#r2-series astromech

[simeonscott]

Just a Couple of Absolute Icons.

[tossawary]

It's funny to think about a scenario in which Luke manages to get Yoda off Dagobah and bring him back to the Rebellion. Maybe Obi-Wan left a message with R2 as a backup plan or something, so Luke got the message much earlier. Yoda is still too old and injured to fight, but he can train Luke while moving around as the Rebellion's new grandpa (and potentially reunite with characters like Ahsoka and Kanan and Cal and so on).

This AU is important to me because how it would look from an Outsider's POV:

"Uhhh, Luke," Han said. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Luke said, turning to look across the hangar bay. "Oh. That's Master Yoda. I went to Dagobah to get him, remember?"

Han studied the small, green, vaguely amphibious creature with long pointy ears and wisps of white hair, crouched underneath Luke's X-Wing and steadily eating its way though a bucket of... what the hell were those things? Eggs?

"That's your great Master Yoda?" Han said dubiously. He couldn't have helped it, so he didn't even try not to sound skeptical. "The one who's going to train you and Her Royal Highness in this... uh... penetrating life field magic?"

Those ragged brown blankets that it seemed to be wearing looked not unlike the dusty robes that Luke's old man had been shuffling around in, before getting killed back on the Death Star. Maybe.

"He's the wisest and most powerful Jedi Master alive," Luke said, like he was determined to be upbeat about it. "He's 900 years old. He said."

Han watched the creature dig around in the bucket some more, nearly sticking the entire upper half of its body inside. Its long ears wilted when it came up empty. It sat back with a loud, high-pitched harrumph and its wrinkled face scrunched up like a fruit rotting all at once.

"Yeah," Han said. "He looks it."

Luke shot him a betrayed look and Han just shrugged. He didn't have a problem with the kid and the princess finding some comfort in some hokey old religion. The kid's family had apparently been killed by troopers the day that Han had met him and Leia had watched her entire planet be destroyed, so whatever touchy-feely nonsense helped them deal with that helped.

But that didn't mean that Han wasn't going to call it like he saw it- "Uh, kid, is that your storage unit he's searching now?"

Luke groaned and put his head in his hands. "I left some ration bars in there, I think. I bet he can smell them."

This great Jedi Master was making a real mess of it. He threw one of Luke's things over his shoulder, where the tool hit R2-D2, and the small droid immediately let out a shocked series of beeps and chirps. The outraged blare when the droid traced the missile back to Yoda was even louder.

Han watched as the droid whirred briskly up to Yoda, then reached out with an extended grabber and yanked at the old Jedi's stick. Yoda shrieked in surprise. A tug-o-war started, which looked like it was going to have one or both of them falling over.

"Oh, no," Luke said.

People around the hangar bay were starting to stare. Han couldn't look away.

The droid released the wooden stick and Yoda let out a cry of triumph. Which turned into a yelp of pain, because R2-D2 had just zapped him with another extended tool, which crackled like a threat that the droid would do it again. Yoda's response was to smack the droid with his stick, repeatedly, grunting with the effort - and the loud clanging caught the attention of everyone who hadn't already been looking.

"You gonna, uh, you gonna do something about that?" Han said to the kid.

Luke sighed heavily, which definitely meant that this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. He stood up and waded into the mess, catching the stick with one hand and physically pushing the droid back with the other, ordering the old astromech and older Jedi Master to knock it off. He sounded just like a parent about to hand out some punishments.

R2-D2 beeped petulantly at Luke.

"I don't care who started it!" Luke said, his exasperation carrying. "This time or last time-! Ow!"

The great Jedi Master had just smacked Luke in the shin with that stick. Luke hopped on one foot for a few seconds, biting down on what probably would have been some nasty Huttese cursing. Yoda harrumphed again and then lurched back over towards his empty egg bucket.

R2-D2 made a sound that Han had, whether he liked it or not, already come to recognize meant: "I told you so."

"Oh, fuck off," Luke snapped.

Han threw back his head and laughed.

[from-a-legends-pov]

Star Wars Legends: Poll of the Week — Favorite Droids (Who Are Not Artoo or Threepio)

We know that Artoo-Detoo (R2D2) and See-Threepio (C-3PO) are favorite droid friends and heroes in any canon. But which of these other droids from Legends is your favorite?

Squeaky, the cantankerous protocol droid who served as quartermaster to Wraith Squadron and had a previous career as an extremely rude waiter at the tapcafe near Folor Base (X-Wing: Wraith Squadron)

Tonin, the R2-series astromech droid and companion to Gara Petothel; dubbing himself “king of the droids,” Tonin wrangled an army of mouse droids to slice into the systems of Warlord Zsinj’s ship, the Iron Fist (X-Wing: Solo Command)

IG-88, an assassin droid created by the Intergalactic Banking Clan that was given sentience programming to improve its operation as an assassin, reasoned it was superior to its biological creator, and destroyed them; it later started a droid revolt and worked as a bounty hunter during the time of the Galactic civil war (Tales of the Bounty Hunters)

Shiner, Myn Donos’s beloved astromech droid, whom he considered the last remaining survivor of the ambush that killed Talon Squadron, causing Myn to nearly go catatonic when the droid was destroyed in a battle with the Blood Nest pirates (X-Wing: Wraith Squadron)

Whistler, also known as Xeno, Corran Horn’s astromech droid, who assisted him with detective work when he was a Corellian Security (CorSec) officer and later came with Corran when he joined the New Republic starfighter corps. Similarly to Artoo, Whistler escaped memory wipes and developed more of a distinct personality than other droids. He was painted the same green and gold as Corran’s X-wing (X-Wing: Rogue Squadron)

R5-D4, the astromech with the bad motivator originally chosen for purchase by Owen Lars. R5-D4’s original story was that he was extremely jealous of other droids and that Artoo deliberately sabotaged R5’s motivator to make sure Artoo was the one purchased; however, in the “Skippy the Jedi Droid” story, R5-D4 was a Force-sensitive droid who sabotaged his own motivator after seeing a Force vision of a grim future in which R2D2 never reached Luke or Obi-Wan and was never able to complete his mission (Star Wars Tales)

Gate (R5-G8), originally R5-D2, Wedge Antilles’ astromech droid with Rogue Squadron. R5-D2 was known as “Mynock” because of how noisy and shrill his whistle was. Wedge got so annoyed with Mynock’s noise that he had the droid’s memory wiped; during the wipe, the droid’s internal components were upgraded, resulting in its new designation and nickname (X-Wing: Rogue Squadron as Mynock; X-Wing: The Bacta War as Gate)

Vape, Garik “Face” Loran’s R2 unit astromech. When he had the droid repainted from red to the unit’s gray color, Face had Wraith Squadron mechanic Cubber Daine reprogram the droid to respond to the command, “Cold one” by dispensing a cold Elba beer (X-Wing: Wraith Squadron)

HK-47, a Hunter-Killer assassin droid and Jedi hunter constructed by Darth Revan in 3960 BBY. He despised organics (whom he referred to as “meatbags”), and multiple times over the centuries turned on organics who attempted to reactivate him or use his data or AI. These included Separatists who found him on Mustafar during the Clone Wars and a group of spacers in 1.5 ABY whom he convinced to help him regain his body and restart the Mustafar droid factory, after which HK-47 built a droid army to kill all organics, including the spacers (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic)

Looking for more Legends content? Follow @from-a-legends-pov and come join us for From A Legends Point of View, a fanfiction event where we’ll be building a collection of fics featuring Star Wars Legends characters during the time of the Original Trilogy. Writer signups are open now — use our Signup Form to pitch your story concepts (Signup Guidelines here), check out our Event Overview and FAQ for more information, and encourage your favorite writers to participate!

[dailydragon08]

Nightmare I

Pairing: Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader Summary: Luke gives you all the touch and comfort you need during a rough night. Warnings: reader has a nightmare (but it isn't described), Star Wars universe curse words. A/N:  "Remnants" is a series of one shots in no particular order about the budding relationship between you and Luke as he trains you in the ways of the Force. Comments, likes, and reblogs are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

***

You watched rain slide down the Redeemer’s front windshield, the crashing thunder in the distance a comfort you didn’t know you needed. You and Luke had located another Force artifact on the jungle planet of Kenari and landed your ship near the cave it was supposedly found in. Since it was getting dark and the current storm had no intention of letting up, you and Luke had opted to get some sleep and start out in the morning instead. 

You sighed as you dug through your bag where it lay on the main hold’s large, circular table. “Kriff.”

“What’s wrong?” Luke turned from where he was tinkering with R2 in the corner. 

“I forgot to pack enough nightshirts,” you grumbled. You lifted a shirt you’d worn previously on this trip to your nose, barely biting back your gag at the smell. “Well, definitely not that one.”

“Here.” Luke quickly disappeared into his bedroom—which had been converted from one of the imperial shuttle’s many cargo holds, just like yours—before emerging with a large dark shirt in his hands. He almost looked nervous as he held it out to you. “I always keep a stash of clothes onboard, just in case, so I have extra.”

You hesitantly reached out to take the soft black fabric in your hand. “Are you sure? I don’t want to take it from you if you need it.”

He smiled softly and nodded. “I’m sure.”

You held his eyes for a moment before taking the shirt in your hand. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Borrow it as long as you need to.” He turned his focus back to the astromech in front of him. “I’m almost done with R2’s repairs and then I’ll be heading to bed, too. But let me know if I’m too loud.”

“I will.” You paused in your bedroom doorway, clutching the soft fabric in your hand. “Goodnight, Luke.”

“Goodnight, Y/N. I’ll see you in the morning.”

You let the door close behind you with a whoosh, staring at the shirt in your hand before taking a deep breath and shedding your clothes. You didn’t usually sleep in pants, but as you let Luke’s shirt fall over your shoulders, found it sank down mid-calf on you anyway. The v-neck that only exposed his collarbones went much lower on you, your hands disappearing inside the sleeves. You held them up to your nose and breathed in his scent before sinking into your sheets and letting sleep overtake you. 

***

You woke in a panic, screaming loud enough to wake the dead and clutching your sheets to your chest. You panted as you looked around frantically, feeling relief surge through you at the familiar walls of the Redeemer. 

You jumped again as your door flew open and Luke rushed in, wearing loose sweatpants and a tank top that he was still hastily pulling down over his torso. He took in your panicked stare, his blue eyes racking over your body for injuries. 

“I-I’m sorry,” you stuttered, feeling the tears building behind your eyes. “I had a nightmare. I…I’m so sorry—”

His eyes turned soft. “It’s all right. I get them, too.” He took a few steps closer, then hesitated. “Can I sit with you for a minute? Or do you want some space?”

“Stay,” you said before you even realized you’d spoken. “I mean…if you want.”

“Of course I will.” He made his way over to you and gently sat on the edge of your bed. He stared at you unsure for a moment before taking your hand in his, gently rubbing soothing circles with his thumb. “Is this okay?”

You nodded, biting your lip. His eyes were so full of genuine concern, it made your heart flutter. The dream, however, still had its claws sunk deep into you and you couldn’t stop your face from crumbling as the tears started to flow. 

His face fell and he looked like he was about to cry himself as he murmured your name. 

You futilely wiped a few tears from your cheek as more poured steadily down your face. “I’m sorry—”

“Hey, please don’t apologize. I want to be here for you.” He squeezed your hand in his before continuing softly. “Can I hold you?”

You looked up in surprise, your sleep-addled brain taking a moment to process. You could feel his hurt through the Force as more tears fell and he looked at you so tenderly and carefully, his fingers still gently caressing yours, it made your heart thump twice as hard in your chest. 

“It’s all right if you don’t want me to—”

“No, I—I do,” you answered, your voice cracking. “I…Please.”

Luke let go of your hand and didn’t hesitate to wrap his arm around your shoulders, pulling you tightly against his chest. You buried your face in the warm skin of his neck and clung to him. The movement made his shirt slip down your shoulder and your heart skipped a beat at the feeling of his warm fingers gently stroking your skin there. He pressed his cheek to yours and you closed your eyes, breathing in his closeness and warmth like an antidote. You could feel your pulse settle as his fingers traced gentle shapes against your bare shoulder, his gloved hand gently massaging your back. 

He moved to press his cheek against your forehead and gently pulled the collar of the shirt up to cover your shoulder again. His flesh hand moved to gently stroke your hair away from your face and he pressed a feather-light kiss to your forehead. You felt his sudden embarrassment through the Force and he cleared his throat quietly. “Sorry, that was just…sort of instinctual.”

“It’s okay,” you breathed into his skin. “It feels nice.”

He hesitated a moment, his fingers still gently playing with the strands of your hair before kissing your forehead again. You pulled back to look him in the eye and felt your heart swell at how adorable his bedhead was. His hair looked so silky and it took all your strength to resist running your fingers through it—although with how much he was still playing with your hair, you’re not sure he would’ve minded.

“Thank you,” you breathed, realizing as your lips moved how close they were to his. 

He nodded, his eyes drinking in your form. His face suddenly bloomed an adorable shade of red as his shirt collar slipped down your shoulder again. His eyes tracked the movement before snapping up to your face as another tear escaped you, gently wiping it away with his thumb. He gently tucked your hair behind your ear, his fingertips lingering on your jawline. 

You stared openly, glancing at his skin that peeked out from underneath the white tank top. It honestly didn’t cover much and really put his toned shoulders and arms on display. Your sleep-drunk brain couldn’t help but think his skin was such a nice golden color. 

His eyes went wide and you frowned for a moment before yours did, too. “Oh, Maker, was that out loud?”

He chuckled, looking down bashfully. “Um, yes, but…thank you.”

“Sorry, I’m…really tired.”

He met your eyes again, his gaze soft and holding something you couldn’t identify. He licked his lips, his thumb lingering over your collarbone momentarily as he inhaled deeply. His hand traced a gentle line up to the column of your neck and it took everything in you not to brush your lips against his. His voice was so soft, you almost didn’t hear it. “That looks so good on you….” He blinked and cleared his throat, quickly pulling the collar back up over your skin and scooting so there was more distance between you, although his arm was still securely wrapped around your waist. “Sorry, apparently I am, too.”

You held his gaze briefly before you both looked away, laughing nervously. “Um…t-thank you for checking on me and for the hug.”

He nodded, his lips curving slightly and highlighting his cheekbones. “Anytime.” He stared for a moment before letting out a shaky breath and dropping his arm from your side. You suddenly felt empty at the loss. “How are you feeling now?”

“Better.”

“Do you think you could go back to sleep now?”

You nodded. “If I can ever return the favor though…please let me know.”

He squeezed your hand. “I will. Thank you.” He hesitated, holding your gaze before standing and walking towards the door, pausing near the frame. “You do…look good…in that shirt. Keep it for as long as you need.”

You could feel the butterflies fill your stomach. “I will…Goodnight, Luke.”

“Night, Y/N.” He gazed at you for a moment before tearing himself away, the door closing behind him with a hiss. 

You settled back down into the mattress, holding onto the feeling of his arms, hands, and skin as you fell into the land of dreams once more. 

[heartofmortis]

✶ Evenstar

. *. ⋆ CHAPTER 14

gif by @houseofamidala

pairing: anakin skywalker x oc

word count: 5.1k

✶ . *. ⋆ read on ao3 & wattpad

Anakin sat slouched on the sofa. He watched Oberyn pace across his room, working on one of his datapads while also talking with his brother. It amused Anakin that his brother could not stay put in one place — perhaps it was a Skywalker thing: always on the move. Oberyn was trying to set Anakin on another task to follow Elia around. This time she had to go North to Aphelion’s second largest city, Nolwenn, which lay protected in a carefully designed dome to protect all of the planet’s history. If the thought of exploring did not intrigue him so much, Anakin would be putting up a far greater fight.

“Why aren’t you going?” Anakin asked when Oberyn set his datapad down at last and collapsed into the armchair across from his brother.

“It’s a wedding thing,” Oberyn answered. “I’m not allowed to go. It’s supposed to be a bad omen or something.”

Suddenly, Anakin wanted to stick out his bottom lip and ask to stay with his brother. If he was to be in this wedding, he wanted to be by his brother’s side. Especially not when he was trying to avoid the Princess after he confessed his fears about his mother to her. But equally, he also did not want to sound like a silly little kid.

“And besides, I would really appreciate it if you accompanied El and Lilith.” Oberyn leaned forward as he spoke. “Nolwenn is very anti-war. And even though El opposes it too, I can’t let her be caught in the middle of something.”

Anakin gave a heavy sigh. “Fine. I’ll go.”

So now Anakin was stuck on a very long train journey with dozens of other passengers travelling North. The worst part of the journey was that the train could only travel underground. Elia had explained it to him as they boarded the isolated first class. The North was inhospitable and was constantly ravaged by violent snowstorms and freezing temperatures. It was the antithesis of Tatooine in Anakin’s eyes, and he was intrigued to see it. Therefore, to keep Aphelion connected, underground tunnels had been dug out — stretching all the way around the planet, as well as from Alora to Nolwenn. Anakin knew that mining used to be one of Aphelion’s main trades, but now he could see the degree to which they worked.

To pass the time, and to avoid the Princess and her friend, Anakin sat quietly by himself and meditated. (Obi-Wan would be proud.) Beneath the surface realigning his focus to the Force, Anakin could not explain it but the Force felt very strong here. Anakin realised he had not dwelled on it since they arrived, his head being preoccupied with a dozen other things that felt more important at the time.

Suddenly, Anakin felt a bumping against his knee. “Artoo!” He heard Elia scold as he opened his eyes to see that the Princess’ astromech had come to inspect him.

Anakin knew this blue-and-white R2 unit. They had met on Tatooine nine years ago — R2-D2 had never been far from Fallon Uttara’s heels. Anakin had met many astromechs and R-series droids, but never had he encountered a droid with Artoo’s personality and modifications. The young Jedi enjoyed talking with fellow mechanics and wondered what he could learn from this droid’s creator. Anakin thought of his own droid he had made as a boy — C-3PO, unfinished in Anakin’s eagerness to run away to Coruscant with his brother and new friends, abandoned to the always unforgiving sands of Tatooine. (He thought about his mother again and almost wished he could stop.)

“Hey, buddy,” Anakin said to the droid with a smile. He found himself chuckling as Artoo recounted his favourite — and least favourite — memories from Tatooine. (Most droids had their memories wiped often, especially those involved with politics or a Crown, so Anakin was quite surprised when Artoo beeped along about events like they were yesterday.)

Took hours to clean the sand out of all my gears. The droid ended with a trill, still not amused by the Tatooine climate.

Anakin laughed, truly. There were scarce beings who understood what Tatooine was like. While most of him wanted to forget his past, Anakin found it refreshing to confide in someone — or something — that had a slight understanding of what hardships he used to face. Even if it was only the weather. “You could pay me a million credits and I wouldn’t go back there willingly. I still don’t like sand.”

Don’t blame you. If droids could laugh, Artoo was doing it. Anakin grinned.

“Aphelion’s beaches are far softer and prettier than desert sands,” Lilith commented, peering over the top of her sketchbook. Anakin looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Lei, you should show him.”

Anakin watched a smile grow across the Princess’ face, light spilling into her soft brown eyes. The glow faltered when Elia looked at him. Whatever she was trying to hide, she did it well. (Anakin wasn’t sure why he noticed the way her expression changed.) “Neptune is wonderful,” she told him. “The villages are really pretty and the ocean is especially beautiful on a clear day.”

Anakin nodded without more of a reply. He trusted Elia’s opinion far more than Lilith’s. He didn’t think Athena had ever mentioned her planet’s beaches before — perhaps that was because Rhea was from Hemera and their beaches were famous galaxy-wide for being near perfect, or perhaps it was because Athena had always preferred Naboo to her homeworld. Anakin realised that Athena’s distance from the location was likely rather to do with her accident taking place there (Anakin still did not entirely know what happened that day — besides knowing that Elia was at the centre of why Queen Ianthe had made the decision to take her daughter out of the Jedi Order with Chancellor Palpatine’s support.) Elia caught his eye and the same dots connected in her head. She looked away from him and did not look back at him for the rest of the journey.

Despite knowing that Nolwenn was a city enclosed in a protective dome, Anakin still expected the city to merge into the surrounding landscape and be covered in a pretty layer of snow. Instead, the city was dominated by tall and sleek skyscrapers, reaching towards the sun, and many smaller districts that felt more familiar to the rest of Aphelion’s infrastructure that Anakin had seen. It was an interesting mix of metal and brick across the city, but Anakin didn’t think they clashed uncomfortably. The core of the city contained the highest concentration of high rise buildings — Anakin assumed the massive data vaults were either stored in them, or underneath. When he looked up, Anakin could see the raging snowstorm through the clear bubble. Its howls were muted by the gentle hum of the bustling city, but Anakin could imagine what it sounded like.

“We’re going to my Mum’s first,” Lilith informed Anakin as she and Elia linked arms and began walking down one of the neat cobbled streets outside the train station. Artoo gave the young Jedi a nudge to follow close behind the girls.

Lilith’s mother lived in a modest building. A small, two-storey home, tucked away in the artist’s corner of the city. Caught between two identical houses on a street of sameness, all that made each house stand apart was their painted exterior walls: some were one shade of pastel, others had intricate forest landscapes or constellations. Lilith’s mother’s house was on the simpler side: the brick wall was painted in a pale pink with delicate white and blue flowers drawn on vines looping around the windows.

Verena Stark looked just like her daughter: the same dark curls and snowy complexion. They even shared paint splatters across their fingers. Anakin’s mother was desert-warm, roughened by sand and hard work. Verena had the same maternal warmth that Anakin recognised in other women, but she bore more resemblance to a soft, crackling fire, her hands marked by splinters from old paintbrushes and her eyes tired from staring at colourful canvases. If Anakin looked at Lilith, he would have seen a similar fire — only burning more fitfully; weakened by snowstorms but bright against the sun’s glow.

Verena welcomed her daughter and Elia with tight hugs and admittance to soft prayers that they would arrive safely. When her gaze fell to Anakin, she gave him a pleasant smile — a flicker of silent remarks passed between her and the girls. Years of knowing and quiet secrets that Anakin was not privy to. But he did not care — especially when Verena brought them into her kitchen, bags abandoned at the door, and offered them a plate of warm cookies. Anakin wondered where Lilith’s loyalty had been led astray for her to leave Elia alone the other night when the young Jedi got the impression that Verena would not have imparted cheap abandon to her only daughter. It wasn’t really Anakin’s business (but it felt like it).

“How long are you guys staying for?” Verena asked as she and her visitors took seats in her living room.

“Not as long as I would like,” Elia admitted. “We’re here on ‘official business’,” she added with a roll of her eyes.

Anakin’s attention was caught by the number of paintings that adorned the walls — most were incredible, but there were a number of crude illustrations made by a child. Every piece was dated and named. Anakin noticed that while most of the works were obviously Lilith’s, there were some with Elia’s name attached. He knew nothing about what good artwork technically was, but he thought Elia’s was very good — he recognised the lakes of Naboo and the city of Theed, as well as purple Apheli moorland and mountain ranges.

His obvious distraction caused a shift in conversation as the women around him slipped into whispered conversation. Anakin tried not to eavesdrop, even though he was in the same room as them. He only paid attention when Elia offered to help Verena bring their empty cookie plates into the kitchen. Lilith did not look sideways at him, and Anakin didn’t particularly care. He didn’t mean to listen in to Elia and Verena’s conversation in the next room, but he was intrigued when they mentioned him. They spoke in hushed whispers, all too aware of their company, but Anakin caught snippets.

“Is he the one you used to talk about all the time?” Anakin overheard Verena ask. He did not catch Elia’s response, but she tumbled back into the living room a moment later. Anakin wasn’t sure why he cared, but he wanted to know what Elia said about him. Her cheeks were tinged pink. For all Anakin’s power in the Force, the Princess was still a mystery to him. He didn’t know how to read her.

“We should get going,” Elia told Anakin as she lingered in the doorway. There was a distance kept between them with Lilith in between. “We have another short journey to go.”

R2-D2 stayed behind at the house with Verena while Elia and Anakin set off for the caves. Elia could not wait to get this over with. Lilith had an art show on the other side of the artist’s district and Elia was bitter that she could not also attend. Their art-related hobbies were what bound Elia and Lilith together at fourteen years old, and Elia still wished she was free to create whatever she wanted like Lilith could.

The route to the mineral caves was simple. Nolwenn was a well-connected city with most of its traffic sitting at ground level to keep the sky clear. Three streets away from Lilith’s house was a taxi hub, where Elia hailed a droid-driven speeder for her and Anakin. The speeder took them to the other side of the city. Like the royal palace and Alora, Nolwenn was built close to a mountain range — the second biggest on the planet. Another mile-long tunnel ran deep below the city into one of the mountains. There laid the caves.

Elia explained the ritual to Anakin on the walk into the mountain. It was a silly old thing that came about before Aphelion became a matriarchy, all about female purity. Oberyn also thought it was a stupid thing as he did not have to undergo any such ritual. There was a silver lining that Elia found worthwhile was that the caves were laced with minerals that had a dozen healing properties that she could not name. Her scientific knowledge was limited to her school education; Zara Palpatine, Elia’s sister on a few technicalities, had tried teaching her some things, but Elia had less interest in learning why the galaxy worked in the way it did. Elia did not share the vast majority of Aphelion’s superstitions and she was hardly religious, so all she really cared for was the caves being pretty.

And the mineral caves were pretty. Even deep underground, the caverns were lit brightly by light beams bouncing off crystals lodged in the walls of stone, and the air still felt fresh with the calming scent of petrichor and not of damp, like she had been expecting. Elia walked towards the water and crouched down, dipping her fingers beneath the surface. Supposedly, the mineral pools were still warmed by dragonfire. She set down her bag of dry clothes next to the pool and slipped out of her shoes. Anakin stood somewhere behind her. When Elia stepped into the water, the fabric of her dress rose to float and stuck to her legs when she submerged up to her waist. She took a few more steps to see where the water deepened before reaching out and letting the water pull her under.

She felt weightless, floating in the water, and dove deeper. There were gaps of light in the bottom of the pool that poured water into the deeper ponds. The mineral pools all fed each other, using the melting snow as their birth point and fell through crevices through the mined out insides of the mountains. The water would eventually feed into Nolwenn’s water filtration system and be used by everyone in the city. The water cleansing reduced many of the mountain’s minerals, which was why girls travelled into the high points of the caves where the water was most healing.

When she came back up for air, she pushed her hair out of her face so it was slicked back against her head. Elia found her gaze reaching towards Anakin. “You can come in too,” she said. “It’s only husbands that aren’t supposed to come in with their future wives. The water is quite nice actually.”

“Do I need to wear a white dress as well?” Elia liked the way he laughed.

Elia rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushed pink from the warm water, and rose to stand where the water only met her waist. The bodice and skirt of her dress had transformed and was now stained lilac. “It represents a transformation: leaving an old life behind. Traditionally men visit Neptune to bathe in the salt water to shed layers of their past. But I know Oberyn wanted to follow more Naboo traditions, so I don’t know what he’ll be getting up to.”

Anakin huffed a little. “He was always better at looking to the future and letting go of the past than me.”

Elia nodded. She had gotten that impression from Oberyn early on. She waded back, deeper into the water. “It’s never too late to try, if you want to.”

She watched as Anakin stared at the ripples in the water before he confessed shyly, “I don’t know how to swim.”

For a moment, Elia wondered if she had forgotten that the Skywalker boys grew up on a desert planet, but Oberyn loved to swim with her in the lakes on Naboo. Was a Jedi’s life simply that restricted? She gave him an honest smile. “Don’t worry. I can show you.”

Anakin looked very uncertain, but he complied and shrugged off the outer layers of his Jedi robes and let them pool next to Elia’s bag. He moved tentatively, unsure. Elia offered a hand to guide him but he did not take it. She half-expected him to panic when in the water, but he watched and copied her instructions calmly. Elia showed him the way to float and move his arms to cut through the water. But she kept distance between them — they were already in close quarters, he wouldn’t want her any closer (not when the last time she was alone and secluded with a Jedi, Athena almost died). Anakin was a quick learner, a natural. She was ready to teach him another stroke when they were interrupted by a great tremble in the ground.

The shallow water in the pool sloshed over the edge and ripples broke the previously undisturbed surfaces of the other smaller pools in their room of the cavern.

Anakin turned to look at her. His short curls stuck to his forehead. “You guys have earthquakes and you brought us to a cave.”

Elia felt her stomach sink, like she was being pulled to the drain. “We aren’t supposed to… Aphelion only has quakes far out to sea where they can’t hurt anyone.”

Anakin dove towards Elia, pulling her under the water by her waist as the ceiling began to crumble and drop rock on top of them. Elia reached back to the surface, snatching back their discarded belongings. Anakin also surfaced for breath. They watched as the cracks in the ceiling grew bigger, water from the pools above them started leaking inside. The tunnels that led in and out of each room were much smaller and likely to be cut off quickly.

“Do you see the cracks of light where the water pulls you to?” Elia watched as Anakin followed where she was pointing and she nodded. “Dive for them, we can escape through the tunnels down there.”

They both took a deep breath and dove again. The water was clear enough for them both to see where they were going. Elia dove first as she was more experienced. But she had not yet gone this deep. All the pools fed into each other through tiny streams between rocks and drains that took away water so the highest pools would not overfill. But when Elia reached the bottom, the gap was not big enough for either of them to squeeze through. She tried to point it out to Anakin without inhaling any water before she began trying to break the rocks surrounding the drain. There were already cracks in the surface, they just needed to be bigger.

Anakin pushed her out of the way and reached out with the Force. The cracks in the rock grew bigger but did not fall away until Anakin was able to break them away with his hands. Like a plug being pulled, Elia and Anakin fell through the ceiling. The water cushioned their fall and they were lucky that the rocks fell around them and did not hit them. Elia was grateful to breathe again when she surfaced in the next pool and gasped for air. She dragged herself out of the new pool. This room was darker, the floor flooded by the overspill of the other rooms. But the walls were sturdier and the tremors were gone.

“Do you know what way to go?” Anakin asked, gaining his footing next to her.

“Not exactly, but all paths lead the same way.”

He motioned for her to lead and they took off running before another earthquake, or aftershock, appeared.

They reached the mouth of the cave quickly and slowed to a staggered walk. Dripping wet and breathless, Elia promised herself, I am never doing that again.

Elia noticed a small number of visitors approaching the cave with a guide. They all stared at Elia and Anakin. “You shouldn’t go in there right now. The earthquake made the ground unstable, it isn’t safe.”

Every one of the newcomers stared at her and glanced at their companions like she was crazy.

“What earthquake?” the tour guide asked.

Elia turned to Anakin. Perhaps she was crazy. But he was giving her the same expression of disbelief. The tour guide quickly rallied the group and they set off into the caves, all of them looking back at Elia and Anakin. The Elia noticed blood staining his hands.

“Sweet gods, are you okay?”

Anakin shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Elia made him sit down on one of the nicely placed rocks outside the cave. She pulled him around by the wrist and found some damp but clean fabric to clean the deep, but not threatening, cut across Anakin’s hand. He winced but complied as she fashioned him a makeshift bandage.

“I’ve seen people use the Force to heal,” she commented. “Sometimes I wish I could connect to it.”

“The Force is very strange here,” Anakin said. “It feels different on other planets, but Aphelion is something else. Every time I try and meditate or try to use it, I feel some resistance. I have never had trouble using the Force before.”

Elia was curious. Her experiences with the Jedi, and the Force, were very limited but they fascinated her. “Just here, or in thr capital too?”

“Everywhere. It’s this planet. It clouds things.”

Elia chuckled. “Aphelion is just a planet. Maybe the Chosen One just needs to give it a better chance.”

Anakin gave a disapproving huff. “I have given it plenty of chances.”

“The people, yes. The planet less so.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I’d rather have the people like me.”

“Because they named you their hero?”

“Yes.” The Jedi frowned and pulled his hand out of her grasp to finish tying the bandage himself. Elia sat back and watched him to it wrong but she did not want to correct him.

Elia gave a half hearted laugh. “Is one title not enough for you? The Chosen One and the Hero.”

“I didn’t want to be the Chosen One.” Anakin bit back. “At least here, they gave me the title because I did something. I know I’m going to be the best at what I do. It’s written in the stars that I will bring balance to the Force but…”

“It’s a lot of pressure. I understand.”

He shook his head. “No you don’t. No one does. You’re a princess. You breathe and everyone loves you.”

Elia frowned and narrowed her eyes. “Like you do? Everyone pities me, same as you. You were born great. I was born nothing, the same as everyone else. It was chance and horrid, rotten luck that I stand here now. You have a lot, you should not take that for granted.” She stood and bundled up her stuff. “Let us please get back to the city so we can get my wedding done with and then we can leave each other alone.” Anakin stared at her and gave a small nod and they moved to Bevin their journey back into the city.

They were almost dry when they walked back through the city. They had walked in silence the whole way. Elia was quite tired of Anakin’s ego and his distaste that he could barely hide for a moment. She wanted to make a brief stop at one of her favourite bookshops to pick up a gift for Eden, and then she could go home.

The wedding was close now and Elia would not need to leave the palace again. Anakin would have no need to stay near her any longer. And yet it still weighed heavily on her heart that he refused to give her anything. She understood his reasons to feel protective over Athena — they were best friends; Elia felt the same way towards Lilith and Oberyn. She was mostly frustrated at herself that she still hung onto the hopeless, wretched feelings that had followed her since she was fourteen on Naboo, racing around Theed with Anakin. (Every part of Elia that was still Alana clung to the past with a steel grip.) She would just have to force herself to move on, push Alana further away.

The city centre was busier than Elia normally saw it in the times she had visited before. Nolwenn had a large population, but people did not often come together in vast groups unless there was a celebration or the market was fully stocked. But when Elia looked closer at the crowd as she and Anakin found themselves unwillingly brought into it, she saw dozens of signs being waved in their air.

“Look,” Elia said with a smile, “they don’t want this Bill to pass either. I just wish the Senate would see it too.”

“I wouldn’t celebrate these people’s decisions too soon — look.” Anakin pointed beyond the peace signs. Elia’s chest tightened as she saw dozens of posters of the Apheli crown or throne wreathed in flames. “You need to get out of here. Now.”

Elia shook her head. “They’re protesting. I should see what their complaints are so we can fix them–”

The crowd came closer together, trapping the Jedi and the Princess in the masses. Chants were being thrown around, graffiti strewn across buildings. Panic seized in Elia’s chest. These people hated her family. They hated this wedding. She heard a voice ring out — shaming each member of the royal family. Including Elia. They thought her plea for peace was a disguise for her ‘Separatist sympathies’? It was completely untrue, but they believed it. They hated her too.

Strong hands fell onto Elia’s waist, pulling her free from the crowd. She stumbled, trying to hide her face. Anakin was in front of her, steadying her when they broke free. Elia curled her hands into fists and ignored the stab of her nails cutting into her palms. What had she done wrong? She did not agree with her mother all the time, but Elia did not doubt that (besides the wedding), Ianthe Valarys had her planet’s best interests at heart. That was why she had Alerie join Padmé’s opposition. The people did not truly hate them, did they? Elia had never sat in on one of her mother’s meetings with her advisors and staff. Did the Queen know what her people thought? Elia wished she could talk to all of these protestors, these people — hear their grievances and tell the people that Aphelion was strong, that her adoptive family cared. But she did not even like speaking up in her lessons at university. What help could she truly give? She did not know how to fight, how to convince. She only stood as a shield when trouble came. Trouble she could not predict in any way that was helpful. (Not like little Eden’s vast and spiralling dreams, or Aerrik’s precise and rare glimpses of the future.) She was just there. Always just there. She was nothing. She did not even know why Ianthe had taken her in. She was just Alana. Alana the scared girl. Alana who froze when the fire came. She would never stop the flames. She would never run into them.

Elia scarcely noticed when the crowd noticed she was there. All she saw between her gasping breaths and stinging blurred vision was the shouts and the flash of Anakin’s lightsaber. He took her hand, begging her to come with him. Elia could imagine the crowd chasing them with torches and pitchforks.

They stopped running four streets away when no protestors were anywhere behind them. Anakin tugged Elia into an alleyway. He was saying things — telling her to breathe, helping her to do so, telling her they were safe. Worry creased his features, and then Anakin started talking. She didn’t hear him fully at first but whatever place Elia had found herself stuck in, Anakin was helping her come back.

Elia braced herself against the wall, dropping her head into her hands and muttered out a string of apologies. She had never seen so many people angry at her family before. Even if she seldom felt like one, Elia was still a Valarys in almost every way.

“It’s fine. Don’t apologise,” Anakin said. His hands caught around her wrists. “Just let me get you back to somewhere safe, okay?”

The walk back to Verena’s house was thankfully short. No one was in when they arrived, but Elia knew where the spare key was kept and she let herself and Anakin in. Despite all that had happened, Elia still found a way to feel glad for the experience in the caves. The minerals still gave her a numbing calmness.

Damp hair coiled back and pinned behind her head, Elia nibbled chocolate biscuits in the kitchen. The house was quiet, peaceful. At least it was until Anakin found her.

He lingered in the doorway, leaving space between them. “I wanted to thank you, properly, for the caves,” he said. “Not just showing me how to swim, but you were quick thinking and you saved us both.”

Elia shrugged and licked crumbs off her fingers as she turned to face him. “You would have done the same.”

Anakin gave a short laugh. “I probably wouldn’t have taken us through a safer route.” He paused and began to move closer to her. “I, um, also wanted to apologise for what I said after. I don’t pity you.”

“It makes no difference. You still don’t like me.”

“No. That’s not true. It’s–”

“Complicated,” Elia mused. Isn’t everything. “It’s fine. You’re Athena’s friend. I understand.”

Anakin shook his head. He was stood in front of her now, catching her between him and the kitchen counter. “No. It isn’t just about Thena. It’s more than that. I…”

He was looking at her like he often did. Elia did not like the way he confused her — sometimes he would not look at her. Then he couldn't stop (like he was doing now). But he wasn’t looking at her with distaste. Maybe half of the looks he gave her weren’t of dislike. But she could not explain how he was looking at her now. There was an odd light in his eye that she had not seen before. She liked when he looked at her, it made her feel fluttery and girlish — but this was different.

“Anakin…” His name was heavy and left her lips softly. He was gazing down at her — his eyes mapping her face. Elia’s breath caught in her throat, they were inches apart and she could feel the warmth of his body quell the goosebumps across her skin. “Please stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

Before Elia had to define his expression and question the heat that was rising across her body, the front door unlocked and swung open. Her heart raced. Elia broke free from their eye contact and fled the kitchen. She hated this, hated him. And she wanted to go home.

[magnetarbeam]

One of my favorite minor details about Wraith Squadron is how Kell's astromech Thirteen is officially designated R2-D609.

It's a much-needed hint of there being more R2-series astromechs in the galaxy than the amount of designations possible with one letter and one single-digit number.

[cantsayidont]

March 2021. For a long time, I was very reluctant to investigate the DOCTOR APHRA series, put off by the overly cutesy covers and the grim mediocrity of most post-1986 SW comics, but I eventually got some of the trades from the library and was pleasantly surprised.

The titular Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra is an archaeologist (she does actually have a doctorate, even though she did end up blackmailing her thesis advisor to get it), treasure hunter, thief finder of rare antiquities, con artist, and all-around ne'er-do-well who thinks principles are for suckers. Naturally, she gets herself into a lot of trouble (including owing large amounts of money to many very dangerous people, like her sometimes-ally, the Wookiee mercenary Black Krrsantan), and many of her adventures revolve around her trying to get out from under the aftermath of her previous capers.

Aphra is also a lesbian, and kind of a fuckboy, leaving an ever-growing trail of embittered ex-girlfriends who aren't sure if they want to kiss her or shoot her. Much of her initial ongoing series deals with her on-again, off-again relationship with Magna Tolvan (the white cyborg lady pictured behind her above), an Imperial officer who eventually joins the Rebellion after Aphra ruins her career. Given the usual trajectory of online fandom, which is very eager to impute gayness to the most drearily hetero of media, I hadn't expected Aphra being gay to be more than a vague implication in the actual comics, but she does actually canonically sleep with women. Who'dathunkit?

Aphra's early appearances in Kieron Gillen's wretched DARTH VADER comic and the lackluster Jason Aaron STAR WARS book present her as pretty overtly villainous. When she got her own book, Gillen apparently decided that wasn't viable, so in her own series, Aphra acquires a bit of a conscience — never enough to keep her out of trouble, of course, but enough to distinguish her from her meaner allies, like Triple Zero (a protocol droid with the personality of a gleefully polite serial killer) and BT-1 (an astromech who's basically R2-D2 if somebody let him have way too many grenades). The latter part of her first ongoing, written by Si Spurrier after Gillen's departure, eventually threatens to soften her a little too much, but the current ongoing, written by Alyssa Wong, seems to have found a better balance in that regard. On the other hand, I find the current book a bit too episodic — it's more accessible, but a lot of what makes Aphra delightful is her increasingly frantic scramble to escape the accumulating consequences of her many, many terrible decisions.

The massive (1,200+ page) Omnibus pictured above compiles all of Aphra's early appearances and the complete run of her initial ongoing title in chronological order. While her early adventures are important insofar as they introduce Aphra and some of her major supporting characters, they aren't as much fun as her first ongoing series, so you could just as well start there. There's also an audio dramatization of Aphra's early adventures, adapted by Sarah Kuhn and featuring Emily Woo Zeller as Aphra. The dramatization is okay and Zeller is great, although Marc Thompson's Vader is completely unconvincing and a bit of a drag on the proceedings.

[vanishedangels]

As the stars are shining

Summary: Jedi Luke Skywalker's world turns upside down when he comes to the aid of a force-sensitive child only to find that Din Djarin, the only man he has ever loved and pushed out of his life six years earlier on Dagobah, is the kid's guardian.

Blame it on the storm & Castles on the sand sequel

Pairing: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker

Characters: Din Djarin, Luke Skywalker, Grogu, Paz Vizsla, Ahsoka Tano, Greef Karga, R2-D2.

Rating: Mature

Tags: AU, Canon Divergence, Post The Mandalorian Season 2, Getting Back Together, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Tumblr Prompts, POV Alternating, Mostly Luke's POV.

Chapters: 2/3

Navigation: <- Previous Chapter • Next Chapter ->

Part 3 of Wonderwall series

Excerpt:

The mandalorian stood still staring at the living waters for a while before he started to remove his cloak.

"Din?" The Jedi said but the man in beskar didn't pay attention to him, Luke's heartbeat sped up the moment he realized that Din was taking the pieces of his armour off. Luke's heart leapt in his chest when his former lover's fingers were dexterously loosening the straps of his chest plate. He was holding his breath while Din was removing his armour piece by piece until he finally unzipped his flight suit, he stopped when he reached his waist, exposing his upper body. Luke knew every inch of his skin, every freckle, every scar, but seeing him for the first time, really seeing him with his own eyes, even when they were in semi-darkness, was something else entirely. Luke's skin prickled with something that resembled want when the mandalorian put his hands on his helmet, finally taking it off.

Chapter 2: Take what you need and be on your way

He didn't even need to consciously reach out through the force this time in order to find Din. The moment Luke jumped inside his cockpit he could feel a sense of a déjà vu, everything was unfolding before him smoothly, it felt like a string pulling him towards Din Djarin, effortlessly.

He pressed the child against his chest staring at the N-1 starfighter grounded by the entrance of a cave system, only occupied by a R5-series astromech droid that looked suspiciously familiar. He climbed down the X-Wing carefully placing the child inside the hovering pram. He looked around and then he looked down at Grogu beside him "You know how to use this." He rested his gloved hand on the pram "Just, stay close to me." The baby cooed. "Always."

Inside the intricate multilevel destroyed capital city, once known as Sundari, the darkness engulfed them completely until Grogu turned on the hovering pram's flashlight, Luke breathed in admiring the ruins surrounding them, he walked through the destruction guided by that recognizable pull that, apparently, still connected him with the mandalorian. All of a sudden, a tall creature jumped from a rock landing on its feet before them, armed with a heavy stick with a thick end, Luke craned his neck to look at it, he narrowed his eyes, the creature's skin was gray, matching the colour of its hair and it had four eyes and tusks. The moment three other creatures joined the first one, Luke sent a message to Grogu through the force and the baby closed his pram, securing himself inside it. The darkness was surrounding Luke once again until he ignited his lightsaber, only illuminating his own face, painting it in a green shade, when two of the creatures tried to come close to him Luke outstretched his right arm wielding his saber and made a spin cutting the two of them in half. He could feel the other two large creatures approaching him, and he ducked his head to dodge the creature's attack, he frowned curling his free hand into a tight fist and when he unfurled his hand, the creature's body fell lifeless on the floor while his saber was buried deep inside the chest of the remaining creature. The light of Grogu's pram bathing him again, he extinguished his saber letting the attacker fell into the abyss surrounding them. He looked at Grogu nodding and they continued their journey.

After descending several levels they finally came to a halt, Luke touched the pram letting Grogu know that he should stay behind him, the child was clutching the edge of his pram, Luke could feel his distress through the force, they were hiding in the shadows, watching. Din was trapped inside a cage while a cyborg, that Luke could tell it was a little creature inside a spider tank, was walking around him. Luke heard a pained grunt coming from Din and he squinted to see what was that creepy creature doing to him, his eyebrows rose when he could see that it was draining Din's blood with a tubing, making his hair stand on end.

Enough.

Luke walked towards them as he heard Din gasping the moment he held his hand up and the cyborg froze, Luke scowled discovering that an organic eye was staring at him from inside the mechanic structure "So there you are." He said piercing the only organic part of the creature with his saber. When the cyborg unit shut down, Luke ran towards Din, carefully unhooking the tubing from him "Din, please, hold on." Din didn't answer. "Din?"

He opened the cage and tried to find Din's pulse pressing his digits against his neck, just like that time when he found Din on the verge of death in the Western Dune Sea many years ago, and he sighed relieved when he realized that Din passed out but his heartbeat was strong and steady.

~

Luke was sitting on a rock with his elbows propped on his knees, hunching forward, when he heard Din groaning as he started stirring on the ground, Grogu was standing next to his helmet pressing his little hand on the visor and Luke shook his head slightly, he frowned staring at the floor remembering Ahsoka's words "This is a mistake." Indeed, he needed to work really hard if he wanted to provide Grogu with the means to find the way to balance his feelings. He finally looked up when the mandalorian placed the kid inside his pram and he swallowed hard as Din stood in front of him, he rose to his feet staring at his visor. "You saved my life, Skywalker, I'm in your debt. Thank you." Luke pressed his lips together, widening his eyes, Din sounded so distant and polite, his reaction was so different from the last time Luke went to his aid. "How did you find me?" Din inquired, Luke's answer died in his lips when he could only pulled a face and before he could find the words Din tilted his head "Was it the force?"

Luke sighed, talking about the force with Din was hard for him since it was a stark reminder of his biggest mistake "Yes." He said quietly.

The mandalorian shifted his weight from one foot to the other "Did you find me on Tatooine using the force too?" Luke's eyes went round and he nodded, Din huffed "You shouldn't be here." He added walking away. "Take Grogu with you and leave."

Although Din had every reason to be maddened by Luke's actions in the past, and he knew Din should be mad, the Jedi couldn't help but feel desperate, he followed Din grabbing him by his upper arm, when Din stopped in his tracks, the blonde hissed, his fingers twitching around Din's biceps before he withdrew his hand "Sorry, I didn't, I didn't mean it." He said staring down.

Din turned around "Why are you even here? It's obvious that you don't care about me." He said closing the space between them.

Luke was gaping, he blinking "I do care." He whispered.

Din remained silent and then he walked towards the child "It's dangerous, take the kid with you." Grogu was staring at him with pleading eyes, his big ears lowering a little.

"He's worried about you, we're not leaving." Luke stated standing beside him.

Din sighed as his shoulders slumped, visible defeated. The child chirped.

"Bo-Katan said that the living waters are located under the civic center." Din said as Grogu was holding his forefinger in his little hand.

Who's Bo-Katan? Luke thought "Alright." He said instead "Let's go."

"I, I'm not sure where the civic center is." The mandalorian stated staring at him over his shoulder.

Luke narrowed his eyes "I feel something, it's weak, but still, I can tell that the source is powerful. It could be the living waters."

Din nodded "Take us there."

~

The living waters were in front of them, Luke could tell the way Din's breath was going faster. The mandalorian stood still staring at the waters for a while before he started to remove his cloak.

"Din?" The Jedi said but the man in beskar didn't pay attention to him, Luke's heartbeat sped up the moment he realized that Din was taking the pieces of his armour off. Luke's heart leapt in his chest when his former lover's fingers were dexterously loosening the straps of his chest plate. He was holding his breath while Din was removing his armour piece by piece until he finally unzipped his flight suit, he stopped when he reached his waist, exposing his upper body. Luke knew every inch of his skin, every freckle, every scar, but seeing him for the first time, really seeing him with his own eyes, even when they were in semi-darkness, was something else entirely. Luke's skin prickled with something that resembled want when the mandalorian put his hands on his helmet, finally taking it off. Luke stared astonished as his eyes roamed Din Djarin's dark curls, and his mind went back to the times he stroked that silky hair in the past, and the sheer thrill that that memory triggered had tension rapidly coiling hot in his gut. He tried to compose himself when Din looked back at them over his shoulder, standing by the shore. Luke parted his lips as his heart skipped a beat when Din's soft brown eyes met his own. You're as beautiful as the day I saw you for the first time, my love. Luke was gaping at him, not believing that he was actually seeing the love of his life's face. The love of his life. Yes. Din was gorgeous in every way, inside and out, and seeing his face, even with all that darkness surrounding him, stirred something inside Luke. Din's eyes were not only humble but also full of kindness and Luke felt lost in them, deeply, hopelessly, lost in them. Din turned his head towards the waters and Luke was taken aback by him.

Din walked down the stairs finally stepping into the water "I swear on my name. And the name of the ancestors."

Luke was listening to him with curious eyes, and a thumping heart, while Din kept walking.

"That I shall walk the way of the Mand'alor." Din said as his knees were now covered by the living waters, holding his helmet against his bare chest with one hand and playing with the water with the fingers of his free hand "And the words of the Creed shall be forever forged in my heart."

Luke could feel his heart running impossible fast, he was so proud of Din, so proud. Grogu tilted his little head, both of them expectant, until Din finally said "This is the way." And he held his helmet with both hands in front of his face, he made a pause, Luke frowned. Was Din hesitating? He blinked not able to move, still holding his breath until Din finally put his helmet back on and he sighed lowering his gaze finding Grogu's big brown eyes. Luke couldn't believe that Din gave him a gift that he was going to treasure forever, allowing him to see his face, even when it was for a brief moment.

Din walked in their direction to finally joined them, Luke's eyes roaming all over his helmet "I'm redeemed." He said making Luke's heart flutter.

"Yes, you are." He said half smiling. Din was now staring at the child, Luke walked away from them, trying not to intrude into their special moment.

He contemplated the way Din put every beskar piece on from afar, still he was watchful, ready to protect Din and Grogu. He flinched slightly when he saw Din hunching down by the shore, he could realize that he was filling a small flask with water. Realization hit him, it was obvious that Din needed to prove he bathed in the living waters to someone. But who was this person?

They walked in silence until they reached the point where they needed to go up, Din looked at Luke tilting his helmet "How did you manage to reach this level?"

"Grogu can pilot his pram." Luke said staring at his visor, Din hummed.

"And what about you?" He insisted.

Luke clicked his tongue "I climbed down." He clenched his left hand wondering if Din could notice the scratches all over his skin, he shook his head realizing that he couldn't have seen them in that darkness. "You two go first, it's gonna take a while, just-" He shrugged "Please, just wait for me up there."

The mandalorian looked at the child and then he looked at Luke again "No way." He said under his breath closing the space between Luke and him, he encircled the blonde's waist with one arm, Luke froze staring at his visor. "Is this okay?" He asked sheepishly as their bodies were pressed flush against each other, from thighs to chest and Luke couldn't help but feel a familiar tingling warmth in the pit of his stomach as his heart was pounding against his ribs.

"Yes." He said not breaking eye contact with Din. He squeezed his eyes shut when he heard the jetpack's turbines burst and his stomach flipped when he didn't feel the ground under his feet anymore, he opened his eyes as the wind started messing with his hair, dirty blonde locks brushing against his eyelashes, he blinked staring up. He felt Din's fingers twitching against his ribs, then he was digging them into Luke's flesh making him look at Din again, he was boring into his visor, relishing in the way the man in beskar was staring at him behind his helmet, so painfully close.

They landed on the high level smoothly, Din withdrew his arm from Luke leaving the Jedi missing his warmth, a cold wave invading him as he tried to ignore the way Din was making him feel, so vulnerable but at the same time so shamelessly eager to press his face against Din's chest and stay there for hours.

Wake up, Luke. He said to himself when they were approaching their ships, Din stood in front of him "I need to visit my people, please be safe." He tilted his head towards Grogu. "And, thank you, Luke." Luke shrugged giving him a smile. "I'll see you soon, kid." Din said holding Grogu's hand.

They left Mandalore a minute later, Luke stared at Din's N-1 starfighter until it hit hyperspace, he frowned thinking that this was wrong. Feeling the way he was feeling was not only wrong but also selfish, he realized that he wanted Din with every fiber of his being, still he was conscious that he didn't deserve him.

I will never be worthy of his trust again.

~

Din came back to the Temple after a month, Luke noticed that he was changed. A little. He seemed more relaxed than the last time they met, showing a light-hearted mood. By the second night he stayed with them, Grogu was sleeping peacefully in his pram next to Din. They were sitting around a bonfire, Luke was lying on the grass propping himself up on his elbow, Din came closer to him, sitting down with his legs crossed "Thank you for letting me be here, Luke."

The Jedi looked up at him finally sitting up, mirroring Din "I'm glad you're here." He breathed out, feeling completely relaxed next to him.

"And how is it?" He leaned a hand on the grass, close to Luke's leg "To be a Jedi."

Luke looked up at the night sky "It's a lonely journey." He stayed quiet for a while.

They spent hours talking about the years they were apart, Luke told him about the force, his masters, and even about his father and how he learned Leia was, indeed, his twin sister. He didn't hide any detail from Din, even the painful ones, he blinked back tears more than once and he could feel Din's hand rubbing little circles on his own.

"I wish I could have been there for you." Din said while Luke was holding his breath staring at the stars.

He looked at Din incredulous "Please, Din." He pleaded. Again, guilty was destroying him. How could Din be so humble and pure at heart when Luke himself was the reason why Din couldn't be there with him?

Din withdrew his hand staring down "You're so powerful now." He said and Luke narrowed his eyes understanding that Din was trying to change his mood. "I can't even describe it, you're the most powerful warrior I've ever seen in my life."

That took Luke's breath away. That statement coming from a mandalorian was an honour and made his head spin a little. "Thank you, Din." He managed to say even when his breath was coming out uneven.

"It's a good thing, huh?" He asked "I mean, you don't need a mandalorian around you to scare stalkers away anymore." Din added and Luke's heart gave an extra beat.

Luke thought that maybe this was Din trying to know if he was seeing someone, or maybe he was reading too much into his words. No, actually, he was so desperate for Din to show him affection that he was imagining things.

He chuckled "Yeah, still, since I'm a Jedi no one is trying to make a move on me anymore." He said trying to belittle the subject.

Din tilted his helmet snorting "Yeah, right." He deadpanned.

"I'm serious, people tend to avoid me, I think they feel intimidated by me." He laughed and he was being really honest.

"Get out, Skywalker." He chuckled elbowing Luke "I still remember your squad mates drooling all over you." Din said making Luke think back to their time together and he smiled tenderly, absentmindedly glaring at him. "I hate them." Din added and he sounded serious.

Luke winced "They're all gone, now." He said avoiding Din's gaze.

"I still hate them." Din insisted earning him a chuckle from Luke.

Luke nodded "At least a good thing came out of that." He looked at Din sideways and then pressed his lips together as he was running his hand over the grass, staring down.

Din went silent. When Luke looked at him again he was staring at him, his visor fixed on his face "I didn't know what to expect every time I went to visit you."

"What do you mean?" Luke leaned in closer to him.

"You were too special, I didn't know why a guy like you could be interested in being with a guy like me." Din explained staring down as Luke was astonished now "I always thought that one day, eventually, finally, you would blow me off."

Luke's heart broke into pieces.

"What?" His body was tense all of a sudden and his heart was in his throat.

"And it happened."

Fuck. No. Not this.

Luke put a hand atop Din's thigh and the mandalorian looked at it not able to face the Jedi.

"It didn't, it didn't happen Din." He was feeling a wave of cold sweat spreading down from the nape of his neck to his lower back "I-"

Din met his eyes, shrugging "It's okay."

"No, it's not. I didn't want to let you go, I was trying to protect you." He shook his head "I thought, maybe, well, I knew that you didn't feel the same-"

"The same?" Din cut him off.

"You didn't want to label our relationship so it remained casual that way, and I gladly accepted that. Because it was better than not having you at all." He said under his breath. "Maybe I wanted something more, but I couldn't drag you into my crusade and put a target on the back of your head."

Din groaned "I know what you mean." He shifted a little "And about labels, Luke? I always knew that you were my cyare." Hearing Din saying that pet name again made Luke shiver as warmth began pooling in his belly, those words coming from Din felt like honey on his tongue, soft and sweet, intoxicating him. His lips tingling at the memory that that word prompted, the taste of Din's skin on them, the kisses they shared, the pleasant weight of Din's body against his own. He couldn't even believe it.

Then he realized that he couldn't understand what Din was talking about "What-what is a cyare?" He asked as he felt his cheeks slowly blossoming with a red shade.

Din tilted his helmet and Luke tried to ignore how adorable the man looked every time he did that "You mean you don't know?" Luke shook his head keeping his gaze "What about mesh'la and cyar'ika?" Luke sighed devastated.

Please, stop saying those words. Although Luke didn't know their meaning, every one of them were pulling him back to the memory of Din's arms around him, while he was whispering sweet nothings in his ear after loving him on their blankets in the safety of the Razor Crest, Din's mouth pressing open-mouthed kisses all over him, leaving love marks behind them as Luke was falling apart behind his black blindfold.

"I don't know." He swallowed through the lump in his throat.

Din stared at him for a while and then he rolled one shoulder "Alright." Luke stared at him expectant "Mesh'la means beautiful." The blonde's mouth curved into a smile "Cyar'ika, means sweetheart." He said and Luke's smile slipped "And cyare-" Din cleared his throat "Cyare means beloved." He looked down as Luke's eyes were fixed on him.

"Din." He said almost whispering "Din." He tried to seize his hand but he wasn't sure, not believing what he was hearing, Din was telling him that he was his beloved. And he spoiled everything by being an insecure man.

"I'm sorry Luke, It's getting late and I think, I should-" He gave Grogu a quick glance over his shoulder "Can I take him to his bed?"

Luke pressed his lips together frowning "Yes, sure. Sure. It's late, you're right." It was late, in every sense of the word. Late. It was too late.

Luke kept tossing and turning that night, his mind going back to Din's words "I always knew that you were my cyare." Then he thought about Din telling him that he always expected Luke breaking up with him and his stomach clenched.

"I loved you too, Din." He whispered resting his hand on his stomach "I loved you too."

~

Next morning Luke found it hard to look at Din directly, he realized he was conflicted, overwhelmed by mixed emotions. The mandalorian stood beside him while Grogu was resting after a training session.

"I need to go to Nevarro, Greef Karga needs help." Din said and Luke stared at his visor. "He's a friend. I need to go now."

Luke nodded "You're going to need a hand." He moved to face Din.

"No, it's okay, I'm taking my people to Nevarro."

Luke couldn't help but remember the first time he went to Nevarro, when he was a naive young man going to an unknown planet to meet Din. Their first date. He smiled fondly.

"I'm coming back soon." The mandalorian said looking at his face, Luke nodded again as his eyes traveled down, he was staring at Din's chest plate now.

"Take care of yourself, Din." He met his visor one last time.

~

Din was absent for almost a month, and since he came back, Luke started to feel more and more comfortable around him. One night he was inside his room, he let Din with Grogu in the child's bedroom. Lost in thought, he didn't close the door and he peeled off his robes, tossing them aside, he walked around, unclipping his saber and leaving it on the bedside table, he brushed his fingers through his hair and turned around, he froze when he saw Din standing by the door, suddenly conscious of the state he was in, half naked, only wearing his pants and with tousled hair. He swallowed hard pressing his lips together but he didn't cover himself, almost enjoying the way Din's visor was fixed on him.

The mandalorian didn't make a sound as Luke finally put his robe back on walking towards him "Yes, Din?" He tilted his head delicately adjusting the lapels of his rob, a sliver of his soft skin was still on display and Din's visor shifted slightly from his face to his chest and back to his face again.

"I just wanted to say good night."

Luke could feel his skin reacting to the sound of his voice, so mesmerizing, soft and deep. He had to gather every bit of strength in him not to ask Din to stay for a little while, and he could sense Din's reluctance to leave as well, certain that he was feeling the same way.

Sometimes he would catch Din staring at him, some other times he was the one at the other end. And whenever he accidentally touched Din he could feel his skin prickling and his heartbeat going faster.

A bad idea.

~

He closed the door behind him, leaving his room after talking with Leia via holocom, he knew what to do, and the fact that Din was still on planet was pretty convenient. He walked into the dinner room, Din was sitting at the table, forearms rested on it, he looked up at him, Luke bowed his head and sat down beside him, he blinked staring at his visor.

"I hope you don't mind, I was waiting for you before going to bed."

Luke nodded in silence "It was Leia. I need to ask you something." Din tilted his head, attentive to what he was saying. "I'm leaving tonight." Din shifted in his chair. "The New Republic never said a word about it but someone close to us found out that the ship that was transporting Gideon was attacked, and we're sure that he has escaped." Luke tried to assess Din's reaction, he used to be pretty good at reading Din's moods but years of being apart have taken their toll on that ability, he realized he was rusty since he couldn't figure out what was going inside the man's mind. "I need you to stay here with Grogu, or maybe you should take him with you, I'm tracking Gideon down, I don't know how long it will take."

He could hear Din taking in a sharp inhale as he leaned back in the chair, forearms still on the table "You don't need to."

Luke frowned, his lips twisting almost letting out a weak what? when Din talked again.

"I already tracked him down. You're not gonna hear about him again." He made a pause "I killed him." He added staring at Luke's blue eyes.

The Jedi widened his eyes, perplexed, his lips parting, he was not expecting Din to be a step ahead on this matter. It didn't happen often, but he left him speechless.

"I killed him on Lanz Carpo." He shrugged one arm staring down "Are you disappointed?" He asked giving Luke a quick glance.

Luke opened his mouth and closed it again, he shook his head slowly "No. I was planning to do it myself." He heard Din sighing deeply.

"Wasn't the first time I killed to protect a loved one." Din said tightening his hands into fists over the table, Luke put a hand over Din's gently, making him look at him again.

"I'm proud of you." Luke said staring at him and his eyes carried a mixture of respect and softness. "How did you know about it?" He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug.

"My friend Cara contacted me two weeks ago, some blue man told her about it, I think she knew what she was doing by telling me about it." He huffed.

"Can't believe The New Republic doesn't care." Luke said absorbed in thought, completely oblivious of his surroundings until he felt something warm against his arm, he looked down only to find Din's free hand caressing his forearm through the fabric of his robe as he was still holding his other hand, he looked up meeting Din's visor "Then I'm not going anywhere." His words eliciting a soft chuckle from Din.

"Yeah, I figured that out."

The Jedi burst into laughter, curling his hand around Din's, they went silent for a moment and Luke knew, he knew that Din was feeling the same, and if Din has forgiven him, he hasn't forgiven himself.

"There you are, Luke." Din said under his breath, Luke blinked staring at him. "I missed your laugh."

Luke turned his head away, withdrawing his hand from Din, he cleared his throat. This life, the Jedi's life, wilted his soul, he knew it, but he was starting to wonder if the reason behind that dryness was, actually, the loss of Din's love, a consequence of embracing his destiny, and his stomach churned at the mere thought.

Walking away from Din that night felt wrong, still he did it, even against his own desire. When he closed the bedroom's door and leaned his back against it, he pinched the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut. Maybe he was still in love with Din. Maybe he has always been in love with him.

~

He was staring at Grogu training by the creek, the little force-user was jumping from rock to rock dodging the blasts coming from a training remote drone successfully. Din joined him, Luke looked at him giving him a smile.

"What is that thing?" The mandalorian asked him.

"It's a Marksman-H training remote. Don't worry, it's harmless." He explained, knowing Din, he was definitely thinking that a flying killing ball was trying to obliterate Grogu.

When the training session finished, the child was lying exhausted over a big rock. Luke frowned, hands folded behind his body "I still can't believe that my father is responsible for all of this. The Jedi purge. All this suffering, Grogu's suffering." He made a pause staring at the child, still he was pretty aware of the way Din was pointedly staring at him "And I inflicted him more pain by not telling you I was force-sensitive." He shrugged "I'm a Skywalker after all." He whispered the last part, broken-hearted.

The mandalorian leaned closer "I don't know what that means."

Luke let out a harsh breath "That everything we touch, we break it." He said in a low-pitched voice.

"I don't believe that." Din retorted clutching his forearm.

Luke looked down at his hand on him and then he looked up to meet his visor "I hate myself because I didn't trust you enough. I failed you. You were everything I ever wanted and I didn't tell you about the major part of me, that the force was strong with me. Should I have taken all the time in the world to explain you about it? Yes." He looked at Grogu again "Although I didn't know anything about the force when I first met you, that's not an excuse, Din. Do you know why?" He bored into his visor "Because I didn't tell you that I was staying on Dagobah to train in the ways of the force, and you were so merciful that you didn't even push me, you accepted my silence and left. I didn't deserve you. I know that now." He choked with emotion as his eyes welled up, he looked away trying to hide his tears.

"I've done my part too, Luke." Din's words making him look at him again, as he was wiping tears from his cheeks. "I was hiding many things from you too. I understand, sometimes you need to protect yourself and the ones that you look after. I never told you about my covert's location, never took you there because it was forbidden, never told you that I loved you, even when I was dying to hear you saying that you loved me back."

"What?" Luke froze as his heart skipped a beat and his chest rose and fell with rapid breaths.

"Stop being harsh on yourself, you can't change the past, but you were there when we needed you the most, that's all that matters."

Luke flinched a little when he felt Din's gloved hand on his cheek, so warm and tender against his skin, he closed his eyes reveling in Din's spontaneous outpouring of affection, he leaned into his touch drawing his hand up to place it over Din's, as he started to stroke his cheek "You were there, cyar'ika. And I'm here now."

Luke couldn't hold the tears back anymore, Din brushed his fingers across his forehead before wrapping his arms around Luke's body, holding him tight and Luke hid his face in the crook of his neck, as many times before, as many cicles ago, he hooked his arms around Din's "I'm sorry." His muffled voice giving his sorrow away.

Din kept holding him until the last tears rolled down his cheeks as the sun was setting down kissing the creek.

[spacefinch]

Star Wars Rebels OCs

(All part of a rebel cell that later joins Phoenix Squadron)

Note: Ages listed are the OC's ages at the time of Rebels season 3.

Iris Nirano

Species: Pantoran

Homeworld: Pantora

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 30

Notes: A former Jedi who survived Order 66. Has a pet tooka cat. Somewhat quiet and reserved. Has a blue lightsaber.

Suzume Chiba

Species: Human

Homeworld: Mykapo

Pronouns: She/her

Age: 15

Notes: Ran away from home after the Empire came. Currently training as Iris's Padawan. Has a green lightsaber. Friends with Mart Mattin and the rest of the Iron Squadron.

Captain Nol Sennek

Species: Nautolan

Homeworld: Glee Anselm

Pronouns: He/him

Age: Mid-40s

Notes: The pilot (and father figure) of the team. Used to be a smuggler before joining the rebels. Has a robotic leg, and tells a different story every time someone asks about it.

Asio

Species: Sharalian

Homeworld: Sharalia

Pronouns: He/they

Age: Unknown

Notes: Sharalians are an owl-like species that only appear in some Star Wars concept art. Asio was named after the long-eared owl (Asio otus). He is Captain Sennek's partner-in-crime.

Mulungu Toji

Species: Togruta

Homeworld: Shili

Pronouns: They/them

Age: 18

Notes: Sort of an older sibling figure to Suzume. Loves flying. Very outgoing compared to the rest of their crewmates.

R6-G3

Model: R-series astromech droid

Notes: Sennek and Asio found him during the Clone Wars and fixed him up. On a scale of "how murderous is this droid" he's somewhere between R2-D2 and Chopper.

More notes:

Asio's species

Captain Sennek's YV-100 freighter: the Storm Petrel

[jedi-hawkins]

Tattoine

3.8k Words

Pairings: Jedi oc x Obi Wan

Warnings: None, SFW

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Escape!

After fleeing Naboo, our band of heroes manage to make it to the barren desert planet of Tatooine. Here they must make much-needed repairs to their ship before they can return to Coruscant for the Queen to make her plea for help to Chancellor Valorum.

This planet holds more mysteries than expected, and each corner may hide more danger for the young travelers. Perhaps one may reveal a new ally instead.

As Bryn, Obi-wan and Padme walk through the corridors of the ship, Obi-wan's comlink beeps again.

"Obi-wan." Qui-gon's voice says from the little device.

"Yes Master?"

"Bring that astromec droid that aided in our escape along with you. You should find him in the engineering bay."

"Of course, we'll be up in a moment Master."

Padme pauses at a doorway to the left of the hallway and presses the access panel on the wall. "In here." She says.

The lights turn on as  Obi-wan and Bryn pass through the door and the droid in the corner turn to the trio entering. He rolls up to Bryn, whirring and beeping at her.

Bryn lets out a light laugh. "Yes, hello little friend. It's okay, I'll be alright."

"You can understand him?" Obi-wan asks in surprise.

"Better than most. I still have to rely on communicators for more comprehensive conversation, but I can get by with more general vocabulary." Bryn replies. "I found it's a useful skill to be able to work and speak with droids. They're often underestimated. Come on little one, the Queen wants to see you." She says, smiling at the blue astromech droid.

"Her Majesty's chambers are up this way." Padme gestures, leading the way with the droid beside her. Obi-wan and Bryn follow, the latter leaning heavily on her partner's arm.

The door to the Queen's Chambers glides open smoothly to reveal the young teen perched on a throne. Padme joins the other handmaidens at the Queen's right side and Obi-wan helps Bryn over to stand beside Qui-gon.

"Is this the droid?" The guard captain asks, gesturing to the dirty droid rolling in after the two Jedi padawans.

Bryn nods, still leaning on Obi-wan for support. "Yes, sir. This is him."

The Captain looks the astromech up and down. "An extremely well put together little droid. Without a doubt, it saved the ship, as well as our lives."

"It is to be commended." The Queen remarks. "What is it's number?"

The blue droid lets our a series of beeps.

"R2-D2, your Majesty." Bryn translates.

Queen Amidala bows her head to the droid. "Thank you, Artoo Detoo. You have proven to be very loyal. Padme," She glances over to her first handmaiden. "Clean this droid up the best you can. It deserves our gratitude."

As Padme escorts Artoo into a side chamber, the Queen turns back to the Guard Captain. "Captain Panaka, Continue."

The Captain shifts his weight nervously, glancing at the three Jedi next to him.

Qui-gon steps forward. "Your Majesty, we are headed for a remote planet called Tatooine. It is a system far beyond the reach of the Trade Federation. There we will be able to make needed repairs, then travel on to Coruscant."

Captain Panaka hold up a hand in protest. "Your Majesty, Tatooine is very dangerous. It's controlled by an alliance of gangs called the Hutts. I do not agree with the Jedi on this."

Bryn takes her weight back from Obi-wan, swaying slightly. "You should trust in Master Jinn's judgement, your Majesty. Our options are slim, and he has weighed all of them."

The Queen looks Bryn up and down, taking in her blood-stained robes. "You're the one who took the shot for Padme?"

Bryn nods.

"I remember you, Padawan Caro. You are very brave. You also helped secure the palace before I ascended the throne, didn't you?" Queen Amidala continues. "Very well, I have faith in you, so Tatooine it is. You are all dismissed."

Captain Panaka sends a sideways glance to the Jedi before leaving the Queen's chamber.

Qui-gon gestures for the two padawans to follow after him towards the bridge. "Bryn , I left a spare pair of robes in the galley. Join us when you're done changing."

She nods and starts to leave the main corridor, but Obi-wan catches her when she wobbles again.

"Do you need help?" He asks, worry layering his voice.

She gently pushes his arms away. "Thanks, but I'm fine, just getting my head back."

"Alright, if you're sure." He says, turning to follow his master to the bridge.

The door to the galley slides open and the lights turn on. Bryn moves over to a table where a pile of folded robes rest. She begins to strip her crusted robes off her body, careful of the stitches on her side. Injuries like this are no stranger to Bryn, she once finished out a mission Dantooine after dislocating her shoulder. Given, that was just a reconnaissance assignment, but it still wasn't fun.

Bryn steels herself as she lifts her tunic over her head, but the expected shooting pain never reaches her side. She looks down at her ribs and where the blaster had struck her, beneath a blue bacta bandage, is a neat row of stitches. She tentatively sways her body side to side and murmurs only slightly when she feels the stitches pulling in her raw, healing skin.

"Thank Maker for bacta." She mutters to herself as she begins to pull on the clean robes.

The sweet scent of seedarwud and eukaliptis wafts from the fabric. Bryn takes a deep breath in, as a warmth washes over her. The robes must have been Obi-wan's, Bryn would recognize that smell anywhere. They hang a little looser than her normal robes, but all she has to do is cinch her utility belt close to her waist. Bryn pulls her boots back on, slides her arms into her cloak and quickly re-braids her hair before walking back up to the bridge.

Qui-gon and Obi-wan stand behind Captain Panaka, gazing at one of the navigation screens.

"What's our status?" Bryn says as she strides through the door with ease.

"We're almost there." Qui-gon replies without moving his eyes from the screen.

Obi-wan looks over to Bryn and his eyes widen in curiosity when he notices she's no longer hunched in pain. "Are you alright?" He asks her in a low voice.

"Of course, just a scratch." She replies with a wink. "Look, there's Tatooine."

One of the navigators presses a few buttons near the screen in front of him. "There's a settlement just below us. A spaceport, looks like."

"Land near the outskirts." Qui-gon instructs. 'We don't want to attract any unwanted attention."

"I'll go and start evaluating what repairs we'll need." Bryn says. "Obi-wan, can you come give me a hand?"

Qui-gon dismisses the two padawans with a nod and turns to speak to Captain Panaka. Bryn leads the way back down to the engineering bay.

"Alright," she says. "Best start with checking the propulsion systems. Try accessing the diagnostics program through that terminal. That way we can know if there's any problems with the power converters, fuel lines and such."

Obi-wan nods and moves over to the screen Bryn gestured to and begins swiping through the operations. Bryn opens up the tool chest and pulls out a wrench, which she uses to loosen up one of the floor panels. Once the hardware bay below is accessible, Bryn hops down to assess the damage.

"Obi-wan?" She says.

"What is it?"

"Do you feel something?"

"What do you mean?" Obi-wan replies.

"There's just something, off." Bryn says, sticking her head up above the floor to look at Obi-wan. "Something in the Force."

He closes his eyes momentarily and steadies his breathing. "Yes, I feel it too. Curious..."

The two connect eyes for a moment before returning to the task at hand. Bryn ducks back into the hardware bay and immediately, she can see many of the cables need to be replaced. Her heart sinks when her eyes fall on the hyperdrive generator.

Just as Bryn pops her head up from the bay to inform Obi-wan of the damage, Jar Jar bursts through the door.

"Obi-wan, pleeese, no mesa go!" He cries, falling at Obi-wan's feet.

"You must." Qui-gon says, striding in wearing a farmer's cloak. "You'll make things less conspicuous.

"Qui-gon's right." Obi-wan replies. "Sorry, Jar Jar."

"Oh pleeese! Pleeese no! Bryna, come with us?" The gungan says, turning to the young padawan's head poking out from the floor.

"May I, Master?" Bryn asks.

Qui-gon simply nods. "What's the damage?"

Bryn hops up out of the hardware bay. "Well a lot of the cables need to be replaced, and the hyperdrive generator is gone. We'll need a new one."

"Okay then, come with us and you can point out what we need." Qui-gon replies. "Can you handle everything here, Obi-wan?"

"Of course, Master." He replies.

Qui-gon beckons the two padawans to move closer. "We must keep our wits about us young padawans. Do not let them send any transmissions, Obi-wan." He says. "Be wary... I sense a disturbance in the Force."

Bryn and Obi-wan make eye contact with each other before nodding.

"Yes, Master." Obi-wan replies.

"We felt it too, Master." Bryn adds.

"I'm sure it will reveal itself in time." Qui-gon says, matter-of-factly. "Come, Bryn. Radio us with any concerns, Obi-wan."

Obi-wan catches Bryn's sleeve before she leaves. "Be careful out there." He says.

She smiles back at him. "Of course Obi-wan. All we're doing is going to the market. We'll be back before you know it."

He reaches a hand into his robe and holds out a single Republic credit. "Get me a souvenir?"

Bryn raises an eyebrow in curiosity. "A souvenir? I think there will be pretty slim pickings out here, especially for your budget."

Obi-wan shakes his head. "Doesn't matter what it is, so long as you're the one who brings it back to me."

Bryn smiles and pockets the credit. "Very well. Be back soon, Padawan Kenobi."

As Bryn is striding across the sand to catch up to Qui-gon and Jar Jar, a voice behind her catches her attention.

"Wait!"

It's Captain Panaka.

Bryn stops beside Qui-gon as the Captain and Padme run up to meet them.

"Her Highness commands you to take her handmaiden with you. She wishes for her to observe the local-"

Qui-gon raises his hand, cutting Panaka off. "No more commands from Her Highness today, Captain. This spaceport is not going to be pleasant."

The Captain shakes his head. "The Queen wishes it. She is curious about this planet."

"Is she now?" Bryn says, her gaze set on Padme in simple blue robes.

Padme holds the padawan's gaze. "I've been trained in defense. I can take care of myself."

The Captain lets out a heavy sigh. "Don't make me go back and tell her you refuse."

"I don't have time for this." Qui-gon says, frustration building in his voice.

"I'll vouch for her, master." Bryn speaks up.

Qui-gon shakes his head again. "Fine. But she's your responsibility." He points at Padme, "Stay close to Padawan Caro."

Qui-gon leads the way with Jar Jar nearly tripping over his cloak. Padme and Bryn follow a few steps behind and Artoo whistles along beside them.

"This planet is so strange." Padme remarks as they move along. "What do these people do for their lives?"

"Moisture farming, for the most part." Qui-gon replies. "But there are a few indigenous tribes and scavengers. The few spaceports like this one are havens for those who do not wish to be found."

Padme nods, glancing around nervously. "Like us."

Bryn reaches over and nudges the young girl, giving her a reassuring smile.

In front of them, Jar Jar is muttering to himself. "Dissen very very bad." He stumbles over his own feet and steps into a puddle of ooze that Qui-gon had moved around. "Ohh, icky-icky goo."

"Master," Bryn calls out, "It would probably be best to try one of the smaller dealers."

The Jedi master nods and gestures for Bryn to lead the way. A small junk shop off to the side catches her eye. It looks pretty unassuming, but the large pile of broken ships behind it looks promising.

The small band of travelers step into the dingy shop and a pudgy blue toydarian buzzes over to them.

"Ha, chuba da naga?" He asks in the local huttese.

"Achuta," Bryn replies. "Chut chut. Mwa huttese sa ree goola. Chuba ca tinka baseek?" She continues.

The toydarian raises an eyebrow. "You're right, your hutteese is terrible. What do you want?"

Qui-gon steps forward. "I need parts for a J-type 327 Nubian."

The shopkeeper rubs his chin. "Ahh, yes, yes. Nubian. We have lots of that. What kinda junk?" He asks before shouting over his shoulder in huttese. "Boy, get in here! Now!"

Bryn nudges Artoo forward, "Here, our droid has a list of what we need."

The little droid rolls forward just as a young boy runs in from the junkyard out back. Bryn's heart lurches at the sight of him. He's so young. She thinks to herself. He's dressed in ragged clothes and covered in dirt, but there's something about him. Maker, he deserves better.

The shopkeeper waves the boy over, speaking again in huttese. "What took you so long?"

The boy replies, "I was cleaning the bin like you told me-"

"Never mind!" The toydarian interrupts. "Watch the store, I've got some selling to do." His eyes narrow slyly as he turns to Qui-gon. "Sooo, let me take- a thee out back. Ni you'll find what you need."

Qui-gon starts to follow the shopkeeper, but glances over at Jar-Jar, who is fiddling with something off of one of the work benches. "Bryn-"

"I've got him, you go." She replies instantly. Binks babysitting it is. She walks over to him and pulls the piece of metal out of his hands. "Don't touch anything, Jar Jar."

As she sets the part back on the bench, she notices the way the young boy is looking at Padme.

"Are you an angel?" He pipes up eventually.

"A what?" She replies, startled.

"An angel," the boy repeats. "I've heard the deep space pilots talk about them. The live on some star, I think."

Bryn nods, "I know what you're talking about. They actually live on the moons of Eiago, very far away."

"They are the most beautiful creatures in the universe." The boy continues as he fiddles with a machine part, "They are good and kind, and so pretty they make even the most hardened spice pirate cry."

Bryn smiles slightly, seeing a pink flush come to Padme's face.

"I've never heard of angels." She says shyly.

The boy tilts his head to the side. "You must be one. Maybe you just don't know it."

Bryn moves over and squats down next to him. "You're a funny little boy. How do you know so much?"

He smiles. "I listen to all the traders and star pilots who come through here. I'm a pilot you know, and someday I'm going to fly away from this place."

"You're a pilot?" Bryn asks.

"Mm-hmm." The boy nods, "All my life."

Bryn glances around the dirty shop. "And how long have you been here?"

"Since I was very little, three, I think." The boy says, reaching for a nearby grease rag. "My mom and I were sold to Gardulla the Hutt, but she lost us, betting on the Podraces, to Watto, who's a lot better master than Gardulla, I think."

Padme's brow wrinkles. "You're, you're a slave?"

The boy scowls at her question. "I am a person! My name is Anakin."

It's obvious Padme regrets what she said. "I'm sorry." She replies. "I don't fully understand. This is a strange world to me."

Anakin looks her up and down. "You're a strange girl to me."

Suddenly a little droid that Jar Jar was investigating jumps to life, startling the others. The Gungan tries to restrain the droid, but it slips out of his grip.

"Hit the nose!" Anakin shouts.

Jar Jar trips over himself trying to catch the droid circling around his feet. Bryn thrusts out her hand and focuses on pushing the droid's nose. Thankfully the force aids her and the droid quickly folds back into it's dormant state.

Anakin gazes at the girl in long robes in wonder. "Woah, how'd you do that?"

Bryn just smiles at the boy, "Oh, that's just a trick I know."

"Where did you learn it?" he prods further.

She shrugs, "Ehm, a system. Far, far away from here."

Padme rises an eyebrow at her friend's obscure answers.

"I've heard rumors that Jedi can do magic like that. Are you a Jedi?" Anakin asks.

Bryn kneels down in front of Anakin. "There's no such thing as magic."

The boy huffs. "You didn't answer my question. Are you a Jedi knight?"

"Not yet," the young padawan replies. "But hopefully one day I will be."

"I wish I could be a Jedi." Anakin says wistfully. "Then I could be invincible."

Bryn reaches out and grabs his shoulders. "Being a Jedi does not make you invincible, Anakin. In fact, it makes you more vulnerable."

"But how? A Jedi doesn't have any weaknesses."

Bryn looks the young boy in the eye. "Do you promise you can keep a secret?"

The boy nods eagerly.

Bryn gently reaches into the folds of her robes and brings out her first lightsaber. "Here," She says, holding it out for Anakin to take. "Be very careful." She says.

Anakin's eyes widen as he gently takes the metal hilt in his hands. "I've heard of these. Is this what a laser sword looks like?"

Bryn laughs, "It's called a lightsaber. And it is every Jedi's greatest weakness."

"How?" He asks, turning it over in his hands.

Padme steps forward, holding a cautionary hand out. "Bryn, it might not be best-"

"It's alright, I trust him." She replies. "Once someone gets their own lightsaber, it becomes their entire life."

Anakin continues running his small hands over the intricate pieces of metal. "How is it your life?"

Bryn gently takes the lightsaber back from the boy. "Well, when a Jedi is ready they make a promise to dedicate their life to something greater than themselves. They are pledging to protect the innocent and stand against the dark forces of the universe, even if that means giving their life for another. This weapon doesn't just represents that promise, it is that promise." 

Anakin watches as Bryn clips the saber back to her belt beside it's partner. "How to Jedi get a lightsaber?" 

"They'll build their saber, piece by piece; it's a process that can take weeks." Bryn says with a smile. "My master taught me and one day I will teach a student of my own."

"And who are you?" the boy asks.

"I am Jedi padawan Bryn-ayla Del Caro, it's very nice to meet you, Anakin." Bryn replies.

Anakin's eyes float down to his feet. "How do you become a Jedi?"

"Well," Bryn takes a breath, "There is something called the Force. It is the energy that flows through everything in the universe, connecting it all together. If an individual is trained properly, they can learn to interact with the Force, and they can become a Jedi."

"So anyone can do it?" He asks shyly.

"Some are born with a stronger connection than others, but that only gives them potential." Bryn replies. "Here, let's try something. Lay your hands on top of mine and close your eyes."

She holds both of her hands out, palms facing up and Anakin follows her direction. "Now," she says, "Feel yourself connect to the floor below you. Feel the air around you, Padme and I in the room with you. Feel the scrap around the shop, even the market outside. Now try to reach out to the energy flowing through all of it. Reach out with your energy and try to connect with it."

Anakin's eyelids flutter as he concentrates on Bryn's words. After a few moments he opens his eyes and lets out a defeated sigh. "Nothing." He says. "I didn't feel anything. I guess I'm not special."

Bryn tries to give the boy a reassuring smile as she swiftly stands up. Just as she's brushing some dirt off her knees, Qui-gon strides back into the shop.

"We're leaving." He says hurriedly.

Bryn nods and waves goodbye to Anakin, but she doesn't make eye contact.

Padme pauses before following the Jedi out the door. "I'm glad I met you, ah."

"Anakin," The boy reminds her.

Padme smiles. "Anakin."

"Anakin Skywalker." He clarifies.

"Padme Naberrie." The young girl replies before following her guard out of the shop.

The group quickly ducks into a quiet alleyway away from the market center.

"Best touch base with Obi-wan." Qui-gon instructs Bryn as he scans the perimeter.

Bryn nods and pulls out her commlink. Obi-wan picks up after it beeps a couple times.

"Bryn? Is everything okay?" He asks hurriedly.

"Yes, we're fine, but we've run into a bit of a complication." She replies handing the commlink to Qui-gon.

"Obi-wan," He says, "I need you to check what there is on the ship that may be of value, we've found the parts we need, but the shop owner won't take Republic credits, I doubt anyone else will either."

Obi-wan hesitates for a second. "There's some supply crates, the Queen's wardrobe perhaps, but not enough for you to barter with. Nothing near enough to equate a hyperdrive generator.

"All right, another solution will present itself. I'll have Padawan Caro check back with you later." Qui-gon says, handing the commlink back to the padawan at his side.

"Stay safe, Obi-wan."

"You too."

As the group moves back out towards the market streets, Bryn pulls Qui-gon back a few paces.

"Master," she starts in a low voice, "that boy in the shop."

Qui-gon nods, "Yes, I know. A boy that young, a slave. It's an ugly truth about places like this."

Bryn shakes her head. "No Master, I sensed there was something special about him. I think he's what we've all been feeling. So I had him try to reach out to the Force."

The Jedi master raised an eyebrow. "And? Did he feel anything?"

"He didn't." Bryn begins, "But I did. Master, this boy is extremely strong in the Force. He needs guidance, I think we should take him to the temple."

Qui-gon stops walking for a moment and turns towards Bryn. "When you say 'extremely strong' you don't mean-"

She shrugs, "The Chosen One? Maybe, I don't know, but something is telling me this boy isn't something we should overlook."

"I sensed something too, but he's too old, Bryn." Qui-gon says.

Bryn's jaw tenses. "That's your answer, Master? This boy is so strong in the Force and he doesn't even know it. He needs to be trained, he could become dangerous otherwise. The Jedi take children from their families all the time, at least with this boy, we'd be freeing him."

Qui-gon thinks for a moment before beginning to walk again.

"Master? I'm sorry, I was out of turn. If he's too old, he's too old." Bryn says, her eyes trailing on the ground.

"Not me." Qui-gon finally says.

Bryn glances up at him. "What?"

"Not me." He repeats. "You. If you think that he should be brought to the temple, then I will help you do so. But you're the one who found him. That means you'll have to convince Master Yoda on the boy, then and only then, will he become your youngling."

Bryn looks at her old Master in surprise. "You really think I'm ready for that?"

Qui-gon smiles at her. "You have always been strong with the Force, you said it yourself that Master Plo is preparing you to take the trials. It seems that the Force wants you to begin teaching another. We'll try to find him again and start with a midichlorian count."

[cosmik-homo]

hi!! what are protocal droids? 👀 (are they star wars? theres the little guys arent there. the gold one<3 and the one that makes noises?) (<- woefull lack of knowledge about star wars lol)

YES protocol droids are from star wars! that is in fact what the gold guy (c-3po. my babygirl) is.

So in star wars sapient robots are called Droids, and the different types are often referred to by their jobs; Battle droids are the silly canon fodder who say roger roger, and Artoo (R2-D2, lil blue guy in the picutre, and YES <3 he does make noises good job <3) is an Astromech droid, meaning, well, he does mechanical jobs in space. he fixes spacecrafts, sometimes from the outside while they fly, and has various gadgets and technological skills.

The yellow one, C-3PO, or threepio for friends, is the main protocol droid we see in the series, though not the only one. Luckily, he is exactly the type of mess of a person that his resume is his catchphrase: "C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. programmed in over six million forms of communication". He also described himself, in the first movie, as "[...] not much more than an interpreter, and not very good at telling stories."

So theyre linguistic AI. Machine translators in a friendly humanoid box. Threepio also sometimes interperts Artoo's mechanical beeping speech for the other characters, so we have to assume that's what Human-cyborg relations is about, even though cyborgs and droids are not the same as all- early installment weirdness is the best assumption because. the "human cyborg relations" phrase or concept has never been menaingfully brought up in star wars for my knowledge. searching it on wookiepedia mostly leads to info about a few protocol droid models and the many times threepio has said it.

But so often in the throes of hyperfixation have i found myself looking at the ceiling going ok i mean i understand but. what IS a protocol droid truly, when u look at it?

wookiepedia expands barely:

A protocol droid was a droid whose job was to aid sentients with their etiquette and relations with each other in the galaxy. They often dealt with event planning, etiquette, translation, and problem solving.

Often threepio is written as more of a butler than anything to do with linguistics. (half the time its not even proper butlering its just written as a servant by a writer who thinks they know what being a butler means but- i digress). He himself is quick to offer himself into those jobs, as well as more mechanical labour-

but then again he also becomes a spymaster at some point (my so beloved poe dameron comics. great comics and great space for droid rights introspection in the new star wars era).

So they're not just translators and interpeters, not just containers of cultural and ritualistic etiquette knowledge, they're, secretary machines. they're robots designed to help humans by doing the most tedious parts of thinking-and-learning for people- being nervous about perfect manners 200% of the time to prevent and prepare u for youur faux-pas, and working out the little details and paperwork and errandrunnig so you can get your thing going.

They're tools designed to let you say what you need without hassle, which is what makes the fact that in a way, Threepio is the narrator of star wars, so fucking awesome and ogod and interesting. they shouldnt have their own thing to say, but look at him go. he'll try to convince you he doesn't but thats precisely why you need to look at him go.

No wonder he is practically the main chrarter of the first 25 minutes of the first movie- not only being a lowly robot secretary make him a good everyman, this is a machine designed to kind of get across where you are and what's happening, lol.

Just. When I started being insane tm about this language generating software ("AI", salami, whatever u wanna call a neural network doing that stuff) was not even close to as big a thing as it is today. so that has definitely changed some stuff. but thats the thing- threepio is not using likelihood based processing he is An Actual Knowledge man. he loves boring u with facts. So he actually knows things, and- he's such an old machine. Anakin built him as a child, that was from old parts. yet he keeps kind of, growing as a character with his own personality (droidds developing unique thoughts and personalities by gaining experience is called Metaprogramming in star wars fiction), he also adapts to culture. he's always a wimp but hes much more subserviant when owned by fasicist imperials than he was when working with his good friend and master's secret wife padme, and he's a bit more confident in the sequels, in his own pathetic way.

So he reflects culture. he participates in society despite being designed to be a passive tool of it, and despite standing on the outsides of it due to. being treated as such, as A Droid, A Thing, or at best, even amongst friends, an annyoing old queen.

I simply think if the writers of star wars were as fascinated as I am by the technological implications of naming robot diplomats after the real life technological concept of protocols and exploring what does it mean to do thoughts and works and what is The Grave Omportance And Role Paper Work Can Play In This Space Opera Adventure, things would be great. because i love space bearucracy forever and the robots that do it re cool especially the homosexual mentally ill ones

[gayelectro]

Chopper, D-0, AP-5 for the ask game!! —canon-can-fight-me

(And yes. Droids are the best part of star wars period)

YEEEEESSSSSSS I fucking LOVE droids! So much! I really need to get around to actually watching the short lived cartoon series Droids as I bet I would like it.

Chopper: What pet names do you have for each other?

I actually answered this one already here!

D-O: What's a quirk your F/O has that you think is really cute?

I think it's very cute how he is completely different than what people expect due to how he looks. He's gentle. He's a little conflict avoidant. He hates violence and it takes deep hurt to push him to that point. Most people are surprised by all of that, since he's a big football bull robot. But I know him so well, I can only see him for how he really is.

Talk about contrast.

And he's so gosh darned polite! It would probably take him quite a bit to adjust to how much and how casually I swear. He wouldn't be judgemental, but he'd just so cutely be like "Oh wow, you must really feel strongly about this!" when I more or less just use 'fuck' like pepper on food.

AP-5: Who would be your F/O's favorite droid?

So, when I write stuff with Bull Armor, I set us back in like an alternate idealized sci-fi 90s. So that means we'd get to experience the prequel and sequel movies as they come out! How fun!

I think that for a long time, C-3PO would be his favorite! His sass as well as his understanding of different cultures and customs would speak to Bull Armor-- who sometimes views himself as too quiet and like a fish out of water.

He's partial to bipedal droids while I'm more about the astromechs. Naturally, R2-D2 was my fave too, giving us that cute little contrast. The prequels give us more insight into the two of them too, which is nice.

The sequels would give us a lot of new characters that we'd latch onto! I love my widdle baby BB-8. And I think Bull Armor would really like K-2SO. (I don't know how he'd feel about Rogue One though, just like me. I remember loving the characters, but shit, that ending is just soooo sad!)

[netroids]

R2D2 Fan Art Papertoy - THE EASY ONE! the one you've been waiting for! 5 PARTS! NO GLUE.

[dailydragon08]

New Beginnings

Pairing: Luke Skywalker x F!Jedi!Reader Summary:  After rescuing Grogu, you and Luke build your Jedi school and a peaceful life together on Yavin IV. Requested by @acupnoodle​ A/N:  "Remnants" is a series  of one shots in no particular order about the budding relationship between you and Luke as he trains you in the ways of the Force. Just fluff in this one (especially since the last one was so angsty).

*

Blaster fire rained down on you and Luke as the lift doors opened to yet another hallway of Dark Troopers. Your lightsabers swirled and arced in the air as you deflected the blasts, kicking, spinning, and using the Force to take down your enemies. Security cameras followed your every move as a powerful Force presence grew stronger the closer you got to the blast doors—and it was big. You’d only ever sensed the Force flowing that powerfully from Luke and wondered what you’d find one the doors opened.

All the sparring you’d been doing with Luke had clearly paid off for both of you as you sliced your way through the droids. A Dark Trooper moved quicker than you’d anticipated to cut Luke off and you used the Force to send him flying into a fellow droid. They both hit the wall next to you hard with a clang and you heard the familiar drone of them powering down as you slashed through them both at once with your saber. You and Luke continued on through the hall, taking the troopers out with ease until there were only a few left. One landed a blaster shot right on your hand and you cried out in pain, dropping your saber. The droid came rushing at you, but froze before it could close the distance. The metal groaned and you turned to see Luke several feet away, his outstretched hand suddenly closing into a tight fist. The droid’s body began crumbling into itself, it’s head twisting at an odd angle before it’s red eyes went dark and it fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

You glanced around, meeting Luke’s gaze under the hood once you were satisfied you were safe. “Don’t forget who you learned that move from,” you said as you stood.

Luke chuckled and strode towards you, handing you your weapon. “How bad is your hand?”

You sheathed your blade. “It burns, but it didn’t go deep. I think it just grazed me enough to surprise me.”

“I’ll take a look at it once we’re back at the ship.” He took a deep breath as he turned his attention towards the blast doors, a deep dent in their center from the Dark Troopers’ efforts.

You followed his gaze before returning to meet his eyes. “Our first student—well, possibly.”

Luke nodded, gently brushing his fingers against your uninjured hand as he stepped ahead of you. “I’m glad we’re doing it together.”

You fell into step with him just as the telltale beeping of the doors’ buttons rang out. The blast doors slowly started to open and you and Luke stepped out of the smoke from your battle to see several weapons trained on you. Two human women and two fully armored Mandolorians stood before you, with a small green creature peeking his head around the back of a chair: your Force-sensitive quarry.

Luke calmly sheathed his saber before reattaching it to the hook at his belt. He glanced back at you before you both carefully removed your hoods, allowing the strangers to see your faces.

“Are you Jedi?” the Mandolorian—a male—in the silver armor asked.

“We are.” Luke smiled gently at the small green creature as he cooed in wonder. “And who is this?”

“This is Grogu,” the Mandolorian answered. He turned to look at the small creature, who you could sense was just a child.

You waited during their tender goodbye, your heart swelling at the sight. The Mandolorian gently set Grogu on the floor and he waddled towards you just as R2 entered the room with a series of excited beeps and whistles. Grogu gurgled happily, gently setting a little hand on the astromech.

“You’re welcome to come with us,” Luke said, “and get him settled in. I sense a great bond between you two.”

The Mandolorian hesitated and the women lowered their weapons. The one with the braid and Shock Trooper tattoo spoke first. “You should go. You could use the downtime.”

“We’ll take care of him,” the other said, nodding her head towards the unconscious moff on the floor.

“Patoo!”

You looked down to see Grogu had now turned his attention to you, playing with one of the straps on your boots happily. You smiled down at him and he cooed, holding his little arms up towards you.

“Hi,” you said softly as you picked him up. You felt yourself melting as he yawned and snuggled into your arms, telling you through the Force how tired he was. Go ahead and sleep, you sent back. You’re safe now, and we’ll take you to a new home where we’ll teach you to protect yourself.

“All right.” The Mandolorian turned his head back towards you. “I’ll come for a bit. Where are we headed?”

“Yavin IV,” Luke replied, quickly introducing himself and you. “We have a Jedi academy we’re building. Grogu will be safe there and learn how to use his powers. You’re welcome for as long as you want to stay and can visit or holovid him anytime.”

He nodded, and turned his helmet towards you. “I think he likes you.”

You smiled down at Grogu as he placed a little hand on your shoulder, glancing back up to catch Luke staring at you with a dreamy look in his eyes. He turned to leave, gently rubbing a hand up and down your upper arm as he did so. You waited until the Mandolorian caught up with you before handing Grogu back to him. “He wants you to carry him and wants to fly with you.”

“How do you know?”

“He’s telling me through the Force.”

He sighed, letting Grogu settle against his armored chest. “I’m never gonna get used to this.”

~***~

Eventually, the time came when the Mandolorian had to not only return to work, but move on so as not to attract too much attention to Grogu or the growing school. Although both you and Luke assured Grogu that he would see and hear from his father again, he was still distraught the day Razorcrest sailed towards the atmosphere. He watched from the backpack on Luke’s back with big, sad eyes and downturned ears, holding onto your finger as you gave him a comforting scratch against his chest.

You and Luke decided it would be best to take a few days off from training to allow Grogu time to get acclimated to being there without his father. He was a bit listless at first, but soon grew a love of exploring and was never far from either your or Luke’s side. He was fascinated by R2 and giggled as he and the droid took turns chasing each other around the small settlement the ant droids continued to create. The small stone huts soon took shape into a little village complete with its own communal kitchen—which you were endlessly pulling Grogu out of. The kid was a bottomless pit and one night, when you found him breaking into Luke’s dessert stash, you finally caved.

“All right, come on.”

He grumbled, his mouth smeared with chocolate, as you pulled him away from the bag. “Patoo!” He reached out with his hand and used the Force to break open a bag of flour and fling a small clump at you. It hit you square in the face and you froze, Grogu suspended in midair from where you held him by the back of his little robe.

A laugh suddenly bubbled up from behind you and you turned to see Luke doubled over in the doorway.

“I thought you were asleep!”

“I came to see if you needed help,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement, “but clearly you’ve got it under control, so I’ll just head back to bed.”

You slowly turned and met Grogu’s eyes, a mischievous glint in your eyes that the child returned. Before you could leave, you and Grogu used the force to pelt him with balls of flour, turning his golden hair white.

“Hey!” He started to turn. “Now, let’s be mature about this and not teach him bad—” A ball of flour pelted him right in the mouth and he staggered back several steps.

“Oh, shit,” you muttered under your breath.

“Shit!” Grogu repeated confidently from in your arms.

“No—” you started to scold him, but stopped as Luke’s own throwing arm proved its worth.

~***~

“Concentrate, Grogu,” Luke said from where he sat cross-legged beside you. “Feel the Force flow through you.”

You squinted an eye open from where you sat in the circle the three of you had made, smiling to yourself as the child settled down again. I think he’s getting hungry, you sent through the Force. You couldn’t help but laugh as your own stomach growled. And so am I.

Luke chuckled and you opened your eyes to find him staring at you fondly. Grogu giggled from where he sat, his attention now fully broken. “All right, we can break for some food.”

You felt the little one’s excitement through the Force as you opened your pack and handed him a small box. He gave you an open-mouthed smile, showing off his little teeth that were starting to come in more and more each day as he recognized the cooked frog meat inside.

The three of you ate in companionable silence, Grogu happily munching on his food as Luke scooted closer to you and put an arm around your shoulders. You leaned against his chest as Grogu played by the stream.

“So,” you began as Luke traced gentle patterns on your arm with his gloved hand, “is teaching everything you thought it would be?”

He chuckled. “It’s a bit tougher than I anticipated. I’m beginning to understand how Ben and Master Yoda felt while teaching me.” The breeze gently blew his hair in his eyes and he smiled down at you as you reached up to brush it aside. “But I’m glad I have you by my side to help. Grogu really likes you.”

“He likes you, too.”

“I know, but you have a more…motherly way with him. I think he needs some of that, as young as he is.”

You snuggled further into Luke’s chest. He pressed a gentle kiss to your hair before replacing his lips with his cheek.

“What about you? Are you enjoying…all of this?”

You sensed his nervousness through the Force and answered truthfully, “I always enjoy anything with you.”

He sent a strong wave of affection towards you and you sent one of equal measure back, sending Grogu one as well.

~***~

You coughed from where you lay in your and Luke’s shared bed, turning your head to watch the rain beat down on the window for the fifth day in a row. While training, you and Grogu had been caught out in the first of many storms. Since you’d used your own jacket to keep him nice and dry, you had paid the price with your own cold and had been in bed the past two days at Luke’s insistence.

The door slowly creaked open and you turned your head to see Luke smiling down at you. He set a mug of steaming tea on the nightstand before sitting down gently next to you, stroking your hair. “How are you feeling?”

You sniffled as you sat up. “A little better. Did Mando say when he was coming to visit?”

“He’s aiming for next week, as long as his current job goes well. And I think I may have found another Force-sensitive child, if he and his family decide to let us train him.”

You sighed. “I want to go with you.”

His thumb stroked your cheek. “Y/N, we’ve talked about this. We rescued Grogu together because he was the first one, but unless we find more masters that survived the Purge, we need someone to stay here with Grogu and keep an eye on things.”

“I know, I know.” You cleared your throat at the sudden tickle. “I just hate not knowing—” You paused and broke out into a fit of coughs.

Luke rubbed your back and handed you the mug of tea. “I’ll be careful, I promise. And I’ll keep in contact with you the whole time.”

You sighed as the warm liquid soothed its way down your throat. “You’d better. And then next time, I’ll get to go.”

Luke pursed his lips.

“Hey, if you get to go off adventuring and collecting students, I want a turn, too.”

He shook his head and laughed. “You’ll get your turn when you’re feeling better. Speaking of which…”

Both of your gazes fell to the slowly moving door and you smiled as Grogu carefully approached. “Hi, buddy,” you said as Luke lifted him onto the bed. You set your tea down, beaming as he held a tiny bouquet of wildflowers out to you. “Are those for me?”

He nodded and smiled, letting you know through the Force that they would help you feel better. You could sense both his and Luke’s adoration for you and pulled them both into your arms.

~***~

“Congratulations,” the Mandolorian said from where he leaned against the doorway. Although his voice was it’s normal monotone, you could sense his happiness through the Force.

The newborn in your arms cooed from where you sat on the bed, a curious Grogu sitting by your side and showing your son all his favorite toys. Luke sat on the bed next to you with an arm around your shoulders, beaming proudly at his small family. “Thank you.”

“I wanna see, too!” an excited voice tittered from the hallway.

“Wait your turn,” Leia scolded. “Wait, Jacen!”

“Wait for me!” a girl’s voice added as two little brown-eyed rascals raced passed the Mandolorian to jump onto the bed.

Grogu grumbled as Leia came racing in after them just in time to avoid them jostling you too much. “Careful! Jaina, off the bed now.”

You chuckled and leaned into Luke’s chest. “It’s okay. He sleeps like a rock, just like his dad.”

“Hey,” Luke said in annoyance, but you could hear the smile in his tone as he snaked one arm around you and another to gently rub his son’s hand. The baby wrapped his tiny hand around Luke’s forefinger and you could hear him suck in a quiet breath behind you. Pride, love, and amazement poured through the Force as you gently swiped your thumb over his wrist.

“What’s his name?” Jaina asked.

“Ben,” Luke replied, his voice cracking slightly.

You sighed, suddenly feeling the exhaustion from giving birth deep in your bones and leaned your head against Luke’s.

“All right.” Leia’s tone brooked no place for argument. “Everyone out. Y/N needs to rest.”

“But Mooommmm,” Jacen and Jaina both said at the same time, making you laugh.

“Nope. Out.” She shook her head as her kids filed out of the room, the Mandolorian gently removing a grumbling Grogu as well. “This is what you have to look forward to.” She smiled and squeezed your shoulder, giving her brother a quick peck on the cheek before retreating from the room.

You smiled, looking down at the perfect baby boy in your arms, his hair the same color as Luke’s. You turned to look at him to find his blue eyes watery and felt his love flow through the Force with such magnitude, it would’ve forced you to sit down if you weren’t already. You gently wiped his eyes with your thumbs, giving him a lingering kiss on the lips. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he breathed reverently. “Both of you.”

Ben gurgled in your arms and you smiled. “Are you ready for the chaos of introducing him to the other students?”

He chuckled behind you. “Always.”

[eltristan]

R2 Units

R2 was the New York Central nomenclature for the R2 class of ALCO-GE electric freight units, built for hauling freight on the West Side Freight Line and other portions of the electrified zone. In the 1950's, a few R2s were sold to Detroit River Tunnel and later the remaining R-2 units were sold to the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend for fast interurban freight service in the South Shore Line. Nominally rated 3000 horsepower, the R2 units use the force to perform a variety of tasks, manufactured by Industrial Automaton. Its most popular astromech droids were the R-series, in particular the workhorse R2 series.

[dan6085]

Here are 20 of the most beloved Star Wars characters, along with some details about each of them:

1. **Luke Skywalker** - The original trilogy's hero, Luke's journey from a farm boy to a Jedi Knight is at the heart of the saga.

2. **Darth Vader** - The iconic villain, once known as Anakin Skywalker, whose redemption arc is central to the story.

3. **Princess Leia Organa** - A fearless leader of the Rebel Alliance, known for her intelligence and strength.

4. **Han Solo** - The charming smuggler turned hero, known for his wit and the Millennium Falcon.

5. **Chewbacca** - Han Solo's loyal Wookiee co-pilot and friend, known for his strength and distinctive roar.

6. **Yoda** - The wise and powerful Jedi Master who trains Luke Skywalker in the ways of the Force.

7. **Obi-Wan Kenobi** - A skilled Jedi Knight and mentor to Anakin and Luke Skywalker.

8. **R2-D2** - The brave astromech droid who plays a vital role in the Rebel Alliance's success.

9. **C-3PO** - The protocol droid fluent in over six million forms of communication, known for his politeness and worry.

10. **Rey** - The central character of the sequel trilogy, a scavenger with a mysterious lineage.

11. **Finn** - A former Stormtrooper who defects to the Resistance, known for his bravery and sense of justice.

12. **Kylo Ren** - The conflicted antagonist of the sequel trilogy, formerly known as Ben Solo.

13. **Mandalorian (Din Djarin)** - The stoic bounty hunter turned protector of Grogu (Baby Yoda) in "The Mandalorian" series.

14. **Ahsoka Tano** - Anakin Skywalker's former Padawan, a fan-favorite character from "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" series.

15. **Darth Maul** - A formidable Sith Lord known for his double-bladed lightsaber and enduring presence in various Star Wars media.

16. **Lando Calrissian** - The suave gambler and owner of the Millennium Falcon, known for his style and charisma.

17. **Boba Fett** - The mysterious and feared bounty hunter, known for his iconic armor and helmet.

18. **Princess Padmé Amidala** - A skilled diplomat and queen, known for her elegance and dedication to her people.

19. **Grand Admiral Thrawn** - A strategic and enigmatic antagonist from the Expanded Universe (now Legends) novels by Timothy Zahn.

20. **Darth Revan** - A complex character from the "Knights of the Old Republic" video game, known for their journey from Jedi to Sith and back.

These characters have captured the hearts of Star Wars fans around the world through their compelling stories, memorable personalities, and contributions to the epic saga.