the short term—it pumps out the hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) that triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response and puts eating on hold—if stress persists, it’s a different story, explains a Harvard Mental Health Letter. Your adrenal glands then release a different hormone called cortisol, which will not only trigger your hunger hormones, but it will also pull lipids from the bloodstream to store them in our fat cells.

Eat This! Tip:

You might not be able to control exactly what’s happening in your life that’s making you stressed, but you can control what you’re putting in your body. Make it these teas that combat stress!

5

You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

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If you feel like you’re always delving into your office snack stash, you might be able to blame your lack of sleep. When you don’t get enough sleep, levels of leptin (the “I’m full” hormone) drop, according to a PLoS Medicine study, which in turn increases appetite and makes comfort food more appealing. Besides stimulating your appetite a lack of sufficient sleep can cause you to burn fewer calories, lack appetite control and experience an increase in cortisol levels, which stores fat.

Eat This! Tip:

Having trouble falling asleep? Get the recommended 7-8 hours of shut-eye by following this one-day plan for better sleep.

6

You Eat According to Calories, Not Nutrients

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It’s not calories that satiate your hunger, it’s nutrients: fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Unfortunately, simple, refined carbs are lacking in all three and so are many 100-calorie snacks; They’ll just fill your body with fast, cheap calories. So no matter how much you eat, your body will go in search of more food. The result: a sluggish, hungrier you—one who’s more likely to dive into the snack drawer.

Eat This! Tip:

Start your day with a high-protein, high-fat food like Greek yogurt, a veggie-filled omelet, or chia pudding, and you’ll reduce your hunger overall.

7

You Eat Too Quickly

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Hunger hormones take anywhere between 20 to 30 minutes to get to your brain, according to Cara Stewart, RD, LDN, so if you wolf down your entire meal in under 5 minutes, you’ll most likely eat more than your fill. Scientists believe it’s because your hunger hormones act in a relay, passing off feelings of fullness between each other before telling your brain. This system takes some time to work, which is why it’s best to eat slowly. Yet another reason why fast food makes you fat.

Eat This! Tip:

When your entrée arrives, dive in and eat half, then wait at least 10 minutes before coming out for round 2. While you chat and sip water, your stomach will have a chance to digest and decide whether you’ve had enough— no matter what the plate’s saying.

8

Your Insta Feed is Loaded With Food Photos

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As it turns out, scrolling through your social feeds is just as bad for your gut as seeking out those trending treats themselves. A review published in the journal Brain and Cognition found that when we see “food porn,” it exacerbates our desire for food through a channel of neural and physical responses called “visual hunger.” In other words, even if we’re not physically in need of food, our bodies will send a signal to our brains that we want to eat. So what exactly is going on here? Scientists found that the concentration of the “hunger hormone” ghrelin increases in response to seeing food images.

Eat This! Tip:

Looking at those “food porn” images of oozy yolks dribbling down cheesy burgers is going to make you hungry—even if you weren’t before you started scrolling—which puts you at risk of over-consuming and eating the same high-energy, belly-busting foods. If you’re trying to lose weight, unfollow some accounts that post images of unhealthy dishes, and start following accounts that highlight better-for-you choices: a study in Experimental Brain Research found that our brains don’t become as alert in response to seeing photos of low-energy, healthy foods like veggies.

9

You Drink Diet

Dana Leigh Smith

Whether it’s diet or regular, soda is one of the sugariest foods you can consume. And while many of us know sugar makes you crave sugar, artificially sweetened products and sugar alternatives (like aspartame, acesulfame K, and sucralose) can actually ramp up your appetite even more than real sugar, causing increased calorie consumption over time. According to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, researchers found that while drinks sweetened with glucose and fructose (two components of regular table sugar) increased satiety and decreased the hunger hormone ghrelin, drinks sweetened with an artificial sweetener were not able to affect satiety hormone signaling at all.

Eat This! Tip:

If you’re drinking soda for energy, check out these best foods for energy instead. Most of these energy-boosting foods are actual, real food and will properly decrease levels of your hunger hormones while giving you lasting fuel to help you tackle the rest your day.

10

You Skip Meals

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This might sound like an obvious one, but it’s more than just the fact that you aren’t feeding your body. The habit of skipping meals has been shown to be able to make you feel hungrier when the next meal rolls around, according to researchers at the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program. When you don’t eat, your body can deplete its blood glucose stores, which promotes an uptick in the hunger hormone ghrelin, ramping up your appetite.

Eat This! Tip:

Try not to let more than 4 or 5 hours go by between meals, and keep healthy snacks on hand at all times to help curb hunger before it makes you overindulge.

11

You Have a Fast Metabolism

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It could be the result of years of dedicated work in the gym, but for some, you’re just born with it. Either way, your constant hunger could be due to the fact that you just burn calories at a faster pace (even at rest), which means your body will need to continuously replenish its energy stores. According to University of Vermont researchers, about 32 percent of people have metabolisms that are more than eight percent higher or lower than the population average. Because having a faster-than-average metabolism can mean you burn anywhere from 100 to 400 extra calories a day, your body will try to alert you to eat more frequently.

Eat This! Tip:

Before you justify extra snacking with having a fast metabolism, make sure you’re not just hungry because of any other reasons we’ve mentioned—thirst, eating the wrong foods, etc. And once you have, having a fast metabolism shouldn’t justify you indulging in unhealthy options. Grab a handful of nuts, Greek yogurt, or snack on some veggies and hummus.

12

You Eat Low-Fat

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If you’re an avid Eat This, Not That! reader, you already know that low-fat packaged foods tend to be filled with sugar to compensate for a lack of flavor—but adding sugar cravings to your hunger isn’t the only reason you may want to steer clear. Low-fat treats aren’t as satisfying as their fattier counterparts, according to recent research published in the journal Flavour. As you bite into a full-fat food, your tongue sends your brain a signal that something filling is on the way down to your stomach. However, this message isn’t sent when you opt for low-fat foods, which is why you’re left wanting more—even though you may have just consumed a good deal of calories.

Eat This! Tip:

Eating healthy fats won’t make you fat. In fact, just the opposite might be true! A recent review published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that people who eat full-fat dairy are no more likely to develop cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes than people who stick to low-fat dairy. Additional research has linked full-fat eaters to lower rates of obesity compared to those who eschewed fat. When opting for dairy products, make sure to go with the full-fat options.

13

You Drink Alcohol Often

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Having a drink before a meal in the hopes it’ll curb your appetite may actually be doing the opposite. A study published in the American Journal of Nutrition showed that alcohol is one of the biggest drivers of excess food intake. Another study published in the journal Obesity has suggested that this may be because alcohol heightens our senses. Researchers found that women who’d received the equivalent of about two drinks in the form of an alcohol infusion ate 30% more food than those who’d received a saline solution. Even mild intoxication cranked up brain activity in the women’s hypothalamus regions. This, say the study’s authors, made them more sensitive to the smell of food, prompting them to eat more. Not only that, but alcohol can dehydrate you, which again, may cause feelings of hunger.

Eat This! Tip:

Besides curbing your hunger pangs, there are many benefits to giving up alcohol, including losing weight and sleeping better. But if you’re not looking to give up happy hour just yet, be sure to munch on healthy foods if you’re going to eat—not greasy pizza.

14

You Eat Out of Cans

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Not only are they affordable, for many, they’re a culinary secret weapon that helps get dinner on the table in just minutes. Yes, that’s right; we’re talking about canned food. But as it turns out, there’s something scary lurking in these jars—bisphenol A, or BPA. BPA is a hormone-mimicking chemical used to prevent foods from coming in contact with the metal cans in which they’re stored, and it’s found in 67 percent of all canned food. The downside: it’s bad for your health—and your hunger pangs. According to a recent study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, those who had higher levels of BPA in their blood also had higher levels of leptin and were at greater risk of developing metabolic syndrome.

Eat This! Tip:

So what’s your game plan if you want to minimize cravings? Avoid canned foods whenever possible, and instead, buy products that are sold in glass jars or cardboard containers to reduce your exposure. One of our go-to brands for safe “canned foods” is Pacific Foods. It’s sold in most health food groceries and carries soups, beans, tofu, purees, sauces, and gravies in chemical-free cardboard cartons.

15

You Skimp on Salads

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According to the USDA’s 2015 Dietary Guidelines, the average American isn’t eating enough vegetables. This is an issue because most leafy greens are rich in vitamin K, a micronutrient that studies have found regulates insulin levels. Vitamin K was found to increase insulin sensitivity, which makes it easier for your body to take up sugar from your bloodstream. If your body is taking up sugar more efficiently from your bloodstream, it won’t need to take more of it in through food, helping to quash your cravings. Even better, veggies are some of the most fiber-rich foods out there, and fiber is what slows the absorption of the foods we eat from the stomach into the bloodstream. In a Canadian study, researchers discovered that those whose diets were supplemented with insoluble fiber had lower levels of ghrelin.

Eat This! Tip:

For the best sources of insoluble fiber and vitamin K, make your salads with spinach, shaved brussels sprouts, kale, and broccoli.

16

Your Snacks Are in Plain View

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Out of sight, out of mouth? According to researchers at Google, simply reorganizing your pantry to hide any dietary kryptonite could help quell cravings. A study, conducted at the search engine’s New York office dubbed “Project M&M” found that placing chocolate candies in opaque containers as opposed to glass ones curbed M&M consumption by 3.1 million calories in just seven weeks. Cambridge researchers explain this is because our evolutionary “visual hunger”—the innate human desire to see images of food—has programmed our guts to release ghrelin at the mere sight of food, which can lead to false hunger.

Eat This! Tip:

We know snacking is important for keeping your metabolism going, but that doesn’t mean they should constantly be sitting on your desk. Keep snacks out of sight, and only reach for them when your tummy is rumbling.

17

You’re Not Eating Enough Protein

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Piling your plate with lean protein can help keep hunger pangs at bay. Protein takes a longer time to digest, which means it stays in your stomach and promotes feelings of fullness. But that’s not all–it’s also been shown to have an appetite-suppressing effect. In a study of 21 men published in the journal Nutrition Research, half were fed a breakfast of bagels while half ate eggs. The egg group were observed to have a lower response to ghrelin, were less hungry three hours later and consumed fewer calories for the next 24 hours!

Eat This! Tip:

Besides the obvious sources of protein like meat and fish (which you can’t necessarily eat all day long), load up on vegetarian sources throughout the day by sprinkling chia seeds in smoothies, eat quinoa in your granola bars, and dip carrots in hummus or apples in peanut butter.

18

You’re Working Out A Lot

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If you’re breaking a sweat every day in order to boost weight loss, it should come as no surprise that your body is going to need more calories. Pumping iron causes your body to boost its metabolism and burn through energy and glucose stores, which, in turn, triggers the release of ghrelin.

Eat This! Tip:

After a workout, be sure to replenish lost glucose stores with a protein shake smoothie! Grab one of our favorite protein powders to provide you with satiating nutrients, and blend it with some almond milk and your favorite fruit to provide you with replenishing carbs.

19

You’re Bored

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Feeling hungry really can be caused by something as simple as boredom. When you’re bored you actually lose your ability to make smart food choices; you become an “emotional eater,” according to a new study in the Journal of Health Psychology. And boredom turns you into the worse kind of emotional eater, because you not only make the wrong food choices, you eat much more of those fattening foods than you normally would. In fact, “Because I’m Bored” (as opposed to “I’m Hungry”) is one of the top reasons people give when they’re asked about their emotions before they eat.

Eat This! Tip:

You feel bored when you are dissatisfied, restless, and unchallenged, according to a study in Frontiers in Psychology. The best way to beat boredom is to find something to do that is purposeful and challenging. Start with these tips for motivation that actually work.

20

You Linger Over Commercials

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Cord-cutters are onto something bigger than just saving money—they’re also protecting their health. Here’s why: Streaming services, like Netflix, offer a way to view television without commercials. And according to two recent studies, that’s good news for your waistline because you won’t be subjected to 30-second spots of a rotating, juicy Big Mac. The two meta-analyses, published in the journals The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Obesity Reviews, uncovered a staggering connection between food advertising and food consumption; Researchers found that exposure to these drool-worthy commercials and billboards act as a “food cue,” which increases cravings and leads to eating behavior (even if your body isn’t physically hungry) and weight gain.

Eat This! Tip:

Still using cable? DVR your favorite shows so you can fast forward through commercials to avoid temptation—or try one of these ways to stop thinking about food.

21

It May Just Be a Craving

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They sound like they mean the same thing, but hunger and appetite are separate processes. True hunger is the physical need for food when your body senses a dip in blood sugar or the stretch receptors in your stomach sense it’s empty. Appetite, on the other hand, is the conditioned desire to eat rather than the need for sustenance—often described as that “craving” feeling you experience when you see a piece of chocolate cake right after you’ve eaten a more-than-filling dinner.

Eat This! Tip:

Deny that dessert menu, step away from the fridge, and pass on those office donuts! Perceived hunger can often stem out of boredom or the mere presence of food. Because exercise has been connected to reduced food cravings, going for a walk or jog can help clear and distract your mind long enough to realize you aren’t actually hungry and can banish your hankering for junk food.

22

You Sit All Day

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Sitting all day is just one of the ways your job is making you fat, but did you know it could also be a reason for your constant tummy rumbling? According to research published in the journals Diabetes Care and BMJ Open, when middle-aged overweight and obese adults interrupted long periods of sitting time with short bouts of walking every 30 minutes, they were able to both minimize spikes in blood sugar and lower insulin levels after eating meals. Both mechanisms control how soon you will start to feel hunger pangs after eating. Without getting up to walk, your body may struggle to manage its glucose sensitivity, and it can lead you to feel hungry soon after noshing.

Eat This! Tip:

Set a timer to go off every 20 or 30 minutes during the work day to remind you to get up and walk—even if it’s just going to the break room to grab a glass of water.

23

You Have a Sweet Tooth

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It’s the dip in your blood sugar levels that triggers the release of hormones to tell your body that you’re hungry. Besides refined carbs, that crash in blood sugar is also the result of eating foods full of added sugars and no fiber or protein to help slow the digestion of these sugars. Besides your morning java, you’d be surprised to learn of the foods where sugar is lurking—like bread, condiments, frozen meals, breakfast cereals, and salad dressings. Even these “health” foods have more sugar than a Dunkin’ donut.

Eat This! Tip:

The easiest way to cut down on added sugars is leaving the ultra-processed foods on the store shelves and whipping up your own homemade snacks. According to a recent study published in the journal BMJ Open, ultra-processed foods—such as bread, salad dressings, frozen entrees, and condiments—on average contribute a whopping 90 percent of an American’s daily added sugar intake.

24

Your Gut Health Is Off

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Years of rampant antibiotic use and unhealthy eating centered on saturated fats and sugars can knock your digestive system so out of whack that it could be blunting your weight loss efforts. That’s because these conditions empower the harmful bacteria that live in your gut while weakening the beneficial bugs. As a result, the good guys can’t effectively do their job: part of which is regulating your hunger hormones. According to researchers at New York University, a stomach bacterium called Helicobacter pylori can actually change the levels of the hunger-stimulating hormone, ghrelin, in your body. Researchers found average levels of H. pylori have decreased in our belly biomes with the rise of the fast-food society. And that means less of its inhibiting effect on our appetites—perhaps reason for why many of us are always hungry.

Eat This! Tip

To mend your tummy, cut out the bad-bug-feeding sugars from your diet, and load up on both prebiotics and probiotics. Prebiotics are a source of food for the good guys in your gut to help them build strength, and probiotics act as reinforcements, helping to drive out the bad guys. Good sources of prebiotics are legumes, onions, artichokes, spinach, and oats, and probiotics can be found in fermented foods as well as in Greek yogurt.

25

You Drink Your Nutrients

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Smoothies and juices might be all the rage right now, but if you’ve ever swallowed a meal-replacement drink and felt hungry almost immediately after, here’s why: Your body doesn’t register liquid calories the same way as it does with solids. In fact, studies have shown that energy obtained from fluids is less satisfying than calories from solid foods, so we drink more before feeling satisfied, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Experts hypothesize that the physical act of chewing increases physiological satiety responses—one recent study in Food Quality and Preference attributed the satiety signal with the fact that hearing the crunch of food can serve as a way to monitor your consumption—or that whole foods are more slowly digested than liquids, a process known as gastric emptying, which causes your stomach to actually feel fuller for longer.

Eat This! Tip

We certainly love our smoothies around here, but if you’ve become victim to always feeling hungry it might be best if you laid off on the blended meals. Or, follow the advice of recent findings: Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a study found that thickening a smoothie made people feel fuller, regardless of how many calories it had. Thicken up your blended beverages by subbing out almond milk for Greek yogurt and water.

26

You’re Severely Overweight

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Merely the fact that you’re carrying around extra weight may be enough to induce uncontrollable hunger pangs—even after you’ve just eaten. New research from a multidisciplinary team at UT Southwestern Medical Center found that severely obese women continue to respond to food cues even after they’ve eaten and are no longer physically hungry, unlike their lean counterparts. Using an MRI, researchers discovered that the brains of severely obese women showed they were still excited about the idea of eating even though they had just consumed a meal and reported feeling satiated. The findings, published in the journal Obesity, suggest that some people with severe obesity have an underlying drive to continuously nosh despite not feeling hungry.

Eat This! Tip:

It’s not too late to start! Drastically cutting calories will only make hunger pangs worse, as this puts your body in starvation survival mode and revs up production of hunger hormones while slowing metabolism. To see the scale tip in your favor, check out our list of weight loss tips better than counting calories.

27

You Eat Off Large Plates

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You may have gotten them as a wedding gift, but that set of extra large dinnerware has to go. When you serve yourself on a bigger plate, a typical portion of food may appear smaller and can trick your brain into thinking you aren’t eating enough food. Contrarily, smaller plates make food servings appear significantly larger, which tricks your mind into thinking you’re about to consume more calories than you really are. In fact, a study published in Appetite discovered people were satisfied for longer periods of time after researchers showed participants a large portion of fruit went into their smoothie compared to participants who were shown a small piece of fruit—even though both groups were actually given the same size smoothie to drink. The authors of the study suggest that feeling full or still hungry may be based on the perception of food quantity rather than solely based on caloric intake.

Eat This! Tip

Try the trick at home by using smaller plates and glasses that make your portions look more generous, it’s just one of the easy ways to cut over 50 calories. That way you’ll trick your brain into feeling fuller, even though you’ve actually eaten less!

28

Certain Meds Give You Munchies

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If you were prescribed a new medication and subsequently noticed an insatiable increase in your appetite, your Rx may be to blame. Antidepressants, steroids, birth control pills, beta-blockers, anti-seizure and migraine meds, and rheumatoid arthritis treatments have all been found to increase appetite in patients.

Eat This! Tip

That doesn’t mean you should take yourself off the drug, though. Confirm with your doc that the medication is indeed the culprit, and discuss what other treatments are available. Your doctor might be able to prescribe a different medication that doesn’t carry the same belly-bulging side effects.

29

You Rarely Prepare Your Own Food

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It may be a time saver, but eating out or grabbing a processed snack from the grocery store won’t help you curb your hunger pangs as much as you think. Restaurant food—even the desserts—is typically loaded with salt, which research has found can release the feel-good hormone, dopamine, making sodium-laden fare pretty addictive. (Which means you’ll constantly crave it!) As for processed junk? These foods are often made with appetite-revving additives like MSG, which encourage you to continue noshing beyond your fill.

Eat This! Tip:

Try cooking a majority of your own meals and snacks at home. You’ll not only be able to control the addictive sodium levels and leave out the appetite-revving additives—both will help to curb your seemingly insatiable hunger pangs—but you’ll also consume nearly 200 fewer calories than those who cook less, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.

30

You May Have a Medical Issue

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There are many reasons why you’re constantly hungry, but if none of the reasons above sound like your problem, it might be something you’re unaware of. A few possible medical reasons:

Women who experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS) often have food cravings, as do women during early stages of their pregnancy.

If your sudden hunger is also paired with an unquenchable thirst, you may want to talk to your doctor about being tested for diabetes. What may be happening is that you’re developing an insulin resistance, which means your body can’t as effectively funnel the glucose in food to be used as energy, and instead it stays in your bloodstream. As a result, you can experience “insulin resistant hunger” characterized by craving sugars or starches rather than being physically hungry.

Sometimes, excessive hunger is the sign of a parasitic infestation in your intestine, which can occur after eating undercooked meat from infected animals. For example, tapeworms act by noshing on the essential nutrients from your food. (Yikes!) Because your body is missing out on these satiating nutrients, it can cause you to feel hungry and thus overeat.

You may be suffering from a chronic, autoimmune health condition called hyperthyroidism—a condition in which your metabolism-running thyroid gland is running in overdrive. When your metabolism is constantly stimulated, it can result in feeling hungry all the time.

Eat This! Tip:

If you suspect any of the issues above, consult your doctor for a diagnosis and treatment options.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published April 7, 2016, and has since been updated to add additional sourcing.

The post 30 Reasons Why You’re Always Hungry appeared first on Eat This Not That.

[dukeoftheblackstar]

I saw your post about being impassive over most ships and I just wanted to ask your thoughts about those who ship Ahsoka with Rex. I personally don't like it because of the age gap. I also read your Plo Koon / Wolffe ship, can I ask more details on the appeal behind it?

Yes, yes, yes! Hello, Nonnie ♥

I am indeed impassive to all ships as long as it's non-predatory (pedophilia) and is consensual on both ends.

Personally, I see Ahsoka and Rex as siblings mainly because Ahsoka grew up with them in a sense. But I am not oblivious to the relationships that blossom overtime as well as the blurred line of 'grooming' — a perfect example would be (if you watch anime) Sesshoumaru and Rin!

If you haven't, it's about a dog demon who resurrects this child and they were such good companion through the entire original anime series and in the new Yashahime (spin-off of sorts), she gives him twins and just goes through a new story altogether.

I have my thoughts about it RexSoka and my example, but I also have the choice to indulge and not. I have the choice to skip posts that are RexSoka, I have the choice to block that tag, and more as much as I have the choice to politely decline someone who wants to thot-converse with me over it without unfriending them. I'm sure we'll have more ships to go over.

But then again, don't Togrutas age slower than humans since their alien species and Rex, like the clones, have speed aging? Then again, there's the matter of mentality. I guess it depends on the AU and if people want to keep it canon but ship them together, then... Who am I to stop them, yeah?

At the end of the day, it's fiction. If they need a safe space to ramble their ship even though I lean a bit away from it, my inbox is and DM is still available. I just may not be fully engaged but I will listen and converse.

BUT, I do draw the line if there is any indication that this fascination applies to the real world. If they start talking about lusting for a minor, I don't think I have in me to continue.

So yes, keep it fiction and search your company maybe. Those who share the same ship. Mind your limits and level of thirst maybe. Do a itty bitty bit of reflecting on where to draw the line and we're all good.

I will rb for the Ploffe part :D ♥

[dukeoftheblackstar]

@wizardofrozz Roz, Roz, oh my god, Roz. Roz, why? Why must every Sawbones post/fic I've read of you has to threaten my marriage to Plo? Does he not know how dangerous he is to this holy union I have with Plo Koon? Can he like, idk... CHILL TF OUT??!

I've not denied that I had/have a crush on him when you first graced this world with the perfect medic for the 104th, maybe even made a pass over the few fics and posts you had me tagged on to welcome him aboard, but god hot fucking damn it is this man gonna be the death of me.

The absolute panic I went through reading this has given me a literal headache. I need this man carnally. You have to understand how real Sawbones is for me, my dude.

I do not have a clone crush that I thirst for as real as I thirst for Jango Fett. I don't even thirst for Boba apart from a motherly vibe because of Jango. Fox? He's my work-husband. Wolffe? My precious poor baby bestie.

ROZ, DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS MAN? THIS GOD-AWFUL UNIT OF A MAN THAT MAKES MY HEAD AND HEART MORET HAN FOX AND WOLFFE COMBINED?

ALL FOUR OF MY HUSBANDS ARE THREATENED RIGHT NOW. THREAT-FUCKING-TENED.

Sawbones is the first, the first actual clone I would.. holy hell, I can't even believe I'm saying this but.. Sawbones is actually the only and first clone I would seriously, seriously consider pitting up against my husbands; Jango, Plo, Castis, and Bossk.

Holy. I think he's taking that #5 spot. You made him so damn well, Roz. SO. DAMN. FUCKING. WELL. That spot is reserved for a Turian, mind you. A turian from Mass Effect!!!!

You had your fair share of run-ins with the Wolfpack’s mean CMO and while his attitude made you want to steer clear of him, there was something about him that had your mind wandering back to him.

OMG BESTIE, SAME. I said it before and I'll say it again, my mind has canonized Sawbones as the official head medic of the 104th.

“And?” The unbothered air around him made you seethe; any crush you thought you might’ve had on him got shoved to the back of your mind. You ground your teeth together, taking another step closer.

Staple 104th right here. Couldn't have asked for a better medic. It's a qualification really. 104th exudes big alpha energy ;////////////; Want to smooch this grumpy baby so damn much ;-----;

Just as you were about to take a step back, Sawbones surged forward, slanting his mouth against yours as he cradled the back of your head.

My cheeks hurt. My head hurts. I am screaming. Send help. I NEEDED A FUCKING MINUTE TO CONTINUE READING. God, I forgot how I faffed so damn much for this beautiful, angry man ♥

“Sorry,” Sawbones panted, his hand sliding down to your neck, “I had to. I like it when you get mean.” 

I AM PANICKING. EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO FAAAAAAAAAAAAST.

“I speak another language too,” he murmured, bumping your noses together. “Yeah? What’s that?” You barely finished the sentence before he pulled you into another dizzying kiss. Yeah, you would happily speak this language too.

OH. MY. FUCKING. GOD.

GET THIS MAN AWAY FROM ME BEFORE HE STEALS ME TF AWAY FROM PLO. JESUS. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

hi, Rozz!!! from the kiss prompts, can I please request:

"i'm sorry, i had to." with Sawbones (simping uncontrollably for him tbh)

can’t wait to see how the mean one handles a first kiss 😅

Love It When You Hate Me

OC Sawbones x reader, Original Clone Troopers

Word Count: ~1.5k

Warnings: mention of injury, Sawbones being an asshole. I think that's it lol

A/N: Thank you for the ask Sev 🖤 I get so unbelievably happy when anyone simps of Sawbones lmao I got a little carried away with this but I don't even care, it was worth it 😂

Before the war, you hadn’t traveled much, staying busy in the emergency wing of Coruscant General. Then Geonosis happened, millions of troopers materializing out of thin air to fight a war most people hadn’t even been expecting. That was how you ended up working for the GAR, traveling around the galaxy to lend your medical knowledge to the troops that needed it most. You had visited several medical centers and worked alongside combat medics across numerous battalions.  

The Ord Cestus Medical Center was your most recent assignment, offering an extra set of hands after a large influx of troopers came in. You smiled at the clone stretched out on the bed before you as you checked his vitals. You didn’t even know his name but it didn’t seem to matter to him. 

“Am I gonna make it, doc?” he asked, a smirk lifting the side of his mouth. The trooper’s arm was secured to his chest, his right shoulder still healing after being violently ripped from the socket. 

“Mm, I don’t know,” you teased, smiling when he laughed. It was a welcomed sound in a place so steeped in pain, meaning you noticed when it cut off abruptly. You checked for any sign that he was in pain but his expression gave nothing away; you followed his eyes across the room and held in a sigh. 

As a civilian, you hadn’t been sent into combat areas, making relief missions your most common assignment. Most of the time you spent with a battalion was fleeting but there was one that was an exception: the 104th battalion, the Wolfpack. General Plo Koon’s men still fought infantry battles but they also spent the most time rescuing other troops or offering aid to civilians. If it was by accident or due to a request from the general, you were called in, along with a few other civilians, to offer their medics a few extra hands. 

Now, seeing one of those medics, most notably the chief medical officer, wasn’t what you were expecting.

Sawbones looked just as stormy as ever despite the crutches he was hobbling around on. You had heard the stories, the things he’d done in the name of the Republic but your inner idealist wrote them off as exaggerations. Although, when he trooper beside you shifted uncomfortably, glancing at you, it made you wonder. You followed Sawbones’ journey across the room, letting your eyes linger when he stopped at another Wolfpack member’s bed. You huffed under your breath and turned back to the trooper you were treating, gently patting his arm. 

“Get some rest,” you ordered with a smile. The trooper flashed you a tense smile before shuffling down, stretching out on his bed. The next patient on your list was a few beds down, closer to where Sawbones was still lingering and you slowed your pace. You had your fair share of run-ins with the Wolfpack’s mean CMO and while his attitude made you want to steer clear of him, there was something about him that had your mind wandering back to him.

Sawbones was harsh on a good day but you had also witnessed a side to him that you’d almost consider...soft. He threw nasty comments around, scaring off anyone who dared get too close but he cared for his injured men with a gentle hand. You had a feeling his threats weren’t empty, but he wanted to help more than hurt, even if he had a funny way of showing it. 

Sawbones turned his head slightly as you neared your next patient. His beard was neatly trimmed and you could only remember seeing it long and unruly out on the field. Now that you thought about it, that was the first time you had seen him in anything but his armor; the starchy, gray scrubs made him look softer, less abrasive. You offered the trooper, Dodger, a smile as you approached his bed. It was hard to miss the anxiety lining his expression and you hoped the simple gesture helped a little bit. Dodger’s jaw flexed but he squared his shoulders, taking a deep breath in preparation. 

“How are you feeling, Dodger?” you asked, perching on the corner of his bed near his feet.

“Been better,” he mumbled, pointedly not looking at the hip-to-ankle cast he wore. You could feel eyes on your back and ignored the curious glances as you reached for his hand. Recovery was going to take some time but there was nothing unrepairable. 

“Enough babying them.” You jumped at the voice from over your shoulder, twisting around to find Sawbones leaning on his crutches, his face twisted in a scowl. “They’re soldiers, not children.” There was a tense silence as you just gaped at him, taken aback by the bitter edge to his voice. Endless, dark eyes bore into yours and it took you a second to shake off the shock.

“Excuse me?” Sawbones arched a brow before shifting his attention to Dodger over your shoulder.

“You live to fight another day. Congratulations,” Sawbones said, his tone flat and uninterested. Dodger blinked a few times before letting out a long, slow breath, and slumping down in his bed. 

“Uh, thank you, sir,” he murmured, nodding at the medic. Sawbones grunted before making a slow turn, heading back across the room and all you could do was stare after him. When you looked back at Dodger, there was a half-smile on his face that only grew when he caught the flabbergasted expression on your face. 

Then the anger started to build, swelling like an impending storm and you stood so fast you staggered. Dodger tried to get your attention but you were already stalking toward the door Sawbones disappeared through. Finding him was easy, seeing that he could only move so fast and you picked up your pace. You could only imagine the look on your face but it must’ve been ominous enough for any passing staff to step out of your way. 

You caught a glimpse of Sawbones disappearing into one of the smaller labs scattered around the medical center and hurried after him. There was one other clone sitting at one of the benches when you stepped inside, the pair turning to look at you. 

“Leave,” you ordered, stepping away from the door. The clone hesitated, glancing at Sawbones and it only made your anger spike. “Out.” Sawbones leaned against the workbench, taking some of the weight off his broken leg, his head turning to follow the other clone as he stomped out of the room.

“What?” he asked, arching a brow. 

“How dare you," you hissed, storming across the room, carelessly invading his personal space. “I am not one of your subordinates that you can talk down to. You had no right to step in like that.”

“And?” The unbothered air around him made you seethe; any crush you thought you might’ve had on him got shoved to the back of your mind. You ground your teeth together, taking another step closer.

“I don’t care what your problem is. I don’t care why you act like an asshole as if it’s your job but you will not treat me like some incompetent moof-milker.” You jabbed a finger into his chest, relishing in the quiet grunt he let out. “I’ve worked my ass off all my life and if you’re so emotionally constipated that my kindness bothers you, then I’d suggest sucking it the fuck up.” 

Sawbones blinked at you, his eyes flickering down to where your finger was still pressed into his chest; when his eyes lifted again they seemed shadowed and it sent an involuntary shiver down your spine. Suddenly, you felt your confidence withering as his expression darkened, his head tilting down, bringing your faces closer together. Just as you were about to take a step back, Sawbones surged forward, slanting his mouth against yours as he cradled the back of your head.

Your eyes widened comically but it didn’t deter him and before you knew it you were melting against him. His mustache tickled your skin and you found that you liked it, closing your fist, tugging him closer by his scrub top. Sawbones rumbled deep in his chest, parting your lips to slip his tongue into your mouth and you whined involuntarily.

It was just a kiss and yet it felt more erotic than any other kiss you’d shared with another person. The movement of his tongue was a mockery of what you desperately wished his hips were doing and it made you shiver. Sawbones broke the kiss so suddenly your head spun and you swayed closer, following his lips before you could catch yourself. 

“Sorry,” Sawbones panted, his hand sliding down to your neck, “I had to. I like it when you get mean.” 

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” you whispered, still trying to catch your breath. “You only speak one language: asshole.” It felt like a monumental accomplishment when Sawbones laughed; it was a sharp, harsh sound but it brought a smile to your face nonetheless.

“I speak another language too,” he murmured, bumping your noses together. 

“Yeah? What’s that?” You barely finished the sentence before he pulled you into another dizzying kiss. Yeah, you would happily speak this language too.

Ragu list:

@a-single-tulip @wings-and-beskar @anxiouspineapple99 @secondaryrealm @dystopicjumpsuit @sunshinesdaydream @moonlightwarriorqueen @starrylothcat @starqueensthings @multi-fan-dom-madness @trixie2023 @wolffegirlsunite @clonemedickix @sev-on-kamino @commander-sunshine @dukeoftheblackstar