#riyo is a class traitor

[300iqprower]

NGL, I'm starting to like the new gag series featuring Gudao over Riyo's manga. The humor is a lot more applicable and way less "mean". Plus, the plot of the manga feels like it's lost track of where it is, probably from juggling too many threads while stalling until the next FGO plot update. What do you think of Ritsuka Fujimaru Wakaranai?

I think you just said in infinitely nicer terms the view i’ve been screaming from the rooftops!

“FUJIMARU RITSUKA DOESNT GET IT” IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF RIYO AND THAT IS WHY IT IS THE BEST.

I’m only half jokiny with my tag “Riyo is a class traitor”. Fuck Riyo. Riyo makes the gacha equivalent of state propoganda. Presenting genuine issues both in game design (bad writing/crunching devs/gacha bullshit) and basic morality (emotionally abusing/preying on your audience for gambling profits) as an inevitable joke. The punchline is always cruelty, and the "joke" is always at your expense, because that's the entire point.

Meanwhile FRDGI is just a funny little guy and their funny little friends having goofy fun times. As god intended.

[300iqprower]

😬

[gffa]

I was asked by @grasswatcher for fics that explore STAR WARS’ Jedi culture and this is one of those subjects that’s dearest to my heart, because I constantly crave more exploration of what it must be like to be a Level 100 Space Psychic in touch with an ancient, unfathomable energy field that creates feedback loops in your head and connects you to all living things and can overwhelm you so easily if you don’t have your shit together, just as much as I want to know about Jedi traditions and Jedi artwork and Jedi philosophy and Jedi stories and Jedi language and all of it. There have been some pretty stellar ones out there, sometimes deep dives, sometimes just weaving bits into the background and I love them all and want a thousand more immediately! STAR WARS FIC RECS - JEDI CULTURE: ✦ The Mathematics of Repair by panharmonium, obi-wan & anakin & cast, 4.6k   For raw teachers and rough-edged students building in the rubble: tiny steps are enough, provided they carry you in the right direction. Immediately post TPM, in short snippets. ✦ In All The World by Ammar, obi-wan & anakin & cast, 76.6k wip   The story of how Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi tamed each other, from Naboo to Anakin’s early days at the Temple. ✦ Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi by stonefreak, obi-wan & anakin & padme & ahsoka & palpatine & cody & cast, ~30k wip   or: “Obi-Wan’s Life Gets Worse (Though It’s Not As Bad As It Could’ve Been)” ✦ Cataclasm by dendral, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & waxer & cast, 51.9k wip   For reasons unknown to all but himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi has left the Jedi Order in the midst of the Clone Wars, taking with him a single clone. Anakin Skywalker has been unofficially tasked by the Order to find Obi-Wan and bring him home. Unfortunately for Anakin, it seems his former master is always ten steps ahead of him. ✦ Remedial Jedi Theology by MarbleGlove, obi-wan & anakin & mace & palpatine & cast, 51.3k   Let us consider the fact that the Jedi Order is a monastic religious organization based out of a temple, with five basic tenets of faith. ✦ We Will Abide by naberiie, plo & shaak, 10.3k   Light. Dark. Balance. Beneath the Jedi Temple, far below the chaos of Coruscant’s Galactic City, ancient halls and corridors sleep in silent darkness. Padawans Shaak Ti and Plo Koon are determined to explore them. ✦ The Living Force; Parables for Padawans by glorious_clio, obi-wan & cast, 6.1k   Since infancy, younglings are taught the Jedi Code, “Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.” Obi-Wan Kenobi learns these tenets backwards and forwards again. But even as a child, he is interested in nuance. And so his teachers tell him parables. ✦ Lineage by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & xanatos & cast, 35.9k   AU!Jedi Apprentice. Book I: In which master and apprentice meet for the first time, enjoy a disastrous adventure courtesy of Xanatos DuCrion, and reap the fruits of patience and fortitude. A fanciful retelling of the original. ✦ Lineage II by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & cast, 40.9k   A year or so has elapsed since the last time we saw our heroes. BOOK 2: In which master and apprentice investigate an evil brainwashing plot, attend a boisterous wedding, and battle the enemy within. ✦ Lineage III by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & dooku & xanatos & bant & cast, 49.4k   AU!Jedi Apprentice. Book III: Master and apprentice face an important rite of passage, grapple with a traitorous plot within the Temple’s walls, and discover the limits of obedience and intuition. Appearances by Bant Eerin, Xanatos DuCrion, Yan Dooku, and others. ✦ Lineage IV by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & siri & adi gallia, 39.3k   Master and apprentice endure a stint with the Agri-Corps, and find that trouble has a way of coming home to haunt them. Featuring a pile of bantha poodoo, a tentacled carnivorous plant, a desperate escaped convict, and a highly provocative young woman. ✦ Lineage V by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & tahl (& some qui-gon/tahl) & dooku & cast, 50.7k   An evil scientist wreaks havoc when she captures Jedi Knight Tahl Uvain for purposes of obscure research; Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan rush to the rescue, only to be embroiled in further trouble; and Master Dooku joins in the hunt with characteristic aplomb. ✦ Lineage VI by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & cast, 66.2k   Master and apprentice undertake a risky undercover mission to expose conspiracy in a far-flung sector; a comedy of manners abruptly transforms into a nightmare when their cover is blown; and a desperate escape gambit strikes deep at the foundations of trust. ✦ Lineage VII by ruth baulding, obi-wan & qui-gon & siri & adi gallia & some obi-wan/siri, 74.5k   Sent to the aid of their fellow Jedi on a disastrous mission to New Apsolon, master and apprentice contend with brainwashing, genocide, conspiracy, and the perilous realm of the heart. ✦ What Is My Heritage? by Marnie, qui-gon & yoda, 7.7k   Qui-Gon, age 13, tries to find a place to belong. ✦ Coming Home by Marnie, qui-gon & yoda & dooku, 18.1k   A story telling how Qui-Gon comes to be Dooku’s apprentice. ✦ Snakefic by esama, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & yoda & cast, 6k   It was only the matter of time before the egg hatched. ✦ Shadows of the Future by stormqueen873, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & cast, 129.3k   ObiWan lost the duel on Mustafar, but instead of dying, he finds himself on a ship leaving Tatooine, with his old Master and a familiar young boy. As events begin to unfold, can he stop the future he knows from occuring? ✦ The Ice-Breaking Game by sharkcar, padme & ahsoka & rex & cast, 7.1k   After contracting the Blue Shadow virus, Ahsoka Tano is quarantined in Theed, along with Senator Amidala and Captain Rex. They are three very different people, but they all share a restlessness that leaves them unable to endure their confinement. To pass the time, Padme suggests they play a question game, each telling stories about personal experiences. As all three share a humorous discussion, they learn about compassion and the importance of knowing perspectives different from their own. ✦ When Darkness Seems to Hide This Place by IllyanaA, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & kanan & ocs & cast, 94.9k wip   After killing three of the Jedi Order’s best and brightest, Palpatine’s fight with Jedi Master Mace Windu goes shorter than expected. Afraid he’s lost his chance at recruiting a new apprentice, Sidious unleashes Order 66 across the galaxy, but, per their programming, the Clone Army is not to harm Anakin Skywalker. After witnessing the most painful loss he’s ever experienced and injured at the hands of his captors, Anakin is ready to die like the rest of the Jedi, though not before getting his vengeance. ✦ A Long, Long Time Ago by ruth baulding, dooku & qui-gon + qui-gon & obi-wan + obi-wan & anakin + anakin & ahsoka, 5.8k   A wisdom tale handed passed down through the generations poses troublesome questions for a line of masters and Padawans, from Dooku to Ahsoka Tano. ✦ Adi Gallia, Master of the Order by Perspicacia, adi & obi-wan & anakin & mace & cin & ahsoka & riyo & rex & cast, 7.2k   Ashes in her heart, she had left the younglings and the elders and the wounded for her duty to the galaxy, choosing to stop the Sith instead of protecting her people. ✦ The Apprenticeship by Nny11, ahsoka & yoda & anakin & cast, 31.4k wip   The doors only open when a Master opens them for their Padawan, a subtle reminder to them that a student needs a teacher’s guidance and that teachers must let them go. The force thinks it’s rather funny when it alters history by forcing Master Yoda to take on a very young Ahsoka Tano as his Padawan. ✦ Goreblood the Terrible by BloodyMary, jedi & cast, 1.7k   It has occured to me that so far we lack any sort of folklore/storytelling tradition for the Jedi. So I set out to remedy this. Behold, for Goreblood the Terrible was the result. ✦ “The Padawan Chooses The Master” by lurkingcrow, obi-wan & anakin & cast, 3.6k   prompt: AU - The Jedi say “The Padawan Chooses The Master” Qui Gon lives, Obi Wan is very preoccupied, and Anakin is put into the creche as an Initiate to learn what he can until Qui Gon wakes up from his coma and gets yelled at by the Council. In the meantime, Anakin meets other Jedi Masters and when the Council asks him who he wants to be his teacher, his answer isn’t Qui Gon. Instead it’s *insert your fav Jedi here* ✦ Brothers (working title) by Charity_Angel, obi-wan & anakin & qui-gon & padme & shmi & yoda & cast, 22.7k wip   In which Qui-Gon has a very near miss on Naboo, Obi-Wan is very stubborn, and they end up breaking a lot of rules accidentally as a result. All because of that kid they picked up on Tatooine. ✦ Under a purple sun… by Perspicacia, obi-wan & ahsoka, ~1k   Ahsoka hadn’t been happy when Skyguy had left her with Master Kenobi for this mission, but it was still good to spend time with her Grand Master. ✦ Hondo Kenobi by StarWarsSyl, obi-wan & hondo & cast, 2.6k   It’s not every day the pirate Hondo calls Obi-Wan in to give him a baby. ✦ Duet by Silver Sky 1138, oc & cin, 2.3k   Asha Scarsi, the Jedi Padawan who feels the Force through music, isn’t half as good at lightsaber combat as she is at singing and mindtricks. So she’s a little nervous when Battlemaster Cin Drallig calls her to the training room after class. ✦ The Only Home We Know by ReneeoftheStars, katooni & petro & ganodi & byph & gungi & zaft & cast, character death, child death, 2.4k   The Jedi Temple is under attack. Determined to fight for their home, younglings Katooni, Petro, Zatt, Ganodi, Byph, and Gungi make their way to aid the Jedi Masters in defense of the Temple. But the situation is far graver than they expected. ✦ The One Where Anakin Tries to Be Serious by GirlwithCurls98, anakin & ahsoka, 1k   Even though they’re fighting a war, Anakin finds the time to lead his apprentice through one of the Jedi’s sacred ceremonies. ✦ Obi-Wan and the Force by AwayOHumanChild, obi-wan & cast, ~1k   One of the first things Jedi Initiates learn is that everyone experiences the Force differently. ✦ All That I Have Seen by Felilla, ocs & ahsoka & anakin & obi-wan & yoda & cast, time travel, 35.3k wip   She died in the Temple, staring into the face of a man that she once looked up to, a man that she once thought to be a great Jedi. She awoke in the Temple, years before that event took place. Years before everything went wrong. And she decided to make it right. ✦ Knightrise by Deviant_Accumulation, obi-wan & ahsoka & satine & rex & cast, 19.4k wip   “Strong enough to fight the Sith Lord, you are not.” “And you are?” ✦ Markings by wabbajack, plo & ahsoka & bultar & cast, 1.6k   In which it is revealed that Master Plo Koon has always had a difficult time putting his foot down when faced with his Little ‘Soka. ✦ Night Shift at the Temple by ReneeoftheStars, oc jedi & cast, 1.8k   A Jedi Temple Guard sees all, speaks to few, and has attachments to no one. One must be prepared for any threats that may arise, especially at night, while most of the Temple sleeps. ✦ Jedi of Light by Sannah, obi-wan/anakin/padme & mace & yoda & plo & even & jocasta & cast, 9.4k wip   Out of irritation with the war and with permission from the Council, several talk show hosts create a show that airs weekly about the Jedi. They name the show *Jedi of Light,* and go around following Jedi and asking them questions. ✦ Supreme Chancellor Obi-Wan Kenobi by stonefreeak, obi-wan & anakin & padme & palpatine & bail & cast, 29.2k wip   By an old Republic law, all members of the Jedi High Council are senators in the Galactic Senate, and can thus be voted in as chancellor. ✦ The First Trial by Raven_Knight, obi-wan & qui-gon, 2k   Accompanied by his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, young Obi-Wan Kenobi undergoes his first trial and rite as a Padawan Learner on the frozen planet of Ilum. ✦ Arrival by CJinn, obi-wan & yoda & cast, 2.6k   Little Obi-Wan was only a few days old when he was brought to the Jedi Temple. His arrival caused some confusion among the Jedi. ✦ Found Clan by silvergryphon, boba & ocs & obi-wan & anakin & cast, 18.4k wip   After the Battle of Geonosis, a Jedi Healer discovers young Boba Fett mourning the loss of his father. Not about to leave a ten-year-old boy on his own, she promptly adopts him with the full collusion of her Padawan. ✦ Tipping Point by Ria Talla (ronia), adi gallia & finis valorum & eeth koth, 3.3k   “I believe that if what’s happening on Naboo is allowed to continue, the other member systems will wonder what they owe to a Republic that can no longer protect them.” ✦ A Personal Touch by DragonHoardsBooks, obi-wan & anakin, 6.2k   New jedi padawan Anakin Skywalker realizes that there is more to being a jedi then he tought. Discovering a completely new culture will take time and effort, but maybe he’ll make some friends along the way. ✦ Master by CJinn, obi-wan & anakin, 27.5k   Obi-Wan Kenobi had always wanted to become a Jedi Knight. What he didn’t expect was to become a Master merely days after his own Master died. Adapting to his new role as the mentor and Master of the quite unusual Padawan Anakin Skywalker became a bumpy road. ✦ The Orchards by Raven_Knight, obi-wan & qui-gon & cast, 3.6k   When young Obi-Wan Kenobi is injured on a previous mission, Qui-Gon Jinn refuses to accept further off-planet missions until his Padawan’s recovery. Yoda assigns the pair an in-Temple mission of utmost importance while Obi-Wan heals. Master and Padawan welcome the change of pace. ✦ Starrunner by rinzukodas, obi-wan & jedi & oc, 80.2k wip   In what would have been the year 17 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine is found slumped over his desk, dead to rights and emitting a foul odor. The coroners declare the body victim to a heart attack and the smell a result of a lack of a timely embalming—a bit of bowels humor, the head coroner says with a nervous laugh when interviewed by the Galactic Enquirer. ✦ The Spire by skatzaa, obi-wan & ocs, 2.4k   The galaxy was on the brink of war, and Obi-Wan Kenobi had been assigned a new room. ✦ Room Arrangements by skatzaa, obi-wan & anakin, 2.2k   Anakin has some concerns about room arrangements at the Temple. Obi-Wan does his best to reassure him. ✦ Swimming Lessons by devilinthedetails, obi-wan & anakin, 2.1k   Obi-Wan decides Anakin must learn how to swim. ✦ The Uses of a Sandwich by Laura Kaye (laurakaye), obi-wan & qui-gon & oc & cast, 17.6k   A few months after being taken as a Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi faces a challenge: meeting his Master’s first apprentice. FULL DETAILS + RECS HERE!

[jadejedi]

Love Does Not Fail (3/?)

Summary: When Anakin saves the galaxy from Palpatine, Padmé and his children survive, but their family is split apart nonetheless. Leia is taken to be raised in the Temple, not knowing that the Jedi who "found" her is actually her father. Luke grows up with Padmé, knowing only his mother's side of the family. But some things are inevitable.

Chapter Summary: In which Padmé deals with grief, the Senate, and an unexpected visitor. 

ao3 link here

A/N:  Full confession: the timeline of TCW: s7 and RotS are completely a mystery to me, so I am just winging it. Who cares. It’s FINE. Also, I did not expect to get this chapter out so soon, but all of my university classes are cancelled for a bit due to the coronavirus until they can be moved online. Stay safe out there <3

In the aftermath of Palpatine’s death, the Senate had been awash with confusion and high emotion. Many Senators were not happy with a military coup, and to be entirely honest, Padmé wasn’t fully, either, and her husband had been a part of it.

Not that she wasn’t happy that Palpatine had been found out and dealt with, it’s just that she wished that he had been a normal corrupt politician, so that democracy could have dealt with him, rather than a mostly unregulated arm of the military. 

Thankfully, however, Palpatine’s status as a Sith and his red lightsabers were enough for many Senators to tie him to Dooku, and therefore brand him as a traitor to the Republic. For those who needed more proof, it was discovered (or rediscovered, in this case) quickly, thanks to Anakin: biochips implanted in every clone soldier, that would enable them to be turned against the Jedi. Not to mention the discovery of a private comm channel that Palpatine used to contact Dooku, the Trade Federation, and the Techno Union. 

For those that were convinced, but still uneasy about the Jedi involvement, of which there were only a few, mostly neutral worlds, the fact that Master Windu had been in contact with Mas Amedda as he had gone to confront the Chancellor had helped assuage some fears. This action had also helped implicate the Vice Chancellor in Palpatine’s crimes, as he had not passed on Master Windu’s information to the Senate at large. The fact that there was footage of Palpatine attacking Anakin first, who had clearly arrested him, also helped. 

But just because the Senate had been calmed, didn’t mean that Padmé’s work was over. Instead, after the meeting with the Council two days prior, Padmé had thrown herself into her work more than ever before, trying to block out her sorrow. 

In this period of transition, there was plenty of work to distract her. There was reaching out to the Separatist worlds, especially those who’d left due to the corruption of the Republic, there were several upcoming trials, including Mas Amedda’s, Nute Gunray’s (as well as several other members of the Trade Federation), and Prime minister of Kamino Lama Su. And those were just of the people who had been arrested in the last five days. 

There were also questions of who would lead the Senate next. An election was planned to take place two days later, for both Chancellor and Vice Chancellor. Several Senators had been nominated, including Bail Organa, who was seen as a strong, trustworthy voice who had always been loyal to the Republic while never trusting Palpatine, Ask Ask of Malastare, who was the favorite of the few Senators who remained loyal to Palpatine, and Kin Robb of Hapes, who was nominated due to her status as a member of the Council of Neutral Systems. 

Padmé herself had been nominated by Riyo Chuchi of Pantora, but had turned down the nomination for a couple of reasons. One, she knew that while her connection to Anakin Skywalker was currently a secret, she didn’t ever want people to look back on her actions and consider a conspiracy. Two, she was only weeks away from being the mother of twins, and while she wasn’t technically a single mother, she would still be the primary caregiver for her children, and she didn’t want nannies and handmaidens to raise her children. 

And third, the most politically relevant reason she declined to run was that her ideals were very close to those of Senator Organa. She did not want to split the votes of her party, especially when Senator Organa was seen as the older, more trustworthy candidate.

Padmé couldn’t help wondering, somewhat despairingly, if that was not an accurate assessment. After all, while neither of them had trusted Palpatine all that much, especially since the passing of the Military Creation Act, Padmé had trusted him for many years in a way that Bail never had. She was one of the main reasons Palpatine had gotten power in the first place. That was not something people were likely to forget anytime soon, even if many Senators were more likely to evaluate her on her actions since becoming Senator, and not on those actions she’d taken as a desperate, fourteen year old Queen. 

And even beyond Palpatine, Padmé wondered if she didn’t sometimes see too much of the good in people. Anakin certainly thought so, at times, though she knew he also loved that about her. She thought back to her endorsement of Rush Clovis for leader of the Banking Clan, and how she knew from later conversations with Bail that he had voted against the appointment. 

Just because she hadn’t accepted the nomination for Chancellor, doesn’t mean that her hat was completely out of the ring. Immediately after declining Senator Chuchi’s nomination, Bail himself had nominated her for Vice Chancellor, and she did not reject it. 

Once again, she was far from the only candidate whose name was up for the office, her dear friend Mon Mothma being another one, but she knew that the responsibilities of Vice Chancellor would be considerably less than that of the Chancellor, and in many ways, less than even that of a Galactic Senator, since her role would not be as representative of any one world, but as the being in charge of running and mediating the Senate. 

“Senator,” Dormé said, peeking her head into Padmé’s office in her apartment. Padmé looked up in surprise. She hadn’t realized it was late enough for Anakin to be home, yet. “You have a visitor. Captain Typho has let her in.” Instead of telling her who it was, she just smiled mysteriously.

Padmé sighed as she looked up from one of the five different datapads she had scattered on her desk, each one for a different committee or duty of hers. “Thank you, Dormé. I’ll be right there.” Dormé pursed her lips, but said nothing. Padmé knew that her handmaiden was just worried about her, but she was fine. Everything was just so… much. 

Dormé had taken an extended leave of absence during a majority of the war to help with refugee efforts in the systems around Naboo, but after Teckla died on Skipio a few months ago, she came back into Padmé’s service, for which she was extremely grateful. Dormé was such a steadying presence in her life, and to have her back in such a time of chaos was very much welcomed.

She quickly wrapped up what she was working on and stood up from her desk, which was quite a bit more difficult than it used to be. She followed Dormé in the main living space, curiosity piqued as to the identity of the mysterious visitor.

Sitting on one of her sofas, to Padmé’s surprise and delight, was Ahsoka, a little older and taller than she remembered, but it was her all the same. As she walked into the room, Ahsoka’s eyes lit up and she quickly stood up and strode over to her. “Padmé!” she exclaimed. 

Padmé smiled as she opened her arms to hug her, but couldn’t help the tears she felt prick at her eyes. She had been so worried about her since she’d left the Order almost a year ago. Seeing her here, in her apartment, safe, especially after what Anakin told her she’d been through after leaving the Order, it made her heart feel a little bit lighter.

“Ahsoka!” she said, so pleased, as they embraced tightly. “What are you doing here?” she asked, still overcoming her surprise. Ahsoka grinned, stepping back, letting Padmé get a good look at her. She was wearing a leather headband that was very different than the one that Padmé was familiar with, and similar clothes to those she’d worn as Anakin’s padawan, as well as a dark blue cloak. 

“I had to come,” she said. “As soon as I’d heard what’d happened with Anakin and Master Windu and the Chancellor, I knew that I had to come here and see him. I was going to go straight to the Temple and demand that they let me in,” she said, and Padmé could tell that she was only partially joking, “but the Force was telling me to come here first.” She gave Padmé’s pregnant belly a knowing grin. “I think I know why.” 

Padmé only smiled at her. “I know that you know about Anakin and me,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know why you would be surprised.” Ahsoka chuckled. “Yeah, I knew about you two, but I didn’t expect you to start having children!”

“I suppose we didn’t either,” Padmé admitted. “Let’s sit,” she said, motioning back to the sofas. “My feet are killing me these days, and these two are really throwing out by back,” she said with a fond huff, one hand around her stomach. 

“Two?” Ahoska asked, eyes wide.

“Oh yes,” Padmé said with a smile, “I’m having twins. A boy and a girl.” She tried not to sound too sad as she said that, but as much joy as the children she was carrying brought her, there was also sadness surrounding their impending birth, something Padmé would never forgive the Council for. 

“Is everything okay, Padmé?” Ahoska asked as they sat down on the sofa. She angled her body so she was facing her, face etched with concern. “I know everything is going to be crazy for a while, what with the Sith Lord in the Senate and all, but everything just seems...tense.”

Padmé sighed and looked behind her, out the window towards the Temple. “No,” she said. “I don’t want to say that nothing is okay, because it’s not true, but in my worst moments it certainly seems like it.” She turned back around towards Ahsoka. “The Jedi are going to take one of my children,” she whispered, still not fully believing it.

Ahsoka’s eyebrows rose, but otherwise, showed no signs of visible surprise, letting Padmé speak.

--

After she was done explaining the events of the last few days, Ahsoka crossed her arms, leaning back against the sofa, and sighed. “I wish I could say I was shocked, but I’m not,” she admitted. “The Jedi have truly lost their way; for so long the dark side clouded so much that they clung to the only thing that they could be sure of,” she said sadly, “tradition.”

Padmé nodded. “I have always respected the Jedi, and been thankful for their intervention during the Invasion of Naboo,” Padmé began, “but more and more, I have questioned their judgement.” A small, harsh laugh escaped her. “You know that Anakin always has,” she said, and Ahsoka agreed with a nod and a wry grin. 

“I suppose he has to be right sometimes,” Padmé joked, making Ahsoka smile. 

“I’m always right!” Anakin said indignantly, walking through the door from the landing pad at that moment. He stopped in his tracks upon seeing the two of them. “Snips?” he said, dumbly. 

Ahsoka gave a wry smile and waved. “Hi, Skyguy,” she said, standing up to greet him. He walked over to where they were sitting and reached out to clasp her hand in greeting. “You act like I didn’t see you just a month ago or so,” she said with a grin.

Padmé shook her head lightly at the emotional distance that Jedi had instilled in them. Although they weren’t far off in age, she knew that Ahsoka was like a daughter to Anakin, even if their relationship was more sibling-like much of the time. 

He motioned for Ahsoka to sit back down and took his own seat on the other side of Padmé. He reached over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. “Hi,” he said quietly, with a smile. Padmé felt herself smile in return, as she always did when he came home.

“What are you doing here, Snips?” Anakin asked curiously, redirecting their attention to their guest.    She shrugged, spreading her hands, palms up. “I guess I don’t really know. I heard what had happened here, and I knew that you were involved.” She paused, considering. 

“I guess I felt the Force guiding me. Telling me that it was urgent. Rex wasn’t thrilled that I was charging back to Coruscant,” she continued fondly, “but he knows that I can handle myself.” She gave Anakin a look. “I think he feels like he has to watch over me since you can’t.” 

Anakin pasted on his most “innocent” expression. “I don’t know where he would get such an idea,” Anakin joked. 

Padmé smiled at the two of them. She was glad that Ahsoka had so many parental figures in her life: Anakin, Rex, Obi-Wan, Master Koon. She supposed that her child would never be lacking in that regard, she told herself, trying to ignore the obvious. That she would not be one of those parental figures. 

“So what are you going to do, now?” Padmé asked her, trying to pull herself out of her negative thoughts. “Rex is on Mandalore, correct? Are you going to stay with him?” 

Ahsoka looked at them both thoughtfully. “I was,” she said slowly, “at least for a while, but now I feel like the Force was pulling me here for a reason.” Her expression turned serious. “Master Yoda was right in one thing he told you both. Force-sensitive children, especially powerful ones like yours are going to be,” she said, nodding to Padmé’s stomach, “should be trained.” 

She looked them both in the eyes in turn, nodded determinedly to herself. “So I’ll stay here, with you, Padmé, if you want, and help train the child that he-” she nodded at Anakin, “-can’t.” She looked at them, arms crossed, as if daring either one of them to argue with her. 

Before Padmé could say anything, Anakin laughed a little, surprised and happy, the first time she’d heard him do so since discovering Palpatine’s treachery. “I don’t know why you’d think I’d argue with you, Snips. I’d much rather you be here on Coruscant, with us, than out there in the galaxy on your own.”

Padmé shook her head fondly at her husband, before turning back to Ahsoka. Just as Anakin had thought of her as his daughter or younger sister, Padmé had as well. She had been crushed when Anakin had told her that Ahsoka had chosen to leave the Order, even though she had understood why. And now that she was back, and wanted to stay? 

“Oh, Ahsoka,” she said, unable to keep the emotion out of her voice. “That would be wonderful.” She leaned over and pulled her into a hug. She seemed surprised, at first, but quickly gave in and returned the embrace. 

--

“I made up the guest bedroom for you,” Anakin said, stepping out to join Ahsoka on the balcony. Padmé had finally been convinced to go to bed, seeming more at peace then she’d had since their meeting with the Council.  Ahsoka turned, and shot him a brief smile. He knew he’d seen her not too long ago, but it was still amazing to him how much she’d grown. She was almost as tall as him, now. “I’m sorry this is happening to you both,” she said, as he stood next to her by the rail, looking out over the Coruscanti skyline. 

Anakin shook his head and sighed. “You were right, Ahsoka.” He clutched the railing. “About the Jedi Order, and trust. Palpatine had been manipulating me for years,” he acknowledged, “but they didn’t trust me from the moment I walked into the Temple. I don’t know why I thought I could trust them, even a little.”

He felt Ahsoka’s hand on his shoulder. “Anakin,” she sighed sympathetically. “They were your family, your life, just as much as they’d been mine. I’m only sorry that I had the ability to leave, and you don’t.”

“At first, when I turned Palpatine over to Master Windu, and when he died, I thought I’d defeated my anger. If he’d been the one manipulating me, if he was at fault for all of this rage and anger I feel, then it should be gone with him.” He laughed darkly.

 “I feel angrier every day, Ahsoka. How could they do this?” He’d often turned that thought over and over in his mind these last few days. How could they do this? How? Why? “I never thought the Jedi were this cruel.”

“Fear does funny things to people. And it’s natural to feel angry,” Ahsoka said, echoing a sentiment often expressed by Padmé. “You taught me to release my emotions, to be at peace with them, not to hold on to them and bottle them up.”

“So, what? I should just be at peace with everything that is happening?” he demanded.

Ahsoka shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know what else you could do. You have one year for you and Padmé to spend with your children. Do you really want to spend it drowning in anger?”

Anakin chuckled. “When did you get so wise?” 

She bumped him with her shoulder. “I guess I had a good teacher.” She grinned quickly, before turning serious and looking down at her hands. 

“I’m sorry you won’t be able to be more a part of your children’s lives,” she said. “I hope you don’t think I’m overstepping anything by offering to help train the child that stays here.”

Anakin shook his head. “I don’t feel like that at all. I guess I’m just relieved that she’ll have help. That there’ll be someone there who can do what I should be doing.” He sighed. “I think I’ve accepted the reality of what is happening. If I can’t be here helping them both, then I am glad that someone I know and trust will be.”

--

Two days later, in Naboo’s Senate pod, Padmé was thankful that she was so good at her expressionless regal “queen” face. 

She had lost the Vice Chancellor race. To Mon, for whom she was very happy, and knew would be a wonderful Vice Chancellor to Bail’s Chancellor. She shook her head slightly. She didn’t even know why she wanted the damn office. She loved Naboo. She loved representing Naboo. 

As she walked back to her Senate office after the votes had come in, she wasn’t even sure why she was so upset. She wanted to blame pregnancy hormones, but she knew that it was more than that. 

“Are you okay, Senator?” Dormé asked quietly as she and Ahsoka walked on either side of her. “I’m sorry you did not win.”

“Me, too,” Ahsoka echoed. “It doesn’t seem fair.”

Padmé shook her head and sighed. “I’m fine, both of you. Really.” She sighed again as they entered her office quarters. “I guess I just wanted that validation. That my peers would recognize…” she paused as she lowered herself into her seat behind the desk, “That I was right, suppose.” 

She shot the two of them a self deprecating smile. “Silly, isn’t it? I guess I just took so much flak for my anti-war, pro-negotiation stances that I thought that people would see me as someone who was right, rather than just an idealistic radical.”

“I don’t think it’s silly at all,” Dormé said, trying to comfort her. “I think that you would make a wonder Vice Chancellor, or even Chancellor someday, because you have always stuck to your beliefs and fought for what you believed to be right.” She frowned. “But I think that you being right might have played against you, so soon after it all happened. People don’t like to be reminded that they were wrong. Senator Organa has been in the Senate long enough that the other Senators associate him with stances outside of the war.”

Padmé tilted her head, contemplatively. There was certainly something to what Dormé was saying. Even before becoming a Senator, people already associated her with opposing the Trade Federation because of the Invasion, and it wasn’t even a full term in the Senate later than the Military Creation Act was written.  “It is still frustrating though,” she said, looking down at the datapads on her desk. “I tried so hard to help the people of this galaxy, to end the war, and it is those actions that may have turned people against me.”

“But you did the right thing,” Ahsoka said, fiercely. “If the Senate can’t recognize that, then they’re bigger idiots than I thought.”

“If you weren’t the kind of person to fight for your beliefs despite the political consequences, you wouldn’t be you,” Dormé agreed, with a serene smile. 

Padmé returned the smile. “Thank you, both of you. I needed that.”

--

The night of Padmé’s loss in the election for Vice Chancellor, Anakin climbed into their bed much later than he would have liked. 

Padmé was already in bed, but not asleep, lying on her side. She’d been reading one of her datapads until he’d come into the bedroom, but had put it on the nightstand, when he’d come in, smiling at him.

After quickly getting ready for bed, he slipped under the covers and moved so he could hold her from behind, his mechanical hand resting above her head on the pillow and his flesh hand resting on her belly, where he could most strongly feel the two bright lights in the Force that were their children. 

She turned her head so he could reach her lips to give her a kiss, as he always did when he came home. She hummed happily as they parted, lying back down on her pillow, putting her own hand around her stomach to meet his, so their fingers intertwined. 

“I’m sorry I’m home so late,” he apologized, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her shampoo. Her hair was so curly that his face tended to end up half buried in it when they cuddled like this. “It feels like all I’ve been doing is attending meetings all day,” he explained. “Updating all of us on our role now that the war is all but over.”

“You’re not that late, Ani,” she soothed, a smile in her voice. “I was just feeling a bit tired, so Ahsoka insisted that I go lay down,” she said, her voice clearly reflecting her fondness for his former Padawan. 

“Are you alright?” he asked in concern. He knew that the last few days had been taking a toll on her. His fear from early on in her pregnancy came rushing back. “What did AZ say?” he asked, referring to her medical droid. 

“It’s nothing to worry about,” she tried to reassure him. “I just had a long day. AZ agreed that it was just normal stress.”

“Well, good,” Anakin said in relief. He grinned into her curls. “I’m glad one of my lessons stuck with Ahsoka,” he said. 

“And what lesson is that?”

“Protect Senator Amidala,” he said, reaching over to kiss her cheek. She smiled as he did so, and pretended to try and swat him away. 

“I’m sorry about the election,” Anakin said after a few peaceful moments. “You would make a wonderful Vice Chancellor. Or Chancellor.”

Padmé sighed. “Thank you, Ani. But I’m not upset.” 

He hummed, unconvinced. 

“I was frustrated this afternoon,” she admitted, and Anakin was once again upset that he still had to spend his days at the Temple, rather than with her, where she needed him. “When Bail was elected Chancellor, I thought that I was the obvious choice to stand next to him. But I guess my connection to Palpatine and to the war just couldn’t be overlooked.”

“Well, I think that the Senate is a bunch of bureaucratic fools. They are too blinded by politics to see what would be best for the whole galaxy,” Anakin told her. Politics really weren’t his thing, but he knew that Padmé would be an amazing leader, and that the Senate would have to come to their senses one day.

She laughed. “That certainly may be true,” she acknowledged. “But it isn’t as if Mon’s politics are all that different than my own. She was just less vocal than I was throughout the war. Maybe that was smarter, politically.” She turned her head to smile at him. “I find it hard to stay out of conflict, though. I think your bad habits are rubbing off on me.”

“Oh, I can think of plenty of times where you were the one dragging me into a fight,” he said with a grin. He was glad that they were talking like this, teasing and laughing. The past week had been so quiet and tense, both of them walking on eggshells, handling their grief in different ways. 

Padmé didn’t say anything, just smirked slightly and laid her head back down. “Have you been given any assignments, yet?” she asked, changing the subject.

He shook his head. “No. For now, the focus of the Jedi will be accompanying diplomats to meetings with the Separatists, as well as relief missions. There will probably be a few battles left, here and there, but without any of their leaders, this war is all but over.”

“What do you think about us going to Naboo?” she asked. “I know I talked about it before, but that all seems so long ago.” She sighed, idly playing with his fingers, still intertwined with hers. 

“I want to be with my family. I want to be somewhere away from all of this. Since I didn’t win the election, there is no reason that I can’t. The Senate will be in session for another week, and then I will still be three weeks out from my due date.”

She sighed again. “If we only have a year with both of our babies, I want to spend it on Naboo, where we can all be together. And surely, if you have a mission, the Council can give it to you over comm?” 

Anakin was sure that they wouldn’t be thrilled about it, but he was also sure that they really couldn’t do anything to stop him, at this point. 

“Okay, let’s do it,” he said. “Let’s go to Naboo.”

Suddenly, he felt a sharp movement under where his palm rested on Padmé’s belly. 

“I think they’re in agreement,” he said with a smile, and Padmé pulled his arm tighter around her. 

“Good,” she said, and Anakin could hear the sleep heavy in her voice.

He held her until she fell asleep, and then moved gently to his side of the bed, lying on his back, and let sleep carry him away.  Hooray for Ahsoka! I know she didn’t have a lot to do in this chapter, but that will change. Expect some of her POV later on :D Next chapter things really get moving (Or, as much as things will get moving in this story lol). I know this chapter was kinda a filler, so bear with me.

[300iqprower]

You know, I'm surprised that JP players like the Arcade collab event more than the Riyo collab event

why wouldnt they when Riyo fucking sucks and new beast nero slaps

[300iqprower]

You know what's worse thing about Riyo collab? It was written by a guest writer (who might be even more dumber than Riyo him/herself).

that'd explain why even Riyo made Bunyan a good character in their debut, and then their characterization went to being a complete trashfire in the next Riyo event....

[300iqprower]

The playable mousegirls are fine. The fact that they have a line telling Ritsuka the others wear skimpy outfits is what I'm weirded out by. There was no reason or purpose for that line. Also, yeah. Like I said, Riyo went full Riyo and made sure the playerbase felt like shit while playing the event. Also, this event is surprisingly not related to LWM at all. There was no crazy Gudako or anything. It could have been an actual event if not for the mean jokes and bad model.

Ah ok that makes more sense. Yeah that makes me think of a way less egregious version of what they did with the Trung Sisters where they threw in the word Siscon for no reason but to hornybait when it's not even an accurate term for the character.

Also in all fairness anon that last sentence to me reads like "it could have been an actual event if not for [everything I associate Riyo with]"

[300iqprower]

Honestly, since Bunyan is a Riyo character I'm 100% certain that Riyo is behind this change in Bunyan and the fgo heads just approved the decision. Also yeah, Riyo's "humor" consists of trashing the fgo playerbase for playing the game, implying that yuri is the one true way of all relationships and just making fun of everyone that isn't him. Notable mention of course being Riyo's talent for perverting many player's perceptions of fgo characters.

The problem with Riyo is that (besides being a comedy series that isn't funny) Riyo is part of Type Moon. This isn't some armchair critic mocking the series, this is someone who is part of the developers and high up to boot. It's someone with actual influence on the series pointing out all these genuine flaws with said series and no one doing anything about them. At BEST it's a case of the developers acknowledging all these problems with the series and just refusing to fix them because it makes them more money not to and hoping to cash in on that acknowledgement as a shitty attempt at comedy, like I usually phrase it. At WORST though? It's an active attempt to undermine those criticisms by repeating them under the label of exaggerated parody. And regardless of which it is it already has the clearly intended effect of normalizing these issues as things that "can't be helped".

Then on top of that, you have the thing you mentioned about perverted perceptions. The problem with Riyo's "creepy players and overtly sexualized and even abused characters" schtick is that there is not just a real subset of players like that, those players are explicitly the horny whales that the developers ACTIVELY APPEAL TO. That's not even getting into flanderization, which frankly I wont be because that twat doesn't deserve any more of my time when I've made my points so very clear by now.

[300iqprower]

So idk wtf happened but holy shit is the Riyo collab event jp has rn going down as fgo's worst event in 3 years. Apparently Super Bunyan is detestable and the jp community has unanimously agreed that this event is just plain bad. Many of the jp players say they skipped the story. These are jp players and they're saying they skipped the story. Bruh. What did they do to fuck this up.

OKAY NOW IM EXCITED WTF IS GOING ON.

Honestly the funniest reason would be if the 'jokes' were just that bad and offensive. LWM has literally never been funny. Grand Carnival is funny self-parody. 90% of LWM's 'comedy' is just pointing out how shit you are and acting like the fact you acknowledge that without changing is funny instead of infuriating.

In the words of Yahtzee Croshaw, "IF YOU KNOW THAT IT'S BAD, WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?"

...And in the words directly after, "Surely the comedic subversive thing, then, would be to NOT do it?"

[300iqprower]

How much do you want to bet the Riyo collab will make a potshot at the Twitter storm a few months back? (The one where people got fed up with the lack of male Servants)

i havent done a riyo event so i wont be able to scale the ratio of "meta humor" "to “flat out insulting the fans" I should expect until i've done the third run of Bunyan.

But so far the only time I've seen a meta joke that was ACTUALLY "meta humor", and not the latter option, is Guda4, and from what I know the "humor" of Guda and Riyo are on opposite ends which by estimation means it's probably just more garbage like Summer 4 and the Halloween/Valentine events where they dont make jokes they just point at their own fucking over players and bad writing choices and say "hey we know that issue exists, but we aren't gonna do anything about it! isn't that funny?"

Also i've never seen a single Learning With Manga panel that was unironically funny so that's like all the red flags already and i really didnt need to say any of the rest of this.

[300iqprower]

I am so mad that Learning with Manga Assassin doesnt even get to be Her(?) Own playable unit. She just gets tacked on to a lowkey unnecessary 5 star version of Bunyan..... Like, Assassin and Rider were the only 2 I was kind of happy to get a Riyo event for but of course like every character I've wanted (Summer Kama, Koyanskaya) the monkeys paw curls 😭

yeah Assassin and Rider seemed to be the two everyone wanted (i wanted Rider that's for sure because I'm a fcking nerd who unironically took film studies in high school), so Delightworks pulled a Delightworks and went about in the greediest/dumbest way possible: By tacking them onto an SSR.

My theory for the REAL reason behind this is that one the "lore sticking points" for them, since there seems to every now and then be a piece of lore they absolutely refuse to go against despite constantly breaking other worldbuilding, was that afaik they've been very insistent that all the Learning With Manga servants are lorewise bronze rarity by their nature as throwaway gag characters (with some anti-western sentiment thrown in) But you can't make people pay over bronze rarity...Not yet anyways, give em time they already have Izo/Mori, Salieri, and Katsu's respective situations... The other Learning With Manga servants also dont have the same level of breakout popularity Bunyan specifically has.

So how can they engineer a new SSR Exclusive WhaleBait out of this?!

Well it's easy. Make all three a high servant that has Bunyan in control. Now they can say they TECHNICALLY did put more Riyo servants in AND they have an excuse to make a powercreeping SSR Exclusive alt of one of their breakout low rarity characters!

[300iqprower]

This is some insider-privilege stuff. Why does Super Bunyan have a unique passive that: Grants self On-Attack-Activate buff. Grants self Like! buff for 3 turns when attacking. Like!: Enable extra damage from Super Bunyan's NP. Grants self On-Defense-Activate buff. Grants self Like! buff for 3 turns when taking attack. Maybe you're onto them when you said fgo's special snowflakes are the inner circle of Nasu.

...Sigh. So much for "hey maybe I should wait to be upset she could be a perfectly fine servant with no bullshit"........I was also gonna say "Well whatever this buff is I can at least wait to make sure it's not like First Hassan where it's so little it's basically flavor" but apparently the NP calculation is "[Base Damage]% + [100+5X Extra damage]%" where X is the number of Like! buffs Bunyan has, maximum of 10 as per usual, which means it's mechanically a single target version of KP's NP with her Growth gimmick but objectively better, even if you factor out the difference of ST vs AOE. Not only is it far better because the likes are way easier to build than KP's growth, but because Bunyan's NP gets a flat 100% extra no matter what which means the base scaling is actually 700%. And I double checked: no they did not lower the base scaling to make up for that automatic 100%, because Mecha Eli (the other ST Buster Alter Ego) has an NP1 scaling of 600%.

The nepotism at Type Moon is truly incredible.